The Shadow
of Ykkadyl
The Aftermath of the Independence Wars
A bloody war ravaged the Milky Way and the neighboring galaxies of the Cluster. After the fall of the great human colonial empire, humanity is on the brink of extinction. Excluding come fanatic groups, those who want to stay in the new society have to struggle, as mankind is now categorized as "chronic imbeciles", together with its former allied imperialist species.
Earth is gone. The independentists dropped the Venus bomb on it, making it an unlivable planet. The old human ruling family is nowhere to be found, and the Cluster hopes they'll never come back to undermine the weak balance that came after their fall.
Meet Shin
Shin Urali is a human sun-digger. A miner, we could say. He controls his ship's machines to direct the solar matter in its plasma tank.
After a very tough childhood, he just want to get some money, buy a decent house, find a girlfriend or a boyfriend (when you're surrounded by alien species it doesn't make much difference) and just live in peace in the Ykkadyl system.
But... what happens if the Ykkadyl system ceases to exist?
Earth: The Prolific Planet
Earth is famous in the whole cluster to be the birthplace of five sentient species, a great feat no other planet has ever managed to achieve.
Terrestrial Humans were only the third species to leave Earth's atmosphere and get in contact with external sentients. First came the Dolphins, then Marine Humans and only then us Earthlings, followed by moose and ferrets.
Despite their technological inferiority, humans managed to unite against the so-feared aliens and subjugate them, one after another, getting a big chunk of the Milky Way under their direct control. After several years of fighting, de independentists won the war and the millennium-long empire shattered. Some areas stayed united, some formed leagues, others remained small and isolated and some even tried to eat what was left of the old empire.
Ykkadyl is a free star system in the Antipodean League, on the other side of the galaxy compared to Earth. Despite the constant presence of pirates, it's considered a quiet and peaceful system.
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For now.
