What is the Shattered Hollows?

Image created using ChatGPT - walkways should not be elevated, deeper darkness due to higher number of trees, but close enough.

The Shattered Hollows is a Training Outpost, located within the Arctic circle on Earth, about 6000 years in the future. The outpost itself wasn't erected until around a century after the conclusion of the Shining Wars (0 E.S.W), when a high valley carved out by glaciers was razed to sea level, turning the setting from mountainous splendor to a damp, dark, and deadly swamp.

The Shattered Hollows, by the time our story begins, has morphed into a rigidly run encampment that creates elite mercenaries for hire through training and upgrades to physical attributes using organic nanobotics. While the playing field amongst humanity has been mechanically evened out, only a select few are given the opportunity to excel...and they are tightly controlled.

The mysterious origins of the Shattered Hollows have been couched in vague terms, with only a select few understanding what the Shattered Hollows truly is since its advent millennia before. Without the Warrant the Shattered Hollows are locked away from humanity's open use, while simultaneously representing the source of Human power in the Spur and Spiral.

The Strength to Bind

While the Shining Wars drove the Tribes of humanity underground, where it governs itself in a chaotic dance, SAB took humanity to the poles of the Earth and into the farthest reaches of the Orion Spur. 6,000 years into the future, we haven’t changed much. And with the elite serving as powerful slaves that make life livable, why should we?

Thora was born illegally – women are simply too powerful for the Tribes to control, and they threaten the validity of the Breeding Programs that are touted as voluntary. Thora’s mother refused to give her over, ensuring her life…and a future of uncertainty as Thora is forced to take her place amongst the Brotherhood: the only accepted destination for someone like her.

Auric is a product of the SAB Breeding Program. His father is the most powerful member of the Triumvirate, a governing body that deploys security details to the farthest edge of humanity. Auric is their pawn: manipulated and refined into the Golden Boy of the Net—a title he’d rather shirk.

As SAB and the Tribes spiral down similar paths towards fascism, Thora and Auric embark upon parallel journeys desperately seeking to keep the people they love safe…while preserving their ability to breathe free.