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Death or Glory

145 statements
27 feature instances
8 referencing feature instances

Death or Glory	type	TVTItem
Death or Glory	label	Death or Glory
Death or Glory	page	DeathOrGlory
Death or Glory	comment	Death or Glory (Смерть или слава, Smyert' ili slava) is a science fiction series by the Russian sci-fi and fantasy author Vladimir Vasilyev. The series if composed of four novels, although not all of them are directly connected, merely taking place in the same 'verse at different time periods.In the first eponymous novel (1998), humanity finally manages to reach the stars, only to discover that the races of the great Alliance (the reptilian Svaigh, the avian Aczanny and Zoopht, the insectoid Swarm, and the crystalline Ayeshi) couldn't care less about some backward race of over-evolved apes. Despite this, humans manage to colonize several worlds, although the core worlds, including Earth, are overpopulated and polluted, while the more recently settled planets are full of adventurers and criminals, similar to The Wild West.The novel is set on one such border world called Volga. The planet's main industry is mining (mainly done by robots), and mine owners frequently have to defend their property from rivals and criminals themselves. Sure, the planet has authorities and the police, but a person's best defense is his or her own trusty blaster. Then the main character finds a strange box with a Big Red Button on it. After a few days, he decides to push it. Nothing seems to happen at first, but then a huge starship of unknown design appears over the planet. The ship attracts the attention of both the Alliance and its extragalactic enemies the Imperishables. The Alliance manages, with surprisingly difficulty, to capture Volga's population and use it to try to operate the ship, since its controls (in the form of pods with a contact interface) are geared towards humans. The humans manage to take control and escape in the ship, after destroying chunks of both armadas and vaporizing the planet. While in flight, conflicts arise between the miners and the the former planetary (corrupt) authorities for the control of the ship (which they name the Volga after their destroyed planet). After a brief period of fighting, the miners win and send a message to the Alliance. Once representatives arrive, the aliens are forced to admit that humanity has potential and offer humans full Alliance membership, provided the Volga helps them defeat the Imperishables.The Black Relay Race (Чёрная эстафета, Chyornaya estafeta; 1999) takes place a few decades later but features none of the characters from the first novel. It involves a job to deliver strange cargo to another planet in return for a huge payout. But misfortune appears to follow anyone associated with the mysterious cargo. And it remains unclear if anyone will be left to claim the prize.The third and fourth novels are part of a Story Arc called The War for Mobility (Война за мобильность, Voyna za mobil'nost') and take place about 200 years after the first novel. The Legacy of Giants (Наследие исполинов, Naslediye ispolinov; 2002) was inspired by David Brin's Startide Rising and features a similar premise. A human scout ship makes a chance discovery that results in it being the target by a powerful empire and sparks an interstellar war. The Shat-Tzoors, a race of former slaves of one of the Alliance races, who have been secretly building up an armada for many years, strikes out at their former oppressors and declares war on the Alliance. The scout ship's crew has to run and hide to keep their discovery from the enemy hands. They land on a nearly-uninhabited world with only a tourist base being the only human presence on the planet. The crew ends up joining a group of tourists and rangers on a jungle safari to try to survive as the massive Shat-Tzoor armada arrives to claim the knowledge.No One but Us (Никто кроме нас, Nikto krome nas; 2005) takes place a few years later. The war with the Shat-Tzoor Empire continues, and humanity is the only Alliance race capable of putting up any serious resistance, especially in ground engagements. The only hope for the Alliance lies in the ancient secret from the previous novel, which may allow entire fleets to be transported halfway across the galaxy in the blink of an eye. The side with this power would undoubtedly win the war.While no official English translations exist (there was an abortive attempt by a publisher years ago), there is a fan translation of the first novel available here.
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Death or Glory / int_18d15922	type	Title Drop
Death or Glory / int_18d15922	comment	Title Drop: The first novel's title refers to the words engraved on the protagonist's blaster, given to him by his late father, in both Russian and English. It also appears to be the character's motto. "No one but us" is the battle cry of the human Space Marines, which they shout before every deployment.
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Death or Glory / int_1fb440a6	type	Voluntary Shapeshifting
Death or Glory / int_1fb440a6	comment	Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Oaonsz are a race of shapeshifters and former slaves of the Aczanny. They are now a protectorate of their former masters. While they are able to assume almost any shape of same mass, they typically make themselves appear as members of whichever race they are dealing with at the moment. While they lack a proper military, they make natural spies and saboteurs. When the Shat-Tzoors attack the Alliance, the Oaonsz join them.
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Death or Glory / int_2164d2a1	type	Energy Beings
Death or Glory / int_2164d2a1	comment	Energy Beings: The Imperishables are sentient extragalactic beings who appear to be composed of layered force fields that size of a ship. The Alliance originally thought they were actual ships protected by powerful shields until they did some deep scans on the "ships" and discovered that there is nothing inside each layer but more layers. At the time of the first novel, they are slowly beating the Alliance.
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Death or Glory / int_2af7961	type	Faster-Than-Light Travel
Death or Glory / int_2af7961	comment	Faster-Than-Light Travel: The mechanics of FTL travel are not described, but it does involve something to do with the so-called "nonlinear fields", which can also be used as weapons. A unique feature of this form of FTL travel is that an arriving ship leaves a gravity shadow of sorts, allowing anyone in the vicinity to know who is arriving, when, and where. Surprisingly, almost no one uses this information to set up ambushes. The only exceptions from this rule are Swarm ships, who are somehow able to cross the Barrier without such a shadow.
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Death or Glory / int_3094ec26	type	Artifact of Death
Death or Glory / int_3094ec26	comment	Artifact of Death: The sarcophagus in The Black Relay Race. Anyone who spends time near it ends up dying in a seemingly unrelated manner. Wojciech dies of asphyxiation when his ship's airlock is damaged in an emergency jump. Magnus is accidentally vaporized when an Aczanny cruiser jumps in right on top of him in a miscalculated jump. Bjarni dies in a car accident. Skadi's mind is destroyed when the Aczanny probe her for information. Ungen dies of multiple organ failure after spending months drifting through space. Urima survives the drift but goes insane and commits suicide after being rescued. Ángel is shot by Yiri. Yiri is killed by human soldiers in the heat of the moment. Finally, Pavel is shot by one of the Oaonsz after finally delivering the sarcophagus to its destination in lieu of payment.
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Death or Glory / int_3b358c4d	type	Bird People
Death or Glory / int_3b358c4d	comment	Bird People: The Aczanny and the Zoopht are avian races, although they are very different. The Aczanny are small and capable of flight with a pyramidal social structure. The Zoopht are tall and flightless, whose wings have, over time, evolved into nimble hand-like appendages and are considered to be master engineers.
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Death or Glory / int_4276401c	type	Shoot the Messenger
Death or Glory / int_4276401c	comment	Shoot the Messenger: At the end of The Black Relay Race, Pavel is shot by one of the employers in lieu of payment. Notably, the other employer is incensed at this, having intended to honor the deal and pay the man.
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Death or Glory / int_4fafed32	type	Higher-Tech Species
Death or Glory / int_4fafed32	comment	Higher-Tech Species: The Swarm is the most advanced of all Alliance races by far. It's much faster FTL travel method also does not leave an advance "footprint", warning anyone in the target system of the impending arrival.
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Death or Glory / int_539a77a5	type	Silicon-Based Life
Death or Glory / int_539a77a5	comment	Silicon-Based Life: The Ayeshi are sentient crystalline lifeforms.
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Death or Glory / int_5541da8c	type	Lotus-Eater Machine
Death or Glory / int_5541da8c	comment	Lotus-Eater Machine: It's theorized by some that the Volga's pods act in this manner. While connected to the ship in the pod, a person experiences the greatest high imaginable. Some think that the ship is a parasite that slowly feeds on those who are connected to it.
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Death or Glory / int_57dda60c	type	The Emperor
Death or Glory / int_57dda60c	comment	The Emperor: Shat Unve is the autocratic leader of the Shat-Tzoor Empire (its full name is actually the Unve Shat-Tzoor Empire). His subordinates address him as "Shatta".
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Death or Glory / int_5a2a2a39	type	The Milky Way Is the Only Way
Death or Glory / int_5a2a2a39	comment	The Milky Way Is the Only Way: Averted. The Imperishables in the first novel are stated to have come from outside the galaxy. Also, the Precursor portal in the third novel turns out to lead to a distant galaxy.
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Death or Glory / int_5c1ec068	type	Big Red Button
Death or Glory / int_5c1ec068	comment	Big Red Button: The protagonist of the first novel finds a black box with a big red button in one of his mines. After leaving it alone on his table for a few days, he realizes that he simply can't not push it, musing that it would be really bad if the whole colony blew up because of this. The button summons a strange ship a few days later.
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Death or Glory / int_63f22889	type	Insectoid Aliens
Death or Glory / int_63f22889	comment	Insectoid Aliens: The Swarm are human-sized insects with a Hive Mind. Surprisingly, they are also the most advanced Alliance race, whose ships are capable of rapid FTL travel without leaving pre-arrival footprints.
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Death or Glory / int_79974fb8	type	Rock Beats Laser
Death or Glory / int_79974fb8	comment	Rock Beats Laser: Zig-zagged. When the Alliance races first attempt to capture the humans living on Volga, they send in one of their client races but restrict them to nonlethal weapons only. They allow them to use their patented walking tanks, which the other Alliance races consider to be mostly useless for any real combat but useful when scaring some primitive race. What they don't consider is that the humans on Volga have been living in a Wild West-like society for generations. As such, every adult man is always armed and will never back down from a fight. They also underestimate the destructive potential of human weapons, which is, while far below what the Alliance races have, is still way in advance of what a race at the same level of development typically has. The initial assault is a resounding failure. The second assault is basically a Curb-Stomp Battle with something like 99% of the planet's human population captured in a single night.
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Death or Glory / int_851dda8f	type	Humanoid Abomination
Death or Glory / int_851dda8f	comment	Humanoid Abomination: The Shat-Tzoors are vaguely humanoid (in that they have two arms and two legs and walk upright), but they are physically very different. Their unique feature is that their bodies have natural holes in them at various places. Occasionally, the air passing though the holes makes a whistling sound, which has inspired the nickname "singing skeletons" for the race. Physically, they appear to be more fragile than humans, as a human special forces soldier is able to break their bones with surprising ease.
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Death or Glory / int_8618825d	type	Portal Network
Death or Glory / int_8618825d	comment	Portal Network: In the fourth novel, the Alliance is seeking a cache of Precursors' devices capable of forming instantaneous portals through space, which would give them a decisive edge in their losing war against the Shat-Tzoor Empire. The Shat-Tzoors are also after the portals.
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Death or Glory / int_92286f7f	type	Precursors
Death or Glory / int_92286f7f	comment	Precursors: The search for their artifacts is the main Story Arc of the third and fourth novels.
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Death or Glory / int_a04eb363	type	Lizard Folk
Death or Glory / int_a04eb363	comment	Lizard Folk: The Svaigh are a race of amphibious lizards with a clan-bases structure.
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Death or Glory / int_bfb0f48a	type	Uncoffee
Death or Glory / int_bfb0f48a	comment	Uncoffee: While both coffee and tea still exist and are consumed regularly, a hot beverage called uklu has appeared to supplanted both in terms of popularity. Given the regularity, it likely contains stimulants similar to caffeine (maybe even caffeine itself).
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Death or Glory / int_bfc0a997	type	One-Federation Limit
Death or Glory / int_bfc0a997	comment	One-Federation Limit: The governments of the Alliance members appear to have different names: the Aczanny Pyramids, the Zoopht Triad, the Ayeshi Technocracy, and the Svaighe Gallery. There is also only one empire, that of the Shat-Tzoors (its full name is the Unve Shat-Tzoor Empire).
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Death or Glory / int_c8c968c3	type	The Alliance
Death or Glory / int_c8c968c3	comment	The Alliance: An ancient group of powerful races initially composed of five members, although some of them have protectorates and/or slaves. The Alliance races are the most powerful and the most advanced, and they have no desire to change the status quo. However, at the time of the first novel, they are losing their war with the Imperishables, ship-sized energy beings from outside the galaxy. At the end of the first novel, humanity is offered membership in the Alliance. Between then and The War for Mobility Story Arc, one of the races leaves under mysterious circumstances, once again, leaving only five members.
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Death or Glory / int_ccc0d531	type	Settling the Frontier
Death or Glory / int_ccc0d531	comment	Settling the Frontier: Life on the Volga colony is very much reminiscent of The Wild West, but with blasters.
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Death or Glory / int_d45ad2f5	type	Imported Alien Phlebotinum
Death or Glory / int_d45ad2f5	comment	Imported Alien Phlebotinum: It's stated at the beginning of The Legacy of Giants, that human technological development accelerated after joining the Alliance, although the older races still tend to keep all the good stuff for themselves, only doling out information in small bits and pieces. That is one of the reason for the existence of the scout ships who explore uncharted systems for any pieces of technology that may have been left behind by either the Precursors or one of the Alliance races. if they find a piece of an Alliance ship with an intact system, they generally hand it over to the ship's owners (since the systems are usually too advanced to reverse-engineer), typically receiving some more technical information in return.
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Death or Glory / int_ee6fc4e0	type	No Warping Zone
Death or Glory / int_ee6fc4e0	comment	No Warping Zone: Powerful nonlinear generators can be activated to prevent FTL travel into or out of an entire system. Of course, nothing stops the enemy from jumping to a spot just beyond the field and then traveling under sublight. Additionally, this pretty much freezes any civilian and merchant traffic, isolating the system. During the Shat-Tzoor attack on Earth, humans activate the field generators, only leaving a narrow band along the ecliptic open to funnel the enemy armada through on a predictable vector.
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Death or Glory / int_f4aeb714	type	Human Aliens
Death or Glory / int_f4aeb714	comment	Human Aliens: Averted in the first three novels but played straight in the fourth. Humans are stated to be the only evolved apes in the galaxy, which the Alliance races originally consider to be an evolutionary dead end, claiming that humans should have been evolving their brains, not their bodies. In the fourth novel, a primitive (roughly 20th century era) humanoid race is discovered in another galaxy.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Death or Glory	hasFeature	Archaeological Arms Race / int_3789b947
Death or Glory	hasFeature	Black Box / int_3789b947
Death or Glory	hasFeature	Casual Interstellar Travel / int_3789b947
Death Or Glory	seeAlso	Death or Glory
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Death or Glory	hasFeature	Earth That Used to Be Better / int_3789b947
Death or Glory	hasFeature	Eldritch Starship / int_3789b947
Death or Glory	hasFeature	Son of an Ape / int_3789b947

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