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* OlderThanFeudalism This is the plot of Xenophon's ''Literature/{{Anabasis}}''. And it's TruthInTelevision, since Xenophon's March ''actually happened''.
* The Golden Company in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Made up of exiles, their one true dream is to be able to return to Westeros, the country of their ancestor's origin, and make a home for themselves. They're portrayed as fairly honorable for mercenaries, having never [[spoiler: until recent events]] broken a contract.
* A general theme in Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series is that soldiers and mercenaries aren't in the life for glory; they just have no other way to earn enough money for some land and a house of their own.
** The Tedral "companies" are the remnants of a people whose homeland was conquered. They became mercenaries to get the land back, but over the years, the goal went from ''the'' land to ''any'' land... and any means. Karse hired them to fight Valdemar, thinking they had nothing to lose, but they were routed and proceeded to pillage their way back though their employer's country.
** Valdemar itself was founded by a group of political refugees from [[TheEmpire the Eastern Empire]].
** The Kaled'a'in also briefly play this role in ''Mage Wars'' after the destruction of their homeland by the Cataclysm. Split into three groups, one by distance and the other two by irreconcilable differences over the role of magic in their lives, they each go in search of a new homeland. Each does eventually find what they seek, and it's revealed in increments over ''Mage Winds'' and ''Mage Storms'' that all of this was deliberately engineered by the gods in an attempt to set up the conditions to avert the return of the Cataclysm three thousand years later.
* ''Literature/HammersSlammers'' by Creator/DavidDrake. When Hammer first formed the Slammers he did so on the understanding that the mercenaries would be granted citizenship on the planet they were hired to defend. Their employers reneged on the promise so he took the unit off planet and turned it into one of the top mercenary units in the galaxy. However, they always remembered the broken promise and waited patiently for a chance to finally get a homeland for themselves.
** In one short story Colonel Hammer comes home and takes over as a military dictator.
* The sci-fi novel ''Literature/WhiteWing'' by Gordon Kendall has humanity joining a ColorCodedForYourConvenience [[TheFederation Federation]] fighting an evil alien race responsible for the destruction of Earth. All the good colors were already taken, so the homeworld-less Terrans got stuck with the non-color of White, hence the title. Terrans in the novel are all warriors sworn to avenge the destruction of their homeworld and mercenaries earning money to terraform 'Wing Moon' into a New Earth.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novels, Gaunt rescued the regiment from Tanith shortly before it was destroyed. Gaunt explains that he was promised the first planet that he conquered in the crusade and offers to let them all muster out there. (Alas, it looks like FailureIsTheOnlyOption; the new bosses will never let Gaunt conquer a planet, or admit it if he did.)
* Jerry Pournelle's ''Literature/FalkenbergsLegion'' story ''Sword and Scepter''. After securing the freedom of the planet New Washington, the title legion receives a land grant from the government to settle down.
* TheReveal of the Creator/FrederickForsyth novel ''Literature/TheDogsOfWar'' is that the titular mercenaries conquered [[BananaRepublic Zangaro]] to give the dispossessed tribe they fought for in the prologue a home rather than deliver it to the CorruptCorporateExecutive who hired them.
* The dwarves in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' are on a quest to reclaim their ancestral kigndom, taken centuries ago, from the dragon Smaug.
* The arrival of the Edain in the west and their [[TheAlliance alliance]] with the elves in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. They are escaping what is implied to be the servants of Morgoth in their old lands.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, first there's [[spoiler:[=SkyClan=]]], after they are exiled from the other Clans when their territory is destroyed by humans. Then it's [[spoiler:all the other Clans, many, many years later, when the ''rest'' of the forest starts to be torn down. At least the other Clans had a general idea of where to go based on a sign from their deceased ancestors; [=SkyClan=] had no clue.]]
* ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' has the Lunar ex-cons and their descendants fighting their jailers and the entire Earth for recognition as an independent entity. The revolutionary cabal starts the whole thing for ecological reasons and pushing the patriotism button is a key part of the plan. However, most Loonies just think of Luna as "the rock", a prison, not something to be loved. It takes pretty harsh treatment by the Authority to get the Loonies revved up enough to fight and die, but by the end, even Prof is teary-eyed and dreaming of Lunar flags blowing in the breeze...
* ''[[Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy Dabog]]'' has the [[TheEmpire Earth Alliance]] soldiers treat their upcoming surprise invasion of the LostColony Dabog in this manner, their opinion of the Dabogan colonists being something along the lines of "Who cares what they want? They owe us!" Each soldier and SpaceNavy officer participating in the attack is promised resettlement to Dabog. The unannounced invasion starts with the nuking of two major Dabogan cities. [[spoiler:When the Dabogans manage to successfully rout the invading forces, the Earth Alliance fleet admiral order the planet thoroughly nuked as a lesson to the other colonies, sparking a decades-long [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression Galactic War]]]].
* The Imperial Prussian remnants in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' are struggling to restore the pre-1918 German Empire, so they can finally return home and return the rightful Kaiser to the throne.
* In the ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' series, Sandokan and the survivors of the Tigers of Mompracem in ''Quest for a Throne'', ''Sandokan Fights Back'' and ''Return to Mompracem'': after being chased out of Mompracem in ''The King of the Sea'', the Tigers search for a place to call home. Subverted in the end: while they conquered Assam in ''Quest for a Throne'' (it happened that Yanez's wife had a claim to that throne) and took back Sandokan's ancestral homeland in ''Sandokan Fights Back'', they can't find a place to call home, and as soon as the British gives away Mompracem they reconquer it from the Sultan of Brunei.
* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': Gelila Wongel, a new student at an evil WizardingSchool, says that she only joined the school so she could gain the power needed to rebuild the Ethiopian Empire so she can live there and rule it as her ancestor Seble Wongel did.
* The Golden Company in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Made up of exiles, their one true dream is to be able to return to Westeros, the country of their ancestor's origin, and make a home for themselves. They're portrayed as fairly honorable for mercenaries, having never [[spoiler: until recent events]] broken a contract.
* A general theme in Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series is that soldiers and mercenaries aren't in the life for glory; they just have no other way to earn enough money for some land and a house of their own.
** The Tedral "companies" are the remnants of a people whose homeland was conquered. They became mercenaries to get the land back, but over the years, the goal went from ''the'' land to ''any'' land... and any means. Karse hired them to fight Valdemar, thinking they had nothing to lose, but they were routed and proceeded to pillage their way back though their employer's country.
** Valdemar itself was founded by a group of political refugees from [[TheEmpire the Eastern Empire]].
** The Kaled'a'in also briefly play this role in ''Mage Wars'' after the destruction of their homeland by the Cataclysm. Split into three groups, one by distance and the other two by irreconcilable differences over the role of magic in their lives, they each go in search of a new homeland. Each does eventually find what they seek, and it's revealed in increments over ''Mage Winds'' and ''Mage Storms'' that all of this was deliberately engineered by the gods in an attempt to set up the conditions to avert the return of the Cataclysm three thousand years later.
* ''Literature/HammersSlammers'' by Creator/DavidDrake. When Hammer first formed the Slammers he did so on the understanding that the mercenaries would be granted citizenship on the planet they were hired to defend. Their employers reneged on the promise so he took the unit off planet and turned it into one of the top mercenary units in the galaxy. However, they always remembered the broken promise and waited patiently for a chance to finally get a homeland for themselves.
** In one short story Colonel Hammer comes home and takes over as a military dictator.
* The sci-fi novel ''Literature/WhiteWing'' by Gordon Kendall has humanity joining a ColorCodedForYourConvenience [[TheFederation Federation]] fighting an evil alien race responsible for the destruction of Earth. All the good colors were already taken, so the homeworld-less Terrans got stuck with the non-color of White, hence the title. Terrans in the novel are all warriors sworn to avenge the destruction of their homeworld and mercenaries earning money to terraform 'Wing Moon' into a New Earth.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novels, Gaunt rescued the regiment from Tanith shortly before it was destroyed. Gaunt explains that he was promised the first planet that he conquered in the crusade and offers to let them all muster out there. (Alas, it looks like FailureIsTheOnlyOption; the new bosses will never let Gaunt conquer a planet, or admit it if he did.)
* Jerry Pournelle's ''Literature/FalkenbergsLegion'' story ''Sword and Scepter''. After securing the freedom of the planet New Washington, the title legion receives a land grant from the government to settle down.
* TheReveal of the Creator/FrederickForsyth novel ''Literature/TheDogsOfWar'' is that the titular mercenaries conquered [[BananaRepublic Zangaro]] to give the dispossessed tribe they fought for in the prologue a home rather than deliver it to the CorruptCorporateExecutive who hired them.
* The dwarves in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' are on a quest to reclaim their ancestral kigndom, taken centuries ago, from the dragon Smaug.
* The arrival of the Edain in the west and their [[TheAlliance alliance]] with the elves in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. They are escaping what is implied to be the servants of Morgoth in their old lands.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, first there's [[spoiler:[=SkyClan=]]], after they are exiled from the other Clans when their territory is destroyed by humans. Then it's [[spoiler:all the other Clans, many, many years later, when the ''rest'' of the forest starts to be torn down. At least the other Clans had a general idea of where to go based on a sign from their deceased ancestors; [=SkyClan=] had no clue.]]
* ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' has the Lunar ex-cons and their descendants fighting their jailers and the entire Earth for recognition as an independent entity. The revolutionary cabal starts the whole thing for ecological reasons and pushing the patriotism button is a key part of the plan. However, most Loonies just think of Luna as "the rock", a prison, not something to be loved. It takes pretty harsh treatment by the Authority to get the Loonies revved up enough to fight and die, but by the end, even Prof is teary-eyed and dreaming of Lunar flags blowing in the breeze...
* ''[[Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy Dabog]]'' has the [[TheEmpire Earth Alliance]] soldiers treat their upcoming surprise invasion of the LostColony Dabog in this manner, their opinion of the Dabogan colonists being something along the lines of "Who cares what they want? They owe us!" Each soldier and SpaceNavy officer participating in the attack is promised resettlement to Dabog. The unannounced invasion starts with the nuking of two major Dabogan cities. [[spoiler:When the Dabogans manage to successfully rout the invading forces, the Earth Alliance fleet admiral order the planet thoroughly nuked as a lesson to the other colonies, sparking a decades-long [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression Galactic War]]]].
* The Imperial Prussian remnants in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' are struggling to restore the pre-1918 German Empire, so they can finally return home and return the rightful Kaiser to the throne.
* In the ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' series, Sandokan and the survivors of the Tigers of Mompracem in ''Quest for a Throne'', ''Sandokan Fights Back'' and ''Return to Mompracem'': after being chased out of Mompracem in ''The King of the Sea'', the Tigers search for a place to call home. Subverted in the end: while they conquered Assam in ''Quest for a Throne'' (it happened that Yanez's wife had a claim to that throne) and took back Sandokan's ancestral homeland in ''Sandokan Fights Back'', they can't find a place to call home, and as soon as the British gives away Mompracem they reconquer it from the Sultan of Brunei.
* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': Gelila Wongel, a new student at an evil WizardingSchool, says that she only joined the school so she could gain the power needed to rebuild the Ethiopian Empire so she can live there and rule it as her ancestor Seble Wongel did.
