Plot Summary
Roger is reluctantly persuaded by his mother to travel to Leviathan, a focal planet producing "grumbly oil" (used in commercial products such as colognes), to represent the royal family at a local celebration. Due to sabotage during the voyage, Roger, his battalion of bodyguards, his valet, his one time tutor and now chief of staff, and a small number of small craft pilots are forced to land on Marduk, a largely unknown planet that is only loosely a member of the Empire of Man. Marduk, an extremely humid and rainy planet, is home to a race of four-armed sentient amphibians referred to as Mardukans or Scummies, as well as a large number of hostile and deadly lifeforms.
Roger and the Bronze Barbarians (his marine bodyguards) travel across Marduk in order to find their way to an enemy controlled spaceport where they plan to steal a ship and return to civilization. Along the way Roger and his group are forced to make alliances with a succession of local polities of various societal archetypes ranging from hunter-gatherers to early gunpowder civilizations. The journey also allows the marines to see their prince in a new light, many startled to discover that their "foppish" charge is in fact a competent warrior, if severely lacking in real-world experience. Bodyguard Nimashet Despereaux is particularly taken with Roger after his more noble side is revealed, and Roger in turn with her, leading to a romantic relationship between the two.
Roger and a slowly dwindling number of bodyguards, supported by a growing group of Mardukan allies, eventually find their way to the spaceport and off the planet, but not before Roger learns that his siblings (and their families) have been killed and the galaxy at large believes that Roger himself was responsible. In fact Roger's biological father, the Duke of New Madrid, and his ally, Prince Jackson Adoula, have framed Roger for the crime, believing him dead. They have also taken the Empress captive, using a combination of cybernetic tampering, sexual slavery, and drugs to control the normally ironwilled Empress. The conspirators plan to put a son of New Madrid and the Empress, grown in an incubator, on the throne.
Roger and company return to Earth, set themselves up as restaurateurs, make contact with former members of the Empress's Own, and in the end successfully launch a counter-coup. With the Empress rescued, the fetus destroyed, and New Madrid in custody, Roger must cope with his mother's steadily disintegrating condition, a half-destroyed navy, rebuilding the palace, the line of succession, and the very real threat of civil war thanks to the escape of Jackson Adula. The fourth novel ends with the Empress abdicating the throne due to her condition, leaving Roger to reign as Emperor of the Throne of Man over an uncertain future.
Read more about this topic: Empire Of Man
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