Some background information about my sci-fi YA series Terminus…
Most sentient races in the Shoreless Sea have the same humanoid appearance. Their worlds were seeded in prehistoric times by the Primary, the first race to evolve in this part of the galaxy. They created man in their own image before passing away themselves. Almost every race within the Great Alliance looks the same. The Somontrans are the oldest and most advanced race within the GA. A subset of their species are “Royals” born with superhuman strength, speed, and flight. Higher level Royals also have telepathy.
There are two major “alien” races surviving today in the Shoreless Sea. To the west are the Baraki. Their skin color hues run from blue to purple. They are taller and thinner than normal human stock with a greatly elongated crest and chin giving their heads a crescent moon appearance. Their religion and culture is steeped in combat and honorable death. They believe they must earn reincarnation with a good death, leading to a violent culture constantly warring with their neighbors. The Baraki Empire cannot afford to feed itself and must look to its neighbors for food, usually by force.
They are bordered by the GA and the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is a militarily weak power incapable of defending themselves from the Baraki. They rely upon the GA for military aid and their own policy of MAED; Mutually Assured Economic Destruction. Their farm worlds are laced with bombs; if the Baraki should try to conquer a planet, the CW will salt the earth. The GA is also reliant upon the CW for agricultural trade, forcing the GA to defend their neighbor. These three powers exist in a fragile détente regularly ruined by Baraki incursions. Since every generation must find their honor, every decade or so the Baraki inevitably go to war with the Great Alliance.
To the east are the Ronains, the greatest threat to the GA. Their technology is millennia ahead of the Somontrans’ and their navy outnumbers the GA ten to one. From the moment they first encountered this part of the Shoreless Sea, the Ronains have threatened all with extermination. Three hundred years ago they fought a terrible war ending in a stalemate only because of the first generation of Royals. But as the Royal population grew over generations, their individual power diluted. The Royals of today are not capable of the great feats of their ancestors. And the GA is not even close to closing the technological gap. The Ronains have promised to wipe the GA from existence and they have the means to do so. The question only remains of when that dark day will fall.
Ever since the war ended the Ronains have continued to strike GA worlds. They massacre a small section then simply withdraw as if nothing happened. The GA does not have the strength to respond to these bloody raids. Political parties differ on how to respond; ignore them? Fight them? Meanwhile, every soul on the eastern border worlds of Sov Sector has lost someone to the Ronains. And there is a conspiracy plotting to do something about it…
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