Jack of Harts Background

by on October 18, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Shang have a serious chip on their shoulders when it comes to Earthborn humanity in the Jack of Harts universe. They don’t trust us. They don’t like us. And they do not want to see us expand into the galaxy. They want us controlled and docile at worst, and relegated back to Earth at best. They are Not Amused that Aneerin made Contact with us and helped us expand. Not Amused at all. They never actually had an intention to kill all of us, you understand, but they decapitated the American government in an effort to make us surrender without a fight. They did not want a war. And they did not attack us from their point of view. They were defending themselves from us. We are the monsters under the bed. We ARE the primary antagonist of THEIR story.

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Jack of Harts Background

by on October 17, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Shang are as human as the rest of us. It is one of the foundational points of the Jack of Harts universe that most of the aliens we meet are humans like us. Except for some obviously genetically-engineered races that are mostly based of humans with interesting abilities. Most aliens are biologically compatible with us. In the Shang case, they are dwarves to all intents and purposes. Not in a fantasy sense. They are a very short people, which is why many call them Runts when insulting them. Earthborn humans can’t even walk inside their spaceships or buildings because the ceilings are too low. They look more like an oddly adult child than what most of us would consider a human adult. And they are Not Amused when we talk down to them.

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Jack of Harts Background

by on October 16, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Shang are powerful, an old civilization going back thousands of years at least. Maybe tens of thousands. As the writer, I know how old they are, but I’m not telling yet. 😉 They claim to be our gods, and the Chinese at least seem to fully accept that the Shang helped build their ancient civilization back in the day. Or that the Shang can give them enough of a leg up on the Russians and Americans that they won’t argue the point over much. Not that most people in the Western Alliance know that. News out of China is heavily redacted, and even transmissions from the Shang are heavily edited before the common citizens see it. Only conspiracy theorists spreading disinformation think the Shang actually claim anything like that. And that’s crazy. Right?

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Jack of Harts Background

by on October 15, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Shang are not the primary antagonists of the Jack of Harts universe in my own mind. They are powerful enemies, make no mistake. And they do want to drive Earth out of the stars. But they are not an insane villain seeking to do bad things for the jollies of it. They believe that we are too dangerous to be allowed a foothold of power. They sought to tame us to their ways, to make us less dangerous, and gave us a century to properly bow before them. They only attacked us when we refused to bow to them. Now I understand that makes them sound like an antagonist, and I agree that they are. And they absolutely are the antagonists of The War. But they are not the PRIMARY antagonists of the Jack of Harts universe.

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Jack of Harts Background

by on October 14, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Shang appear to be the primary antagonists of the Jack of Harts universe. They want to either conquer or drive Earthborn humanity out of space. They are killing humans in job lots. And there never seems to be an end to their fleets. They just keep coming, no matter how many the Western Alliance destroys. And when they first showed up a century before attacking us, they even proclaimed themselves to be our gods, returning to guide us into the future. China signed up for the Shang train, and enjoyed a century of economic and technological boom times. And an unopposed campaign of expansion into the depths of the Hyades Cluster that they quickly built into one of the most industrialized centers of power in known space.

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