NEW! Drive Act 4: Hardcover

All the major pieces are in place for a tripartite war between Earth, the Continuum, and the Vinn.

El Segundo Imperio Español, having pulled its fleets back to defend the core system around Tierra, is building ships as fast as it can. During this period of retrenchment, the major human power centers have stayed intact. The Emperor, La Familia, IndústriaGlobo, and the Jinyiwei have all maintained the bulk of their power, in part by letting some distant power centers go “unmanaged” during this time of trial.

The Continuum of Makers is facing existential threats both from without and from within. A tribunal of Colegium elders seek to judge their greatest living Maker, Ahmis, for having birthed a Spirit that is itself a Maker. All the while, a new power is appearing on the outer fringes of Continuum space, as minor Maker science colonies fall to advancing vanguards of Vinn.

The Vinn themselves are on the move, conquering larger and larger areas of space. And we’re only just beginning to learn what drives them.

The remnant Grasskans, having destroyed their 3,500-year old empire with the Grasskan Nightfall device rather than succumb to the Vinn, are continuing to settle on Saseet. New Grasskan refugees arrive each day, and are immediately put to work building ships for El Imperio. In trade, the Emperor has promised them the planet Saseet at the successful conclusion of the war.

With the Empire’s fleets pulled back, the human colonies of Las Hermanitas are enjoying their first taste of self-rule in their history. Using new ringship plans distributed by Los Tres Primos, these rebels are primed to start building their own ships outside of Imperial control.

The Fillipods have also come into working plans for a ring drive, and have built their first working FTL ship. Thankfully, it hasn’t kept them from holding the annual “Take-a-Chance, Do-That-Dance” Dance-Off that’s held in the capital. (First prize: Bespoke caps.)

The inscrutable, highly creative Nyx have themselves just been shown the plans for the Cruz Drive, courtesy of their Fillipod guests. A technological turning point that may prompt an entirely new answer to the question, “What’s new on Du Fu?”

The brutish Tesskans are now just a remnant species on Tesskil and various planets across El Imperio. But one group of Tesskans is a notable exception, having commandeered the largest ship ever built: the SPARK OF THOUGHT.

The Sill were once an unimaginably vast Empire that spanned the galaxy. But now, their remnant Monks of Yanta are dying, dying, dying. The only Type-2 Kardashev civilization that the Milky Way ever produced, the Sill are now wordlessly fading away in the ecstasy of The Quiet.

The Qen are now in the third year of their rebellion against the Empire, and will soon begin taking advantage of the amazing tech found in their rediscovered Slipstream ship. In this, they’re joined by the Ring-savvy Tres Primos, who have recently arrived on Paa’Q.

The Veetans also find themselves without human Armada ships around their planet. Which will lead them to nefarious rebellion of their own. (More baking, most likely.)