One Empire. One Faith. A Whole Galaxy To Convert!
In the 51st century, man has spread throughout a great swath of the galaxy without having found any sign of alien life or another habitable world. Instead, mankind splintered into a score of bio-engineered sub-species over the millenniums as it spread out across more than a thousand terraformed worlds. The Holy Terran Empire rules over three hundred of these man-made planets. Earth, the One, True World is the Empire's Capital. The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome governs the Empire, hand-in-hand, with the Imperial Family.
However, not everyone is happy with this arrangement.
Zephyrinus Zapatas, a dutiful citizen of the Empire and loyal son of the Church is more than happy with the Co-Dominion of Emperor and Pope. At sixteen, Zeph leaves home, seeking a life of service to the two crowns. He finds his opportunity in an invitation to join the Emperor's Own, the elite Corps of Imperial Marines. The Corps' training is arduous; its moral code, exacting, but; Zeph welcomes the trials and the strictures. The Corps will demand sacrifices. In return, the Imperial Marines offer its recruits little more than a career fraught with peril to life and limb. Zeph accepts the life, however short it might be, because it comes with the chance of achieving his greatest ambition: reaching the rank of Knight Defender of the Faith and Empire.
Fans of blasters and broadswords space opera will love this new series!