Wounded Worlds: Nihil Novum

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Ruan Altman is a human trying to forget his past. Fa’ashi Orrin is a Novum trying to escape hers. The war had brought them together, now peace might tear them apart.

On the distant world of Talveras, half a century of Imperial rule has come to an end. The humans of the NUSA have weakened it, and now they seek the Novum’s help to finish it. While the Army ferrets out the few remaining pockets of resistance, Commissar Altman and the Civilian Service Corps offer aid and healing to a battered populace. He falls in love with a young woman named Fa’ashi Orrin, and for a brief moment it seems like the planet’s recovery will go smoothly. But the Novum are thirsty for vengeance against those who collaborated with the Empire during the occupation, and those accused rarely live to see a trial.

Ancient racial enmities begin to resurface when neighbor accuses neighbor, and blood lust reigns supreme. As deep feuds all old as Novum civilization itself threaten to plunge Talveras into ruinous civil conflict, suspicious eyes begin to fall on Fa’ashi. When rumor is accepted as fact, and prejudice corrupts justice, only one thing is clear: Nothing is fair in love or war.