Age of Exploration Series by C.J. Cherryh

Lancelot, Elaine, Percivale, Gawain, Modred--created people, cloned to suit the purposes of their opulent owner aboard the Maid, a fantasy of a spaceship. They live in a kind of dream--until they face a crisis they were never designed to master.

Two voyages, two ships. One had been en route for over a hundred thousand years, was the size of an asteroid, its launch site beyond the trace of any man-made telescope, and its crew an enigma. The other ship had been out of Endeavor Station just a few months, was a tiny ore-prospector with a crew of three: Rafe, Paul, and Paul's wife Jillan. The two ships were on a collision course which neither could avoid in time... moreTwo voyages, two ships. One had been en route for over a hundred thousand years, was the size of an asteroid, its launch site beyond the trace of any man-made telescope, and its crew an enigma. The other ship had been out of Endeavor Station just a few months, was a tiny ore-prospector with a crew of three: Rafe, Paul, and Paul's wife Jillan. The two ships were on a collision course which neither could avoid in time. The three humans were the first of their species the masters of the monster had encountered, and now two were already dead and one was dying. But that could be remedied -- and was, multifold. less

In Port Eternity: Their names were Lancelot, Elaine, Percivale, Gawain, Mordred, Lynette, and Vivien, and they were made people, clone servants who worked aboard The Maid, an anachronistic fantasy of a spaceship... moreIn Port Eternity: Their names were Lancelot, Elaine, Percivale, Gawain, Mordred, Lynette, and Vivien, and they were made people, clone servants who worked aboard The Maid, an anachronistic fantasy of a spaceship. They had no idea of their origins, from those old storytapes of romance, chivalry, heroism, and betrayal, until a ripple in the space-time continuum sucked The Maid and her crew into a no-man’s-land from which there could be no return, and they were left alone to face a crisis which their ancient prototypes were never designed to master…. In Wave Without a Shore: Freedom was an isolated planet, off the main spaceways and rarely visited by commercial spacers. It wasn’t that Freedom was inhospitable, the problem was that outsiders—tourists and traders—claimed that the streets were crowded with mysterious blue-robed aliens. Native-born humans, however, denied that these aliens existed—until a planetary crisis forced a confrontation between the question of reality and the reality of the question…. In Voyager in Night: Rafe Murray, his sister Jillian, and Jillian’s husband Paul Gaines, like many other out-of-luck spacers, had come to newly-built Endeavor Station to find their future. Their tiny ship, Lindy, had been salvaged from the junk heap, and fitted to mine ore from the mineral-rich rings which circled Endeavor. But their future proved to be far stranger than any of them imagined, when a “collision” with a huge alien vessel provided them with the oddest first contact experience possible! less

They named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different. Yet he was of their power class: judge-warriors, the elite, the fighters, the defenders.Thorn knew that his difference was somehow very important - but not important enough to prevent murderous conspiracies against him, against his protector, against his castle, and perhaps against the peace of the world... moreThey named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different. Yet he was of their power class: judge-warriors, the elite, the fighters, the defenders.Thorn knew that his difference was somehow very important - but not important enough to prevent murderous conspiracies against him, against his protector, against his castle, and perhaps against the peace of the world. But when the crunch came, when Thorn finally learned what his true role in life was to be, that on him might hang the future of two worlds, then he had to stand alone to justify his very existence. less