What one needs to know about the Inquest is this:

 

It’s Space Opera.

 

But when one says “Space Opera”, it does not mean that one should jump to the conclusion that the story is about flying robots in space and teenage angst with a hint of political intrigue.

 

When one says Space Opera, one means this:

 

It was written by a man who leads an Opera company. There could be an aria at each characters death (and boy is there a lot of death) – and there is music and poetry scattered throughout the entire text. There are dozens of different created languages. It’s divided into four acts, has a caste and chorus, and the final book is recognized as a play by some of the characters themselves.

 

This is not a normal Space Opera.

 

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The Inquestoral Tarot (The Cast)

 

Kelver: [New Religion]

                Position: Hope {human longing for absolute beauty}

                Strength Postion: ReversedThrone of Madness

One of the three Key cards, it signifies changeand chaos, but also the brashness of youth and potential for great destruction.

 

History: Kelver was rumored to be the instigator in the Fall of the Inquest chronicalled in the Darkling Wind. His actions split the Inquest in two, polarizing the empire and throwing it into chaos. He is one of the three Children of the Inquest – along with Siriss and Arryk, both of which he nursed a love/hate relationship with. He was the primary Student of Dvaryush, though he rejected the original teatchings of Mother Vara.

 

Generally, his card is associated with destruction, rebirth, power, youth, and the unconditional force of good. He is unencumbered by either visions of the future or memories of the past, but he holds only the False Godhood of the Throne of Madness, and is unable to act when within the Position of Shtoma. (True Godhood)

 

Arryk: [Rational Inability to accept Revalation]

                Position: Past Hope

                Strenght Position: Uran S’Varek

The Second of the three Key cards, it signifies order, the blindess of youth and the inability to look beyond.

 

History: Arryk was the leader of the Inquest during the Fall. With in most works cronicalling the Inquest he is used as a Foil for ‘Ton Kelver. Both are said to have come from backwater worlds, and held true to their ideals – unfortunately to an overly strict degree. He was the key student of the Masked Inquestor Karakael, after rejecting the teachings of Elloran following what he saw as a betrayal.

 

His card is associated with law, order, conformity, bias, restraint of emotions, and unconditional loyalty. He is held back by his visions and preoccupation with the past, and the glory of the Inquest. Yet he too seeks the power offered by the Throne of Madness, and is unable to accept the power of Shtoma.

 

Siriss: [Emotive inability to conceal truth]

                Position: Future Hope

                Strength Position: Shtoma

                The final Key card, it signifies balance, awareness, encumbered actions, growing tensions, as well as the youthful desire for justice and truth above all else.

 

History: Siriss is, as always, a point of balance. Torn between her two lovers, the young Inquestrix experienced both sides of the battle, and is able to see with clarity. Yet this clarity shackles her with indecision, which she must be forcibly broken from. As with Arryk she was a student of Elloran, but unlike her lovers she never rejected his teachings, and always strove for justice above all.

 

Her card is associated with balance, knowledge, waking emotions, justice, foresight, and regret. She is held back by her vision of the future, and her responsibilities to it. She can function on Uran S’Varek, but her power remains strongest of the planet of Shtoma.

 

Daveyush [The failure of human longing]

                Position: Despair

                Strength Position: Galledys

                The first of the Inquestor cards, it signifies knowledgable change, the correct course of action, painful awareness and awakening, age, and thought

 

History: As Kelvers first teacher, it was Daveyush who instigated the fall of the Inquest, despite being stripped of his title soon after his awakening on Stoma and Galledys. He was the first Inquestor to discover the True Utopia of Stoma and was given control of Galledys as an effort to placate his growing outrage at the Inquest. Unable to shake him from his resolve, he was branded as a heratic and his last action was to create his successor, Kelver.

 

His card is associated with Change and a failed attempt at balance. As with all of the Inquestor cards, Daveyush is restrained by his participation in the old order, but unlike most he is able to see the flaws within his own system and accept that change must come from an innocent unmarred by the ways of the Inquest. His power comes from the side of the Inquest, but his card signifies a knowledge of the system and an abilitiy to knowingly use oneself to the universes best interest. It is often called the card of the Heritic.

 

Elloran [reason/revelation]

                Position: Past Despair

                Strength Position: Reversed Stoma

                One of the two Ideal Inquestor cards, it signifies the possibility of perfection and goodness despite surrounding corruption, the awakening of joint love and reason, knowledgeable understanding, and resistance against corrupting forces.

 

History: Ton Elloran represents all the good that the Inquest offered. He was a kind, benevolent ruler who did not let his painful experiences guide his actions. He is known for his great patronage of the arts and culture, and is remembered best for his connection to Sen Sajit. It was he who taught and cared for the young Inquestors of Sirriss, Kelver and Arrak prior to the Civil War that ended the Inquest and it was he who was the most influential in convincing the other Inquestors to follow Sirriss’s advice and chose a peaceful end to the corruption that was the Inquest.

 

His card is associated with clear sight and strength, while at the same time being encumbered by past dogmas and the elaborate rituals that constantly plagued the Inquestor. His is the card of struggle against ones own beliefs but it carries a strong indication that one will triumph – though sometimes at a hevy cost.

 

Karakael [emotion/concealment]

                Position: Future Despair

                Strength Position: Uran S’Varek

                The second of the two Ideal Inquestor cards, Karakael signifies all that is flawed within the Inquest. Hence it is associated with destruction, pain, suffering, failure, concealment and the ritual of dogma. It is also often associated with Fire where Elloran is associated with Water.

 

History: At the time of the Fall of the Inquest Karakael was amoung the three most powerful Inquestors, the others being Elloran and Yneh. While little is known about him further than ledgends it is known that he was Arraks teacher and often wore masks to conceal the extensive scaring he received as a child. His bitter hate for the Inquest and his former teacher, Vara, spurred him to follow the Inquests teachings dogmatically, not caring for the pain and suffering he caused. It was he who began as the power behind the Inquest during the Civil War.

 

Yet despite appearances the card of Karakael, often called The Burned or Masked Man, is not all evil. No card within the Inquestoral tarot is without flaws or – in the case of the darker cards – hidden strengths and goodnesses. Just as the Burned Man is associated with destruction and evil order, it is also associated with the ability to rise above that evil and to triumph. It sometimes signifies harsh conflicts and struggles to overcome unfare obstecals, but is also can signify unexpected allies and the power of redemption.

 

Vara [the human/god interface]

                Position: Balance

                Strength Position: The Throne of Madness

                The most powerful card in the Inquestoral Tarot, Vara is associated with endings and beginnings, age, knowledge, imperfections, feminine power, love, and despair.

 

History: Vara – Or Mother Vara, as she is often known as - was one of the Creators of the Inquest. She was the only one to survive to its Fall twenty thousand years later. She was the first Inquestor to sit upon the Throne of Madness, and the only one to win its Whispershadow and its Heart. The stories explain that she was the most powerful Inquestor, at once the most cruel and the most compassionate. She longed to see her creation result in the evolution of mankind – but instead saw it become a sickness that plagued the Dispersal of Man. She was the one that began the maneuvering for Fall of the Inquest after experiencing the perfection of Shtoma, and was the motivation behind Daavee’s movements.

 

As the name implies, Vara is associated with all aspects of Motherhood (despite Inquestors being thought to be infertail). As a card, Vara is restrained by the position and company she is found with – within the Inquest she is restrained by the dogma she helped to create while looking towards the freedom she can envision, while within Shtoma or Gallays she is restrained by the desire to throw away dogma while still acting under its principles.

 

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Other cards of note:

 

Yneh: The Inquestor of War 

Jenjen: The Darkweaver

Darktouch: The Innocent 

Zalo: The Puppetteer 

Sajti: The Muscician 

The Mad Singer

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The Plot:

 

Book One: The Dawning Shadow: The Light on the Sound

 

     In which our universe is introduced. The action takes place on the planet of Gallendys, as Davaryush is crowned K'ing of the planet in an attempt to quiet his heretical beliefs. Meanwhile, Darktouch, a child of the people who live in the giant hollow mountan that takes up most of the planet, discovers that she has two more senses than usual in her trip - namely, she can see and hear. Her people are deaf and blind so that they cannot see the amazing lightsongs of the Windbringers, and are able to hunt and capture them without being effected by their perfect beauty. She observes one of these lightsongs and realize that what her people are doing is wrong. So she excapes the Dark Country and flees to the Inquestoral seat with a boy from the outside world named Kelver. This drives the planetary thinkhive that controls the world mad.

     Meanwhile, Davaryush is won over to the side of Varuneh (Vara), a former Inquestor who is seeking the destruction of the Inquest for its stranglehole on humanity and the Dispersal of Man. They manuver Yhyeh, a femal Inquestor that controls its war machines, into giving them the satelites necessary to destroy Gallendys, and the Windbringers that make up the starships necessary to the Inquest. Davee is hesitant about this plan, and upon meeting the children Darktouch and Kelver is won over to the idea that their revolution cannot begin with an act of violence. He, Vara, and the children return to the Dark Country to observe the lightsongs, and are changed. Gallendys is not destroyed, and the Inquest triumphs. Davaryush is branded as a heritic and stripped of his power, while Vara is sent to be exicuted and Darktouch's people are killed and replaced with unthinking servocorpses. Davee's last act is to make Kelver into an Inquestor, so that he may destroy the Inquest from within.

 

Book Two: The Throne of Madness

 

     Now an Inquestor in training, Kelver has forgotten about his backwater upbringing and is adjusting to his new life. He has gained a new lover - a fellow young Inquestrix, Sirriss. But when he attends the cerimony that denounces Davaryush he remembers his past and the desire to continue the revolution is rekindled within him. He, Sirriss, and Arrak - all Inquestors under the protection of Ton Elloran - decide to travel to the opposite end of Uran S'Varek, in search of the Throne of Madness, a mythical seat of power that is rumored to grant the posseser the control of the thinkhives on the southern half of the planet. As he travels Kelver first looses Arrak, as the other young man becomes disgusted with Kelvers ideals and desire to destroy the Inquest. (This happens shortly after they become embroiled in a war game...which is revealed to have been controlled by the High Inquestors Elloran and Karakael.)

     Meanwhile, Vara is revealed to have been saved, and secretely transported to the shipbuilding yards on a distant planet where she will be safe. Yet when the giant Dragon that the ship yards occupy begins to destroy them Vara takes control and leads a revolt - killing the dragon and freeing the laborers who might have died.

     Kelver looses Sirriss as well, as she becomes distraught when she realizes that her homeworld was destroyed by Elloran, the man who is her mentor. He reaches the southern tip of Uran S'Varek alone, and claims the Throne of Madness for himself. In doing so he gains a Whispershadow - a connection to a sentient star. He shall die when it does. But he also is now connected to the Throne - the insane thinkhives that control the southern half of the planet. Kelver declares war on the Inquest and the sides are divided at a party hosted by the Inquestor Karakael. Sirriss and Vara choose the side of the Rebellion, while Arrak leads the Inquest along with Karakael (who has been unmasked and shamed). Elloran chooses instead to go into seclusion following the death of his beloved friend Sajit. But he gives his possestions to Sirriss, clearly signalling his support for the rebellion.

 

Book Three: Utopia Hunters

 

     As the battle for the Inquest begins, a new, different story is told. JenJen, a darkweaver from the planet Essondrass, observes the battle from a different side - that of one of the shortlived humans uninvolved in the real conflict. She learns the history of the Inquest, and is shown the good and bad within it, as she is told several stories from the Rememberes of Hokh'Ton Elloran. After returning to her homeworld and learning the difference between the ancient, epic world of the Inquestors and the short, fast life of her people and friends (amoung them her lover Zalo) she creates a giant DarkSculpture to commemorate the Inquest. She includes all the stories she has learned, as well as the histor of the Inquest.

     She inspires Zalo and her people to resist the commanded destruction of her planet. And Zalo creates a master piece play that changes the ancient play of the Rainbow King into a story of freedom and rising above the power of the Inquest. They are rescued by the revolutionary forces of Kelver and  live to become part of the larger revolution. During the course of their revolt JenJen's DarkSculpture burns as a result of a shade of the Darkling Wind, another name for the Throne Of Madness.

 

Book Four: The Darkling Wind

 

     If I tell you what happens in the final book, that'll ruin the surprise! But to spoil you: almost everyone dies in super epic ways. You end up basically hating the main two characters (Kelver and Arrak) and are left going "Wow" at the rest of the Inquestors death scenes (specifically, that of Hokh'Ton Karakael, Elloran, and Sirriss.) while Vara basically becomes God of the Galaxy (or atleast as close as you can get in this series). The Inquest is completely destroyed, and it takes humanity several milleniums to recover the technology to travel between the stars.