Ta Nupa

DuQaddic plainsman Antin Hrabar's entire life is based on a well-meaning lie: He isn't the bastard son of the cattle-ranching boss at Hasada Hrabar, plucked from a port-city brothel for a place within the rural aristocracy. He's the boy Madame Neva Marisch sent in the actual son's place -- a child prodigy with a puncher's chance at cracking the repressive shell of traditional DuQaddic society.

Groomed for life as a traditional Third Son in a prominent family, Captain Hrabar commands the local militia and keeps the peace in southern Tanu County. But when two great opportunities arrive almost simultaneously, Antin must choose: Seize a chance at inheriting the Hrabars' sprawling cattle operation? Or join a risky covert military conspiracy in pursuit of a noble goal?

Running Hasada Hrabar would mean a chance at improving the lives of everyone who depends upon the ranch -- including the impoverished lower-caste workers slowly starving to death in the grip of a worsening famine. But accepting the dangerous mission he's been offered could upend the oppressive colonial system that keeps the DuQaddic people at the bottom of the heap on the small continent of Darbas.

Whatever he chooses, there will be no guarantees. But Antin Hrabar knows another secret his enemies do not. His recent travels include a descent into the holy subterranean ruins at Ta Nupa, where he sat upon the world's most dangerous chair and peered into a psychic void as vast as time itself.

As the high-ranking monk Brother Suderas says, once you've done that, "everything else feels trite."