The Fantastic Conquerors series


The Fantastic Conquerors is the first Philippe Ebly's series, beginning in 1971. It is also the longest, with 19 novels. It was first published in the famous Bibliothèque Verte collection, then partially reprinted by Degliame Publishing. In the 1990s, some titles were rewritten and actualized by Philippe Ebly himself and reprinted in the Bibliothèque Verte collection.

The novels

Some titles were translated in Spanish, Japanese, German, and in Mandarin.

Roleplaying gamebook

  • Robots Mountain
  • Octopus Island
  • Red Planet

The characters

The main characters are three teenagers that could be seen as only one character with three components: Understanding, Insight, Strength. Raoul and Marc were two brothers that soon left the series: without real personalities, they were mainly acted as the candid ones. Souhi was the female teenager that appeared very lately in the series. She never really made the cut in the male team, and is still considered as a flat guest.
  • Serge Daspremont : a French teenager that got abducted in the United States and was left to die in the Yucatán Desert. He escaped and met...
  • Xolotl : a Mexican teenager. Being an orphan and having just lost a twin brother, Xolotl was desperate and wanted to fly away from every painful memory. Serge persuaded his father to adopt Xolotl because Serge didn't want him to stay alone in Mexico.
  • Thibaut De Chalus : is also a teenager, son of a French Duke. The Duke was mortally wounded during the siege of his castle by Richard Lion's Heart and asked his son to escape the siege. Thibaut reluctantly accepted, but he was chased and fall into a glowing and very cold pit. When he woke up he met Serge who pretended to be his friend. Thibaut escaped, but discovered later that Serge and Xolotl were indeed his only friends in a very strange land, and that his former life and land and time were no more.
  • Raoul Forestier
  • Marc Forestier
  • '''Souhi'''

Functions

As in many stories for the young readers, less important characters often seem to perform a function rather than to act as full 3D individuals. There are archetypes that can easily be sorted.
The Scholar
The more blatant illustration of this is The Scholar. It is often a scientist, the one that knows and delegate, order the mission. In many novels, this role is fulfilled by Professor Auvernaux, who can be labelled as a father figure for Serge, Xolotl and Thibaut. If Professor Auvernaux isn't in the story, his function will be performed by a duplicate, as in The Ship That Sailed Back through Time, or in The Dawn of The Dinosaurs.
  • Professor Auvernaux
  • Professor Lorenzo
  • Doctor Danielle
  • Professor Mouret
  • Professor Martigny
The Little One
Also often found in the novels is the Little One. Sometime this function will be performed by a boy, like Gaius in The Flash That Erased It All, or Christian in The Starshipwrecked.
  • Gaius
  • Silou
  • Bruno
The Implied Adversary
The Implied Adversary would intervene as an obstacle in the quest. This one can turned into the Unexpected Ally before the end of the adventure. It is quite outstanding that three main characters like Xolotl, Thibaut and Souhi fulfilled this role when they first appeared in the series.
  • Sandro
  • Tenes
The Vector
The Vector is the thing that would urge the heroes into their new quest. It can be used purposely but also used inadvertently. The Vector in the Fantastic Conquerors it is always a kind of technological miracle, but in the twin series The Time Castaways, it would be a supernatural way or medium.
The Purpose
The purpose is the target of the mission. The mission can be either a circular quest or a linear quest.
These narrative features can be also found in the two other Ebly's series, The Time Runaways and The 4003 Patrol, even if their universes are less developed.