I Will Build My House of Steel

I Will Build My House of Steel is an Honorverse-themed novella written by David Weber that forms the first half of the 2013 companion book House of Steel. It is very much a biography of King Roger III of Manticore.
Timeframe: 1844 - 1914 PD
== Plot ==
While serving as first officer of the destroyer HMS Wolverine, Crown Prince Roger of Manticore realizes the growing threat by foreign powers that his Star Kingdom faces. He advocates for a stronger wall of battle to properly safeguard the Manticore System and the Manticore Wormhole Junction, but meets strong opposition from entrenched forces in the Navy.
After several years of minimal progress in this regard, and with the looming threat of the expansionist People's Republic of Haven in the distance, Roger seeks to join the Bureau of Weapons to help work on technological advances to offset the RMN's quantitative disadvantage with a qualitative advantage. His mother Queen Samantha II arranges for him to be transferred, where Fourth Space Lord Carrie Lomax assigns him to work under Commander Jonas Adcock in the Concept Development Office. There, he meets several future RMN stars including Sebastian D'Orville, Hamish Alexander and Sonja Hemphill, as well as Commander Adcock's sister Angelique, with whom he falls in love and marries.
Samantha II passes away in 1857 PD, and Roger III succeeds to the throne. He pushes aggressively for a Fleet buildup in preparation for the upcoming war, and sets up Project Gram to continue weapons R&D with now-Captain Adcock in charge. During his reign, Roger forces through the annexation of the Basilisk System, amends the Junction Treaty of 1590 PD to better secure the Junction, forms the Manticoran Alliance, and begins educating his daughter Elizabeth in interstellar politics.
In 1883 PD, with a Havenite invasion of Trevor's Star imminent, Roger plans to go to San Martin to negotiate a mutual defense treaty with President Hector Ramirez, hoping to present a strong front against the People's Republic and give them pause. Before he can make the trip, however, he is assassinated in a staged grav ski accident. His heir Queen Elizabeth III lacks the stature to push the agreement through, and Trevor's Star is conquered by the PRH. Nevertheless, she continues his work in readying for the impending war with Haven.
The story jumps forward to Operation Buttercup, where Admiral Hamish Alexander, Earl White Haven effortlessly destroys a People's Navy fleet in the Battle of Barnett with no losses thanks to the work of Adcock and others at BuWeaps. Upon learning of the clear victory over the People's Republic, Elizabeth goes to visit her father's crypt in King Michael's Cathedral, where she tearfully recalls his many efforts that brought the Star Kingdom to this point, and his pledge as inscribed on his plaque: "I will build my house of steel."
== References ==
=== Characters ===
Aidan Adcock | 
Angelique Adcock the Elder | 
Angelique Adcock the Younger | 
Annette Adcock | 
Jeptha Adcock | 
Jonas Adcock | 
Sebastian Adcock | 
Emily Alexander | 
Hamish Alexander | 
Murdoch Alexander | 
Gustav Anderman XI | 
Ariel | 
Godfrey Bannister | 
Bradley | 
Helen Bradley | 
Alice Bryson | 
Thomas Caparelli | 
Daniel Chou | 
Sandra Connors | 
Jackson Denham | 
Alec Dimitri | 
Franklyn Dodson | 
Ellen D'Orville | 
Sebastian D'Orville | 
Padraic Dover | 
Patrick DuCain | 
Joseph Dunleavy | 
Havel Fitzgibbons | 
Patricia Givens | 
Paula Gwinner | 
Alyson Granston-Henley | 
Trevor Haggerston | 
Sidney Harris | 
Klaus Hauptman | 
Bethany Havinghurst | 
Robert Hemphill | 
Sonja Hemphill | 
Edward Henke | 
Adenauer Hewitt | 
Edward Janacek | 
Janofsky | 
Willis Kemeny | 
Abner Laidlaw | 
Orwell Lebrun | 
Carlton Locatelli | 
Carrie Lomax | 
Janice MacMillan | 
Magnus |
Mandelbaum | 
Jean Marrou | 
Anders Mavroudis | 
Alfredo Maxwell | 
Donald Keegan Morrison | 
Monroe | 
Rachel Nageswar | 
O'Banion | 
O'Flaherty | 
Casper O'Grady | 
Elisa Paderweski | 
Hillary Palin | 
Jerome Pearce | 
Minerva Prince | 
Bynum Proctor | 
Hector Ramirez | 
George Rodriguez | 
Matthäus Routhier | 
Edward Saganami | 
Quentin Saint-James | 
Marvin Seltman | 
Ellen Shemais | 
Leonard Shumate | 
Gerald Stovalt | 
William Spruance | 
Sugiyama | 
Allen Summervale | 
Thomas Theisman | 
Thompson | 
Lynette Tillman | 
Alice Truman | 
Frederick Truman | 
Marisa Turner | 
Shadwell Turner | 
Trevor | 
Caitrin Winton-Henke | 
Sheridan Wallace | 
Elizabeth III Winton | 
Roger Winton | 
Samantha II Winton | 
Jacob Wundt | 
Pablo Wyeth | 
Jonathan Yerensky | 
Dimitri Young
=== Spacecraft ===
* GNS Benjamin the Great
* HMS Daimyo
* HMS Samothrace
* HMS Wolverine
=== Stations ===
* HMSS Hephaestus
* HMSS Vulcan
* HMSS Weyland
* Ingeborg Alpha
=== Nations ===
* Andermani Empire
* Republic of Gregor
* People's Republic of Haven
* Star Kingdom of Manticore
* Silesian Confederacy
* Solarian League
=== Planets ===
* Beowulf
* Enki
* Gryphon
* Manticore
* Maslow
* Medusa
* San Martin
* Sphinx
* Old Terra
=== Other ===
Aberu and Harmon | 
Ad Astra-class | 
Astral Energetics, Ltd | 
Axelrod Corporation | 
Operation Bagration | 
Basic Living Stipend | 
Basilisk Station | 
Basilisk System | 
Grand Duchy of Basilisk | 
battleship | 
Beowulf Planetary Board of Directors | 
Barnett System | 
Battle of Barnett | 
Barony of Big Sky | 
biosculpt | 
Bureau of Personnel | 
Bureau of Ships | 
BuMed | 
Bureau of Training | 
Barony of Castle Rock | 
CLAC | 
Conservative Association | 
Constitutional Convention of 1795 PD | 
Concept Development Office | 
Cherwell Convention | 
Duchy of Cromarty | 
crown oak | 
Defense of the Realm Act | 
destroyer | 
dreadnought | 
DuQuesne Base | 
East Slocum | 
Economic Bill of Rights | 
Eighth Fleet
Ferret-class | 
Fifth Space Lord | 
First Lord of the Admiralty | 
First Space Lord | 
Footstep | 
Glenfiddich Grand Reserve | 
Gram | 
Gregor Terminus | 
Grendel University | 
Grendelsbane System | 
Haven Quadrant | 
Haven System | 
Hennesy System | 
Hennesy Terminus | 
Hereditary President | 
HD | 
Earldom of Howell | 
House of Lords | 
House of Winton | 
Indigo Salt Flats | 
Ingeborg Incident | 
Into the Fire | 
Junction Treaty of 1590 PD | 
King Michael's Cathedral | 
Landing | 
Landing Times | 
Landing University | 
Liberal Party | 
Barony of Low Delhi | 
Manticoran Alliance | 
Manticore Press | 
Manticore Binary System | 
Manticore Wormhole Junction | 
Maslow System | 
Matapan System | 
Matapan Terminus | 
Medusans | 
Earldom of Mortenson | 
Mount Royal Palace | 
Mjølner | 
Navy Promotion Selection Register (Captains, Senior Grade) | 
Earldom of New Kiev | 
New Men Party | 
Earldom of North Hollow | 
Nouveau Paris | 
ONI | 
Official Secrets Act | 
Palace Security | 
Palin, Holder, and Mitchell, Ltd. | 
Plaza Falls Hotel | 
political action committee | 
Proceedings of the Royal Manticoran Navy Institute | 
Project Python | 
Queen's Own | 
Royal Manticoran Navy | 
Royal Society of Silviculture | 
Royal Winton-class | 
Rutgers System | 
Samothrace-class | 
San Martin War | 
Second Space Lord | 
Barony of Seawell | 
Shell Game | 
Shrike-class | 
Solarian League Navy | 
Borough of South Thule | 
Special Intelligence Service | 
Sphinx Forestry Service | 
Barony of Styler | 
Earldom of Summercross | 
superdreadnought | 
Technodyne Industries | 
Third Fleet | 
Third Space Lord | 
Earldom of Thompson | 
Thorsten-class | 
To Stand Against the Tempest | 
Trantham Hall | 
Treadwell Yard | 
Trevor's Star System | 
Triangle Route | 
Earldom of White Haven
Category:Honorverse material