This AI parable is 100% the product of human creativity—no AI was involved in its creation.How many times will AI destroy the world?The first AIs were video game monsters. LLMs spewed semi-intelligible gibberish. The bots were mathematical super geniuses but intellectual children. EDICT will usher in the AI Singularity.Who do you want shaping that singularity?Dr. Addison Akers was a child prodigy. Now, nearing 30, she's on ...

It takes a dwarf to be homesick for a place he's never been.Ninety years ago, the dwarves of the Dragonhammer Clan were driven from their ancestral home. Now, a small band from a new generation, raised in exile among humans, are mounting a venture to retake it.These young dwarves aren't fools. They don't have an army. They don't even know the old ways. Led by the young heir to the clan, Genrik Dragonhammer, they seek to carve out a foothold within a nearby mountain...

Mankind will tremble before the wrath of Angels...Rachel Jordan sought to free mankind from the Angels' ancient dogma. Instead, she brought the Angels back.Awakened after three thousand years, the Angels waste no time reclaiming their place as the dominant power in the galaxy. Their ancient warship makes human technology look primitive, and their judgment falls upon the empires that rose in their absence.As galactic powers fight for control of the A...

A space station at the edge of the galaxy just found a planet that's slipping off the edge entirely.After losing control of his magic, wizard Cedric The Brown blew up his boss and nearly crashed a space station into a planet. Determined to make amends, he pledges to help the mining station negotiate with the nearby planet's mysterious magical inhabitants.With nothing but the bankrupt station as severance pay, Director Fujita Hiroko moves to the edge of the galaxy t...

Friends, enemies, veins of ore: take your pickRaised in exile, the children of the Dragonhammer Clan embark on a quest to retake their ancient home. A century ago, the legendary city of Skrasforge fell. Ancient enemies and foul alliances proved more than the defenders could withstand. The few survivors fled, finding refuge among the humans of Halibut Harbor. Their leader, Gradrak Dragonhammer, vowed never to return to the site of such horrendous tragedy.Now, the dw...

The bigger the ship, the bigger the mission.Fed up with politics getting in the way of helping people, Captain Jessie Ramsey takes the Arete someplace where telling friend from foe should be easy: The Eyndar Empire. Inside the territory of humanity's greatest enemy, they raid labor camps and board pirate slavers to free sentient creatures. It would all be so much simpler if not for a mysterious ship interfering.Mission 9: Horns and Halos A...

The only act of piracy that no one seems to mind is preying upon pirates themselves.A ship and crew with no port to call home still need supplies. And to take those supplies by force makes one the lowest form of life in the Black Ocean: pirates. But avoiding that moral quagmire doesn't put food on the table or fuel in the engines. Hunting other pirates, by contrast, does. And no navy or government will shed a tear.Mission 5: Empty Jesters The newly...

Where do you see yourself in five years? Not a question to ask a wizard.When Eric Ramsey gets expelled during his final year of college, studying magic, his sister Jessie takes shore leave from Earth Navy to check in on him. Sisterly concern for Eric's future confronts a desperate need to justify his actions. A demonstration of how he'd gotten expelled results in an accident that launches the pair five years into the future.Mission 1: Tempus Fugiti...

Home is where the heart aches.The Earth-Mars civil war has split humanity and estranged them from their alien allies. When chronomancy, a botched rescue, and personal entanglements mix with galactic politics, the Arete gets sucked into the middle of the conflict. Forced to choose sides, an old friend returns to offer an alternative solution--and a host of new problems.Mission 13: Lies That Bind UsThe discovery of a lost-lost sister ...

The next generation is here, and trouble is in their DNA.Jessie and Eric Ramsey have a family history of crime. Fighting back against heredity, each tried to make their way in the galaxy by respectable means. Jessie joined Earth Navy; Eric went to college for magic. But fate wasn't having it. Eric was expelled. Jessie went AWOL. Now, due to a magical mishap that wasn't entirely anyone's fault (we swear!), they're stranded 5 years in the future on a Mars that's no longer fr...

Meet the new boss, daughter of the old boss.It was a possibility she'd never considered and a friend she'd thought long gone. But when Tanny Rucker came to Esper for help overthrowing her father's criminal empire, it was an offer she couldn't refuse.Armed with Tanny's loyalists from her father's syndicate and the magical might Esper brings, the pair embark on a course to rewrite galactic history. To win, they might ruin countless innocent lives and even some of the...

When a hero snaps, the galaxy pays.For years, Esper has been holding in her mind the knowledge of ancient demons. Ever since reading that forbidden tome, a darkness has dwelt, gnawing at the edges of her sanity and wheedling to gain control.When a mission to a blockaded planet goes awry, Esper finally can't hold back the darkness any longer. The darkness within gains an annoying conscience and the body of a powerful wizard.Multiple battles ensue. First, Esp...