Line #121 Literature/PrinceRoger


1	A.k.a. ''The Empire of Man'' series or the ''March Upcountry'' series.
2
3	A series by Creator/DavidWeber and Creator/JohnRingo. Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang [=MacClintock=] was the third and youngest child of Alexandra VII, Empress of Man. Roger is TheUnfavorite of his mother, considered a foppish clotheshorse who looks a bit too much like his [[PrettyBoy father]] for his mother to trust him. With a crisis on the horizon he's sent off to represent the Royal family in a sector capital's chief festival. During transit the crisis starts for real with an attempt on his life. The destroyer transporting him is sabotaged, but Roger and his company of [[SpaceMarine Marines]] manage to land on a primitive planet on the farside of the planet from the Imperial trading post.
4
5	Most of the first three books deal with character development while Roger and his Battalion of Marines march toward the spaceport. The fourth deals with the consequences of their actions and what has happened while they've been out of contact.
6
7	!!Books:
8	* ''March Upcountry'' (2001)
9	* ''March to the Sea'' (2001)
10	* ''March to the Stars'' (2003)
11	* ''We Few'' (2005)
12
13	Ringo is currently working on a sequel, tentatively titled ''Rage of the Seraphs'', from which he's posted snippets on his Website/{{Facebook}} page.
14
15	----
16	!!This series provides examples of:
17
18	* TwoDSpace: Exploited by Admiral Helmut in the fourth book. His opponent, Admiral [[spoiler:Gajelis]], breaks from a losing engagement by moving "vertically" i.e. perpendicular to the ecliptic... but still ends up falling victim to terrestrial thinking.
19	-->'''Helmut:''' He's a swimmer. What does a swimmer do when he's been down too long?\
20	'''Julian:''' He goes for the surface.\
21	'''Helmut:''' And that's what he's doing—trying to break for the surface. When he breaks vertically for the TD sphere, four times out of five he has his ships go up. Never forget, Sergeant. Predictability is one of the few truly unforgivable tactical sins. As Admiral Niedermayer will demonstrate in about eight hours.
22	* AbortedArc: [[PunnyName Ima Hooker]], amongst other characters, were given some importance in the first book. They're [[AnyoneCanDie slaughtered within minutes]] of the beginning of the second book.
23	* ActionGirl: Naturally, all female marines. (They do come from a society with gender-equality, after all.) More notable would be the few Mardukan females that qualify: Sena and Pedi, two of the most deadly martial artists in the series.
24	* AllAnimalsAreDogs: Dogzard, a roughly Great Dane sized lizard serving as the Mardukan equivalent of a dog for humans. In ''We Few'' we get a bit of Dogzard's view of things, which is modeled under the common belief of how dogs view their human owners.
25	* AndIMustScream: The narration of the toot zombie early in the first book states that deep inside, the real person is struggling not to do what she's doing.
26	* AnyoneCanDie: Except for the title character, do not take anyone else's life as a given. The group was down from 190 Marines & 4 shuttle pilots to just 12 by the time they leave Marduk.
27	* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: There is the moment when Roger realizes he ''does'' love his mother; [[spoiler: when he hears she's being sexually and physically abused]]. And when Alexandra realizes that she ''does'' love - and trust - her son; [[spoiler: when she breaks down and clings to him as the one thing saved from the wreckage of her life.]]
28	* BadassCrew: Bronze Company and the ''Basik's'' Own.
29	* BadassFamily:
30	--> '''Helmut''': I'd like to see what could change a clothes horse into a...\
31	'''Julian''': Just say a [=MacClintock=].
32	* BarSinister: The flag of the ''Basik'''s Own wears one for Roger, who was born out of wedlock.
33	* BawdySong: We never get the lyrics, but references are made to a song about someone called "Three-Ball Pete".
34	* BearsAreBadNews: Though not for the good guys in this case. Althari are koala bear-like aliens whose females are {{Proud Warrior Race G\|uy}}irls.
35	* BelligerentSexualTension: Roger and Despreaux have this, if only because Roger begins with ''no'' idea how to interact with a woman who genuinely likes him and is not after something.
36	* {{BFG}}: Par for the Marine course. Bead and plasma cannons, which Mardukans can wield one-handed. All of Pol's weapons -- he's huge even for a Mardukan and can carry vehicle-mounted weaponry. Even Roger's "smoke pole" is big for a chemical-propellant firearm.
37	* BodyguardCrush: Despreaux and Roger (genderswapped as she is part of his Marine guard). Also the Empress and her paladin in the fourth book.
38	* BodyguardingABadass: Much to the Barbarians' surprise and chagrin, Roger is a better and faster shot than any of them. Occasionally, he protects ''them.'' At one point, over their objections, he [[spoiler:attempts a HeroicSacrifice on the grounds that he is the only person capable of making it ''work.'']]
39	* BoomHeadshot: Roger's specialty. He astonishes the Captain of his bodyguard when he gets seven in half as many seconds at a reverse-ambush.
40	* BraidsOfAction: Prince Roger sports a head of beautiful blond hair long enough to sit on. He has to ask Despreaux to teach him how to braid it.
41	* BrainsAndBrawn: Krindi Fain is a bright, up-and-coming laborer-turned-soldier who is tagged for command pretty much from the start and is also hand-picked to sit in on at least one critical weapon-design project. His right-hand Mardukan, Erkum Pol, is huge, even for a Mardukan, prefers to fight with tables or a plasma cannon he appropriated from a human tank, and responds to any and every question with "Yes, sir!"
42	* BreakTheHaughty: Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang [=MacClintock=] starts out the series as a bit of a vain, arrogant fop, partly in rebellion to the [[TheUnfavorite generally negative or dismissive treatment he gets from others]]. [[spoiler:His father, whom he physically resembles somewhat, was banished from Court for attempted treason, but no one told him about the reasons for the banishment.]] Between being stranded on a DeathWorld and finding out why he was treated as he was, the fop is quickly blown away in the course of a HeroicBSOD, and the [[spoiler:ones who overthrew the family in a coup]] find Roger [[TakeALevelInBadass taking a level in badass]] when he demonstrates just why you don't pock with [[BadassFamily a MacClintock]].
43	* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: Guard bodybags have an auto-cremation function so that the fallen can be taken home to bury without overburdening the survivors with the weight.
44	* CampStraight: Roger is a LongHairedPrettyBoy who loves clothes, and has never shown any sexual interest in any of the women (or men) at court. His valet is so used to the question he laughs at Despreaux's tentative query into his orientation.
45	* CardSharp:
46	** Poertena. Then he makes the mistake of teaching his four-armed friends a few tricks... It turns out all Mardukans love this trope. If you aren't cheating, you're stupid. If you are and get caught, you're incompetent. They spend half the time bragging about how good they are at cheating and the other half denying, tongue-in-cheek, that they'd ever stoop to it. Standard Mardukan poker rules give every player the right to call a card check once per game. They even invented ways of cheating which are ''biologically impossible'' for humans to pull off.
47	** A hilarious scene happens at the beginning of ''March to the Sea'' when Prince Roger [[HustlingTheMark asks him how to play Spades]].
48	* CassandraTruth: Soon after crashing on Marduk, several Marines needlessly die in an animal attack because the commanding officer refused to listen to Roger who, as an experienced hunter, recognized warning signs. Pahner assumed Roger was just shooting for pleasure's sake, but later apologized. [[note]] At the time, Roger didn't know Pahner had ordered that no one fire since he had no idea yet how the marine comms systems worked.[[/note]]
49	* CharacterDevelopment: Mostly focused on Roger himself as he has to stop being a RoyalBrat and becomes a badass.
50	* ChekhovsGun:
51	** The Marine bodies entombed at Voitan. [[spoiler:It tips off a friendly spy in book 3.]]
52	** Pahner mentions that while some implants [[spoiler:(like the Royal family's)]] are hardened against intrusion, old-fashioned drugs would do the trick. Turns out that's what's used during the coup, [[spoiler:on the Empress.]]
53	* ChekhovsGunman: Admiral Helmut and Thomas Catrone at first appear to be minor characters, but take on a more important role later in the series [[spoiler:in countering the conspiracy for the ''coup d'etat''.]]
54	* ChekhovsSkill: Prince Roger and geology. It plays a minor role in the first book, and it plays a more important role in the third.
55	** Enforced with regards to the Bronze Barbarians. Having a potential ChekhovsSkill is a requirement to be even considered for The Empress' Own.
56	* ClusterFBomb: Poertena is unable to form a sentence without every third word being some variation of the word "pock". He's threatened in order to make him stop doing it, but he can't help it.
57	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Marines' equipment supplier. "Your weapon was made by the lowest bidder", indeed - this kills a ''third'' of the Marines, when their equipment either fails after extended exposure to conditions where they're supposed to be functional, or have a random chance of just blowing up when you use them. Roger vows that [[NotHyperbole heads will literally roll]] for this once they return.
58	* CorruptPolitician: The Parliamentary faction seeking to overthrow Roger's mother isn't portrayed at all positively.
59	* CorruptQuartermaster: Offscreen corrupt quartermasters left the unit with plasma cannons that failed explosively in humid conditions, causing numerous casualties, and "upgraded" powered armor whose critical components also failed (if not explosively) shortly after exposure to Marduk's climate. Prince Roger swears that heads will literally roll over the matter when he gets home.
60	* CrazyPrepared: The [=MacClintock=] family has had ultra-secret bases and security back doors in place so that the rightful heir could retake the throne after a coup... for centuries.
61	* CunningLinguist: Roger and O'Casey both have UniversalTranslator program in their "toot" implants that let them quickly learn new languages and dialects and then share with the other marines. On the Marduk side, Denat is an absolute natural at learning new languages (and at pretending to be too much of a [[ObfuscatingStupidity dumb barbarian]] to eavesdrop on people).
62	* TheDandy: Prince Roger, before his CharacterDevelopment. He even tries to get his Marines to lug his UnlimitedWardrobe with them.
63	* DeadlineNews: Harvard Mansul, IAS. We first meet him as a prisoner in a Krath fortress after being sent to investigate Shin barbarians. He ends up following Prince Roger (the story of millennia) through all sorts of combat hell. In his past, he'd encountered bandits and pirates, gotten shot at by inner-city gangs, been stabbed, and nearly died while lost in a desert.
64	* DecadentCourt: Q'Nkok is a relatively innocuous example - or at least easily fixed. Mashad is ''much'' worse but what really shocks Pahner is that Roger seems completely unaware that he's lived in just such a court his entire life.
65	* DeathWorld: Marduk qualifies due to the large and angry (and more common than should be ecologically possible, until justified) wildlife, but the sneaky, venomous wildlife is NightmareFuel as well. This a world where a ocean map with "here there be monsters that will eat your ship" isn't superstition. It's accurate .
66	* DesignerBabies: One of Roger's ancestors had some illegal gene work done, leaving him with inhuman reflexes and endurance, as well as low-light vision and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking really nice hair]].
67	* DestructiveSavior:
68	** Erkum Pol, thanks to ATeamFiring combined with being able to wield [[{{BFG}} vehicle-mounted weaponry]], leaves Roger's team thinking that the safest place to be when Pol is firing is between him and the intended target.
69	** The Mardukans pulls this during while assaulting a transport to get off-planet. Heavy resistance is countered by Napoleonic shoulder-to-shoulder firing lines...''with plasma rifles''. The defecting first mate, quite rightly, gives them Hell for it later.
70	* DidYouJustHaveSex: Julian to Roger after Roger and Nimashet finally get it together.
71	--> '''Julian:''' My, Your Highness, you're looking chipper today.\
72	'''Roger:''' Oh, shut up, Julian.\
73	'''Julian:''' Is that a hickey I see on your neck?
74	* DirtyCoward: Prince Jackson Adoula. [[spoiler:Runs away as the counter-coup starts and sacrifices underlings several times just to save his skin.]] Also, his co-conspirator [[spoiler:New Madrid, Roger's father,]] who is pretty much unable to handle meeting Roger. Granted, a pissed off Roger would terrify ''anybody.''
75	* DoomedHometown: Rastar, Honal, and their people hail from the ruined cities of the Northern League, brought down by a combination of Sindi treachery and the Boman hordes.
76	* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Cord comes "into season" while recovering from injuries. As the attendant problems might compromise his recovery, his apprentice Pedi takes care of him. As an additional complication, he did have feelings for Pedi but refused to act on them because he felt it was inappropriate.
77	* DumbMuscle: Erkum Pol is huge, even for a Mardukan, and at one point takes out four people simultaneously with a table. His response to anything and everything said by an officer is "Yes, sir".
78	* EcoTerrorist: The series features these as the villains opposed to the Empire of Man. They're an interstellar empire of environmentalist extremists who are a StrawmanPolitical nation for the authors.
79	* TheEmpath: Phaenurs, a race of centaroid-lizards whose abilities make them {{Living Lie Detector}}s. They are one of the only races never to engage in cannibalism or physical war. The Phaenur have had conflicts a-plenty, but they are stated to resemble "...a society-wide dinner with a JewishMother" more than anything else.
80	* TheEngineer: Poertena is The Mechanic. Pahner and Julian are very technically savvy as well, and all of the Guard can function as The Combat Engineer with their demo experience. The former Laborers of God can all fulfill the Support Engineer role since their old job was to build levies, dams, canals, and other civilian, fortification-like structures in an area with regular severe flooding problems.
81	* EnsignNewbie: Captain Pahner realizes Prince Roger is this after Roger asks to be called "Colonel [=MacClintock=]" during a planning session.
82	* EverythingIsTryingToKillYou: If it's not the HungryJungle, it's the oppressive heat; if it's not the barbarian hordes, it's the Byzantine politics.
83	* {{Expy}}: Kny Camsen is basically UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, in the early days.
84	* ExtendedDisarming: Pedi Karuse takes a bit of time to shed all her weaponry when visiting a mobster [[spoiler:who's holding Despereaux hostage]] in ''We Few''.
85	* TheFashionista:
86	** Pedi Karuse. It falls behind both her ({{lampshaded}}) FieryRedhead personality and being a badass as a defining trait for her, but she's the ''only'' fashion & makeup loving Mardukan (since most came from cultures that didn't wear clothes), and she's the only woman of any species to qualify on the team as well.
87	** Roger was, of course, TheDandy, always concerned about how he looks and being dressed in the latest of fashions.
88	* FictionalAccent: T'e series gots t'e pocking Pinopan accent of Poertena, t'e unit armorer. His uncle (actually an older cousin) only reverts to that accent under stress, having worked hard on surpressing it in his speech.
89	* ForeignQueasine: Roger and his people build up an entire menu of recipes based on animals they kill during their march, which the locals view as ''utterly insane'' because said animals tend to be incredibly dangerous predators. The parallel mentions is a recipe for T. Rex steak - yes, it may be delicious, but what sort of maniac would go treating a multi-ton carnosaur as a game animal?
90	* FreudianExcuse: Roger has these in spades and justifiably, given the way Alexandra [[TheUnfavorite has treated him]].
91	* FriendlyFireproof: Played with. When the group is ambushed by a horde of natives and forced to melee, Prince Roger picks up a grenade launcher and ''fires it into the mixed group''. On the one hand, this is smarter than it sounds since the light armor the marines wear will protect them from the worst of the damage, and it would shred the natives. On the other hand, they could've broken the assault without it, and he cost the team needless broken bones and minor shrapnel injuries.
92	* FunetikAksent: Poertena and others from Pinopa.
93	* GenderBender:
94	** The "[[GagPenis embarrassingly male]]" Mardukans are actually female by biological definition, based on the fact that they produce ova. Their "penis" is actually an ovipositor (egg-placer), and the actual males are the gender that receives the eggs, fertilize them, and carry them to term. After this is initially sorted out, the series continues to go with calling the biologically female gender "male" based on their appearance and societal role.
95	** Also, Julian suggests disguising Prince Roger by giving him a sex change.
96	* GreatWhiteHunter: Prince Roger is initially looked down on by his Marine bodyguards for, among other things, living this trope as part of the general perception of him being a rich layabout and general waste of space. When they crash on the technologically primitive planet of Marduk, however, he quickly demonstrates that the experience has made him possibly the best equipped to survive the hostile planet because of his understanding of animal behaviour, survival skills, and that his aim with his old-fashioned slug-thrower rifle makes him the best sniper of all the humans.
97	* GunAndSword: Prince Roger often charges into battle with both a bead pistol and the sword he acquired during the trek across Marduk, and gets plenty of use out of both.
98	* GunStripping: Happens a good bit because this is a military squad in a hostile environment that really does need to clean and maintain its gear, but special recognition goes to Julian, who can strip down a 40-piece plasma rifle in 7 seconds, if you don't mind chasing down all the pieces that flew off in the process, afterward (the wager was about how quickly he could take the thing apart, not how neatly).
99	* TheGunslinger: Rastar Komas Ta'Norton, last prince of Therdan. Master of the QuickDraw, 4-armed GunsAkimbo, and ImprobableAimingSkills, all at once while sometimes riding a dinosaur. He's even quicker than ''Roger'' and can pull off ShootingItOutOfTheirHands.
100	* HerbivoresAreFriendly: Or at least harmless - or so the Marines assume. Roger, an experienced big game hunter, knows better.
101	* HeroicBastard: The titular prince, [[OverlyLongName Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang MacClintock]], after [[TookALevelInBadass he took multiple levels of badass]]. He also develops into the other type of bastard, the literal meaning already applicable since the Empress had never married his father:
102	-->'''Sgt. Catrone:''' Order received and understood, and I will comply. You bastard.\
103	'''Prince Roger:''' That I am. Literally and figuratively. The last bastard standing. The flag of the ''Basik's'' Own wears a bar sinister proudly.
104	* HeroWithBadPublicity: Before the start of the story, there is only one person in the universe that likes and trusts Roger, his valet. His tutor, his mother, and his siblings have ambiguous feelings about him, and everyone else thinks he's a useless prat. [[spoiler:And then while he's on Marduk, the villains finger him as a traitor, which everyone is all too willing to believe.]]
105	* HeroicBSOD:
106	** What happens to [[spoiler:Empress Alexandra VII]], after the [[spoiler:painful AwesomeMomentOfCrowning of Roger [=MacClintock=]. Of course, her HeroicRROD after being drugged was pushing her towards this anyway.]]
107	** Also happens to Roger a few times -- first when he discovers exactly ''why'' he's trapped on a stinking hellhole of a planet, and then when [[spoiler:his lifelong servant and surrogate father get killed.]]
108	* HeroicSacrifice:
109	** Standing orders for the Empress' Own. To the extent that [[spoiler:the entire rest of the regiment is wiped out during the coup that seizes the Empress and kills her son and daughter.]]
110	** [[spoiler:The Prince's transport is destroyed off Marduk, but takes two Saint cruisers with it to prevent the Saints from realizing Roger escaped.]]
111	** [[spoiler:Rastar, [[YouShallNotPass holding a gate into the Imperial Palace]].]]
112	** [[spoiler:Roger himself, trying to clear a path to his mother's chamber.]]
113	* HeroicSelfDeprecation: From the beginning, Prince Roger never liked himself thanks largely to [[WellDoneSonGuy his mother's ambiguous treatment of him]] and to his own awareness of what a whiny prat he was. It takes him quite a while, with a lot of backsliding thanks to guilt over the deaths of his people, to grow past this.
114	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Krindi Fain and Erkum Pol have no romantic interest in one another, but stick together as a team throughout the series after their introduction, with Fain providing "brains" and Pol providing "brawn".
115	* HiddenDepths: Prerequisite for acceptance to the Empress' Own. TheCaptain is a pretty good machinist, [[SergeantRock the senior NCO]] is a skilled seamstress doubling as chaplain, the armorer is [[ChekhovsSkill a journeyman shipwright]], their [[AcePilot best pilot]] is a Combat Medic, [[TheLoad the Prince]] is an amateur geologist and master sniper, one of their heavy gunners is [[BreadEggsMilkSquick an accomplished car thief]].
116	* HorseOfADifferentColor: Serving on Marduk for cavalry mounds are the elephant-sized, heavily clawed, triceratops-like ''flar-ta'' and the horse-sized, omnivorous, velociraptor-like ''civan''. The latter is often fed from the dead enemies on a battlefield and will try to take a bite from their riders when in an ill mood or hungry.
117	* HumansAreSpecial: Not pushed all that much but the inevitable conclusion when there are several species of sentient aliens but of the six interstellar nations only one is non-human and even then humans make up a significant minority of the three race alliance.
118	* HungryJungle: Marduk's jungles feature hyper-aggressive herbivores, vampire moths, and flesh-dissolving "killerpillars."
119	* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: Some Mardukan poisons have no effect on humans, and even have nutrients the humans need. This ends really, really horribly for a Mardukan traitor in the first book.
120	* ILetGwenStacyDie: Prince Roger goes through a lot of SurvivorGuilt as he sees more and more people die on his behalf, especially when it's the result of one of his many (usually minor) lapses in judgment.
121	* IOweYouMyLife: D'Nal Cord to Roger, and later, Pedi Karuse to Cord.
122	* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder:
123	** Zig-zagged with Dobrescu. First, he protests that he's a shuttle pilot, not a medic (his MOS is shuttle pilot, but he started off as a Marine Raider Medic). Then he gets to start treating Mardukans...
124	---> '''Dobrescu:''' I'm a goddamned medic, not a xeno-surgeon.
125	** Somewhat of a RunningGag for the character as he asked to be a backup astrogator (he refuses) and to pretend to be a real estate agent (which he does).
126	** Amanda Beach is "an astrogator, not an engineer." (She does a fine job of the later, anyway.)
127	* InfoDump (doubling as SceneryPorn): When the protagonists arrive [[spoiler:in the abandoned city of Voitan]], a conversation between Prince Roger and Gunny Jin is interrupted after two lines with a full two pages of scenery and battle lines.
128	* InsultBackfire: One of the supporting characters is a Satanist. Her (originally Catholic) planet got this way during a religious civil war, in which one side demonized the other as Satanists. The other side accepted and maintained the term, having decided that given the evil of their opponents, Satan must actually be good.
129	* InterruptedIntimacy: When Pahner walks in on Eva and Julian. Done with malice aforethought with Roger & Nimashet.
130	* IronicEchoCut: In ''March to the Stars'':
131	--> '''Pahner''': "I almost wish he was still considered incompetent. Maybe then I'd have sent a decent sized force to look after him." (cut)\
132	'''Roger''': "You know," [as Roger fights], "I could wish that Pahner didn't have so much confidence in me!"
133	* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: When [[spoiler:Despreaux is kidnapped]], Roger almost cuts the messenger's hand off to feed to an ''atul'' to find out [[spoiler:where she is]]. He only holds back at all because [[spoiler: [[MoralityChain she wouldn't approve]].]]
134	* KickTheDog: Governor Mountmarch. Bad enough that he's a Saint-sympathizer. But when they take the spaceport, they find him [[spoiler:with a naked ten-year old boy in his bed]].
135	* KillerRabbit: Humans are considered this by Mardukans. We look like a large version of a weak, stupid, easily scared prey animal called the basik that's usually hunted by children by scaring them into a circle and clubbing them to death. Only we don't even have horns, claws, or armor. And our smiles look like the expression they make right before being clubbed. Fortunately, Mardukans learn ''quickly'' to take humans seriously. Honored when "The Basik's Own" forms and takes a nastily smiling ''basik'' as its banner. Even better, ''basik''/''vern'' are explicitly compared to rabbits several times.
136	* KingIncognito: Roger and his team remold their bodies with looted Saint supertech, right down to the DNA, to go undercover. Roger takes the identity of a Martian restauranteur.
137	* KlingonPromotion: It's [[spoiler:Boman tribal]] tradition for a war chief to be "anointed in the blood of his fallen predecessor." This isn't quite ChallengingTheChief, because the previous chief loses his place/head by group consensus, not ritual combat.
138	* KrakenAndLeviathan: The main inhibition to ocean travel on Marduk are giant versions of the Coll fish that can snap even large ships in half with one bite.
139	* LeeroyJenkins: Much to the ''constant'' despair of his bodyguards, Roger tends to happily charge into combat. In the second book, it actually gets discussed - now that Prince Roger has turned himself around ''and'' has proven himself to be a capable leader, the Marines (and Mardukians) willingly follow him into dangerous situations. Pahner has to lay this out for him, telling him that, with each heroic action he does, he risks another Marine (and a nice dosage of guilt).
140	* LittleMissBadass: Pedi Karuse. Small and underage-looking. [[spoiler:Pregnant.]] And still capable of wiping the floor with her enemies in job lots, armed or unarmed, chained or free.
141	* TheLoad: How the marines view Roger at first. Mostly justified (99%) because he's a spoiled clothes horse with three feet of gorgeous blond hair famous for throwing snit fits. Somewhat unjustified in that, for example, the first time he kills something he gets thoroughly yelled at despite the fact that it was, essentially, a Cape Buffalo[[note]]One of the most dangerous animals in the world[[/note]] the size of a house, and he did so because he recognized that it was a highly territorial herbivore (like a Cape Buffalo). They begin to realize he's not TheLoad when they learn that his extensive experience on safari makes him well qualified to survive a dangerous jungle. Also, he slaughters six enemies in as many seconds with perfectly aimed head shots.
142	** His tutor/Chief of Staff really is TheLoad and feels guilty about it but the Marines reassure her; she didn't volunteer for this and it's no fault of hers she's been thrown in the fecal matter. She then subverts it, though - as an expert on sociology, history and political sciences (among other things) she turns out to be invaluable as a political advisor. She's also one of the only two people (apart from Roger, who is too important to be risked) who has toot capable of supporting translator software, necessary to create "language pills", without which others would not be able to communicate with locals.
143	** Kostas, the titular prince's valet, defies the trope by actively seeking out ways to pull his weight, and eventually settles into an unofficial position as quartermaster and cook.
144	* LowerDeckEpisode: Anything involving Krindi Fain in ''March to the Sea''.
145	* TheMafiya: Roger's crew runs into some interference from local organized crime in ''We Few'' which seems to be the Russian mob. Unfortunately for Siminov, he fails to take hints that he's biting off more than he can chew by trying to muscle in on the prince's cover operation.
146	* TheMagnificent: A future historian looking back on the events of the books says that the writers of his time called Prince Roger [[spoiler: Roger the Terrible, Roger the Mad, the Tyrant, the Restorer, or even the Kin-Slayer.]]
147	* MayDecemberRomance: Pedi and Cord. Directly named by Roger.
148	* MedalOfDishonor: Roger makes personalized friendly joke versions for every one of his men who make it off Marduk alive. For example, Poertena gets a little pocking wrench so he can [[PercussiveMaintenance beat up little pocking pieces of armor]].
149	* MilesGloriosus: Averted by Roger, to everyone's surprise. The Marines assumed he was taking credit for the hunting successes of his guides; the reason they don't know he's a marksman is that he thought his bodyguards were too noisy and went out alone.
150	* MindRape:
151	** Just about everyone has a computer implant in their brain, called a tutorial implant, or "toot", and the implant can be hacked. [[spoiler:The chain of events leading to being stranded on Marduk was from a sailor whose toot was hacked by the conspiracy.]]
152	** The details of how it was done are left off-screen, but [[spoiler:Empress Alexandra VII]] effectively has her mind destroyed by the conspirators, to the point that she can't tell reality from the manufactured fantasy, and occasionally lapses into memories from her younger years.
153	* MoralityChain: Despreaux is specifically groomed to be this for Roger by Pahner, who notices Roger's bloodlust is much less pronounced with Despreaux by his side.. It works, too.
154	* MisterSeahorse: Technically, Mardukan "women" are male, and vice versa. The "men" have an ovipositor that resembles human male genitalia. But in fact, the men ovulate and implant the ova into a woman, who fertilizes the egg and carries it to term.
155	* MoreExpendableThanYou:
156	** Captain Pahner and his Marines make it painfully clear that no matter what they think of the Prince, their duty is to protect him at all costs, up to and including throwing their lives away to get between him and a threat. As the March continues, Roger comes to accept this, while at the same time taking a more and more active role in his own protection - to the point where [[InvertedTrope the tables get turned]], and Pahner finds himself in the position of relying on Roger to save the Marines, when it's supposed to be vice-versa. Gets deadly serious in the third book when [[spoiler:they find out Roger is suddenly the one-and-only Heir to the Throne, making him absolutely unexpendable]] ... and then even more seriously [[InvertedTrope flipped again]] when things get so desperate that even Roger himself becomes expendable:
157	---> '''Roger:''' The mission is to safeguard the ''Empire'', Captain. Safeguarding ''me'' is only part of that. ... [The Empress] can [[spoiler:make a new heir. If she wants to, she can use DNA from John and Alexandra's dad.]] The ''mission'', Captain, is "Save the Empire."
158	** Played with and lampshaded when Catrone has the urge to step between Roger and a damnbeast. [[spoiler: He stops himself for two reasons -- One, he recognizes that Roger has it under control, and that the other Marines recognize this too. Two, Roger is [[KingIncognito incognito]] at the time, and the other civilians watching would wonder why he put himself in danger to save a Martian entrepreneur.]]
159	* MultiArmedAndDangerous: All the Mardukans, which evolved from a six-limbed, amphibious ancestor. Special credit to Rastar, who can [[DualWielding quadruple-wield]] pistols and still fire all of them with pinpoint accuracy.
160	* MuggingTheMonster: Happens a few times on Marduk when Mardukans try to poison the Marines or force them to fight in clan wars, and again on Earth when [[spoiler: the mob tries to extort the cover operation and then kidnaps Nimashet]]. As Roger puts it, "You have no idea who you're pocking with."
161	* MundaneUtility: Killerpillar venom causes humans and Mardukans alike to die excruciating deaths, as their flesh dissolves and slides off their bones. Kostas uses it (in diluted form) to tenderize steak.
162	* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Denat accidentally does this.
163	--> "I greet you in the name of The People." He hoped he'd all the sounds right. Some of the words were the same, but accented so differently as to make them nearly unintelligible.\
164	"Denat," Julian said over the earbud the intel NCO'd installed, "if you're having translation problems ask me. I'll give you the right words. You just said 'I sneeze you in the name of The Idiots'."
165	* MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat:
166	** Subverted. Julian is monitoring [[spoiler:Despreaux's]] blood pressure and heart rate. When both go up, she is arguing with Roger. [[spoiler:When the heart rate goes up and the blood pressure drops, it's time to send in a MomentKiller.]]
167	** This doesn't work on Roger: his heart rate and blood pressure stay low, [[TranquilFury no matter how angry or excited he gets]]. Julian calls this "scary".
168	* NestedOwnership: D'nal Cord [[IOweYouMyLife owes Roger his life]], and later acquires a life-debt of his own when he saves Pedi Caruse from pirates. Prince Roger has a good laugh at the latter, noting that Cord's OhCrap reaction when he realizes Pedi's culture also has life-debts exactly mirrored his own after he saved D'nal.
169	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The Boman [[spoiler:kill their clever and adaptable war chief when he decides ''not'' to rush enemy fortifications in a [[LeeroyJenkins suicidal berserk charge]].]]
170	* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Played with.
171	** The Bronze Barbarians and Roger have no problem eating local flora and fauna and breaking it down into base nutrients... because they have genetic modifications and nanobots in their intestines intended to let them do just that. There are some plants which are digestible to baseline humans, but the civilians in the expedition are in danger of starvation when the group's supply of human rations dwindles.
172	** Mardukan plant- and animal life are so different that many chemical compounds humans need to survive are just not present. Vitamin deficiencies are a constant threat.
173	** Several Mardukan poisons are shown to not work on humans, and vice-versa. One poison, which to Mardukans is tasteless, tastes like rotten fennel to humans. Another poison fails much, much harder-- it's not only harmless to the humans it's meant to kill, but meditating on its failure inspires the doc to check on the chemistry of other inedible local species. This leads him to discover an effective ''dietary supplement'' for human biology, ''saving'' the lives of much of the expedition by stretching out the dwindling supplies of manufactured supplements they need to survive on the partially-indigestible Mardukan diet.
174	** Roger at one point mentions in passing that he intends to introduce Mardukan barleyrice to the rest of the Empire, since it is more flavorful and nutritious than the equivalents grown elsewhere.
175	* OldMaster: D'Nal Cord. He's almost retirement age, and a shaman of his people. And he takes Roger under his slimy wing.
176	* OverlyLongName:
177	** Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang [=MacClintock=] (and the rest of his family).
178	** Pedi Dorson Acos Lefan Karuse, Daughter of the King of the Mudh Hemh, called the Light of the Vales.
179	* PardonMyKlingon:
180	** Pocking pock, modderpocker.
181	** The Saints use "pollution" as their go-to swear word.
182	** Diasprans use "Water!" or "polluted water" since they worship water as a god.
183	** Kosutic, as a Satanist, uses "Papists" where most people would use devil-worshippers and swears by "His Wickedness" where most people would swear by Jesus or God.
184	* ParentalSubstitute: Kostas & eventually Captain Pahner for Roger. Roger also mentions that a need for one may have been an unconscious influence behind his interest in sports.
185	* PathOfInspiration: The Church of Ryback, the religion behind the "Saints," which believes that humans should return to Earth and undo all the damage they've done to nature on other worlds. The problem is that they go ''way'' beyond this simple mission into outright hating ''all'' sentient life outside of their own faith, they ruthlessly treat all rivals and their own lower-classes as non-persons, and they engage is pretty much every act of environmental hypocrisy or "can't see the forest for the trees" behavior possible. Worse, some of their fundamentalists are even rumored to [[EatsBabies eat babies as a means of population control]].
186	* ParentsAsPeople: Alexandra's mistakes as a mother are due to the fact that Roger reminds her all too much of his bastard of a father.
187	* PercussiveMaintenance: Poertena's [[FunetikAksent pig pocking wrench]], the twist being it's actually better than the standard procedure on jammed powered armor.
188	* PlaceWorseThanDeath: For the unprepared (everybody), it's Marduk. Also, any of the Saints' worlds that are being "reclaimed from humanity's taint". Slave labor provided from captured enemies, political prisoners, and dissidents, all plucking weeds and other Terran plants from the ground. By hand. To "minimize the footprint" caused by, say, basic biological processes like excrement, they're given less than a thousand calories of food a day. Death is kinder.
189	* PlanetOfHats: Pinopa is a planet of many islands and few continents primarily settled by Polynesians who are talented sailors. Armagh is a planet of Satanists who provide a frightening number of soldiers to the Empire thanks to their religious belief in preparing for Armageddon.
190	* PlasmaCannon: Heavy artillery, they're notoriously faulty and cost some marines their lives.
191	* PolitenessJudo: [[SergeantRock Sergeant Major Kosutic]] breaks up several arguments prior to planetfall, and O'Casey [[LampshadeHanging drops part]] of the trope name when discussing Roger with her.
192	* PoorCommunicationKills: Nobody ever explained to Roger that his father was a traitor who tried to manipulate the Empress and has been unofficially banished from Court. His tutor felt that it was something his mother should explain, his mother ''really'' didn't want to talk about it, and everybody else assumed ''somebody'' must have explained the situation to Roger. As a result, everyone takes Roger's imitation of his father's mannerisms as a declaration of support for his politics, while Roger has ''no idea'' what he did to earn his mother's permanent distrust.
193	* PowerArmor: Its use and maintenance in Marduk's perpetually humid climate makes using them for all but the most important tasks inadvisable.
194	* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Or, in the case of Althari females in general, Proud Warrior Race Girls.
195	* PyrrhicVictory: The battle for the tramp freighter at the end of ''March to the Stars''. 30 Marines make the assault; 18, including [[spoiler:Captain Pahner, Julian's bromance straight man Gronnigen, both Gunnys, & one of the St. John twins]] die in the attempt, and their Mardukan allies practically gut the ship with plasma fire, not really knowing better.
196	* RaceAgainstTheClock: Once Roger's group finds out what's happened in the empire while they've been gone, they realize they only have a few months to save it. [[spoiler:Before a new heir is born to a mind-controlled Empress, and her use is at an end.]]
197	* RagsToRoyalty: Nimashet isn't exactly poor, but she's very much lowborn and from a frontier planet. It is looking like everyone else in the party will get the Rags to Nobility treatment.
198	* RagtagBunchOfMisfits:
199	** All members of the Empress' Own Royal Guard Marine units are chosen on the basis of being exceptionally competent soldiers, but service also requires high levels of proficiency in a least one other, potentially useful skill. These range from the expected (demolitions, medicine, gunsmithing) to the implausible (linguistics, piloting) to the flat out incredible (shipbuilding, car theft, theology). They are by no means rag-tag, but the Empress' Own attracts some pretty interesting people.
200	** Aside from the Guard is everyone ''else'' who tags along with Roger. The humans include a valet, tutor who provides political advice to both humans and Mardukans, 4 pilots (3 of whom are never heard of again once the assault shuttles land), and reporter previously captured by the locals while on assignment, while the Mardukans that join up include an eccentric old mentor, a princess, a mercenary band, and an entire sepoy regiment.
201	* RecycledInSpace. The plot of the first two and the first half of the third book is ''Xenophon's Literature/{{Anabasis}}'' in space.
202	* ReligionOfEvil:
203	** The Fire Temples, from the volcanic land of Krath. Despite being a theocracy, none of the natives will talk about their religion at all, and cities are ruled by the principle of "all is forbidden, save that which the law requires." They trade for slaves to act as Servants of the God. [[spoiler:"Servants" are sacrifices which are roasted and then served in chunks to the people of the cities.]] There's a reason the local pirates fight to the last man to avoid capture.
204	** Later deconstructed when they explain ''how'' Krath went from a peaceful, semi-Taoist religion to the nightmare they encounter.
205	** Subverted with Armagh's Satanists. The planet they come from was involved in a civil war triggered by a Catholic-based CorruptChurch government, who accused those who opposed of being satanists. The accused figured that if they were called such by a church that was prone to atrocity, Satan couldn't be all ''that'' bad a guy after all.
206	* RescueRomance: Cord and Pedi, after initial annoyance.
207	* RockBeatsLaser: Mostly {{Downplayed}}: The Mardukans do manage to kill quite a number of Marines, but only at the cost of losing anywhere from dozens to hundreds of their own warriors for every Marine they kill.
208	** There is one specific example of this trope: One of the layers of a Marine uniform hardens in response to sudden impact, making it bulletproof (or at least heavily bullet-resistant). Swords and javelins, on the other hand, don't move quickly enough to trigger the hardening, and can cut right through.
209	* RoyalBrat: Roger comes off as selfish, shallow, and arrogant at the start of the story, and behaves like a sulky child even though he's in his 20's. He has a fair few [[FreudianExcuse Freudian excuses]], but his thoughtlessness and petulance are still a pain in everyone's ass for a while (even ''he'' privately gets sick of his own whining, though it takes a few BreakTheHaughty experiences to snap him out of it).
210	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething:
211	** The Empire of Man's political system leaves the Emperor/Empress with quite a bit of personal power. The Heirs usually have important roles to get them used to wielding power.
212	** Despite being a generally useless prat, one of Roger's hobbies is big game hunting which results in him being the best sniper of all the troops. It also becomes a headache and problem for the (technically second-in-charge, but he's the unofficial CO anyway) Marine CO, who has to keep reminding him that, if Roger fucks up and dies, the Marines might as well kill themselves.
213	** Honal and Rastar, heirs to the lost city of Therdan and cavalry commanders extraordinaire. Not to mention loyal friends who become instrumental to the party's survival and victories.
214	* SeaMonster: Giant ''coll'' fish. Imagine a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synanceia stonefish]] large enough to bite a ship in half.
215	* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Cord to Roger, regarding Pedi.
216	* ShellShockedVeteran: This starts to become a problem by the third book as the fatigue of nearly endless campaigning across Marduk leaves more and more of the Bronze Barbarians unfit for combat duty. Pahner compensates by pulling them into leadership and support roles, while adding competent natives to the ranks.
217	* ShoutOut:
218	** [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} Admiral Helmut, "Dark Lord of the Sixth"]]. Also Helmut is startlingly reminiscent of a certain Admiral Naismith.
219	** IBI Special Agent Temu Jin (Temujin being another name of UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan).
220	** ''Atul'' liver is apparently nice [[Film/SilenceOfTheLambs served with the local equivalent of fava beans and a light chianti.]]
221	** Ancient plasma rifles. [[Film/TheTerminator Forty kilowatt-range.]]
222	** [[Film/{{Scarface 1983}} SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!]] In this case, said "little friend" is not a grenade launcher but the [[WrenchWhack big]] pocking [[ImprovisedWeapon wrench.]]
223	** Captain Pahner seems to know Creator/RudyardKipling's ''Barrack-Room Ballads'' by heart, and can find a Kipling quote to fit almost any situation.
224	** [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red dawn!]]
225	** Prince Roger is apparently a Creator/JRRTolkien fan as he also mutters "the kazoos, the kazoos of North." upon hearing the small horns of the Vashim.
226	** "[[Series/HogansHeroes Schultzes]]," guards who can be trusted to see, do, and hear nothing. Subverted, since they ignore atrocities, not heroic hijinks.
227	** "[[KrakenAndLeviathan Fish]] [[Literature/ThePrincessBride of unusual size]]."
228	** Roger mentions that he's hunted [[Creator/HBeamPiper damnthings on Zarathustra]]
229	** A minor character is Admiral [[Film/AnimalHouse Neidermayer]]. He isn't TheNeidermeyer though, being a reasonable and competent commander.
230	* SpaceSector: Locations include Sagittarius Sector (which includes the planet to which Prince Roger and company were originally headed), Baldur Sector (where Marduk is located), and Handelmann Sector (a neighboring sector to Sagittarius Sector).
231	* StraightGay: Gunny Jin.
232	* TheStrategist: Admiral Helmut.
233	* StrawmanPolitical: The Saints are corrupt descendants of Greenpeace. Specifically they claim to ''un''-[[{{Terraforming}} terraform]] planets, but are actually one of the most polluting of the interstellar civilizations[[note]]Ironically, this is partially because their methods are so inefficient in their attempts to be "green", they end up putting more resources into inferior products.[[/note]]. Leadership-wise they're really more [[StrawHypocrite Straw Hypocrites]], while as a culture they tend more towards [[DirtyCommunist Dirty Communists]] with a focus on being "green" rather than support of the working class.
234	* SupremeChef: Kostas. Takes on the duty to be able to contribute, and proves able to knock together a respectable stew from day old ''atul'' and swamp water, and a multi-course gourmet meal when sent to a well-stocked market with enough money.
235	* TastesLikeChicken: In ''March to the Sea'', after killing the ''flar-ke'' that were threatening the group the humans make a meal of the remains of the beasts. Pahner comments that they're about to find out what ''flar-ke'' tastes like, to which Dobrescu replies "one guess". It turns out that it really ''does'' taste "very much like chicken."
236	* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Subverted by Armagh's Church of Satan. They were the more secular schism on a planet of Catholics and were labeled minions of Satan by their opponents. So they embraced the name, won the holy war, instituted religious freedom, and turned "Satanism" into a positive church in the wake of a discredited Christianity.
237	* TookALevelInBadass:
238	** Prince Roger takes ''several'', and goes from being thought of as a pompous LongHairedPrettyBoy to badass [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething warrior prince]] over the course of the series, mentally toughened up by [[DeathWorld Marduk]] as he treks across it to get to a spaceport so he can return home.
239	** His Marines, elite of the elite, are selected partially based on their incredible loyalty to the Empress. They start off despising him, but this gets blown away the more they get to see him in action. [[spoiler:In the end, every one of them is so loyal to the Prince that other (non-Bronze Barbarian) Marines think they're dangerously compromised]].
240	** It gets to the point where his subordinates push a woman he loves into marrying him despite her objections, due to the fact that he's Heir Primus to the Throne of Man.. because without her [[MoralityChain acting as his conscience]], he would be a neobarbarian tyrant with "shoot first, ask later" policy. With entire fleets of starships and a massive army at his disposal.
241	* TranslationWithAnAgenda: A particularly insidious one. The only language kernel they have pre-loaded before landing is High Krath, from the "civilized" neighbors of the port. When they start using it, it has a preloaded bias for words translated as "service," "Servant," or "Serve." [[spoiler:These are all euphemisms for being butchered live and then roasted and served to Krath's upper class in a religious ritual.]] Given the likely human (i.e. Saints) inspiration of the practice, there's a good chance the bias is deliberate.
242	* TurnOutLikeHisFather: The initial reason for Roger's estrangement. He has no idea, and is ticked to find out.
243	* TheUnfavorite: Roger is despised mostly because he looks like his father, though made worse by his being a foppish twit, since his father is also a foppish twit [[spoiler:as well as a traitor not even permitted within six planets of the Empress]]. [[EverybodyKnewAlready Everyone assumes he's intentionally following in his father's footsteps]], when in fact Roger knows nothing about his father and just thinks everyone hates him.
244	* TheUnfettered: By the time he's finished with Marduk (and vice versa), Roger would be this if not for Nimashet acting as his MoralityChain. He and his people call her his "prosthetic conscience."
245	* {{Unobtainium}}: [=ChromSten=] collapsed matter armor.
246	* UnwantedRescue: By the Peoples' traditions, rescuing someone not of your tribe without a personal need to do so makes them your slave. Cord is miffed when Roger does it to him, though they eventually bond. And then this is flipped back on him when he unthinkingly rescues Pedi.
247	* TheUriahGambit: Subverted. Gunny Jin has to keep a plasma gunner who ''should'' be on the front lines in a safer spot because that person is dating someone he's interested in -- all to avoid this trope.
248	* VillainHasAPoint: The faction seeking to seize control over the empire actually has some sensible goals - Roger's grandfather died senile after gutting the military and allowing their neighbors to grow strong enough to be a threat to national security, and they want to rebuild the armed forces and push the Saints back. Empress Alexandra actually agrees with those policies, it's just the bit about the policies only being implemented by people who are personally loyal to Prince Jackson as an individual rather than the Empire as an institution that she has trouble with, and Jackson cannot accept the notion of not being in charge.
249	* WeHaveReserves: Barbarian tribes on Marduk seem to exclusively rely on berserk ZergRush tactics. It works for the most part until humans introduce soldier formation tactics. The few who wise up to this fact find themselves quickly overruled for being "weak."
250	* WeirdnessCensor: The Mardukans are almost shockingly blasé to the presence of humans, partially because we resemble a harmless prey animal. Few towns display any curiosity for more than a couple of days before treating the group like any other traveling traders/warriors. This is {{Lampshaded}} several times.
251	* WhatDoesThisButtonDo: Honal's "strategy" when they board the Saint ship is to press buttons at random. It works.
252	* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Ima Hooker was named so by [[{{Deconstruction}} a mostly absent junkie with a twisted sense of humor, apparently...]]
253	* WillTheyOrWontThey: The {{UST}} between [[CelibateHero Prince Roger]] and [[{{Tsundere}} Sgt. Despreaux]] is [[EveryoneCanSeeIt so obvious]] the Marines start a betting pool. Of course, [[TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot the inevitable is delayed]] with several wars, a couple {{Moment Killer}}s, one drunken FalseStart and Roger's amazing ability to put his foot in it.
254	* WrenchWhack: If it needs to be disassembled, no matter if it's a hostile combatant or a recalcitrant suit of armor, Poertena and his big pocking wrench will provide. For the PoweredArmor suit removal, it's faster than the official method of removing a jammed suit.
255	* YeOldeNuclearSilo: [[CoolOldGuy Thomas "Tomcat" Catrone]] lives in one. He bought a large tract of land in central Asia to retire and start a horse ranch on, and since there already was a large and very solid structure on his property, he converted it into a well-appointed home. The fact that he can hold off an assault platoon on his own in there is a nice bonus.
256	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In ''We Few'', [[spoiler:Prince Jackson Adoula blows up his house on Earth, along with his secret files and household staff; makes a note to eliminate his chauffeur soon thereafter; and intends to do away with at least one of his co-conspirators. Oh, and then there's the whole plot to murder the Empress after she produces a new heir. He orders her ''and'' the unborn heir eliminated once he has to flee the failure of his plans.]]
257

Context Literature / PrinceRoger