Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover Series

Darkover Landfall

1,000 years after the original landfall settlement, society has returned to the feudal level. The Dakovans, their Terran technologies renounced or forgotten, have turned instead to free wheeling, out of control matrix technology, psi powers and terrible psi weapons. The populace lives under the domination of the Towers and a tyrannical breeding program to staff the Towers with unnaturally powerful, inbred gifts of laran.

Hawkmistress!

An age of war and strife retaining many of the decimating and disastrous effects of the Agesof Chaos. The lands which will later become the Seven Domains are devided by continuous border conflicts into a multitude of small, belligerent kingdoms, named for convenience "The Hundred Kingdoms." The close of this period is heralded by the adoption of the Compact, instituted by Varzil the Good. A landmark and turning point in the history of Darkover, the compact bans all distance weapons, making it a matter of honor that one who seeks to kill must face equal risk of death himself.

The Heirs of Hammerfell

During the Ages of Chaos and The Hundred kingdoms, there were two orders of women who set themselves apart from the patriarchal nature of Darkovan fuedal society: the priestesses of Avarra, and the warriors of the Sisterhood of the Sword. Eventually these two independent groups merged to form the powerful and legally chartered Order of Renunciates or Free Amazons, guild of women bound only by oath as a sisterhood of mutual responsibility. Their primary allegiance is to each other rather than to family, clan, caste or any man save a temporary employer. Alone among Darkovan women, they are exempt from the usual legal restrictions and protections. Their reason for existence is to provide the women of Darkover an alternative to their socially restrictive lives.

City of Sorcery

After the Hastur Wars, the Hundred Kingdoms are consolodated into the Seven Domains, and ruled by a hereditary aristocracy of seven families, called the Comyn, allegedly descended from the legendary Hastur, Lord of Light. It is during this era that the Terran Empire, really a form of confederacy, rediscovers Darkover, which they know as the fourth planet of the Cottman star system. The fact that Darkover is a lost colony of the Empire is not easily or readily acknowledged by Darkovans and their Comyn overlords.

Winds of Darkover

With the initial shock of recontact beginning to wear off, and the Terran spaceport a permament establishment on the outskirts of Thendara, the younger and less traditional elements of Darkovan society begin the first real exchange of knowledge with the Terrans - learning Terran science and technology and teaching Darkovan matrix technology in turn. Eventually Regis Hastur, the young Comyn lord most active in these exchanges, becomes regent in a provisional government allied to the Terrans. Darkover is once again reunited with its founding empire.

The Shadow Matrix

These volumes of short stories, edited by MZB, strive to "fill in the blanks" of Darkovan History and elaborate on the eras, tales and characters which have captured readers' imaginations. The ultimate in fan fiction!