It's been a while. When I wrote Silvegates 1 - Northworld, I expected a short break, then to move on to this book, Navigator. Navigator had its structure already set when I pushed the last chapter of book one - I had the interludes with the Fursona raiding, the appearance of the Lemuria waiting for the expedition once in Deva territory, and the entire epilogue with Armangest was finished and got almost no editing since then.

Then, The Infinite Labyrinth happened, and two months turned into three years. My bad. All I can promise is that book three, Child of Earth (© 2005 David Gerrold), will not take as much. The plan, which may get derailed, is that I will finish book three of The Changed Ones next, starting in March and going on to summer. Then, I'll be back to finish this over the Fall and hopefully finish the trilogy before NY 2025.

Initially, my plan for Silvergates was four books, but after finishing book one, I realized that book four was utterly useless and didn't quite fit. So, three. It will bring the tale of First Contact to a conclusion, which was always the goal. Assuming I can fit the Geigene in there since they are off to the side. Book two was a bit shorter than book one, but book three will certainly be much larger. That's common in trilogies.

Writing book two was painful. I have depression problems, which lead to difficulties concentrating, massive procrastination, and other challenges (anyone who follows me on Reddit knows the "list" has had problems being updated - same source). This is why it took me so long to push this to Royal Road; my writing output is probably only half of what I did a year ago. I also realize that without having a deadline to deliver to you, the reader, I would likely write even less. Hopefully, I will prepare more stuff for Child of Earth while I publish Ancient Battles (which is only 30% done so far, but I took enough of a break to get back in the writing mood for it).

Now, some worldbuilding notes. Panglossia is a beautiful tool for getting a feel of what an alien culture is. But it doesn't convey all. Now, some summarized information:

First to Gate: The Geigene (White Species). Six-limbed six-fingered marsupials with little to no sexual dimorphism and white-ish hair and skin tones. Homeworld name: Haven. First Gater: Maark Gora (male). Northworld location: sub-polar and polar areas (two discrete sectors).

The Geigene have been in the Deeps (their name for Northworld) for nearly ten years. This might be linked to what you saw in the spoiler bonus content "Faster, Deeper". Now, here is a spoiler for some information that will come to light in book three (that's background, not plot):

Their population in there is much less than ten years would suggest because Diving (Silvergating) is extremely organized, and they don't indulge in making random Gaters. This has changed in recent years - there is a massive push for allowing Diving, as it is obvious that Divers, with the extra stats and all, are much better off. It's not quite "we do some spa and workout to get healthier", but nearly so. Think of it as Diving with a corporate bent - access to a Gate is sold and paid by the time spent in a Dive.

Well, except for the bootleg ones. Which are poised to overtake the official monopoly ones in numbers by the time the trilogy takes place.

Tech level: roughly late 20th/early 21st. They have a development path that's different from ours; notably, fossil fuel use is almost non-existent because there are fewer fossil fuel reserves on Haven than on Earth. They have pretty advanced physics, and nuclear fission is highly prevalent (most of their electricity comes from that). Although nuclear weapons are known and developed, they were never used in any war. Yet. Computing/electronics is a bit less developed (the "fast video camera" seen in the bonus content is laughable compared to what fuels some YouTube channels). Video games, however, are taking off big time.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

And yes, Deep Dive™ is the most popular MMORPGs on Haven. Wait until the expansion that adds four playable races 😀.

Second to Gate: The Fursona (Green Species). Four-limbed, five-fingered mammals with a relative sexual dimorphism and a heavy multicolored fur covering. Homeworld name: Home. First Gater: Kaznikal (female). Northworld location: south hemisphere western side of the continent (unified territory), up to the ocean.

The Fursona have been on Second Home (their name for Northworld) for almost nine years now. They've taken to it as a game and a serious business simultaneously. Their home world is extremely fractured due to geography; they've got over a dozen continents with twisted shapes (and lots of volcanism), and they have a lot less political integration than most. Out of a population of four billion, their largest country is a federation of a dozen states with less than fifty million Fursona each.

Tech-wise, they're close to what we'd think of the early-mid-21st century. Advanced computing, medicine, and physics comparable to us, a stalled space activity (almost all tentatives to send a Fursona to space have been abominable failures; the Fursona do not tolerate zero-G well. Oh, and they never invented parachute too).

Third to Gate: The Humans (Black Species). Do you need a description or names? First Gater: Arnoldo Fontana (male). Northworld location: equatorial and northern hemisphere, up to the sub-polar region (three and a half sectors; the equatorial "Towerland" is very small compared to the rest due to recent instantiation).

Fourth to Gate: The Deva (Blue Species). Four-limbed, six-fingered with slight sexual dimorphism and a gracile build. Hairless with a range of blueish skin tones from medium to dark blue (they're the only ones whose skin color matches the Pyramid-allocated color unless you count some human skin tones). Homeworld name: World. First Gater: Borsºnel (male). Northworld location: northern hemisphere (two sectors, one less than 100km from the ocean part on the east).

The Deva have been on Second World (their name for Northworld) for over four years now. Up until recently, the Gater phenomenon was highly contentious; no one was quite sure that it was real and not some weird simulation based on popular entertainment. It did not help that Lemuria looked almost like one character in a Deva's popular series, equivalent to a Saturday morning child cartoon. Mik^tu'turr traded a portable laser welding tool, which has been wavering the popular opinion that it's all some advanced computer fantasy. Politically, their world is a tripolar one; think of it as a non-cold-war-era version with a larger Russia, and a less backward China. They had a WW3 already, and a popular saying by a statesman is, "I don't know how and if World War Four will be fought, but I doubt there will be an opportunity for World War Five."

The Deva's technology levels are more like the end-of-20th century, but one where Space: 1999 was a reality. Computing is early 21st, physics a bit less advanced, and space is a thriving concern: multiple space stations, including some privately operated ones (usually joint ventures), and three permanently operated moon bases (one per superpower). They haven't landed on any other space body, but that's mainly because World is the second planet on their system; the innermost is a Venus-type hot ball, and the third is a gas giant whose moons are a horribly challenging radiation environment, suitable for probes, less so for intrepid Devas. Their fourth world is a cold, rocky planet with an atmosphere (a slightly bigger Mars, with a magnetic field that keeps in atmosphere), but a two-year trip time makes it very difficult.

Fifth to Gate: The Lemuria (Red Species). Four-limbed, four-fingered squat lizards with a limited sexual dimorphism. Furless with a leathery skin of various grey tones. Homeworld name: Nest. First Gater: Tar'ke^tar (male). Northworld location: a scattering of northern tropical areas with a low population (fifteen "sectors", some of which include less than fifty people).

The Lemuria are the last to arrive on Spawn (their name for Northworld), and have been there for three years. To get into Spawn is a mark of honor and worth for them, given the gifts (stats) brought back to Nest. They have a bipolar world; two "ancient empires" balance each other and encompass half of a world population of two billion. Both empires are splinters of an older polity. Is it a world war if it is a civil war? That's ancient history, though, three centuries old.

The tech level of the Lemuria is odd. It's roughly comparable to the late 20th century, albeit with highly primitive biology (they didn't even know about DNA until they met the Deva; the antibiotic revolution is less than one generation old), no space industry of travel at all, but advanced physics. Fission was mentioned; they have weird quantum physic applications that allow them to do fusion at "low" temperatures (under a hundred thousand degrees). And better lasers than we do, although they've realized lasers would be fun weapons but impractical (you can deliver much more concentrated energy with kinetic stuff. Give them electronics and cybernetics, and they'll have hypersonic cruise missiles and a real World War in a few years).