The Sapphire Universe
Since building this website, one thing I have neglected to do is any sort of formal blogpost write up of what this is even for! I have no idea how it ever slipped my mind, but between making art for the website, shoring up the coding in different areas to fix CSS, and getting in the habit of being social after being a hermit for so long, I completely forgot to clarify what in the world it is that I do! Every piece of this website was made for one purpose; to advertise and show off the universe that I have created in my book series, The Sapphire Verdict. I have been working on this book for TEN FREAKIN years, and to say it has dominated my life would be an understatement. These books are MASSIVE and FULL of lore and world building for a completely new civilization that lives and breathes on its own! Sapphiria’s story means the absolute world to me, but having such a massive an expansive world does lead to a tiny little problem…
Grasping the full scope of the universe is a challenge. Despite all of the stuff I have uploaded here, between the short stories and art, there is no way anyone could figure out the full scope of this universe or even the setting of it! Whether that’s a mistake or good for the development of the story is up for debate of course, but I at least owe the people that visit this site an explanation of my book, the setting, and all the going ons within it! So, this blog will be just that! We’re going to take a dive, but not a deep one, into the world of the Sapphire Verdict and fully explain what is happening, why, and what you can expect from the books themselves whenever I manage to somehow find an agent brave enough to try and publish a 560000-word book!
The Stage
The Sapphire Verdict is a Science-Fiction/Fantasy story set some number of years in the future, roughly six/seven hundred. In this world, humanity has fully achieved space travel, but also unlocked the secrets of terraforming and cloning, which has allowed them to spread far beyond our local solar system. There are hundreds of planets fully under their control, and they number in a range so high that I genuinely can’t quantify it, but throughout all their years as a civilization, they have never encountered a sentient alien species. They have developed in peace and solitude, only having to worry about fighting and killing themselves, but all of that is set to change as a new faction, the Sapphire Eye, prepares to launch a full-scale invasion of UEC space, not to take them over and rule, but to completely, and utterly, exterminate every human in the galaxy.
The Sapphire Eye
The Sapphire Eye is an alien civilization that has developed completely outside the sphere of influence of human culture, or so it seems. In truth, the Sapphire Eye is massively based on the technology that the UEC has developed. All of their technology, ranging from the engines that power their starships to even the simplistic circuits that run through their own homes, has been appropriated and modified by the Sapphire Eye, allowing them to achieve space flight and expand their territory in only a short FOUR years. This massive leap in technology is possible not only because their empire is built on the shoulders of the UEC, but because their civilization is entirely composed of beings called Automatons.
Automatons are exactly what they sound. They are a unique space faring race of machines, but these are not like the robots we are familiar with. They think and feel, just like any human, and they each have dreams and aspirations of their very own. In terms of appearance, automatons are bipedal like us, but lack unnecessary features such as noses or ears. They are a very hardy and work driven species that live to fulfill what they called their purpose, a task that gives their life meaning and that they pursue with all the energy in their bodies. Additionally, they have an unwavering loyalty to their creators, and even though most of the automatons within the empire were created within factories, their loyalty still extends to their empress.
As a whole, the empire of the Sapphire Eye is quite advanced. They have a fleet that numbers in the thousands, possess war machines like Titans and Varanthids that can decimate entire legions, and have adapted to the environments of dozens of various planets. Additionally, thanks to the influence of their empress, they have access to technology that not even the UEC can imagine, and that is the main reason why they have surged into the forefront so quickly. Through the use of synthesizers, they can make almost any material they want in near endless quantities. It is a slow and tedious process, much like sitting and wishing for a 3d printer to go a little faster, but it does mean that rare materials like machinium and power crystals are much more accessible for them, giving them extreme flexibility when it comes to their expansion efforts. While these are all advantages for the Sapphire Eye, the big thing supporting them is none other than their leadership.
The name ‘Sapphire Eye’ comes from the imagery of their forward-facing leadership, the soon to be infamous Sapphire Eye. This immense entity is nothing more than a large, sapphire eye rooted on the automaton homeworld. It can communicate with nearly any automaton in the empire at any given moment and possesses unrivaled computational skills that allow it to outmaneuver the security systems of the UEC. While this eye seems like a soulless, cold machine, in truth, this eye is actually Atom, the once spunky and smart-mouthed bird. With his guidance and care, the Sapphire Eye has managed to grow at an unparalleled rate, but it isn’t just his efforts alone.
Standing alongside Atom as an equal within the ranks of the empire is their supreme general, the mighty and overwhelmingly ruthless Vargoth. General Vargoth isn’t quite like other automatons, and it’s not just his cold-blooded appearance. Because of unusual circumstances, he possesses an unparalleled tactical ability that gives him an edge over most of his opponents. He can analyze any battlefield and find a path to victory no matter how slim the odds, and as if that didn’t make him lethal enough, his fighting capacity is only remotely challenged by one other automaton in the empire. Between Atom and Vargoth, they represent an immense and indomitable leadership force that the UEC will struggle to compete with, but, despite all their power, they are not the true rulers of the Sapphire Eye.
Sapphiria
Standing at the pinnacle of the Sapphire Eye is the main character of the Sapphire Verdict, Sapphiria. Sapphiria is the only flesh and blood being in the entirety of the empire, and built it entirely from the ground up with nothing more than a rusty ship and a box of crystal leftover from her decimated homeworld. Sapphiria is neither human nor automaton, but is actually a part of a race called the Krysheek. The Krysheek were a bipedal species largely resembling a cross between foxes and wolves, but they weren’t too technologically advanced. A war that ravaged their planet gave them a sort of technophobia and led to them stalling technological development for a thousand years, but that didn’t stop Sapphiria from developing a love for engineering.
Amongst her people, Sapphiria was a unique situation. She was born a freak; her large ears, seven tails, and blue fur making her an anomaly amongst her people that they couldn’t rectify. As such, she grew up alone and unwanted, and no matter what she tried, she could never find anyone amongst her people to treat her like she mattered. While this loneliness weighed down on her day after day, it didn’t stop her from living. With no one to fill her life, she turned towards scholarly pursuits to fill her time, and ultimately learned the art of engineering. Although engineering is complicated and had very little in the way of instructional material on her world, Sapphiria took to it quickly. She became an expert on the ins and outs of automatons and technology, so much so that she was able to finally build the friend she always wanted, Atom. With Atom, her lonely life became just a bit brighter, but her status as a freak was never erased. After many, many years, she finally earned her chance to cast her status aside and become something more, but fate had other plans.
In the present day, Sapphiria’s homeworld, and the entirety of her people, have been completely wiped out. She stands as the only survivor, but instead of giving in to despair, she fulfilled the promise that she made to her mentor and constructed an empire of automatons. Building a life for her automatons is her greatest wish now, but that isn’t all she wants. More than anything, she wants to protect other innocent worlds, just like hers, from the fires of calamity that scoured her people from the galaxy. Stopping others from suffering has always been a part of who she is, but the situation isn’t so simple this time. In order to bring about true peace and protect the innocent from calamity, she has ultimately accepted the fate before her and ordered her empire to begin the invasion of the UEC to put them down once and for all. Although such an act has broken her heart and made her feel like she is betraying everyone she ever loved, she doesn’t feel like she has a choice, not after what she has seen, and it is this conflict that leads into the Sapphire Verdict.
The Sapphire Verdict
The first book in the trilogy picks up right as the invasion is about to commence. Sapphiria’s fleet has rallied together, and her legions are preparing to crush the humans in one fell swoop. All algorithms and predictions show her empire coming out victorious, but, despite this, she is bothered. She knows that some of her automatons will die during the invasion, and she hates the idea of the slaughter that she has ordered. Even though she knows she has no choice, she is conflicted, and as the opening throes of her invasion commences, she finds herself lingering on the past as she tries to think of some way this could have been avoided.
The entirety of the Sapphire Verdict is a ‘from the beginning, you know the end’ story. We know that Sapphiria is going to end up building the Sapphire Eye, and we know that she is going to unleash it on the UEC. The question is, how? How does she build a space faring civilization? What happened to her people? What happened to her?! All of these questions will be answered in this trilogy, but, to start, we simply will be observing where she came from.
As stated, on her world, she was a lonely outcast. All she had was Atom and a few friendly automatons at a nearby cluster of farms. Day after day, she continued to work on her engineering and struggled to find a way to become one of her people, but it was seemingly impossible. One day, however, a chance announcement presents her with an opportunity. On her world, there is no order more legendary than that of the Archons. The Archons are a group of five beings that effectively govern the planet alongside the emperor, protecting it from conflict and ensuring war never ravages their planet again. The Archons are heroes to everyone, and that couldn’t be truer for Sapphiria. While the Archons are revered amongst her people and wield powers that could break continents, what enchants her the most about them are the stories of their hearts. They are supposedly virtuous and wise beings, seeking only to help others, and that’s exactly who she wants to be. When one of the sitting Archons, Kaden, announces his intent to step down and find a replacement, Sapphiria finally gets the chance she has always wanted. IF she can prove herself to him, of all people, then not only will she become one of her heroes, but her people might finally accept her, and she might finally know what it’s like to not be a freak. With little other than her engineering, she sets out on a quest to win the Archon’s acceptance, a quest that will ultimately lead her into the jaws of fate…
Secondary Material
I hope that introduction to the Sapphire Verdict proved to at least be a little interesting. I know many of the points brought up in this blog will make you wish for more information, and that information can be found within the Sapphire Universe section of the website! It details exactly who the Archons were, what the terrible war was that ravaged Sapphiria’s planet, and introduces each of the main characters a little more in depth. Additionally, there is a short story, Sapphire Destiny, that covers Sapphiria’s origins a little more clearly to give you a better idea of the type of person she truly is.
Conclusion
Trying to think of what I can say on here without spoiling the book was a lot more challenging than I expected. This was a very high-level overview of the main plot of the Sapphire Verdict, but every point I brought up goes so much deeper than what I can even begin to hint at here. Hopefully soon, everyone will be able to read about this universe to their heart’s content, and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO ready to finally begin telling this story, because it really does deserve its chance to shine!
As a round of final updates before I close this out, next week’s blog is locked in the barrel. I have completed the next round of ships and am working on final touches, so, next week we will be covering the bulk of the UEC’s main fleet! This will include the counterparts to the Sapphire Eye, namely the Trident frigate, Cutlass battleship, Katana carrier, and Hornet fightercraft. I’m looking forward to posting them, and I think they will really help round out the machines page! Past that, my next project is now locked in and will be focused on digital art, so keep an eye out for various landscape related posts in the future as well as some art of Sapphiria and Atom. Additionally… the Yenza story I’ve been teasing might be closer than even I thought. Only time will tell, so keep your eyes peeled!
That’s all I have for this week. Until the ship post next week.. Cheers!
The Flying Fennec