The Official Guide to the Okal Rel Universe

The Big Picture

Reality skimming is to blame for everything.

It lets us cross the vast (seriously vast, read-an-astronomy-textbook-until-your-mind-boggles huge) expanses of dead, empty space to find the few precious places where life is viable. It is also a source of "free" energy, the only means of faster than light communication, and the ultimate super-weapon, making it, in terms of cultural impact, the equivalent of fossil-fuels, communications and the a-bomb all rolled into one.

But it requires a sentient being to do it, and one with the will and passion (called "grip") to avoid popping out of existence. It also helps to be regenerative in order to contend with the strafing at a molecular level that causes premature aging, organ failure and spontaneous hemorrhage. In other words, rel-skimming is not good for your health or your sanity.

Unless you are a Sevolite. Sevolites were bioengineered explicitly to counter the rigors of reality skimming. The fact they set up a pseudo-feudal empire in the end, is hardly surprising, given that they were designed to be strong willed, passionate and tough as old boots.

But mankind settled the Alpha Colonies before Sevolites came to be, and were cut off for lack of pilots rigorous enough to rediscover them when the jump to the reach of space containing the Earth shifted.

Like Star Wars, Babylon Five and Star Trek, the Okal Rel Universe is based on the assumption that faster than light travel enables empires to hold sway over multiple planetary systems. But there are a few key differences from the usual scenario. 

1. Alien life is rare — habitat is precious. Worlds capable of sustaining life are much too precious to risk in destructive wars. Artificial habitats are also valuable, but not quite as sacred; although that is debatable. The biggest problem is how to co-exist with the destructive potential of reality skimming.

2. There is no need to build "death stars". Every pilot is a potential planet killer.

3. Cultures that fail to establish an enforceable "zero tolerance" response to environmental vandalism do not survive.

On the Sevolite side of the universe, Okal Rel enforces respect for sustainability. On the Reetion side, people use sophisticated methods of social control based on a total surveillance society. Needless to say, the approaches are incompatible and therein lies considerable conflict. Conflict within subgroups about how to respond to change, is another recurring aspect of the ORU stories.

Sevolites know that Reetions exist, but at the beginning of the ten-novel series, they have not encountered them since the Americ Treaty concluded a conflict called the Killing War, two hundred years before. Prior to the Killing War, Sevolites and Reetions were out of touch for about a 1,000 years. Contact during the Killing War was brief, nasty, and poorly documented.

The Okal Rel Saga chronicles the epic story of how the neo-feudal Sevolites of the Gelack Empire and the egalitarian Reetions of the Alpha Colonies, are perilously re-united. The fall out that happens, covers over thirty years, with gaps between some books. Culture clash is played out through characters who struggle to make sense of everything from conquest to love affairs, in a world where the rules are beginning to change for everybody.