Gryphon

Gryphon is one of three habitable planets in the Manticore system, the home system of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, a fictional binary star system found in the Honorverse. It is one of two planets of Manticore B and the only habitable one, with a planetary population at the turn of the 20th Century post diaspora of 575 million inhabitants, plus another 298 million living in Manticore-B's asteroid belts. It has a very considerable axial tilt, leading to extreme seasonal weather. The planet's environment is not very pleasant, with extremely harsh winters with snowfall measured in meters. As a result, natives of Gryphon tend to be a very tough bunch, and also a little contemptuous of people who were not born on Gryphon.

With a sparse population, Manticore-B's single habitable planet was the least hospitable and last settled of the Manticore System's three Earth-like worlds with its notorious winters. On the other hand, Gryphon's weather has made the planet the Star Kingdom's leading ski resort, with tourism accounting for twenty percent of the gross planetary product. Gryphon's economy is mainly agrarian, although the extraction of minerals from Manticore-B's asteroid belts serves as the base of a sprawling space industry.

Gryphon is much more sparsely populated than either Sphinx or Manticore, but a higher percentage of her population joins the Royal Manticore Navy. Its society is very rough-edged, and people tend to view Manticorans and Sphinxians as soft. In Manticoran politics natives of Gryphon are considered to be conservative royalists.

The commoner population of Gryphon holds a significant degree of distrust and resentment towards the planetary aristocracy, which had its peak with the so-called "Gryphon Uprising"; a series of low-level conflicts early in the history of the Star Kingdom between the aristocracy and the commoners regarding the ownership and use of lands. As a consequence, the commoners of Gryphon are staunch supporters of the Crown as defender of the commoner population against the aristocracy, while the planetary aristocracy is mostly of conservative political leanings (supportive of the rule and privileges of the Star Kingdom's nobility).

Several references are made to "Gryphon granite," presumably a superiorly-dense mineral composite. Gryphon is also famous for the Kodiak Maximus, a species of large carnivores with highly valued fur.

Allegory

Gryphon seems to serve as an allegory for Scotland, as Gryphon natives are often referred to as "highlanders".

Notable natives of Gryphon

• Sally MacBride
• Mercedes Brigham
• Anton Zilwicki
• Helen Zilwicki (daughter of Anton and Captain Helen Zilwicki)

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