The above illustration shows Darkover as the planet on the left with its four moons: Liriel, Kyrrdis, Irdriel and Mormallor. In the background is a representation of the Cottman red giant star.

During the early years of space exploration and colonization, Earth-based humans on their way to a new colony planet crash-land on Darkover, a planet which circles a red giant. They are unable to repair their ship and can not re-establish contact with Earth. The ethnic background of the colonists was mostly Celtic and Spanish, and this mix is reflected in the resultant blended culture(s). To increase the available gene pool and maximize the chances of colonial survival, the colonists intermarried extensively and produced as many children with as many different partners as possible. Psychic and psionic abilities were introduced through mutation, external stimulants, and/or interbreeding with the native chieri of the planet.

• Darkover Landfall (1972) - the first of the series, though not the first story published

A millennium after the original human settlement, society on Darkover has devolved to a feudal level. The Darkovans, as the inhabitants now call themselves, have abandoned Earth-made (Terran) technology and are instead hellbent on perfecting dangerous, psionically-based matrix technology. The Towers, remote settlements where those with exceptional psionic or laran abilities are housed and trained, dominate political and social life; and a strict breeding program to staff the Towers leads to those inbred for gifts of laran.

• Stormqueen! (1978)

A map of the habitable part of Darkover showing major settlements and landforms (Larger detailed version)

An age of war and strife retaining many of the decimating and disastrous effects of the Ages of Chaos. The lands which are later to become the Seven Domains are divided by continuous border conflicts into a multitude of small, belligerent kingdoms, named for convenience "The Hundred Kingdoms." The close of this era 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 himself face equal risk of death.

• Hawkmistress! (1982)
• Two To Conquer (1980)
• The Fall of Neskaya (2001 - with Deborah J. Ross) (book one of the Clingfire Trilogy)
• Zandru's Forge (2003 - with Deborah J. Ross) (Coincides with Hawkmistress!, as it includes Carolin's exile) (book two of the Clingfire Trilogy)
• A Flame in Hali (2004 - with Deborah J. Ross) (book three of the Clingfire Trilogy)
• The Heirs of Hammerfell (1989). Twins, last surviving heirs to a small mountain kingdom, during the Hundred Kingdoms period of Darkover history recover their kingdom and resolve a blood feud.

Not a Darkover era in itself, this refers to a subset of stories in the Darkover mythos, set at the beginning of the period of Recontact. Towards the end of the time of the Hundred Kingdoms a guild was founded, the Guild of Oath-Bound Renunciates (formed by the union of the priestesses of Avarra and an earlier warrior order, the Sisterhood of the Sword), whose members were often referred to by outsiders as Free Amazons. The Renunciates were women who renounced the traditional protections of women on Darkover in exchange for greater freedoms. They claimed no protection from men or clan, were oath-bound not to bear children for inheritance or pride, to treat all Renunciates as their sisters, and to not to be known by any man's name, be he father, brother, or husband. A Renunciate could marry under limited circumstance, but even then would not take her husband's name. Jaelle Aillard, one of the principal characters of "The Shattered Chain," "Thendara House, and "City of Sorcery," was known only by the name Jaelle n'ha Melora (Jaelle, "daughter of" Melora). Most women came to the Renunciate Guild only after terrible circumstances, such as continued abuses by men who were supposed to protect and cherish them. The Guild has a saying, "Every Renunciate has a story, and every story is a tragedy."

• The Shattered Chain (1976)
• Thendara House (1983)
• Oath of The Renunciates (1983) (omnibus of The Shattered Chain and Thendara House)
• City of Sorcery (1984)
• The Saga of the Renunciates (2002) (omnibus of The Shattered Chain and Thendara House and City of Sorcery)

Eventually the planet was (re-)discovered by a human space traveling civilization and a spaceport was established near Thendara, the only large city on Darkover.

To account for the apparent discrepancy between the length of (recorded) history on Darkover and the length of time that had passed for the rest of humanity, the author mentions that early FTL drives could cause dislocation in time as well as in space when mishaps occurred. Thus, the ship of the original colonists was not only thrown off course, but also backwards in time, allowing for the long history of Darkover to coexist with human history.

• Rediscovery (1993 - with Mercedes Lackey)
• The Spell Sword (1974)
• The Forbidden Tower (1977)
  (The second and third stories in The Shattered Chain fit here)
• Star of Danger (1965)
• Winds of Darkover (1970)

• The Bloody Sun (1979)
• The Heritage of Hastur (1975)
• The Planet Savers (1962)
• Sharra's Exile (1981) rewrite of and official replacement of The Sword of Aldones (1962)
• The World Wreckers (1971)
• The Hastur Lord (2010 - written by Deborah J. Ross)
• Exile's Song (1996 - with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
• Shadow Matrix (1998 - with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
• Traitor's Sun (1999 - with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
• The Alton Gift (2007 - written by Deborah J. Ross)