 the empire of man (also called the prince roger series and the march upcountry series) is a series of science fiction books by david weber and john ringo published by baen books. it combines elements of space opera and military science fiction. the series tells the story of prince roger and his personal guard, the bronze battalion of the empress's own, as they cross the hostile and alien world of marduk where they have been marooned. roger is the spoiled younger son of the empress of the largest polity in the galaxy, the earth-based "empire of man". roger, third in line to his mother's throne, is described at the start of the series as an over-handsome, but essentially useless fop. part of this description comes from a reputation he owes to the acts and status of his father, the duke of new madrid, who is estranged from the empress. == plot summary == roger is reluctantly persuaded by his mother to travel to leviathan, a focal planet producing "grumbly oil" (used in commercial products such as colognes), to represent the royal family at a local celebration. due to sabotage during the voyage, roger, one company of the bronze battalion of the empress' own, bodyguards to the heir tertius of the empire, his valet, his tutor and chief of staff (a staff of one), and four of shuttle craft pilots are forced to land on marduk, a largely unexplored and quite obscure planet officially, and loosely, a planet in the empire of man. marduk, an extremely humid and rainy planet over much of its surface, is home to a species of four-armed sentient amphibians referred to as mardukans (or unofficially, scummies), as well as a large number of generally hostile and lifeforms of a very active biota. roger and the bronze barbarians (his imperial marine bodyguards) must travel across marduk from their salt flat landing site the only spaceport where they plan to obtain a starship and return to civilization. because there are hostile forces in the system who seem to hav
Anabasis_(Xenophon) Literary_collaborations Military_science_fiction_novels Novels_by_David_Weber Novels_by_John_Ringo Science_fiction_book_series