The Players
The Star Kingdom of Manticore is making frantic diplomatic efforts to form an alliance to counter Havenite expansionism. Investment, military and technological aid are used as enticement to convince the smaller, less developed nations of the quadrant to join the Alliance. Even though sending Honor Harrington to a sexist world such as Grayson seems to be a mistake, the purpose is to show the Graysons exactly what the status of women is in their society, rather than hiding it. Grayson is strategic because it represents a possible flank of advance towards Manticore for an attacking Havenite fleet.
The People's Republic of Haven is trying to counter the Manticoran Alliance by aiding the Masadans and throwing a potential alliance between Manticore and Grayson off-balance. The Havenites know that Masada is not a reliable ally, but they accept it for the moment. Unlike Manticore, they keep very well hidden to the Masadans that they treat their women as equals.
The Protectorate of Grayson is desperate for foreign aid to sustain its growing industrial base and technological development, as well as to end their conflict with Masada, a conflict on which diplomacy is impossible. Manticore is more reliable for the Grayson leaders (who also want to modernize their society) than the voracious People's Republic.
Masada has just one goal: to conquer Grayson and restore the "true Faith" to their original world. In the eyes of the Masadan leadership, an alliance with Haven is nothing more than a provisional deal with a bunch of "infidels", a deal from which both sides may get benefits, but nothing more than that.
Read more about this topic: The Honor Of The Queen
Famous quotes containing the word players:
“The players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespeare, that in his writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out [a] line. My answer hath been, “Would he had blotted a thousand.””
—Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)
“Yeah, percentage players die broke too, don’t they, Bert?”
—Sydney Carroll, U.S. screenwriter, and Robert Rossen. Eddie Felson (Paul Newman)