ALLIANCE-UNION UNIVERSE

The 'Alliance-Union universe' is a fictional universe developed by Science fiction and Fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It is an epic future history series extending from the 21st century out into the far future.
To date, the Alliance-Union universe consists of 24 Cherryh science fiction novels 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, and the ''Merovingen Nights'' shared world series.

Contents

Introduction

Genre

Books and reading order

Major characters and other important persons

Sentient aliens

See also

External links

Introduction

As humanity reaches out to the stars, space stations are financed by the private 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 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 Still, directives from Earth, bound by the speed of light, arrive hopelessly out-of-date and are routinely ignored, making the Earth Company's attempts to maintain control more and more futile.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 builds 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 back on 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 ever diminishing support from Earth, the Fleet gradually begins to lose a war of attrition to Union.
Caught in the middle are the merchanter families as well as Pell Station, which serves as the primary transit point between Earth and Union space. The conflict comes to a head at Pell Station 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. This alliance soon rules commerce on both sides of the Alliance-Union boundary and wields the power to shut down stations simply by withholding trade. Because both Earth and Union are dependent upon merchanter shipping, the new Alliance is able to broker a peace treaty and Pell Station becomes its de facto home base. The stations' respect for the merchanters is illustrated by the fact that ship-law and not station-law is applicable to station docks and sleep-overs.
The ambitious Mazian stubbornly refuses to recognize the peace and continues to fight. Signy Mallory, one of his most senior captains, defects to the new Alliance out of disgust with his actions, but the remainder of the Fleet remains loyal to Mazian, becoming renegades and pirates out of necessity.
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 Opera, 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. Unlike most works in the Alliance-Union universe, the novel ''Voyager in Night'' also borrows elements from Horror fiction.

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 one exception, the books set in the Alliance-Union universe can be read in any order, "just like real history." [1] The 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 novels in the ''Faded Sun'' trilogy are designed to be read in sequence, as are the books within the ''Chanur'' 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 and other important persons

★ Estelle Bok, inventor of faster-than-light (FTL) travel

★ Pyanfar Chanur, Captain of one of her Hani clan's merchant starships, the Pride of Chanur; later President of the Compact, a loose confederation of diverse species that deliberately excludes humans lest they disrupt the Compact's delicate balance of power (The ''Chanur'' novels)

★ Sten Duncan, Alliance Security special forces soldier; human who "went native" and joined the Mri; serves as mediator between the Mri and humans (The ''Faded Sun'' trilogy)

★ Ariane Emory I, Union administrator of the influential and politically powerful Reseune research complex, source of most Azi innovations; superb scientist in her own right (''Cyteen'')

★ Ariane Emory II, Reseune administrator (after her predecessor's assassination) and clone of Ariane I (''Cyteen'')

★ 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; spouse of Damon Konstantin (''Downbelow Station'')

★ Conrad Mazian, brilliant commander of the outnumbered Earth Company Fleet; after the end of the Company War, leader of the renegade Mazianni, the remnant of the Fleet -- except ECS Norway -- that survived the war (''Downbelow Station'')

★ Signy Mallory, Captain of the Earth Company military ship Norway; defected to the Alliance after Mazian turned against Earth; her ship (along with the armed superfreighter ''Finity's End'') formed the core of the newborn Alliance militia forces (''Downbelow Station'', ''Merchanter's Luck'')

★ James Robert Neihart, Captain of the armed superfreighter 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 Earth'')

★ Raen a Sul Meth-maren, sole survivor and head of the Sul House of the Meth-Maren clan of the Kontrin company; human mediator with the alien Majat (''Serpent's Reach'')

★ Thorn, Hatani guild member; human raised by the Shonunin to be their ambassador to his species (''Cuckoo's Egg'')

Sentient aliens

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			''Hunter of Worlds''	Industrious, stocky humanoids; little regard for other races that are in the way of valuable resources
Anhit			''Wave Without a Shore''
Caliban		Gehenna	''Forty Thousand in Gehenna''	Large, semi-reptilians of uncertain intelligence; some bond telepathically with the descendants of colonists (the forty thousand) abandoned by the Union
Chi		Chchchoh	''Chanur'' novels	Sticklike yellow methane-breathers; frenetic; linked to T’ca
Elee		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			''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
Kalliran			''Hunter of Worlds''	thin, hollow-boned humanoids; vehement pacifists
Kif	Akkt	Akkht	''Chanur'' novels	Long-snouted bipedal carnivores; extremely competitive; Quickly 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
Majat	Alpha Hydri	Cerdin (Alpha Hydri II or III, depending on source)	''Serpent's Reach''	Hive-mind insectoids - the entire species consists of four distinct individuals, identified by the Meth-maren by color (blue, green, red and yellow)
Mahendo'sat		Iji	''Chanur'' novels	Highly political mammalians and therefore not especially trustworthy; introduced the Hani to space travel
Mri		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			''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
T’ca		Oh’a’o’o’o	''Chanur'' novels	Serpentine methane-breathers; multipartite brains; linked to Chi

The novels ''Port Eternity'' and ''Voyager in Night'' feature additional sentient alien races that exist in the Alliance-Union universe.

See also

★ C. J. Cherryh

★ The Chanur Novels

★ Faded Sun Trilogy

★ Cyteen

★ Forty Thousand in Gehenna

★ Downbelow Station

★ The Merchanter novels

★
★ Finity's End

★
★ Merchanter's Luck

★
★ Rimrunners

★
★ Tripoint

★ Jump

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)

★ SolStation.com, Maps of C.J. Cherryh's Fiction