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Gryphonadmin
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"(S16) Pavane for a Dead Princess"
 
   LAST EDITED ON Apr-02-10 AT 01:33 PM (EDT)
 
9 Many Symphony pieces have titles designed to put the reader in mind of classical music, but this one bears the title of an actual classical piece, Maurice Ravel's 1889 Pavane for a Dead Princess.

27 As befits a ship of Romulan make, the Lorica's name comes from the Latin word for armor. Roman soldiers wore various types of armor through the years, including lorica squamata (scale mail) and lorica segmentata (banded mail).

36 In the UF universe, the Gamilons and Romulans are historical enemies, having occupied adjacent empires with similarly militaristic stances for centuries.

43 The Lorica is an original Romulan Warbird, as seen in the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror".

56 In the Romulan Navy, a centurion is a sort of enforcer for the captain - a non-commissioned officer who exists outside the regular chain of command, with the power to mete out punishment to any member of the crew for infractions against the complicated and draconian Romulan code of war. In practice, many centurions are not loyal to their captains either, but rather serve as rough equivalents to Soviet zampoliti, ultimately reporting to the Tal'shiar (the Romulan secret police).

93 Presumably 300 of some Romulan or Gamilon unit of speed. Surely not 300 megalights; that's an absurd speed for a small craft, let alone a capital ship.

112 A kmar is a made-up Romulan unit of measure (not taken from any outside reference). It's sufficiently far for plot purposes.

131 We see here that K'tayyl-class destroyers have built-in metaspace jump point generators, and thus are not dependent on fixed jumpgates.

155 One of the reasons Garon prefers a destroyer command - apart from the facts that a prestigious-but-small command is good for his cover and that destroyers get the most exciting and challenging missions - is because destroyers have small crews, which make it much easier for him to handpick people he can trust with his secrets. Naturally everyone aboard the Vengeance knows that he is much more competent than the persona he projects in public; if they didn't, the ship couldn't function. Since he's such a charismatic leader, they've sworn to help maintain that persona. To the rest of the fleet, Vengeance is a lucky ship, capable of completing difficult assignments and claiming fat prizes in spite of rather than thanks to the captain. As Garon noted to Devlin back in Courtship, Corimel takes most of the public credit for the ship's successes.

244 I always wondered why ships on Star Trek didn't have a medic permanently stationed on the bridge, since crew members are always getting hurt up there, and you can't rely on the chief medical officer just happening to have stopped by to trade bons mots with the science officer - so in the UF universe, WDF, IPSF, and most other forces' warships have, if not full-time bridge medics, at least EMTs whose battle station is the bridge.

264 Garon echoes one of Khan's lines in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - and presumably one of Kor's lines in Battlecruiser Vengeance: The Wrath of Kor, which he and Amanda have only watched together about 150 million times.

294 Getting crushed to death by falling bridge ceiling is an ancient and honorable tradition in Star Trek.

347 "I am Koth of the Vengeance, and this ship is my prize" appears in almost every episode of Battlecruiser Vengeance, according to The Final Reflection.

476 Hamlet, Act V, Scene 2:

Hamlet
O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit:
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited. The rest is silence.
(Dies.)

547 Having taken her revenge, Amanda demonstrates that she has also learned the value of mercy - and the powerful statement one can make with it. Her remaining enemies within the Gamilon Empire will be scandalized by this move... but they will also respect the boldness it reveals, and they will think twice before moving against her.

594 Sibling relationships - the power they have for good and for ill, when whole and when broken, and occasionally just what constitutes "whole" or "broken" - constitute another recurring theme of the Symphonies. I'm not sure what this says about me, since I'm an only child, but there you are. I inherited a lot of it from Revolutionary Girl Utena in the first place, but still.


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  Subject     Author     Message Date     ID  
  RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess Verbena Dec-13-06 1
     RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess Gryphonadmin Dec-13-06 2
         RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess jadmire Dec-13-06 3
             RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess Verbena Dec-13-06 5
                 RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess Gryphonadmin Dec-13-06 6
  RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess StClair Dec-13-06 4
  RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess O_M Dec-18-06 7
     RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess Offsides Dec-21-06 8

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Verbena
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Dec-13-06, 01:52 PM (EDT)
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1. "RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess"
In response to message #0
 
  
>56 In the Romulan Navy, a centurion is a sort of enforcer for
>the captain - a non-commissioned officer who exists outside the
>regular chain of command, with the power to mete out punishment to any
>member of the crew for infractions against the complicated and
>draconian Romulan code of war. In practice, many centurions are not
>loyal to their captains either, but rather serve as rough equivalents
>to Soviet zampoliti, ultimately reporting to the
>Tal'shiar (the Romulan secret police).

I always wondered why the rest of the crew hadn't spaced this guy yet, it seems like something of a breakdown in logic. If he's rogue, there wouldn't be any repercussions from the Romulan secret police...and he has to sleep sometime.

>
>155 One of the reasons Garon prefers a destroyer command -
>apart from the facts that a prestigious-but-small command is good for
>his cover and that destroyers get the most exciting and challenging
>missions - is because destroyers have small crews, which make it much
>easier for him to handpick people he can trust with his secrets.
>Naturally everyone aboard the Vengeance knows that he is much
>more competent than the persona he projects in public; if they didn't,
>the ship couldn't function. Since he's such a charismatic leader,
>they've sworn to help maintain that persona. To the rest of the
>fleet, Vengeance is a lucky ship, capable of completing
>difficult assignments and claiming fat prizes in spite of rather than
>thanks to the captain. As Garon noted to Devlin back in
>Courtship, Corimel takes most of the public credit for the
>ship's successes.

I think I was asking a long time ago about who on the Vengeance knew about him, and I have no idea if I ever got an answer. S'what I get for not reading the forums as often as I do now.

>
>244 I always wondered why ships on Star Trek didn't have
>a medic permanently stationed on the bridge, since crew members are
>always getting hurt up there, and you can't rely on the chief medical
>officer just happening to have stopped by to trade bons mots
>with the science officer - so in the UF universe, WDF, IPSF, and most
>other forces' warships have, if not full-time bridge medics, at least
>EMTs whose battle station is the bridge.

Star Trek? Logic? Bite your tongue. These are the people who actually thought a moneyless society would have worked. =P

>294 Getting crushed to death by falling bridge ceiling is an
>ancient and honorable tradition in Star Trek.

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.


>547 Having taken her revenge, Amanda demonstrates that she has
>also learned the value of mercy - and the powerful statement one can
>make with it. Her remaining enemies within the Gamilon Empire will be
>scandalized by this move... but they will also respect the boldness it
>reveals, and they will think twice before moving against her.

Hmm. I had always only seen the negative impact of that choice, and her doing it proved how she'd been changed some by her friends on Earth. I didn't think of a positive impact.

>
>594 Sibling relationships - the power they have for good and
>for ill, when whole and when broken, and occasionally just what
>constitutes "whole" or "broken" - constitute another recurring
>theme of the Symphonies. I'm not sure what this says about me, since
>I'm an only child, but there you are. I inherited a lot of it from
>Revolutionary Girl Utena in the first place, but still.

Being a twin myself, I'm occasionally freaked out by how frequent the...er, shall we say, -unconventional- relationships between blood family members is in UF. Then again, it's a big part of RGU, like you say. I'm not concerned by the Norse thing--that's real life fact--and Amanda's thing is fairly typical for royal blood in some places. But there's been hints of Miki and Kozue, too, and I'm not so certain that makes as much sense.

"They say one should not speak unkindly of the dead, so I say, 'nice try'." --Lezard


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Gryphonadmin
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Dec-13-06, 03:46 PM (EDT)
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2. "RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess"
In response to message #1
 
   >I always wondered why the rest of the crew hadn't spaced this guy yet,
>it seems like something of a breakdown in logic. If he's rogue, there
>wouldn't be any repercussions from the Romulan secret police...and he
>has to sleep sometime.

Among other reasons, he controlled what little money there was for upkeep, repairs, and, well, food (and not in a way that any of the others could easily take over).

>Star Trek? Logic? Bite your tongue. These are the people who actually
>thought a moneyless society would have worked. =P

Well, be fair, when they said "these people are still using money" in Star Trek IV, they didn't actually mean their own society didn't have legal tender, transferable in lieu of barter for goods and services; they just meant "these people are still using physical currency".

>Being a twin myself, I'm occasionally freaked out by how frequent
>the...er, shall we say, -unconventional- relationships between blood
>family members is in UF. Then again, it's a big part of RGU, like you
>say. I'm not concerned by the Norse thing--that's real life fact--and
>Amanda's thing is fairly typical for royal blood in some places. But
>there's been hints of Miki and Kozue, too, and I'm not so certain that
>makes as much sense.

Mm, indeed, we'll touch on this in some of our notes later on. For the moment, I'll just note that, as the examples of Nanami and Anthy both indicate, it's, uh, not for everyone, certainly.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/


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jadmire
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Dec-13-06, 04:09 PM (EDT)
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3. "RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess"
In response to message #2
 
   >>Being a twin myself, I'm occasionally freaked out by how frequent
>>the...er, shall we say, -unconventional- relationships between blood
>>family members is in UF. Then again, it's a big part of RGU, like you
>>say. I'm not concerned by the Norse thing--that's real life fact--and
>>Amanda's thing is fairly typical for royal blood in some places. But
>>there's been hints of Miki and Kozue, too, and I'm not so certain that
>>makes as much sense.

>Mm, indeed, we'll touch on this in some of our notes later on. For the moment, >I'll just note that, as the examples of Nanami and Anthy both indicate, it's, uh, >not for everyone, certainly.

I look forward to reading those particular notes. I hope it won't step on anyone's toes if I say that the hints of what Verbena calls an "unconventional" relationship between Miki and Kozue makes me feel uneasy sometimes. Though I would add that I don't, to say the least, think well of Guld Bowman for his nasty insinuations some years after this story to Kozue, and believe he richly deserved the thrashing he got at her hands.

-Joe-

Lover of fiddly and only faintly relevant background detail


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Verbena
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Dec-13-06, 08:19 PM (EDT)
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5. "RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess"
In response to message #3
 
   >>>Being a twin myself, I'm occasionally freaked out by how frequent
>>>the...er, shall we say, -unconventional- relationships between blood
>>>family members is in UF. Then again, it's a big part of RGU, like you
>>>say. I'm not concerned by the Norse thing--that's real life fact--and
>>>Amanda's thing is fairly typical for royal blood in some places. But
>>>there's been hints of Miki and Kozue, too, and I'm not so certain that
>>>makes as much sense.
>
>>Mm, indeed, we'll touch on this in some of our notes later on. For the moment, >I'll just note that, as the examples of Nanami and Anthy both indicate, it's, uh, >not for everyone, certainly.

Indeed, and I am NOT saying it should be scrubbed out or anything--that reeks of censorship of a style I particularly dislike. I'm conservative on some issues, like economics and the military, but the kind of social conservatism that results in wild censorship makes my skin crawl far more than the subject matter here ever would.

>
>I look forward to reading those particular notes. I hope it won't
>step on anyone's toes if I say that the hints of what Verbena calls an
>"unconventional" relationship between Miki and Kozue makes me feel
>uneasy sometimes. Though I would add that I don't, to say the least,
>think well of Guld Bowman for his nasty insinuations some years after
>this story to Kozue, and believe he richly deserved the thrashing he
>got at her hands.

I'm not convinced Guld Bowman actually thought anything of the sort. I think he just was implying something of that nature for a cheap personal attack even as he gleefully eliminated her privileges. It's an amusing man who manages to be both a complete asshole AND a poleassed martinet with such fervor. That's not just talent, that's dedication.


"They say one should not speak unkindly of the dead, so I say, 'nice try'." --Lezard


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Gryphonadmin
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Dec-13-06, 08:34 PM (EDT)
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6. "RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess"
In response to message #5
 
   LAST EDITED ON Dec-13-06 AT 08:35 PM (EST)
 
>I'm not convinced Guld Bowman actually thought anything of the sort. I
>think he just was implying something of that nature for a cheap
>personal attack even as he gleefully eliminated her privileges.

Strangely, that kind of thing happens to Kozue a lot. (See also: Clarissa's rumor in Sophomore Slump.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/


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StClair
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Dec-13-06, 07:02 PM (EDT)
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4. "RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess"
In response to message #0
 
   >594 Sibling relationships - the power they have for good and
>for ill, when whole and when broken, and occasionally just what
>constitutes "whole" or "broken" - constitute another recurring
>theme of the Symphonies. I'm not sure what this says about me, since
>I'm an only child, but there you are. I inherited a lot of it from
>Revolutionary Girl Utena in the first place, but still.

I've always felt the ending to this, particularly the line "But... she was my sister...", was very powerful.


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O_M
Member since Jun-19-05
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Dec-18-06, 09:10 PM (EDT)
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7. "RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess"
In response to message #0
 
  
>112 A kmar is a made-up Romulan unit of measure (not
>taken from any outside reference). It's sufficiently far for plot
>purposes.

Much akin to the concept of 'speed of plot', I'd think?

>155 One of the reasons Garon prefers a destroyer command -
>apart from the facts that a prestigious-but-small command is good for
>his cover and that destroyers get the most exciting and challenging
>missions - is because destroyers have small crews, which make it much
>easier for him to handpick people he can trust with his secrets.
>Naturally everyone aboard the Vengeance knows that he is much
>more competent than the persona he projects in public; if they didn't,
>the ship couldn't function. Since he's such a charismatic leader,
>they've sworn to help maintain that persona. To the rest of the
>fleet, Vengeance is a lucky ship, capable of completing
>difficult assignments and claiming fat prizes in spite of rather than
>thanks to the captain. As Garon noted to Devlin back in
>Courtship, Corimel takes most of the public credit for the
>ship's successes.

That was an aspect I hadn't considered, really. Beyond the fact that presumably commanding a destroyer would be more exciting(highly maneuverable ship/fighter killers rather than the heavy carrier role most larger ships end up with in sci-fi), it makes sense that he could handpick a crew he didn't have to use the(presumably annoying to maintain for long periods of time for someone of his intelligence) act all the time. Really, commanding a destroyer while pretending to be an idiot would likely be even more frustrating, yes?

>244 I always wondered why ships on Star Trek didn't have
>a medic permanently stationed on the bridge, since crew members are
>always getting hurt up there, and you can't rely on the chief medical
>officer just happening to have stopped by to trade bons mots
>with the science officer - so in the UF universe, WDF, IPSF, and most
>other forces' warships have, if not full-time bridge medics, at least
>EMTs whose battle station is the bridge.

Yes, one would think so, especially considering....

>294 Getting crushed to death by falling bridge ceiling is an
>ancient and honorable tradition in Star Trek.

Well, THIS kind of thing.

>547 Having taken her revenge, Amanda demonstrates that she has
>also learned the value of mercy - and the powerful statement one can
>make with it. Her remaining enemies within the Gamilon Empire will be
>scandalized by this move... but they will also respect the boldness it
>reveals, and they will think twice before moving against her.

At the time, I always thought that beyond mercy for practical reasons, it showed the final 'loss of innocence' that Xenia's betrayal had wrought. Before now, we've never really seen anyone within the Empire loyal specifically to Amanda outside of Kitarina and Garon and their respective responsibilities. Whereas Xenia obviously had her own personal forces. The Lorica seems to be an indication that Amanda's finally recognized she needs an 'honor guard' of sorts that can't be bought, unlike certain numbers in the Imperial forces turned out to be.

>594 Sibling relationships - the power they have for good and
>for ill, when whole and when broken, and occasionally just what
>constitutes "whole" or "broken" - constitute another recurring
>theme of the Symphonies. I'm not sure what this says about me, since
>I'm an only child, but there you are. I inherited a lot of it from
>Revolutionary Girl Utena in the first place, but still.

I really liked this scene because it's so familiar and yet so different at the same time. A lot of stories have the character deal with the realization of what they've done after an execution of such sort. However, here it isn't because Amanda's regretting having to kill(she's perfectly capable of it), but because, as she said....despite it all, she was still her sister.


-OM

"Crypto-lesbians? Sounds like someone threw a zombie movie into a blender with a porno."


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Offsides
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Dec-21-06, 10:01 AM (EDT)
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8. "RE: Annotations: Pavane for a Dead Princess"
In response to message #7
 
   >>547 Having taken her revenge, Amanda demonstrates that she has
>>also learned the value of mercy - and the powerful statement one can
>>make with it. Her remaining enemies within the Gamilon Empire will be
>>scandalized by this move... but they will also respect the boldness it
>>reveals, and they will think twice before moving against her.
>
>At the time, I always thought that beyond mercy for practical reasons,
>it showed the final 'loss of innocence' that Xenia's betrayal had
>wrought. Before now, we've never really seen anyone within the Empire
>loyal specifically to Amanda outside of Kitarina and Garon and their
>respective responsibilities. Whereas Xenia obviously had her own
>personal forces. The Lorica seems to be an indication that
>Amanda's finally recognized she needs an 'honor guard' of sorts
>that can't be bought, unlike certain numbers in the Imperial forces
>turned out to be.
>
Not only that, but having people who are truly loyal to you is very difficult, because (as we saw with Rijigar, among other people) there's almost always something that will get people to betray or shift their loyalties. Here, Amanda gets 22 people who she can be pretty certain are going to be completely loyal to her as long as she keeps treating them properly, for a number of reasons:
  1. Whe she first "hires" them, they have nothing to lose. But instead of patronizing them and throwing that in their faces as a "take this or else" message, she shows them respect for having managed to accomplish what they did in spite of their situation, and offers them an opportunity to turn their prior bad situation into a good one. Yes, she lays out the choices for them (prison or me), but she does it with respect.
  2. As people who are now outcasts from their own society, and would normally be hated in Gamilon society, it's unlikely that they'd really have anyone else to turn to if they decided to betray Amanda.
  3. And in spite of the last one, Amanda's putting them out as her personal honor guard. To betray that trust would in many ways would the pride of the Romulans, who can take that position as a great personal honor indeed. And since the Romulans are not always know for their sense of honor, this position is a way to stick it to both the Romulan empire and any Gamilon detractors they have.
All in all, as long as Amanda stays sane, compentant and strong-willed, I'm guessing they'll fight to the death to protect her. Not bad for what was probably the hardest day of her life so far...

Offsides

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>


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