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The next born of the blood of Dregs shall become a king and usher in a new age of peace for all of humankind.
That is the prophecy, and Assha is one of three pregnant pagans charged with bringing it to fruition. The odds seem insurmountable. The throne is thousands of miles across what was once earth’s ocean floor right smack in the heart of the Kingdom of Ravens---the most self-righteous civilization ever to rise from the ashes of the great conflagration. There are extremely harsh penalties for violating the Bishop’s Overpopulation Proclamation.
Should Assha hide in the relative safety of her secluded village of Tholus, or risk it all out on the wasteland for the one chance to fulfill a prophecy thrust upon her by the mysterious “gods” from the sky? Follow Assha and her ragtag tribe of "Dregs" across a beautiful but hostile battleground, where it's man against man for the greater good of humanity.
World Description:
The world of Shaturanga may seem improbable to some, but to those who enjoy a stylized fantasy it's cool as hell.
It is said that there are no more places left to explore on earth; that we have conquered every mountain and explored every valley, exploiting them in our myths and in our legends until no stone has been left unturned. We have traveled from pole to pole in our stories; beneath the sea and underground—and through countless yarns and genres, have left no plot untold. They say that space is the final frontier. To fire people’s imaginations we must travel beyond the reaches of our solar system to places where there are no boundaries; to where no one has gone before. Let me be the maverick and say, “Not so.”
Imagine a world where great oceans once dominated its surface. The human inhabitants lived in relative comfort, albeit among an ever-growing and warring population. They went about their busy lives seldom looking up to contemplate the heavens. They were too busy watching their wars play out on their viewing screens; certain that man would eventually annihilate himself with his powerful weapons of mass destruction. Something unexpected happened. A stray comet impacted the planet on a day like any other. It would alter the course of history for every living soul. Enter THE YEAR ZERO. So violent was the collision that it rocked the planet from its very axis. Volcanoes emerged where before there were none. The oceans were decimated, thrown out into space—or swallowed into great gaping rifts that made previous canyons look like creek beds. Water that was not lost fell back in a seismic-thermal storm that raged for hundreds of years. The higher elevations were eventually covered in ice as hot steam billowed from the crevsasses, becoming trapped in the stratospheric air currents before being released as snowfall over what used to be the continental landmasses. The storms subsided to reveal a different planet. Places once covered with water were now vast deserts of packed salt. Beautiful forests and cities that once stood on continents are buried now beneath the glacial mantle—a mile and a half thick plate of ice and snow touching air so thin that no animal can breathe it. Oh yes, some survived.
For mankind it was not the fallout of his self-threatening invention that nearly extinguished his existence. It was nature itself—something man had been at war with from his beginning that would nearly bring him to his end. Man was made painfully aware of just how small a part he played in the universe. Many came out from their hiding places and took to the lower elevations (ocean floors) where the air was warmer and heavier. They tried to begin anew and some did not last. Eventually tribes were formed, all with little or no knowledge of the past, uncertain that there were others like them. Each tribe developed their own belief systems and began to pass them along through the generations. Some took the path of spirituality toward furthering their progress, while others chose a more material approach. They learned to rebuild, and in time created new civilizations with beautiful towering cites and amazing technology. In time these civilizations would discover one another and come to fear each other as they had in the past. The smell of war permeated the air once again, and once again man devoted all of his energy into perfecting his weaponry.
Circa 2000, three main factions arise:
The KOR The Kingdom of the Raven was by far the most dominant faction. Their people claimed to be the descendants of the aristocracy of the world that had perished before them, and therefore, the rightful heirs of the earth. Their ancestors, having hidden themselves in great mountainous shelters before the cataclysm, had preserved much of their wealth along with elaborate plans for the restructuring of a new civilization. After all, it was said that these ancestors knew of the coming of the deluge long before anyone else did and were better prepared for it. These righteous forebears were not responsible for that part of the previous civilization which had incurred the wrath of the gods in the first place—according to the people of the kingdom, and they held their noses high, so as to snub those factions harboring any foolish notions of a birthright.
At length the people of the Kingdom of the Raven fought among themselves over who should rule this new civilization, and nearly destroyed their entire legacy in the process. There were very few who could agree on all the judicial duplicity that had been left for them to unravel. The people quibbled contemptibly as the sands of time eroded their convention and their beliefs further until their hostility culminated in the great battle of patrimony over their inheritance (which included many small, green colored documents that flourished the symbol of an eye and pyramid on one side and the portraits of what were thought to be ancient gods on the other). This they fought most fervently over, along with some fine antiquated furnishings that were in dispute.
The old law keepers were hung from rafters in this battle and the victorious came to glorify the ‘eye and pyramid’ as their religious symbol. They chose one paper god with the highest denomination to be their only god. The number was one-hundred. The god— Bengod. So, when their bunkers would no longer support their numbers, the Kingdom of the Raven came forth into the world to begin a new venture on the edge of the headlands overlooking the Great Salt Basin. There they built a spectacular domed city and called it Shaturanga, to stand as a shining monument to the piety of humanity. The kingdom maintained a great army, and in time had mastered the power of flight to extend their fortunes and authority.
This, they claimed, could never have happened without the power of Bengod. They were indeed a self-righteous people, but seldom looked at themselves before pointing an accusing finger toward others. The King adopted the image of the Raven to be his royal vanguard, for the Raven was known to be the bird of a most enduring nature and seemed befitting. He decreed, with the help of his loyal Bishop that they, the kingdom, should live right so as not to bring about the wrath of their god upon the earth again. And it was the Bishop’s doctrine, of course, to insure that no other civilization invoke the wrath as well.
The Bogotron Dynasty The second most dominant culture were the Bogotron Dynasty. The Bogotron were genetic copies of themselves—a mysterious clone race that had phased out the exclusively male and female species all together in the duplicating process. They were generally thought of as male by outsiders but this was only due to their outward appearance, for the male genetic archetype proved more suitable for defense applications and was favored over female models. Without the luxury of having plans handed down from past custodians, the Bogotron managed to build their civilization from the salvaged knowledge of the old world gone by. They thrived on scraps of engineering culled from the ancient ruins that lay deep beneath the vast mountains of ice. They had nearly rivaled the Kingdom of the Raven in their power through sheer impudence, for they had no laws of antiquity and no "divine decrees" to restrict their evolution as did the Raven.
Though they had not the power of flight, they had found the power of the sun (nukes) and could unleash great fury upon their enemies if provoked enough. The Bogotron had made themselves a home inside the mouth of a dormant shield volcano called Mount Rembtu that lay near the center of the Great Northern Basin. From there they became highly accomplished at underground burrowing and tunneling. They were separated from the kingdom of the Raven only by an immense rift in the earth (appropriately called the 'Great Rift') which cut in deeply between them and hindered them from a broader war.
The Bogotron had phased out all body hair and functioning sexual organs, however, for it had been known to become a distraction from time to time on the battlefield. Having become quite adept at breeding themselves to suit a given need, the Bogotron succeeded in accelerating their evolution many fold. They held fast to their reasoning without compromise, and they governed themselves based on logic that would enhance their existence. They lived long lives and enjoyed good health through regular genetic maintenance. If one were found to be defective during incubation, it was immediately terminated. This hybrid system caused the Bogotron race to lose many of their primordial human instincts, and unfortunately, the door to close on their spiritual moiety.
The Bogotron were a solemn, isolated, godless race, and it was no wonder perhaps, for the poor clones had never engaged another in a sexual romp, neither had they received the loving touch of an opposite sex. The only Bogotron who had ever laid eyes on a genuine human specimen were perhaps the Bogotron soldiers upon engaging their raven-crested rivals during their basin patrols. As a result of their secretiveness, the Bogotron remained as elusive and enigmatic as a mythical beast.
Everything about the Bogotron was taboo to the kingdom of the Raven, who declared that the very existence of the Bogotron constituted a grave transgression against their god. Mount Rembtu, according to the Raven, was actually an open wound caused by the ancient dragon itself (Bengod’s beast) and was an evil hollow, not to be delved into by the Bogotron or anyone for that matter. As far as the Bogotron were concerned however, the myths about angry gods and dragons were simply superstitious ramblings held up by those who wished to control the lesser cultures and ensure their own base of power.
The Bogotron went even so far as to make the image of the dragon their emblem, appropriately enough, and looked upon all other species of human as irrelevant. They set up many an outpost from which to excavate and they kept their findings secret from all outsiders. And thus, they set about the business of trying to outdo the Raven in the game of proliferation. As a result of this, the Bogotron were in a perpetual state of conflict with the kingdom of the Raven. They both developed weapons and tactics, and tussled untiringly in their dreaded machines over invisible borders drawn by zealous leaders.
The Dregs The third most dominant people were the Dregs. Their dominance was measured not in power or science, but rather in their spirituality and numbers. Though the Dregs were not concentrated in one region, they made up a large patchwork of humanity across the wasteland as far as the basin frontier and beyond. They were a humble people, without a symbol, embracing patience and wisdom over power and wealth. They took care of their own and respected the earth, for they knew that should the bees of the field perish, then so would they, but if they should perish the little creatures would scarcely notice.
The Dregs moved depending upon the forces of nature and the forces of war. They were not always at peace with the other two factions, for they too clung to their own traditions like children to old toys and to their legends like gospel. The Dregs had only their precious young to lose, and that to them was everything. To these have-nots, the world was of a spiritual nature, and science that they could not understand was swept neatly into the category of “magic”. The Dregs had the most outlandish tales of gods descending from the skies right before them. They told tales of how their gods delivered prophecies and were even involved in their hallowed sacraments. They claimed that their gods actually had them in mind to become the heirs of the earth, which did not sit well with the other two factions.
It was true however; that the Dreg sages had obtained a level of perennial wisdom that had exceeded that of the KOR and the Bogotron. Along the rim of the great basin the Dregs lived like refugees, cautiously avoiding the squadrons of patrollers set out by the Kingdom and the Bogotron to chase each other. Dregs frequently found themselves amidst the fighting of the other two factions regardless, which distressed them terribly. Forced to seek shelter in the giant rusted hulls of derelict vessels, the Dregs kept to themselves as best they could---away from the melee of outsiders. Anyone might wind up a Dreg; an exiled subject to a wandering shred of human debris. These were times of much suffering and hardship for them.
It is with these Dregs that we begin our story.
Book Illustrations
Below are the illustrations featuring the artistic vision of illustrator, Rodney Sellars. There are characters, cities, vehicles, and more. Each reveals much of the content of the novel. If you like the drawings and concepts you'll love the book. (Click image to enlarge)
Map (Brian Snelson)
Assha (Sellars)
Mago (Sellars)
Tholus (Sellars)
Yacht (Sellars)
Tanker (Sellars)
Lighthouse (Sellars)
Captain Toady (Sellars)
Dome Interior (Sellars)
Spurious (Rodney Sellars)
Bishop (Sellars)
Rembtu (Sellars)
Dome Exterior (Sellars)
Quadriga (Snelson)
Cavern (Snelson)
Immaculator (Sellars)
Tarida (Sellars)
Stateroom (Sellars)
Raven Patroller
Blueprints (Snelson)
Symbolism of Shaturanga
Scepter of Onus
The Story of Onus uses a lot of symbolism to help convey its philosophy. The Scepter of Onus, for example, symbolizes the spirit of taking responsibility. Its mysterious orb changes color as the prophecy unfolds. The scepter is the only physical link between the Dregs and their mysterious "Gods from the sky".
The Telescope symbolizes discovery and vision. Looking forward. Focus. Hindsight. It is a link to the distant past. An ancient artifact from a forgotten time, the telescope is used by the Dregs to discover the foretold "House of Light", that is to be found at the "end of the earth."
The Caduceus symbolizes that the mythological origins of humanity are grounded in hard scientific fact. It is the official emblem of the Bogotron Dynasty, a mysterious race of clones living in a volcano city just beneath the earth's crust. Resmbling the medical caduceus of today the intertwining serpents (dragons) represent the chemistry of myth and science, and their inherent role in the evolution of mankind.
Old Seaman's Telescope
Caduceus
Raven Crest
The Raven Emblem represents hypocrisy, the best laid plans trampled upon by its own architects. It is the crest of the Kingdom of Ravens (a super-religious culture that had formed after the great cataclysm) and is said to be the bird of a most enduring nature. The KOR, as they are referred to, believe that their god is poised to bring wrath upon the earth if angered. It is their sole priority to see to it that this does not happen again.
The Crown really needs no embellishment. In the game of chess it is the most protected and the most vulnerable of all pieces, isn't it? Depending upon who is wearing it, this symbol can save humanity or destroy it. Who will shoulder this incredible burden?
The Eye and Pyramid represents the idol of worship. Forged by man it stands as a reminder of what the ancestors held in the highest, and of the great wrath they brought upon the world.
