"When the Universe is at war, which side are you on?"
— First book tagline.
A book series written by Solea Razvan Mihai. It takes place in a universe in which magic instead of technology is what's used to colonize space, and we have an intergalactic war between three superpowers called the Empire, the Federation and the Republic as they fight for galactic dominance.
This series has examples of:
- Always a Bigger Fish: The series gradually escalates to space battles between hundreds of ships to battles between tens of thousands of ships and its still considered a minor conflict!
- Taken literally in the case of book 9, as Metternich finds himself traversing an underground lake with his ships on a Death World he encounters several Sea Monsters that gradually become bigger and bigger until a massive predator fish that's miles long comes to attack them.
- The Dreaded: The Empire has Admiral Gerula: "The Grey Death"; Field Marhasll Cornelia " The Witch"; Spymaster Zulanasai "Cainblessing" de Harkonian and finally Admiral Metternich who besides his original nickname of "The Fox of Marengo" and "Headmaster Metty" he's recently aquired the nickname "Malus" which means the evil one in one of his enemies' ancestral languages.
- The Volunians, allies of the Federation and masters of the That's No Moon space station Galiana, had Yemen, an Admiral who for decades had fought and defeated fleets from all three superpowers, that is until Metternich arrived.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Metternich keeps trying to avoid battle and by doing so he unintentionally ends up in the most dangerous part of the fighting, only to emerge victorious, thus he becomes an acclaimed hero and because of this he's assigned into more dangerous missions!
- Fish out of Water: Metternich didn't go to military school, was forced to join the navy and is repusled and disgusted by the military life, in spite of this or maybe because of it he's currently one of the most feared sailors the Empire has.
- Lovable Coward: Metternich in that he's a coward more in a sense of being a civilian that was drafted into the fleet against his will and is just trying to survive the madness of his current predicament, the only problem is that when he survives a battle, he looks like a great hero and so is forced into even nastier scraps.
- Magitek: Applied to a Galactic scale. We have three galactic superpowers powered by energy crystals, along with interstellar portals powered by the planets themselves armies made out of magic powered tanks and artillery fighting alongside Greek Phalanxes and Roman legion loke units. In space fighters and bombers fly alongside Pegasus riders and soldiers in powersuits with wings on their backs and technology like magic in our world have been mostly forgotten. So much so that when someone who knows technology, called a technosaucerer appears it make one of the Imperial Governor is afraid that it could turn local rebels into a full fledged revolt.
- Space Battle : An epic example, where it's fought between fleets that start in the hundreds and then number in the tens of thousands, complete with Pegasus lancers, Starfighters, long range bombers and even flying Power Armor.
- The Spymaster : High Princess Monas’ Zulanasai de Harkonian, nicknamed "Cainblessing" by her allies, and the "Fire Princess" by her enemies, the most feared being in the Empire, if not the Galaxy itself. Besides being a Lightning Bruiser, she's such a great Spymaster that she's able to take information than may seem trivial to anybody else, but she can use it to discover the enemies greatest secrets.
- Example: She used the information of what flowers one Admiral bought for his garden, along with what type of wine another one ordered at a restaurant and the fact that a third enemy Genera; bought a new camera to determine where the enemy fleet would attack, thus allowing the Empire to defeat them one at a time.
- The Starscream: Oscar Von Raquianus constantly plots against his commander Metternich, but more in the sense of an ambitious soldier that's trying to advance his career and will constantly try to outshine his superior and currently hes under one that can handle him. But he does not sabotage Metternich's plans and he also respects him and event admits that he has a lot to learn from his current commander, at least for now.
- Subverted in that after several fights in which he follows Metternich, he is so impressed with his battle plans and ability to quickly react to the ever-changing battlefield that he becomes loyal to him, but only so long as Metternich continues to bring victory.
- That's No Moon: The series has the Fortress World Galiana, that's an up to eleven Death Star with two beams of energy and a liquid outer hull and a remote controlled mist engulfing it to help confuse the enemy.
- Wretched Hive: Maramanakama was up until the start of the story a pretty decent place to live, until the conflict between the Empire and the resistance turned it into Hellhole, courtesy of a massive artificial forest fire, man made earthquake, an intentional volcanic eruption and destruction of it's sanitation system.
