Hi, I’m Bryan Jennings. I’m an aspiring writer living under the guise of an English Teacher in Japan. I’ve been a fan of sci-fi and fantasy since I was able to have conscious thought. My first memories seem to involve a mish mash of my family, early friends and Thundarr, Gil Gerard as Buck Rogers, Star Trek and Star Wars. Later, as a teenager I was obsessed with Aliens and Transformers. When I got to my 20s and 30s, Warhammer 40,000 became a constant companion (and even traveled with me to Japan).

Arcane Galaxy combines my love of sci-fi/ fantasy with my non-believer’s interest in myth and religion. The names of many of my characters, aliens, demons and factions come from the Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and Christian mythos.

Onto the synopsis!

Arcane Galaxy (Universe)

A Brief History:

In ten thousand years, Earth is a different place. The oceans have risen and receded. World War III and IV occurred. Mankind barely remembers its history. But all of it is not lost. During periods of intellectual stagnation, man was helped along by an unseen and unknown group of entities- the Elohim.

Over three meters tall, humanoid with grey skin and four arms, the Elohim are powerful beyond imagination, for they were among the first to awaken during the infancy of Creation itself. They helped mankind preserve its most important pieces of art, science and philosophy by subtly altering the minds of some of Earth’s geniuses and by using their technology to preserve without notice some of Earth’s most ancient and treasured artifacts and monuments. However, they have a rule. They will not overtly contact a species until they successfully make interstellar travel. This, mankind did, five thousand years after it made its first step on its lunar satellite. So, in approximately the year 7,000AD, mankind first made contact with Elohim. And then everything drastically and suddenly changed.

The Elohim, a name given to them by mankind from one of his ancient religions, showed the humans how to harness Dark Energy to make small alterations in the fabric of reality. For millennia mankind knew of the existence of Dark Energy, which was a name scientists gave to the observation that the Universe was expanding at a rate greater than all the matter and energy in the known Universe should allow. It was called "Dark" when it was first postulated because although man knew it was there, they had no idea what it actually was. The truth turned out to be much greater than man could have hoped for. "Dark Energy" harnessed properly, gave people with the right training and technology to perform feats that resemble magic in ancient Earth fantasies. Those who were so trained, could move objects telekinetically, read minds, demonstrate superhuman strength and agility, shoot fire from their hand, fly, and even teleport short distances. Because of its resemblance, the ability to harness and use Dark Energy was given the label "magick." The people who were trained and given access to use Magick, were called Sephir, named after the Sephirot- the aspects of the Kabbalic Tree of Life.

With the ability to harness Dark Energy , man gained access to another dimension, previously thought to exist only in the minds of madmen- the Ether. Within the Ether, people could send messages over vast distances and move their consciousness instantly to any place in the galaxy. Becoming trained to use the Ether became a solid career choice. Legions of people went to schools to learn how to access the Ether. Travel within the Ether became known as Augury, and those with training to do so became known as Augurs.

The Elohim also gave mankind access to their FoldGates. Huge, moon-sized structures resembling giant rings that would fold space- creating instantly accessible wormholes to other FoldGates. This opened up the Milky Way to Man in a way never thought possible. Huge city sized spacecraft were constructed using technology learned from the Elohim. As mankind began exploring and colonizing the galaxy, the Elohim abruptly halted all communication. Their ambassadors to Man left and likewise human ambassadors to the Elohim were forced to leave their ships. The homeworld of the Elohim was never discovered. The reason for the withdrawal of the Elohim still remains a secret.

It has been 5,000 years since the withdrawal of the Elohim and Mankind is now the sole owner of the Milky Way. However, man is no longer united by discovery and has split into four different factions.

The Factions:

CDP (Confederacy of Democratic Planets)

There are fifteen planets in the CDP spread over 14 different systems. They are all united by a treaty and a constitution. Each planet is governed by a planet governor. The capital city of the CDP is Garm on the Planet Dekum.

Leader: President (no term limit)

Legislative Bodies: Electoral Democratic System with two legislative bodies, the Grand Senate and the Minor Senate, the former is an Upper House with an even number of members each having roughly equivalent power and influence and the latter is a lower house with members being chosen based on population.

The Sephir:

The Sephir are an elite group of warrior mages. They act as special forces agents for the CDP military, as spies, and as officers in the CDP military. However, due to their power, the CDP constitution has the following addendum:

"To protect the civil liberty of all citizens of the Confederacy of Democratic Planets, those with abilities outside the capacity of normal humans shall not be able to influence or hold public office."

So, the Sephir may wield enormous personal power and even military power, but they are not able to enter the public sphere as a servant.


Kingdoms of the Pyramid

4 separate, individually powerful, kingdoms united by a similar culture. When mankind was first contacted by the Elohim and shown the way to use Dark Energy (which eventually became known as Magick) ancient paganism made a resurgence, especially the form of paganism that had the largest and most durable structures ever built in antiquity: Ancient Egypt. These people settled in an area of the Galaxy known as the Galactic East. This area was avoided by the original CDP for reasons unknown. Each of the Four Kingdoms is ruled by a monarch. For Three of those kingdoms, the Monarch is called a Pharoah. However, one of the Four Kingdoms demonstrated a reverence for Ancient Greece instead of Egypt. It’s monarch is called a King or Queen. Normally, relations between the kingdoms is quite good and peaceful, but during times of succession, if a particularly ambitious or unpopular ruler is chosen by one of the kingdoms, war has been known to happen.

Magick:

While the Kingdoms of the Pyramid do not have schools of Sephir, instead each Kingdom has a single school of Magicians. The abilities of Magicians and Sephirs are similar, except that Magicians have less of a combat focus. It is said, however, that their understanding of Dark Energy is deeper and more intense than the Sephirs. It is rumored that the leaders of the Magicians can actually use Dark Energy to grant wish fulfillment. Additionally, Kingdoms Magicians have access to the Ether with their own schools of Augurs. These Augurs are called Scribes.

The Four Kingdoms and their capitals:

Planet Kemet and its capital of New Thebes

Planet Memphis and its capital of Narmer

Planet Delphi and its capital of New Megara

Planet Ramses and its capital of Hatsepsut


The Han Empire

The Han Empire consists of 12 systems in the Galactic North under the domain of a single Emperor. Each of the 12 systems is under the jurisdiction of a governor chosen by the Emperor. Currently, the Han Empire is undergoing a massive population and economic boom as trade between it and the CDP have become stable despite decades of turmoil and outright war. The two factions are starting to trust each other but only from under a lingering blanket of doubt.

The current governor is Jonathan Ng III. Ambitious, selfish and narcissistic, but does indeed actually care about the 15 billion people who make up the Han Empire. However, several of his advisors and three of the governors are working together in a conspiracy of corruption with an eye towards taking the throne for themselves.

Independent States:


There are a variety of independent states (some planets have more than one government and society) scattered throughout the Galaxy in different systems. Some planets are too harsh or provide too few resources for the other three factions to care about them, but are able to sustain life. A few planets have large enough militaries to make conquest of them difficult, but have no expansionist goals themselves. Their relationships with other three factions vary by State.