Foreigner Universe - Story Arcs

Story Arcs

Each arc consists of three novels. Each arc deals with an entire storyline, although there are cross-connections as the series has progressed. Roughly 10 years of time are supposed to have elapsed (per the novel) from Book 1, Foreigner, to Book 8, Pretender.

• Arc 1 (Foreigner, Invader, Inheritor): focuses on an assassination attempt against Bren Cameron, an act illegal by the peace treaty made following the War of the Landing. The attempt proves to be a conspiracy by factions of humans and atevi to depose Bren as the paidhi, or official translator between the two cultures. The Starship Phoenix returns, causing the entire system to come out of balance, causing political unrest on both Mospheira and the mainland, and while the atevi change from simple rocketry to advanced single-stage-to-orbit shuttles, radically altering their economic and industrial base in the process.

• Arc 2 (Precursor, Defender, Explorer): focuses on Bren as he is elevated by Tabini to be the Lord of the Heavens, making him a lord of the aishidi'tat with authority to negotiate. Bren is then charged with taking Tabini's heir, Cajeiri, and Ilisidi, Cajeri's great grandmother, to see to a threat of aliens encountered by Phoenix, but Bren and the aiji-dowager must first solve a mutiny aboard Phoenix.

• Arc 3 (Destroyer, Pretender, Deliverer): focuses on the return of Bren Cameron, Ilisidi and Cajeiri from deep space and their encounter with the alien Kyo. They find the aishidi'tat in tatters, Tabini-aiji rumored to be dead, and Murini, the pretender-aiji, on the throne in Shejidan. The kyo will expect to meet a unified planet under the rule of Tabini-aiji. Bren, the dowager, and the aiji must restore order before the kyo arrive for negotiations.

• Arc 4 (Conspirator, Deceiver, Betrayer): set in the immediate aftermath of the third arc, and is set against the shifting political relations between the different Atevi ethnic factions. With Tabini restored in Shejidan, Cameron must find a way to stabilise the Eastern and coastal regions where he has his own Lordly estate. The peace gained with the restoration of Tabini's rule is threatened by long standing ethnic and cultural differences between the ruling Ragi Atevi and the more conservative Edi and Eastern clans.

• Arc 5 (Intruder, Protector, Peacemaker): currently in progress.