Humanity pushed its way to the stars - and encountered the
Gbaba, a ruthless alien race that nearly wiped us out.
Earth and her colonies are now smoldering ruins, and the
few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold, to
try to rebuild. But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of
an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold
have taken extraordinary measures: with mind control and
hidden high technology, they've built a religion in which
every Safeholdian believes, a religion designed to keep
Safehold society medieval forever. 800 years pass. In a
hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human
past awakens. This "rebirth" was set in motion centuries
before, by a faction that opposed shackling humanity with a
concocted religion. Via automated recordings, "Nimue" - or,
rather, the android with the memories of Lieutenant
Commander Nimue Alban - is told her fate: she will emerge
into Safeholdian society, suitably disguised, and begin the
process of provoking the technological progress which the
Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent.
Nothing about this will be easy. To better deal with a
medieval society, "Nimue" takes a new gender and a new
name, "Merlin." His formidable powers and access to caches
of hidden high technology will need to be carefully
concealed. And he'll need to find a base of operations, a
Safeholdian country that's just a little more freewheeling,
a little less orthodox, a little more open to the new. And
thus Merlin comes to Charis, a mid-sized kingdom with a
talent for naval warfare. He plans to make the acquaintance
of King Haarahld and Crown Prince Cayleb, and maybe, just
maybe, kick off a new eraof invention. Which is bound to
draw the attention of the Churchand, inevitably, lead to
war. It's going to be a long, long process. And it's going
to be the can't-miss SF epic of the decade.
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