The Galactic Series
is a short-story Space Opera series that differs somewhat in that it is not set in our galaxy, instead being set in a pair of colliding galaxies in the Virgo Supercluster. Around two million A.D., two galaxy-spanning civilisations, the Shango Federation and the Qareen Confederacy, from each of the original galaxies, found themselves coming directly into regular contact in the "Intersection Zone", the region of space where the two galaxies are joined; as a result, their mutual suspicion boiled over into the Intersection Wars, a series of five wars which caused immense destruction on both sides and shifted the balance of power in the galaxy.
Yet after this, there are still immense issues to overcome. The truce negotiated by both sides was an awkward one, and both sides have to cope with the pressures of maintaining such large and coherent political bodies - terrorism, separatist movements and reactionary campaigns are not uncommon. Furthermore, looming over all of them is the immense presence of the Dharan Republic, a race of aliens who are, in comparison, gods, and not always of the benevolent kind.
The stories generally provide examples of:
- Absent Aliens: Inverted — humans are largely absent, barring some occurrences of time travel and the gift of the "human database".
- Aliens Speaking English: Justified as the Shango and Qareen languages are... unorthodox, to say the least.
- All Theories Are True: It's possible to build hollow planets and flat planets, and to fire alkahest at enemy spaceships.
- Faster-Than-Light Travel: although travelling across one of the galaxies can take less than an hour, a month, or several years, depending on whose technology you use.
- The Federation: Downplayed, in that the Shango are not necessarily more peaceful or more moral than their opposites.
- No Transhumanism Allowed: Largely with the Shango; with the Qareen, it's a case of some transhumanism allowed, much of it to do with neural improvement.
- Numbered Homeworld: The Stoppan label their planets "Res 1", "Res 2" and so on.
- People's Republic of Tyranny: The Representative People's Democratic Socialist Commonwealth Republic of the Bhoot People may well qualify.
- Skeleton Government: Given that the Shango and the Qareen are both post-scarcity societies, they don't need a lot of functions, such as a Treasury or a Business Department.
- Standard Sci-Fi History: Downplayed. It's not known exactly what happened to humanity at all. Other races are in the Empire stage, although it would appear that the decline just hasn't happened for some.
- Star Scraper: On the Shango's Darkworlds, there are towers reaching a hundred kilometres in height, and the forces acting on them at the top (or even in the middle) are not the same as at the bottom.
Particular stories provide examples of:
- Serious Business: "The Sport of Presidents" has a huge controversy over a cup game, which apparently has galaxy-spanning implications.
