Incident Zero

Welcome to Ruinstaaten.

Where citizens are separated into two classes- Landed and Citizens. The Landed hold the power, the resources and run the government, while the Citizens struggle to survive on what’s left. The polar ice caps have melted and there isn’t enough land for everyone to live on. War has ravaged what resources are left and everyone is scrambling to find their purchase in a country obsessed with family connections and names, so much that it is tattooed on them for all the see, in the form of Marks.

Harriet Veratten, born a Citizen and raised in the state run Kinderhaus, chose the Military as her path to stability. Unlike others, she doesn’t bear the Marks of her mother or mother’s family. She bears the Mark of the Veratten, the Traitor. She’s always attempted to live her life by the rules and keep in line. She rarely makes a fuss as she’s passed over again for promotion all because of her Marks. The only person who doesn’t judge her for them is her husband, Simon Holder. For most people, she has a life that’s comfortable if not extravagant. She doesn’t have to worry about food or a roof over her head as she stationed on the Vergest, one of the floating city ships of Ruinstaaten and works in the Engineering Department. But it’s not enough.

As she and Simon start to look forward to creating a family of their own, Harry can’t help but wonder who her mother is. Then a chance encounter with someone who claims to know her mother causes Harry to snap, her world unravels as she discovers that nothing is what she thought it was .

Welcome to Ruinstaaten.