Verse I

Separated and En-Tranced

Join and learn alongside the main characters Laban Cyrillian and Azaniah Strayer as they encounter and explore things mysterious, foreign, and sometimes familiar. Contemporary to their experiences, Laban’s friends, Seth “Necho” Warren and Collen Comstock must come to grips with a changing societal landscape, and the looming threat of a vessel rumored to be on approach from beyond the furthest reaches of explored aether. Surrounding all this mystery, terrorists known as Dissidents are a growing threat to the rule of the OEA – the One Earth Ascendancy – whom is Earth’s world government.

Laban’s wife, Aruanah, faces great opposition and discrimination from Ascendancy society due to her natural pregnancy – a taboo among its greater population of debtors. At her side is her best friend and all-around tough chick, the fiery, red-haired Caitlyn Rose Thomas, whom most often goes by “Cait.” Cait is Necho’s paramour, and the woman it is rumored he might finally settle down with.

Far beyond the concerns and mundane matters of Ascendancy life, Carmilla Strayer, a Consort of the Vestiary of Pursuers, finds herself cornered by spurned affections and the brash advances of a certain Persecutor Brother by the name of Obeth Calairendon. In spite of these advances, she holds a special and forbidden place in her heart for her fellow Strayer, Azaniah. Never far, her sister Strayer, Liliana, has her back, and is said to be a…favorite of many brothers within the Vestiary.

Laban Cyrillian and Azaniah Strayer walk their respective paths, each encountering things they never dreamed would be possible. Through it all, Azaniah adheres to his Vestiary’s goals while finding his belief wearing thin, while Laban, having been scarred from past wars and events unexplainable, is beginning to find his own belief.

Series Overview & Short History

The Universal Testaments: Neoteric

Witness the birth of a new Universe.

In the Neoteric, great powers long put to rest will be reborn with renewed urgency. For the aphotic know their time is short, and all the dark is gathering power to itself for one last battle. But Lumos is not without favor, and the light of the candle shines brightest in the darkest nights. Against insurmountable odds, that flickering flame will grow to eclipse all the Universe.

The Universal Testaments is a brand new massive fictional universe created and authored by L.E. Hovdenes, whose books and sub-series will cover a number of genres.

The first book begins in the year 2270 Eternal Enlightenment (EE), near the end of a war between the last remnants of the near-to-dying United Earth Empire (UEE), and the ever-rising One Earth Ascendancy (OEA). This war has been raging for decades, but has at last reached its climax.

The UEE was an Earth-wide power that rose up out of a dark stain on mankind’s history around the turn of the 22nd century. Following this Dark Age, mysterious changes began to take form in men, Earth, and the Universe at large. Nearly two hundred years ago, the sky gave way opening up to the aetherial heavens, above. In that time, the United Earth Empire paved the way for aether exploration and colonization, but further progress had been made impossible due to political corruption first stagnating, then putrefying the once-great Empire. To add insult to injury, the dozens of UEE colonies seeded across a multitude of planets outside the Local System were completely abandoned as its power waned.

The Ascendancy is the next claimant in line for the rulership of Earth. Having already secured Greenland, Europe, Asia, Africa, and both the Arctic and Antarctic, the OEA waged the Greater American Conflict across the continent of North America, and three-quarters of the way into South America. By 2270, the Ascendancy has all but secured final victory against their foe. All that remains of any potential UEE strongholds lay in the last quarter of South America. The High Seat of the Ascendancy, Terran Titus, with pressures from the honorable House Sarkessian, has decreed a final push in order to assure world dominion. That push became known as the Sarkessian Offensive.

Fighting amidst the Sarkessian Offensive we meet Laban Cyrillian, who is one of two main characters for TUT: Neoteric, Verse I. Laban is a combat engineer and officer of rank major with the Ascendancy Skirmishmen – the OEA’s ground force army. Due to high casualty rates wiping out field and command officers alike, Laban has seen un-precedented advancement in rank, and now leads the majority of Ascendancy forces involved in the Sarkessian Offensive. He has, thus far, proven a knack for his ability to survive, inspire, and lead. But, the bulk of his story takes place seven years later, in 2277EE. Laban Cyrillian has retired out from Ascendancy service, and has been named a Hero of the Ascendancy, and given no choice but to take up the position of project director overseeing Archlight Station’s construction.

Following the conclusion of the Sarkessian Offensive, the One Earth Ascendancy set its focus on re-expanding man’s reign into the aether. Situated just off the center of the Galaxy, and outside a deadly and beautiful phenomenon known as the Great Magnetic River, the Ascendancy is in the process of building Archlight Station. The largest aetherstation ever constructed, it will serve as a hub for colonizing further into the Milky Way. To aid in this endeavor, the Ascendancy recently secured a method of Faster Than Light (FTL) travel, by way of surpassing the Aether Resistance Threshold (ART). Although the use and knowledge of ART remains limited mostly to official Ascendancy business, and the mysterious and occult Vestiary of Pursuers, mankind is hopeful that they will one day inhabit the whole Milky Way, and, perhaps, even all the Universe.

In 2277, we also meet Azaniah Strayer on Archlight, whom is the second main character. Azaniah walks a much different path than Laban. He is a Persecutor among the Vestiary of Pursuers, a mysterious and occult religious organization operating in their own authority and power, with official allowance from the One Earth Ascendancy. Debtors at large – the citizens of the OEA – fear the Pursuers, as they are rumored to possess strange abilities, and consort with dark entities. Why the Ascendancy has allowed the Pursuers to operate independently is a question many a debtor has asked…but only within themselves. For to even speak of Pursuers is to risk being the next target of their hounds, the Preliators, which the common debtor simply calls a Blacksuit.

But the Vestiary is not so much under the thumb of the Ascendancy as some believe. Although the Persecutors certainly toe a tentative line, it is no doubt that the Vestiary holds a power the Ascendancy would very much like to get their hands on. Should the Vestiary of Pursuers be interrupted and turn their gaze from their unknowable occult pursuits, the Ascendancy and its debtors may not survive. It is for just this reason the Seekers of the Ascendancy created their own sort of occult political power in the mind-reading Askers of the Office of the Perpetual Questioning – AKA the Oculus.

The Author’s Plans

What’s in a Universe?

Universe means One Word. This word is all encompassing, meaning it contains all things. Within a universe, there are many verses. These verses fill the universe, and form the perceivable and imperceptible. A universe without verse cannot be. Such a place would be formless and void.

In the Universe of TUT, there are three separate sub-series that L.E. Hovdenes is working on. The journey begins with the Neoteric, which is primarily Science Fiction, akin to a Space Opera. The Neoteric is set in the latter end of The Universal Testaments timeline.

The second sub-series Hovdenes is working on, is called The Universal Testaments: Antiquity, which is set in the Neoteric’s distant past – near the beginning of TUT’s timeline. The Antiquity is primarily in the genre of High Fantasy.

A third sub-series is in early development, and will take place between the Antiquity and the Neoteric. The name of this sub-series is secret.

The Author’s Intent

Reason & Purpose

My reasons for beginning to lorecraft this massive new universe are as much a mystery to me as they might be to you. The inspiration for The Universal Testaments came in a dream. From the point that I first shot out of bed and shouted, “I have to write that!” I’ve been putting words to paper for the sole purpose of giving readers a wholesome, epic, and expansive narrative filled with heroes and villains that anyone could learn from, relate with, or find believable.

I’ve found purpose in crafting an interesting, deep, and convoluted world the likes of which many of us have found in authors such as: J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, C.S. Lewis, and H.P. Lovecraft. Or, in video games such as: Dark Souls, KOTOR, and the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

I’m motivated by the idea of nuance, deep story, and rich lore; the very thing I like to find in books, films, and video games. These concepts inspire me to create something that I, myself, would like were that I was the reader. Ultimately, it is passion for the craft that drives me. It is my desire that these books should have a powerful emotional effect, inspire others to step outside the box, or, perhaps, even give readers hope for the future of story telling.

If you decide to give The Universal Testaments a try, then I hope you will enjoy the first book in the series, and stay tuned for many more to come.

– L.E. Hovdenes