History Literature / XeeleeSequence

* BigDumbObject: The novels feature an object called "Bolder's Ring", built by the titular aliens; it's constructed out of the remains of ''galaxies'' ([[spoiler:later revealed to be cause of the real life "Great Attactor"[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Attractor]]]]) and is essentially a black hole that has been stretched into a one-dimensional loop millions of light years in length. It's eventually revealed [[spoiler: to be an escape route for the Xeelee from the Universe, by means of tearing a hole in spacetime through the middle of the ring via the unimaginably strong gravitational forces created throught its rotation]].

* BigDumbObject: The novels feature an object called "Bolder's Ring", built by the titular aliens; it's constructed out of the remains of ''galaxies'' ([[spoiler:later revealed to be cause of the real life "Great Attactor"[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Attractor]]]]) and is essentially a black hole that has been stretched into a one-dimensional loop millions of light years in length. It's eventually revealved [[spoiler:as an escape route from the Universe, by means of the tear in spacetime created at it's center from the shear gravitional forces of the Ring]].

* ''Raft''

** ''Exultant''

* ForeverWar: The Xeelee are nearly immortal, and humanity quickly proves itself a race of consummate survivors. They don't like each other. Do the math.

* HigherTechSpecies: The Xeelee are an extreme example. Despite being "only" this trope (because their universe-shattering technology ''is'' recognizable as such), they could absolutely run rings around even most examples of SufficientlyAdvancedAliens from other works.

** Also averted with the Silver Ghosts, who are much less aggressive than [[HumansAreBastards humanity]] (except the [[DarkIsEvil Black Ghost]]) but unfortunately end up in the path of the Third Expansion.

* AcePilot: Jim Bolder, hence his being entrusted with a [[CoolShip Xeelee nightfighter]] by the Qax, with bad results. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain For]] [[DingDongTheWitchIsDead them.]]

* AliensAreBastards: Played straight with some species. Averted ([[BlueAndOrangeMorality more or less]]) with the Xeelee, who go out of their way to prevent extinction of other sentient lifeforms, even the humanity, which repeatedly attacked them.

The ''[[{{Literature/XeeleeSequence}} Xeelee Sequence]]'' is series of novels and short stories by StephenBaxter. They're [[{{YMMV}} arguably]] his most well-known books.

In the far future, mankind expands out into a hostile universe, filled with intelligent species as [[StarfishAliens weirdly varied]] as they are [[AliensAreBastards ruthless]]. Above them all, however, are the top dogs of the universe: the Xeelee, the god-like de-facto rulers of the universe.

The novels in the ''Xeelee Sequence'' include:
* ''[[{{Literature/Raft}} Raft]]''
* ''[[{{Literature/TimelikeInfinity}} Timelike Infinity]]''
* ''[[{{Literature/Flux}} Flux]]''
* ''[[{{Literature/Ring}} Ring]]''
* ''[[{{Literature/VacuumDiagrams}} Vacuum Diagrams]]'' (short story collection)
* ''[[{{Literature/RealityDust}} Reality Dust]]'' (novella)
* ''[[{{Literature/RridingTheRock}} Riding The Rock]]'' (novella)
* ''[[{{Literature/MayflowerII}} Mayflower II]]'' (novella)
* ''[[{{Literature/Starfall}} Starfall]]'' (novella)

** ''[[{{Literature/Coalescent}} Coalescent]]''
** ''[[{{Literature/Exultant}} Exultant]]''
** ''[[{{Literature/Transcendent}} Transcendent]]''
** ''[[{{Literature/Resplendent}} Resplendent]]'' (short story collection)

The overall "Sequence" is a loosely connected series, covering literally ''billions'' of years of history, with the main connecting thread being the Xeelee's enduring presence and influence on the history of the universe and mankind itself. The series has a definite chronology, but the novels and short stories were published in AnachronicOrder. However, all of them can be read as individual stand-alone stories.

The ''[[{{Literature/XeeleeSequence}} Xeelee Sequence]]'' is series of novels and short stories by StephenBaxter. They're [[{{YMMV}} arguably]] his most well-known books.

The "Sequence" is a loosely connected series, covering literally ''billions'' of years, with the main connecting thread being the Xeelee's enduring presence and influence on the history of the universe and mankind itself. The novels and short stories were published in AnachronicOrder, but most of them can be read as individual stand-alone stories.

The novels in the ''Xeelee Sequence'' include ''[[{{Literature/Raft}} Raft]]'', ''[[{{Literature/TimelikeInfinity}} Timelike Infinity]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Flux}} Flux]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Ring}} Ring]]'', ''[[{{Literature/VacuumDiagrams}} Vacuum Diagrams]]'', ''[[{{Literature/RealityDust}} Reality Dust]]'', ''[[{{Literature/RridingTheRock}} Riding The Rock]]'', ''[[{{Literature/MayflowerII}} Mayflower II]]'', and ''[[{{Literature/Starfall}} Starfall]]''. His ''[[DestinysChildren Destiny's Children]]'' is also part of the series, and includes: ''[[{{Literature/Coalescent}} Coalescent]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Exultant}} Exultant]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Transcendent}} Transcendent]]'', and ''[[{{Literature/Resplendent}} Resplendent]]''.

* BeyondTheImpossible: By the time of ''Exultant'' humanity has converted almost the entirety of the Milky Way into an industrial war machine with which they are engaging in a multi-millenial pan-galactic campaign against the Xeelee. Still, the Xeelee view this as roughly the equivalent of an especially persistent cockroach infestation, and think of humanity as little more than pond life.

* BeyondTheImpossible: By the time of ''Exultant'' humanity has converted almost the entirety of the Milky Way into an industrial war machine to the point that they make the Imperium of Man from 40k look like Luxembourgh. Still, the Xeelee view this as roughly the equivalent of an especially persistent cockroach infestation, and think of humanity as little more than pond life.

* AliensAreBastards: Played straight with some species. Averted with the Xeelee, who go out of their way to prevent extinction of other sentient lifeforms, even the humanity, which repeatedly attacked them.

* CrapsackWorld: Millions of years of humanity in a massive HopelessWar of attrition against the Xeelee [[spoiler: who are also fighting a race of dark matter beings who want to render the universe unfit for baryonic life (like humanity)]]. [[spoiler:They lose. First the humans, than the Xeelee. Humans manage to make it worse as the Xeelee knew they couldn't win so spent all of time creating a method to leave the universe into one better suited for our type of life.]]

* CrapsackWorld: Millions of years of humanity in a massive HopelessWar of attrition against the Xeelee [[spoiler: who are also fighting a race of dark matter beings who want to render the universe unfit for baryonic life (like humanity)]]. [[spoiler:They lose. First the humans, than the Xeelee. Humans manage to make it worse as the Xeelee knew they couldn't win so spent all of time creating a method to leave the universe into one better suited for our type of life. Humanity attacks the superstring and breaks it, with some humans making it through to another universe that is not suited for our type of life.]]

The novels in the ''Xeelee Sequence'' include ''[[{{Literature/Raft}} Raft]]'', ''[[{{Literature/TimelikeInfinity}} Timelike Infinity]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Flux}} Flux]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Ring}} Ring]]'', ''[[{{Literature/VacuumDiagrams}} Vacuum Diagrams]]'', ''[[{{Literature/RealityDust}} Reality Dust]]'', ''[[{{Literature/RridingTheRock}} Riding The Rock]]'', ''[[{{Literature/MayflowerII}} Mayflower II]]'', and ''[[{{Literature/Starfall}} Starfall]]''. His ''[[DestinysChildren Destiny's Children]]'' is also part of the series, and includes: ''[[{{Literature/Coalescent}} Coalescent]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Exultant}} Exultant]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Transcendent}} Transcendent]]'', and ''[[{{Literature/Resplendent}} Resplendent]]''. ----

The novels in the ''Xeelee Sequence'' include ''[[{{Literature/Raft}} Raft]]'', ''[[{{Literature/TimelikeInfinity}} Timelike Infinity]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Flux}} Flux]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Ring}} Ring]]'', ''[[{{Literature/VacuumDiagrams}} Vacuum Diagrams]]'', ''[[{{Literature/RealityDust}} Reality Dust]]'', ''[[{{Literature/RridingTheRock}} Riding The Rock]]'', ''[[{{Literature/MayflowerII}} Mayflower II]]'', and ''[[{{Literature/Starfall}} Starfall]]''. His ''[[DestinysChildren Destiny'sChildren]]'' is also part of the series, and includes: ''[[{{Literature/Coalescent}} Coalescent]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Exultant}} Exultant]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Transcendent}} Transcendent]]'', and ''[[{{Literature/Resplendent}} Resplendent]]''. ----

* LensmanArmsRace: The Xeelee use cosmic strings to build a [[OurWormholesAreDifferent Kerr metric]] known as "Bolder's Ring" in order to [[spoiler:escape into another universe]]. The Ring is so massive that it's gravity well pulling in ''galaxies'' from all directions towards it at high speed. The Xeelee's antagonists [[spoiler:the Photino Birds]] one up on this by [[spoiler:meticulously arranging galaxies around the Ring in just the right pattern to form a gravitational resonance that will shake the Ring apart]].

* LensmanArmsRace: The Xeelee use cosmic strings to build a [[OurWormholesAreDifferent Kerr metric]] known as
"Bolder's Ring" in order to [[spoiler:escape into another universe]]. The Ring is so massive that it's gravity well pulling in ''galaxies'' from all directions towards it at high speed. The Xeelee's antagonists [[spoiler:the Photino Birds]] one up on this by [[spoiler:meticulously arranging galaxies around the Ring in just the right pattern to form a gravitational resonance that will shake the Ring apart]].

** Future humans make it to Type III and try to attack the Xeelee by shooting a ''whole neutron star''at them like a bullet. The Xeelee brush this off as though it were insignificant.

* AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit: The Xeelee have absolute mastery over the entirety of all baryonic matter in universe. Entire galactic clusters are just bricks to these guys. Future humans make it to Type III and try to attack them by shooting a whole neutron star at near light speed at them like a bullet, and they all but ignore it as insignificant. In the same universe are the Photino Birds, creatures of dark matter against whom the Xeelee fight a multi-billion year existential war and '''lose''' , because the photino birds have absolute mastery over all the dark matter in the universe, and dark matter outmasses baryonic matter by about 9 to 1.

The ''[[{{Literature/XeeleeSequence}} Xeelee Sequence]]'' is made up of, [[{{YMMV}} what are probably]], [[StephenBaxter Stephen Baxter's]] most famous books.

Long story short, mankind is at war with aliens called the Xeelee, and have been for about few billion years. The Xeelee themselves, are also at war with ''photino birds'', creatures made of dark matter.

The novels in the ''Xeelee Sequence'' include ''[[{{Literature/Raft}} Raft]]'', ''[[{{Literature/TimelikeInfinity}} Timelike Infinity]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Flux}} Flux]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Ring}} Ring]]'', ''[[{{Literature/VacuumDiagrams}} Vacuum Diagrams]]'', ''[[{{Literature/RealityDust}} Reality Dust]]'', ''[[{{Literature/RridingTheRock}} Riding The Rock]]'', ''[[{{Literature/MayflowerII}} Mayflower II]]'', and ''[[{{Literature/Starfall}} Starfall]]''. His ''[[DestinysChildren Destiny'sChildren]]'' is also part of the series, and includes: ''[[{{Literature/Coalescent}} Coalescent]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Exultant}} Exultant]]'', ''[[{{Literature/Transcendent}} Transcendent]]'', and ''[[{{Literature/esplendent}} Resplendent]]''. They're published in AnachronicOrder, but can all be read as stand-alones.
----

* Humanity in the Dancers at the End of Time series: they abused the universe so much that the heat death of the universe is on the verge of happening merely one million years in the future, instead of several trillions. The worst part is that they could fix it, and the ''only thing'' preventing them is... intellectual lazyness
* BigDumbObject: The novels feature an object called "Bolder's Ring", built by the titular aliens; it's constructed out of the remains of ''galaxies'' (and is in fact the "Great Attactor"[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Attractor]]), and is essentially a black hole that has been stretched into a one-dimensional loop millions of light years in length. It's eventually revealved [[spoiler:as an escape route from the Universe, by means of the tear in spacetime created at it's center from the shear gravitional forces of the Ring]].
** Also, the Sugar Lump from the same series - a perfect cube the size of a small moon, which appears to serve no purpose whatsoever [[spoiler: but is actually one of many identical devices which sent the Xeelee back in time to essentially create themselves using a StableTimeLoop]].
* ColonyDrop: There's the extreme colony drop option where a Neutron Star is accelerated to high fractional C and smashed into a Cosmic String.
* CrapsackWorld: Millions of years of humanity in a massive HopelessWar of attrition against the Xeelee, who are also fighting a race of dark matter beings who want to render the universe unfit for baryonic life (like humanity). [[spoiler:They lose. First the humans, than the Xeelee. Humans manage to make it worse as the Xeelee knew they couldn't win so spent all of time creating a method to leave the universe into one better suited for our type of life. Humanity attacks the superstring and breaks it, with some humans making it thru to over universe that are not suited for our type of life and get to have a thousand years or so of descendants before using up the resources that allow them.]]
* HumansAreWarriors: In spades, at least once the [[NonindicativeName Interim Coalition of Governance]] takes over. The titular alien Xeelee outclass in pretty much every sphere of technology, but the FantasticRacism of mankind's "Third Expansion" doesn't let a little thing like that stand in the way of galactic conquest. A line in ''Exultant'' expresses humanity's fighting strategy; something like: "''To the Xeelee, we were little more than rats - so that's what we became. Tenacious, relentless, swarming; fighting an interstellar war with teeth and nails''".

* LensmanArmsRace: The Xeelee use cosmic strings to build a [[OurWormholesAreDifferent Kerr metric]] with which they can [[spoiler:escape into another universe]]. This structure (the Ring) is so massive that it is pulling all ''galaxies'' for quite some distance towards it, at high speed. The Xeelee's antagonists, the Photino Birds, go one up on this by [[spoiler:arranging galaxies around the Ring to form a resonance cavity that will shake the Ring apart]].
* ScryVsScry: Humanity fights a War against the [[StarfishAliens Xeelee]] over the Milky Way Galaxy where both sides can send information backwards in time using [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL]]. In practice, neither side can ever get an advantage. This goes on for tens of thousands of years.

* StarfishAliens
* TimeAbyss: The Jasofts -collaborators with alien overlords who conquered earth, who were given eternal life: "My name is Luru Parz. I was born in the year AD 5279, as humans once counted time. Now I have lived so long that such dates have no meaning. We have lost the years, lost them in orders of magnitude."
* {{Unperson}}: The alien Qax attempt to do this to the entire history of humankind, in a project know as the extirpation, in order to make them better slaves.

* InsufficientlyAdvancedAliens: * The HiveMind [[StarfishAliens fish aliens]] known as Squeem conquer Earth at one point despite being no more intelligent and not much older than humans - but they lucked out on finding technology left over from the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens sufficiently advanced]] [[{{Precursors}} Xeelee]].