History Literature / TheFourHorsemenUniverse

* AnAxeToGrind: In "Surf and Turf" Bjorn Tovesson attacks a "king crab" Xiq'tal with a battleaxe sized for his [=CASPer=].

Then Dr. P. Mauser, an engineer at Mitsubishi (which later became known as Binnig through a merger), developed [[MiniMecha the CASPer]], a weaponized steel shell that let humans take the galaxy by storm... or at least even the odds enough that battles with alien mercs weren't so one-sided anymore. The technology continued to improve, and a hundred years on, [=CASPers=] have become the WeaponOfChoice among human mercs, and the mercs themselves are highly sought-after for wars of all kinds.

* RidiculousFutureInflation: Prices in spaceport cities on Earth are insane compared to elsewhere, with a night in a seedy motel costing several months' rent on the rest of the planet. {{Justified}} because Union credits are incredibly ''overvalued'' compared to indigenous Earth currency.

** Nigel Asbaran versus the Besquith Blood Drinkers mercs in ''Asbaran Solutions''. {{Justified}}: [[spoiler: after they kill his father and brother and take his sister hostage, she strikes their base on the Besquith homeworld to gather intelligence, but also wipes out their home guard and nukes the place to get revenge. He then enlists the White Company to help him wipe out the rest of the Blood Drinkers on Moorhouse.]]

** Many members of the Golden Horde are orphans adopted by the company, who all take the surname "Enkh", Mongolian for "peace". This is {{discussed}} when Rick Walker, a newcomer to the Horde, is informed that Sansar Enkh's given name means "outer space".

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: TheVerse uses an invented isotope of fluorine, fluorine-11 or F11 for short, as an {{Unobtainium}} to enable fusion reactors (and also to enable NoBloodForPhlebotinum plots). The lightest known isotope of fluorine is fluorine-14, an atom with a half-life of 500 yoctoseconds[[note]][[http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2009/oct/16/enter-the-yoctosecond a trillionth of a trillionth of a second]], roughly the amount of time it takes light to travel the diameter of an atom's nucleus[[/note]]; its heavier isotopes are ''more'' stable rather than less with the most stable being fluorine-19. This is probably deliberate given [[MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness the scientific rigor used everywhere else in the series]].

** Nigel Asbaran versus the Besquith Blood Drinkers mercs in ''Asbaran Solutions''. {{Justified}}: [[spoiler: after they kill his father and brother and take his sister hostag, she strikes their base on the Besquith homeworld to gather intelligence, but also wipes out their home guard and nukes the place to get revenge. He then enlists the White Company to help him wipe out the rest of the Blood Drinkers on Moorhouse.]]

** Nigel Asbaran versus the Besquith Blood Drinkers mercs in ''Asbaran Solutions''. {{Justified}}: [[spoiler: after they kill his father and brother and take his sister hostag, ehe strikes their base on the Besquith homeworld to gather intelligence, but also wipes out their home guard and nukes the place to get revenge. He then enlists the White Company to help him wipe out the rest of the Blood Drinkers on Moorhouse.]]

* AltumVidetur: "Velut Luna" is Latin for "Like the Moon".

* FictionalCurrency: Union credits are traded mainly in hard currency, which consists of standard sizes of red diamonds embedded in stackable plastic discs embossed with a face value calculated to be slightly higher than the market value of the diamond itself. Million-credit coins are mentioned, and the credit itself is worth a ridiculous amount compared to indigenous Earth currencies.

* MiniMecha: "[=CASPer=]" is an acronym that stands for "Combat Assault System, Personal". About eight feet tall and manned by a single crew member who has to take a nanite treatment to help heal from falls, it can equip an assortment of weapons including antipersonnel lasers, chainguns, [[MagneticWeapons MAC guns]], and shoulder-mounted missile launchers. [=CASPers=] also have {{Jump Jet Pack}}s that let them leap tall buildings in a single bound or make paradrops without needing parachutes. The big joke of the 'verse being, [[PunyEarthlings by alien standards]] [=CASPers=] only turn humans into heavy shock troops: they're still far from invulnerable, with enemy tanks being a particularly dire threat.

* LoudOfWar: Jim Cartwright plays rock music on loudspeaker while piloting the raknar, including "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" by Music/DrowningPool and Music/RayManzarek's ''Carmina Burana''.

[[folder:Short Story Collections]]

''[[https://chriskennedypublishing.com/imprints-authors/mark-wandrey/the-four-horsemen-books/ The Four Horsemen Universe]]'' is a MilitaryScienceFiction SharedUniverse set in a world dominated by PrivateMilitaryContractors, led by American authors Creator/ChrisKennedy and Creator/MarkWandrey.

* MiniMecha: "[=CASPer=]" is an acronym that stands for "Combat Assault System, Personal". About eight feet tall and manned by a single crew member who has to take a nanite treatment to help heal from falls, it can equip an assortment of weapons including antipersonnel lasers, chainguns, [[MagneticWeapons MAC guns]], and shoulder-mounted missile launchers. [=CASPers=] also have {{Jump Jet Pack}}s that let them leap tall buildings in a single bound or make paradrops without needing parachutes.

* MiniMecha: "[=CASPer=]" is an acronym that stands for "Combat Assault System, Personal". Manned by a single crew member who has to take a nanite treatment to help heal from falls, it can equip an assortment of weapons including antipersonnel lasers, chainguns, [[MagneticWeapons MAC guns]], and shoulder-mounted missile launchers. [=CASPers=] also have {{Jump Jet Pack}}s that let them leap tall buildings in a single bound or make paradrops without needing parachutes.

* AnyoneCanDie: Primary protagonists are usually pretty safe, but don't get too attached to other named characters: some of them ''will'' be killed, often when you least expect it.

* ApeShallNeverKillApe: It's rare but not unheard-of for two human mercenary companies to be hired by opposing sides (one such incident happens in "Hero of Styx"). The Four Horsemen have a gentlemen's agreement not to take contracts where they'd possibly fight each other.

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:The ringleader of the plot to destroy the Four Horsemen is Peepo, a retired merc whom everyone knows as the owner of the merc hangout Peepo's Pit on Karma Station.]]

* GeekPhysiques: Jim Cartwright is a socially isolated computer nerd when he inherits control of Cartwright's Cavaliers. He's quite fat as a consequence of his sedentary lifestyle and inheriting a genetic predisposition to obesity from his mother's side of the family; his employees finally browbeat him into exercising regularly on grounds that high-''g'' acceleration in space could actually kill him if he doesn't do more aerobics.

** 37 species are known as primarily mercenary species, although it's a bit mixed (there are noncombatant members of all merc races, but the story is told from the perspective of humans who usually only interact with the mercs).

Following the conclusion of the Four Horsemen series, a new series picks up.
# ''Peacemaker'' (Creator/KevinIkenberry, 2017): The Peacemakers Guild are the closest thing the nebulous and weak Union has to SpacePolice, enforcing its laws and mediating disputes. Jessica Francis is trying to become the first human to join the Peacemakers, but before she'll be allowed to, she'll have to defuse a potential planetary civil war.
# ''Sinclair's Scorpions'' (Creator/PaulCorcoran, 2018, unreleased)

** "Stand on It" by Kevin Ikenberry