His exploration ship blasted from orbit, Terran scout Adam Reith is stranded on Tschai, a world colonized by three alien species -- the Chasch, the Dirdir, and the Wannek -- while the planet's original inhabitants, the mysterious Pnume, lurk underground. In the first book of the four-volume cycle, Reith falls in with a barbaric tribe of free humans, each weirdly ruled by the hereditary symbolic badge he wears. To recover his wrecked scout craft, he embarks on a perilous journey to the decadent Chasch city of Dadiche, accompanied by Traz, a teenage barbarian, Anacho, an escaped slave of the...

His exploration ship blasted from orbit, Terran scout Adam Reith is stranded on Tschai, a world colonized by three alien species -- the Chasch, the Dirdir, and the Wannek -- while the planet's original inhabitants, the mysterious Pnume, lurk underground. In the second book of the four-volume cycle, Reith sets out with Traz, a teenage barbarian, Anacho, an escaped slave of the birdlike Dirdir, and Ylin-Ylan, a princess rescued from a brutal cult, to return Ylin-Ylan to her distant homeland. When the plan fails, the group is enmeshed in an old and sinister conspiracy. The plotters see only...

His exploration ship blasted from orbit, Terran scout Adam Reith is stranded on Tschai, a world colonized by three alien species -- the Chasch, the Dirdir, and the Wannek -- while the planet's original inhabitants, the mysterious Pnume, lurk underground. In the fourth and final book of the cycle, Reith's plans to leave Tschai are foiled by the treachery of Aila Woudiver, who delivers him into the clutches of the subterranean-dwelling Pnume. Reith escapes, and teaming with a young and reluctant Pnumekin woman, embarks on an odyssey through a somber labyrinth of tunnels and underworld...