Introduction
Recommended Reading Order
Story Review

Time References and Conflict Warnings
Footnotes used to compile the timeline.

Creating the Timeline
The difficult road to ordering a chaotic Universe.

Testing the Timeline

Arguments
Why did I include / exclude stories?

Word Searches, Quotes, etc.
Leftovers from the word-searches I used to figure out what & where books belong in this collection.
The essential references from these searches have been moved to the previous pages by cutting & pasting.
These are the 'leftovers' and the remaining references in this page are redundant.
I included this page for completeness, and as an optional reference FYI.

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Source Credits and Acknowledgements:

This timeline is based on several sources, including but not limited to:

• About 1 year of dedicated reading and research in Andre Norton’s books;
• My thanks and appreciation to Jay Watts, webmaster of andre-norton.com for maintaining this website for all these years. Jay Watts has access to most of Andre Norton's estate documents and confirmed that the author did not leave any notes relating to a timeline of the Forerunners Universe.
• Maureen O’Brien’s 'Multi-verse' timeline ties many of Norton’s pre-1995 works into a single timeline. This listing is very different in purpose, content and presentation. I did adopt the ("story title") notation and some relevant quotes from those pages — courtesy of webmaster Jay Watts, — as no current contact information for Maureen O'Brien is available.

* * * * * * *

Request for Assistance:

Reading Andre Norton is a good pastime but it still takes time; even more so when trying to find specific information. Sometimes, just a few words in an off-hand comment can provide important clues. I'm sure I missed some.

If you can assist with refining this timeline, please do let me know. Mail geert @ avemariasongs . org [no spaces] with “Forerunners Universe” in the subject line if you don't want it to end up in my junk folder.

Geert Cuypers
SF&F-fan on isfdb.org

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INTRODUCTION

1. The Forerunners Universe

Andre Norton wrote 70 'Space Age' stories during 5+ decades. Forty-five of those have the "Forerunners" as a recurrent background theme.

In analogy to Norton’s ‘Witch World Universe,’ it seems logical to bring all these books together in a ‘Forerunners Universe’. (F-U) Yet, apparently this has not happened to date. Neither http://www.isfdb.org/ nor www.goodreads.com acknowledge the Forerunners Universe and their listings show many of the F-U stories as stand-alone novels. I see several reasons for that:

• The Forerunners theme is a very loose connection, the history line remains quite vague and the socio-political background is generally ill-defined. There is no over-arching story line that ties it all together in a larger mega-saga as in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Arc. In that regard, Norton's Forerunners Universe is more like Jack Vance's Gaean Reach or Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish cycles, which were also notoriously difficult to catalog until the authors stated that those stories belonged together. Unlike those cycles however, the F-U stories always have the same recurrent background themes present, although they may remain just that, a background.
• Andre Norton never made a statement about her F-U stories 'belonging together.'  She never published a timeline and the documents in her estate don't have any information on that either. Apparently, this was not an issue of great importance to her. She was a writer of shorter pulp-fiction-style stories, not sweeping sagas. She wrote fast-paced adventure stories, and gave them the same recurrent background elements, but she didn’t worry overly much about being 100% consistent between all those separate stories.
• While there are many common themes in the F-U stories, there are also quite a few inconsistencies and even some glaring conflicts between the various stories. Unlike other authors, Andre Norton never resorted to fix-up novels to tie her earlier stories together and 'fix' these problems. Understandably, the inconsistencies have led to disagreements about which books belong and which don’t. They also make it difficult to impose a clear chronology on these stories. (See Creating the Timeline for details)

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2. Recurrent themes and common elements in the Forerunners Universe

Humans are late comers to space ~ When they ventured beyond their own neighborhood, they met up with and were adopted in a vast multi-species galactic civilization called Central Control. Less than 3 centuries after First Contact, Terrans had already circumvented the limitations imposed upon them and secretly colonized 1000 planets. After that, they quickly spread ever-further to become one of the dominant races with hundreds of thousands (to millions?) colonies throughout the galaxy.

Forerunners ~ Are ancient space faring civilizations that went extinct long before Humans took to space. Some of those civilizations had a more advanced technology level than the current one. Their artifacts could be extremely valuable.

The Zacathans ~ Are long-lived reptilians, a race of scholars. They are a driving force behind the search for Forerunners.

The Guild of Thieves ~ Is a very powerful galaxy-wide criminal organization.

Jacks ~ Are localized groups of space pirates.

The Stellar Patrol ~ Is the galactic Military / Police Force. When the political system breaks down, some of them go rogue and become pirates themselves.

Spaceships remain the fastest connection between star systems.
Early colonization ships took centuries to get to their destination.
Even hyperspace travel between systems still takes weeks to months.
The lack of instantaneous space travel and communication limits trade and information exchange.

• Survey ships (First-in Scouts) are always looking for new planets to colonize and for signs of Forerunners.
• The major trade routes in the Inner Systems are monopolized by huge Trading Combines / Companies.
• Free Traders compete for their leftovers and operate mostly in the Outer Systems.
• Trade only goes where it pays. Many systems are effectively isolated with only the occasional Free Trader or Patrol ship as off-world contact, which makes them vulnerable to pirate raiding.
• Many planets have reverted back to feudal societies where access to interstellar trade and technology is limited to a small privileged group.
• Technology varies considerably between systems, planets and even between population groups on a single planet.
• What is common knowledge or practice in one system may well be unknown or forgotten in another.
• Alien races, systems and planets well-known in one sector could be unknown in others.
• The location of Terra became disputed, legendary in distant sectors.

The political organizations of the Forerunners Universe - Central Control, Council, (Con)Federation, League of Free Traders – are frequently mentioned, but remain ill-defined. The extent of their influence or inter-relation are not described in detail. The poor definition and inconsistency of these political references is (imo) a major source of confusion.

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3. The Stories of the Forerunners Universe

Starting with all 70 Space Age stories, we select what belongs and what not.

* The Forerunner Stories
These are all the stories with the recurrent F-U themes, regardless of possible inconsistencies: Forerunners, Zacathans, Council / (Con-)Federation; (Stellar) Patrol, Guild of Thieves, (League of) Free Traders...
If one story of a series qualifies, the entire series is included.
These 'core' titles are chronologically bracketed by the so-called 'Central Control' series: ("Star Guard") is the very first, ("Star Rangers") the very last.

Solar Queen Cycle / x4 by Andre Norton (3 w/co-authors)
    Sargosso in Space (1955)
    Plague Ship (1956)
    Voodoo Planet (1959)
    Postmarked the Stars (1969)

Beast Master / Hosteen Storm Cycle / x2 by Andre Norton (3 w/co-authors)
    Beast Master (1959)
    Lord of Thunder (1962)

Moonsinger / Krip Vorlund Cycle / x4
    Moon of Three Rings (1966)
    Exiles of the Stars (1971)
    Flight in Yiktor (1986)
    Dare to Go A-hunting (1990)

Perilous Dreams / single book x4 short stories
    Toys of Tamisan (1969) - ss
    Ship of Mist (1976)- ss
    Get Out of My Dream (1976) - ss
    Nightmare (1976) - ss

Warlock / Lantee Cycle / x3
    Warlock (1960)
    Ordeal in Otherwhere (1964)
    Forerunner Foray (1973)

Forerunner / Simsa Cycle / x2  
    Forerunner (1981)
    Forerunner: the Second Venture (1985)

Star Stones / Jern Murdoc Cycle / x2
    The Zero Stone (1968)
    Uncharted Stars (1969)

Janus / Naill Renfro Cycle / x2
    Judgement on Janus (1963)
    Victory on Janus (1964)

Dipple Books / x2
    Catseye (1961)
    Masks of the Outcasts (1964)

‘Stand-alone’ Novels
    Star Guard (1955)
    Star Rangers (1953)
    Secret of the Lost Race (1959)
    The Sioux Spaceman (1960)
    Star Hunter (1961)
    Eye of the Monster (1962)
    The X Factor (1965)
    Dark Piper (1968)
    Ice Crown (1970)
    Dread Companion (1970)
    Android at Arms (1971)
    Iron Cage (1974)
    Voorloper (1980)
    Brother to Shadows (1993)

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* F-U Pre-History:
= 1st space flight, atomic wars, post-nuclear barbarism, recovery.
These stories precede First Contact with Central Control, but are remembered in the F-U as historical events.

    The Stars are Ours (1954)
    Star Born (1957)
    Star Man’s Son 2250 A.D. (1952)
    No Night Without Stars (1975)
    Moon Called (1982)
    Wizard’s World (1967)
    Mousetrap (1954) - ss
    All Cats are Gray (1953) - ss

* Questionable
Space Age stories that are somewhat consistent with F-U

    Sea Siege (1957)
    Star Gate (1958)

    A Post-Human Earth Humans leave Earth to sentient animals.

    London Bridge (1973) - ss
    Breed to Come (1972)

* Exclusions
Space Age stories that are (imo) not consistent with the F-U.

    Time Traders / Ross Murdoch Cycle / x7 (1958-2002)
    Crosstime / Blake Walker Cycle / x2 (1965)
    Star Ka’at / x4 - short stories

(Did I miss anything? Please let me know!)

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4. Problems in the Forerunners Universe

* The Unpleasant Fate of Terra
Despite many recurrent F-Y themes in these stories, there are also some glaring inconsistencies. One of the more obvious is that Andre Norton manages to kill off Terra in quite a few different ways. That is a major problem when we try to bring it all together, but this conflict can be (mostly) resolved by ordering the respective stories as shown below.

Earth is the center of the Confederation, loses importance after War of 2 Sectors. ("Catseye")

Ch. 1 After War of 2 sectors, Confederation and Council = the 2 major powers that divide up planets.
Ch. 5 Terra was the center of the Confederation—or had been before the war. .../... The Council and the Octed of the Rim maneuvered for first power, while the old Confederation had fractured into at least three collections of smaller rulerships.

Reference Conflict:
Ch.1: Confederation is equal to Council,
Ch.2: Confederation has broken up, Octed of the Rim is major force...

The transition of the Confederation as 'a major power' after the war to a break-up into at least 3 confederacies is a transition that seems rather extreme for a time lapse of only 5 years.
It is also something that would probably not happen peacefully, yet there is no mention of continued war.

Earth is a radioactive dead cinder ("Beast Master")

Terra, mother planet of the Confederacy.
10-year war with Xixs, burn-off left Earth a radio-active cinder.
This can be consistent if it happens AFTER the Warlock / Korwar stories.

Earth is a legend: ("Dread Companion") a.o. ...

Location of Earth was in dispute.
This can be consistent with Empty Earth, ("Star Rangers") dead Earth ("Beast Master") or Post-Human Earth. ("Breed to Come")
It could also be a consequence of loss of information because of time and distance, without Earth being reduced to a dead planet.

Lost, Empty Earth ("Star Rangers")

Earth location unknown, rediscovered ca. 8060 A.D.
‘Empty Earth’, only a few primitive tribes remain.
3000 years may seem a bit short to get from a radio-active cinder to a garden planet, but hey, Norton had at least 2 world-wide atomic wars before that and Terra recovered quite quickly from those as well...

Post-human Earth, Sentient Animals ("Breed to come")

Scientists try to find as cure for a virulent plague. They fail, but the testing caused the animals to become sentient.
It's a bit of a stretch, but one could argue this scenario is compatible with all of the above, if in a far enough future.

Ordering the stories as shown above resolves the fate of Terra in an acceptable sequence.

* * * * * * *

* Other Inconsistencies

Did I mention INCONSISTENCIES? There are plenty, believe me!

The way we handle inconsistencies determines which stories belong and which don't. When we see inconsistencies, we can:

Ignore them, (Ouch, that hurts)
Explain them away; (Really, who’d’ve thunk? )
Use alternate timelines, (If it belongs somewhere else, what’s it still doing here?)
‘Fix’ them (Rewrite Norton? Not me!) or
Exclude them. (Burn that book!)

I did a little bit of all of the above. Motivated by lofty principles like ‘The Least Painful’ and ‘For The Greater Good,’

I have excluded the Time Traders (time travel,) Crosstime (time travel) and Star Ka’at (young readers, co-author) series from the timeline. I don't see how those stories could be reconciled with the Forerunners Universe.
I have NOT excluded Star Guard and Star Rangers, but I am also not ignoring the inconsistencies.
These 2 are the first Spage Age stories that Andre Norton wrote, precursors or 'forerunners' (pun intended,) to the Forerunner books. Despite some major story line flaws, these early stories already have most of the recurrent themes of the later F-U stories. I also think that in her later stories, Andre Norton stuck to the timeline she laid out in these 2 early stories (First contact ca. 3500 A.D. - Decline ca. 8000 A.D.)
Sea Siege could be included in the F-U prehistory with some rewriting to remove dated Cold War references.
Star Gate could be included as an abandoned colony story, even though it has none of the usual F-U themes.
I won't take it upon myself to rewrite Andre Norton to reconcile these inconsistencies. Instead, I have listed the problems for each of those stories in the various documentation pages. I invite you to review those arguments and decide for yourself what you want to include in your personal line-up, or not.

My approach:
We would do well to remind ourselves that Andre Norton was a storyteller, not a history chronicler. That — with all the inconsistencies that come with it — was the first step I needed to take on the road to creating some order in the chaos of this Universe.

Imagine Andre Norton for a moment as a collector of ancient stories in a far future rather than as the author of them. Then imagine yourself as a history student reviewing those fragmentary records from a distant past. As a history student, you would not expect 100% consistency in details between ancient stories because of the historic telephone game: details being changed in the retelling though generations. From that viewpoint, the few remaining inconsistencies between the various stories are not a (big) problem.

I did write short commentaries between stories in the Story Review section to tie them together in a greater context, like a history student might do. Most of these are direct references from Norton’s books; some are conjecture based on the changing social / political background.

[Return to Contents]   

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Recommended Reading Order ~ a quick overview

This is in part a thematic reading order. It closely follows the main divisions of the timeline, but within those divisions titles are ordered by common themes rather than absolute chronology. The Story Review page follows the same order.

All books and series in this collection are marked as ‘read together’ or ‘stand-alone read’.

Some titles are very obviously continuing stories with a common protagonist. Some are tales more loosely connected by a common location, theme or time period. Such series should (imo) be read together for a more enjoyable reading experience. I made the deliberate choice to keep series together, even when other books fit in between chronologically.
Other titles have such different locations, societies or subjects that they seem like completely unrelated, other than being in the F-U. These can very well be read as stand-alone novels.

Reading the stories in the order as listed here will place them within the social and historical frameworks of the Forerunners Universe and may give the reader better understanding of the changing context that Norton had in mind when she wrote these books.

I. 2000- 3500 A.D. ~ Star Flight; Atomic Wars; Barbarism (6 titles)

series: Pax/Astra x2

The Stars are Ours (1954)
Star Born (1957)

series: Post-nuclear Barbarism x4

Sea Siege (1957) [would need fix-up]
Daybreak 2250 A.D. (1952)
No Night Without Stars (1975)
Moon Called (1982)

II. 2900-4000 A.D. ~ Sol System and Beyond (6 titles)

series: Sol system and Beyond x3

    Wizard’s World (1967) - ss
    Mousetrap (1954) - ss
    All Cats Are Grey (1953) - ss

series: Alien Encounters x3

Star Guard (1955)
Secret of the Lost Race (1959) aka Wolfshead
The Sioux Spaceman (1960)

III. 4000 - 4500 A.D. ~ A Time of War (20 titles)

series: The Dipple Books x2

Catseye (1961)
Night of Masks (1964)

series The Janus Books x2

Judgment on Janus (1963)
Victory on Janus (1966)

series: Star Stones x2

The Zero Stone (1968)
Uncharted Stars (1969)

series: Warlock Magic / Lantee Cycle x3

Storm over Warlock (1960)
Ordeal in Otherwhere (1964)
Forerunner Foray (1973)

Also during this era: x1

Brother to Shadows (1993)

series: Lost Worlds x5

Star Gate (1959) = a lost colony tale
Iron Cage (1974)
Eye of the Monster (1962)
Dark Piper (1968)
Dread Companion (1970)

series: Beast Master x5

The Beast Master (1959)
Lord of Thunder (1962)
Beast Master’s Ark (2002) with Lyn McConchie
Beast Master’s Circus (2004) with Lyn McConchie
Beast Master’s Quest (2006) with Lyn McConchie

IV. 4500 - 7500 A.D. ~ A Time of Peace (22 titles)

series: Solar Queen x7

Sargasso of Space (1955)
Plague Ship (1956)
Voodoo Planet (1959)
Postmarked the Stars (1969)
Redline the Stars (1993) with P. M. Griffin
Derelict for Trade (1997) with Sherwood Smith
A Mind for Trade (1997) with Sherwood Smith

series: Forerunner Planets x3

Voorloper (1980)
Star Hunter (1961)
The X Factor (1965)

series: Forerunner Simsa x2

Forerunner (1981)
Forerunner: The Second Venture (1985)

series: Criminal Minds x6

Ice Crown (1970)
Android at Arms (1971)
Toys of Tamisan (1969)
Ship of Mist (1976) - nv
Get Out of my Dream (1976) - ss
Nightmare (1976) – ss

series: Moon Singer x4

Moon of Three Rings (1966)
Exiles of the Stars (1971)
Flight in Yiktor (1986)
Dare to Go A-hunting (1990)

V. 7800-8300 A.D. ~ Death of an Empire (1 title)

Star Rangers (1953)

VI. 8500-???? A.D. ~ A Post-Human Earth (2 titles)

series: Post-human Earth x2

London Bridge (1973) - ss
Breed to Come (1972)

For more details and comments, see the Story Review section below.

[Return to Contents]   

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Story Review

Before this story begins:
Few historic records survived when the Great Galactic Library was destroyed some 10,000 years ago. During an archaeology dig on the former Library Planet almost 200 years ago, a deep underground vault was discovered that among other things held a damaged recording unit.

Several decades ago, we were finally able to obtain access to this collection.
It has taken our team this long to decipher and translate the stories that those records contained. It is with great pride that we present here to you, for the first time together in a single volume, this collection of stories of long-lost ancient Terra and the legendary First Galactic Empire.

These stories provide only glimpses of insight, brief moments spread out over a historic era that spans more than 6,000 years, with great gaps in between. Wherever possible and for added clarity, we have filled in some of those gaps with brief updates on important political or sociological references from these stories, or from other independent sources.

We hope you enjoy the result of our efforts.

Editor's Note:
Stories that are passed on over millennia change in the retelling. As may be expected, there are inconsistencies between these stories. Footnotes about time references and inconsistencies can be found here.

I. 2000- 3500 A.D. ~ Star Flight; Atomic Wars; Barbarism (6 titles)

Before this story begins:
Earth had built 3 space stations. Mercenaries occupied one of them and used its equipment to set off world-wide destruction = The "Big Blow-up, aka the Great Burn-Off" ca 2030 A.D. Scientists were blamed for the disaster and persecuted. Soon thereafter Saxon Bort organized the PAX world dictatorship.

* series: Pax / Astra
2 titles.  Continuing story, definitely read together in this order.

The Stars are Ours
The persecuted Free Scientists secretly build a starship and take off just as Pax forces break into their hide-out. They reach Astra.

Star Born
The dictatorship of the Company of Pax has fallen, and the story of the Free Men’s starship is found among their records. Many starships are sent but none return. RS-10 leaves Earth and is the first ship to reach Astra. They help the Seafolk and Terran colonists to defeat the evil 'Others.' Then they begin their return to Terra.

Editor's Note:
Many starships were sent out, none returned, including the RS-10. Earth lost hope of ever reaching the stars. The political union that had made this effort possible dissolved into nations. The wars that followed destroyed the remaining urban centers and left few survivors. (1st Atomic Wars)
Earth fell back into Barbarism, and star flight was forgotten by all but a few.

From: Star Born
There are and will be other lost colonies among the stars. We could not have been the only outlaws who broke forth during the rule of Pax, and before the blight of that dictatorship, there were at least two expeditions that went forth on Galactic explorations.

* series: Post-nuclear Barbarism
Ca. AD 2050-3500 (overlapping timelines)
4 titles, unconnected stories, read in this order.
Common elements: post-apocalypse society, mutant people and animals in symbiotic relation, shamanism and sorcery.

Sea Siege
Scientists on a remote island know something bad has happened on the mainland, but don't know what.
Then the creatures of the sea attack...

Daybreak 2250 AD ~ aka Star Man’s Son
Fors and his feline companion journey into the Great Blow-up lands to find the ancient knowledge of the Old Ones that had taken men to the stars.

No Night Without Stars
Three centuries after the cataclysm that caused the Dark Time, young Sander searches for the legendary skills of the metalworkers of the Before Time. He encounters Shaman Fanyi, and together they face incredible danger and evil in an ancient stronghold.

Moon Called
10 generations after the Before Time ends, Thora the Chosen and Kort the dog save Malkin from certain death and take her back home to the Valley of the Windriders.

II. 2900-4000 A.D. ~ Sol System and Beyond (6 titles)

Before this story begins:
New urban centers arose, but many areas remained severely damaged. Eventually, Terra recovered the lost technologies and started explored its own solar system (again). Psi- talents appeared after the first atomic wars. Espers were increasingly oppressed.

* series: Sol system x3
3 short stories linked by Mars colonization. Stand-alone reads, random order.

Wizards’ World
Esper Craike was smuggled out of an eastern E-camp and is sent to explore the area that used to be Reno. But he was tricked into revealing himself and is being tracked by an Esper hound.

Mousetrap
Sam Levatts finds a ‘sand monster’ and goes looking for the Martian race that created it.

All Cats Are Gray
Steena & friends board a derelict interplanetary pleasure liner, and kill the invisible alien that had killed the passengers and many would-be salvagers. Steena and Cliff get rich and married.

* series: Alien Encounters

Before this story begins:
Shortly after First Contact came a period of rapid expansion.
In less than 1000 years, there were Terran colonies in every sector of the galaxy.

From: Star Guard
Ca. 3650 A.D. - 1000 years after the First Atomic Wars, a reliable stardrive was developed. The 1st Human spaceship ended up in Central Control territory.
Earth was adopted as a limited member into the C.C. confederation. Humans were only allowed to go to space as mercenaries, with aptitude tests determining what jobs they could get. Being who they are, Humans quickly organized covert opposition to Central Control limitations.

Star Guard
3956 A.D. The Yorke Horde has been hired as mercenaries to in a war of succession. Kana discovers that Central Control has sent Mech Combatants to get rid of the Horde, in a systematic attempt to exterminate Human soldiers. Kana escapes and is rescued by and reports to the Hidden Prime, a resistance organization which works to get Terrans to the stars.

From: Star Guard
By this time, 1000+ planets had secret Terran colonies. Twenty X-Tee worlds were also colonizing in secret.

Before this story begins:
The duplicity of Central Control towards Humans led to open resistance against the Central Control limitations. Terra implemented a rapid colonization program by forced migration. Terra became the center of a fast-growing Confederation with a sphere of influence to rival Central Control (= Council)
The Terrans met up with many alien races (X-tees) during their explorations. Not all such meetings were friendly.

Secret of the Lost Race
stand-alone read
A young dealer in an illegal gambling den, is picked up in a raid and shipped off-world to Fenris for indentured labor. After the driver of his prison transport dies in an avalanche, he becomes a hunted man.

The Sioux Spaceman
stand-alone read

Before this story begins:
The League of Free Traders was founded to protect Free Traders’ interests from the larger Trading Companies and piracy. This “League of Worlds’ was a major economic and political power, but not much of a military one.

Kade Whitehawk, a Lakota of the Northwest Terran Confederation, is re-assigned to Klor where the Styor brutally suppress the native Ikkinni. Kade imports Terran horses with the intent to teach the Ikkinni to ride and use them in guerrilla warfare against their hated Styor masters. When his operation is ended prematurely, Kade is informed of ‘the Plan’ for human resistance and told to keep up the good work.

Editor's Note:
The Styor Empire eventually collapsed and was absorbed by the quickly-growing Terran Confederation.

III. 4000 - 4500 A.D. ~ A Time of War (20 titles)

Before this story begins:
The inevitable revelation of Terran resistance turned into rampant hostility and civil war.
THE WAR OF TWO SECTORS was a devastating civil war that tore up entire sectors of the galaxy.
The Dipple refugee camp on Korwar was created at the beginning of the war, but persisted long after.
Terra's influence was greatly reduced after the War of the Two Sectors. Contact with distant colonies was lost. Many did not survive. Others wouldn't be rediscovered until many centuries later.

Editor's note:
The 10 Warlock / Korwar stories that follow are all inter- referenced within about 40-50 years bracketing the 5-year 'War of the Two Sectors'.
These stories are not about that war. The 2 Shann Lantee stories on Warlock happen before the war. The other 8 happen shortly after, in part concurrently with overlapping time lines. ("Brother to Shadows") is the final story of this group.
For a more pleasant reading experience, these stories are listed by their series, not chronology.

* series: The Dipple Books
2 titles, linked by the Dipple refugee camp
stand-alone reads with common location, read in this chronological order.

Catseye
Troy Horan finds a job with an exotic pet store. The Terran animals are psi-gifted. He ends up allying himself with the animals and fleeing with them into Korwar’s wilderness, ends up in a ruined Forerunner city.

Editor's note:
Four stories mention the Dipple on Korwar as a recent event within 10-20 years:
Catseye, Night of Masks, Judgment on Janus, Forerunner Foray.
This story mentions the time viewer of the Fauklow expedition, which will return in Brother to Shadows.

Night of Masks
Nik Kolherne has a scarred face after a house fire in the Dipple. When the Thieves’ Guild offers him a new face in exchange for his service, he helps the Guild kidnap someone.

* series: The Janus Books
2 titles, continuing story of Naill Renfro, definitely read together in this order.

Judgment on Janus
Naill Renfro contracts as indentured laborer to get medicine for his dying mother. He finds an alien artifact on Janus that changes him into an Iftin warrior. He is hunted as a demon by the colonists, but he escapes into the forest and encounters other new Ift. They learn of the evil of “That Which Abides” and fight it to a standstill.

Victory on Janus
Naill and the other new Ift learn that “That Which Abides” was a malfunctioning computer from an alien colonization ship. They disable the computer and free its prisoners.

* series: The Star Stones / Jern Murdoc Cycle
2 titles, continuing story of Jern Murdoc, definitely read together in this order.

The Zero Stone
Uncharted Stars
When Murdoc Jern’s father was murdered by outlaw competitors, he left behind an odd ring. With his companion Eet, a feline mutant with phenomenal mental powers, he eventually discovered that the stone in the ring was actually a Zero Stone—a Forerunner device—and it was the key to powers beyond human imagination. Murdoc and Eet had to solve the secret of the Zero Stone, and very quickly, because very greedy and dangerous people wanted that ring, and wouldn’t hesitate at more murder to obtain it.

* series: Warlock / Lantee Cycle
3 titles, read together in this order for common context.
1+2 are linked stories on planet Warlock with Shann Lantee as the protagonist. These 2 stories take place before the war, some 20-40 years before ("Forerunner Foray")
("Forerunner Foray") takes place on Korwar, a generation later, = 10-20 years after the big war. Ris Lantee = son of Shann Lantee.
WARNING: These 3 stories are not connected to the Forerunner Simsa cycle.

Before this story begins:
During the early period of rapid expansion, the Terran Confederation encountered many alien races. Not all of those contacts were friendly. Some even led to open war. 100+ years before (“Storm Over Warlock”), Terrans first encountered the Throgs, an insect-like race in competition for the same colonization-suitable planets. After efforts at communication failed, the Terrans and Throgs began a war to claim the desired planets.

Storm Over Warlock
Throgs attack and wipe out a Survey planet exploration camp on planet Warlock.
Shann Lantee, sole survivor, and his wolverine pair Taggi and Togi join up with local Wyverns to defeat the Throgs.

Ordeal in Otherwhere
Charis Nordholm is brought to Warlock by a Free Trader, and is taken by the Wyverns. The Free Trader post is destroyed by Company traders on a grab-raid. Charis finds herself allied with Shann Lantee, Taggi, Togi, and the curl-cat Tsstu to help defeat the Jacks.

Forerunner Foray
A generation later
Ziantha of the Thieves' Guild on planet Korwar steals a strange stone which takes her into several ancient Forerunner societies of that world...

Also during this era:

Brother to Shadows
stand-alone read, after ("Forerunner Foray").
Jofre is an off-worlder who was adopted into and trained by an assassin clan since childhood. When his master dies, he is expelled and oaths to Zurzal, a young Zacathan searching for archaeological treasure to prove the worth of his time viewer.

* series: Lost Worlds
5 titles, stand-alone reads, random order.

Before this story begins:
These are stories from worlds that were abandoned in a time of war. We do not always know what wars these were, or when they happened. Yet, one thing remains the same throughout: in times of war, people suffer.

Star Gate
A lost colony story, stand-alone read.
The Star Lords had come from a dying Earth and settled on Earth-like Gorth where they found a primitive society and helped the inhabitants to rise to civilization. But now the native folk of Gorth have grown  resentful and jealous of the Star Lords, who have refused to share their secrets of (apparent) immortality and their powerful weapons-technology which led to the loss of Earth.

Editor's Note:
Many colonies did not survive or were lost in later wars. New or experimental technologies were sometimes abandoned as too dangerous, or were lost together with the colonies and never rediscovered.

Iron Cage
A lost colony story, stand-alone read.
Rutee and her son Jony have been kidnapped from Ishtar by Zalan (the Big Ones,) aliens who use her in a breeding experiment. They escape on an unnamed planet where they are aided by bear-like 'People.'
After their mother's death, Jony and the twins Maba and Geogee grow up among the People. During his explorations, Jony discovers a warehouse full of weapons from an early human colony.
When a scout ship arrives — fugitives from a distant war — they capture the twins, and find the warehouse. To protect the planet, Jony destroys the weapons and the ship.

Eye of the Monster
An abandoned colony story, stand-alone read.
When the Patrol begins to withdraw from Ishkur, the native Ishkurians slaughter most off-worlders. By luck, Rees survives and rescues a Terran and a Salarika child. Together with a Salarika adult they journey together to a mining camp with heavy defenses; there they signal the few remaining Patrol members and fight off the Ishkurians until a robo flyer arrives to take them off-planet.

Dark Piper
An abandoned colony story, stand-alone read.
The planet Beltane had been unscathed by the Four Sectors War. But then Vere and his friends are trapped underground when raiders bomb the surface. When they emerge, they are the last human survivors on Beltane...

Dread Companion
An abandoned colony story, stand-alone read.
First-in Survey Scout Jorth Kosgro discovers the planet Dylan in 2301 A.F.; he wanders into the Folk’s world and is lost.  Some 100 years later, Kilda becomes a teacher and governess to two young children on Dylan. One of the children has an invisible ‘dread companion’ that leads them into a Faerie world. When they escape, almost 80 years have passed on Dylan and they return to a world devastated by war.

* series: Beast Master / Hosteen Storm Cycle
5 titles, read together in this order.

Before this story begins:
Earth was burnt off and left a radioactive cinder at the end of the Xicks War. Beast Master Hosteen Storm relocates to Arzor. These are his adventures on that planet.

The Beast Master
When he investigates a livestock theft, Storm discovers that the Xicks have a ship and camp on Arzor. During his escape from a hugely destructive Xicks attack, he discovers the Forerunner Gardens.

Lord of Thunder
Beast Master’s Ark
Beast Master’s Circus
Beast Master’s Quest

Editor's Note:
The abandoned Earth disappeared in obscurity and became legend.

IV. 4500 - 7500 A.D. ~ A Time of Peace (22 titles)

Before this story begins:
The League of Free Traders had been founded ca. 4000 A.D. to protect Free Traders’ interests from the interstellar Trading Companies and piracy. The Stellar Patrol developed into a galaxy-wide police and military force to maintain Peace, Law and Order.
Without their planet of origin to rally to, Terran colonies were assimilated by their respective sectors. Trade and the Patrol consolidated and unified the colonies, leading to the 1st galactic empire and the Pax Galactica.

* series: The Solar Queen Cycle
Ca. 4500-4800 A.D. - 7 books Continuing story, definitely read together in this order.

Sargasso of Space
This is Norton’s first book that mentions Forerunners by this name.
Dane Thorson is assigned to the “Solar Queen”, a Free Trader ship. The Queen’s crew participates in a Survey auction and buys the right to exploit the planet Limbo. Accompanied by a team of archaeologists, they find Forerunner ruins.

Plague Ship
Voodoo Planet
Postmarked the Stars
Redline the Stars
Derelict for Trade
A Mind for Trade

EVENT: ca. 5000. A.D.
Foundation of the 1st Galactic Emopire.
The Galactic Empire has managed to keep the peace for nearly 3000 years… (“Star Rangers”)

* series: Forerunner Planets
3 (+2) titles, stand-alone reads, random reading order.

Before this story begins:
Council, Federation, Patrol and League: all were sending out First-in Scouts to find new worlds fit for human occupation. Their job is lonely, risky, and they don’t always get it right when they declare a planet safe.

Editor's Note:
These following 5 stories cannot be dated with any measure of  confidence.

Voorloper
Stand-alone read.
Bart s’Lorn, a “Voorloper” (wandering trader), and Illo, a Healer, both survived major attacks of the Shadow Death as children. When they meet, they end up searching out the cause of the Shadow Death and defeating the Shadows.

Star Hunter
Stand-alone read.
Ras Hume counterfeits a claimant to the Kogan fortune, and conditions Vye Lansor to be the claimant Rynch Brodie. Vye is dropped as a 'survivor' and helps Hume to escape from a Forerunner trap ...

The X Factor
Stand-alone read.
A misfit son of a First-in Scout steals a spaceship and travels to planet Mimir, where he gets mixed up with a Zacathan alien, a guild of criminals, Jacks and Forerunner ruins.

* series: Forerunner Simsa Cycle
2 titles, the continuing story of Simsa, a real-life Forerunner; could be included in the 'Forerunner Planets' series.

Forerunner
On ancient Kuxortal, Simsa grew up among garbage pickers who live upon the ancient Forerunners ruins. But then star ranger Thorn leads her to an ancient Forerunner city where She discovery her origins as a true descendant of one of the Forerunner races.

Forerunner: The Second Venture
Simsa escapes from a space ship and crash lands on another world touched by her Forerunner civilization.

* series: Criminal Minds
6 titles (2 novels + 4 ss) Stand-alone reads, random reading order.
Common theme: Criminal use of Mind Power

Editor's Note:
("Ice Crown") can be dated to ca. 5200-5300 A.D. because of references to the Psychocrats overturn of ca. 4900 A.D.
("Android at Arms")  can be dated to ca. 3700-3775 A.D.
The Dreamer stories cannot be dated with any measure of confidence.

Ice Crown
ca. 5200-5300 A.D.
Offlas Keil and his niece Roane seek Forerunner artifacts on planet Clio, but find something very different...

Android at Arms
ca. 3700-3775 A.D.
Andas Kastor, Imperial Prince of the Dinganian Empire, wakes up in a world he does not remember, imprisoned by Mengians, who are the Heirs to the Psychocrats. He ends up in a parallel world...

Perilous Dreams
Contains 4 short stories about the ‘Dreamers’ on planet Ty-Kry.
Read together for context. 1+2 about Tamisan, the other 2 are separate stories.

Toys of Tamisan

Ship of Mist
A Dreamer and her clients end up in parallel worlds.

Get Out of My Dream
A Dreamer goes back in time to destroy an ancient threat to their planet.

Nightmare
Someone is killing Dreamers...

* series: Moonsinger Cycle
aka Free Traders cycle - aka Krip Vorlund cycle
4 titles, the continuing story of Krip Vorlund, definitely read together in this order.
Ca. 6000-6500 A.D.

Moon of Three Rings
The life of a Free Trader was all Krip Vorlund knew. That life ended after he was abducted on Yiktor.

Exiles of the Stars
The galactic trade ship Lydis lands in a battle of ancient powers and nameless evil, with a Forerunner treasure at its heart. The crew seems normal, but Krip Vorlund is a man who walks in a body not his own, and his pet hides the mind of Maelen the Moon Singer.

Flight in Yiktor

Dare to Go A-Hunting
Farree is a hunchback orphan in the slum of a tough, lawless world on the edge of the known galaxy. His only friend is a war-beast rescued from starvation and the fighting pits with whom he has a telepathic connection. Farree discovers his true heritage as one of the ancient Little People, the Faery Folk, of legend—but so far as he knows, he is the only one of his kind to survive. Then Krip Vorlund and Maelen, the Moonsinger, find a clue on a distant world which points to the location of Farree’s birthplace.

V. 7500-8500 A.D. ~ Death of an Empire (1 title)

From (“Star Rangers”)  Chapter 1:
The First Galactic Empire was breaking up. Dictators, Emperors, Consolidators wrested the rulership of their own or kindred solar systems from Central Control. Space pirates raised flags and recruited fleets to gorge on spoil plundered from this wreckage. It was a time in which only the ruthless could flourish...

Star Rangers aka The Last Planet – 8054-???? A.D.
Stand-alone read.
Jorcam Dester, the last Control Agent of Deneb, ordered the few available Patrol Ships away, allegedly to locate and re-map forgotten galactic border systems no-one had visited in at least four generations.  Starfire leaves on her last trip and crashes on Earth where they only find abandoned cities and a few primitive nomadic tribes.

VI. 8500-??? A.D. ~ A Post-Human Planet (2 titles)

* series: Post-Human Earth
2 titles, read in this order.
common themes: plague planet, evacuation by humans, sentient animals.

Editors Note:
We do not know for certain if these 2 stories are historic references, of just fantastic stories. These stories are consistent with the legendary status of Terra after ca. 5000 A.D. and sentient animals were known long before then, but these may well be merely legends explaining why the location of Terra disappeared from Human knowledge.

London Bridge
6 years after the last plague attack:
Prequel to ‘Breed to Come’.
The children who survived the plagues try to survive in the ruined cities.
When the Rhyming Man shows up, children begin to disappear. Lew follows the Rhyming and manages to get Outside, where he and the other children begin a new life.

Breed to Come
Plague had decimated humans, and the survivors fled the planet. A new breed of intelligence arose: the catlike People. When humans returned centuries later, the People are in no mood to deal once again with the “demons” who abandoned them so long ago.

THE END
Of Andre Norton’s Future History

 

[Return to Contents]   

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Time References and Conflict Warnings

The Stars Are Ours!
Exact dating is not possible. The Great Blow-up ca. 2020 is derived from quote from 2250 A.D. :"...For more than two hundred years—ever since the black days of chaos following the Great Blow-up..."
The space ship leaves ca. 10 years later.
Transit time: “At least three hundred years—maybe more." = Astra colony founded ca. 2350 A.D. or later.

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Sea Siege
CONFLICT WARNING:
This is a post-WWII story with Russia as the big bad wolf. A revision to remove Cold War era references could make this a story of the first days immediately after the Big Blow-up or start of the Atomic Wars.

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Daybreak 2250 A.D.
He knew that [the wall] had stood so for perhaps three hundred years.

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No Night Without Stars
Rememberers had counted some three hundred years from the end of one world and the beginning of this one.

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Secret of the Lost Race
CONFLICT WARNING:
From: ("The Secret of the Lost Race")
The Galactic Council was solidly behind this emigration policy which worked two ways. First it got rid of the drifters and those outside the law on the civilized worlds, and second, it helped to open new planets. Thus both problems were settled to the satisfaction of all but the victims, who had no political power anyway.

Galactic Council???

Conflict with ("Star Guard"): Colonies were secret. The C.C. Council was very much opposed to Human colonization.
If this is a Terran Confederation Council AFTER separation from C.C. = more than 300 years ASF.
This 'Galactic Council' is not a conflict if it refers to a Council of the Terran Confederation.

From: ("The Secret of the Lost Race")
“Terrans had been exploring the galaxy now for little less than three centuries."
= massive program of forced cold-sleep migration; ca. 4000 A.D. shortly after C.C. break-up.

“These aliens …/… were comrades-in-arms and good friends to other races who preceded us into space, those who built the ruins we now find on dead worlds, for we are new to come into an old, old region.”
This is an early reference to Forerunners, before that name became generally known. This story also shows that Terrans weren't always peaceful towards alien races.

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Catseye
From (“Catseye”) Chapter 1  
The War of the Two Sectors  .../... a fringe of frontier worlds had passed into the grasp of one or the other of the major powers—the Confederation or the Council. As a result, the citizens of several small nations suddenly found themselves homeless.  .../...  At the outbreak of the war ten years earlier, there had been forced evacuations from such frontier worlds .../... In this fashion, the Dipple had been set up on Korwar, far back from the fighting line.
Also from (“Catseye”) Chapter 5
Terra was the center of the Confederation—or had been before the war. But she had not come out well at the end of that conflict; too many of her allies had gone down to defeat. From the dominant voice she had sunk to a second-rate, even third-rate, power at the conference tables. The Council and the Octed of the Rim maneuvered for first power, while the old Confederation had fractured into at least three collections of smaller rulerships.

CONFLICT WARNINGS:
These 2 references contradict each other as to the political power of the Confederation, unless the situation changed very quickly in the 5 years after the war.

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The Zero Stone
CONFLICT WARNING:
A. early history story ca. 4000-4300 A.D.

From The Zero Stone:
#1. "I have seen several such [captain's rings], centuries old, which must have been worn by the first space venturers."   
#2. "From their beginnings as men who were willing to take risks outside the regular lines, which were the monopolies of the big combines, the Free Traders, loners and explorers by temperament, had become, through several centuries of space travel, more and more a race apart. .../... They had space-hung ports now, asteroids they had converted, on which they established quasi family life."
Time references #1+2 place this story ca. 300-500 ASF = 4000-4300 A.D.; only few centuries into the human space- faring era.

B. BEFORE Moonsinger cycle.

#3. A face hung over me ...  furred, with pricked, tasseled ears, green-gold eyes. It opened a black-lipped mouth and I looked into a wedge-shaped space set with fangs, and a curling, rough-surfaced tongue.  
#4. The Zacathans, I believe, have archaeological records of at least three star empires, or alliances, all vanished before  they pioneered space.
Time reference #3 places this as an early story, when cats were still common on free trader ships. By the time of ("Moonsinger"), cats were almost extinct.
("Exiles to the Stars") reports that Zacathans have identified at least 10 different races of Forerunners instead of the 3 mentioned here, confirming that this story happens (considerably?) earlier than the Moonsinger stories.

“Thax Thorman had trading rights on Rohan back in 3949.  .../...
Nowadays, since the Free Men have had their ownconfederation, combines can’t pull such tricks. "
This suggest that the League of Free Traders was founded sometime about 4000 A.D.

C. BUT AFTER the 1st Warlock story.
"...the strange Wyverns, ..."
Forerunner Foray: ...The Forerunner City-planet was discovered 2 years ago These references places these 2 stories AFTER ("Storm over Warlock') and only 2 years prior to ("Forerunner Foray")

D. POLITICAL REFERENCE
“In the name of the Council, the Four Confederacies, the Twelve Systems, the Inner and Outer Planets,”
This suggests a divided political system with many opposing factions; 4 confederacies instead of 3 smaller rulerships mentioned in Catseye. I find it very confusing.

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Uncharted Stars

From Uncharted Stars:
“You have certainly heard of the Caverns of Arzor and of that Sargasso planet of Limbo where a device intended for war and left running continued to pull ships to crash on its surface for thousands of years."

CONFLICT WARNING #1:
The Limbo reference places this story AFTER the Solar Queen stories.
Solar Queen mentions Terran colonies over 1000 years old, which is impossible if ("The Star Stone") is only a few centuries into the Terran Spage Age.

CONFLICT WARNING #2:
The Caverns of Arzor reference seems to place this story also later than the Beast Master.
That would mean that Terra was already burnt off during the War of Two Sectors = timeline conflict.
Possible alternative explanation:
The sealed caverns of Arzor were known (or at least strongly suspected) to be Forerunner sites, long before Hosteen Storm discovered the Gardens of Arzor.

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Shann Lantee stories
Time references From: Ordeal in Otherwhere:
...the medical knowledge her species had been able to amass during centuries of space travel, experimentation, and information acquired across the galaxy...
This places the story fairly early.
Of course, sooner or later, Central Control would investigate. But not for months was any government ship scheduled to set down on Demeter.
b... but well after ("Star Guard"). This suggests that Demeter is in Council territory.
"...a world named Warlock. Heard of it?” Charis shook her head. There were too many worlds; one could never keep up with their listing.
...“Are you a Beast Master?” she asked. “No, Survey doesn’t use animals that way—as fighters or sabotage teams. ...
This last reference links the Warlock books tot the ("Beast Master") cycle.

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Forerunner Foray

... some of the galactic elite who made Korwar their playground had good reason to fear sudden death ...
... Korwar was both a playground and a crossroads for this part of the galaxy ...
... they crossed the edge of the Dipple, .../... Almost her full lifetime the Dipple had been there, a blot that Korwar, and this part of the galaxy, tried to forget but could not destroy.
Ziantha was a human of Terran—or past-Terran—descent. But from what race or planet she had come in that dim beginning, when the inhabitants of dozens of worlds (the noncombatants, that is) had been driven by war to land in the “temporary” camp of the Dipple, she could not tell.
These references to Korwar and Dipple place Forerunner Foray contemporary with the other Dipple books, a decade or so after the War of Two Sectors = ca. 8060 AD.
Two years ago there had come the discovery of a world which was a single huge city, the apex of one of the civilizations of star-traveling races.  .../...  A ring with a strange and deadly gem stone had been the key to the city-world. The story of that quest had been told and retold on tri-dee casts a thousand times.
This clearly refers to the unnamed Forerunner city-planet from Uncharted stars. While such discovery would be widespread news, a timeframe of 2 years to retell the story 'a thousand times' on tri-dee casts seems somewhat unrealistic.  
... My name is Ris Lantee, and I am Wyvern trained  .../...   But I was born on [Warlock, the Wyvern] world; my parents are mind-linked liaison officers ...
This places Forerunner Foray some 25-50 years after Ordeal in Otherwhere.

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The Sioux Spaceman
From (“The Sioux Spaceman”)
When Terrans started pushing out into space [away from Central Control], they met up with the Styor.  
The Styor had built their star empire long ago. Now it was beginning to crack a little at the seams. However, they still had galactic armadas able to reduce an enemy planet to a cinder, and they dominated two-thirds of the inhabitable worlds near Terra. So far their might could not be challenged by the League. Thus there was an uneasy truce, the Policy [of neutral coexistence with the Styor] and Trade.
... the atomic wars had ended one civilization and allowed the return of his own race from backwaters of desert and mountain land...

Editor's Comment:
The Predomincance of Amerindians after the atomic wars is also reflected in the person of Holsteen Storm in  Beast Master.

---

 Brother to Shadows

“There was a discovery made and ill-used on a world named Korwar. ...."
This refers to the disastrous ending of the Fauklow expedition on Korwar, as mentioned in ("Catseye")
One of my colleagues was able to find an entire planet city, stretching completely round the world which supported it, of a highly technical civilization.
This refers to the unnamed Forerunner city-planet from Uncharted Stars, which means this takes place (shortly?) after Forerunner Foray.      

Ch.18: “In the name of the Council, the Four Confederacies, the Twelve Systems, the Inner and Outer Planets,” he recited formally, as he must have done many times before, it came so easily to him, “this agreement shall hold by planet law and star law.”
This elaborate formula suggests that political power is divided, consistent with a break-up of the unified empire of Confederation.

"... to venture into the unknown in one of these [space ships]—But men had been doing it now for hundreds of seasons."
This is another time reference that places the Warlock.Korwar books in early in Terran space history.

What does not make sense in this story:
Why would the scholarly Zacathan insist on going to an remote and hostile world to test his viewer, when there are so many easily accessible Forerunner sites available?

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Star Gate

Gorth is also mentioned in ("Moon of Three Rings")

CONFLICT WARNING:

• This must have been one of the early Terran colonies, before the prohibition of colonization of planets with sentient life.
• While this is a satisfying Spage Age adventure, the usual F-U background elements are not found in this story.
• Alternate worlds do appear in some F-U stories, but those are accessed through Esper power and/or Forerunner devices, not by a 'mechanical' device like the star gate. (Point for discussion?)

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Iron Cage
CONFLICT WARNING:
A thousand years later and half the galaxy away...
The story allegedly takes place 1000 years after what appears to be a contemporary scene.

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Dark Piper

Beltane had been in existence about a century at the outbreak of the Four Sectors War. That war lasted ten planet years.
...There were ships now without home ports, their native worlds burned-out cinders or radioactive to the point that life could not exist on their deadly surfaces.
...a certain number of such animals had even gone to war, in “beast teams,” aligned with human controllers.
This story is clearly linked to the ('Beast Master") cycle, where Terra was burned off at the end of a 10-year war. This is the only story that mentions the Four Sector War.
It is unclear when (compared to the War of Two Sectors) it took place. However, the common theme of a dying empire is very clear.

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Dread Companion

One of the very few number dates: 2301-2483 AF = ca. 5800-6000 A.D. ???
Forerunners were known.

CONFLICT WARNING:
#1. There had been the sudden attack of an alien task force aimed at outer ring worlds. That had been defeated in a battle near the Nebula, but it was only the beginning. The destroyed force was but a scouting arm for a vast armada. Raids and more attacks followed. When the strangers were finally beaten, this whole section of the galaxy, once civilized, had been left in a state of chaos in which the strong lived and the weak were swiftly gone. There was no communication left between separate solar systems, even between worlds.
#2. ... where Terra lies is in dispute.

COMMENTS:
#1. This war reference is not mentioned anywhere else, and the destruction of an entire sector is inconsistent with the supposed 3000-year Pax Galactica.
#2. If we ignore the dates from this book, we could fit this in with the 10-year wars mentioned in ("Dark Piper") and ("Beast Master"), but at that time and in that sector, the location of Terra wouldn't be in dispute yet.

If Andre Norton had made this a small in-system war instead of something sector-wide, this would not have been a problem at all. Localized conflicts and pirate raids would happen even in a period of galactic peace.

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The Solar Queen cycle
'Firm' date Ca. 4700-5000 A.D.
From : (“Sargasso of Space”):
"Galactic Trading was well-established and  Trade was becoming a closed clan-based occupation. …/…  
... There are Terran colonies over a thousand years old…"

COMMENTS:
The Astra colony ship left Terra ca. 2030, with transit time of "at least three hundred years" Although there were at least 2 earlier 'galactic expeditions,' Astra is the earliest successful and surviving colony mentioned e.g. in (“Plague Ship”) which could place the Solar Queen as early as ca. 3500 A.D. It is more likely that most of the early colonies originated during or shortly  after the 1st Atomic Wars (Ca. A.D. 2900-3500)
Assuming that ‘over 1000 years’ = 1050-1300 years and with a few centuries added for cold-sleep travel time, this places Solar Queen Ca. 4700-5000 A.D.

REMINDERS of nearby event:
* Founding of 1st Galactic Empire = 5000 A.D. ("Star Rangers")

From (“Redline the Stars”)
By now, many human races had been found, descendants from the lost Terran colonies.
Eight nonhuman races were known and three chemically different races including the Rigellians and Salariki.
None knew anything about the Forerunners, even though the Rigellians were known to have had interstellar travel before Terrans.

CONFLICT WARNING:
Zacathans were known since the very fist contact with Central Control. They are scholars who are very interested in Forerunners.

---

Series: Moonsinger cycle
Relative date Ca. 6000-6500 A.D.

From ("Moon of Three Rings")
Long ago all ships carried felines for the protection of the cargo, since they hunted to rout out any pests stowing away. For centuries they were inseparable crew members. But their numbers grew less and less; they did not have as large or as many litters any more. We had forgotten where that animal had originated, so fresh stock could not be obtained to renew the breed. There were still a few at headquarters, highly prized, protected, tended, in hope that the breed might be reinstated.

“What is treasure, Krip Vorlund? On Zacon it is knowledge, for the Zacathans look upon learning as their treasure..../... On Sargol it is a small green herb, once common on forgotten Terra..."

From ("Exiles of the Stars")
#1. " How many years has this system been settled? If they were of the first wave, perhaps a thousand years, a little less  .../... Terra took to space a thousand years ago  .../...    
#2. "Limbo—that had been the startling discovery of a Free Trader in the earlier days."

These time references are somewhat contradictory:
1. The less-than-1000-year reference in #1suggests this story happens shortly before to contemporary with Sargasso of the Sea (Solar Queen cycle) which states "There are Terran colonies over a thousand years old... "
2. However, #2 places it later than the Limbo discoveries, and 3 (in the earlier days) makes that considerably later.
#3 "...nowadays even Terra is half legend..."
This comment is very similar to the one in ("Dread Companion") "...where Terra lies is in dispute... " which is one of the very few stories that Norton gave firm dates for: 2300-2500 A.F.

WARNING: ("Zero Stone") before ("Exiles")
#4 ...the Forerunners were not a single civilization, either—even a single species. Ask the Zacathans—they can count you off evidence of perhaps ten which have been tentatively identified, plus fragments of other, earlier ones which have not! The universe is a graveyard of vanished races, some of whom rose to heights we cannot assess today.

In ("The Zero Stone") the Zacathans only know of 3 races of Forerunners, which would place that story earlier than this one.

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Voorloper
We are late comers into space, even though we have been for centuries now star voyagers.
= This time reference places this story at least 1 century after The Secret of the Lost Race = 4100 A.D. or later. Impossible to date more precisely that that.

The isolation (lack of off-world Trade or Patrol traffic) does not mean this is an abandoned planet. This would be normal for a newly-settled agrarian planet that is not near a main Trade route.

---

Star Hunter
Some time before 4900 A.D.:
(time line motivation: Although the conditioning as described is highly illegal, psycho-techs are generally still respectable. That would end after the 1404 ASF Overturn of Psychocrat domination  = 4900 A.D.

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The X Factor

This story mentions the same on-planet marriage customs for Survey scouts as Dread Companion
=> possibly the approximate same time period.

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Forerunner Simsa cycle

CONFLICT WARNING:
These stories are usually listed together with the 3 Warlock / Lantee stories. Despite the similarity of the titles, the Simsa stories have no connection to Forerunner Foray in the Warlock Magic / Lantee cycle. There are no time references in these 2 stories to link them to the Warlock stories.

These 2 stories are listed as a separate series because they are a continuing story, even though they would be a good fit in the 'Forerunner Planets' series. Simsa visits Forerunner cities on 2 different planets in these stories.

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Ice Crown

From: (“Ice Crown”)
Clio had been settled two, maybe three hundred years ago when the Psychocrats dominated the Confederation, before the Overturn of 1404.
This time reference dates the story as ca. 1550-1600 A.F. = ca. 5050-5100 A.D.

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Toys of Tamisan / Ship of Mist
The Dreamers of Ty-Kry are able to visit alternate worlds, linking this story to ("Android at Arms") and ("Star Gate")

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Get Out of My Dream

"Yul had been in ruins when the first of her own species had come to Benold’s world a thousand planet years ago."

COMMENTS:
If this Benold’s world is one of the early colonies, this time reference could place these stories as early as 4700 A.D., concurrent with the ("Solar Queen") cycle. If it is a colony of a colony, anywhere after 5000 A.D.
Yul appears to be a Forerunner city, although it is not specifically named so.

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Nightmare

".../... any planet where the Council had an Embassy."

COMMENTS:
This places Ty-Kry in the C.C. Council / Federation era = Forerunners Universe.

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Star Rangers

EVENT: ca. 5000. A.D.  
The Galactic Empire has managed to keep the peace for nearly 3000 years… (“Star Rangers”)

CONFLICT WARNING
1. This is the ONLY reference to this Galactic Empire. No details as to reach of influence or relation to Council / Confederation.
Other stories (e.g. Dread Companion) do mention wars.
2. 3000 years would not be enough to restore a world that was burned off to a radioactive cinder ("Beast Master'). Let's just assume it wasn't really THAT bad...

CONFLICT WARNING:
There are a lot of inconsistencies with the later F-U stories.
See Arguments page for details.

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London Bridge / Breed to Come

CONFLICT WARNING:
These are not Forerunner stories, but the sentient animals are consistent with some F-U stories, even though their origin is different, more by accident than by the intentional up-lifiting described in ("Storm over Warlock") and ("Dark Piper").
The name of the planet is not specified. We could assume that Terra's destruction in ("Beast Master") wasn't that bad after all + a distant enough future, or that it is not Earth but one of the colony planets, London could be the name of a city on a colony planet...

[Return to Contents]   

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Creating the Timeline

Since Andre Norton never published a timeline of her Forerunners Universe, the information to sort the stories in some semblance of chronological order perforce has to come from the stories themselves.

There are only 17 number dates in the all of the Forerunners Universe stories.
In-story references to other events may allow to situate a story with some confidence.
The social and political context in the F-U is only vaguely defined throughout. Such references are imprecise, often conflicting and nearly always open to interpretation.

About half of the stories could be dated with some measure of confidence. The remaining stories were sorted by common themes within the main time divisions, rather than by strict chronology. I think that is the best anyone can do with the (lack of) provided information.

Story Clues bring some Order but not enough!

Number Dates

These are the number dates I found, and they come in 5 different time reckoning systems.

1.     A.D.  is used ONLY in Star Guard, Star Rangers and Daybreak 2250 A.D.

2250 A.D. = Daybreak  2250 AD. aka Starman’s Son

Central Control

3956 A.D. Horde is hired (Star Guard )
This is 300+ yrs after 1st contact.
4130 A.D. History Lecture (Star Guard), no mention of wide-spread war (yet)
8054 A.D. First Galactic Empire is failing after 3K years (Star Rangers)
five years ago—the Two-Sector Rebellion.
Stellar Patrol has existed unchallenged for 1K yrs.
Jorcam Dester sends the last Stellar Patrol away.

2. ASF is used only in the Janus series. Those books do not explain what it stands for.

4450 ASF Jarvas lands on Janus
4570 ASF Jahuld Urswin lands on Janus
4635 ASF Naill / Ayyar lands on Janus, came from Korwar.

3. A.F. = galactic reckoning = After Flight; is used in 2 ‘stand-alone’ books

Android at Arms
“On what day do you remember being last in your proper place?”      

2195 A.F. Elys
2200 A.F. Yolyos
2230 A.F. Andas
2246 A.F. Isiwon
2265 A.F. Turpin
2273 A.F.  power failure releases six android duplicates.

Dread Companion specifies that A.F. stands for 'After Flight,' and is the galactic reckoning system (as opposed to Planetary.)

2301 A.F.  Jorth Kosgro enters Grey World
2405 A.F.  Kilda Halcrow  born on Haloz
2422 A.F. Kilda enters Grey World
2483 A.F. They return

4. A.L. = After Landing = a planetary time reckoning used on Voor ("Voorloper")

30 A.L. Lasur makes a sweep for 30 days, Sanzor was doomed.
I did not find information that would allow me to compare this A.L. reckoning to the other three.<

5. Two dates are given without time reconing system.

I. ("Ice Crown") Psychocrat Overturn of 1404
If consistent with the other 'Psychocrat' story ("Android at Arms"), this would be A.L. = 700 years before ("Android at Arms") and 900 years before ("Dread Companion")

II. ("Uncharted Stars") Thax Thorman had trading rights on Rohan back in 3949.

A.D. is possible. It would place Thorman less than a decade before 3956 A.D. = the Yorke Horde of ("Star Guard") but would not tell anything about elapsed time since.

ASF is also possible, linking to 4635 ASF ("Victory on Janus.")
This would imply that Free Traders were already operating some 500 years before ("Uncharted Stars.")
Considering that Central Control only allowed mercenaries in space, ("Uncharted Stars") = 4500 A.D. at the earliest, unless humans bypassed this restriction as well and sent free traders to their secret colonies = 4200 A.D.

The Warlock - Korwar Connection:
Inter-story Event References link 10 Stories ca. 4635 ASF. = ???? A.D.

1+2 Storm over Warlock + Ordeal in Otherwhere:
Story of Shann Lantee & Charis Nordholm;  discovery of Wyverns
20-40 years before ("Forerunner Foray")

= = = WAR OF THE TWO SECTORS = = =

3. Catseye:  5 years after the War of Two Sectors

Dipple was created 10 years ago at start of the war

(undated) Fauklow expedition  ("Brother to Shadows")

4. Night of Masks:  Nik Kolherne is a teenager from the Dipple, associated with Guild of Thieves

5+6 Janus cycle: Naill came from the Dipple on Korwar, arrives on Janus 4635 ASF.  

7+8 The Zero Stone + Uncharted Stars

Forerunner city-planet 2 years prior to Forerunner Foray.
the Four Confederacies = after 4-sector war???

9. Forerunner Foray:
= 10-20 years after start of the war. Ziantha - almost her full lifetime the Dipple had been there.
= 2 years AFTER ("Uncharted Stars") the Forerunner City-planet was discovered 2 years ago
= 20-50 years AFTER ("Ordeal in Otherwhere") Ris Lantee is son of Lantee & Charis Nordholm   

10. Brother to Shadows
mentions the time viewer derived from the Korwar Fauklow expedition (undated)
but also (unspecified time) AFTER the discovery of the Forerunner city-planet from ("Uncharted Stars")

The WAR Connection

The following stories all have a common theme of a time of war. Whether that is the same period, or different wars several 1000s of years apart is not always clear.
While there are no specific dates provided, it makes sense to keep ("Eye of Monster") and ("Dark Piper") together with the Warlock / Korwar stories because of the common Council/Federation references.
Also, the destruction of Terra in ("Beast Master") AFTER the Warlock / Korwar stories is consistent with the location of Terra being forgotten in later stories.

If 8050 A.D. ("Star Rangers") is the only major war period, they probably should all go there.
If the War of the Two Sectors is situated at a different time, e.g. after ("Star Guard"), all except ("Star Rangers") would best be moved there as well.
The 2300-2500 A.F. date provided in ("Dread Companion")

1. Star Rangers Ca 8050 A.D.
2. Dread Companion 2300-2500 A.F.
3. Star Gate s.d.
Planet abandoned by Terrans, followed by a native revolt.
No time references given, this could be anywhere from 4000-8100 A.D.
4. Eye of the Monster   
Planet abandoned by Patrol, followed by a native killing spree.
No time references given, this could be anywhere from 4000-8100 A.D.
5. Dark Piper  
Planet abandoned by Patrol, followed by a raid by off-planet war refugees.
4-sector War lasted 10 years = possible link to ("Beast Master")
references to uplifted animals for Beast Teams = link to ("Beast Master")
6-10 Beast Master
Xiks war = 10 years

The Solar Queen cycle
'Firm' date Ca. 4700-5000 A.D.

From: (“Sargasso of Space”)
"Galactic Trading was well-established and Trade was becoming a closed clan-based occupation. …/…  
... There are Terran colonies over a thousand years old…"

COMMENTS:
The 1st Terran colony Astra was colonized ca. A.D. 2487 and is mentioned in (“Plague Ship”) which could place the Solar Queen as early as 3500 A.D.. It is more likely that – like Khatka – most of the early colonies originated during or shortly after the 1st Atomic Wars (Ca. A.D. 2900-3500)
Assuming that ‘over 1000 years’ = 1050-1300 years and with a few centuries added for cold-sleep travel time, this places Solar Queen Ca. 4700-5000 A.D.

REMINDERS of nearby event:
* Founding of 1st Galactic Empire = 5000 A.D. ("Star Rangers")

Series: Moonsinger cycle
Relative date Ca. 5500-6500 A.D.

From: ("Moon of Three Rings")
Long ago all ships carried felines for the protection of the cargo, since they hunted to rout out any pests stowing away. For centuries they were inseparable crew members. But their numbers grew less and less; they did not have as large or as many litters any more. We had forgotten where that animal had originated, so fresh stock could not be obtained to renew the breed. There were still a few at headquarters, highly prized, protected, tended, in hope that the breed might be reinstated.

“What is treasure, Krip Vorlund? On Zacon it is knowledge, for the Zacathans look upon learning as their treasure. .../... On Sargol it is a small green herb, once common on forgotten Terra..."

From: ("Exiles to the Stars")
#1. " How many years has this system been settled? If they were of the first wave, perhaps a thousand years, a little less  .../... Terra took to space a thousand years ago .../...    
#2. "Limbo—that had been the startling discovery of a Free Trader in the earlier days."

These time references are somewhat contradictory:
#1. The less-than-1000-year reference in #1suggests this story happens shortly before to contemporary with "Sargasso of the Sea" (Solar Queen cycle) which states "There are Terran colonies over a thousand years old... "

#2. However, #2 places it later than the Limbo discoveries, and #3 (in the earlier days) makes that considerably later.

#3 "...nowadays even Terra is half legend..."
This comment is very similar to the one in ("Dread Companion")  "...where Terra lies is in dispute... "  which is one of the very few stories that Norton gave firm dates for: 2300-2500 A.F.

WARNING: ("Zero Stone") before (("Exiles")
#4 ...the Forerunners were not a single civilization, either—even a single species. Ask the Zacathans—they can count you off evidence of perhaps ten which have been tentatively identified, plus fragments of other, earlier ones which have not! The universe is a graveyard of vanished races, some of whom rose to heights we cannot assess today.

In ("The Zero Stone") the Zacathans only know of 3 races of Forerunners, which places that story BEFORE this one.

[Return to Contents]    

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Testing the Timeline
1st attempt: April - September 2018

(NOTE: This timeline was abandoned. ~ Continue reading if you want all the nitty-gritty details.)

I. How I resolved the time table:

Supposition 1: A.F. =  ca. 2000 A.D. - Astra spaceship  REJECTED
(Terra had forgotten about that ship, and thought C.C. contact was 1st star travel)

A.F. = After Flight (“Dread Companion”)
Supposition 2: First star flight that led to contact with C.C.  
==>  0 A.F. =  ca. 3650 A.D. (“Star Guards”)

Supposition 3:  The Two-Sector Rebellion  ca. 8050 A.D. (“Star Rangers”) is the same event as

The War of the Two Sectors (Dipple books)
Niall leaves Dipple for Janus, arrives 4635 ASF, while still young.
==>  war ends  ca. 4620 ASF        ==> 0 ASF =  ca. 3430 A.D.

 There are only 220 years difference between those 2 calculations. Considering that:
1/. '300 years earlier' (Star Guard) as a figure of speech that often means more than 300;
2/. The ship probably left many years before they met C.C. and Terra could well consider A.F to be the year the ship was launched,  rather than when it met C.C. and
3/. There are millions of star systems all over the galaxy, in diverse and competing political systems—and as far as we know no instantaneous star travel and/or communications—

II. Inter-story event references link 19 stories ca. 8050 A.D.

A. The Warlock - Korwar connection
ca. 8030 - 8080 A.D.

1+2 Storm over Warlock + Ordeal in Otherwhere:
Story of Shann Lantee & Charis Nordholm;  discovery of Wyverns
20-40 years before Forerunner Foray = Ca. 8030-8050 A.D.

3. Star Rangers: 8050 A.D. 2-sector Rebellion ends

4. Catseye:  5 years after War of Two Sectors = Ca. 8055A.D.
Dipple was created 10 years ago at start of the war = 8045 A.D.
Fauklow expedition  (Brother to Shadows)               

5. Night of Masks:  Nik Kolherne is a teenager from the Dipple,  associated with Guild of Thieves

6+7 Janus cycle: Naill came from the Dipple on Korwar, arrives on Janus 4635 ASF.  = Ca. 8065

8+9 The Zero Stone + Uncharted Stars

Forerunner city-planet 2 years prior to Forerunner Foray.  = Ca. 8065 A.D.
the Four Confederacies = after 4-sector war???

10. Forerunner Foray: Ziantha
Almost her full lifetime the Dipple had been there = 10-20 years after war. = Ca.  8070 A.D.
The Forerunner City-planet (Uncharted Stars) was discovered 2 years ago
Ris Lantee is son of Lantee & Charis Nordholm   

11. Brother to Shadows
Time viewer derived from the Fauklow expedition on Korwar from Catseye
Also  (unspecified time) after the discovery of  the Forerunner city-planet from Uncharted Stars

B. The Death of Empire connection:
ca. 7500 - 8500 A.D.

The decline of a galaxy-wide empire would take a long time. It would manifest differently in distant or central regions.

Abandonment of distant indefensible planets would become wide-spread when central government tries to consolidate power closer to home.
Star Rangers Ca 8050 A.D.  

12. Star Gate s.d.
Planet abandoned by Terrans, native revolt  

13. Eye of the Monster   
Planet abandoned by Patrol,
remaining immigrants killed by natives

14. Dark Piper  
Planet abandoned by Patrol,
raided by Jacks
4-sector War = 10 years

15-19 Beast Master  Xiks war = 10 years

III. 1st attempt abandoned September 2018

The primary supposition (War of the Two Sectors = The 2-sector Rebellion) seemed plausible enough with the similarities of name and planet burn-offs. This timeline worked pretty well, until further reading several months later revealed some major issues:

Most of the war events were concentrated at the very end of the timeline, with no explanation for the odd one in the middle.
The separation of Terra from C.C. is not explained. It seems plausible that this would not necessarily have been a peaceful process. There were many other inconsistencies.
The Warlock / Korwar stories have repeated references that place them in a much earlier era. This was the final argument to reconsider.

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Testing the Timeline. 2nd and Final Attempt

The date 8050 A.D. mentioned in Star Rangers for the 2-sector Rebellion was at first also adopted for the 'War of Two Sectors' because of the similarity of those names and the common reference to burnt-off planets. That reasoning left too many loose ends.

Supposition #1:

The War of Two Sectors in the Dipple books is NOT the same as the 2-sector Rebellion from ("Star Rangers"). This separates the Warlock / Korwar stories from the 8050 A.D. period.

Event references in ("The Zero Stone") a.o. place the Warlock / Korwar stories only 'centuries' into the human space era = ca. 3900-4400 A.D.

Cats were still common on free trader ships at that time. This is well before the ("Moonsinger") cycle where cats were almost extinct.

ca. 3900-4400 A.D. would be consistent with a Terran separation from Central Control, which may well have been realized through a bitter war.

This would situate the War of Two Sectors, and the 10 Korwar / Warlock stories to sometime after ("Star Guard").

It is also consistent with the creation of 2 influence spheres during that period: Council (= the old Central Control) + Confederation (Terra + allies.)

The burn-off of Terra by the Xicks ("Beast Master") could happen anytime thereafter during further wars leading to the break-up of the Terran Confederation.

After the evacuation, Terra would disappear in obscurity and become legend.

Without their planet of origin as a rallying point, Terran colonies were assimilated in the existing political bodies, allowing for consolidation, unification, the 1st galactic empire and the Pax Galactica.

CONFLICT WARNING #1:

Niall Renfro leaves the Dipple for Janus, arrives there in 4635 ASF. The Janus books are contemporary with all the other Warlock / Korwar stories.

This number date is impossible to reconcile with a Terran calendar.

Supposition #2:

The galactic time reckoning systems A.S.F and A.F. (After Flight) do not relate to Terran events, but to events in the Central Control empire.
After all, a huge galactic empire wouldn't restart their calendar just because a tiny backwater planet like Terra managed star flight.

The Janus books are linked to War of the Two Sectors, which would at the earliest take place afterm 4130 A.D. (Zorzi's history lecture on Zacan. Such a devastating war would probably have been mentioned.)

4635 ASF vs. 4130 A.D. = 500 years difference. A convoluted reasoning, but it might work, just barely. Or we could just ignore this one date...

CONFLICT WARNING #2:

We previously assumed that ASF and AF were the same galactic reckoning. The date range 2200-2500 A.F. (Dread Companion and Android at Arms) would place those stories before Terrans took to space.

Supposition #3:

The A.F. reckoning has to remain a Terran reckoning system, which leaves those 2 stories ca. 5500-5800 A.D.
If it isn't yet complicated enough for you, I can make it worse.

CONFLICT WARNING #3:

While all of the above would allow us to situate The Warlock / Korwar stories before the Moonsinger cycle (cats nearly extinct,) it would also bring them ahead of the Solar Queen cycle. (colonies 1000 y.o.) and that is a problem, because we get references to Limbo at a time it hasn't been discovered yet.

On the other hand, this is a very minor inconsistency compared to some of the others; so in many ways, this appears to be the more acceptable solution, a logical time line with fewer problems than the 1st attempt.

The big difference with the 1st timeline attempt is that most of the war-time stories are now concentrated right after ("Star Guard") ca. 4200 A.D. instead of near ("Star Rangers") ca. 8050 A.D. The peace-time stories remain mostly unaffected.

This still leaves quite a few stories that cannot be dated with any measure of accuracy, which is why I have opted for a thematic ordering for those stories, rather than a chronological one.

CONCLUSION:

Regardless of which way I order the stories, there comes a point where I can't explain away the remaining internal inconsistencies. I accept that there will be some inconsistencies regardless, and leave it at that.

[Return to Contents]     

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ARGUMENTS

1. Naming the Collection:

I used FORERUNNERS UNIVERSE because Forerunners are the most prominent common theme in the collection. Even though it is a bit harder to pronounce, I used the plural form Forerunners because Andre Norton made it quite clear that it should be so:
From Voorloper:   There were many [races of] Forerunners, yes, and at different times, on different worlds, or in different sectors.
From Exiles of the Stars:  ...the Forerunners were not a single civilization, either—even a single species. Ask the Zacathans—they can count you off evidence of perhaps ten which have been tentatively identified, plus fragments of other, earlier ones which have not! The universe is a graveyard of vanished races, some of whom rose to heights we cannot assess today.

3. Story Arguments:

PAX/ASTRA series:
Arguments FOR inclusion:
holocaust events = direct link with Daybreak 2250 A.D.
First star flight is a logical precursor for what follows.
Astra & Astran duocorns are mentioned in (“Plague Ship”) a.o.

No Night Without Stars (1975) and Moon Called (1982)

Arguments FOR inclusion: (compare with Daybreak 2250 A.D.)
Expansive timelines have been written over much longer periods. (e.g. Anderson, Asimov)
Common themes: post-nuclear apocalypse, quests for lost knowledge.
Consistent story line: The First Atomic Wars occur several centuries after the Great Blow-up. Most likely different areas were affected by each. (Why after all bomb already uninhabitable waste lands?) If small pockets of humanity survived in distant areas, it is likely that they would not be aware of each other until much later and evolve into different cultures.

Arguments AGAINST inclusion:
Both mention the ‘Before Times’ instead of the ‘Great Blow-up.’
People use swords and practice shamanism /sorcery.
Norton wrote these 20+  years after  Star Guard (1955)  and Star Born (1953), more likely a different setting.

Star Guard (1955) and Star Rangers (1953)
Starfire left on her last trip 8050 A.D. and crashed on Earth where they find only abandoned cities and a few primitive nomadic tribes. They find the Hall of Leave-Taking where– according to legend - everyone who left Earth received their last instructions before take-off. Because no one ever returned, Earth was drained of its adventurous people until only ‘unfit’ were left At the end the remaining humans and X-tees leave to ‘live in the wild’ to’ repopulate’ Earth.

Arguments FOR inclusion:
Star Rangers was Norton's first (somewhat immature) Space Age novel.
Nevertheless, many of the F-U themes are predicted or included.
The timeline is consistent with other references.

Arguments AGAINST inclusion: inconsistencies
So many unrealistic assumptions in Star Rangers.
Specifically the ‘Empty Earth’ is incompatible with the other stories.
From: "Secret of the Lost Race"
“Terrans had been exploring the galaxy now for little less than three centuries."

According to the Star Guard-derived timeline, this reference would place this book at about 3950 A.D. near the very end of  Star Guards. However, in this story human colonization is ongoing and wide-spread; forced migration by cold-sleep is clearly a massive undertaking that is nowhere as 'stealthy' as Star Guard suggests was the norm up to that time.  
From: "Star Guard"
But in the past hundred years one troop transport in every twenty which lifted from this planet was no troop transport at all, but a pioneer carrier. Men and women selected for certain qualities of mind and body—survivor types—went out in deep sleep to settle on planets our mercenaries had explored.
In Secret of a Lost Race (same time frame) colonization is very overt, and for a very large part by forced cold-sleep migration, by shanghaiing people as a way to get rid of drug-addicts and criminals.

Unreasonable assumptions in Star Rangers:[3]
(It was her first space novel, she did get better!)

1/. Why would they keep sending ships if none ever returned? A whole planet emptied without confirmation that any colony was ever founded? (No mention of instant communication over interstellar distances)
2/. Colonization numbers could never be large enough to remove billions and empty a world, as if the stay-behinds would suddenly stop breeding …
3/. Why would colonization cause the stay-behinds to become primitive jungle dwellers?
4/ Only one spaceport to empty an entire planet?

3 Short Stories From Wizards Worlds SSC
Arguments FOR inclusion:
Consistent story line: colonization of our own solar system is a logical step before going beyond.
Espers become important later in the timeline.

Star Gate
Argument FOR inclusion:
A lost / abandoned colony is possible anywhere after Terra started colonizing planets.
The advanced star gate technology would suggest (but not mandate) rather later than sooner.
The star gate could have been a Forerunner or experimental discovery that was abandoned as too dangerous or lost forever in any of the many wars.
Gorth is mentioned as a known planet in ‘Moon of Three Rings’ a.o., indicating Norton wanted it connected.
Argument AGAINST inclusion:
The star gate is not mentioned anywhere else; alternate realities
Not one of the common F-U themes is included in this story.

‘Beast Master’ series:
Arguments FOR inclusion:
Forerunner artifacts are specifically mentioned in “Beast Master’s Ark’.
The Gardens of Arzor are mentioned in several other books;
Ordeal in Otherwhere mentions “Beast Master combat\sabotage.”
The 10-year war with the Xiks is consistent with the 10-year 4-Sector war mentioned in Dark Piper.  
It is not unlikely that non-human races were involved. Perhaps the Xiks saw an opportunity too good to ignore when the Federation was weakened by the 2-sector war. Or it could also be another war shortly thereafter.
The (very small) 20-system confederacy to which Terra belongs is consistent with Earth becoming a 3rd-rate planet after the 2- and 4-sector wars.
Arguments AGAINST inclusion: The Beast Master series appears in conflict with the Forerunner timeline.
(“The Beast Master”) & (“Lord of Thunder”)
The Confederacy which contains Terra, Sirius, and 18 other solar systems (some Inner Worlds, some worlds like Arzor) is attacked by the small empire of the alien Xiks. The war lasted 10 years. The last desperate thrust of the Xik invaders left Terra, the mother planet of the Confederacy, a deadly blue, radioactive cinder.]
The Xiks war and a radioactive Earth are not mentioned outside this series.  

‘Time Trader’ + 'Crosstime' series
‘Time Trader’ = Cold war era time-travel stories with evil Russia as the enemy.

Wraiths of Time
has (imo) no link to Psychocrats or Forerunners.
This is a simple time-travel story that (imo) does NOT belong in Forerunner Universe.

INCLUSION of Sea Siege with reservations:
Scientists on a remote island know something has happened on the main-land, but have no idea what.
This could very well fit right after the Big Blow-up if it weren't for the references to Hiroshima and to Russia as the Big Evil enemy. These 2 references really date this story as cold-war era and make it incompatible with the Pax/Astra stories.

I'm not a very big fan of fix-up novels, but this Cold War aspect of this novel really pulls it down. Removing that could (imo) only make the story better. If an editor could get permission from the Andre Norton estate to change just those 2 (minor) points, this story could very well be rejuvenated as the first in the post-nuclear holocaust series, set only days after 'the Great Blow-up'.

Secret of the Lost Race
“ Terrans had been exploring the galaxy now for little less than three centuries."
The time reference places this ca. 3900 A.D.,  somewhat earlier than The Sioux Spaceman.
The Galactic Council was solidly behind this emigration policy which worked two ways. First it got rid of the drifters and those outside the law on the civilized worlds, and second, it helped to open new planets. Thus both problems were settled to the satisfaction of all but the victims, who had no political power anyway.  .../... “What’s this Cullan got to do with it?” .../... “At present he’s a member of the Supreme Council, and he’s anti-company, doesn’t believe in the monopolies on frontier planets.  .../... But the man who had spoken wore no weapons, his official cloak, thrown back over one shoulder, had the star within star of the Council...
This is inconsistent with Star Guard.
It is not explained what this Galactic or Supreme Council is, nor where it is located.

These aliens …/… were comrades-in-arms and good friends to other races who preceded us into space, those who built the ruins we now find on dead worlds, for we are new to come into an old, old region.”
This certainly suggests Forerunners, but although this novel was written 4 years after “Sargasso” the word is not specifically used. Neither are any of the other buzz-words like Federation, Patrol or The League of Free Traders.
However, ‘free traders’ are mentioned and Terrans are addressed as ‘gentlehomo’ which also happens in Dread Companion, Star Hunter, Forerunner & Brother to Shadows.

Short Stories
I did not verify all of Norton's short stories, for the simple reason that I don't have them all.  
If you feel another short story should be included, let me know.

[Return to Contents]   

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WORD SEARCHES + QUOTES
(Leftovers from the word-searches I used to figure out what & where books belong in this collection.
The essential references from these searches have been moved to the previous pages by cutting & pasting.
These are the 'leftovers' and the remaining references in this page are redundant.
I included this page for completeness, and as an optional reference FYI.)

Word-search in a text-processor allows to list all occurrences of specific words and word combinations. This is a great help to determine where in the timeline a book belongs.
Not all occurrences of the keywords are included.
One per book is enough to show that belongs in the collection (unless reasons for exclusion, e.g. time travel.)
The numbers used are in reality my personal ebook page numbers. In some books chapter numbers might be off by 1 or 2 if there is an epigraph, introduction and/or prologue preceding the chapters.

WARNING: This file is presented without clean-up editing. Not everything is well ordered or organized, things may be duplicated, mixed together, or have been pasted where they don't really belong. The paragraphs in italics (usually) are quotes from Norton's books. Buzz-words in those quotes are often highlighted.

 

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REFERENCES TO:  "FORERUNNER(s)"
Forerunners are mentioned in these books.

Solar Queen x7
Forerunners x5
Beast Master x5
Moonsinger x4
Star Stones x2
Ice Crown
X-Factor
Dark Piper
Voorloper
Brother to Shadows
Dread Companion
Star Hunter
Android at Arms
Dread Companion

Voorloper:
Forerunner! We are late comers into space, even though we have been for centuries now star voyagers. Still there had been those who had sought the star lanes, mapped and held them, long before our first crude rocket had lifted from Terra and man had eyed the stars with a covetous desire. Galactic empires had risen and fallen and of them we knew so little. .../...  There were many [races of] Forerunners, yes, and at different times, on different worlds, or in different sectors.

 

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REFERENCES TO:  CENTRAL CONTROL   /  C.C.
Star Guard + Star Rangers + Android at Arms + Brother to Shadows

Star Guard
The first starships from Earth have burst out into the universe…only to run straight into the restraining grasp of the stagnant alien federation known as Central Control.
All mankind’s festering resentment against Central Control lay behind that outburst.

It had been a long time since Terrans had first reached toward other worlds. Three hundred years since the first recorded pioneer flight into the Galaxy. And even before that there were legends of other ships fleeing the nuclear wars and the ages of political and social confusion which followed. They must have been either very desperate or very brave, those first explorers—sending their ships out into the unknown while they were wrapped in cold sleep with one chance in perhaps a thousand of waking as their craft approached another planet. With the use of Galactic overdrive such drastic chances were no longer necessary. But had his kind paid too high a price for their swifter passage from star to star? …/… ut what if Central Control had not existed? Would the Agents’ repeated argument have proved true? Would the Terrans, unchecked, have pulled planet after planet into a ruthless struggle for power? Kana was sure that was a lie. But now if a Terran wanted the stars, if the desire for new and strange knowledge burned in him—he could buy it only by putting on the Combatant’s sword.

Mankind had come late into space, and had been pushed to one side of the game Central Control managed. But there were many worlds where native life had never reached intelligence. What if man had been allowed to spread to those—to colonize? What if the very ancient legends of his race were true and there had been earlier trips into deep space from which the voyagers had never returned? Were there worlds where once Terran colonies had taken root? Where he could find his own distant kin free of the Central Control yoke, men who had won the stars by their own efforts?

“Use hot stuff?” Kana’s horrified amazement was genuine. He could accept the enmity of the Mechs, even the struggle for power backed in some mysterious way by Central Control Agents, but the thought of turning to nuclear weapons against—! Terra had learned too bitter a lesson in the Big Blow-up and the wars which followed. Those had occurred a thousand years ago but they had scarred the memories of his species for all time. He could not conceive of a Terran using nukes—it was so unnatural that it made his head reel.

This mess on Fronn is going to bring the latent danger of our position home—to even the most hidebound of the Big Brass. Once they see that Terran can be turned against Terran with the approval of Central Control, that Mech can be used to hunt down Arch—they will listen to what we have to say.”

“In reality Terra for at least two hundred and fifty years has been a double world—though that fact is known to a relatively small number of her inhabitants. One Terra and one Prime was fitted quickly and neatly into the pattern Central Control demanded and is a law-abiding member of their lesser confederacy, content with the role of third-class citizenship.

“But in the past hundred years one troop transport in every twenty which lifted from this planet was no troop transport at all, but a pioneer carrier. Men and women selected for certain qualities of mind and body—survivor types—went out in deep sleep to settle on planets our mercenaries had explored. On some of those worlds the native races had dwindled and retrogressed until civilization had faded almost to extinction, others were bare of intelligent life, or had dominant races, young, vigorous and humanoid with whom we could interbreed. There is even reason to believe that the latter may be descendents of the passengers of those legendary starships which left this world during the nuclear wars—though the people have long since forgotten their origin.

So Terrans have been planted secretly on almost a thousand worlds now. On thirty our colonies could not take root, native diseases, adverse climatic changes, malignant life forms blotted them out. On six more they are still fighting a war for survival. On the rest they flourish and spread.

We are leaving Terra for the stars just as we planned from our first Galactic flight. And now that Central Control suspects that, she is going to move against us. But she will discover that she is perhaps ten generations too late. One cannot move against colonies on almost a thousand different worlds, not and keep up the fiction of justice to all which must be maintained to preserve their carefully guarded balance of power.

This trouble on Fronn—the bald design of crediting a massacre of Patrolmen to an outlawed Horde, the betrayal of Yorke and his officers—is a blow back at us and may bring the whole scheme into the open. If so, we don’t really care too much, we’ve been preparing lately for such an eventuality and we have our case far better organized for a general hearing than they suspect.

Space Rangers
In 8054 A.D. history repeated itself—as it always does. The First Galactic Empire was breaking up. Dictators, Emperors, Consolidators wrested the rulership of their own or kindred solar systems from Central Control. Space pirates raised flags and recruited fleets to gorge on spoil plundered from this wreckage.

Notable among these last-ditch fighters who refused to throw aside their belief in the impartial rule of Central Control were the remnants of the Stellar Patrol, a law enforcement body whose authority had existed unchallenged for almost a thousand years.

The benefits of Central Control civilization, yes. Kartr blinked as that struck home. His own planet, Ylene, had been burnt off five years ago—during the Two-Sector Rebellion.

“What has been happening to Central Control—to us?” asked Kartr slowly. “Why don’t we have proper equipment—supplies—new recruits?”  “Breakdown,” replied Fylh crisply. “Maybe Central Control is too big, covers too many worlds, spreads its authority too thin and too far. Or perhaps it is too old so that it loses hold. Look at the sector wars, the pull for power between sector chiefs. Don’t you think that Central Control would stop that—if it could?”

“What will happen to Central Control?” Kartr wondered  “The galactic empire—this galactic empire is falling apart. Within five years we’ve lost touch with as many sectors, haven’t we? C.C. is just a name now as far as its power runs. We’ve had a long run—about three thousand years—and the seams are beginning to gap. Sector wars now—the result—chaos. We’ll slip back fast—probably far back, maybe even into planet-tied barbarianism with space flight forgotten. Then we’ll start all over again—”

`The Patrol is the guardian of the law under Central Control.

“What caught us napping was that [the pirates] came in under false colors and we accepted them as friendly until too late. They were Central Control ships! Either some section of the Fleet has mutinied or—or something terrible has happened to the whole empire. They acted as if the Patrol had been outlawed—their attack was vicious. And because they had come in with all the proper signals we weren’t expecting it. It was as if they were the law—”

 

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REFERENCES TO: CENTRAL SERVICES

Plague Ship (Solar Queen)

 

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REFERENCES TO: “COUNCIL”
Solar Queen + Get out of my Dreams + Nightmare + Catseye + X-Factor + Brother to Shadows + Zero Stone + Moonsinger + Eye of the Monster

Star Guard
Ch.11: Hansu – Our inner Council
Ch.16: C.C.( = Central Control) Council  / Grand Council

Star Hunter
Ch.1: Patrol Council

Plague Ship (SOLAR QUEEN cycle)
Ch.18: “There is no plague aboard. I am willing to certify that before the Council.”

Postmarked to the Stars
Ch.4: authorized project by Council permission
Ch.8: “Is Xecho worth a beam-out with the Council?”
Ch.12: “The Council is supposed to know, but my own department-we felt-”
Ch13: And this, this kind of experiment, it can’t be known by the Council.”
Ch.14: “But, the Council-someone must have realized what was happening!”

Get Out of my Dreams
“there is a need for a new treaty over the output of the mines, a Council affair much pressed by time.”
“This is a Council affair,” [Itlothis] replied briskly.”
“You must warn the Council! Wake us.”
unlimited credit…/… accepted on any planet where the Council had an Embassy.

Nightmare
Ch.5: Burr shook his head. “But a man can be dreamed to death “If that is his recorded desire. And it must be recorded and certified by the Lords in Council, also the First Person of his name clan.

Catseye
Ch.1: But a fringe of frontier worlds had passed into the grasp of one or the other of the major powers—the Confederation or the Council. As a result, the citizens of several small nations suddenly found themselves homeless.  …/… It had been that same morning that the Council ships had cut out of the sky
Ch.3: His customer nodded. “Yes. Well, trade makes ties to defeat war. And if you can get the Terrans well tied up, you’ll have the smiles of the Council, Kyger.”
Ch.5: Terra was the center of the Confederation—or had been before the war. But she had not come out well at the end of that conflict; too many of her allies had gone down to defeat. From the dominant voice she had sunk to a second-rate, even third-rate, power at the conference tables. The Council and the Octed of the Rim maneuvered for first power, while the old Confederation had fractured into at least three collections of smaller rulerships.
Ch.18  Kyger died because of a personal feud. But for that chance this attack against the Council, and against Korwar, would have succeeded. …/… “Now if the Confederation tries this weapon on another planet, well, that is the Council’s affair.

The X Factor
Back cover: At this point in Norton's Council / Confederation universe, the job of discovering and exploring new planets - that of the First-In Scouts - is pretty much a closed occupation.

Brother to Shadows
Ch.8: “As you know, only when a world is one of the Great Council can there be any examination of its internal problems. Tssek has never applied for such an inclusion.” …/… off-worlder contact is limited to the spaceport, as it is on any non-Council world
Ch.18: “And this Shagga can be depended upon to come through when the deal is properly completed?” “He is no fool. Guild bargains are kept, as he and all the stars well know. This can be done I am sure—and the extra bit of sweetening he is ready to offer will please the Council.”
Ch.20: “So, off-worlder,” she now looked to the Patrol captain, “these are now your responsibility. Let them return to their own places, we need nothing of them. The Council meets tomorrow; we shall be speaking with you again concerning regulations for off-worlders—some of those will be changed.”

The Zero Stone
Ch.2: “Faskel is master here. For he is blood and bone of me, heir to my father who was lord here before Hywel Jern came. And so will I swear before the Council.”
Ch.18: “In the name of the Council, the Four Confederacies, the Twelve Systems, the Inner and Outer Planets,” he recited formally, as he must have done many times before, it came so easily to him, “this agreement shall hold by planet law and star law.”

Moon of Three Rings
Ch.18: “But you do not know what Korburg wants here?”   “This much. There have been recent changes in the Council, especially as it touches the government of some inner planets.

Eye of the Monster
Ch.1: Fifteen years of labor and aid to these jungle tribes can not be cancelled out merely because a few troops are going off-world—as they should have done long since. The Council is only coming to their collective senses at last in breaking up such autocratic bounds of control. …/… To send away the Patrol is the first step in righting the wrongs of colonialism.” …/… “Ishkur has been a part of the South Sector Empire. That means a collection of different worlds under one government. Two years ago the Council decided that frontier planets, such as this one, should be allowed to set up their own ruling states. So they ordered the Patrol to withdraw by a certain date.

 

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REFERENCES TO:  CONFEDERATION / CONFEDERACY / Confederacies:

(“The Beast Master”) & (“Lord of Thunder”) The Confederacy

which contains Terra, Sirius, and 18 other solar systems (some Inner Worlds, some worlds like Arzor)
(“Siuox Spaceman”)  the Northwest Terran Confederation.
Also mentioned in:
Zero Stones + Forerunner
Ice Crown + Catseye + X-Factor +Brother to Shadows  Dark Piper + Voorloper
CONFEDERATION: Siuox Spaceman +  Ice Crown + Forerunner + Catseye + X-Factor +Brother to Shadows  Zero Stones + Dark Piper + Voorloper

The Sioux Spaceman
Ch.1: Kade Whitehawk, Amerindian of the Northwest Terran Confederation. …/… Sure, many Armerindians were enlisted in the Service, the adventure of out-world duty was welcomed by the youth of the Federation of Tribes.
of Terra.

Ice Crown
Ch.1: Clio had been settled two, maybe three hundred years ago when the Psychocrats dominated the Confederation, before the Overturn of 1404. It was the third such experimental planet rediscovered, though there were rumors that there had been more, no one knew how many. The blasting of the Forqual Center during the revolt of the Overturn had destroyed most records.

Ordeal in Otherwhere (Forerunner cycle)
Ch.1: In the past too many frontier-world settlements had split away from the Confederation, following sometimes weird and dangerous paths of development when fanatics took control, warped education, and cut off communications with other worlds.
Ch.12: Survey drew from almost every settled planet of the Confederation. He could even be a native Terran. That he was Survey meant that he had certain basic traits of character, certain very useful skills. And that he was also wearing the gold key of an embassy above his cadet bar meant even more—that he had extra-special attributes into the bargain.
Ch.12: Yes, the Companies—they were regulated, curbed, investigated, as well as the Confederation and the Patrol could manage. But they had their own police, their extra-legal methods when they dared flaunt control. Only what would bring any one of the Companies to send a private army to Warlock? What treasure could be scooped up here before a routine Patrol visit would reveal such lawless activity?

Catseye
Ch.1: But a fringe of frontier worlds had passed into the grasp of one or the other of the major powers—the Confederation or the Council. As a result, the citizens of several small nations suddenly found themselves homeless. …/… It had been that same morning that the Council ships had cut out of the sky…/… Everyone knew that Norden had been handed over to the Confederation, that none of her former inhabitants could hope to return to her plains.

The X-Factor
Back cover: At this point in Norton's Council / Confederation universe, the job of discovering and exploring new planets - that of the First-In Scouts - is pretty much a closed occupation.

Brother to Shadows
Ch.24: “You are Confederation backed—why then do you come to me? Where is your First-In ship? I am a trader, not a searcher—”

The Zero Stone
Ch.3: Was Tanth so removed from the civilized worlds that the Confederation’s authority could be flouted?

Dark Piper
Ch.1: As a functioning unit in the Confederation scheme, Beltane had been in existence about a century at the outbreak of the Four Sectors War. That war lasted ten planet years. …/… There can rise empires of stars, and confederations, and other governments. But there comes a time when such grow too large or too old, or are rent from within. …/… “The formal was [over], yes. But it tore the Confederation to bits.

Voorloper
Ch.8: No one would ever be able to penetrate [the Tangle]—not unless one of the huge hell-burst machines, which had long ago been outlawed for war on any Confederation or League world, could be found and brought her
Ch.11: There were no armies on Voor. My kind had never had to band together against a concrete and visible foe. I had never even seen any of the Patrol, the armed might of The Federation, except when once a cruiser on a routine outer fringe world flight had landed a squad at Portcity, mainly to pick up some records a disabled Survey ship had jettisoned there.

 

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REFERENCES TO:  FEDERATION:
Solar Queen + Janus + Voorloper

Star Born
Ch.2: Had they found their new world or worlds? The end of their ventures had been debated thousands of times since those documents had been made public, after the downfall of Pax and the coming into power of the Federation of Free Men.

Sargasso of Space (SOLAR QUEEN Cycle)
Ch.6: Within the Federation machinery was now completely standardized. It had to be so that repairs from one world to the next would be simplified. Ali had recited the measurements of the three types of ground vehicles in common use on the majority of Federation planets. …/… The Federation law dealing with X-Tees was severe, as Dane well knew. Parts of the code, stripped of the legal verbiage, had to be memorized at the Pool. You could defend yourself against the attack of aliens, but on no provocation, except in defence of his life, could a Trader use a blaster or other weapon against an X-Tee.

Redline the Stars
Ch.6: Few worlds indeed among those first settled, before the advent of the Federation’s stringent pest control regulations, had been fortunate enough to escape a visit from the tough, incredibly adaptable rat, and where that colonizing species came it generally stayed.
Ch14: Specie or specie credit was always the preferred method of payment on any Federation planet, and the merchant was going to attempt to secure as much as he could.

Judgment on Janus
Ch17: You know the First Law—a world having an intelligent native population and a civilization can be given a choice: to join the Federation or warn off all contact.

Voorloper
Ch.8: No one would ever be able to penetrate [the Tangle]—not unless one of the huge hell-burst machines, which had long ago been outlawed for war on any Confederation or League world, could be found and brought her
Ch.11: There were no armies on Voor. My kind had never had to band together against a concrete and visible foe. I had never even seen any of the Patrol, the armed might of The Federation, except when once a cruiser on a routine outer fringe world flight had landed a squad at Portcity, mainly to pick up some records a disabled Survey ship had jettisoned there.

 

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REFERENCES TO:  “CONFEDERATION” AND “FEDERATION”:
Only VOORLOPER uses both terms in the same novel.

 

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REFERENCES TO:  COMBINE / COMPANIES / (LEAGUE OF) FREE TRADERS (as a Trade / Political union:)
Sioux Spaceman + Forerunner + Moonsinger + Voorloper
Solar Queen + Moonsinger + Zero Stones

The ‘League’ mentioned in Moonsinger cycle appears to refer to the ‘League of Free Traders,’ as a trade or political organization.  

Sargasso of Space I-S = Inter-Solar  (Solar Queen)
Ch1. The Companies had regular runs from one system to another. Their employees were always sure of a steady berth. They had the cream of Trade - Inter-Solar, The Combine, Deneb-Galactic, Falworth-Ignesti-     …/…The Combine was big, big enough to offer a challenge to Inter-Solar these past two years. They had copped a Federation mail contract from under I-S’s nose and pounded through at least one monopolistic concession on an inner system’s route.

Moon of Three Rings  (Moonsinger)
Ch.1: Those who do venture ever into the unknown—the First-in Scouts of Survey, the explorers, and not the least, the Free Traders who pluck a living from the fringes of the galaxy—to these it is a commonplace thing to discover that the legends and fantasies of one planet may be lightsome or grim truth on another world. For each new planet-fall brings its own mysteries and discoveries.  Which is perhaps too much of a pseudo-philosophic beginning for this account—save I know of no better, not being used to making more than trade reports for that repository of some very strange facts—the League of Free Traders. When a man tries to deal with the unbelievable, he finds it a fumbling business, in need of some introduction.
Ch.2: Usually Free Traders and Combine men do not mix. There was too much trouble in the past history we share, though nowadays things are better policed than they used to be. The League has a weighty hand and the Combine leaders no longer try to elbow out a Trader who can call upon such support. In the old days a one-ship Trader had no hope of fighting back.

Exiles of the Stars
Ch.1: And while a Free Trader may make an unpaying voyage once, a second such can put the ship in debt to the League.   …/…  the Lydis, being a Free Trader, could be trusted. For such was the Traders’ reputation that all knew, once under contract, we held by our word. To void such a bond was unthinkable. The few, very few times it had happened, the League itself had meted out such punishment as we did not care to remember.

Uncharted Stars
Ch4: Nowadays, since the Free Men have had their own confederation, combines can’t pull such tricks.

The Sioux Spaceman
Ch.1: Kade thought about the Styor as he sorted gear in his quarters, trying to be objective, not influenced by his personal dislike for the aliens. …/… The Styor had built their star empire long ago. Now it was beginning to crack a little at the seams. However, they still had galactic armadas able to reduce an enemy planet to a cinder, and they dominated two-thirds of the inhabited and inhabitable worlds. So far their might could not be challenged by the League. Thus there was an uneasy truce, the Policy, and trade.
Traders went where the Patrol of the League could not diplomatically venture. In the beginning of Terran galactic expansion some Styor lords had attempted to profit by that fact. Traders had died in slave pens, been killed in other various unpleasant ways. But the response of the Service had been swift and effective. Trade with the offending lord, planet or system had been cut off. And the Styor found themselves without luxuries and products which had become necessities.

Forerunner
Ch.7: “After all, it would be to their advantage to help a Histor-Techneer of the League. If they feared that we were such as to steal ancient treasure, they had our bonds and the assurance of the League itself that we were nothing of the kind.”  “This League of yours,” Simsa had given Zass a full half of her share of cake, having heard no hunting calls from the two who had taken to the sky overhead—“where is its city?”  “City? There is no one city. The League is a union of worlds, many worlds, like your union of Guild Masters in Kuxortal.”
Ch.12: My brother was no common man and the League and the Patrol keep their watch on all of us, especially when we come to hunt out Forerunner remains—or things X-Arth.  …/…  “There is one world in our League where all such finds are gathered to be studied. The race who live there—who are so long-lived a species that to them our oldest known are but infants—study these finds, try to learn.

Flight to Yiktor  (Moonsinger)
Ch.4: Beyond was a small Patrol skimmer, a messenger vessel which had landed only two days earlier with information for the local League council. …/… Yiktor is no major base, even now when the League plays more a role in her current history.

Voorloper
Ch.1: Colonists are a tough lot and people who are crowded off one of the League’s Chain Worlds do not have much choice, after all. There were two whole years after the Grove strike when there was no trouble at all. …/…
Then there was history—of the League, and of several different worlds. Later I began to see what they did have in common—Astra, and Arzor, and Kerdam, Slotgoth—they had all begun as Ag worlds—just like Voor. Only it turned out later that they had a lot of Forerunner remains on them—and some queer things had happened there as a result.
Ch.7: Voor had been the First-In Scout who had mapped this planet for the League and because he had been close to retirement, on his last out-range of exploration, it had been given his name.
Ch.8: No one would ever be able to penetrate [the Tangle]—not unless one of the huge hell-burst machines, which had long ago been outlawed for war on any Confederation or League world, could be found and brought her.

 

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REFERENCES TO:  FIRST-IN SCOUT  
Android + Janus + X-Factor + Voorloper

FIRST-IN SCOUT  Android + Janus + X-Factor + Voorloper

Android at Arms
Ch.3: why would Naul or Inyanga be stored at all unless they were both within easy cruising distance? Only a First-In Scout or a Patrol cruiser carried tapes on long voyages.

Storm over Warlock
Ch.7: Lorry was the First-In Scout who charted Warlock.

Judgment on Janus
Ch16+17. “I am Pate Sissions—First-In Scout of Survey.  …/… “But if Pate Sissions was the First-In Scout of Survey, then he must have landed here—”  “About a hundred and twenty planet years ago?” Torry nodded. “Yes.”

The X-Factor
Back cover: At this point in Norton's Council / Confederation universe, the job of discovering and exploring new planets - that of the First-In Scouts - is pretty much a closed occupation.

Voorloper
Ch.7: Voor had been the First-In Scout who had mapped this planet for the League and because he had been close to retirement, on his last out-range of exploration, it had been given his name.

 

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REFERENCES TO:  JACKS & GUILD OF THIEVES / THIEVES' GUILD
Solar Queen + Forerunner + X-Factor + Brother + Zero Stones + Moonsingers

Postmarked for the Stars / Redline for the Stars  (Solar Queen)
Ch8: “There’s nothing here to attract any poachers, jacks, or smugglers-or is there?”

Android at Arms
Ch.4: Normally the Jacks were the “peasants” of the crime confederation. They raided frontier worlds, selling the best of their loot to Guild fences. Now and then they were used by some Veep of the Guild for a project in which he needed easily discarded help.

Ordeal in Otherwhere / Forerunner Foray (Forerunner)
There might still be time to summon the Patrol to handle the Jacks and prove to the Wyverns that all off-worlders were  not alike.
Now [Waystar] was a meeting place for Jacks, those outlaws who raided sparsely settled planets and installations, and for the Guildmen, who bought the loot from such raids, or hired Jacks at times to carry out some ship plan of their own.

X-Factor
Saw party of three coming in—watched them from town lookout. The High One believes them to be Jacks.

Brother to Shadows
There are rumors of Jacks operating in the Alaban system.

Uncharted Stars (Zero Stones)
There was no use searching the wreckage. It was very plain that the raiders had found what they came for. But the wanton smashing was something I did not understand—unless Jacks were a different breed of thief from the calmly efficient Guild.

Exiles of the Stars (Moonsingers)
The Thieves’ Guild was powerful, as everyone knew. But they did not operate on the far rim of the galaxy. Theirs was not the speculation of possible gains from raiding on frontier planets. Those small pickings were left to the jacks. The Guild planned bigger deals based on inner planets where wealth gathered, drawn in from those speculative ventures on the worlds the jacks plundered. If jacks had dealings with the Guild it was only when they fenced their take with the more powerful criminals. But they were very small operators compared with the members of that spider web which was, on some worlds, more powerful than the law. The Guild literally owned planets.

X-Factor
Fur-brothers = sentient animal, companions of Forerunners.
Zacathan + human, exploring Xcothal Forerunner city on planet Mimir, ambushed by Jacks who want to loot their find.

Star Rangers:  8050 A.D.
So many unrealistic assumptions; completely incompatible with the other stories.
1. Why would they keep sending ships if none ever returned?
2. Colonization #s could not ever be large enough to drain a planet of billions (as if the stay-behinds would stop breeding …)
3. Why would colonization cause the stay-behinds to become primitive jungle dwellers?
4. a roll call as had not sounded in that chamber for four thousand years or more.
Star Guard ended ca. 4000 A.D.

Starfire left on her last trip 8050 A.D. and crashed on Earth where they find only abandoned cities and a few primitive nomadic tribes. They find the Hall of Leave-Taking where– according to legend - everyone who left Earth received their last instructions before take-off. Because no one ever returned, Earthy was drained of its adventurous people until only ‘unfit’ were left At the end the remaining humans and X-tees leave to ‘live in the wild’ to’ repopulate’ Earth.

This system is far off our maps—very far removed from all the benefits of our civilization!” The benefits of Central Control civilization, yes. Kartr blinked as that struck home. His own planet, Ylene, had been burnt off five years ago—during the Two-Sector Rebellion.

We fly here and there in ships which fall to pieces under us because there are no longer those with the knowledge and skill to repair them properly.

“Deneb, Sirius, Rigel, Capella, Procyon.” He did not realize it, but his voice was rising to a shout as if he were calling a roll—calling such a roll as had not sounded in that chamber for four thousand years or more. “Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, Pollux—”  “Terra of Sol—man’s beginning!”

the Hall of Leave-Taking. That was just a legend—”

“Was it?” asked Kartr. “But legends are not always fables.”

“And out there”—Dalgre pointed toward the doorway without turning his head from the dais—“is the Field of Flight!”

the waiting ships and blasted off into the unknown—never to return.

How long had it gone on, that gathering, that leave-taking? With no return. Long enough to drain Terra’s veins of life—until only those were left who were temperamentally unfitted to try for the stars? Was that the answer to the riddle of this half-and-half world?

“No return—” Rolth had picked that out of his thoughts somehow. “No return. So the cities died and even the memory of why this exists is gone. Terra!”

A long abandoned technological civilization on a green planet Earth with only nomadic primitive tribes, merely 4000 years after Star Guards = completely incompatible with other books that have Earth as the center of the Confederation planets until the 2-sector war.

Either: Star guard + star rangers are an independent ‘Central Control’ series;
Or: Star Guard fits, but Star Rangers does not.

Besides Star Guards & Star Rangers, Central Control is also in Council/Federation books:

Android at Arms (Ch.2)
Brother to Shadows (Ch.6+14+25)
Ordeal in Otherwhere (Ch.1) = Forerunner #2

Beast Master: a deadly blue, radioactive cinder.

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The End

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