Nothing Changes | Leona R Wisoker

Description

A young teyanin man obeys his father and vaults past the assumptions of his insular society in a bid for control of their people. Years later, his daughter does the same, but this time in an effort to escape her father’s inflexible, dangerous control…

The teyanain are a xenophobic tribe that occupy a narrow stretch of land between two major political zones: the Northern Kingdom and the southern Families. Throughout the novels, the teyanain and their leader, Lord Evkit, are a constant presence — sometimes overt, usually covert. Lord Evkit’s actual goals are deeply hidden behind layers of manipulation and misdirection, and the home life of his people is almost entirely invisible. Two of the stories in this collection bring the readers inside the world of the teyanain, revealing hidden motivations and plots.

The Northern Church was long the dominant religious and political force in the king’s city of Bright Bay, until they fell prey to the dual trap of greed and a sociopathic southerner intent on gaining revenge for what he saw as his unjust expulsion and disgrace. Many good men were swiftly turned to a much harsher path, setting the kingdom onto a catastrophic journey called the Purge, which killed thousands and nearly started a war between the Northern Kingdom and the southern Families.

Their choices resonate through the background of the Children of the Desert and Kingdom of Salt series and shape the world. Presented here are their stories, along with six other intersecting tales. Rogues and priests, monsters and saviors, all make their own path through a complex world, affecting far more lives than they ever realize….

Water’s End, a southern city and theoretically neutral zone, became home to many refugees fleeing the Purge. One such refugee was a thief named Lamb, whose expertise keeps him alive and reasonably successful — until he takes on an assignment far more dangerous and complex than he intended, and is noticed by people in power. 

Time travel, morality, ethics, and culture clashes are on offer, along with notes on this world’s religion, history, linguistics. and horses….

What happens when a city has been twisted round by multiple powerful psychic events over decades? Temporal instability, apparently —  at least for one young priest seeking a new life. He finds, instead of the golden city of his dreams, a rolling nightmare that only honesty about himself and his past will allow him to escape.

Power corrupts, people lie, rulers come and go. Nothing changes in the long run …

… or does it?