Auri (Paperback)

A city named Balayar lies in a sepulcher of fog and rain, wind and sleet, hidden from the light of the stars. In the center of the city, a greedy capitalist overlord named Jen-ta crouches in the darkness and counts his treasure. He controls the city's commerce and the degree of misery which pervades the lives of its inhabitants. His minions are many, but his most powerful comrade, Nebbe Auri, leads a double life... Two races, silicate and chareve, wallow in abject slums in the city of fog and rain. Tension and prejudice poison their minds and their hearts, much as Jen-ta's virtual dictatorship poisons their lives. Only the most intelligent and the most despicable silicates can turn a blind eye to the society's flaws and snatch the slices of power which allow them to oppress the philosophic, scholarly chareve. Nebbe Auri's power is second only to that of Jen-ta, though while he publicly supports his master's silicate ideals, Nebbe secretly plots to overthrow him... Enter the political and racial inferno that is Balayar, where leaders of peaceful resistance and bloody retaliation vie for power and for the loyalty of Balayans as silicates and chareve unite under Nebbe's leadership and seek equality in the Auriana cycle.