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* ThePresidentsDaughter: Her father is the Secretary of State of the United States
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This didn\'t happen.
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* PetTheDog: What he did for the Obin. [[spoiler: They were created as a rather sick experiment by the Consu, which left them as empty shells, with intelligence but no consciousness or personality. Boutin used his technology to give them consciousness and personality. Eventually, his daughter Zoe intercedes with the Consu to give the Obin souls.]]
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* PetTheDog: What he did for the Obin. [[spoiler: They were created as a rather sick experiment by the Consu, which left them as empty shells, with intelligence but no consciousness or personality. Boutin used his technology to give them consciousness and personality. Eventually, his daughter Zoe intercedes with the Consu to give the Obin souls.]]
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* ImmigrantPatriotism: She was born on Earth, but her family became colonists when she was very young. As a result, she feels no particular ties to her homeworld and instead serves in the Colonial Union Diplomatic Corps.
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A list of characters appearing in John Scalzi's OldMansWar series.
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A list of characters appearing in John Scalzi's OldMansWar ''Literature/OldMansWar'' series.
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* OneWorldOrder: Averted. Earth is still divided among national lines.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Averted. The UN maintains a delegation with the Conclave in ''The End of All Things'', and the narration describes them as an organization which is ''not'' the government of Earth, but sometimes ''pretends'' to be in order to represent the Earthers' interests off-world.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The various governments still disagree as much as they ever did, making diplomacy with Earth rather difficult for both the CU and the Conclave.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Averted. The UN maintains a delegation with the Conclave in ''The End of All Things'', and the narration describes them as an organization which is ''not'' the government of Earth, but sometimes ''pretends'' to be in order to represent the Earthers' interests off-world.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The various governments still disagree as much as they ever did, making diplomacy with Earth rather difficult for both the CU and the Conclave.
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[[folder: The Conclave]]
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[[folder: The Conclave]]
Earth]]
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While the Colonial Union is largely the face of humanity throughout the galaxy, Earth is not a member. The CU controls all interstellar travel and has kept Earth under an effective quarantine to isolate them from the galaxy at large, meaning the only way to leave is to either serve as a colonist or in the Colonial Defense Forces. [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore This arrangement came crashing down]] with the events of ''The Last Colony'', and the events of ''The Human Division'' served to only make things worse.
!! Doctor Danielle Lowen
* ActionSurvivor: Finds herself caught up in far more action than she is trained for, but has thus far always pulled through.
* {{Ambadassador}}: While she is no ActionGirl, she refuses to take crap from anyone. In a diplomatic setting, she demands and receives respect.
* BoldlyComing: It has not escaped her attention that Wilson, like [[GreenSkinnedAlienSpaceBabe all CDF soldiers]], is gorgeous. She is annoyed to learn that he is both three times her age and his body specifically designed with that in mind.
* DamselInDistress: While very self-capable, Lowen is a diplomat and a doctor, not a soldier. Fortunately, she has usually benefited from the proximity of [[LoveInterest Harry Wilson]] whenever her life has been in danger.
* ItsRainingMen: In the climax of ''The Human Division'', she and Harry Wilson space-dive to Earth [[spoiler: to escape the destruction of Earth Station. She has to make the trip blind.]]
* TheMedic: Though she no longer practices medicine, her skills have come in handy more than once, being pressed into performing an autopsy on a murder victim in her first appearance, and providing first aid to bystanders injured by a bombing on Earth in her second appearance.
* ThePresidentsDaughter: Her father is the Secretary of State of the United States
* RescueRomance: Wilson has saved Lowen's life enough times that it has become an [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged trend.]]
* StarCrossedLovers: They don't first meet until Earth and the CU have their falling out, and the situation only gets worse from there. Most of their official meetings take place with them on opposite ends of the table.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Conclave]]
! General Tropes
!! Doctor Danielle Lowen
* ActionSurvivor: Finds herself caught up in far more action than she is trained for, but has thus far always pulled through.
* {{Ambadassador}}: While she is no ActionGirl, she refuses to take crap from anyone. In a diplomatic setting, she demands and receives respect.
* BoldlyComing: It has not escaped her attention that Wilson, like [[GreenSkinnedAlienSpaceBabe all CDF soldiers]], is gorgeous. She is annoyed to learn that he is both three times her age and his body specifically designed with that in mind.
* DamselInDistress: While very self-capable, Lowen is a diplomat and a doctor, not a soldier. Fortunately, she has usually benefited from the proximity of [[LoveInterest Harry Wilson]] whenever her life has been in danger.
* ItsRainingMen: In the climax of ''The Human Division'', she and Harry Wilson space-dive to Earth [[spoiler: to escape the destruction of Earth Station. She has to make the trip blind.]]
* TheMedic: Though she no longer practices medicine, her skills have come in handy more than once, being pressed into performing an autopsy on a murder victim in her first appearance, and providing first aid to bystanders injured by a bombing on Earth in her second appearance.
* ThePresidentsDaughter: Her father is the Secretary of State of the United States
* RescueRomance: Wilson has saved Lowen's life enough times that it has become an [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged trend.]]
* StarCrossedLovers: They don't first meet until Earth and the CU have their falling out, and the situation only gets worse from there. Most of their official meetings take place with them on opposite ends of the table.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Conclave]]
! General Tropes
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* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: She was named after Creator/CarlSagan.
* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: He was named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac Paul Dirac]].
* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: He is named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Szilard Leo Szilard]].
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* [[spoiler: InspirationalMartyr]]: [[spoiler: [[HeroicSuicide He arranges his own assassination via bomb]] while giving a speech to the Grand Assembly of the Conclave on the importance of preserving their union despite the challenges they face, in hopes that it would galvanize he Conclave into holding itself together.]]
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* [[spoiler: InspirationalMartyr]]: [[spoiler: [[HeroicSuicide [[spoiler:InspirationalMartyr]]: [[spoiler:[[HeroicSuicide He arranges his own assassination via bomb]] while giving a speech to the Grand Assembly of the Conclave on the importance of preserving their union despite the challenges they face, in hopes that it would galvanize he Conclave into holding itself together.]]
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* [[spoiler: UnexpectedSuccessor]]: [[spoiler: Finds herself the leader of the Conclave, much to her surprise and dismay, when General Gau is killed, as a result of a ThanatosGambit on his part and some quick behind the scenes maneuvering to avoid a SuccessionCrisis.]]
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* [[spoiler: UnexpectedSuccessor]]: [[spoiler: Finds [[spoiler:UnexpectedSuccessor]]: [[spoiler:Finds herself the leader of the Conclave, much to her surprise and dismay, when General Gau is killed, as a result of a ThanatosGambit on his part and some quick behind the scenes maneuvering to avoid a SuccessionCrisis.]]
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* FriendToAllChildren: While eating churros in Washington, she has an impromptu question-and-answer session with a group of elementary school children on a field trip, and she really hits it off with them.
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* FriendToAllChildren: While eating churros in Washington, she has an impromptu question-and-answer session with a group of elementary school children on a field trip, and she really hits it off with them. Ironically, it is revealed that a callous disregard for their ''own'' young is a Hat of the Lalans, and seen as necessary for them to develop properly and avoid overpopulation.
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* NiceGirl: Possibly the sweetest person in the galaxy.
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* NiceGirl: Possibly the sweetest person in the galaxy. However, GoodIsNotSoft, and she is absolutely ruthless when necessary.
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* [[spoiler: UnexpectedSuccessor]]: [[spoiler: Finds herself the leader of the Conclave, much to her surprise and dismay, when General Gau is killed, as a result of a ThanatosGambit on his part and some quick behind the scenes maneuvering to avoid a SuccessionCrisis.]]
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* [[spoiler: InspirationalMartyr]]: [[spoiler: [[HeroicSuicide He arranges his own assassination via bomb]] while giving a speech to the Grand Assembly of the Conclave on the importance of preserving their union despite the challenges they face, in hopes that it would galvanize he Conclave into holding itself together.]]
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* SpaceMarine: The whole CDF is a shout-out to the Mobile Infantry of Heinlein's StarshipTroopers, so this trope is a must.
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* SpaceMarine: The whole CDF is a shout-out to the Mobile Infantry of Heinlein's StarshipTroopers, ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', so this trope is a must.
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* ActionSurvivor: On multiple occassions, survives by sheer luck and occasionally through the efforts of others.
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* ObiwanMoment: At the climax of ''The Human Division''. [[spoiler: Ironically, he survives because of this. When he realizes he is going to die, he lays down to FaceDeathWithDignity, and notices an emergency air tank tucked underneath a nearby workstation just as the compartment he is in is exposed to vacuum.]]
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* SpareToTheThrone: He went into Colonial politics partially because his older brother was expected to take their father's place as the head of their homeworld's dominant political party. Unexpectedly, the oldest son instead elected to support the opposition party (he has two other siblings: His sister is a big mover and shaker in various charities, and his other brother has pretty much decided on being a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob since everybody else was being responsible.)
* WellDoneSonGuy: His father isn't [[JerkAss the nicest person at the best of times]], and vocally disapproves of Hart's decision to serve in the Colonial Union's diplomatic corps rather than applying his considerable skills and connections on his homeworld of Phoenix instead. Once he finally has enough of his family's ribbing over his career and vehemently declares ''why'' his work is important and why he is not going to give it up despite the hardships and humiliations, his father responds [[SoProudOfYou by silently raising his glass in a toast.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy: His father isn't [[JerkAss the nicest person at the best of times]], and vocally disapproves of Hart's decision to serve in the Colonial Union's diplomatic corps rather than applying his considerable skills and connections on his homeworld of Phoenix instead. Once he finally has enough of his family's ribbing over his career and vehemently declares ''why'' his work is important and why he is not going to give it up despite the hardships and humiliations, his father responds [[SoProudOfYou by silently raising his glass in a toast.]]
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* {{Ambadassador}}: When she is PutOnABus, she is [[spoiler: sent to the Conclave to warn General Gau of an assassination plot against him, and ends up helping him smoke out the traitors.]]
* BatmanGambit: Her method of breaking up a fight between two gaggles of teenage boys early on in Zoe's Tale is for her and her new friend to barge into the middle of it and mock the boys mercilessly, implying that the greatest thing at stake in their fight is a bet between two teenage girls with a week's worth of sweets as the wager. [[spoiler: At the end of the same book, she helps General Gau [[MoleHunt smoke out a traitor]] with another BatmanGambit.]]
* BatmanGambit: Her method of breaking up a fight between two gaggles of teenage boys early on in Zoe's Tale is for her and her new friend to barge into the middle of it and mock the boys mercilessly, implying that the greatest thing at stake in their fight is a bet between two teenage girls with a week's worth of sweets as the wager. [[spoiler: At the end of the same book, she helps General Gau [[MoleHunt smoke out a traitor]] with another BatmanGambit.]]
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* MessianicArchetype: For the Obin.
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* GuileHero: She is a very clever girl, using her wits to deescalate conflicts throughout her book.
* HeartbrokenBadass: After she and Enzo break up. [[spoiler: And after they reconcile, she gets this even worse when Enzo and his family are killed in an attack.]]
* MessianicArchetype: For the Obin. This tends to make other humans mildly uncomfortable whenever they are reminded of this.
* HeartbrokenBadass: After she and Enzo break up. [[spoiler: And after they reconcile, she gets this even worse when Enzo and his family are killed in an attack.]]
* MessianicArchetype: For the Obin. This tends to make other humans mildly uncomfortable whenever they are reminded of this.
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* ShipperOnDeck: For her adopted parents. Bit of a ZigZaggedTrope, as she [[LampshadeHanging points out:]] You're happy because your parents love each other. Yet at the same time, [[{{Squick}} your parents are being lovey on each other.]]
* ThemeNaming: When she was very young, she named her Obin bodyguards Hickory and Dickory (individual Obin had no names prior to this). [[spoiler: Her doing so unintentionally inspired most of the Obin to take names from every word of a children's song, including words such as "the", and leading to the rare example of NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast (she meets one Obin named "Strike").]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Her Obin attendants and bodyguards, Hickory and Dickory, insist on teaching her to defend herself, via a combination of [[TrainingFromHell physical fitness training, hand-to-hand combat training, and studies of alien physiology and culture]].
* ThemeNaming: When she was very young, she named her Obin bodyguards Hickory and Dickory (individual Obin had no names prior to this). [[spoiler: Her doing so unintentionally inspired most of the Obin to take names from every word of a children's song, including words such as "the", and leading to the rare example of NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast (she meets one Obin named "Strike").]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Her Obin attendants and bodyguards, Hickory and Dickory, insist on teaching her to defend herself, via a combination of [[TrainingFromHell physical fitness training, hand-to-hand combat training, and studies of alien physiology and culture]].
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* ArtificialHuman: He was born as a fully-grown adult.
* FrankensteinsMonster: Similar to Jane, with the added bonus that he was originally created to house someone else's memories and personality. His personality manifested when that plan didn't pan out, only for bits and pieces of the original personality to start to bleed through.
* [[spoiler: GrandTheftMe: Once Boutin captures him, there is nothing Jared can do to prevent him from taking over his body and erasing Jared. Unfortunately for Boutin, Jared leaves him a [[TakingYouWithMe parting gift.]]]]
* [[spoiler: GrandTheftMe: Once Boutin captures him, there is nothing Jared can do to prevent him from taking over his body and erasing Jared. Unfortunately for Boutin, Jared leaves him a [[TakingYouWithMe parting gift.]]]]
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* [[spoiler: GrandTheftMe: Once Boutin captures him, there is nothing Jared can do to prevent him from taking over his body and erasing Jared. Unfortunately for Boutin, Jared leaves him a [[TakingYouWithMe parting gift.]]]]
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* [[spoiler: GrandTheftMe: Once Boutin captures him, there TriggerPhrase: An unusual example in which its not actually intentional. A side effect of the failed attempt to implant Boutin's personality in [[BlankSlate Jared's body]] is nothing that certain mundane things cause parts of Boutin's memories or personality to connect to Jared's personality. The first such one is a bag of black jelly beans which lead to Jared can do to prevent him from taking over his body and erasing Jared. Unfortunately for Boutin, Jared leaves him having a [[TakingYouWithMe parting gift.]]]]
full-blown FreakOut.
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* AnticlimaxBoss: [[spoiler: He gets ventilated by the CDF early on.]] After that, the book becomes about stopping the three-species coalition.
* CloningBlues: Of two types, even! First, he leaves a copy of his consciousness in a computer, which the CDF implants into a new Special Forces soldier, Jared Dirac, in order to 'interrogate' Boutin. Then, after [[spoiler: he's killed]], the CDF discovers a physical clone of himself, that he planned to transfer his consciousness to if need be.
* CloningBlues: Of two types, even! First, he leaves a copy of his consciousness in a computer, which the CDF implants into a new Special Forces soldier, Jared Dirac, in order to 'interrogate' Boutin. Then, after [[spoiler: he's killed]], the CDF discovers a physical clone of himself, that he planned to transfer his consciousness to if need be.
to:
* AnticlimaxBoss: [[spoiler: He gets ventilated by the CDF early on.Jared tricks him into killing himself after taking over Jared's body.]] After that, Most of the book becomes is about stopping the three-species coalition.
coalition he is responsible for starting.
* CloningBlues: Of two types, even! First, he creates a clone of himself which he uses to fake his own suicide (the CDF investigators voice the hope that the clone wasn't conscious for the experience). Second, he leaves a copy of his consciousness in a computer, which the CDF implants into a new Special Forces soldier, Jared Dirac, in order to 'interrogate' Boutin.Then, after [[spoiler: he's killed]], the CDF discovers a physical clone of himself, that he planned to transfer his consciousness to if need be.
* CloningBlues: Of two types, even! First, he creates a clone of himself which he uses to fake his own suicide (the CDF investigators voice the hope that the clone wasn't conscious for the experience). Second, he leaves a copy of his consciousness in a computer, which the CDF implants into a new Special Forces soldier, Jared Dirac, in order to 'interrogate' Boutin.
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* ArtificialHuman: A genetically engineered SuperSoldier trained to be a killer since the moment she was born. She makes an [[LampshadeHanging explicit comparison]] between Special Forces soldiers like her and FrankensteinsMonster.
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* SuperSoldier: She [[ArtificialHuman was created]] to be an elite soldier from birth.
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* SheKnowsTooMuch: Unusually for this trope, the CDF leadership decides it'd be best to just ThrowTheDogABone and buy her secrecy by letting her marry John and exile the both of them to a pleasant backwater colony to raise Zoë.
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* CoolGuns: The MP-35, the standard rifle of the CDF, is a ridiculously awesome weapon. It uses a block of nanobots as ammunition, which can be assembled and fired as bullets (of every kind imaginable; incediary, armor-piercing, explosive, homing), grenades, rockets, guided missiles, napalm for flamethrowing, or a particle beam. It also interfaces with the [=BrainPal=], a powerful organic computer that comes standard in every CDF soldier's brain, allowing its behavior to be modified on the fly by the individual soldier to adapt to whatever challenges they might face.
* TheEveryman: All this CU and CDF crap is as new to him as it is to us, having lived his entire life on Earth, which has been intentionally sequestered by the CU from the wider galaxy to keep it quiescent as a source of manpower.
* TheEveryman: All this CU and CDF crap is as new to him as it is to us, having lived his entire life on Earth, which has been intentionally sequestered by the CU from the wider galaxy to keep it quiescent as a source of manpower.
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** BadassBureaucrat: In "The Last Colony", he is tapped along with Jane to lead a new colony.
*CoolGuns: The MP-35, BroughtDownToBadass: By "The Last Colony", he and Jane have both been given normal human bodies. Of course, Perry still has the standard rifle of the CDF, is a ridiculously awesome weapon. It uses a block of nanobots considerable experience he gained as ammunition, a soldier, which can be assembled and fired as bullets (of every kind imaginable; incediary, armor-piercing, explosive, homing), grenades, rockets, guided missiles, napalm for flamethrowing, or puts him a particle beam. It also interfaces with full level above almost everybody else in the [=BrainPal=], a powerful organic computer colony.
* CallToAgriculture: "The Last Colony" reveals thatcomes standard in every CDF soldier's brain, allowing its behavior to be modified on he has enjoyed the fly by the individual soldier to adapt to whatever challenges they might face.
* TheEveryman: All this CU and CDF crap is as new to him as it is to us, having lived his entirepast few years living a quiet life as an ombudsman and farmer on Earth, which has been intentionally sequestered by the CU from the wider galaxy to keep it quiescent as a source of manpower.Huckleberry.
* DadTheVeteran: To Zoë, particularly in "Zoë's Tale".
*
* CallToAgriculture: "The Last Colony" reveals that
* TheEveryman: All this CU and CDF crap is as new to him as it is to us, having lived his entire
* DadTheVeteran: To Zoë, particularly in "Zoë's Tale".
* TheEveryman: All this CU and CDF crap is as new to him as it is to us, having lived his entire life on Earth, which has been intentionally sequestered by the CU from the wider galaxy to keep it quiescent as a source of manpower.
* GoodParents: Along with Jane Sagan, he adopts Zoë after the events of "The Ghost Brigades" and they do an evidently excellent job of raising her to be a very snarky but responsible teenager.
* GoodParents: Along with Jane Sagan, he adopts Zoë after the events of "The Ghost Brigades" and they do an evidently excellent job of raising her to be a very snarky but responsible teenager.
-->'''Jane''': What is it like when you lose someone you love?
-->'''Perry''': You die too. And you wait around for your body to catch up.
* MandatoryUnretirement: The plot of "The Lost Colony" centers on him getting selected to lead a new colony, partially due to his military experience.
-->'''Perry''': You die too. And you wait around for your body to catch up.
* MandatoryUnretirement: The plot of "The Lost Colony" centers on him getting selected to lead a new colony, partially due to his military experience.
* PutOnABus / TheBusCameBack: He is given a promotion and put on a bus for a goodwill tour of the colonies after he becomes a war hero in the first book. The third book reveals that the bus eventually dropped him off at Huckleberry, where he and Jane would spend the better part of a decade raising Zoë.
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* {{Telepathy}}: The [=BrainPal=] allows this.
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* {{Telepathy}}: The [=BrainPal=] allows this.
this. He loses the ability before the events of "The Last Colony", due to his being [[BroughtDownToNormal given a new unenhanced human body. ]]
* AlmightyMom: Due in part to her history as a Special Forces soldier, she's not willing to take crap from anyone, and [[TheDreaded few people are willing to give her any.]]
* [[spoiler: BalefulPolymorph]]: In "The Last Colony", she discovers that [[spoiler: she has been turned back into a SuperSoldier against her will, after she had spent years learning how to be a normal human.]]
* BroughtDownToBadass: Like Perry, she has a normal human body after retiring from the military, but with considerable military experience. Few people are willing to cross her even in her unenhanced form.
* BroughtDownToBadass: Like Perry, she has a normal human body after retiring from the military, but with considerable military experience. Few people are willing to cross her even in her unenhanced form.
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* MindRape: What the [=BrainPals=] essentially do to new Special Forces soldiers. The [=BrainPal=] essentially hijacks the clone's mind and replaces a ton of early development with its stored information, and forces the brain to adapt at a highly accelerated rate. Because of this, Special Forces soldiers learn extremely quickly, because their brains are essentially attempting to defend themselves from the [=BrainPal's=] intrusion by soaking up as much knowledge as possible. It also severely stunts their social skills, to the point where most Special Forces soldiers don't speak at all, preferring to communicate solely by [=BrainPal=]
to:
* MindRape: What the [=BrainPals=] essentially do IJustWantToBeNormal: In "The Last Colony", after [[spoiler: she realizes she has been turned back into a SuperSoldier.]]
* LaughingMad: After she realizes [[spoiler: that she has a [=BrainPal=] again, and that it has just been activated remotely.]]
* MandatoryUnretirement: Like Perry, she gets selected to help lead a new colony. [[spoiler: Unlike Perry, she is turned back into a SuperSoldier against her will due certain expected risks they have not been told about.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Like all Special Forcessoldiers. The troops, she has no parents, only a progenitor whose genes were used as the foundation for her creation but who died years before.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: A rare positive example: After the events of "The Ghost Brigades", the CDF leadership offers her the chance to retire and settle on a quiet backwater colony with John Perry and Zoë Boutin as the most humane way to deal with the fact that SheKnowsTooMuch.
* ReplacementGoldfish: {{Invoked}} and {{Subverted}}: She is more or less a clone of Kathy Perry, and shares some personality traits with her (her stubbornness, for one), but she is clearly a different person with a different personality and history. All that said, part of her desire for a relationship with Perry is the fact that he is the only connection she has to her progenitor.
* {{Telepathy}}: As with everyone using the [=BrainPal=]. [[spoiler: Of course, ''her'' [=BrainPal=]essentially hijacks the clone's mind and replaces gets a ton of early development software patch that allows her to read other users' thoughts.]]
* TellMeAboutMyFather: After she comes to terms withits stored information, and forces meeting the brain widower of her progenitor, she repeatedly meets him in secret to adapt at a highly accelerated rate. Because of this, Special Forces soldiers learn extremely quickly, because their brains are essentially attempting to defend themselves from the [=BrainPal's=] intrusion by soaking up as much knowledge as possible. It also severely stunts their social skills, to the point where most Special Forces soldiers don't speak at all, preferring to communicate solely by [=BrainPal=]
ask him questions about Kathy.
-->"[[ArcWords Tell me about her.]]"
* LaughingMad: After she realizes [[spoiler: that she has a [=BrainPal=] again, and that it has just been activated remotely.]]
* MandatoryUnretirement: Like Perry, she gets selected to help lead a new colony. [[spoiler: Unlike Perry, she is turned back into a SuperSoldier against her will due certain expected risks they have not been told about.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Like all Special Forces
* ReassignedToAntarctica: A rare positive example: After the events of "The Ghost Brigades", the CDF leadership offers her the chance to retire and settle on a quiet backwater colony with John Perry and Zoë Boutin as the most humane way to deal with the fact that SheKnowsTooMuch.
* ReplacementGoldfish: {{Invoked}} and {{Subverted}}: She is more or less a clone of Kathy Perry, and shares some personality traits with her (her stubbornness, for one), but she is clearly a different person with a different personality and history. All that said, part of her desire for a relationship with Perry is the fact that he is the only connection she has to her progenitor.
* {{Telepathy}}: As with everyone using the [=BrainPal=]. [[spoiler: Of course, ''her'' [=BrainPal=]
* TellMeAboutMyFather: After she comes to terms with
-->"[[ArcWords Tell me about her.]]"
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* BlankSlate: Is born with a fully developed body but no consciousness, and finds everything new, strange, and terrifying before his [=BrianPal=] kicks on to guide him.
* [[spoiler: DeadManWriting: The message which he left for Boutin to read after Boutin took over his body. Bonus points for being [[TakingYouWithMe weapons-grade]] SchmuckBait.]]
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* KillItWithFire: See BloodyMurder.
* [[spoiler: GrandTheftMe: Once Boutin captures him, there is nothing Jared can do to prevent him from taking over his body and erasing Jared. Unfortunately for Boutin, Jared leaves him a [[TakingYouWithMe parting gift.]]]]
* [[spoiler: GrandTheftMe: Once Boutin captures him, there is nothing Jared can do to prevent him from taking over his body and erasing Jared. Unfortunately for Boutin, Jared leaves him a [[TakingYouWithMe parting gift.]]]]
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* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: After he explains to Jared his plan to wipe out the CDF via a computer virus in their [=BrainPal=] implants, and then [[GrandTheftMe takes over Jared's body]], he foolishly activates a virus Jared left in his own [=BrainPal=], leading directly to his death.]]
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* ChildSoldiers: Sagan was cloned and raised for war. Moments after she awoke for the first time, she was handed a gun. She was trained for about a week (which is all the time a Special Forces soldier needs) and sent out to do the most dangerous jobs in the galaxy. By The Last Colony, she's about eleven years old.
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* ChildSoldiers: Sagan was cloned and raised for war. Moments after she awoke for the first time, she was handed a gun. She was trained for about a week (which is all the time a Special Forces soldier needs) and sent out to do the most dangerous jobs in the galaxy. By The Last Colony, she's about eleven seventeen years old.
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* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Not really, but she is occasionally difficult.
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* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Not really, but she is She's occasionally difficult.difficult, but overall a very mild example.
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* WeakButSkilled: Humanity, even 200 years since the second foundation of Phoenix (the first time didn't go so well), is still extremely new and small, compared to the 'established' races (of which there are about 600). However, the CU punches way above its weight, due to the enormous reserve of manpower provided by Earth, and the CU routinely trounces much larger and equally sophisticated races and forces (which is not to say that the CDF wins every fight; their casualty figures are staggering). This, combined with the CU's unbridled aggression towards the rest of the galaxy, presents a clear and present danger to the violent but relatively stable status quo that predominated in the galaxy prior to human arrival, which leads in part to the foundation of the Conclave.
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* WeakButSkilled: PintSizedPowerhouse: Humanity, even 200 years since the second foundation of Phoenix (the first time didn't go so well), is still extremely new and small, compared to the 'established' races (of which there are about 600). However, the CU punches way above its weight, due to the enormous reserve of manpower provided by Earth, and the CU routinely trounces much larger and equally sophisticated races and forces (which is not to say that the CDF wins every fight; their casualty figures are staggering). This, combined with the CU's unbridled aggression towards the rest of the galaxy, presents a clear and present danger to the violent but relatively stable status quo that predominated in the galaxy prior to human arrival, which leads in part to the foundation of the Conclave.
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* SoleSurvivor: Nearly so, of an ill-fated counterattack that the enemy, using technology provided by the godlike Consu, were able to predict and nearly utterly destroy. This throws certain suspicion on him, but also makes him invaluable, since his experience, no matter how limited, with this new technology is crucial to the workaround the CU ultimately achieves.
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* SoleSurvivor: SoleSurvivor:
** Nearly so, of an ill-fated counterattack that the enemy, using technology provided by the godlike Consu, were able to predict and nearly utterly destroy. This throws certain suspicion on him, but also makes him invaluable, since his experience, no matter how limited, with this new technology is crucial to the workaround the CU ultimately achieves.
** Nearly so, of an ill-fated counterattack that the enemy, using technology provided by the godlike Consu, were able to predict and nearly utterly destroy. This throws certain suspicion on him, but also makes him invaluable, since his experience, no matter how limited, with this new technology is crucial to the workaround the CU ultimately achieves.
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John Perry\'s wife\'s name is not Sarah but Kathy
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A soldier in the CDF's highly elite and incredibly secretive Special Forces. She also happens to be a clone of Perry's wife, Sarah, who enlisted in the CDF but died before her 75th birthday. After a huge ambush, Sagan saves Perry, who is obviously interested in Sagan. Sagan also begins to show some elements of Sarah's personality, and eventually they fall in love, retire from the CDF, marry, and adopt a daughter, Zoe.
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A soldier in the CDF's highly elite and incredibly secretive Special Forces. She also happens to be a clone of Perry's wife, Sarah, Kathy, who enlisted in the CDF but died before her 75th birthday. After a huge ambush, Sagan saves Perry, who is obviously interested in Sagan. Sagan also begins to show some elements of Sarah's Kathy's personality, and eventually they fall in love, retire from the CDF, marry, and adopt a daughter, Zoe.
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* TheLostLenore: His wife, Sarah, who died before she could enlist in the CDF. He meets a CDF soldier clone of his wife, Jane Sagan, later.
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* TheLostLenore: His wife, Sarah, Kathy, who died before she could enlist in the CDF. He meets a CDF soldier clone of his wife, Jane Sagan, later.
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* CoolGuns: The MP-35, the standard rifle of the CDF, is a ridiculously awesome weapon. It uses a block of nanobots as ammunition, which can be assembled and fired as bullets (of every kind imaginable; incediary, armor-piercing, explosive, homing), grenades, rockets, guided missiles, napalm for flamethrowing, or a particle beam. It also interfaces with the [=BrainPal=], a powerful organic computer that comes standard in every CDF soldier's brain, allowing its behavior to be modified on the fly by the individual soldier to compensate for whatever challenges they might face.
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* CoolGuns: The MP-35, the standard rifle of the CDF, is a ridiculously awesome weapon. It uses a block of nanobots as ammunition, which can be assembled and fired as bullets (of every kind imaginable; incediary, armor-piercing, explosive, homing), grenades, rockets, guided missiles, napalm for flamethrowing, or a particle beam. It also interfaces with the [=BrainPal=], a powerful organic computer that comes standard in every CDF soldier's brain, allowing its behavior to be modified on the fly by the individual soldier to compensate for adapt to whatever challenges they might face.
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** He's also nearly the sole survivor of the Old Farts, a group that Perry formed when he was first inducted into the CDF. After approximately ten years in the service, only he, [[CombatEngineer Harry Wilson]] and Jesse Gonzales, survive. Both Gonzalez and Perry retire from the CDF (not that it lasts for Perry), but Wilson re-ups and takes Perry's place as the main character.
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** He's also nearly the sole survivor of the Old Farts, a group that Perry formed when he was first inducted into the CDF. After approximately ten years in the service, only he, [[CombatEngineer [[TheEngineer Harry Wilson]] and Jesse Gonzales, survive. Both Gonzalez and Perry retire from the CDF (not that it lasts for Perry), but Wilson re-ups and takes Perry's place as the main character.
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[[folder: The Conclave]]
! General Tropes
The Conclave is an organization of about four hundred sapient, spacefaring races, or about two-thirds of the galaxy. The Conclave's intent is to end the incessant conflict between species and nations in the galaxy, and also to counter the threat of humanity.
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* AntiHumanAlliance: There were a lot of species that wanted to end the endless conflict before the humans showed up, but the aggression and capabilities of the Colonial Union provided much of the immediate impetus for Conclave's founding. Nevertheless, the Conclave bears no particular animosity towards humanity, and does not actually want to destroy the CU, but to live with it.
* FictionalUnitedNations: Essentially. It's primary goal is peace.
!! Tarsem Gau
The leader of the Conclave and formerly a general in his species' military.
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* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: He's a military officer who leads the Conclave's more-or-less civilian government. It's likely he was tapped as the leader of the Conclave because of his asskicking credentials, especially because the founders of the Conclave (of which Gau was one) almost certainly anticipated the need for military force to end the constant internecine conflict throughout the galaxy, and also to enforce the Conclave's galaxy-wide ban on new colonization by unaffiliated species.
* BadassBureaucrat: He's not very military any more, being more concerned with running the Conclave, but which (and by extension, he) also happens to command a literally unstoppable number of ships and soldiers.
* BigGood: For the Conclave, surely, and possibly for the galaxy at large, including humanity. Why the CU has never considered joining the Conclave is never explained, and is probably simply another example of the CU's ongoing inability to solve problems without violence. The Conclave forces the CU to change tactics, but by then it's far too late to join the Conclave. Also possibly for [[spoiler: Earth]], which has considered joining the Conclave since John Perry led a Conclave fleet to [[spoiler: Earth, creating the human division]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He's a very understanding person, and is one of the primary people holding the Conclave back from destroying humanity after the CDF pulls a particularly nasty stunt. He's also mainly responsible for keeping the Conclave together after that stunt, which nearly brought the new organization to its knees.
!! Hafte Sorvalh
A Lalan diplomat and one of General Gau's closest friends and most trusted subordinates.
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* BadassBureaucrat: She once got an entire wildcat colony full of committed racists to evacuate by demonstrating the power of her ship's weapons and threatening to have the Conclave force humanity to hand over all white people for execution or be destroyed entirely. She was bluffing, but it worked.
* BatmanGambit: See BadassBureaucrat.
* BigEater: ''Really'' likes churros, and usually eats six at a time.
* FriendToAllChildren: While eating churros in Washington, she has an impromptu question-and-answer session with a group of elementary school children on a field trip, and she really hits it off with them.
* TheLancer: To Tarsem Gau.
* NiceGirl: Possibly the sweetest person in the galaxy.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Eminently. She's even more committed to galactic peace than General Gau, which is saying something, and she's essentially willing to do whatever it takes in service of peace.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: She loves churros, which she buys from Tony's Churros on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., where she serves as a Conclave envoy to Earth and makes contact with Abel Rigney, the back channel from the Conclave to the CDF and CU State Department.
[[/folder]]
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* {Telepathy}: The [=BrainPal=] allows this.
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* {Telepathy}: {{Telepathy}}: The [=BrainPal=] allows this.
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* PowerBehindTheThrone: He's only a Colonel, but his influence is immense, both in the CDF and the State Department. General Tarsem Gau, the leader of the Conclave and almost certainly the most powerful person in the galaxy, regards him as one of the most influential people in the Colonial Union. He's especially this trope because Scalzi never really gives us any real information on the upper reaches of CU power. Rigney's essentially all we've got.
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* PowerBehindTheThrone: TheManBehindTheMan: He's only a Colonel, but his influence is immense, both in the CDF and the State Department. General Tarsem Gau, the leader of the Conclave and almost certainly the most powerful person in the galaxy, regards him as one of the most influential people in the Colonial Union. He's especially this trope because Scalzi never really gives us any real information on the upper reaches of CU power. Rigney's essentially all we've got.
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* PowerBehindTheThrone: At the State Department. From the limited information Scalzi gives the reader, it sure seems like the State Department dances to her tune.
[/folder]
[/folder]
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* PowerBehindTheThrone: TheManBehindTheMan: At the State Department. From the limited information Scalzi gives the reader, it sure seems like the State Department dances to her tune.
[/folder][[/folder]]
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A list of characters appearing in John Scalzi's OldMansWar series.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Colonial Union]]
! General Tropes
The Colonial Union is the governing body of the majority of humanity. Based on humanity's oldest interstellar colony, Phoenix, its primary business is ensuring humanity's ability to survive and thrive in an exceptionally dangerous galaxy. It also intentionally isolates the Earth from wider galactic affairs to maintain it as an inexhaustible source of manpower for colonists and soldiers.
----
* AttackAttackAttack: The CU's policy, at least at the beginning of the series, is basically to shoot anyone and anything remotely in their way. The CU's extreme aggression is one of the factors leading to the foundation of the Conclave, a United Nations-like organization designed to reduce the amount of conflict in the galaxy.
* EveryoneHasStandards: One of the CU's truly redeeming qualities is that its soldiers do not eat other sapient beings (isolated incidents notwithstanding, which are not actually condemned). Many of humanity's enemies enjoy human flesh, and even raise humans as livestock.
* EvilVersusEvil: The CU is a tremendously ruthless organization, but every one of its enemies would gladly wipe out humanity without a second thought. This changes around the middle of the series, when a large number of alien races, driven partially by the human threat, form the Conclave, which aims to bring a measure of peace to the galaxy. It also happens to led by reasonable and decent people, which make the CU's policies seem increasingly evil by comparison, and indeed force it to begin engaging regularly in non-violent diplomacy. This also breaks what amounted to a military dictatorship, since virtually all of the CU's policy was dictated by the strength and mobility of the CDF, and the civilian side of the CU becomes much more important.
* TheFederation: The CU is a true federation. The CU government is spectacularly uninterested in the government and policy of the individual planets, and indeed is mostly independent of them. It relies on the Earth for its soldiers and colonists, and so all it really needs from the individual planets is enough wealth to equip said colonists and soldiers. As a result, the individual planets of the CU are left entirely to their own devices, and from what we've seen of their governments, they seem perfectly free and democratic.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: The CU is pretty damned evil, at least at the beginning, when it's been pursuing a policy of essentially nonstop war with every other sapient species it can find. It also brooks no disagreement from its own citizens, and regularly deploys the CDF to quell rebellions on its own worlds, and even uses the CDF to break labor strikes. The CDF, which does nothing by half measures, typically uses extremely ruthless tactics resulting in huge body counts. That said, the CU has not been shown to seek the actual extinction of any other sapient species (though this is possibly only because they have not been in a position to perpetrate such a genocide).
* WeakButSkilled: Humanity, even 200 years since the second foundation of Phoenix (the first time didn't go so well), is still extremely new and small, compared to the 'established' races (of which there are about 600). However, the CU punches way above its weight, due to the enormous reserve of manpower provided by Earth, and the CU routinely trounces much larger and equally sophisticated races and forces (which is not to say that the CDF wins every fight; their casualty figures are staggering). This, combined with the CU's unbridled aggression towards the rest of the galaxy, presents a clear and present danger to the violent but relatively stable status quo that predominated in the galaxy prior to human arrival, which leads in part to the foundation of the Conclave.
!! John Perry
The series' first main character. A man from Ohio who enlists in the CDF on his seventy-fifth birthday and swaps his aging body for a highly advanced genetically-modified cyborg version.
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* {{Badass}}: Every CDF soldier is one, but Perry stands out. In his very first combat engagement, he has the presence of mind to design an entirely new firing protocol for his smart rifle that proves to be decisive in a major battle with the enigmatic Consu.
* CoolGuns: The MP-35, the standard rifle of the CDF, is a ridiculously awesome weapon. It uses a block of nanobots as ammunition, which can be assembled and fired as bullets (of every kind imaginable; incediary, armor-piercing, explosive, homing), grenades, rockets, guided missiles, napalm for flamethrowing, or a particle beam. It also interfaces with the [=BrainPal=], a powerful organic computer that comes standard in every CDF soldier's brain, allowing its behavior to be modified on the fly by the individual soldier to compensate for whatever challenges they might face.
* TheEveryman: All this CU and CDF crap is as new to him as it is to us, having lived his entire life on Earth, which has been intentionally sequestered by the CU from the wider galaxy to keep it quiescent as a source of manpower.
* DeadpanSnarker: Like every other character in the series. John Scalzi loves writing sarcastic dialogue, and so spreads the snark about with a heavy hand.
* DemotedToExtra: After The Last Colony, when Perry gets swept up in massive galactic affairs, he becomes an oft-talked about but never seen character, and his old friend Harry Wilson becomes the protagonist.
* TheLostLenore: His wife, Sarah, who died before she could enlist in the CDF. He meets a CDF soldier clone of his wife, Jane Sagan, later.
* MessianicArchetype: For [[spoiler: Earth, since he's the one that breaks the CU blockade of the planet]].
* SoleSurvivor: Nearly so, of an ill-fated counterattack that the enemy, using technology provided by the godlike Consu, were able to predict and nearly utterly destroy. This throws certain suspicion on him, but also makes him invaluable, since his experience, no matter how limited, with this new technology is crucial to the workaround the CU ultimately achieves.
** He's also nearly the sole survivor of the Old Farts, a group that Perry formed when he was first inducted into the CDF. After approximately ten years in the service, only he, [[CombatEngineer Harry Wilson]] and Jesse Gonzales, survive. Both Gonzalez and Perry retire from the CDF (not that it lasts for Perry), but Wilson re-ups and takes Perry's place as the main character.
* SpaceMarine: The whole CDF is a shout-out to the Mobile Infantry of Heinlein's StarshipTroopers, so this trope is a must.
* {Telepathy}: The [=BrainPal=] allows this.
!! Harry Wilson
The series' second and current main character. Came up with Perry on the same beanstalk, and became his friend. Survived the series thus far by getting himself attached to CDF Research and Development, and later, as a CDF technical advisor to the Colonial Union's civilian diplomatic corps.
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* {{Ambadassador}}: Becomes this after being attached to the CU diplomatic corps, where (despite being a technical advisor) he develops considerable, if blunt and unsophisticated, diplomatic skills.
* {{Badass}}: Again, like all CDF soldiers. In The Human Division, despite being the CDF equivalent of incredibly out of shape, he still barely has to break his stride to trounce four young and skilled South African soldiers.
* DeadpanSnarker: Probably the snarkiest character in the series, which is really, really, saying something.
* GadgeteerGenius: Wilson was a mathematics PHD on Earth, which makes him a natural choice for CDF R&D. But he emerges as this trope when he gets his start working on a technology that's so spectacularly advanced even the CDF scientists (having had access to much more sophisticated technologies and mathematics for their entire lives) don't have the math for it, and proves to be one of their most effective researchers.
* GuileHero: Despite being a CDF soldier, Wilson spends most of his time using his brain to solve problems, not a gun. Indeed, in virtually every one of his appearances, he's creating insanely inventive solutions for a host of problems he has no training or experience whatsoever to handle. Most of these solutions, though, tend to throw a bone into his boss's, Ambassador Abumwe, negotiations. Rarely do they derail them, and rarely is Abumwe unsuccessful, but they do usually significantly change the calculus.
* NiceGuy: Wilson is extremely irreverent, cynical and sarcastic, but he's one of the nicest guys in the CU, and genuinely cares for virtually everyone he meets, whether he's known them for five seconds or even if they've tried to kill him moments before.
!! Jane Sagan
A soldier in the CDF's highly elite and incredibly secretive Special Forces. She also happens to be a clone of Perry's wife, Sarah, who enlisted in the CDF but died before her 75th birthday. After a huge ambush, Sagan saves Perry, who is obviously interested in Sagan. Sagan also begins to show some elements of Sarah's personality, and eventually they fall in love, retire from the CDF, marry, and adopt a daughter, Zoe.
----
* {{Badass}}: Again, like every CDF soldier, but Special Forces soldiers are especially badass, and Sagan is very badass for a Special Forces soldier.
* ChildSoldiers: Sagan was cloned and raised for war. Moments after she awoke for the first time, she was handed a gun. She was trained for about a week (which is all the time a Special Forces soldier needs) and sent out to do the most dangerous jobs in the galaxy. By The Last Colony, she's about eleven years old.
* ADayInTheLimelight: The Sagan Diaries, and, to a lesser extent, The Ghost Brigades.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Toward Perry and the world in general. She's far more uptight than her Special Forces comrades.
* EmotionlessGirl: Initially. This is partly the result of being a Special Forces soldier, and partially because Sagan just isn't a very fun person. She lightens up after meeting Perry.
* MindRape: What the [=BrainPals=] essentially do to new Special Forces soldiers. The [=BrainPal=] essentially hijacks the clone's mind and replaces a ton of early development with its stored information, and forces the brain to adapt at a highly accelerated rate. Because of this, Special Forces soldiers learn extremely quickly, because their brains are essentially attempting to defend themselves from the [=BrainPal's=] intrusion by soaking up as much knowledge as possible. It also severely stunts their social skills, to the point where most Special Forces soldiers don't speak at all, preferring to communicate solely by [=BrainPal=]
!! Zoe Boutin
A young girl from Phoenix, and the daughter of Charles Boutin, the CU's greatest traitor. After the events of The Ghost Brigades, she is adopted by Perry and Sagan.
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* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Not really, but she is occasionally difficult.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Zoe's Tale
* DeadpanSnarker: Another of the snarkiest characters in the series.
* MessianicArchetype: For the Obin.
* PutOnABus: For much of The Last Colony. What she was doing is elaborated upon in Zoe's Tale, which solves a lot of the problems and oversights in The Last Colony.
!! Jared Dirac
Another Special Forces soldier who is implanted with a copy of Charles Boutin's consciousness, to allow the CDF to interrogate the traitor. It didn't work, and Dirac was given to the ordinary Special Forces, where he served with Jane Sagan. Eventually, certain parts of Boutin's memories and personality surface, which ultimately helps the CDF to thwart Boutin's plans and the coalition of alien species threatening humanity in The Ghost Brigades.
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* {{Badass}}: Again, just like everyone else.
* BloodyMurder: Successfully uses his inorganic nanotechnological SmartBlood, which can ignite on command from the [=BrainPal=] as an improvised weapon.
* ChildSoldiers: Even more so than Jane Sagan. The Ghost Brigades begins with his birth.
* TheEveryman: Like John Perry, being in the Special Forces is as new to him as it is to us.
!! Charles Boutin
A top CU scientist, and among the most important consciousness transfer scientists, a technology crucial to the CDF, as it transfers the personalities and memories of the 75-year-old recruits into their new bodies. His treason sets the stage for the second book, The Ghost Brigades.
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* AnticlimaxBoss: [[spoiler: He gets ventilated by the CDF early on.]] After that, the book becomes about stopping the three-species coalition.
* CloningBlues: Of two types, even! First, he leaves a copy of his consciousness in a computer, which the CDF implants into a new Special Forces soldier, Jared Dirac, in order to 'interrogate' Boutin. Then, after [[spoiler: he's killed]], the CDF discovers a physical clone of himself, that he planned to transfer his consciousness to if need be.
* CategoryTraitor: Betrays humanity to an unprecendented coalition of three alien races, whose intent is wipe out humanity.
* FrenchJerk: Charles Boutin is descended from the ancient French community on Phoenix, which was established before the CU implemented its policy of taking colonists from only those Earth nations that cannot support their population, including India and Norway.
* PetTheDog: What he did for the Obin. [[spoiler: They were created as a rather sick experiment by the Consu, which left them as empty shells, with intelligence but no consciousness or personality. Boutin used his technology to give them consciousness and personality. Eventually, his daughter Zoe intercedes with the Consu to give the Obin souls.]]
!! General Szilard
The general commanding CDF Special Forces. He's heavily involved with the very sensitive missions undertaken by Sagan and her team in Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades.
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* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: We never see him in action, but there's no way you become top dog in the Special Forces without being a galaxy-class {{Badass}}.
* {{Badass}}: Definitely.
* ChildSoldiers: For all his rank and importance, he's only about twenty years old, and has been a soldier for that entire time.
* AFatherToHisMen: Clearly cares a lot about the people under his command.
* GuileHero: He's one of the key people in the CU's Counter-Conclave policy at the end of The Ghost Brigades.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: One of the very few characters in the upper echelon of the Colonial Union's apparatus with any sort of exposure, and a very reasonable person. He even lets Sagan retire to colonize and raise Zoe with Perry, which is unheard of.
!! Hart Schmidt
Deputy Ambassador to Ambassador Abumwe in The Human Division and associated short fiction. Harry Wilson's best friend.
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* AssInAmbassador: Not often, but sometimes he says impolitic things, which is part of why it takes Ambassador Abumwe so long to trust him or use him for anything important, except helping Wilson.
* BlueBlood: A member of an ancient and mighty political family on Phoenix.
* ButtMonkey: Constantly, especially when Ambassador Abumwe's around. The guy just can't catch a break, until the end, when he becomes one of Abumwe's most trusted subordinates, and when Abumwe and her team make it off the B-list of CU diplomats.
* TheChick: Scalzi regularly makes him into the equivalent of a DistressedDamsel.
* GuileHero: He doesn't usually come up with the ideas, but he's usually vital to Wilson's plans.
* TheHeart: Pretty much the moral center of Abumwe's team, he's much less acerbic than the ambassador herself, and much less sarcastic and cynical than Wilson.
* NiceGuy: Another of the nicest people in the CU.
!! Ode Abumwe
An ambassador in the CU's diplomatic corps. She's a rather unorthodox diplomat, and so is relegated to the lower reaches of the CU's diplomatic hierarchy, but proves herself to be exceptionally skilled when confronted with unusual diplomatic scenarios, due in part to the quirkiness of her team. She's eventually tapped as sort of an emergency firefighter for the CU, and gets to handle all of the weirdest assignments. The CU, being a bunch of cagey bastards who play things way too close to the chest, never lets her in on this little tidbit, making it seem like she has the most spectacularly bad luck in the galaxy.
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* {{Ambadassador}}: Considering the number of sticky situations she's gotten her people out of with no casualties, she's definitely this.
* AssInAmbassador: In the right situation, she's extremely effective, but she's just not a very nice person. Early on in The Human Division, Harry Wilson remarks that she just doesn't seem to like people. And she does finally warm up to Wilson and Schmidt.
* ButtMonkey: Unknowingly so, but she's intentionally put into all these strange scenarios because she's shown herself to be excellent at handling them. She just doesn't know that.
* TheExile: She was born in Nigeria, but her parents fled to the CU to escape civil war.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Towards Wilson, Hart, and the universe in general over the course of The Human Division.
* GuileHero: Of the highest caliber. Of all the incredibly strange and nearly impossible situations she gets dropped into, she comes out of all but one smelling like roses, having gotten everything the CU wanted and usually more. The only one she screwed up was one where she was basically ordered to screw up.
* WeirdnessMagnet: Colonels Abel Rigney and Elizabeth Egan use her and her team to solve the trickiest problems in the universe, so naturally she becomes this. A pity they never tell her that.
!! Abel Rigney
A colonel in the CDF. His exact posting is never elucidated, but he has a close (possibly romantic) relationship with Colonel Elizabeth Egan, who is the CDF's liaison with the CU Department of State, making him ideal for passing the CDF's ideas up the State Department food chain. He also serves as an officially unofficial back channel from the Conclave to the CDF and CU State Department.
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* GuileHero: Despite being in the CDF, his primary job is developing non-violent solutions in concert with the Department of State. And it's his idea to make use of Ambassador Abumwe's team to put out fires, which turns out to be a very good decision indeed.
* DeadpanSnarker: He and Liz have some of the best banter in the series, which is saying something.
* PlatonicLifePartners[=/=]LikeBrotherAndSister: Possibly with Liz Egan. They're very close, and it occasionally seems like they might be romantically involved, but it's never made clear, and they do treat each other like siblings.
* PowerBehindTheThrone: He's only a Colonel, but his influence is immense, both in the CDF and the State Department. General Tarsem Gau, the leader of the Conclave and almost certainly the most powerful person in the galaxy, regards him as one of the most influential people in the Colonial Union. He's especially this trope because Scalzi never really gives us any real information on the upper reaches of CU power. Rigney's essentially all we've got.
!! Elizabeth Egan
Also a colonel in the CDF. She liaises for the CDF with the Department of State.
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* GuileHero: Just like Rigney. She's one the largely responsible for implementing his suggestions at State.
* PowerBehindTheThrone: At the State Department. From the limited information Scalzi gives the reader, it sure seems like the State Department dances to her tune.
[/folder]
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Colonial Union]]
! General Tropes
The Colonial Union is the governing body of the majority of humanity. Based on humanity's oldest interstellar colony, Phoenix, its primary business is ensuring humanity's ability to survive and thrive in an exceptionally dangerous galaxy. It also intentionally isolates the Earth from wider galactic affairs to maintain it as an inexhaustible source of manpower for colonists and soldiers.
----
* AttackAttackAttack: The CU's policy, at least at the beginning of the series, is basically to shoot anyone and anything remotely in their way. The CU's extreme aggression is one of the factors leading to the foundation of the Conclave, a United Nations-like organization designed to reduce the amount of conflict in the galaxy.
* EveryoneHasStandards: One of the CU's truly redeeming qualities is that its soldiers do not eat other sapient beings (isolated incidents notwithstanding, which are not actually condemned). Many of humanity's enemies enjoy human flesh, and even raise humans as livestock.
* EvilVersusEvil: The CU is a tremendously ruthless organization, but every one of its enemies would gladly wipe out humanity without a second thought. This changes around the middle of the series, when a large number of alien races, driven partially by the human threat, form the Conclave, which aims to bring a measure of peace to the galaxy. It also happens to led by reasonable and decent people, which make the CU's policies seem increasingly evil by comparison, and indeed force it to begin engaging regularly in non-violent diplomacy. This also breaks what amounted to a military dictatorship, since virtually all of the CU's policy was dictated by the strength and mobility of the CDF, and the civilian side of the CU becomes much more important.
* TheFederation: The CU is a true federation. The CU government is spectacularly uninterested in the government and policy of the individual planets, and indeed is mostly independent of them. It relies on the Earth for its soldiers and colonists, and so all it really needs from the individual planets is enough wealth to equip said colonists and soldiers. As a result, the individual planets of the CU are left entirely to their own devices, and from what we've seen of their governments, they seem perfectly free and democratic.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: The CU is pretty damned evil, at least at the beginning, when it's been pursuing a policy of essentially nonstop war with every other sapient species it can find. It also brooks no disagreement from its own citizens, and regularly deploys the CDF to quell rebellions on its own worlds, and even uses the CDF to break labor strikes. The CDF, which does nothing by half measures, typically uses extremely ruthless tactics resulting in huge body counts. That said, the CU has not been shown to seek the actual extinction of any other sapient species (though this is possibly only because they have not been in a position to perpetrate such a genocide).
* WeakButSkilled: Humanity, even 200 years since the second foundation of Phoenix (the first time didn't go so well), is still extremely new and small, compared to the 'established' races (of which there are about 600). However, the CU punches way above its weight, due to the enormous reserve of manpower provided by Earth, and the CU routinely trounces much larger and equally sophisticated races and forces (which is not to say that the CDF wins every fight; their casualty figures are staggering). This, combined with the CU's unbridled aggression towards the rest of the galaxy, presents a clear and present danger to the violent but relatively stable status quo that predominated in the galaxy prior to human arrival, which leads in part to the foundation of the Conclave.
!! John Perry
The series' first main character. A man from Ohio who enlists in the CDF on his seventy-fifth birthday and swaps his aging body for a highly advanced genetically-modified cyborg version.
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* {{Badass}}: Every CDF soldier is one, but Perry stands out. In his very first combat engagement, he has the presence of mind to design an entirely new firing protocol for his smart rifle that proves to be decisive in a major battle with the enigmatic Consu.
* CoolGuns: The MP-35, the standard rifle of the CDF, is a ridiculously awesome weapon. It uses a block of nanobots as ammunition, which can be assembled and fired as bullets (of every kind imaginable; incediary, armor-piercing, explosive, homing), grenades, rockets, guided missiles, napalm for flamethrowing, or a particle beam. It also interfaces with the [=BrainPal=], a powerful organic computer that comes standard in every CDF soldier's brain, allowing its behavior to be modified on the fly by the individual soldier to compensate for whatever challenges they might face.
* TheEveryman: All this CU and CDF crap is as new to him as it is to us, having lived his entire life on Earth, which has been intentionally sequestered by the CU from the wider galaxy to keep it quiescent as a source of manpower.
* DeadpanSnarker: Like every other character in the series. John Scalzi loves writing sarcastic dialogue, and so spreads the snark about with a heavy hand.
* DemotedToExtra: After The Last Colony, when Perry gets swept up in massive galactic affairs, he becomes an oft-talked about but never seen character, and his old friend Harry Wilson becomes the protagonist.
* TheLostLenore: His wife, Sarah, who died before she could enlist in the CDF. He meets a CDF soldier clone of his wife, Jane Sagan, later.
* MessianicArchetype: For [[spoiler: Earth, since he's the one that breaks the CU blockade of the planet]].
* SoleSurvivor: Nearly so, of an ill-fated counterattack that the enemy, using technology provided by the godlike Consu, were able to predict and nearly utterly destroy. This throws certain suspicion on him, but also makes him invaluable, since his experience, no matter how limited, with this new technology is crucial to the workaround the CU ultimately achieves.
** He's also nearly the sole survivor of the Old Farts, a group that Perry formed when he was first inducted into the CDF. After approximately ten years in the service, only he, [[CombatEngineer Harry Wilson]] and Jesse Gonzales, survive. Both Gonzalez and Perry retire from the CDF (not that it lasts for Perry), but Wilson re-ups and takes Perry's place as the main character.
* SpaceMarine: The whole CDF is a shout-out to the Mobile Infantry of Heinlein's StarshipTroopers, so this trope is a must.
* {Telepathy}: The [=BrainPal=] allows this.
!! Harry Wilson
The series' second and current main character. Came up with Perry on the same beanstalk, and became his friend. Survived the series thus far by getting himself attached to CDF Research and Development, and later, as a CDF technical advisor to the Colonial Union's civilian diplomatic corps.
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* {{Ambadassador}}: Becomes this after being attached to the CU diplomatic corps, where (despite being a technical advisor) he develops considerable, if blunt and unsophisticated, diplomatic skills.
* {{Badass}}: Again, like all CDF soldiers. In The Human Division, despite being the CDF equivalent of incredibly out of shape, he still barely has to break his stride to trounce four young and skilled South African soldiers.
* DeadpanSnarker: Probably the snarkiest character in the series, which is really, really, saying something.
* GadgeteerGenius: Wilson was a mathematics PHD on Earth, which makes him a natural choice for CDF R&D. But he emerges as this trope when he gets his start working on a technology that's so spectacularly advanced even the CDF scientists (having had access to much more sophisticated technologies and mathematics for their entire lives) don't have the math for it, and proves to be one of their most effective researchers.
* GuileHero: Despite being a CDF soldier, Wilson spends most of his time using his brain to solve problems, not a gun. Indeed, in virtually every one of his appearances, he's creating insanely inventive solutions for a host of problems he has no training or experience whatsoever to handle. Most of these solutions, though, tend to throw a bone into his boss's, Ambassador Abumwe, negotiations. Rarely do they derail them, and rarely is Abumwe unsuccessful, but they do usually significantly change the calculus.
* NiceGuy: Wilson is extremely irreverent, cynical and sarcastic, but he's one of the nicest guys in the CU, and genuinely cares for virtually everyone he meets, whether he's known them for five seconds or even if they've tried to kill him moments before.
!! Jane Sagan
A soldier in the CDF's highly elite and incredibly secretive Special Forces. She also happens to be a clone of Perry's wife, Sarah, who enlisted in the CDF but died before her 75th birthday. After a huge ambush, Sagan saves Perry, who is obviously interested in Sagan. Sagan also begins to show some elements of Sarah's personality, and eventually they fall in love, retire from the CDF, marry, and adopt a daughter, Zoe.
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* {{Badass}}: Again, like every CDF soldier, but Special Forces soldiers are especially badass, and Sagan is very badass for a Special Forces soldier.
* ChildSoldiers: Sagan was cloned and raised for war. Moments after she awoke for the first time, she was handed a gun. She was trained for about a week (which is all the time a Special Forces soldier needs) and sent out to do the most dangerous jobs in the galaxy. By The Last Colony, she's about eleven years old.
* ADayInTheLimelight: The Sagan Diaries, and, to a lesser extent, The Ghost Brigades.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Toward Perry and the world in general. She's far more uptight than her Special Forces comrades.
* EmotionlessGirl: Initially. This is partly the result of being a Special Forces soldier, and partially because Sagan just isn't a very fun person. She lightens up after meeting Perry.
* MindRape: What the [=BrainPals=] essentially do to new Special Forces soldiers. The [=BrainPal=] essentially hijacks the clone's mind and replaces a ton of early development with its stored information, and forces the brain to adapt at a highly accelerated rate. Because of this, Special Forces soldiers learn extremely quickly, because their brains are essentially attempting to defend themselves from the [=BrainPal's=] intrusion by soaking up as much knowledge as possible. It also severely stunts their social skills, to the point where most Special Forces soldiers don't speak at all, preferring to communicate solely by [=BrainPal=]
!! Zoe Boutin
A young girl from Phoenix, and the daughter of Charles Boutin, the CU's greatest traitor. After the events of The Ghost Brigades, she is adopted by Perry and Sagan.
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* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Not really, but she is occasionally difficult.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Zoe's Tale
* DeadpanSnarker: Another of the snarkiest characters in the series.
* MessianicArchetype: For the Obin.
* PutOnABus: For much of The Last Colony. What she was doing is elaborated upon in Zoe's Tale, which solves a lot of the problems and oversights in The Last Colony.
!! Jared Dirac
Another Special Forces soldier who is implanted with a copy of Charles Boutin's consciousness, to allow the CDF to interrogate the traitor. It didn't work, and Dirac was given to the ordinary Special Forces, where he served with Jane Sagan. Eventually, certain parts of Boutin's memories and personality surface, which ultimately helps the CDF to thwart Boutin's plans and the coalition of alien species threatening humanity in The Ghost Brigades.
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* {{Badass}}: Again, just like everyone else.
* BloodyMurder: Successfully uses his inorganic nanotechnological SmartBlood, which can ignite on command from the [=BrainPal=] as an improvised weapon.
* ChildSoldiers: Even more so than Jane Sagan. The Ghost Brigades begins with his birth.
* TheEveryman: Like John Perry, being in the Special Forces is as new to him as it is to us.
!! Charles Boutin
A top CU scientist, and among the most important consciousness transfer scientists, a technology crucial to the CDF, as it transfers the personalities and memories of the 75-year-old recruits into their new bodies. His treason sets the stage for the second book, The Ghost Brigades.
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* AnticlimaxBoss: [[spoiler: He gets ventilated by the CDF early on.]] After that, the book becomes about stopping the three-species coalition.
* CloningBlues: Of two types, even! First, he leaves a copy of his consciousness in a computer, which the CDF implants into a new Special Forces soldier, Jared Dirac, in order to 'interrogate' Boutin. Then, after [[spoiler: he's killed]], the CDF discovers a physical clone of himself, that he planned to transfer his consciousness to if need be.
* CategoryTraitor: Betrays humanity to an unprecendented coalition of three alien races, whose intent is wipe out humanity.
* FrenchJerk: Charles Boutin is descended from the ancient French community on Phoenix, which was established before the CU implemented its policy of taking colonists from only those Earth nations that cannot support their population, including India and Norway.
* PetTheDog: What he did for the Obin. [[spoiler: They were created as a rather sick experiment by the Consu, which left them as empty shells, with intelligence but no consciousness or personality. Boutin used his technology to give them consciousness and personality. Eventually, his daughter Zoe intercedes with the Consu to give the Obin souls.]]
!! General Szilard
The general commanding CDF Special Forces. He's heavily involved with the very sensitive missions undertaken by Sagan and her team in Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades.
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* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: We never see him in action, but there's no way you become top dog in the Special Forces without being a galaxy-class {{Badass}}.
* {{Badass}}: Definitely.
* ChildSoldiers: For all his rank and importance, he's only about twenty years old, and has been a soldier for that entire time.
* AFatherToHisMen: Clearly cares a lot about the people under his command.
* GuileHero: He's one of the key people in the CU's Counter-Conclave policy at the end of The Ghost Brigades.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: One of the very few characters in the upper echelon of the Colonial Union's apparatus with any sort of exposure, and a very reasonable person. He even lets Sagan retire to colonize and raise Zoe with Perry, which is unheard of.
!! Hart Schmidt
Deputy Ambassador to Ambassador Abumwe in The Human Division and associated short fiction. Harry Wilson's best friend.
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* AssInAmbassador: Not often, but sometimes he says impolitic things, which is part of why it takes Ambassador Abumwe so long to trust him or use him for anything important, except helping Wilson.
* BlueBlood: A member of an ancient and mighty political family on Phoenix.
* ButtMonkey: Constantly, especially when Ambassador Abumwe's around. The guy just can't catch a break, until the end, when he becomes one of Abumwe's most trusted subordinates, and when Abumwe and her team make it off the B-list of CU diplomats.
* TheChick: Scalzi regularly makes him into the equivalent of a DistressedDamsel.
* GuileHero: He doesn't usually come up with the ideas, but he's usually vital to Wilson's plans.
* TheHeart: Pretty much the moral center of Abumwe's team, he's much less acerbic than the ambassador herself, and much less sarcastic and cynical than Wilson.
* NiceGuy: Another of the nicest people in the CU.
!! Ode Abumwe
An ambassador in the CU's diplomatic corps. She's a rather unorthodox diplomat, and so is relegated to the lower reaches of the CU's diplomatic hierarchy, but proves herself to be exceptionally skilled when confronted with unusual diplomatic scenarios, due in part to the quirkiness of her team. She's eventually tapped as sort of an emergency firefighter for the CU, and gets to handle all of the weirdest assignments. The CU, being a bunch of cagey bastards who play things way too close to the chest, never lets her in on this little tidbit, making it seem like she has the most spectacularly bad luck in the galaxy.
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* {{Ambadassador}}: Considering the number of sticky situations she's gotten her people out of with no casualties, she's definitely this.
* AssInAmbassador: In the right situation, she's extremely effective, but she's just not a very nice person. Early on in The Human Division, Harry Wilson remarks that she just doesn't seem to like people. And she does finally warm up to Wilson and Schmidt.
* ButtMonkey: Unknowingly so, but she's intentionally put into all these strange scenarios because she's shown herself to be excellent at handling them. She just doesn't know that.
* TheExile: She was born in Nigeria, but her parents fled to the CU to escape civil war.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Towards Wilson, Hart, and the universe in general over the course of The Human Division.
* GuileHero: Of the highest caliber. Of all the incredibly strange and nearly impossible situations she gets dropped into, she comes out of all but one smelling like roses, having gotten everything the CU wanted and usually more. The only one she screwed up was one where she was basically ordered to screw up.
* WeirdnessMagnet: Colonels Abel Rigney and Elizabeth Egan use her and her team to solve the trickiest problems in the universe, so naturally she becomes this. A pity they never tell her that.
!! Abel Rigney
A colonel in the CDF. His exact posting is never elucidated, but he has a close (possibly romantic) relationship with Colonel Elizabeth Egan, who is the CDF's liaison with the CU Department of State, making him ideal for passing the CDF's ideas up the State Department food chain. He also serves as an officially unofficial back channel from the Conclave to the CDF and CU State Department.
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* GuileHero: Despite being in the CDF, his primary job is developing non-violent solutions in concert with the Department of State. And it's his idea to make use of Ambassador Abumwe's team to put out fires, which turns out to be a very good decision indeed.
* DeadpanSnarker: He and Liz have some of the best banter in the series, which is saying something.
* PlatonicLifePartners[=/=]LikeBrotherAndSister: Possibly with Liz Egan. They're very close, and it occasionally seems like they might be romantically involved, but it's never made clear, and they do treat each other like siblings.
* PowerBehindTheThrone: He's only a Colonel, but his influence is immense, both in the CDF and the State Department. General Tarsem Gau, the leader of the Conclave and almost certainly the most powerful person in the galaxy, regards him as one of the most influential people in the Colonial Union. He's especially this trope because Scalzi never really gives us any real information on the upper reaches of CU power. Rigney's essentially all we've got.
!! Elizabeth Egan
Also a colonel in the CDF. She liaises for the CDF with the Department of State.
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* GuileHero: Just like Rigney. She's one the largely responsible for implementing his suggestions at State.
* PowerBehindTheThrone: At the State Department. From the limited information Scalzi gives the reader, it sure seems like the State Department dances to her tune.
[/folder]
