Stories

One of the precepts of this work is that, in the establishment of colonies, there was much diversity. The lottery for an arkship mixed groups from different cultures, and in the boiling pot of a planetary colony, old ways were bent, adapted, or discarded to the demands of survival. The result could be, after several hundred years away from the canonical influences of Earth, what generously could be called a jumble. The stories show how small groups of colonists would build cultures unique to the challenges faced.

Mayana’s Hunt – Locale: Timora

Mayana as a teenager faces her people’s deadliest threat and in the process, adds the fore-fang of a great lizard to her maiden’s knot. This story showcases the dangers of Timoran life as well as some of the undercurrents driving the fight for survival: reproduction is key, polygamy is accepted, if not popular, and basic biology dictates men take the front line for defense. That doesn’t stop Mayana…

 

A Vignette in the Graveyard – Locale: Timora

On a sunny afternoon, the truant Varda happens across Mayana in the graveyard. This scene is back in the MS. It gives insight into customs which were developed in this colony gone wrong. We also set up the essential tragedy of Mayana’s life on Timora — an outcast, marked by her eye color as the fruit of sin (adultery).