Alliance-Union universe
Encyclopedia
The Alliance-Union universe is a fictional universe
created by science fiction
and fantasy
author C. J. Cherryh
. It is the setting for an epic future history
series extending from the 21st century out into the far future.
To date, the corpus of the Alliance-Union universe consists of 27 science fiction novel
s along with a series of seven short story
anthologies edited by Cherryh and a few other miscellaneous works. It encompasses both books for which Cherryh won the Hugo Award
for Best Novel
, Downbelow Station
and Cyteen
, and also incorporates various other series books such as the Faded Sun
trilogy, the Chanur
novels, the four Morgaine books, and the Merovingen Nights
shared world series.
s are financed by the private Sol Corporation, eventually known as the Earth Company. Each new station is built by the previous one and is located ever farther away from Earth
. In the days before faster-than-light
travel (FTL), nine stations are laboriously constructed around nine stars, all lacking habitable planets.
The stationers and the merchanters who man the ships that supply them both develop distinct cultural identities
, but remain psychologically and to some degree materially dependent on Earth. Still, directives from Earth, bound by the speed of light, arrive hopelessly out-of-date and are routinely ignored, making the Earth Company's attempts to maintain control increasingly futile.
When Pell's World
is discovered in the Tau Ceti
system, the fragile economic and political equilibrium is disrupted. Not only is this new planet's biosphere
reasonably hospitable to humans – requiring only gas masks and air tanks for survival – but it also supports intelligent alien life, the gentle, technologically primitive Hisa, called "Downers" by humans. Importantly, human crops can be grown on Pell's World, dangerously weakening Earth's economic dominance. After the construction of Pell Station
above the planet, colonists expand outward in space with renewed vigor and build additional stations even more distant from Earth.
The first successful FTL probe using newly developed jump
technology is launched in 2248. Earth takes advantage of the breakthrough to try to re-assert its authority among the colonists. With a poor understanding of stationers and merchanters alike, its clumsy attempts backfire, provoking first unrest, then occasional armed clashes, and eventually rebellion
. As the situation spirals out of control, the Earth Company commissioned the building of 50 military carriers, the "Company Fleet", under the command of Conrad Mazian, to enforce its orders.
The situation culminates in 2300 with the declaration of an independent Union by the colonists centered at the Cyteen system, another habitable planet and space station at Lalande 46650, precipitating outright war. The Union augments its population and armed forces
with genetically engineered
and psychologically conditioned
human clones
, called azi
, which are seen as an abomination by Earth.
Fighting between the Fleet and Union forces is fierce during the ensuing "Company War". The stations closest to Earth, disturbed by the azi and other developments on the Union side, remain loyal to Earth; several of these are destroyed by Union action. With sporadic inadequate support from Earth, the Fleet has no choice but to forcibly requisition equipment and personnel from the increasingly alienated merchanters. However, these measures only serve to maintain the existing warships. Without new ships to replace its combat losses, the Fleet gradually begins to lose a war of attrition
.
Caught in the middle are the merchanter families and Pell Station, the primary transit point between Earth and Union space. The conflict comes to a head at Pell in late 2352 and early 2353, as described in the novel Downbelow Station. Faced with the increasingly dangerous situation, many of the merchanter families finally band together to form the Merchanter's Alliance, creating a third, neutral power, soon after a team arrives from Earth to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Mazian refuses to accept the peace and the Fleet continues to fight, this time in the service of his own ambition. Signy Mallory, one of his most senior captains, defects to the new Alliance out of disgust, but the remainder of the Fleet remains loyal to Mazian, becoming renegades and pirates out of necessity.
With Earth turned against the Fleet, Union sees a chance to finally rid itself of its bitter enemy. Because Union does not dare weaken its forces at this crucial juncture to guard its rear against the newborn state, the Alliance is able to broker a peace treaty, with Pell Station as its de facto home base. The treaty cedes to the Alliance a monopoly on interstellar commerce, even within Union, giving it the power to shut down stations simply by withholding trade.
As the danger of the Fleet recedes, a new rivalry develops between the Alliance and Union. Union resents the treaty restrictions, while the Alliance fears being overwhelmed by Union's greater population. Tensions rise further when a precious habitable planet in the Alliance sphere of influence is found to harbor a population descended from a secret Union military mission deliberately abandoned there to deny the Alliance an easy acquisition.
Meanwhile, within Union, two political factions vie to determine its future. Unbeknownst to either, brilliant scientist and political leader Ariane Emory has her own agenda.
The events depicted in the first books in the series, Heavy Time and Hellburner, take place shortly after the start of the war. Most of the books set in this universe, however, take place subsequent to the establishment of both the Merchanter Alliance and the breakaway Union, hence the label "Alliance-Union" universe.
, or especially for works such as Cyteen and Downbelow Station, hard science fiction
. The "Company Wars" novels and the Faded Sun trilogy regarding the Mri Wars are also examples of the military science fiction
subgenre. The Merovingen Nights series takes place on a single planet and features swashbuckling heroes and low levels of technology, and as such might be classified as science fantasy
, borrowing elements from the historic sword and planet
subgenre; this is also true for the Morgaine Cycle books, set remotely in time and space from the main sequence. Unlike most works in this universe, the novel Voyager in Night also borrows elements from horror fiction
.
Cherryh has stated that with two exceptions, the books set in the Alliance-Union universe can be read in any order, "just like real history." The first exception she notes are the two novels Heavy Time and Hellburner, which should be read in that order (as originally published and as compiled together in the omnibus edition Devil to the Belt
). The two are prequels to Downbelow Station, although they can be read either before or after that novel. The second exception are Cyteen and its sequel Regenesis, which are tightly linked and should be read in that order too.
The novels in the Faded Sun trilogy are designed to be read in sequence, as are the books within the Chanur and Morgaine series. The Merovingen Nights series begins with the novel Angel With the Sword and then continues to the short story anthologies, numbered 1 through 7.
The novels Port Eternity and Voyager in Night feature additional sentient alien races. The Morgaine books are built around the actions of a humanoid race called the Qual, Khal and similar names, while Morgaine herself is a half-blood member of the "ancestors of the qual", and the third book in the series, features an arboreal species called the Harilim.
Space station residents (stationers) tend toward extreme caution towards both their physical as well as social and economic environments, since an unplanned change in any of them could be fatal to the entire station population. For example, a great deal of the conflict in Downbelow Station is caused by Pell Station's need to absorb a large refugee population, for which they do not have adequate housing or jobs.
Starship crew (spacers) have an extremely insular world-view engendered by the time-dilation effects of jump; this attitude was even more extreme before the jump drive was developed, when travel between stars took years. Merchant starships are all crewed by extended families, which occasionally fission if the family prospers enough to purchase another ship. Merchanter women will often have unprotected sex while in port in order to become pregnant and preserve genetic diversity in their crew-families. Spacer self-identification is so great that many spacers would rather starve to death than accept "grounding" and a stationer's life. Spacers often feel they can only relate to other spacers, since stationers and planet-dwellers seem to rapidly age and die from their perspective.
Additionally, in Union, there is a sociological and psychological division between the unengineered citizen population ("CITs" or "born-men") and the azi. Azi are treated by CITs on a continuum between outright slavery and the companionship of equals; in many ways they are treated like children, since they are vulnerable to stimuli that lie outside the coping abilities of their artificially-constructed psychologies. The majority view in Union is that azi are necessary to preserve the technological and industrial base of their many space settlements, while a minority wants to abolish the practice and cease azi production. The majority view is apt to be the more stable and persistent, since azi can, in time, become citizens whose children are born CITs, and these children receive their basic values from their parents. In this way the majority view is reinforced and grown, and the minority "Abolitionist" view becomes increasingly marginalized. This process is the result of deliberate social engineering on the part of Reseune, the Cyteen-based center of all research and development concerning human cloning.
musician Leslie Fish
and others, and released in 1985 on an album entitled Finity's End.
and its sequel Regenesis
Forty Thousand in Gehenna
Downbelow Station
The Merchanter novels
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
created by science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
author C. J. Cherryh
C. J. Cherryh
Carolyn Janice Cherry , better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is a United States science fiction and fantasy author...
. It is the setting for an epic future history
Future history
A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors in the subgenre of speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction...
series extending from the 21st century out into the far future.
To date, the corpus of the Alliance-Union universe consists of 27 science fiction novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s along with a series of seven short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
anthologies edited by Cherryh and a few other miscellaneous works. It encompasses both books for which Cherryh won the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
, Downbelow Station
Downbelow Station
Downbelow Station is a science fiction novel written by C. J. Cherryh and published in 1981 by DAW Books. It won the Hugo Award in 1982, was shortlisted for a Locus Award that same year, and was named by Locus Magazine as one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all time in 1987.The book is set...
and Cyteen
Cyteen
Cyteen is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel by C. J. Cherryh set in her Alliance-Union universe. The murder of a major Union politician and scientist has deep, long-lasting repercussions....
, and also incorporates various other series books such as the Faded Sun
Faded Sun Trilogy
The Faded Sun trilogy is a series of science fiction novels set in the Alliance-Union universe of C. J. Cherryh. The series comprises the three novels The Faded Sun: Kesrith , The Faded Sun: Shon'jir , and The Faded Sun: Kutath and were published by DAW Books. They were re-published in as an...
trilogy, the Chanur
The Chanur novels
The Chanur novels is a series of five science fiction novels written by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh and published by DAW Books between 1981 and 1992. The first novel in the series is The Pride of Chanur , which was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1983...
novels, the four Morgaine books, and the Merovingen Nights
Merovingen Nights
Merovingen Nights is a series of shared world science fiction books set in writer C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe. There are eight books in the series, a novel by Cherryh, Angel With the Sword, and seven short fiction anthologies which Cherryh edited...
shared world series.
Introduction
As humanity reaches out to the stars, space stationSpace station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
s are financed by the private Sol Corporation, eventually known as the Earth Company. Each new station is built by the previous one and is located ever farther away from Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. In the days before faster-than-light
Faster-than-light
Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
travel (FTL), nine stations are laboriously constructed around nine stars, all lacking habitable planets.
The stationers and the merchanters who man the ships that supply them both develop distinct cultural identities
Cultural identity
Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....
, but remain psychologically and to some degree materially dependent on Earth. Still, directives from Earth, bound by the speed of light, arrive hopelessly out-of-date and are routinely ignored, making the Earth Company's attempts to maintain control increasingly futile.
When Pell's World
Downbelow (planet)
Downbelow is a fictional planet in American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe. It was the first planet discovered by humans with an advanced ecosystem and, more significantly, intelligent alien life in the form of the Hisa...
is discovered in the Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti is a star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun's mass. At a distance of just under 12 light-years from the Solar System, it is a relatively close star. Tau Ceti is metal-deficient and so is thought to be less likely to...
system, the fragile economic and political equilibrium is disrupted. Not only is this new planet's biosphere
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
reasonably hospitable to humans – requiring only gas masks and air tanks for survival – but it also supports intelligent alien life, the gentle, technologically primitive Hisa, called "Downers" by humans. Importantly, human crops can be grown on Pell's World, dangerously weakening Earth's economic dominance. After the construction of Pell Station
Downbelow Station
Downbelow Station is a science fiction novel written by C. J. Cherryh and published in 1981 by DAW Books. It won the Hugo Award in 1982, was shortlisted for a Locus Award that same year, and was named by Locus Magazine as one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all time in 1987.The book is set...
above the planet, colonists expand outward in space with renewed vigor and build additional stations even more distant from Earth.
The first successful FTL probe using newly developed jump
Jump (Alliance-Union universe)
Jump is a fictional technology used by spacecraft in science fiction author C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe to travel faster-than-light . Jump can also be a verb, and is the act of travelling FTL using jump technology....
technology is launched in 2248. Earth takes advantage of the breakthrough to try to re-assert its authority among the colonists. With a poor understanding of stationers and merchanters alike, its clumsy attempts backfire, provoking first unrest, then occasional armed clashes, and eventually rebellion
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
. As the situation spirals out of control, the Earth Company commissioned the building of 50 military carriers, the "Company Fleet", under the command of Conrad Mazian, to enforce its orders.
The situation culminates in 2300 with the declaration of an independent Union by the colonists centered at the Cyteen system, another habitable planet and space station at Lalande 46650, precipitating outright war. The Union augments its population and armed forces
Armed forces
The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
with genetically engineered
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
and psychologically conditioned
Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is a form of conditioning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov...
human clones
Human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue...
, called azi
Azi (clone)
Azi are a fictional type of human clones invented by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. They appear in various books in her Alliance-Union universe. "Azi" is an acronym for "artificial zygote insemination"...
, which are seen as an abomination by Earth.
Fighting between the Fleet and Union forces is fierce during the ensuing "Company War". The stations closest to Earth, disturbed by the azi and other developments on the Union side, remain loyal to Earth; several of these are destroyed by Union action. With sporadic inadequate support from Earth, the Fleet has no choice but to forcibly requisition equipment and personnel from the increasingly alienated merchanters. However, these measures only serve to maintain the existing warships. Without new ships to replace its combat losses, the Fleet gradually begins to lose a war of attrition
Attrition warfare
Attrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and matériel....
.
Caught in the middle are the merchanter families and Pell Station, the primary transit point between Earth and Union space. The conflict comes to a head at Pell in late 2352 and early 2353, as described in the novel Downbelow Station. Faced with the increasingly dangerous situation, many of the merchanter families finally band together to form the Merchanter's Alliance, creating a third, neutral power, soon after a team arrives from Earth to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Mazian refuses to accept the peace and the Fleet continues to fight, this time in the service of his own ambition. Signy Mallory, one of his most senior captains, defects to the new Alliance out of disgust, but the remainder of the Fleet remains loyal to Mazian, becoming renegades and pirates out of necessity.
With Earth turned against the Fleet, Union sees a chance to finally rid itself of its bitter enemy. Because Union does not dare weaken its forces at this crucial juncture to guard its rear against the newborn state, the Alliance is able to broker a peace treaty, with Pell Station as its de facto home base. The treaty cedes to the Alliance a monopoly on interstellar commerce, even within Union, giving it the power to shut down stations simply by withholding trade.
As the danger of the Fleet recedes, a new rivalry develops between the Alliance and Union. Union resents the treaty restrictions, while the Alliance fears being overwhelmed by Union's greater population. Tensions rise further when a precious habitable planet in the Alliance sphere of influence is found to harbor a population descended from a secret Union military mission deliberately abandoned there to deny the Alliance an easy acquisition.
Meanwhile, within Union, two political factions vie to determine its future. Unbeknownst to either, brilliant scientist and political leader Ariane Emory has her own agenda.
The events depicted in the first books in the series, Heavy Time and Hellburner, take place shortly after the start of the war. Most of the books set in this universe, however, take place subsequent to the establishment of both the Merchanter Alliance and the breakaway Union, hence the label "Alliance-Union" universe.
Genre
The works in the series are usually described as space operaSpace opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
, or especially for works such as Cyteen and Downbelow Station, hard science fiction
Hard science fiction
Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Islands of Space in Astounding Science...
. The "Company Wars" novels and the Faded Sun trilogy regarding the Mri Wars are also examples of the military science fiction
Military science fiction
Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction in which the principal characters are members of a military service and an armed conflict is taking place, normally in space, or on a planet other than Earth...
subgenre. The Merovingen Nights series takes place on a single planet and features swashbuckling heroes and low levels of technology, and as such might be classified as science fantasy
Science fantasy
Science fantasy is a mixed genre within speculative fiction drawing elements from both science fiction and fantasy. Although in some terms of its portrayal in recent media products it can be defined as instead of being a mixed genre of science fiction and fantasy it is instead a mixing of the...
, borrowing elements from the historic sword and planet
Sword and planet
Sword and Planet is a subgenre of science fantasy that features rousing adventure stories set on other planets, and usually featuring Earthmen as protagonists. The name derives from the heroes of the genre engaging their adversaries in hand to hand combat primarily with simple melee weapons such as...
subgenre; this is also true for the Morgaine Cycle books, set remotely in time and space from the main sequence. Unlike most works in this universe, the novel Voyager in Night also borrows elements from horror fiction
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
.
Books and reading order
- For a complete list of works in the Alliance-Union universe, see the article C. J. Cherryh bibliography
Cherryh has stated that with two exceptions, the books set in the Alliance-Union universe can be read in any order, "just like real history." The first exception she notes are the two novels Heavy Time and Hellburner, which should be read in that order (as originally published and as compiled together in the omnibus edition Devil to the Belt
Devil to the Belt
Devil to the Belt is an omnibus release from 2000 containing two novels by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh, Heavy Time , and Hellburner . The books are set in Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe and are prequels to her Hugo Award-winning 1981 novel Downbelow Station...
). The two are prequels to Downbelow Station, although they can be read either before or after that novel. The second exception are Cyteen and its sequel Regenesis, which are tightly linked and should be read in that order too.
The novels in the Faded Sun trilogy are designed to be read in sequence, as are the books within the Chanur and Morgaine series. The Merovingen Nights series begins with the novel Angel With the Sword and then continues to the short story anthologies, numbered 1 through 7.
Major characters
- Pyanfar Chanur, Hani captain of one of her clan's merchant starships, the Pride of Chanur; later leader of the Compact, a loose confederation of diverse species that deliberately excludes humans lest they disrupt the delicate balance of power (the Chanur novels)
- Sten Duncan, Alliance Security special forces soldier; human who "goes native" and joins the Mri; serves as mediator between the Mri and humans (the Faded Sun trilogy)
- Ariane Emory, superb scientist and Union administrator of the influential and politically powerful Reseune research complex, source of most azi innovations (Cyteen)
- Ariane Emory PR (Personal Replicate), clone of Ariane Emory created after her progenitor's death (Cyteen, RegenesisRegenesis (novel)Regenesis is a science fiction novel by American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh set in her Alliance-Union universe. It is a sequel to Cherryh's 1988 Hugo award-winning science fiction novel, Cyteen, and was published in hardcover by DAW Books in January 2009...
) - Damon Konstantin, Pell Station administrator and ex-officio leader of the Merchanter Alliance; husband of Elene Quen (Downbelow Station)
- Elene Quen, co-founder of the Merchanter's Alliance; last survivor of the respected Quen merchanter family, casualties of the Company War (Downbelow Station)
- Conrad Mazian, brilliant commander of the outnumbered Earth Company Fleet; after the end of the Company War, leader of the renegade MazianniMazianniMazianni is a term used in C. J. Cherryh's science fiction Alliance-Union universe. It refers to the military starships and their crews who remain loyal to their commander, the charismatic, ambitious Conrad Mazian, when he renounces his allegiance to Earth....
, the remnant of the Fleet -- except ECS Norway -- that survived the war (Downbelow Station) - Signy Mallory, captain of the Earth Company military ship Norway; defects to the Alliance after Mazian turns against Earth; her ship (along with the armed superfreighter Finity's End) forms the core of the newborn Alliance's militia (Downbelow Station, Merchanter's Luck)
- James Robert Neihart, senior captain of Finity's End and one of the Merchanter Alliance negotiators (Finity's End)
- Kurt Morgan, sole surviving crewman of the Alliance ship Endymion, participant in the Hanan Rebellion and the wars of the Nemet race (Brothers of EarthBrothers of EarthBrothers of Earth is a 1976 science fiction novel by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It was the second of Cherryh's novels to be published, appearing after Gate of Ivrel, although she had completed and submitted Brothers of Earth first. Donald A...
) - Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren, sole survivor and head of the Sul sept of the Meth-Maren House of the Kontrin company; human mediator with the alien, hive-mind Majat (Serpent's ReachSerpent's ReachSerpent's Reach is a 1980 science fiction novel by the United States science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. The book was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Novel in 1981 and is set in the author's Alliance-Union universe. Specific placement of the novel within the Alliance-Union...
) - Thorn, Hatani guild member; human raised by the Shonunin to be their ambassador to his species (Cuckoo's EggCuckoo's Egg (novel)Cuckoo's Egg is a novel by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh, set in her Alliance-Union universe. The book was published by DAW Books in 1985, and there was also a limited hardcover printing by Phantasia Press in the same year. The book was nominated for the Hugo Award and...
)
Sentient alien species
Cherryh has been praised for her complex, well-developed alien cultures. Her Alliance-Union universe features numerous sentient alien species, including the following:| Species name | Home system | Home planet | Appearing in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amaut | Kesuat | Hunter of Worlds | Industrious, stocky humanoids; little regard for other races that are in the way of valuable resources | |
| Ahnit | Wave Without a Shore | |||
| Caliban | Gehenna | Forty Thousand in Gehenna | Large, semi-reptilians of uncertain intelligence; some bond telepathically with the descendants of 40,000 military personnel deliberately abandoned by Union on a planet in the Alliance sphere of influence (to cause trouble for the rival power) | |
| Chi | Chchchoh | Chanur novels | Sticklike, yellow methane-breathers; frenetic; linked to T’ca | |
| Elee | Na'i'in | Kutath | Faded Sun trilogy | Humanoid, artistic, perhaps akin to Mri |
| Hani | Ahr | Anuurn (Ahr II) | Chanur novels | Bipedal felines, with many parallels to lions; matriarchal society - only females travel off-planet, as merchants and traders; males are considered too unstable, at least until Pyanfar Chanur changes the rules |
| Hisa | Pell's Star (Tau Ceti) | Pell's World (also known as Downbelow) | Downbelow Station, Finity's End | Peaceful brown-furred bipedal mammalians; called "Downers" by Pell stationers |
| Iduve | Kej | Kej IV | Hunter of Worlds | Dangerous, psychic, predatory humanoids who travel in lone, huge, immensely powerful spaceships and terrorize other species with their sometimes incomprehensible behavior; more technologically advanced than any other known civilization; members of several species, including at least one human, have been forcibly taken as slaves |
| Kallia | Aus Qao | Hunter of Worlds | thin, hollow-boned humanoids; vehement pacifists | |
| Kif | Akkt | Akkht | Chanur novels | Long-snouted bipedal carnivores; extremely competitive; quick to shift "loyalty" to whoever is in power (or likely to take over, in their frequent, often lethal power struggles) |
| Knnn | Unknown | Unknown | Chanur novels | Multi-legged methane-breathers; packrats; chaotic; they (along with the Tc'a) control the most advanced jump tech in the Compact, capable of maneuvers no others can match |
| Majat | Alpha Hydri | Cerdin (Alpha Hydri II or III, depending on source) | Serpent's Reach | Hive-mind insectoids - the entire species consists of only four distinct hive-minds, identified by the Meth-maren by color (blue, green, red and gold) |
| Mahendo'sat | Iji | Chanur novels | Highly political mammalians and therefore not especially trustworthy; introduced the Hani to space travel | |
| Mri | Na'i'in | Kutath | Faded Sun trilogy | Humanoid; tripartite caste-based society; militaristic |
| Nemet | Brothers of Earth | Humanoid; strict honor-based society; reminiscent of Atevi, Mri, and Shonunin | ||
| Regul | Mab | Nurag | Faded Sun trilogy | Xenophobic; juvenile and adult forms are highly differentiated; eidetic memory; averse to direct violence, prefer to employ other species for such to remain out of harm's way |
| Stsho | Llyene | Chanur novels | Hermaphroditic; physically and emotionally fragile | |
| Sharrh | Merovingen Nights series | Advanced; aggressive; territorial | ||
| Shonunin | Cuckoo’s Egg | Bipedal mammalians; less technologically advanced than humans | ||
| Tc'a | Oh’a’o’o’o | Chanur novels | Serpentine methane-breathers; multipartite brains; linked somehow to the Chi, though the exact nature of the relationship is not made clear; highly advanced |
The novels Port Eternity and Voyager in Night feature additional sentient alien races. The Morgaine books are built around the actions of a humanoid race called the Qual, Khal and similar names, while Morgaine herself is a half-blood member of the "ancestors of the qual", and the third book in the series, features an arboreal species called the Harilim.
Technologies
In addition to the advanced technologies required to mine the asteroids, send slower-than-light vessels to nearby stars, and establish large space stations there, signature futuristic technologies of the Alliance-Union universe are:- The jump driveJump (Alliance-Union universe)Jump is a fictional technology used by spacecraft in science fiction author C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe to travel faster-than-light . Jump can also be a verb, and is the act of travelling FTL using jump technology....
, derived from the theoretical physics work of Estelle Bok at Cyteen Station in 2230, allowing faster-than-light travel. When ships jump, they shift into a space parallel to normal space and appear to move at faster-than-light velocity until they re-enter normal space via their trajectory encountering a star-sized mass. Ships emerging from jump possess a large velocity relative to and pointed at the target mass; the jump drive is also used to lower this velocity to more reasonable levels. Jumps of larger than a few light-years result in the destruction of the jumping ship, so ships' courses hop between stars and other nearby stars or jump points, large collections of matter that are not large enough to achieve fusion. Jumps appear to take days to weeks from the perspective of the crew of the ship, but weeks to months from the perspective of the residents of stations and planets. The experience of jump is unpleasant enough to threaten the sanity of most of those who endure it without being tranquilized - spacers seem to fear few things more than "jump without trank". - Rejuv, a life-extension drug derived from lifeforms on the planet Cyteen sometime in the 2220s. Rejuv leaves users with the mental and physical capacities they had at the time they started using it (usually in a person's 40s) while extending life up to about age 140; when rejuv failure sets in, life functions collapse rapidly in a one to two year period. However, once a person begins using rejuv, they must continue to take it regularly or suffer fatal consequences. Side effects include sterility, some bone and muscle mass loss, and whitening of hair. The Earth Company's inability to control the underground rejuv trade with Union is one of the precipitating factors of the Company War.
- Human cloning. Human cloning technology is developed to a high degree in Union. The clones require the normal amount of time to reach maturity, i.e. they must be raised to adulthood just as natural-born children are. A small amount of cloning is done to replicate children who die in accidents or to produce "Parental Replicates" for those who can afford them, but the vast majority of cloning is done to produce aziAzi (clone)Azi are a fictional type of human clones invented by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. They appear in various books in her Alliance-Union universe. "Azi" is an acronym for "artificial zygote insemination"...
, genetically-tailored laborers, technicians, and soldiers who lack civil rights (although they can acquire them). An azi genetic type's cognitive level is rated using a Greek-letter system similar to that in Aldous HuxleyAldous HuxleyAldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
's Brave New World . - Subliminal conditioning and information transfer, known as tape. Tape is used for a variety of purposes: entertainment, teaching both physical skills and advanced concepts, psychotherapy, and social and political indoctrination. The technologies involved do not involve direct brain interface, but instead use visual and auditory stimulation as well as electric muscle stimulation (to provide a kinesthetic component), all while under the influence of drugs to induce a state of suggestibility. Azi use tape extensively for rapid learning of skills required by their jobs as well as a constructed psychological state to make them do those jobs effectively and happily, as well as obey designated authorities. A technology similar to tape, mindwipeMindwipeFor the Transformers character, see Mindwipe .Mindwipe is a technique used in some science fiction scenarios, where the subject's memories and personality are erased and replaced by new memories and personality more useful to those who are carrying out the mindwiping, or to their area's...
, is used to create a blank-slate psychology and artificial amnesia in criminals, those with catastrophic psychological conditions, and deep-penetration secret agents, on top of which regular tape can be used to rebuild the person's psychology as desired. - Terraforming. Terraforming technologies were used by Union to make some areas of the planet Cyteen suitable for Earth-based life; Cyteen's native life is extremely toxic to Earth-based life, although it was the source of the rejuv drug. In the early years of Union this was a brutal "hand over fist" process, but later concerns over potential disruption of the rejuv supply led the Union government to stop the terraforming. During the period of détente after the Company War and Earth's contact with the Compact, Cyteen provides terraforming know-how to Earth, which uses it for bioremediation on Earth itself as well as terraforming on Mars.
Sociology
A broad sociological trend in the Alliance-Union universe is the divergence of fundamental attitudes in planet-dwellers, space station-dwellers, and starship crews. Planet dwellers (ordinary residents of Earth and Cyteen) seem to have many of the same attitudes and concerns as 21st century people in developed countries. The space-dwelling populations find it strange that planet-dwellers fight over things like energy sources and territory (which are plentiful in space) but act in a cavalier and wasteful manner toward their physical environment (which must be carefully tended in space).Space station residents (stationers) tend toward extreme caution towards both their physical as well as social and economic environments, since an unplanned change in any of them could be fatal to the entire station population. For example, a great deal of the conflict in Downbelow Station is caused by Pell Station's need to absorb a large refugee population, for which they do not have adequate housing or jobs.
Starship crew (spacers) have an extremely insular world-view engendered by the time-dilation effects of jump; this attitude was even more extreme before the jump drive was developed, when travel between stars took years. Merchant starships are all crewed by extended families, which occasionally fission if the family prospers enough to purchase another ship. Merchanter women will often have unprotected sex while in port in order to become pregnant and preserve genetic diversity in their crew-families. Spacer self-identification is so great that many spacers would rather starve to death than accept "grounding" and a stationer's life. Spacers often feel they can only relate to other spacers, since stationers and planet-dwellers seem to rapidly age and die from their perspective.
Additionally, in Union, there is a sociological and psychological division between the unengineered citizen population ("CITs" or "born-men") and the azi. Azi are treated by CITs on a continuum between outright slavery and the companionship of equals; in many ways they are treated like children, since they are vulnerable to stimuli that lie outside the coping abilities of their artificially-constructed psychologies. The majority view in Union is that azi are necessary to preserve the technological and industrial base of their many space settlements, while a minority wants to abolish the practice and cease azi production. The majority view is apt to be the more stable and persistent, since azi can, in time, become citizens whose children are born CITs, and these children receive their basic values from their parents. In this way the majority view is reinforced and grown, and the minority "Abolitionist" view becomes increasingly marginalized. This process is the result of deliberate social engineering on the part of Reseune, the Cyteen-based center of all research and development concerning human cloning.
Songs
C.J. Cherryh wrote a collection of songs about the station trade in the Alliance-Union universe. These were recorded by filkFilk music
Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s. The term predates 1955.-Definitions:As the Interfilk What Is Filk page demonstrates, there is...
musician Leslie Fish
Leslie Fish
Leslie Fish is a filk musician, author, and anarchist political activist.-Music:Along with The DeHorn Crew, in 1976 she created the first commercial filk recording, Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet...
and others, and released in 1985 on an album entitled Finity's End.
See also
- C. J. CherryhC. J. CherryhCarolyn Janice Cherry , better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is a United States science fiction and fantasy author...
- The Chanur NovelsThe Chanur novelsThe Chanur novels is a series of five science fiction novels written by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh and published by DAW Books between 1981 and 1992. The first novel in the series is The Pride of Chanur , which was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1983...
- Faded Sun TrilogyFaded Sun TrilogyThe Faded Sun trilogy is a series of science fiction novels set in the Alliance-Union universe of C. J. Cherryh. The series comprises the three novels The Faded Sun: Kesrith , The Faded Sun: Shon'jir , and The Faded Sun: Kutath and were published by DAW Books. They were re-published in as an...
Cyteen
Cyteen is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel by C. J. Cherryh set in her Alliance-Union universe. The murder of a major Union politician and scientist has deep, long-lasting repercussions....
and its sequel Regenesis
Regenesis (novel)
Regenesis is a science fiction novel by American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh set in her Alliance-Union universe. It is a sequel to Cherryh's 1988 Hugo award-winning science fiction novel, Cyteen, and was published in hardcover by DAW Books in January 2009...
Forty Thousand in Gehenna
Forty Thousand in Gehenna, alternately 40,000 in Gehenna, is a 1983 novel by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. The science fiction novel is set in her Alliance-Union universe between 2354 and 2658, and is one of the few works in that universe to portray the Union side .The book was...
Downbelow Station
Downbelow Station is a science fiction novel written by C. J. Cherryh and published in 1981 by DAW Books. It won the Hugo Award in 1982, was shortlisted for a Locus Award that same year, and was named by Locus Magazine as one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all time in 1987.The book is set...
The Merchanter novels
The Merchanter novels is a term that describes several loosely connected novels by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh set in her Alliance-Union universe...
- Finity's EndFinity's EndFinity's End is a science fiction novel written by the American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It is one of Cherryh's Merchanter novels, set in her Alliance-Union universe, in which humanity has split into three major power blocs: Union, the Merchanter's Alliance and Earth...
- Merchanter's LuckMerchanter's LuckMerchanter's Luck is a science fiction novel written by C. J. Cherryh. It is set in the author's Alliance-Union universe, in which humanity has split into three major power blocs: Union, the Merchanter's Alliance and Earth...
- RimrunnersRimrunnersRimrunners is a science fiction novel written by C. J. Cherryh and set in her Alliance-Union universe, in which humanity has split into three major power blocs: Union, the Merchanter's Alliance and Earth...
- TripointTripoint (novel)Tripoint is a science fiction novel written by the United States science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh, and was first published by Warner Books in September 1994. It is one of Cherryh's Merchanter novels and is set in the author's Alliance-Union universe.-Background:In the Alliance-Union...
External links
- Official Site, run by the author
- Alliance-Union timeline until 2300, from Cherryh's official site
- Alliance-Union timeline, with book citations (contains plot detail)
- Star maps of Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe
- List of Earth Company/Alliance/Union ships