Culture Shock
Homeward Bound
By Ruskbyte
Reviews
Pointer posted a comment on Monday 21st January 2008 1:53am for Homeward Bound
Fantastic story. Never read any of the culture stories, but I'm tempted to try them.
If Harry demonstrates his abilities at Hogwarts, more than one party's in for a rude culture shock.
Wand waving just isn't going to cut it after that show. Although the magical focus bit might be interesting.
Thwaaack posted a comment on Monday 21st January 2008 1:15am for Homeward Bound
I wonder, would you be so kind as to provide us with some background info into the Culture world you are incorporating into your work? Specifically, I would like some more info in regards to the knife missile and the functions and capabilities of the drones. An earlier review kind of alluded to Sma's giving Skaffen cart blanche to use everything to protect Harry was akin to using a nuclear device to swat a mosquito. Your fic has gotten me intrigued in the world of The Culture, unfortunately I cannot find the books at my local B&N, although there is a re-print coming out in March.
bajab posted a comment on Sunday 20th January 2008 4:26am for Homeward Bound
Interesting, even without having read any of the source material for the cross over.
Disobedience posted a comment on Sunday 20th January 2008 12:13am for Homeward Bound
I've never read the Culture novels your crossover is based on, but I find myself quite fascinated with this story. It's interesting to see a Harry who is famous, okay with his fame, and still an average kinda guy.
I loved the line about going to Earth to distance himself from manipulative types. I suspect you'll be trying to show Dumbledore at his scheming best (and failing in comparison to the Minds).
I look forward to seeing where this might go. Very, very interesting.
rune1806 posted a comment on Saturday 19th January 2008 8:56pm for Homeward Bound
Very different, i am enjoying the story.
bmatsea posted a comment on Friday 18th January 2008 6:56pm for Homeward Bound
this is one of the best crossover stories I have read in a long time looking forward to more.
Bmat
koppe posted a comment on Friday 18th January 2008 10:43am for Homeward Bound
Great story so far, though I suffer some from being totally ignorant of the sci-fi book-series.
So they're slowing building Harry's confidence and hope he'll breed? I hope they'll sucessfull and he actually impregnate a girl or two before reaching Earth... I'd also like if he and Sma got involved, and perhaps had a child (she could obviously need a more steady male in her life). Regardless I hope Harry will get involved with a few "Earth-girls" too (Hermione, Patils, Susan, ...), perhaps after it's decided that breeding him will witches will guarantee sucess.
So he'll be arriving in November... guess a lot of people will get disapointed come September 1st. Hope he'll be in time to save Hermione (if she needs saving).
I love the names of the space-ships (LOL), more of those.
Keep up the good work, and update soon.
Terdwilicker posted a comment on Friday 18th January 2008 10:26am for Homeward Bound
One of the trickier aspects of this story will be keeping the Culture secret, and then revealing the Culture to the wizarding world. A cover story would be a very good idea. Perhaps Harry has been in a very exclusive Technomancy Enclave in Canada or South America, where technology and magic are blended carefully together (which explains the drone), resulting in golems, marionettes, charmed devices with a ghost joined to them, thus Skaffen Amtiskaw can think and be witty. It won't fool Hermione for very long, but it would fool everyone else. It won't fool Luna at all, but nobody will believe her.
One character aspect which will be different is Harry's hunger for friendship could be quite a bit less. He'll be motivated to meet people and learn things, but not accepting anyone who says hello to him as his best friend. Missing the train also means he'll miss Ron and Hermione and Neville as immediate friends, and miss Malfoy as the hapless rival character. Sorting him into Hufflepuff has already been suggested. Hope you write and release more this weekend.
Meteoricshipyards posted a comment on Friday 18th January 2008 8:09am for Homeward Bound
Very enjoyable, and I liked that bit of foreshadowing - "It's not like he's going to be attacked by a monster the first day of classes" (or something like that), when he is showing up around Halloween.
One think that jarred me while reading, though. Dumbledore says something about being able to send the portkey around "the planet". He should have said, "the world." It's not a big deal, it just broke the flow of the text, and I thought I'd point it out.
Thank you for a very enjoyable story.
Tom A.
Miles Hance posted a comment on Friday 18th January 2008 12:57am for Homeward Bound
if you ever get up to the prisoner of azkaban timeline with this, i have an idea for what to do with peter pettigrew.
the culture needs to better understand magic and magical people right? have harry give pettigrew to the culture as a lab rat. peter betrayed everyone, now he can suffer as a lab rat for aliens for the rest of his life. experiments or dissection would be right up his alley.
Novice posted a comment on Thursday 17th January 2008 5:25pm for Homeward Bound
Nice. I have to admit that Harry's level of sexual "awareness" raises an eyebrow. However, I then think of articles I've read over the years about people concerned that children (especially females) are maturing more quickly and (Gasp!) becoming sexually active at an earlier age. Now take into account that, in the Culture, "perfect" physical health isn't a goal - it's a reality for all of its biological citizens. So, after a bit of thought, Harry's level of sexual activity isn't (IMO) beyond belief.
What really interests me is how Dumbledore is going to deal with (this version of) Harry Potter, and how he (and Britain's Wizarding World in general) will see Harry. You've already shown how Dumbledore - because of the limits of what he knows - thinks that Harry's been living in a heavily warded location.
I seem stuck thinking that Dumbledore's going to end up thinking that Harry's been raised by Sidhe - and/or other fey beings - "under the hill". IMO, it's a logical conclusion, given the facts that Dumbledore "knows", even without knowing of the strange "magical" (as the Culture's technology would seem to Sol-Terresa humans) devices Harry will have.
This isn't meant to say that Dumbledore is a stupid bigot. It's just that the Culture is an Outside Context Problem for Earth's wizards and witches. And (at least at the beginning) they won't have a *clue* that they're dealing with an Outside Context Problem.
First, you have the energy it took to get the portkey to reach Harry. Dumbledore now knows that either Harry's in a location with stronger wards that Hogwarts, or he's not on the Earth. And even if he asks a muggleborn, he'll know that humans haven't gone further than the Earth's moon.
Second, you have the time difference between Harry getting his Hogwarts letter and his arrival. Either Harry took his sweet time in coming to Hogwarts, even by muggle standards, or it was quite a journey from where he was.
Third, you have Harry's physical condition. Even a pureblood who got the best of care and physical trainers - from the moment they were born - probably won't be as in as good as shape as Harry. Canon Harry, IMO, always seemed smaller and less well developed (physically) than anyone else in his year. Culture!Harry is going, IMO, to be at the other end of that scale.
Fourth, you have Harry's mental and social development. (Including his "precocious" interest in attractive young ladies.) Whether it's a general trait those raised by the Culture, or due to the fact that the Culture is very interested in Harry's abilities (both "magical" and as a (potential) Referrer), he's much more mature than I think *I* was when I was eleven! Not to mention that someone raised in the Culture isn't going to think or act like someone raised in modern day London or New York.
In any event, I want to thank you for this chapter!
Eagerly awaiting the next chapter,
Novice.
amulder posted a comment on Thursday 17th January 2008 10:42am for Homeward Bound
Howdy. 'nother interesting chapter.
I've just browsed through all the comments (so far) on this chapter and a few things come to mind
- I agree that I'd like to see it mentioned just how physically/mentaly mature Harry is. Do Culture children age quicker? I understand that modern human girls, for instance achieve sexual maturity (menstruation) a few years earlier than they did a few centuries ago, and this is partially attributed to better health and nutrition of today. Is that the same for the Culture with their far advanced health? Do children attain maturity earlier? I haven't read the Culture books, so I really don't know.
- related to that... if Harry is really so adult-like, just which class will he fit in with? Based on canon, the 11-year-olds of his peer group are not particularly mentally or physically mature.
- furthermore, as has been illustrated, he already has managed to master a certain amount of magic. Put that together with his neural lace, and I'm betting that he will find the learning methods of Hogwarts to be painfully slow. (Notes? Why take notes? Instant recal is provided by the neural lace isn't it? It seems to be some sort of mental computer interface. Tests? What is the point with full recall?)
Just how quickly can a child of the culture advance through the Hogwarts curriculum?!?!?
- someone else mentioned legilimency. Hmm. The problem there is that Harry needs to actually be aware of it taking place, in order to react.
- Again, ignorance of Culture here. They talk about magic as some sort of Hyperspace Grid manipulation. This to me seems to imply that the technology of the Culture can actually monitor at least some aspect of Magic. I see all kinds of interesting things there. If they can monitor ALL of it, what that might do to Snape or Dumbledore who try to covertly do things. But if they can only monitor SOME of it, what wonderful confusion and frustration might be sown among Harry's companions/superiors.
- Now what about this whole contact thing. Just how secret does Sma and crew intend to be? So far it seems like the Culture wishes to conceal itself, as much as possible, from Earth. Therefore, just how much will they actually _tell_ Dumbledore and crew? That would be kind of ironic. The Wizarding world keeps itself hidden from the Muggle worlds, and if the Culture world also keeps _itself_ hidden then that would be quite a just desserts on the Wizards of earth... ;-)
- Someone else mentioned pairing, which I find a bit silly. First, given the age of everyone involved, and second just the whole cultural gap. From reading the story so far, I'm not even sure if Harry is going to **LIKE** any of the people that he meets, let alone like them enough to be friends, let alone like them enough to find them romantically interesting.
thanks for sharing, keep it up.
...art
theform posted a comment on Thursday 17th January 2008 8:11am for Homeward Bound
thoroughly enjoyed your latest offering. it all seems to be moving at just the right pace. Can't wait for the next chapter where Harry is on Earth. Harry as a casanova is going to be very interesting. or is he going to look down on terrans too much to even consider relationships?
Amamama posted a comment on Thursday 17th January 2008 7:57am for Homeward Bound
I find this story quite amusing, and you write in a way that makes the concepts of the Culture easy to grasp, something I'm grateful for as I haven't read as much as a sentence of those books. I do wonder about Harry being amorous with his girlfriend though - at 11? Isn't that a bit early? At that age I wouldn't have considered even doing that with a boy, but then maybe I was a bit slow... Or maybe Harry, having grown up in the Culture with all that entails is emotionally as mature as a 20-year old? Nice story, anyway. Keep going! :)
Crys posted a comment on Thursday 17th January 2008 7:24am for Homeward Bound
> It’s not like some hideous magical monster’s going to try and kill him on his first day in the classroom."
I dunno. That's a fair description of Snape, actually.
*ponder* Okay, the clones are not "awake". They can be used as ship avatars or new vessels for the recently dead. That makes me feel slightly better about the whole deal.
I'm glad you're having Harry take it a bit (well, a little bit) slow. The idea of an 11 year old actively trying to have kids is more than a little squicky. How active he is (short of full intercourse) is still more than I'm truly comfortable with, but he did grow up in a vastly different culture.
Harry is going to be seriously frustrated by his peers at Hogwarts. They are, after all, kids. Hermione's the only one even close to being able to keep up with his maturity, and she, quite honestly, shouldn't be able to. Interesting to watch the interaction he has with everyone.
Thwaaack posted a comment on Thursday 17th January 2008 3:56am for Homeward Bound
Another excellent chapter. I am looking forward to seeing the response to Harry not being there for the beginning of term, as well as the reaction to his arrival when he does show up. If the sorting hat is involved, it will be quite interesting how it interacts with an unnaturally(?) enhanced wizard.
UdderPD posted a comment on Thursday 17th January 2008 1:55am for Homeward Bound
Being the intrepid soul I am I tend to treat Authors Notes with the same degree of reverance as I retain for DIY assembly instsuctions; ergo I ignore them.
So I fing myself having read three chapters of a HP crossover story and I have never read any Ian Banks.
None the less I find myself looking forward to the meeting between Draco le Ferret and an anti-matter nano missile. (Or is that a tad extreem?)
I hope that I can keep up with the cross-over references because the story is very entertaining.
TTFN UdderPD
stephen kempey posted a comment on Thursday 17th January 2008 12:09am for Homeward Bound
poor death eaters a drone with shot on site, no limit orders, they are dead. only question is what state will londen, england, the western world and earth in general be in when it gets done. more importantly wha will happen when someone piss off the minds?
PhoenixAnkaa posted a comment on Wednesday 16th January 2008 11:57pm for Homeward Bound
I have to say, I didn't think I would, but I am greatly enjoying this so far. To add to that, you have piqued my interest in Iain M. Bank’s Culture novels as well. I began reading this because I am a big fan of your other HP writing and so far this has not disappointed in the least. I can't wait to see where this all leads.
Now I'm off to Amazon.com to look up the Culture. :)
PA
morriganscrow posted a comment on Monday 21st January 2008 5:53am for Homeward Bound