This above is the video I’m listening to while thinking about the new novel, Children of Gaea, the main characters of which I will introduce in this posting.

A decade has passed since Emergent played out, and with the exception of China and Gilead, the states of Earth are now unified. The First Administrator of the new government has been elected, Administrator Arthur (named after a YouTube content creator I admire, Isaac Arthur), The new government is now bound to form as soon as the new constitution of humanity is ratified. This is where the story begins, and it starts with a bang – literally.

There are four main characters in this story, two of which were already POV characters (narrators) in Emergent, Makoto and Nadya. Another character from that book found her way into this story: Chiharu Uehara, the granddaughter of one of the antagonists of Emergent. If you read that book, you might remember a young girl at the Uehara estate. She\’s since grown up and is now one of the leads.

Makoto is a disembodied mind, run by the AI. It’s still him all right, adapted to a life without physical body, even though he can access one in times of need. He has a number of android bodies at his disposal, but can inhabit other machines as well. As the speaker of the AI, his role as diplomat is important, and his influence makes him relevant.

Nadya is what Makoto cannot be 100% anymore: His manifestation in meat space. She runs all operations that need eyes in places the AI (and therefore Makoto) can’t access. With her unique skillset, now powered by the AI’s vast possibilities, she is equipped to handle situations Makoto can’t — and she has access to a team of specialists who answer only to her.

Chiharu is CEO of Uehara Inc, leader of the Uehara yakuza clan, and she runs the ‘Children of Gaea’ movement, determined to cut ties with the Otherworld and its Courts, and the AI. She is in a very special position, as the descendant of a man who was gifted with a latent magical aptitude that never materialized, because her grandfather never learned about and trained to use it. Her talent is inherited, equally untrained, but even stronger than her grandfather’s gift. When the Winter Court operative who groomed her met his end, she broke her shackles and grew in an unexpected direction.

The last main character goes by the name Ciara Sheenani. She’s the ambassador of the Winter Court, and the protagonist of this novel. I am writing her in first person, too. Her past is very interesting, but not entirely relevant to this story, so I will reveal a little, but not all, as to not dump unneeded info on you.

The story has two main plots that shine light on two sides of the same situation. They will merge toward the end. I’m very excited about my decision to write the story through the eyes of a female faerie character, and a member of the ‘evil faction’ to boot. I really love her for her oversized ego, her pride and narcissism, and her uncontrollable lust for knowledge. Ciara will be a (maybe even the) main character of the cast of characters set on Earth during Deirdre’s timeline, to which I’m slowly trying to catch up. Children of Gaea is still a prequel.

With that being said, here’s an excerpt of the first scene, first draft (this will get edited later).

I diverted my attention from the news stream for just a moment and stared at Earnan, who stood there in his true form, a head shorter than me. Only his lack of wings betrayed the fact he was not of my kind.

“I’ll need the security detail to make sure the facility has no data leaks before I arrive.”

Earnan nodded his obedient nod and looked at me expectantly.

“When will the capsule pick me up?”

“At nine o’clock, ambassador.”

Still more than three hours. I wasn’t looking forward to the event, but charities were one of those chores people expected me to attend, and this one would have celebrities like the Summer Queen and the speaker of the AI make their appearance.

“Send the stylist in at eight.”

Sabine would need an hour to get it done with her giant human hands, but I wouldn’t settle for anyone less skilled.

Earnan nodded again. “Very well.”

“You are dismissed. I’ll call you again later.”

He bowed, turned around on the spot and left my room through the round automatic door that opened and closed without causing a sound, snow-white like everything else in my room.

I looked back at the wall I had transformed into a screen and turned the sound back on.