Ineri

"The two nations of Addra have their differences, but they both agree the dead tell the best stories. That idea used to annoy me. I thought I was as good as any ghost. Of course, now I know better." __________________________________________________________________________________________ The world of Ineri was once home to a civilization that reached for the stars. A thousand years ago, plague and natural disasters of their own making wiped them from the face of the planet. They left behind only moldering ruins and a few stubborn bands of survivors who clung to existence in the most remote areas of Ineri's Great Continent. Now, after centuries, these bands have grown into the Ryak Clans of the north, the nation of Hask, the Kir nomads, and the city-states of Addra. Times are prosperous. New inventions are making the world smaller again. Even the far-off desert land of Nem An is becoming known to the people of the Great Continent once again. But as old knowledge resurfaces and new discoveries emerge, the cultures of Ineri come into conflict, and each of the Great Continent's peoples must face the mistakes in their pasts.   Tirovar and Murg, the Addran city-states, are closely linked by the cultures and ethnicities of their citizens. But the two are just as likely to attempt to undermine one another as they are to coexist. Although their last war is a hundred years gone, its full implications are only now coming to light. The governing councils that replaced their fallen monarchies do nothing but squabble while their people must fend for themselves. And a century of marginalization and exile on the "cursed" Isle of Rivers has left those on the losing side of the war full of resentment, ripe for manipulation by the city-states' enemies...   The Nation of Hask is the largest entity on the Great Continent, both in size and population. Its strict class and gender roles have made it a breeding ground for discontent despite its current economic prosperity. Caught in the great power struggle between the ever-wealthier merchant houses, the fading nobility, and the expanding military class, Hask's common people have lost all faith in their country's leaders. To what lengths will those leaders go in their quest to hold on to authority?   The order of the world is about to change, and that change will not be comfortable.