I have gone back and forth a lot trying to decide how to write this. I want it to be interesting and exciting, but I also want it to be informative. It might be fun to write a thousand different summaries for my book, but then you never really learn anything. By their very nature that would always give you just enough to be interested without really revealing anything.
I could of course wrap it all together into a single narrative, But then you might as well just read the book. Which of course you should, but you may have to wait until it is realized to do that. (Make sure you subscribe to the page to get updates on pre-order information and in-store availability.) Anyways I have decided to just go with the ‘get it out there’ approach. Hopefully you will find it informative, and that it will stand on its own to get you intrigued and interested.
Summary:
Seph takes place in the territory of The Alliance of Powers, an organization formed around a treaty signed
Seph takes place in the territory of The Alliance of Powers, an organization formed around a treaty signed by the three primary government bodies nearly three thousand years before the events of the story . These are presented as The Fingalin Empire, The Federation, and The Dra’kor Coalition. Which loosely represent the three races who populate the known galaxy.
All three races originated on the planet Vinge, which has been all but destroyed by the war which ultimately resulted in the creation of The Alliance. After which the three primary races took to the stars to establish their own worlds and cultures as they saw fit.
The Fingal, a primarily aquatic race dominated the fields of technological advancement, quickly claiming and controlling many of the core worlds and their vital resources, gaining them vast amounts of both economic and political power.
The Drak’or, a race characterized by their gray skin and red eyes, shunned the use of most technology, content to live simple and peaceful lives fell into political obscurity and were quickly pushed to the fringes of society.
The Corporations scooped up anyone caught in between these polarized ideologies and fostered a culture of consumerism and facilitating trade and commerce between worlds. And expanding terraforming efforts forward across the known galaxy.
While there are many religions represented within The Alliance, there are two primarily discussed. The Descendants, a powerful organization who worship the goddess Vyanna and possess extraordinary technologies that defy conventional understanding. And Vhast, the ancestral religion of the Drak’or who teach moderation and simplicity. Encouraging practitioners to seek personal balance and harmony with the universe at large.
The Fingalin Empire:
The Fingalin Empire controls most of the core worlds contained within what is often referred to as the circle. It is almost three thousand light years in diameter and is encircled by the largest artificial space structure in existence. A barrier known as The Fence which contains within it the hyper rail. A train network that connects the four massive space stations which serve as customs for travel in between the circle and the ring.
Of the nine habitable worlds within the circle, the empire controls six. Most prominent among them being Celaria, the empire’s capital. The remaining eight are Atlione, Gravima, Lustriar, Cortium, and Kessia. In addition to these worlds the Empire also controls. Orrantana and Whuia in the ring.
The Fingal:
The Fingal are a tall and lean race with predominantly pale white skin. Many of them have colorful accents such as stripes or spots, particularly around the edges of their fins, eyes, and backs. Fingalians with pure white skin, and deep purple accents are regarded as especially pure blooded, a concept their society is obsessed with, considering racial purity to be an individuals most important feature. Many of them believe that they are the inheritors of a divine right to rule over the other races of the galaxy, which has been one of the primary points of contention throughout their history.
As an aquatic race, fingalians must keep themselves extremely well hydrated, needing to submerge themselves in water completely for several hours each day. This is often accomplished during sleeping periods. Though technically amphibious, fingalians can, and many do, spend their entire lives under water.
Their gills are positioned just below their jaw bone towards the front of their necks. They have large fan-like fins on their forearms and legs, with smaller fins connected behind their long pointed ears, and two dorsal fins running along their backs. When not using them, A fingal can collapse their fins by wrapping them around their respective body parts.
Male fingal do not grow any body hair, while females grow translucent feather like hairs from the base of each of their fins. All fingalins have blue eyes, legends say this is because when the planet Vinge was destroyed the goddess scooped out it’s oceans and put them into the eyes of The Fingal.
The Federation:
The federation controls most, if not all, of the trade in the known galaxy. Of the nine planets in the circle they control Zekal and Ven. Both planets were abandoned by The Fingal because of the absence of significant surface water.
The planets controlled by The Federation in the ring are Dramia, Aundreus, Frehb, Destune, Parrayso, Trinum, Newtopia, Metsaun, Yeltash, and Gesh. Though unlike The Fingalin Empire, the Federation rarely represents the interests of a single organization.
The primary forces that control The Federation are: The unions which consisted of The Engineering Corps, The Trade Commission, The Mining guild, The Terraforming Guild, The Banking Union, and loosely, The Coterie of Mercenaries.
Though The Federation controlled sectors mostly represented the interests of humans in the beginning, it was definitely the most diverse segment of The Alliance. Many humans chose to align themselves with either the Empire or the Coalition, and many Drak’or and Fingal settled on federation controlled worlds.
Humans in the alliance:
Humans within The Alliance appear mostly as what we would consider to be of southern Mediterranean descent, with darker, olive skin tones, dark hair, and predominantly brown or green eyes. While this is the norm, humans do appear across the racial spectrum. Full humans who would be generally considered aryan, with blond hair and blue eyes, are especially rare. Though all humans with fingalin blood manifest these traits.
Commonly humans with drak’or blood tend to lean either towards appearing more drak’or or more human. Although it is not unheard of to see crossover traits such as a humans who have red eyes, or a Drak’or with green eyes.
It is important to note that without cross breeding, racial diversity still occurs within humans just as it does in the other races.
The Drak’or coalition and the outer colonies:
The coalition exists as a governing body solely for the purpose of giving the hundreds of smaller Drak’or factions a voice in galactic political matters. Unlike the Empire and the Federation, there are no planetary governments in The Coalition, which represent a ring of planets around the very edge of The Alliance’s territory.
Each of the planets in the coalition are instead controlled by a collection of city states ruled by their own magistrate, each with their own varying degree of commitment or devotion to their version of Vhast.
The Coalition has very little economic power, offering no unique technologies outside of their expert craftsmanship of blades, which the other governments do not consider to have many practical applications. And physical labor, which also has limited value outside of the outer colonies because of the general stigma around the excessive use of technology.
The Federation has spent a great deal of resources in trying to recapture segments of The Coalition, exploiting them for cheap labor, and keeping them reliant on their assistance. Employing sub-par terraforming efforts, leaving many of their worlds nearly uninhabitable.
The most significant planet in the outer colonies is Theyes, which hosts The Coalitions capital. The governing body which controls it is derived from delegate representatives from each of the city states. Each magistrate uses his own method for choosing a delegate, many choosing to serve as their own, thus making it difficult to ever gather the full quorum.
Drak’or
The Drakor as a race are defined by their grey skin ranging in shades from light ash to onyx or obsidian. All Drakor have red eyes, though the vary greatly in both hue and saturation, with some appearing as a pale pink with others almost becoming a burnt or dull orange.
While most of the species had red or white hair, Black hair is occasionally seen. Shades of brown and yellow are never found in full drakor as all of the pigmentation in their hair and eyes appear in densities of red.
Of all the races Drak’or vary the most widely in height, some standing almost as tall as fingalians, while others remain quite short in comparison. It is also not uncommon to see drak’or with much broader builds.
Drak’or who have fingal blood develop white scars on their bodies in the places where fins would grow on a fingal, and often cause the skin to lean towards lighter shades of grey.
Most Drak’or practice the religion of Vhast to some degree, even if only through meditative techniques during emotionally tumultuous times. Even those who distance themselves from teachings against technology, and fully embrace the modern world, tend to take a great deal of pride in their cultural heritage. Much of which is tied up in the ceremonies and rituals of the religion.
Vhast:
The religion of Vhast is primarily a philosophical ideology, with no central deity. Though there are magistrates who teach a form of polytheism, with gods who represent the ancestral forces, generally considered to be the tides, seasons, justice, and wrath.
The primary tenet of the religion is balance of self, often referred to as Rek’ah and O’rah, meaning mind and body. The ultimate goal of it’s practitioners being to attain total harmony with the universe referred to as Ve’o
The most simple demonstration of balance is the removing of excess, and the use of all things in moderation. This ironically is oftentimes taken to an extreme causing many drak’or to shun as much technology as possible.
The indulgence in magic is considered the most heinous sin, taken from a teaching that it was the use of magic which destroyed the planet of origin. The modern interpretation of this is the use of technology as it is seen to be magical. Many of the more moderate followers of the faith believe this means that any time the extraordinary becomes mundane, you have over indulged. The more fierce of the believers fear this kind of thinking allows for the justification that as long as I am grateful, I am not over indulging, a philosophy they feel is in error believing that even the appearance of indulgence is evil.
The Order of the Descendants:
Otherwise known as The Descendants, The Order qualifies as one of the controlling forces of the galaxy, in many ways constituting its own government body outside of the control of the alliance.
The deity of The Order is the goddess Vyanna, who is said to have saved the three traces from the destruction of Vinge when it collapsed. As well as providing the means for them to begin inhabiting other worlds.
Their doctrine is derived from a series of sacred texts known collectively as the Words of Eclipse. Which have been kept by declared prophets from the time of the cataclysm onward. Their primary tenet is to foster peace, and sow love and patience.
As such the religion has devoted extraordinary humanitarian efforts, in the form of building schools, hospitals and libraries throughout the galaxy. Providing welfare efforts alongside their ministry.
Despite these efforts, there remains a great deal of animosity towards the religion as a whole. They are the sole possessors of extremely powerful technology which defies modern science, giving them the greatest military power in the galaxy.
While many outside of the religion disagree with so much power laying in the hands of, what can oftentimes be describes a zealots, the presence of The Order has served to maintain the delicate balance of The Alliance across the millennia.
E. Sandborn 