FIFTH or PETTY SWEEP 66 th Millennium
HIP 10301 in Eridanus—Perioecium
A highly militarized and disciplined population. Known for their living garments, symbiosis of Myrmidon material to specially adapted skin cells in the Timocrat caste.
Epsilon Virginis [a.k.a. Vindemiatrix]—Feast of Stephen
Saint Agnes and Saint Wenceslaus are remnants of the same shattered gas giant which formed Feast of Stephen. All three worlds are in an unusual equilateral triangle orbit. Whether this is a primary with two giant moons or a triple planet body is a matter of semantics. The two moons were terraformed. Predominant race is Loricates.
Gliese 1137 in Antlia—Terra Pericolosa
Predominate race here is Monsters. The oceans were improperly terraformed and contain venom. Water is used as currency, and strangers are killed and sent to the extraction press.
SAO 214963 in Phoenix [a.k.a. HR 6]—World of Willows and Flowers
Binary suns. A garden world of immortals plagued by deadly anthropophagic flowers, ferns, and lianas, poisonous willows, and malign pines. Foxes established a totalitarian monarchy and restored humanity to all non-orthogonal and mechanized races.
Kappa Coronae Borealis—Aerecura
The pantropy here is unique, with larval humans living in mines as apprentices, who undergo metamorphosis to upright nocturnal sexless drones at journeyman rank and as masters are transformed again to diurnal creatures, male or female. There is a dead Potentate in orbit, the remnant of a failed attempt to elevate their moon, whose whispers disturb the dreams of the unshielded.
Iota Draconis [a.k.a. Eldsich]—Torment
Colonized from Nightspore of Arcturus.
Torment orbits the superjovian Wormwood, which stands at 13 AU and has a year 194 Earth years long, in a highly eccentric orbit. The surface becomes uninhabitable for 22 Earth years during its wintertide. The population tends to be of a melancholy nature, and the sight of the ruins of the previous civilizations that once inhabited the planet does not reassure them. Torment is an antiquarian world, preserving many races extinct elsewhere. The world was originally named Septfoil.
BEYOND 100 Lightyears
These worlds were settled not by a sweep, but voluntarily
Achernar—Orphan
The single heavenly body orbiting Achernar. At 144 lightyears, it is the furthest human colony. It is also the only colony established by humans independently of Dominion forced settlement. Settled from Nocturne between the Second and Third Sweep, the hedonistic Laiacists and the strict and zealous Followers still maintain an ancient racial separation, with the Followers dominant. The Followers maintain loyalty to a very ancient religion, and worship a god called Kamisama-no-Miko.
Pulcherrima [a.k.a. Epsilon Boötis]—Houristan
There are persistent rumors of an even further colony, at 210 lightyears, circling Epsilon Boötis called Houristan, populated entirely by young and nubile women, who reproduce by cloning, where the rivers run with wine and the road are paved with gold—as best human science can tell, this epicurean space utopia has no basis in fact.
TOR BOOKS BY JOHN C. WRIGHT
The Golden Age
The Phoenix Exultant
The Golden Transcendence
The Last Guardian of Everness
Mists of Everness
Orphans of Chaos
Fugitives of Chaos
Titans of Chaos
Null-A Continuum
Count to a Trillion
The Hermetic Millennia
The Judge of Ages
The Architect of Aeons
The Vindication of Man
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOHN C. WRIGHT is an attorney turned science fiction and fantasy writer. He has published short fiction in Asimov’s Science Fiction and elsewhere, and wrote the Chronicles of Chaos, the Golden Age, and the War of Dreaming series. His novel Orphans of Chaos was a finalist for the Nebula Award in 2005. This is the fifth novel in the Eschaton Sequence. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Part Eight: The Vast Desolations of Heaven
One: The Sound of Her Voice
Two: The Vindicatrix
Three: The Hour of Her Advent
Part Nine: Ancient Starships Shall Return
One: Aardwolf Star in the Constellation of the Dragon
Two: Deceleration Carnival
Three: The Street Which Sneaks Up On the Sphinx
Four: The Palace of Future History
Five: The Chamber of the Black Hexagon
Six: Lords of the Stability
Seven: The Ambitions of the Imperator
Part Ten: The Seven Daughters of Atlas
One: The Eye of the North
Two: Farewell to Torment
Three: Cradle of the Stars
Four: The Beehive Cluster
Five: The Wreck of the Vast Desolations of Heaven
Appendix A: Pedigree of Earths by Diaspora
Appendix B: Posthumans
Appendix C: Earths of the Empyrean Polity of Man
Tor Books by John C. Wright
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE VINDICATION OF MAN
Copyright © 2016 by John C. Wright
All rights reserved.
Cover art by John Harris
A Tor Book
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First Edition: November 2016