The Shattered Worlds Universe
The Princess Key takes place in a future where faster-than-light travel and other technological advances have enabled the Human race to meet up with people from far-flung worlds. The tales of the Shattered Worlds have only begun.
Introduction
The fictional universe which the Shattered Worlds trilogy inhabits is in a corner of the Milky Way galaxy. Most of the action taking place in The Princess Key is aboard a space station called The Hague, near a binary star system called Rasalhague, or Alpha Ophiuchi, located approximately fifty lightyears from Earth. All of this takes place in an indeterminable future.
To put this in perspective, the Milky Way galaxy is roughly 100,000 lightyears in diameter. The Interplanetary Association is about 100 lightyears across, with Earth’s Sol system at its approximate center. The nearest star to Sol (our sun) is Proxima Centauri, about 4.25 lightyears away. There are approximately 1400 star systems within 50 lightyears of Earth, comprising roughly 2000 stars. Not even 150 of these are visible from Earth with the naked eye.
The Hague space station is out at the farthest reaches of the Interplanetary Association, where the IA touches the Kra’Naghyr Empire and the Vasindi Trade Confederacy, as well as an area of space with planets unaffiliated with any larger political entities.
If you imagine this part of the galaxy to be arranged like a great pie, the IA would be the Southwest quadrant; the Kra’Naghyr Empire, the Northwest; the Vasindi Trade Confederacy, the Southeast; and the remaining quadrant being the unaffiliated territories. This entire region, roughly 200-250 lightyears across, is but a small corner of the larger galaxy. And yet, it is a vast region of space that has only been explored by Humans in the early 21st century via technologies like the Hubble and James Webb telescopes.
CIVILIZATIONS
Interplanetary Association (IA)
Earth, several Earth colonies, other regional inhabited worlds and significant outposts including (but not exclusive to): Faldan Prime, Thorus Prime, G’hrenaxis IV, Phendal, Brylaad, New Ontario, Cestus III, Xaz, New Rome, Deep Space Outpost DB-359 (The Hague), DB-312 (Qabla), DB-207 (Ploxi), Defense Force Station 136, and many others.
The IA is administered as a democratic republic. All member states contribute to mutual defense and send representatives to the central government (located in London, Earth), which focuses on dispute resolution within the Association and diplomacy beyond it. The IA Constitution regulates trade, defense, and a few mutually agreed-upon standards, like the illegality of slavery and a common currency. States are otherwise independent.
Vasindi Trade Confederacy (VTC)
Vasin, Joval, Tannus IV, Leneria, and associated colonies. The Confederacy is little more than a mutual trade agreement. The VTC takes a percentage of all transactions and provides protection and administrative services to the member worlds.
Kra’Naghyr Empire
Kra, Koroman II and III, Cro’Del, associated colonies and outposts. Absolute monarchy. Everything within the Empire is considered the property of the Royal Naghyr family.
Unaffiliated Worlds
Varn, Dholam, Qaalam, Ta-Fuu, Skelte, Mordal, Rynaxx, Szelur, Ho-Krani, Pilibar, Canthrakus, Jorasamus III, Krennim, Sybia, K’horal, Karaman Republic, Ey’evar Prime, Vinarus.
Rynaxx
Ruled by Regent Phri-tar IV. Absolute monarchy controlling one solar system in unaffiliated territory.
Qaalamite Consortium
A crime syndicate, operating mostly in unaffiliated space. One of their biggest business enterprises is a vast network of marketplaces that they administrate.
Brylaadi
Reptilian. Slightly smaller than Humans. Thin tail. Several rows of small, sharp teeth.
Cro’Del
The Cro’Delian written language resembles Russian Cyrillic. They have one eye in the middle of their chest and roughly a dozen, give or take, articulated limbs that act as arms and legs, hands and feet.
Dholamite
A lot like Humans, but blue, with slight telepathic abilities, accessible through touch. Green blood. Robust healing processes; can even grow back limbs. 1 Dholamite year = 1.618 Earth Standard years.
G’hrenaxi
G’hrenaxis IV has a rigid caste system in which the lower castes were slaves to the upper. They had to outlaw slavery to join the Association. Homeworld of the D’jen Bartuu corporation, a manufacturer of space stations.
Gha’voor
Strong telepaths. Used by the Qaalamite Consortium for interrogation. Small, pale brown humanoids. No sense of smell or taste.
Graal
Large creatures who live in open space. Their digestive tract is also their propulsion system.
Ho-Krani
Basically humanoid but with no eyes. Acute hearing, smell. Long tails, with 3-6 tendrils coming from the base of their skull. All these can smell, taste, and grip.
Human
Anybody reading this should know what Humans are. If you don’t, welcome to Earth.
K’horalan
Humanoid. Strong, athletic, aggressive, intelligent. Duplicate internal organs, sharp teeth, and pointed ears.
Lenerian
Pear-shaped, gray-skinned, short legs, with feathers instead of hair. Sharp, serrated teeth.
Molekk
Tall, strong, and tough. Not very intelligent. Popular as thugs and bodyguards. Stature and physique of a grizzly bear but a more reptilian face. Sharp nose and eyes on the sides of their head. Hair thick and dark. Fangs that could be venomous, according to rumor.
Mordalan
The females are plant-based lifeforms with three arms, legs, and eyes. The eyes turn color relative to their emotions; red for angry, blue for happy. The males are insectoid, resembling large honeybees.
Phendalin
Short and broad, bipedal. Voice sounds like they’re gargling.
Qaalamite
Humanoid, purple, no hair, impervious to telepathy.
Rynaxxian
Bipedal, basically humanoid, but with a thick exoskeleton and hooves.
Skelten
Humanoid. Short, dark maroon skin, orange teeth. Excellent shipbuilders and entrepreneurs.
Sybian
Humanoid. Amphibious. Webbed fingers and toes. Very intellectual.
Ta-Fuu
Short and squat, usually less than four feet tall, with very thick, wrinkly skin. Their skeletons are elastic. They are able to stretch themselves to almost ten feet.
Thorian
Extremely tall and thin. They average over seven feet tall, but actually weigh less than the average Human. Marriage is between three or more.
Varnian
Tall, thick set, covered with thick, rough, green fur, very aggressive. They are intelligent but not very creative. Purple blood.
Vasindi
Arachnoid. Highly intelligent. Sometimes referred to simply as Vas.
Vinaran
Symbiotic species: humanoid host, insectoid symbiont, like a big tick. Symbiont attaches at the base of the host’s spine and recesses into their body.
Xaz – pronounced “Zazz”
A flattish blob about a meter in diameter and 2/3 meter high, with 7-12 strong, flexible appendages poking out around their perimeter, allowing them to move about, handle tools, etc. Mouth is on their underside. Each Xaz is both male and female. They cannot get themselves pregnant, but two can get each other pregnant. Their only form of communication is tactile telepathy via physical touch. Their surface color varies, like Humans’. They have no blood.
Yam
Appears Human in their current form but are not. Only two are known to exist: one male, one female. They merge to regenerate, forming one being that glows with a bright, white light. Yams have no blood, organs, or even cells.
RELIGION
Religion: The Uncaused Cause
Most organized religions in the region are monotheistic, sharing a belief that one single intelligent and all-powerful supreme being created the universe and everything in it. Each culture has come up with their own name for this being.
To outsiders, the religious beliefs of the Humans from Earth might appear to be poly-theistic with different sub-cultures making reference to Yahweh, Allah, God, Vishnu, etc. On closer examination it seems these refer mainly to the same being, although different systems of belief often disagree on its personality traits.
On other worlds, belief systems have eventually evolved to be more unified in structure and expression, often focusing on one attribute. The Dholamites, for instance, refer to the creator of the universe as “The Great and Holy All-Seeing Eye,” referring to their belief that the creator is aware of everything at all times.
Each culture has developed their own name for this being:
- Thorian – Elion (which translates into Association Standard as “Master Builder,” the creator and provider of all).
- Sybian – T’opi (The Center).
- K’horalan – El’sho-hem (Origin and Provider).
- Vinaran – simply, the Deity/Creator.
- Ho-Krani – Zo-saan. This name remains shrouded in mystery, but the Priests of Zo-saan has a long history of influence on their world. This priesthood’s teachings are roughly consistent with those of most other systems.
There is a pattern of belief across cultures that of the universe’s origin came from a single entity that created the entire universe and everything in it, with no influence besides its own imagination. Most belief systems—but not all—also believe that the creator holds great and limitless affection for their creation, along with a vast enough intellect to be constantly aware of everything.
This also includes a desire to communicate with the sentient, sapient beings it created. These names are generally regarded as the name of a person, not an office, position or description. This being didn’t become T’opi, or Allah, or The Eye; it’s simply who they are.
Some cultures, like the Qaalamites, reject any thought of the supernatural. Others, like the Vasindi, accept the likelihood of an intelligently-driven originating event for the universe, but have no desire to seek out or attempt to communicate with the originating force.
Among the cultures of the region that embrace poly-theism, the chief of these would be Rynaxx. In their belief system, every individual force within nature has a personality. As their science has progressed, the list of “gods” has become long and complex.
For example, if the topic under study is a person’s circulatory system, a medical professional’s task is to achieve a balance between the gods of the heart, the veins, the arteries, the bone marrow, the capillaries, and so forth. This balance isn’t found through appeals to the supernatural personalities in play, but in the manipulation of the patient/subject’s physical being. In the end, credit for healing—or blame for failure—rests with the appropriate gods, not the doctors.
On the subject of sin and salvation, there is a wide variety of thought on the subject. There are a handful of belief systems that have an idea of the creator as a person who is always watching for any action by any of their creatures that displeases them. Presumably, with an eye toward punishing them.
Much more common is the belief that the creator loves their creation; much as how a painter loves their painting, a composer loves their music, etc. This person has created a universe with limitless possibilities and populated it with people that have limitless potential. There is wide speculation on the creator’s reasoning behind this artistic expression, but it seems unlikely that anyone will truly know until they eventually leave the physical universe and become fully part of the supernatural one.
In regard to sin, it’s widely held that not everything that can be done within this realm of limitless possibility is a, for lack of a better term, good thing to do. As an ancient Earth teacher, Paul of Tarsus, once put it; everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.
The creator has made this clear on many levels. For instance, constant and indiscriminate consumption of foodstuffs can lead to a wide variety of potentially fatal health issues for any creature. These implicit restrictions would also apply on the emotional and spiritual levels. The idea of do-this-not-that is assumed to be built into the universe from the start.
As an example, humility and generosity are generally regarded on both a personal and societal level to be superior to pride and greed. Even poly-theistic and atheistic cultures have found this to be true. While being motivated by pride and greed might produce material gains in the short term, the final results can be quite the opposite.
This reinforces the belief that the creator’s primary motivation in all things is love. There is even a historical record from Earth (the New Testament) of an occasion in which the creator himself took on the form of a Human, lived a life that never moved outside of the creator’s preferred guidelines, and then surrendered their life in a display of violent persecution; the sole purpose being, to repay the implied spiritual debt of all sin, everywhere, for all time.