History Literature / CoDominium

* HumansAreWhite: Averted by Frystaaters, who look like very much like {{Dark Skinned Blond}}es. Ironic because the colony was founded by South African whites that [=CoDo=] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything rounded up and transported]] to a hellish high-gravity [[SingleBiomePlanet desert world]] along with a mixture of others.

** The Alderson Drive is a shout out to Dan Alderson, a JPL scientist who ''designed'' the drive, [[MinovskyPhysics carefully defining its capabilities and limitations]]. Having a real physicist design your AppliedPhlebotinum really makes for [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness much harder than usual space opera.]]

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: The Soviet Union is no longer a going concern in the [[RealLife real world.]]

** Fulson's World is an entire planet of Alaska - precious metals under a permanent snow cap. It's telling that people would rather be deported to Tanith than be sent here.

* DeflectorShields: The Langston Field, works by EnergyAbsorption.

* DramatisPersonae

* FeudalFuture

* GratuitousNinja:''Techno''ninja.

* HeelFaceTurn: Horace Bury.

* HyperspaceLanes: Alderson Drive relies on them.

* NavalBlockade: In ''King David's Spaceship'', the port city of Jikar was blockaded by patrols of pirate ships. The pirates demanded not only tribute but also the heads of the Masters of each Guild in the city.

* PrequelInTheLostAge: ''Falkenberg's Legions''.

* {{Terraform}}: Generally limited to altering pre-existing ecologies, with varying degrees of success. New Cal is an example of a world needing full Terraforming.

* TradingBarsForStripes: Harlan Slater in ''West of Honor''.

After the CD's fall, the planet of Sparta forms the nucleus of the ''Empire of Man''. It leads to centuries of "peace" (not counting the initial conquest, putting down rebellions, and "Outies" who don't count), until a massive civil war is begun by the genetically-engineered SuperSoldiers of Sauron (the planet, NOT the Literature/LordOfTheRings character). The Sauron Supermen are defeated (and their home world slagged by Spartan space battleships in orbit), but the Empire collapses into barbarism. Centuries pass, and Sparta becomes strong enough to form the ''Second Empire of Man''. To make sure another civilization destroying war doesn't happen again, the Empire decides to take over every human held planet, through diplomacy, but through force if necessary.

** The word is still out whether or not Sauron was originally a reference to Tolkien, although the Warworld works play up the reference. The Alderson Drive is a shout out to Dan Alderson, a JPL scientist who ''designed'' the drive, [[MinovskyPhysics carefully defining its capabilities and limitations]]. Having a real physicist design your AppliedPhlebotinum really makes for [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness much harder than usual space opera.]]

* TheKingdom: played with in ''King David's Spaceship''. The Kingdom of Haven is conquering its neighbors, and a ruthless secret police. However, they are still trying to keep their freedom from The Empire.

** The motto of the [=CoDominium=] Armed Forces is "Peace is Our Profession", the same as [[PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower the USAF's Strategic Air Command]].

* ''Prince of Mercenaries'', ''Go Tell the Spartans'', and ''Prince of Sparta'', co-written with SMStirling. Written some decades after the original ''Falkenberg's Legion'' stories, but still involve the Legion and intertwine with the earlier novel. It tells of the story of planet Sparta dealing with a violent revolution.

The ''[=CoDominium=]'' series is the brain child of SciFi author Jerry Pournelle. The first books were written in the Seventies and set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, now [[ScienceMarchesOn Science and Time have marched on]] rendering the setting AlternateHistory. The premise of the series is that the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics join together to form the [=CoDominium=] (CD), dominate the planet, and colonize space. The stories follow the events afterwards.

** Then there was the little reenactment of the Odessa Steps sequence in ''The Mercenary'', and of the suppression of the Nika ('Victory') riots in Constantinople under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 532.

** Then there was the little reenactment of the Odessa Steps sequence in ''The Mercenary'', and of the suppression of the Nika ('Victory') riots in Constantinople under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 532. DavidDrake used that same incident in a sci-fi novella, and in an alternate history of that time period.

* {{BadAss}}: ColonelBadass John Christian Falkenberg in the Legion books, Nathan [=MacKinnie=] in ''King David's Spaceship''.
** Also Sergeant Major Calvin as SergeantRock.
** Several characters in ''King David's Spaceship'' are badasses who literally get medieval on their enemies.

!!!The CoDominium Era

* AuthorFilibuster: Like much of Pournelle's work, the CoDominium stories get rather {{Anvilicious}} in dishing up his social and political ideas.

If you're wondering exactly why anyone ''chose'' to live here? Most ''didn't'' - they were ''[[SentencedToDownUnder deported]]'' there by the CoDominium - and as even bureaucrats had enough heart not to send hippies to hell, most of those deportees were violent criminals. The only people who came there with technology was a PathOfInspiration kooky enough to ''pay'' to come.\\

* FantasticShipPRefix: [=CoDominium=] ships have the prefix CDS (CoDominium Ship)

* GalacticSuperpower: First the CoDominium, then the Empires.

* SchizoTech: Justified by a century-long period of ModernStasis following the creation of FasterThanLightTravel, due to every politician in the CoDominium being either an ObstructiveBureaucrat, a StrawmanPolitical or a WellIntentionedExtremist; the only way all these megalomaniacs could agree not to start WorldWarIII was to agree not to develop weapons technology any further, which meant not developing ''anything'', and trashing all the libraries so nobody could build better weapons by MacGyvering. They then proceeded to deport millions of people every year to every marginally habitable world they could find, often with little more than the clothes on their backs. The result is a smorgasbord of Schizo Tech. CasualInterstellarTravel, but [[FamilyFriendlyFirearms no lasers]]. Hand-held anti-satellite weaponry stored next to bolt-action rifles. Spaceports with horse troughs. Pournelle's [[TheVerse 'Verse]] never actually recovered from the whole mess; a thousand years later, every SpaceMarine thinks [[TechMarchesOn PDAs are state-of-the-art]].

** Grand Senator Bronson. Determined to dominate the CoDominium and whatever arises after it tears itself apart as well as to utterly destroy all he regards as his enemies, and a very evil man. Nevertheless, he is shown to hate the hell that the CoDominium has created, and is working towards the same end as his enemies: the survival of human civilization. Pournelle's AuthorAvatar [[WordofGod spells this out]] in ''Prince of Sparta''.
** On the heroic side, there is John Grant, Director of the CIA who, in ''Mercenary'', to keep the CoDominium (and with it, human civilization) alive as long as possible, [[spoiler: destroys the campaign of presidential candidate Harvey Bertram (whose victory would, he believes, lead to WorldWarIII), by framing some of his supporters for giving nuclear weapons to Japanese nationalists. He then exiles his daughter offworld to cover up his actions]].
** From the same book, U.S. presidential candidates Harmon and Harvery Bertram. Harmon is a rabid right-winger who sees the CoDominium as making the United States a partner in Communist oppression and wants to pull the U.S. out, risk of nuclear war be damned, emphasizes the "extremist" part. Harvey Bertram, a libertarian idealist who wants to restore the liberties that participation in the CoDominium cost the United States, meanwhile, emphasizes the "well intentioned" part. Victory by either man would lead to WorldWarIII.

At first things seem to go smoothly, Earth is dominated by a one hundred year era of relative peace, and interstellar travel and colonization is developed. However, this peaceful era comes with a price tag attached to it, namely [[ModernStasis a complete halt in scientific research and development; not to mention political evolution.]] Eventually it collapses under its own weight, as both the United States and the USSR both hate each others guts still despite [[EnemyMine technically being allies]]. At the end, [[WorldWarIII large numbers of nuclear-tipped birds fly]], many launched down from orbit, and Earth is devastated. Even a millennium later, the devastation could still be seen.

** And [[http://community.fortunecity.ws/tattooine/heinlein/326/CoDominium/haven.htm Haven]], the setting of the ''War World'' series, is essentially a thought experiment between him and Creator/LarryNiven summed up as, "Under [[MundaneDogmatic Mundane Dogma]], exactly how horrible can we make a planet where humans can breathe the air?". Here's what they came up with:\\

* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja:''Techno''ninja.