Planet of Adventure

The novels relate the adventures of the scout Adam Reith, the sole survivor of an Earth ship investigating a signal from the distant planet Tschai.

In addition, there are humans, captured and brought to the planet long ago by one of the spacefaring species; some of them live as slaves or servants of each of the alien races, while others have managed to create their own societies.

The birdlike, or feline, predatory Dirdir had warred with the Chasch and the Wankh in the past, but on Tschai maintain an uneasy peace due to their relative military parity.

The amphibious Wankh (or Wannek) are comparatively recent arrivals and had warred with the Dirdir in the past, but subsided into an uneasy peace due to their relative military parity.

The vast teeming planet, with its clashing civilizations and wildly varying cultures, affects Reith to the point that he realizes that if he succeeds in returning to Earth, his life will seem dull and colourless in comparison.

Reith acquires two faithful human companions in the course of his travels: Traz Onmale, the dour, proud boy-chieftain of a nomad tribe obsessed with emblems, and Ankhe at Afram Anacho, a renegade Dirdirman who is loquacious, fastidious and flamboyant.

Anacho and Traz play lesser roles in the fourth book, which chronicles Reith's adventures in the underground world of the Pnume, and subsequently on the surface with the rescued Pnumekin woman Zap 210.

The Planet of Adventure setting and characters have also been translated into the form of a paper-and-pencil roleplaying game in the GURPS system.

[1] A French comic adaptation in eight volumes of the books by Li-An (drawings) and Jean-David Morvan (story) was published by Delcourt from 1998 to 2008.