Hubbry Logo
CoDominiumCoDominiumMain
Open search
CoDominium
Community hub
CoDominium
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
CoDominium
CoDominium
CoDominium
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

CoDominium is a series of future history novels written by American writer Jerry Pournelle, along with several co-authors, primarily Larry Niven.

The CoDominium (CD) is a political alliance and union between the United States and the Soviet Union in Pournelle's fictional history. Formed to maintain planetary stability, the CD becomes a de facto planetary government and later an interstellar empire, though it halts scientific and political evolution. The U.S. during the CD era is a welfare state with distinct social classes: Citizens and Taxpayers. The empire is organized by sectors, ruled by a Viceroy, and governed by various ministries.

Colonies in the CoDominium are established on habitable planets, founded by various groups such as ethnic minorities, religious groups, and businesses. Elite colonies have advanced technology and fleets, allowing them some independence from the CD. The Outies, systems that retained enough technology to pose a threat, serve as a constant challenge for the Imperial Navy. Jennifer R. Pournelle's novel Outies is a sequel that explores themes of alienation and the impact of biology on destiny.

Series

[edit]
Short stories, novels and compilations featuring CoDominium content
Title Publication date Author(s) Type Series Notes
"Peace With Honor" 1971 (May) Jerry Pournelle short story Falkenberg series later incorporated into The Mercenary
"His Truth Goes Marching On" 1971 (September) Jerry Pournelle short story Falkenberg Series later incorporated into Prince of Mercenaries
A Spaceship for the King 1971 (December), 1972 (January and February) Jerry Pournelle novel (serial) Moties series later expanded into King David's Spaceship
"He Fell into a Dark Hole" 1973 Jerry Pournelle short story CoDominium series collected in There Will Be War, Vol. 5 and The Best of Jerry Pournelle
Sword and Scepter 1973 Jerry Pournelle novel Falkenberg series later incorporated into The Mercenary
The Mote in God's Eye 1974 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle novel Moties series [1][2][3][4]
"Motelight" 1976 Larry Niven short story Moties series prologue to The Mote in God's Eye
Birth of Fire 1976 Jerry Pournelle novel CoDominium series
West of Honor 1976 Jerry Pournelle novel Falkenberg series later incorporated into Falkenberg's Legion
The Mercenary 1977 (February) Jerry Pournelle novel (fix-up) Falkenberg series later incorporated into Falkenberg's Legion
"Silent Leges" 1977 Jerry Pournelle short story Falkenberg series later incorporated into Prince of Mercenaries
High Justice 1977 (May) Jerry Pournelle anthology CoDominium series collected in Exile—and Glory
Exiles to Glory 1978 Jerry Pournelle novel CoDominium series collected in Exile—and Glory
King David's Spaceship 1980 Jerry Pournelle novel Moties series expanded from A Spaceship for the King[5][6]
"Reflex" 1982 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle short story Moties series The cut first chapter of The Mote in God's Eye; collected in There Will Be War, Vol. 1, Infinite Stars, and The Best of Jerry Pournelle
"In Memoriam: Howard Grote Littlemead" 1984 Larry Niven poem Moties series rewrite of "Motelight"
War World, Vol 1: The Burning Eye 1988 various anthology War World series
Prince of Mercenaries 1989 Jerry Pournelle novel Falkenberg series collected in The Prince
Falkenberg's Legion 1990 Jerry Pournelle novel (fix-up) Falkenberg series a compilation of West of Honor and The Mercenary; collected in The Prince
War World, Vol 2: Death's Head Rebellion 1990 various anthology War World series
Go Tell the Spartans 1991 S. M. Stirling and Jerry Pournelle novel Falkenberg series collected in The Prince
War World, Vol 3: Sauron Dominion 1991 various anthology War World series
CoDominium: Revolt on WarWorld 1992 (July) various anthology War World series
War World: Blood Feuds 1992 (December) various novel War World series
The Gripping Hand 1993 (January) Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle novel Moties series also titled The Moat Around Murcheson's Eye
Prince of Sparta 1993 (March) S. M. Stirling and Jerry Pournelle novel Falkenberg series collected in The Prince
Exiles to Glory: Revised Edition 1993 (December) Jerry Pournelle novel CoDominium series revised edition of Exiles to Glory
War World: Blood Vengeance 1994 (January) various novel War World series
War World, Vol 4: Invasion 1994 (August) various anthology War World series
The Prince 2002 S.M. Stirling and Jerry Pournelle omnibus Falkenberg series a compilation of Prince of Mercenaries, Falkenberg's Legion, Go Tell the Spartans, Prince of Sparta, and exclusive bonus content
War World: The Battle of Sauron 2007 John F. Carr and Don Hawthorne novel War World series an expanded version was printed in ebook form in 2013
Exile—and Glory 2008 Jerry Pournelle omnibus CoDominium series a compilation of High Justice and Exiles to Glory
Outies 2010 (April) J.R. Pournelle novel Moties series
War World: Discovery 2010 (August) various anthology War World series
War World: Takeover 2011 various anthology War World series
War World: Jihad! 2012 John F. Carr anthology War World series
War World: The Lidless Eye 2013 (January) John F. Carr and Don Hawthorne novel War World series
War World: The Battle of Sauron – 2nd Edition 2013 (February) John F. Carr and Don Hawthorn novel (reissued with new material) War World series expanded ebook version of War World: The Battle of Sauron
War World: Cyborg Revolt 2013 (August) John F. Carr and Don Hawthorne novel War World series
War World, Vol 1: The Burning Eye – 2nd Edition 2015 various anthology (reissued with new material) War World series
War World: The Patriotic Wars 2017 various (edited by John F. Carr) anthology War World series
War World: Falkenberg’s Regiment 2018 John F. Carr novel War World series
War World: The Fall of the CoDominium 2019 various (edited by John F. Carr) anthology War World series
War World: Andromeda Flight 2021 Doug McElwain (edited by John F. Carr) novel War World series
War World: Road Warriors 2022 various (edited by John F. Carr) anthology War World series
War World: The Falkenberg Protectorate 2023 Various novel War World series

Setting

[edit]

Formation of the CoDominium

[edit]

The point of departure of Pournelle's history is the establishment of the CoDominium (CD), a political alliance and later union between the United States of America and a revitalized Soviet Union. This union, achieved in the name of planetary stability, reigns over the Earth for over a hundred years. In that time, it achieves peace of a sort, as well as interstellar colonization, but at the price of a complete halt in both scientific and political evolution.

The CoDominium (CD) is a supranational alliance of the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This alliance eventually becomes a de facto planetary government, and later, an interstellar empire. Despite this, no other nations on Earth are given representation or membership. Other major powers become mere client states. It is governed by a "Grand Senate", which is composed of Senators chosen from the two superpowers. A CoDominium Council exists and appears to function as a judicial branch. The CD did not unify the United States and the USSR, who appear to retain their separate identities and mutual distrust. The CD was only created for the shared benefit of the two member states. It does not govern either nation, and each state has been allowed to retain their government structures, nationalities, military forces, and to run their own internal affairs.

The United States of the CoDominium Era is a welfare state divided into two social classes: Citizens and Taxpayers. "Citizens" are welfare dependents who are required to live in walled sections of cities called "Welfare Islands." People are given whatever they need, including the drugs like Borloi to keep them pacified. There are no limits to welfare if they want it, except that they must live on a Welfare Island. Although people are free to gain an education and work or become a colonist, many citizens did not, preferring to live their whole lives supported by the government. Generally, citizens are uneducated and illiterate. Some BuReLoc involuntary colonists are Citizens. By the late CD era, the Welfare Islands were three generations old. "Taxpayers" are the working, educated, and privileged middle to the upper class. They carry identification cards to separate them from Citizens.

The Empire is organized by sectors, ruled by a Viceroy who serves as a representative of the Crown. Each sector has its own Council, headed by a Lord President, and its own Parliament. The Imperial government is divided into several ministries, including External Affairs, War, and Science. Some planets are governed by an aristocracy, although at least one member world is a republic.

For the most part, the stars with inhabitable planets in the CoDominium are obscure and unnamed on current star charts. For instance, the world of New Washington and its sister planet Franklin orbit a red dwarf at some distance from the Solar System. Such stars are very common in the galaxy but even the closest ones are too dim to observe without equipment, Proxima Centauri being the obvious example. Other habitable systems in the CoDominium have stars in the stellar classes F, G and K, which are common but dim compared to the named stars in the night sky. One of the few stars explicitly named in the CoDominium stories is 82 Eridani, containing the Meiji colony. Viewed from Earth, 82 Eridani is a star of the fourth magnitude at 20 light-years distance. Beyond 50 light-years such stars are below sixth magnitude and therefore invisible to the naked eye, so they are unnamed and largely unrecorded, except in astronomical sky surveys. These are the stars likely to host colonies of the CoDominium. There is no mention in the canon of closer candidate systems such as Tau Ceti and Epsilon Indi.

During the CoDominium era, instantaneous interstellar travel as a result of the Alderson Drive gave humanity the ability to explore, colonize, and exploit various star systems. As a result, many of the space settlements are on planets that are similar to Earth. At the very least, a colony world was barely inhabitable for human life without technological support. Many colonies were founded by ethnic minorities, religious groups, or political groups. Some are started by businesses, for commercial reasons. Most lack an industrial base and have little advanced technology as a result. The elite, more technologically advanced colonies are ones settled and supported by the Earth countries. These elite worlds have their own fleets and enjoy some independence from the CD.

These are apparently systems that retained enough technology after the Secession Wars to present a threat to the Second Empire, by resisting takeover and mounting raids against Empire systems. The presence or threat of Outies is mentioned in all the Second Empire stories as a reason for the Imperial Navy having to deal with events in the most expeditious way possible, rather than allowing time to achieve ideal solutions.

Pournelle's daughter, Jennifer R. Pournelle, has drawn on these themes, writing Outies, an authorized sequel[7] to King David's Spaceship, The Mote in God's Eye, and The Gripping Hand, that attempts to marry hard science fiction with social science fiction as it explores what it means to be an "alien" in this Empire, and to what degree biology is destiny.[8] Outies was first published as an e-book[citation needed] in 2010, and was then released in trade paperback[9] in Q1, 2011.

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

CoDominium

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
The CoDominium (CD) is a supranational political alliance between the and the in the future history devised by author , encompassing stories of interstellar , operations, and geopolitical decline from the late 20th to the 22nd centuries. Formed through a series of treaties between 1990 and 2000 amid escalating tensions and resource strains, the CoDominium centralized control over military forces, , and global enforcement to avert nuclear war, while outlawing independent in armaments. Under this uneasy partnership, the alliance facilitated humanity's expansion via the discovery of the Alderson Drive—a fictional propulsion system—enabling the settlement of extrasolar colonies on habitable worlds, often populated by subsidized emigrants from overpopulated or unstable regions on . The CoDominium's defining policies emphasized stability through coercion, including the suppression of technological innovation to maintain hegemony and the deployment of elite naval and marine forces to quell colonial unrest or enforce treaties, as depicted in Pournelle's narratives featuring protagonists like mercenary leader John Christian Falkenberg. This era of enforced pax atomica, however, sowed seeds of its own dissolution: ethnic separatisms within the Soviet bloc, economic stagnation from restricted progress, and power struggles between American and Soviet factions eroded the alliance's cohesion by the mid-21st century, culminating in civil wars, secessionist movements, and the withdrawal of U.S. support. The CoDominium's collapse precipitated the "Long Night," a period of interstellar fragmentation and barbarism lasting centuries, eventually giving way to the feudal Empire of Man in later installments co-authored with Larry Niven, such as The Mote in God's Eye. Pournelle's portrayal underscores causal dynamics of over-centralization and suppressed incentives leading to institutional failure, influencing the universe's arc toward decentralized, hierarchical reconstruction.

Authors and Development

Jerry Pournelle's Foundational Vision

originated the CoDominium concept in his debut story, "Peace with Honor," published in the May 1971 issue of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact. In this tale, the and , locked in stalemate and facing the brink of nuclear annihilation, establish a joint pact to enforce global peace through unilateral military action against any nation or group disrupting stability, effectively creating a bipolar condominium over world affairs. This unorthodox resolution reflects Pournelle's premise that ideological adversaries, bound by rational , prioritize deterrence and intervention over escalation, suppressing proxy wars and insurgencies with overwhelming force. Expanding this into a broader future history, Pournelle envisioned the CoDominium evolving through treaties into a formalized that monopolizes capabilities and polices colonial ventures, spurred by the mid-21st-century discovery of Alderson points—fixed conduits permitting without violating relativity. Under CoDominium auspices, the "Great Exodus" commences around 2010–2020, with subsidized emigration relocating Earth's underclasses and dissidents to raw planets like , Covenant, and Tanith, aiming to alleviate and social unrest while securing strategic outposts. Pournelle's framework underscores causal realism in : short-term averts catastrophe but demands constant vigilance, as the alliance's naval and marine forces—embodied in characters like mercenary leader John Christian Falkenberg—uphold order amid fractious human expansion. At its core, Pournelle's vision critiques bureaucratic overreach and demographic engineering, positing that CoDominium incentives for high birth rates among welfare-dependent populations accelerate dysgenic trends, eroding competence and fostering dependency on by the late . Informed by his background in and human factors engineering, Pournelle argued through these narratives that sustainable societies hinge on hierarchical structures where derives from capability, not consensus, and that without enforced duties devolves into —a theme recurrent in early CoDominium tales like "The Mercenary" (). This foundational outlook anticipates the entity's collapse around 2103, yielding to feudal interstellar principalities, as unaddressed internal contradictions undermine even the most pragmatic power arrangements.

Key Collaborations and Expansions

A pivotal expansion of the CoDominium universe occurred through the collaboration between and , culminating in the novel , published in 1974. This work introduced the alien Moties and their engineered society, integrating first-contact scenarios into the CoDominium's interstellar framework of naval operations and colonial administration. The novel's depiction of Motie biology and socio-economic cycles provided a biologically deterministic lens on interstellar relations, contrasting with human bureaucratic inefficiencies. Their sequel, , released in 1993, further developed these themes by exploring Motie breakout attempts and CoDominium naval responses amid internal decay. Pournelle later collaborated with to extend the Falkenberg's Legion storyline, focusing on mercenary operations during the CoDominium's decline. Key joint novels include (1991), which details Legion interventions on the amid secessionist tensions, and Prince of Sparta (1993), portraying prolonged guerrilla conflicts against internal threats. These works emphasized alliances and the fragility of colonial authority, building on Pournelle's earlier solo Falkenberg narratives by incorporating Stirling's detailed socio-military extrapolations. An anthology, (2002), compiled related stories, reinforcing the series' exploration of post-CoDominium fragmentation. The War World sub-series represented a broader collaborative expansion via shared-universe anthologies, edited initially by Pournelle and John F. Carr, with Carr assuming primary oversight after Pournelle's semiretirement in the late 1990s. Set on the harsh penal planet Haven, these volumes—beginning with contributions in the late 1980s—featured stories from multiple authors depicting supermen descendants, tribal conflicts, and CoDominium deportation policies. Volumes like Sauron Dominion (1991) and later Carr-led entries such as War World: Discovery (2010) amplified the universe's scope by simulating Darwinian survival dynamics on a resource-scarce world, drawing in contributors to illustrate causal chains of societal breakdown. This format allowed empirical testing of Pournelle's future history premises through diverse narrative experiments.

Literary Works

Core Short Stories and Novellas

The CoDominium universe originated in Jerry Pournelle's short fiction of the early 1970s, which laid the groundwork for its themes of cooperation, military interventionism, and extraterrestrial expansion before the advent of full-length novels. These works depict the CoDominium as a pragmatic alliance between the and , formed to suppress internal threats and facilitate colonization, often through the lens of individual operatives or small-scale operations. "A Spaceship for the King," published in the December 1973 issue of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, serves as an early exemplar, portraying CoDominium engineers retrofitting a vessel for a monarch's use amid Cold War-era tensions, thereby illustrating the alliance's role in and global enforcement. Similarly, "The Defenders" () examines clandestine intelligence activities by CoDominium forces to maintain stability against domestic insurgencies. The 1977 collection High Justice aggregates pivotal novellas and novelettes that expand on juridical and corporate influences within the CoDominium framework. The title novella "High Justice" follows a navigating disputes in orbital habitats, emphasizing the tension between centralized authority and local autonomy in space governance. Supporting stories include "A Matter of " (1972), a novelette probing legal claims over extraterrestrial territories, and "Power to the People" (1976), which details populist uprisings quelled by CoDominium intervention. Additional entries like "The Sky Is an Open Book" (1971) and "Enlightenment" (1973) critique ideological excesses in colonial outposts, underscoring Pournelle's focus on realistic power dynamics over utopian ideals. These pieces collectively establish the universe's causal logic: mutual deterrence enables expansion but sows seeds of dependency and resentment, with professionalism as a stabilizing force. Later novellas, such as those in the War World anthologies, build upon this foundation but derive from Pournelle's initial formulations.

Major Novels and Collections

The Falkenberg's Legion series forms the core of the CoDominium's major novels, chronicling the career of mercenary colonel John Christian Falkenberg amid the declining interstellar order. West of Honor (1976), written solely by , depicts Falkenberg's formative experiences as a Marine officer suppressing colonial rebellions, emphasizing themes of and the fragility of centralized . This was followed by The (1977), also by Pournelle, which expands on Falkenberg's command of a private legion navigating CoDominium politics and interstellar transport limitations. These two works were later compiled into Falkenberg's Legion (1990). Collaborative expansions include Prince of Mercenaries (1989, with ), where Falkenberg's forces intervene on the planet Tanith to counter secessionist threats, highlighting mercenary economics and CoDominium enforcement challenges. Go Tell the Spartans (1991, with Stirling) shifts to Falkenberg's Legion aiding —a modeled on society—against internal strife, incorporating detailed military tactics and cultural realism. The sequence concludes with Prince of Sparta (1993, with Stirling), portraying the planet's struggle for independence as CoDominium influence wanes, with Falkenberg's strategies underscoring the transition to fragmented human polities. These four novels were omnibused as (2002), adding bridging material for narrative cohesion. Other prominent novels set during the CoDominium era include King David's Spaceship (1981) by Pournelle, which examines a primitive colony's technological revival under CoDominium oversight, drawing on historical analogies to feudal development. The Moties duology, co-authored with , integrates alien contact into the universe: (1974) details humanity's first encounter with the expansionist Moties, revealing CoDominium naval vulnerabilities through blockade and quarantine efforts. Its sequel, (1993), occurs post-collapse but references CoDominium precedents in handling Motie resurgence. Key collections encompass standalone stories reinforcing the universe's themes. High Justice (1977) by Pournelle compiles three novellas—"Higher Education," "The Secret Masters," and "Shipwright"—exploring judicial overreach, elite conspiracies, and engineering feats within CoDominium bureaucracy. These works prioritize causal mechanisms of imperial decay over speculative elements, grounded in Pournelle's analyses of real-world governance failures.

Publication History and Reading Orders

The CoDominium universe debuted in Jerry Pournelle's "Peace with Honor," serialized in the January and February 1971 issues of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, establishing the foundational alliance between a declining and amid internal decay and external expansion pressures. This was followed by the novella "A Spaceship for the King" in Analog's April and May 1973 issues, later expanded into the novel King David's Spaceship (1980, ), depicting early colonial surveys on medieval-level planets. Core military-focused novels emerged in the mid-1970s: West of Honor (1976, ), chronicling Marine Falkenberg's campaigns; The Mercenary (1977, ), expanding his legion's operations; and Birth of Fire (1978, also ), detailing mercenary interventions on colonial worlds. These formed the backbone of the Falkenberg's Legion arc, later omnibused as Falkenberg's Legion (1990, ). Collaborative expansions with Larry Niven introduced the post-CoDominium Empire phase in The Mote in God's Eye (1974, Simon & Schuster), a novel of first contact set centuries after the alliance's collapse, followed by its sequel The Gripping Hand (1993, Pocket Books). Pournelle's Janissaries series began with the titular novel (1979, Pocket Books), exploring slave-soldier dynamics in the universe's fringes, with sequels Clan and Crown (1982) and Storms of Victory (1986, both Ace), concluding with King of the Sword (2001, Baen, co-authored with Roland Green). Anthology efforts proliferated in the 1980s: the There Will Be War series (10 volumes, 1983–1991, Tor Books), edited by Pournelle, incorporated CoDominium tales amid military SF; the War World shared-universe project launched with War World: The Burning Eye (1988, Baen), compiling stories of Haven colony exiles, spanning 7+ volumes into the 2000s with contributors like S.M. Stirling. Baen Books reissued clusters as ebooks and bundles, including the CoDominium Future History set (2019 onward), aggregating 20+ titles. No official reading order exists, as the universe evolved organically through short fiction and novels without a predefined sequence, but fan analyses divide recommendations into publication order—mirroring Pournelle's creative progression from 1971 shorts to 1970s novels and later anthologies—or internal chronological order, aligning with the timeline from late-20th-century CoDominium formation (e.g., "Peace with Honor") through expansion and collapse (West of Honor, The Mercenary) to Empire-era contacts (The Mote in God's Eye). For the Falkenberg storyline, sequential reading of West of Honor (1976), The Mercenary (1977), Birth of Fire (1978), and Go Tell the Spartans (1991, Baen, co-authored with S.M. Stirling) preserves narrative continuity of legion operations. Motie duology (The Mote in God's Eye, The Gripping Hand) benefits from prior CoDominium exposure to contextualize imperial decay, while War World volumes can intersperse post-collapse Haven arcs independently. Janissaries stands semi-autonomously but ties into fringe colony dynamics best after core CoDominium novels. Enthusiasts on sites like chronology.org advocate starting with Falkenberg's Legion omnibus for accessibility, then branching to collaborations.
Major WorkAuthor(s)Publication YearFormat/Notes
"Peace with Honor"1971Short story, Analog
The Mote in God's Eye & 1974Novel, post-CoDominium
West of Honor1976Novel, Falkenberg arc
The Mercenary1977Novel, Falkenberg arc
Birth of Fire1978Novel, Falkenberg arc
Janissaries1979Novel series start
War World: The Burning Eye (ed.)1988Anthology, Haven focus
Falkenberg's Legion1990Omnibus collection
The Gripping Hand & 1993Novel, Motie sequel

Fictional Timeline

Origins and Formation (Late 20th to Early 21st Century)

The CoDominium emerged from geopolitical necessities in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, when the United States and Soviet Union—restored via a military coup around 2000—forged an alliance to forestall mutual nuclear annihilation and consolidate global dominance. This supra-national entity was established through a series of bilateral treaties that divided spheres of influence, dismantled rival powers' militaries, and centralized authority under joint command structures. The alliance's architects prioritized stability over ideological rivalry, viewing other nations as threats to superpower survival; enforcement mechanisms included suppression of advanced research on Earth to curb potential weapons proliferation, while redirecting resources toward off-world expansion. Initial CoDominium operations focused on pacification and resettlement, with the superpowers relocating ethnic minorities, political dissidents, and surplus populations to extraterrestrial colonies to alleviate Earth's and internal tensions. By the early , advancements in propulsion technologies culminated in the discovery of the Alderson Drive in 2004, a breakthrough enabling practical interstellar jumps via natural wormhole-like points. This permitted rapid colonization of habitable worlds, such as Haven and Tanith, primarily as penal outlets rather than economic ventures. The CoDominium Navy, formed from merged U.S. and Soviet fleets, secured these outposts, often employing private mercenary legions for cost-effective suppression of rebellions. The formation reflected Jerry Pournelle's vision of , where ideological foes unite against greater chaos, but sowed seeds of decay through enforced stagnation: bans on civilian R&D stifled , fostering dependency on colonial labor and . By 2008, routine Alderson transits supported a burgeoning extraterrestrial economy, yet Earth's governance increasingly relied on coercive measures, including CD Marine interventions in proxy conflicts. This era marked the CoDominium's zenith as a peacekeeper, though underlying fractures—such as suppressed and resource inequities—foreshadowed its eventual unraveling.

Expansion Era (21st to 22nd Century)

The Expansion Era marked the CoDominium's aggressive push into , facilitated by the perfection of the Alderson Drive in 2004 at the , which allowed near-instantaneous travel between stars via fixed Alderson points. This breakthrough, combined with the discovery of habitable exoplanets around 2010, spurred commercial exploitation and the establishment of initial outposts. The CoDominium, seeking to maintain terrestrial stability amid overpopulation and unrest, initiated the Great Exodus in 2020, transporting dissidents, malcontents, and voluntary adventurers as the first waves of colonists to these worlds. Concurrently, the CoDominium formalized its extraterrestrial military presence by creating the CoDominium Space Navy and Marines in 2020, absorbing prior armed services to police colonial ventures and suppress piracy or rebellion. Early colonies emphasized self-sufficiency, with groups such as ethnic enclaves, religious sects, and corporate entities founding settlements on worlds like (later Tanith) and Saint Ekaterina by the 2040s. These efforts transitioned from voluntary migration to coerced relocation under the CoDominium's policies starting in 2040, deporting surplus populations, criminals, and political undesirables to frontier planets to alleviate Earth's resource strains and neutralize domestic threats. By the mid-21st century, the CoDominium had expanded to over 70 human colonies within a 200-light-year radius, relying on slower-than-light colonial ships for initial surveys and support, while the enforced monopoly on interstellar trade and Alderson point access. Specialized groups, including genetically enhanced super-soldiers bred for combat, were deployed to harsh environments like Haven (War World), fostering militarized societies that later challenged central authority. Economic incentives drove private enterprises to exploit resources, though taxpayer-funded fleets bore the costs, mirroring historical imperial patterns. Tensions escalated into the early 22nd century as colonies grew autonomous; in 2098, forces evicted the CoDominium , declared , and developed their own fleet, signaling the limits of centralized control. This era's expansion, while achieving human dispersal across dozens of systems, sowed seeds of fragmentation through uneven development—elite strongholds like contrasted with penal outposts—ultimately straining the CoDominium's cohesion by 2103.

Decline and Collapse (Mid-22nd Century)

The decline of the CoDominium accelerated in the late as and fiscal pressures eroded public support for interstellar expansion. Taxpayer revolts in both the and mounted against the high costs of maintaining the CoDominium Navy and colonial fleets, which were essential for suppressing unrest on and securing extraterrestrial holdings. Simultaneously, demographic shifts exacerbated challenges: policies favoring welfare expansion and unrestricted led to dysgenic trends, with competence and innovation declining among ruling elites while bureaucratic inertia grew. These internal contradictions, rooted in the alliance's foundational emphasis on stability over meritocratic reform, weakened the CoDominium's coercive apparatus. By the early 22nd century, geopolitical fissures between the U.S. and USSR deepened, with hardline factions in both powers advocating dissolution of the partnership amid rising insurgencies and resource strains. Unrest spread as colonial worlds, increasingly self-reliant, chafed under naval enforcement of CoDominium edicts, fostering separatist movements that strained logistics and loyalty. The alliance's technocratic structure, designed for joint , proved brittle against cascading failures: disruptions from Earth-based strikes, mutinies in peripheral commands, and breakdowns amplified vulnerabilities. Pournelle depicted this phase as a causal outcome of egalitarian overreach suppressing hierarchical competence, rendering the CoDominium unable to adapt to in its sprawling domain. The CoDominium formally collapsed in 2103, triggering the Great Patriotic Wars that devastated Earth and fragmented its global order. With the Grand Senate dissolving amid mutual accusations of sabotage, naval assets splintered—some fleets imposing local tyrannies on colonies, others withdrawing to rogue operations—leaving a power vacuum. Billions perished in the ensuing terrestrial conflicts, as nuclear exchanges and conventional campaigns reduced major population centers to ruins, effectively ending Earth's centrality in human affairs. This cataclysm marked the terminal phase of CoDominium authority, with surviving colonies entering an era of balkanized autonomy by mid-century, unmoored from the alliance's enforced pax.

Post-CoDominium Transition

The collapse of the CoDominium in 2103, precipitated by internal decay, resource exhaustion, and the Great Patriotic Wars on , marked the onset of the , a protracted era of interstellar fragmentation and conflict. With centralized authority dissolved, colonial worlds declared independence, leading to , , and mercenary-driven power struggles across human space. Remnants of the CoDominium , loyal to figures like Sergeyev, endeavored to suppress rebellions and facilitate reunification, but their efforts were hampered by divided loyalties and overwhelming secessionist fervor. Mercenary organizations emerged as de facto stabilizers amid the vacuum, with John Christian Falkenberg's Legion exemplifying their influence through campaigns on frontier planets such as Tanith and Haven. Falkenberg, a former CoDominium Marine officer born around 2015, commanded operations from the 2050s onward, transitioning from CoDominium service to independent contracts as the alliance crumbled. His legion's relocation to in the late proved decisive; , a colony engineered via eugenic selection for a warrior-citizen class modeled on ancient ideals, faced existential threats from Earth-based oligarchs like Senator Morton Bronson and internal Helot slave revolts. Falkenberg's forces trained Spartan hoplites, fortified defenses, and repelled invasions, including Bronson's orchestrated techno-ninja incursions and orbital bombardments. These victories enabled Sparta's ascendance as a reunification nucleus, with King —drawing on disciplined hierarchies and technological remnants—proclaiming himself and establishing the by the early 22nd century. The Empire consolidated authority through naval remnants, merit-based governance, and suppression of , restoring interstellar order while inheriting CoDominium flaws like bureaucratic inertia. This transition underscored the fragility of egalitarian bureaucracies, as Sparta's stratified society prioritized competence and loyalty over ideological diffusion.

Core Elements of the Universe

Political Structure and Governance

The CoDominium emerged as a supranational alliance between the and the , formalized through a series of treaties in the late , establishing joint control over space activities to avert terrestrial nuclear war and regulate human expansion beyond . This structure preserved the sovereignty of both powers while creating a shared authority for extraterrestrial governance, including bans on research and development in space, enforced to prevent escalation of arms races. Central to its political apparatus is the Grand , housed in an underground facility on the to insulate it from direct influence by either superpower's government. The consists of equal numbers of representatives: half elected from constituencies within the , and half appointed by the Soviet leadership, reflecting the alliance's dualistic foundation and inherent tensions. This composition frequently leads to vetoes and paralysis on key decisions, as each bloc prioritizes national interests over unified policy. A CoDominium handles executive matters, but legislative primacy lies with the , which oversees colonial administration, technology restrictions, and interstellar enforcement. Enforcement relies on the CoDominium Fleet, a multinational naval force incorporating elements from both powers, tasked with patrolling space routes, suppressing colonial uprisings, and blocking prohibited innovations like or orbital weapons. Policies emphasize exporting dissidents and welfare dependents to colonies, promoting self-reliant settlements under minimal to relieve Earthbound pressures. Internal rivalries, however, foster corruption and inefficiency, with senators leveraging positions for , ultimately undermining the alliance's cohesion by the early 22nd century.

Military Institutions and Mercenaries

The CoDominium's military apparatus centered on the CoDominium Fleet, which encompassed the Space Navy responsible for interstellar transport, orbital control, and enforcement of naval blockades, and the tasked with ground operations, planetary interventions, and suppression of unauthorized activities. Established in the mid-2010s as part of the CoDominium treaties, the Fleet absorbed earlier provisional services formed during the alliance's between the and . The , in particular, drew recruits from a mix of volunteers, convicts offered enlistment as an alternative to imprisonment, and elite personnel, fostering a force oriented toward rapid deployment and loyalty to CoDominium authority over national allegiances. CoDominium policy, embedded in foundational treaties, prohibited colonies from maintaining standing armies or developing independent military technologies to prevent challenges to centralized control, leading to a systemic reliance on licensed organizations for planetary , internal policing, and defense against insurgencies. These operated under CoDominium oversight, with contracts regulated to ensure compliance, but their autonomy allowed flexibility in colonial governance where official forces were stretched thin. units filled critical gaps during the Expansion Era, handling tasks from frontier pacification to resource extraction , often employing tactics derived from historical models like the . A paradigmatic example is Falkenberg's Legion, a premier formation commanded by John Christian Falkenberg, which exemplified the integration of professional soldiery with CoDominium strategic needs. Originating from disbanded Marine elements in the late , the Legion undertook high-risk contracts on worlds like Hadley and Tanith, suppressing rebellions and stabilizing regimes aligned with CoDominium interests amid rising colonial unrest. Falkenberg's forces emphasized disciplined , combined arms operations with limited naval support, and a that prioritized mission success over ideological commitments, reflecting the pragmatic realism of mercenary service in a decaying hegemon. As CoDominium influence waned in the mid-22nd century, such units transitioned into rulers or defenders of nascent polities, underscoring the fragility of treaty-enforced .

Technological Foundations

The CoDominium universe posits via the Alderson drive, a system enabling near-instantaneous jumps between specific points in stellar systems known as Alderson points. These points occur at locations of equipotential thermonuclear flux, often coinciding with gravitational equilibria such as Lagrange points beyond a star's , where ships must first maneuver using sublight drives before initiating the jump. Jumps connect stars within a structured network resembling a , limiting accessible destinations to those linked by these discrete pathways, with transit times within systems ranging from days to weeks depending on acceleration capabilities. Sublight propulsion adheres to realistic physics, employing high-thrust chemical rockets for rapid maneuvers, nuclear engines for sustained , and occasionally laser-driven sails for in vacuum. This framework avoids continuum drives, grounding expansion in constrained, energy-intensive logistics that favor militarized colonies over widespread civilian settlement. Military technologies emphasize kinetic projectiles, railguns, and high-energy lasers for both space and planetary operations, with armed via turret-mounted batteries capable of engaging at ranges. Ground forces deploy powered battle armor enhancing infantry mobility and firepower, supplemented by autonomous drones and smart munitions, but without advanced or impenetrable defenses, reflecting deliberate suppression of disruptive innovations by CoDominium authorities to preserve . Post-collapse worlds exhibit technological regression, reverting to pre-spaceflight levels due to lost expertise and restricted access to high-tech imports. Civilian infrastructure relies on fusion-derived power for habitats and drives, alongside robust computational systems for and , yet broader scientific stagnation—enforced by CoDominium policies—precludes breakthroughs in fields like or unrestricted computing, prioritizing stability over progress.

Colonial Societies and Human Expansion

The CoDominium facilitated human expansion through the discovery of Alderson points, enabling travel via tramlines in the early , which allowed of dozens of extrasolar planets during the Great Exodus. Habitable worlds with breathable atmospheres and were primarily settled by organized groups, including national entities such as Japan's Meiji colony and Britain's Churchill, as well as ideological or cultural enclaves like the Scottish Presbyterian Covenant and the academic-led . By 2050, over 40 such colonies had been established, excluding resource outposts and operations, with many incorporating elements to enhance habitability. Less desirable planets, often resource-rich but environmentally harsh, were claimed by mining corporations that utilized coerced labor, including deported criminals and political dissidents relocated by CoDominium authorities to alleviate Earth's social pressures. Examples include Tanith and Fulson's World, where private enterprises extracted minerals while taxpayers shouldered the infrastructural costs, mirroring historical imperial patterns where public funds subsidized private gains. War World, designated Haven, exemplified penal settlement: positioned at the remote end of tramline networks over a year from , it served as a dumping ground for terrorists, irredeemable offenders, and exiles, fostering societies stratified by industrial magnates, CoDominium Marines, and a of transportees amid hostile and scarce return options. Colonial societies diverged markedly due to settler composition and isolation, with the CoDominium Navy and Marines enforcing order against insurrections from maladapted populations, such as welfare dependents or criminal elements unwilling to conform to frontier demands. Sparta evolved into a disciplined constitutional dual monarchy under scholarly elites, emphasizing military preparedness, while Covenant's theocratic structure reinforced religious cohesion among separatists. Haven's dynamics pitted entrenched factions against newcomers, with mining operations exploiting Bureau of Relocation labor for rare ores, yet generating persistent unrest that required mercenary interventions as CoDominium support waned amid Earth's fiscal strains. This expansion, while dispersing humanity across stars, sowed seeds of autonomy, as colonies increasingly relied on self-governance when central authority faltered.

Themes and Philosophical Underpinnings

Causal Analysis of Societal Decay

In the universe, societal decay originates from the progressive expansion of welfare systems in both the and , which foster dependency among a growing while eroding incentives for productivity and merit-based advancement. By the late , this manifests in a bifurcated dividing populations into "Citizens"—welfare recipients with voting rights but minimal economic contribution—and "Taxpayers," the productive minority burdened with sustaining the system. Such policies, intended to mitigate inequality, instead perpetuate cycles of idleness and entitlement, as evidenced by escalating and resource strains that necessitate coercive measures like the Bureau of Relocation's forced deportations to colonies. Bureaucratic corruption accelerates this decline, as entrenched elites in the CoDominium prioritize power preservation over efficacy, suppressing scientific and technological progress to avert challenges to their . This causal —where egalitarian mandates dilute competence in and institutions—leads to administrative paralysis, with competent individuals increasingly emigrating to frontier worlds, further depleting Earth's . Historical parallels drawn by Pournelle underscore how self-perpetuating welfare bureaucracies undermine civilizational resilience, mirroring real-world observations of policy-induced stagnation. Demographic imbalances compound these factors, with low rates among taxpayers contrasting high in dependent classes, inverting societal incentives and fostering resentment that undermines social cohesion. The alliance's enforced "," while averting immediate conflict, masks underlying rot, culminating in the CoDominium's collapse circa 2103, when suppressed nationalisms erupt into the Great Patriotic Wars. This outcome illustrates a core causal realism: hierarchies of competence are indispensable for complex societies, and their subversion through ideological invites fragmentation and barbarism.

Realism in Power Dynamics and Hierarchy

In the CoDominium universe, power dynamics are depicted as pragmatic alliances forged by necessity, exemplified by the 1999 pact between the and , which establishes a supranational entity monopolizing military force on and to suppress rivals and enforce stability. This arrangement reflects , where ideological adversaries cooperate to preserve mutual , suppressing internal dissent and third-party threats through coordinated naval power rather than utopian consensus. The alliance's endurance hinges on shared strategic interests, such as controlling colonial expansion, but frays as domestic bureaucracies prioritize over operational efficacy, leading to enforced masking underlying rot. Hierarchies within CoDominium institutions, particularly the and mercenary legions, are portrayed as essential for coordinating complex operations across vast distances, with authority stratified by demonstrated competence in tactics, logistics, and leadership rather than egalitarian distribution. Units like Falkenberg's Legion succeed in chaotic post-colonial environments by enforcing rigid chains of command, where officers earn loyalty through results—such as decisive victories against insurgencies—contrasting with Earth's decaying structures where promotion favors bureaucratic maneuvering over merit. This mirrors Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy, which posits that organizations inevitably fall under control of those advancing personal agendas at the expense of core missions, eroding competence hierarchies and precipitating , as seen in the CoDominium's mid-22nd-century collapse. Colonial power structures evolve realistically from imperial oversight to feudal meritocracies, where capable and legion commanders fill vacuums left by withdrawing superpowers, relying on disciplined forces to extract resources and maintain order amid technological disparity. Effective rulers, like those training Spartan colonies, impose hierarchical discipline on fractious societies, underscoring that human expansion demands asymmetrical authority to counter entropy and incompetence, drawn from historical precedents of Roman legions and medieval condottieri. Bureaucratic overreach on , conversely, flattens functional hierarchies through dysgenic policies and welfare incentives that reward mediocrity, culminating in naval mutinies and secessionist wars that validate competence-based stratification as a causal prerequisite for .

Critiques of Ideological Excesses

In the CoDominium universe, critiques the excesses of welfare statism as fostering a self-perpetuating that undermines societal productivity and competence. Earth is depicted as divided into "Taxpayers," who hold voting rights and fund the system, and disenfranchised "Citizens" confined to decaying "Welfare Districts," where dependency on state subsidies erodes personal initiative and leads to urban blight. This structure illustrates how expansive welfare policies, intended to promote equity, instead exacerbate class divisions and demographic decline, with the Bureau of Relocation exporting unproductive elements to colonies, further draining Earth's talent pool. Pournelle further assails egalitarian excesses in democratic governance, portraying them as incapable of sustaining complex endeavors requiring discipline and hierarchy. In narratives like The Mercenary, mercenary leader John Falkenberg dismisses planetary "egalitarian democracy" as "quite unable to accomplish anything that takes sustained effort," arguing that such systems prioritize short-term populism over long-term stability, devolving into corruption and feudal reversion. The CoDominium's enforced peace, rooted in ideological aversion to conflict, similarly critiques pacifist overreach: by suppressing military innovation and national rivalries, it breeds internal stagnation and vulnerability, culminating in the alliance's collapse amid nationalist revolts. These portrayals extend to broader ideological flaws, such as the suppression of meritocratic hierarchies in favor of enforced equality, which Pournelle contrasts with the competence-driven societies of colonies and mercenary units. The narratives posit that ideological commitments to universalism and anti-elitism erode the cultural reverence for excellence essential to technological advancement, leaving a husk ruled by bureaucratic tyranny where "taxpayer" evolves into an aristocratic slur amid pervasive decay. Ultimately, Pournelle's works advocate for realist power structures—capable autocrats or disciplined elites—as antidotes to these excesses, warning that unbridled egalitarianism and welfarism precipitate civilizational failure.

Reception and Legacy

Initial Critical and Fan Responses

Pournelle's early CoDominium stories, beginning with "The Mercenary" in 1972 and expanded in "A Spaceship for the King" serialized in Analog from late 1973 to early 1974, garnered acclaim within circles for their rigorous depiction of military operations, interstellar politics, and human expansion. Publication in Analog, a venue emphasizing and technical plausibility, signaled endorsement from editors and readers favoring empirically grounded narratives over speculative idealism. This positive momentum culminated in Pournelle receiving the inaugural Award for Best New Writer at the 1973 World Science Fiction Convention, recognizing his debut professional works—including the nascent CoDominium framework—as innovative contributions to the genre. The award, voted by convention attendees and reflecting fan and professional consensus, highlighted appreciation for Pournelle's integration of and historical analogies into futuristic scenarios. Critics noted the series' emphasis on hierarchical power dynamics and the inevitability of conflict in colonial expansion, praising elements like the portrayal of mercenary legions as vehicles for exploring and command efficacy; however, some early observers in the increasingly ideologically diverse SF community viewed the works' unapologetic realism in warfare and as overly sympathetic to authoritarian structures. Pournelle's involvement in SFWA debates, such as the 1976 controversy over Stanisław Lem's honorary membership, foreshadowed broader tensions, with detractors questioning the alignment of his narratives with emerging progressive critiques of . Fan responses, particularly among readers of military-oriented SF, were enthusiastic, drawn to the CoDominium's causal logic of societal entropy and the franchise's expansion into anthologies like There Will Be War (1983), which built on the universe's foundational appeal. Attendees at conventions, where Pournelle engaged directly, often cited the series' tactical authenticity—rooted in his background—as a standout feature, fostering a dedicated readership that valued undiluted depictions of agency in interstellar strife over allegorical .

Influence on Science Fiction and Strategy

The CoDominium future history, originating in Jerry Pournelle's novels such as The Mercenary (1977), emphasized rigorous , hierarchical command structures, and the causal consequences of bureaucratic inefficiency on interstellar governance, setting a template for hard-edged that prioritized operational realism over speculative idealism. This approach influenced subsequent works by depicting conflicts where technological superiority alone failed without disciplined logistics and cultural cohesion, as seen in the Falkenberg's Legion mercenary campaigns against planetary insurgencies. Pournelle's integration of sociological decay—driven by expansion leading to demographic collapse and elite emigration—provided a to utopian narratives prevalent in , fostering a subgenre that examined power vacuums and feudal revivals in space. Collaborations, notably with in (1974), extended this influence by modeling alien contact through naval blockades and containment strategies, inspiring authors to blend first-contact tropes with blockade enforcement and xenophobic . Shared-world anthologies like the War World series (1980s–1990s), edited by Pournelle and John F. Carr, incorporated contributions from writers such as and , amplifying the universe's reach and demonstrating how legions could sustain order amid imperial fragmentation. These elements shaped fiction's focus on competence hierarchies, where incompetent precipitated defeats, as echoed in later series emphasizing troop motivation and terrain adaptation over raw firepower. In strategic domains, the CoDominium's portrayal of a bipolar superpower alliance devolving into colonial fiefdoms informed role-playing games like Traveller (1977 onward), where Pournelle's A Spaceship for the King (1973) served as a foundational model for low-tech planetary reclamation missions involving engineering corps and insurgent suppression. This influenced wargaming mechanics in Traveller supplements like Mercenary (1977), incorporating CoDominium-style unit cohesion rules and post-imperial balkanization scenarios to simulate realistic force projection limits in decentralized space. Pournelle's non-fiction background, including co-authorship of The Strategy of Technology (1970), which advocated technology-driven deterrence, underpinned the fiction's emphasis on kinetic orbital strikes and rapid deployment fleets as counters to asymmetric threats, paralleling real-world debates on power projection without overreliance on unproven doctrines. Such depictions encouraged strategic analyses in science fiction that stressed empirical limits on expansion, including resource strain from rapid colonization, over ideological abstractions.

Controversies, Including Political Interpretations

The CoDominium series has elicited political interpretations framing it as a of egalitarian policies and welfare-state expansion, positing that such systems foster societal through dysgenic incentives, suppressed , and internal divisions that necessitate authoritarian stabilization. Pournelle, drawing from his background, depicted the U.S.-Soviet alliance as arising from mutual domestic weaknesses—unlimited entitlements eroding discipline and competence—leading to global followed by collapse into interstellar . This narrative aligns with historical analogies to Rome's decline, where unchecked redistribution and undermine hierarchies essential for order. Critics, particularly from progressive commentary, have condemned the works as endorsing and , arguing they declare democracy's inherent failure and glorify competent strongmen imposing stability on chaotic masses. For instance, analyses of novels like The Mercenary highlight Falkenberg's interventions as implicit advocacy for hierarchical rule over liberal experiments, viewing the CoDominium's fall and imperial successors as celebratory rather than tragic. Such readings often attribute to Pournelle a preference for stratified societies, interpreting and anti-egalitarian themes as romanticizing . Pournelle countered such characterizations in , presenting the timeline as a cautionary projection of real-world trends like policy-induced decay, not a blueprint for endorsement; he favored constitutional but illustrated empire's inevitability when virtues erode, as evidenced by disciplined colonial outposts outlasting Earth's welfare-ravaged cores. Supporters note the series' realism in power dynamics, where ideological excesses—such as suppressing military ethos or prioritizing equity over competence— precipitate vulnerability to rivals, a view substantiated by Pournelle's essays on civilizational cycles. These debates reflect broader tensions in science fiction over depicting unvarnished versus aspirational utopias, with left-leaning outlets prone to framing hierarchical restorations as proto-fascist while overlooking empirical parallels in historical statecraft.

References

  1. http://www.chronology.org/pournelle/timeline.html
  2. https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780937912461/9780937912461___4.htm
  3. https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780937912690/9780937912690___3.htm
  4. http://www.chronology.org/pournelle/im_reading.html
  5. https://www.baen.com/Chapters/A9781982124175/A9781982124175___6.htm
  6. https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?257870
  7. https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/pournelle_jerry
  8. https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Larry-Niven-Jerry-Pournelle/dp/156865054X
  9. https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?656648
  10. https://www.amazon.com/Gripping-Hand-Larry-Niven/dp/0671795732
  11. https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1835
  12. https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?3366
  13. https://www.baen.com/
  14. https://www.amazon.com/Prince-Jerry-Pournelle/dp/B00009V2NF
  15. http://archives.sbu.edu/carr/Warworld_Archive/crew_roster.html
  16. https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?735
  17. http://www.chronology.org/pournelle/reading.html
  18. https://www.librarything.com/nseries/3584/CoDominium
  19. http://www.chronology.org/pournelle/
  20. https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?17045
  21. https://www.baen.com/codominium-future-history-bundle.html
  22. https://locusmag.com/2017/09/jerry-pournellle-1933-2017/
  23. https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/jerry-pournelle/
  24. https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/jerry-pournelle/codominium/
  25. https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?735
  26. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/CoDominium
  27. https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/how-jerry-pournelles-codominium-would-really-have-gone-down.92446/
  28. https://www.baen.com/Chapters/1011250018/The_Mercenary.htm
  29. https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780937912430/9780937912430___3.htm
  30. https://larryniven.net/?q=universes-of-larry-niven
  31. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/583420.Go_Tell_the_Spartans
  32. https://turtledove.fandom.com/wiki/CoDominium_Universe
  33. https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781982124175/9781982124175___6.htm
  34. https://reactormag.com/troubled-futures-the-mercenary-by-jerry-pournelle/
  35. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197187.Prince_of_Mercenaries
  36. https://discoverscifi.com/books-in-order/jerry-pournelle/
  37. https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/fasterlight2.php
  38. https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780937912461/9780937912461___5.htm
  39. https://www.benespen.com/2011-5-2-falkenbergs-legion-the-prince-book-review/
  40. https://www.blackgate.com/2019/10/30/future-treasures-the-best-of-jerry-pournelle-edited-by-john-f-carr/
  41. https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780937912287/9780937912287__c_.htm
  42. https://infogalactic.com/info/CoDominium
  43. https://themindcollection.com/pournelles-iron-law-of-bureaucracy/
  44. https://www.christian-sauve.com/essays/the-public-service-in-science-fiction/
  45. https://marzaat.com/2016/03/29/the-mercenary/
  46. https://reactormag.com/a-master-departs-a-spaceship-for-the-king-by-jerry-pournelle/
  47. http://theporporbooksblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/book-review-spaceship-for-king-by-jerry.html
  48. https://www.blackgate.com/2019/02/09/golden-age-of-science-fiction-the-1973-john-w-campbell-award-for-best-new-writer/
  49. https://www.sfwa.org/2017/09/08/memoriam-jerry-pournelle/
  50. https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/military_sf
  51. https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/notes/notes12/notes.html
  52. http://archives.sbu.edu/carr/Warworld_Archive/incoming_alerts.html
  53. http://sandboxofdoom.blogspot.com/2009/03/traveller-tuesday-our-original.html
  54. https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/travellers-needed-the-future-of-traveller.123226/page-4
  55. https://www.jerrypournelle.com/jerrypournelle.c/sot/disquis.html
  56. https://marzaat.com/2016/03/31/7035/
  57. https://bartleahy.com/2017/09/09/reflections-on-jerry-pournelle/
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.