Welcome to another Lore Dive for the Avala: Spirits of the Mindscapes series. Today I will be talking about the culture of Evelon II, the homeworld of the main character of the series: Avala daughter of Scya.
Two thousand years before the start of the story, Evelon II was a newly formed colony world for the Republic of Earth, founded on a tidally locked planet with only a ring of habitable area around the eternal sunset of the planet. The humans mated with the local Athakri population and created the Athakarin race. However after the Yajiran Empire attacked it, and captured it, they killed the humans and drove the Athakri into hiding. They then raised the Athakarin into a primitive and dark culture, which they lorded over as gods.
Two-thousand-years later Evelon II is a culture of sapient-sacrifices, and suppression of women. It is a world that is stuck in something akin to Earth's middle ages. Advanced technology is nonexistent and would be seen as magic to them. The Athakarin people live on the habitable ring of the planet going across the eternal sunset. They live in villages, towns, and cities with sometimes thousands of kilometers between them. Those close to the night side of the planet live in eternal winter, and those closer to the day side of the planet live in eternal summer. Closer to the poles due to the planet's tilt, it shifts from summer to winter and then back again throughout the year.
The people of Evelon II call their world, Evelon Tah, which translates to Evelon II. Their mythology tells of the human colony and it being attacked by the Yajiran Empire but it is a distorted picture of the truth. It turns it into a struggle against the evil Devalra and the righteous Yaji and the union of the two producing the Athakarins who are tainted by the evil of their Devalra blood. Devalra being their word for humanity, and Yaji as being Athakri or Yajiran. However they see both the Devalra and Yaji as spiritual beings, taken from the powers of the Yajiran Empire elite, the Yajixa. They call these beings the spirits, though often when referring to the spirits, they are referring to the Arch Spirits, specifically Yasal, Yagra, Yvan, Ijar, and Zayil.
The Arch Spirits of the Athakarin faith are the five Yajixa generals who long ago were sent to destroy the human colony on the planet. Since they are Yajixa, they are immortal, for they can possess any member of any race that traces its heritage from the ancient Echarikith precursor race. As most races in the galaxy, aside from humans, are like this, the Yajixa have dominated the galaxy for three million years. The Yajixa absorb the souls of the deceased into their mindscapes, to further their power, resulting in a yearning for more death. However the Athakarins, in their primitive understanding, do not know this, and instead see the Yajixa as the Yaji, their benevolent spirits who demand they sacrifice fellow Athakarins to the spirits to forgive their evil ancestry.
The Athakarins also oppress women, as their Yajixa overlords see it as a way to spit in the face of humanity to remind them of their dark past. Young girls under the age of ten, are regularly sold by their parents to adult men to be their wives. As wives they cook, clean, and do everything their husbands tell them to. Many end up having children shortly after the start of puberty, and many do not survive. It is a brutal and barbaric life to live. And the Republic of Earth have worked tirelessly to try and stop this from happening, sending countless spies in to try and free the people from this oppression. Many of these spies end up rescuing oppressed women, bringing them out into the galaxy beyond.
Avala, the main hero of Avala: Spirits of the Mindscape, is a girl who came from this world. However she was mostly sheltered from this life, as it turned out her husband was one of these humans spies, who would never abuse her. That same husband, took her from that world, when she reached the age of fourteen, showed Avala the truth of her people, annulling the marriage and becoming one of her closest allies. Since then, Avala has worked tirelessly to free her people from their evil alien overlords. And finally, in Avala: Spirits of the Mindscapes - Book 3: Ruins, she might be able to do just that.
Anyways, that's all for this Lore Dive. I'll see you tomorrow for a Game Dive, into one of our current game projects.
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See you next time.
Caleb Teal, Author and Founder