Broken Sky
Broken Sky is a novel series that draws on anime influence, and was written by Chris Wooding between the years 1999 and 2001.
The story takes place across three years and focuses on the twin worlds of the Dominions and Kirin Taq, which are widely seen as parallel universes, and deals with issues of race relations, resistance movements and the coming of age of its main characters, Ryushi and Kia.
What starts with an underground resistance soon develops into a full-fledged rebellion against the tyrannical King Macaan and his equally malicious daughter Aurin, with Kia, Ryushi and all those close to them at the center of it all.
The name Broken Sky stems from a myth which postulates the theory that, many years ago, Kirin Taq and the Dominions existed on the same physical plane; effectively being a single world.
The Dominions - the collective name given to the regions ruled over by King Macaan - are a single, sun-bathed continent, with mountainous rocky plains to the north, arid deserts in the south, green steppes in the east, wind-swept craggy grasslands to the west and a fertile central mass.
It is surrounded by a massive sea which sailors are unable to cross due to huge monsters destroying any ships that come near the world’s vast, uncharted ocean, referred to as Deepwater.
Where the Dominions enjoys near-constant fair weather, Kirin Taq is a land beset by twilight due to its sun existing in a perpetual eclipse.
Without the day/night cycle the denizens of the Dominions use to record the passage of time, the Kirins have resorted to utilising elements of the local flora and geology - namely the bioluminescent Glimmer Plant and Glowstones - in order to achieve the same goal.
Their skintones range from a deep, ashen grey to midnight blue, while their eyes are noticeably paler than those born in the Dominions.
Dubbed the Netherfane, it is rumoured to be the home of the enigmatic Deliverers; the hooded ritualists who are the only ones capable of implanting spirit stones into the bodies of newborns.
Like the Deliverers themselves, very little is known about the Netherfane and, due to many physical and temporal precepts not seeming to apply, the simple act of a mundane person gazing upon it is said to shatter the mind and cause insanity.
While the societies in Broken Sky rely on various infrastructures for their survival, such as water or Tusami City's magma-based geothermal power, one commodity which appears to rule many facets of daily life is the Spirit Stone.
Extracted by mining as an inert, colourless gemstone, the Spirit Stones only take on their characteristic colour after being implanted by a Deliverer during a ritualistic ceremony called the pah'nu'kah.
During the ritual, the Spirit Stones are implanted along the spine - specifically, in the voids between their vertebrae - of a newborn child, being partially phased into their bodies so that only one hemisphere is visible.
Parakka are a resistance movement set up to overthrow King Macaan from the Dominions, and Princess Aurin from Kirin Taq.
Parakka starts off in the Dominions alone in a hidden base called Gar Jenna, with just one or two people situated in Kirin Taq.
In order to protect themselves against her forces, mainly the monstrous, spider-like Keriags, Kia and several other members of Parakka seek aid from the Koth Taraan.
Eventually, Parakka become a main force in protecting the world after a crazed King Macaan invades the Machinists' Citadel, and activates the Pulse Hammer - attracting the huge monsters of the Deepwater onto land.
However it was mentioned in the 2nd to last book that after the "death" of Aurin and the liberation of Kirin Taq by the Parakkans Macaan eventually began conscripting any male of serviceable age that led to a large number of his army deserting him before the final battle, and the negation of using halberds as cannons.
The Machinists are a coalition of mercenaries who work solely for the highest bidder, so as to finance more of their technological efforts in their Citadel (located in the Dominion plains).
They eventually construct the Pulse Hammer, a design that is theoretically capable of repelling the creatures that live in Deepwater, allowing for traversing of the ocean.
He uses a great number of these to cause the Integration - the setting up of huge 'Ley Warrens’ that allow mass transports of personnel and equipment between Kirin Taq and the Dominions.
Younger Koth Taraan lack the subtle control of this power that their elders possess, and cannot help expressing their emotions as flashes of color that people see in their minds.
They fight using deadly jagged spears called gaer bolga, which have serrations designed to cause maximum damage affixed to the blade.
They are held under the command of Princess Aurin, due to the heartstone around her neck - a fragment of a larger stone, whose siblings are attached to the Keriag Queens.
