Royal Manticoran Navy

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Fan Club
Name: The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc.
Dates: founded 2007
Founder(s): Martin Lessem
Leadership: Martin Lessem (First Lord of the Admiralty), Laura Lochen (First Space Lord)
Country based in: USA
Focus: Honorverse
External Links: TRMN website
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Logo of TRMN

The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc. (abbrev: TRMN) is an association of fans of author David Weber's Honor Harrington series of novels and anthologies. The setting for the canon is referred to as the Honorverse, [1] and the organization takes its name from the space navy to which the main character belongs.

David Weber actively interacts with his fans, including the members of TRMN, of which he is the premier Honorary Member. He has served as Guest of Honor multiple times at TRMN organized conventions, including Honorcon and MantiCon. Weber established BuNine[2] as a team of consultants who assist him in developing Honorverse canon details, and BuNine cooperates with TRMN to provide uniform and insignia designs, as well as ship names and hull numbers and in-universe iconography such as organizational crests for use by the club.

As of 2019 there were more than 5,000 members in over 100 chapters. Members are primarily located in the USA, with additional chapters throughout the English-speaking world and others throughout the rest of Europe. The Czech Republic has a particularly active Honorverse fan presence.

TRMN maintains the MantiPedia [3], a publicly accessible wiki compiling detailed club lore, distinguished from the Honorverse Wiki [4], which details material from Honorverse canon.

TRMN membership is free. Instead of charging annual dues, TRMN raises operating funds through donations. Monetary donations are rewarded by membership in the Order of Queen Elizabeth at a rank level corresponding to the member's cumulative amount donated. [5]


History

The association was founded in 2007 as The Royal Manticoran Navy Fan Association, and in February 2011 received official recognition by David Weber and became "The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association" [6]

From trmn.org:

One book, two guys, and zero well-organized fan presence has led to this website; the home of The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association.

It all started in 2007, when two friends got together to talk about the Honor Harrington Series written by David Weber. They wanted to honor the strong character driven story, set in a great universe, but soon discovered that no such fan organization existed. After a year of hard work and dedication, the ground work was laid for The Royal Manticoran Navy Fan Association. By 2009, the newly formed fan association had opened a dialogue with Ad Astra. Later that year, our First Space Lord, was able to meet with David Weber and present him with our ideas for the organization. The end result: The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association was born in February 2011. [7]

Conventions

As most of the early leadership was located in the northeastern US, Shore Leave was a large gathering of TRMN members from 2010-2013, being designated an "Admiralty House" event and hosting annual award ceremonies. In 2013, TRMN paid for David Weber to be a Guest of Honor at Shore Leave.

In 2013 the first Honorcon was held, located in Greenville, South Carolina. This convention was dedicated to the David Weber's works, as well as his co-authors and similar military science fiction works. It was planned and operated by BuNine, who handed the convention planning and operation duties to TRMN for subsequent events, and Honorcon was held in Raleigh, North Carolina annually through 2017. MantiCon was conceived, planned, and operated by TRMN and was held annually on Memorial Day weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2015 through 2018.


TRMN Organization and Culture

TRMN founder Martin Lessem, along with many of the early leaders of the club, had belonged to STARFLEET International (SFI), and many pseudo-military elements of TRMN hierarchy and culture are inspired by SFI's structure, translated into the nomenclature used in the Honorverse canon.

TRMN members in uniform at MarsCon 2013

There are prescribed ranks for various positions at all levels of the organization. Members qualify for rank by passing exams administered by the Royal Manticoran Naval Academy (Saganami Island), TRMN's training organization named after the canon academy.

At science fiction conventions, members are encouraged (but not required) to wear canon uniforms, and the organization has produced an extensive range of canon insignia and award ribbons available for purchase. [8] For service and achievement, members are rewarded with orders, decorations, and medals, which they may wear on their dress uniforms.

Components

TRMN is comprised of several components. Each member selects one of these branches, and each branch has a leadership hierarchy reporting to the First Lord of the Admiralty:

  • Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN)
  • Royal Manticoran Marine Corps (RMMC)
  • Royal Manticoran Army (RMA)
  • Grayson Space Navy (GSN)
  • Republic of Haven Navy (RHN)
  • Imperial Andermani Navy (IAN)
  • Civilian Corps
  • Sphinx Forestry Commission (SFC)
  • Royal Manticoran Merchant Marine (RMMM)
  • Royal Manticoran Astro Control Service (RMACS)

Admiralty

The overall international TRMN leadership is known as the Admiralty, headed by the First Lord of the Admiralty (FLA). Administrative functions are performed by the seven bureaus, each headed by a Space Lord:

  • First Space Lord - 1SL - The 1SL is the head of the RMN component of TRMN and acts as the Chief of Naval Operations, leading the Bureaus as well as all of the numbered regional fleets within the navy.
  • Bureau of Planning (BuPlan) - BuPlan is responsible for the marketing, event planning, and recruitment and is run by the Second Space Lord (2SL).
  • Bureau of Ships (BuShips) - BuShips is responsible for the disposition of all Chapters within TRMN including commissioning, decommissioning, and changes of command and is run by the Third Space Lord (3SL).
  • Bureau of Communications (BuComm) - BuComm is responsible for all Communications for TRMN, including web services like MEDUSA and the Forums and is run by the Fourth Space Lord (4SL).
  • Bureau of Personnel (BuPers) - BuPers is responsible for the disposition of all members of TRMN including applications, transfers, promotions, and billeting and is run by the Fifth Space Lord (5SL).
  • Bureau of Training (BuTrain) - BuTrain is responsible for the training of all members of TRMN and runs the academies and is run by the Sixth Space Lord (6SL).
  • Bureau of Supply (BuSup) - BuSup is responsible for the production of canon uniform items for TRMN, swag and merchandise items, as well as managing the online store[9] where those items are sold and is run by the Seventh Space Lord (7SL).

Fleets

TRMN is geographically divided into regional fleets, each commanded by an flag officer who maintains a regional staff corresponding to the worldwide bureaus:

Fleet Number Nickname Area of Operations
First Fleet Home Fleet MD, DE, PA, MA, CT, RI, NY, NJ, NH, VT, ME, DC, & Northern VA*
Second Fleet Gryphon Fleet MN, WI, IL, IN, OH, KY, & MI
Third Fleet San Martino Fleet Southern VA*, WV, NC, SC, MS, AL, TN, GA, FL & Latin America
Fourth Fleet Grayson Home Fleet United Kingdom and Ireland
Fifth Fleet N/A Held for future use
Sixth Fleet Sphinx Fleet OK, TX, AR, LA, NE, KS, MO, IA, ND, & SD
Seventh Fleet The Imperial Andermani Expeditionary Fleet Continental Europe
Eight Fleet Basilisk Fleet AZ, NM, UT, CO, WY, & MT
Ninth Fleet N/A Held for use by Bureau Nine'
Tenth Fleet Talbott Fleet CA, OR, WA, NV, ID, & HI
Thirteenth Fleet Silesian Fleet Central Europe


Chapters

Chapters are named after canon RMN ships: HMS Invincible (SD-455)[10], for example. The chapter president is the ship's "Commanding Officer (CO)," who is assisted by an "Executive Officer (XO)" and a senior enlisted "Bosun." Together, these three are referred to as the "command triad."

Chapters must choose from a list of canon ship names and hull numbers maintained by BuShips, and there are minimum requirements (minimum number of members, minimum rank for CO and XO) for various size ships.

Code Hull Type Minimum crew Minimum CO rank
LAC Light Attack Craft 3 Lieutenant Senior Grade
DD Destroyer 6 Lieutenant Commander
CL Light Cruiser 8 Commander
CA Heavy Cruiser 10 Captain Junior Grade
BC Battlecruiser 12 Captain Junior Grade
DN Dreadnought 16 Captain Junior Grade
SD Superdreadnought 20 Captain Junior Grade
CLAC Carrier, LAC 15 Captain Junior Grade

Local chapters have the option of trading up to a larger ship type if they grow to meet the requirements of the larger type. This means that the chapter also changes their name, and the previously used ship name then becomes available for use by another chapter.

Chapters may combine with other chapters in their area to form squadrons.

Missile Pods

The Missile Pod is a specialty of TRMN hosted room parties at conventions. This is a three-layered alcoholic shot consisting of rumchata, creme de cacao, and Hot 100, consumed by a number of attendees as a group (a "missile volley") in a ceremonial presentation.

Formulation of new specialty drink recipes is referred to as Weapons Development (WepDev).

Mission Statement

It is the Mission of the Royal Manticoran Navy to bring an enjoyable and enlightening experience to fans of David Weber’s seminal series about Honor Harrington. We will do this by:

  • Being primarily focused on providing a fun experience to all of the members, from the newest members to the longest serving member.
  • Providing opportunities to lead, to serve, and to learn about the Honorverse, Science, and Space Exploration.
  • Providing a fandom venue that is professional, cooperative and collaborative.
  • Giving back to the greater community.
  • Providing an outlet for fans to Cosplay and role-play in the Honorverse.
[11]

TRMN supports the Big Cat Rescue charity as an homage to the fictional sentient species known as treecats, which feature in the Honorverse canon.[12]

While TRMN does not prohibit members from creating Honorverse fan fiction, "due to the copyright nature of the body of work, and the wishes of David Weber, the RMN will not post or reproduce any Fan Fiction on or in any of its materials, including web pages, newsletters and any other publication." [13]


References

  1. ^ Honorverse article at Wikipedia
  2. ^ BuNine Consulting
  3. ^ MantiPedia
  4. ^ Honorverse Wiki
  5. ^ Order of Queen Elizabeth
  6. ^ TRMN.org 'About Us' page
  7. ^ TRMN "About Us"
  8. ^ Bureau of Supply online store
  9. ^ TRMN Bureau of Supply online store
  10. ^ HMS Invincible page at MantiPedia
  11. ^ TRMN Mission Statement
  12. ^ TRMN.org 'Charities' page
  13. ^ Admiralty Order 1102-03: Fan Fiction Policy

External Links

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