[Space] Adapting "Honorverse" Concepts to GURPS

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Seneschal

And the technology can't really be said to be "developing" as much as "having fits", depending on the system - computers might as well still use punch cards for all the good they do;

Don't see anything about the computers that implies they underperform modern technology. Admittedly having ~0 improvement in AI over that time is not really plausible, but that's 'safe-tech' for you.

Originally Posted by Seneschal

naval history is preserved in detail, yet people don't know what "samurai" are and think they're just characters in movies;

Graysons don't know what samurai are. Graysons don't know a lot of things. The University of Manticore probably knows more than that (unless the book explicitly contradicted that), and records on Earth certainly would cover it.

Honor is a naval history buff. Admittedly, the references to 20th century and earlier wet-navy stuff rather than the space navies of the next several centuries are a bit silly, but making historical references to history your readers don't know is questionable writing even if it's good worldbuilding.

Originally Posted by Seneschal

even though personal weapons can level a building, people are still impressed with a M1911 .45 ACP

People aren't any more resistant to either bullets or loud noises than modern people.

The things about it that impress people are its loudness and its recoil, not its performance.

The fact that it's an M1911 in particular is, of course, rather silly fanservice.

Originally Posted by Seneschal

duels and trial-by-combat are a-ok, but genetic engineering is a taboo that has endured for millennia, etc. etc.

Duels and trial by combat are both ridiculously backward customs.

Manticore and Grayson both have a rather silly tendency to maintain and cherish their ridiculously backward customs. It is rather questionable why Manticorans consider themselves obligated by dueling custom even if they and all their friends think it's stupid.

Originally Posted by Seneschal

Oooh, okay, thanks! That passage about Beowulf ethical codes made it look like they had survived something like Trek's eugenics wars, got all "WE'VE GONE TOO FAAAR" and cracked down on the mutants and supersoldiers. Wasn't expecting to see any of that, guess I'll have to keep reading.

Oh, that's exactly what happened.

But...
On the one hand, they did have their eugenics wars first.

On the other, there is more modern genetic engineering. Not just prolong. Honor's status as genetically augmented is well-documented, but not unique.