When Old Earth began to falter, they made a plan. Divide the luckiest of the current population into two ships. One would remain orbiting Earth, waiting to see conditions change without human interference. The other, The Ark, shot off into space for a habitable planet in the Proxima Centauri system.
The middle generations of The Ark lived knowing they would never set foot on a planet. That they’d spend their whole existence in a series of spinning rings and tubes.
Then they found Erantus.
The verdant, thriving planet could not only sustain life, it was already inhabited. Three interstellar immigrants had already made their home here, leaving the humans no option but to learn to get along. And boy do they learn.
The ovay are a four-armed hyper-intelligent species, crafted into form by genetic engineering and super advanced technology. They were the first to come upon Erantus with a colony-explorer ship and promptly set up shop. With their mega-city, they planted the seed and set the tone for development going forward, all modeled after their utopian homeworld. Read about Astrid and Jin and their attempts to create biofuel and break down language barriers in New Words to Call Our Own.
The rishi were the next to settle on Erantus. Their centaur-like form is modified by their bio-caste, a choice made at puberty that forever determines their reproductive capability. The population of biological males and neuters is maintained with diplomacy by the revered Queen caste. They came to Erantus as refugees, fleeing a world-ending natural disaster by shooting cryogenically frozen clutches into space. Their previous experience with other species makes them slow to trust and fearful of their permanent place on the world. Read about Charlie, Kiret, and Sharra in New Ways to Use Our Hands as they explore gender constructs and biological imperatives while trying to prevent a major inter-species diplomatic event.
The dual-sexed, dragon-like garacka came upon Erantus during a space mining operation. They returned when their planet was destroyed by a meteor impact. Now grounded permanently, the entire living garacka population fills only a small city made of up of forcibly retired space-farers and moon-colonists, the only ones that survived destruction. The first generation of garacka born on Erantus are fresh into adulthood, now, permanently shifting the culture of the species forever. In New Colors to Paint Our Universe, Lorraine and Tfatha talk perceptions of reality and what it’s like to mourn a home you never knew.
Lorelei Havok 