#betans

[thirdwifeofriversong]

my partner has a vorkosigan saga conspiracy theory about beta colony that i’ve been given permission to share

she basically conjectures that “steady freddy” is an ai, and all the elections are rigged for him to win, but despite people not voting for him, he’s been programmed with the best interests of the betans at heart, so people aren’t super upset at their preferred candidate not winning (*cries in american) because freddy is still doing a pretty good job (because he was programmed with the intent, knowledge, and drive to protect the well-being of his people).

(will reblog with page number references after i have my copy of cordelia’s honor back)

#vorkosigan saga #beta colony #betans #shards of honor #cordelia's honor #cordelia naismith vorkosigan

[effkaytales]

Can you tell us about the Kitsun Wars?

I'll get into them a bit MORE at some point in the future, but at the beginning of the R41 Cluster Multiverse, there were only dragons from the universe called Beta, called Betans. Every other species in the cluster were artificially created by the Betans as they learned to create more universes. One universe, created as a side experiment, was designated Kitsun. It was a control universe made to test out plant life and other types of "idle" life. Somehow, a species the Betans never designed came into being on this Universe, designating themselves as Kitsune.

Betans are a paranoid and bureaucratic bunch. Unauthorized species had to be eliminated, as such behavior is not to be tolerated. What if OTHER lifeforms popped up out there, existing without explicit control or purpose?? Disgusting. They set out to destroy Kitsun and forget this whole thing ever happened. The Kitsune discovered this plot and formulated their own plans to survive.

Thus began the Kitsun Wars, the Betans fighting to destroy natural life, the Kitsune simply fighting for their own existence. These wars waged across the multiverse, it got REALLY messy, and it was almost always the Betans who escalated it. they lasted centuries, millennia, countless generations of Kitsune lived nothing but war. For a Betan, it was a blink of an eye. And mind you, a single Kitsune could live up to a thousand years alone.

Countless scars from these wars can be seen all across the multiverse. Rifts into unreality, planets in many universes forming oddly, and of course, the former universe known now as the Edge by its locals, a mass of chaos and calamity where life somehow persists despite its destruction.

There ultimately was no winner in the war, but the Betans had to call it off eventually. The Kitsune were simply too clever and persistent. By the time the war ended, other naturally-born species had emerged across the multiverse. The wars lasted so long that the initial reason for the conflict was pointless. The Kitsune were allowed to exist, and so long as the two species don't spark anything towards each other, everything is fine.

It's said that every fox in the R41 Cluster is an offshoot of the original Kitsune people. To this day, foxes are seen as a sort of boogeyman in Beta. Foxes are their scary stories.

#Kitsun Wars #Kitsune #Beta #Betans #Lore

[melabea]

Honey & Sunlight Scented Betan

(pt: Honey & Sunlight Scented Betan /end pt)

(ids: 2 rectangular flags with 7 equally-sized horizontal lines. colors in order from top to bottom are darkish green, green, orange, white, light yellow, orange, and dark red. in the center of the first flag is a dark red honey symbol outlined in white. /end ids)

(ids: 2 rectangular flags with 7 equally-sized horizontal lines. colors in order from top to bottom are a gradient from green to white to blue. in the center of the first flag is a green-blue sea water symbol outlined in white. /end ids)

Honey & Sunlight Scented Betan/Seta Flags

Seawater & Sea Salt Scented Omega Flags

symbols from here (link) & here (link)!

for cam!

tagging; @radiomogai, @thecoffeecrew404, @omegarchive, @misceverchive

#honey and sunlight scented betan #honey and sunlight scented seta #seawater and sea salt scented omega #scents #🌠 creations #misce

[luminescentkelpie]

Everytime I read a Vorkosigan saga book I am hit by the realization of just how bad Miles needs adhd meds

#I can't imagine cordelia is a fan of the mental health institution(betan and barrayaren) #and Arrol is like I was like that and I'm fine (is not fine) #but jesus guys he needs them #vorkosigan saga #miles vorkosigan #good bye everyone I'll be back eventually to talk about how miles is transmasc #thoughts from the deep

[timothywinters]

This is a deeply niche post but I am thinking about how, similar to Americans writing wildly historically inaccurate Abducted By the 18th-Century Scottish Laird-style romance novels, the Time of Isolation on Barrayar would probably be a really popular setting for romances!

There’s probably a whole university course in it actually ‘Depictions of the Other: Barrayar through Galactic Eyes,’ with Professora Vorthys.

#vorkosigan saga #lmmb #I feel like there’s textual support for this I mean ekaterin complains about kids romanticising the ToI #oh- what does a barrayaran vs a betan romance novel look like? #I think Bullock Creek is fairly Barrayaran and also pretty closely fits how miles approaches romance #geography is trying to kill you! you have to trick everyone around you! lots of Duty to Family #notably he never told Lorna any of the shit he did for her to keep the farm #which fits with miles in ACC

[foolsabode]

Doll and Locke: Partners in Slime

Locke is @effkaytales' dragon~

#Locke #Art #Digital art #Doll #Doll and Locke #Partners in Slime #effkaytales #Betan #Mario and luigi partners in time

[zahri-melitor]

Reading again and exhausted by how many stories want to preach at me about how X is bad and actually the characters should get therapy.

Maybe I enjoy these characters because they are deranged (affectionate) and make choices that are bad for them, and I’d prefer you show me that something is wrong VIA THE NARRATIVE and its fallout rather than detailing a character to tell me this and then putting judgy end notes in about how People Shouldn’t Do X.

(Also I do not want my characters getting therapy thanks, this is boring, they should work out their issues over time by yelling a lot, or bottling them up until they explode from repression. Far more entertaining)

#one of the enjoyable things about being a Vorkosigan saga fan is I got over the excitement of Therapy Planet long ago #Beta is in many ways a terrible place and uses its socially engineered therapy in terrifying ways for social cohesion #Betan Therapy: simultaneously sorting out relationship quirks while convinced Cordelia’s marriage is an act of war and kidnapping

[kissingdeadgirls]

betan sex change operation

#it’s like they always say: ​if you can’t win the vor games go to betan colony for a sex change #reading vorkosigan

[idontthinkimokaymentally]

Hello there Betan fans.

#betan #anpanman

[bobnelson]

Hacker Aviator ⚠️((MUITO CUIDADO))⚠️ Hacker Aviator Funciona? Hacker Avi...

#youtube #hacker aviator #hacker aviator funciona #betan #aviator #betano

[regallibellbright]

“It’s… not what Tante Cordelia is most famous for, on Barrayar,” Martya offered after a moment.

Cordelia: I’m a successful survey captain, but do they call me Captain Naismith, Betan explorer?

Cordelia: I was foster-mother to the Emperor and influenced his education, but do they call me Lady Vorkosigan, influencer of Barrayaran politics for a generation?

Cordelia: I was even a war hero, even though I didn’t do most of what I’m credited for.

Cordelia: But you bring home ONE SEVERED HEAD in a shopping bag -!

#i guess this is a vorkosigan saga liveblog now #cordelia naismith vorkosigan #a civil campaign #vorkosigan saga #decapitation mention

[fandom-march-madness]

Propaganda

Cordelia:

#seriously I cannot overstate what an astonishingly good mother Cordelia is#the odds were *astronomically* against her son surviving infancy#let alone growing up into a happy & successful adult#who is beloved and KNOWS that he is beloved#I mean#Aral helped too#A+ fathering there#but Cordelia has been fighting for Miles from Day 1#and even before#destroy her unborn son once ppl realize he’ll be born disabled?#not on HER watch#make her now-born disabled son feel inferior?#no sir not with this Betan around#help now-adult son pick up the pieces when he fucks up royally & everything falls apart?#you betcha "Further propaganda just because I can: her philosophies of "persons before principals" and "when you chose an action you chose the consequences" have shaped my own life, parenting, and politics." “Well. I don’t wish to invade your privacy. But do remember, you’re allowed to ask for help. It’s part of what families are all about.” “I owe you too much already, milady.” Her smile tilted. “Mark, you don’t pay back your parents. You can’t. The debt you owe them gets collected by your children, who hand it down in turn. It’s a sort of entailment. Or if you don’t have children of the body, it’s left as a debt to your common humanity. Or to your God, if you possess or are possessed by one.” “I’m not sure that seems fair.” “The family economy evades calculation in the gross planetary product. It’s the only deal I know where, when you give more than you get, you aren’t bankrupted—but rather, vastly enriched.”

Donna Noble:

"#donna's kid is nonbinary and she didnt give a fuck"

#cordelia vorkosigan #donna noble #doctor who #your favorite character #good mom #polls #mother's day #2024: good moms #2024: mother's day #the vorkosigan saga

[mandaloriandy]

WHO are my Vorkosigan Saga friends, I have just had the BEST idea about Laisa Toscane Vorbarra

what if she was trans? and by trans I mean MTF. She was one of those kids who transitioned at a very early age, and with Komarran medical science and overall social norms re: gender being somewhat closer to the Beta end of things than the Barrayaran, grew up a happy healthy little girl who is now the Empress of Barrayar. Nobody thought to mention her gender at birth because it's... not that important? with Betan tech, she might even have a full working uterus, though I can't see why she would want one of course that doesn't matter, uterine replicators being what they are. So everyone just... forgets to mention it to the Barrayarans.

#vorkosigan saga #andy original

[melabea]

Gorsian

(pt: Gorsian /end pt)

(ids: 2 rectangular flags with 5 equally-sized horizontal lines. colors in order from top to bottom are brown, orange, white, light green, and yellow-green. in the center of the first flag is a grey-green tulip symbol outlined in white. /end ids)

(ids: 2 rectangular flags with 5 equally-sized horizontal lines. colors in order from top to bottom are pale yellow, pale pink, white, light grey-pink, and dark grey-pink. in the center of the first flag is a grey primrose symbol outlined in white. /end ids)

Gorsian; a term for betans/setas who are attracted to any/all dynamic. can also be called betans/seta 4 all.

Primrian; a term for sampis who are attracted to any/all dynamic. can also be called sampi 4 all.

etymology; gors(e)/primr(ose), “ian” meaning one that does or deals with relating to, belonging to

symbols from here (link) & here (link)!

for cam!

tagging; @radiomogai, @thecoffeecrew404, @omegarchive, @misceverchive

#gorsian #primrian #betan 4 all #seta 4 all #sampi 4 all #orientation #🌠 creations #misce

[litcityblues]

'Diplomatic Immunity' --A Review

I know it's actually May, but a new year means that I am continuing ahead on the Honorverse Saga and now I'm dipping back into the Vorkosigan Saga as well with the 13th Book in the Series, Diplomatic Immunity.

The book opens with Miles and Ekaterin on their honeymoon, wrapping up an extensive tour of various galactic sites before heading back to Barrayar just in time to open the replicators and welcome their two new children to the world. This being the Vorkosigan Saga and Miles being a (relatively) new Imperial Auditor, they naturally get diverted to deal with a diplomatic crisis in Quaddiespace.

Quaddies- if you are not familiar with the series are genetically modified humans who traded out their legs for a second set of arms so they could live and move more easily in a zero gravity work environment (Falling Free, which Is set 200 years before the start of the main series is sort of their origin story-- I'll get to that eventually, I promise.). Anyway, as it turns out, a convoy of Komarran Merchant ships is prevented from leaving Graf Station thanks to the somewhat reckless behavior of their Barrayaran military escorts, and to top that mess off, a Barrayaran security officer is missing, presumed murdered and another Ensign has deserted: for love.

Miles and Ekaterin arrive and Miles begins the process of untangling the diplomatic mess, only to be reunited with an old friend: his former Dendarii colleague, the Betan hermaphrodite Bel Thorne (last seen in Mirror Dance or possibly Memory I think-- no longer with the Dendarii, but still working with Imperial Security.) Bel is happy to see Miles, but hints that they would like to be released from Imperial Service so they can settle down with Nicol (a Quaddie musician Miles met earlier in the series while in Jackson's Whole-- in 'Labyrinth') and Bel tells Miles that there is something strange about the missing security officer, but they can't quite figure out what it is.

In short order, Miles discovers that he's in the middle of a plot by a renegade Cetagandan Ba to kidnap what turns out to be an entire cargo of embryos stolen directly from the Star Creche itself that it hijacked near Rho Ceta. Miles instantly realizes that this spells big trouble and a potential war between Barrayar and Cetaganda-- but before he can put a stop to it himself both he and Bel are infected with the same highly lethal bioweapons that was used to murder the missing Barrayarn security officer and nearly die, but manage to reach the nearest Cetagandan world just in time. They cure both him and Bel- though not without both suffering some permanent side effects and he returns the embryos to Cetaganda, averting a war and managing to make it home with Ekaterin in time to meet their new children.

I switched from snagging these on Audible to getting them off Kindle around about Memory I think and that was, oddly enough, the perfect time in the series to do that because as Miles transitions away from the Dendarii and into the role of Imperial Auditor-- I don't want to say the quality of the writing improves, because that's not true, it's always been good-- let's just say that the series matures with its character and the writing reflects that.

Diplomatic Immunity might be the first in the series that has so many callbacks to prior volumes. I don't think you have to read other books in the series to understand this-- McMaster Bujold has always been good at providing context for readers, even if it's only a sentence or two-- but it does add an extra dollop of charm as you get to meet characters from prior novels. I don't know if we're scheduled to see Bel Thorne again in future novels, but if not, then I think this is a nice, (relatively) happy ending for them and I like that. I also enjoyed the fact that this tied back to the events that happened in Cetaganda quite nicely as well-- for all the talk of the war with Cetaganda and how it hangs over a lot of the Barryaran experience, this is only the third time that Miles has tangled with them directly.

(Also, am I the only one who thought that Dubauer being called Dubauer was going to be a callback to Shards of Honor?)

I saw a recent Reddit post proclaiming McMaster Bujold as 'the most underrated writer' in SF/F and while the comments were quick to point out that she's got plenty of Hugos and Nebulas that would indicate that she's very rated and appreciated and has commercial success to boot, I would characterize her as perhaps 'the most discoverable' writer in SF/F? At 74, her output is not what it was at the height of her run in the late 80s, and early 90s and I know damn well that if I had found these books as a kid, I would have eaten them up instantly. Finding them now, in adulthood-- I can't tell you just how happy these books make me and how much I love these characters, and how I desperately wish someone who treasures these books would work up a screen adaptation because they are RIPE for the taking.

Overall: Excellent, enjoyable, delightful, charming, a great addition to the series and I ran right through this book because I just didn't want to put it down. My Grade: **** out of ****

#diplomatic immunity #lois mcmaster bujold #vorkosigan saga #miles vorkosigan

[timothywinters]

Headcanon: Cordelia has lived on Barrayar longer than she ever lived on Beta Colony, but part of her image rests on her being foreign, slightly other. Therefore her Betan accent is deliberately cultivated and maintained and reinforced so nobody ever mistakes her for Barrayaran.

#vorkosigan saga #Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan #going through Space Customs and the officer doesn’t say ‘welcome home’ bc he doesn’t twig you as a fellow Betan #just a middle-aged barrayaran woman #mildly condescending to Cordelia about how she shouldn’t be shocked by Betan behaviour