User:Kutulu/Vampire Earth

Vampire Earth is a series of science fiction/dark fantasy novels written by E. E. Knight, who also writes the Age of Fire series of novels. The series takes place in the near future, on an Earth which has been invaded by immortal beings from a distant planet. The series takes its name from the vampire-like Reapers, the elite soldiers of the invading force.

Backstory
The events in the series take place in the year 2065 and later, on near future Earth. However, the story begins approximately 65 million years in the past, well before any intelligent life existed on Earth. In this time period, a group of sentient beings that are identified only as the Pre-Entities existed in a technologically-advanced society. They constructed a series of long-distance gates, collectively called the Interworld Tree, which let them travel from planet to planet in extremely short periods of time. These beings survived by ingesting energy from the surrounding environment. The energy was a special type that was given off by intelligent living creatures, which is referred to in the series as "vital aura", though a clear distinction is made between this aura and ones "soul". By consuming this aura, the Pre-entities became essentially immortal. However, for unknown reasons, they eventually died out, after killing off millions of species on dozens of planets (the first novel hints that they were the cause of the mass dinosaur extinction, for example.) Their technology fell into disuse, and the universe began to evolve without them.

Eventually, a second race of creatures, called Lifeweavers on Earth, discovered the Pre-entities gates. They reopened many of these gates, including one to Earth, and began to travel around and populate the various planets with new life. By and large, the Lifeweavers were benevolent, doing little more than genetic tinkering on the planets they visited. Unfortunately, one group of these Lifeweavers discovered the Pre-entities secret to ingesting vital aura, and how it made them immortal. This group, the Kurians, set out to conquer the planets that made up the Interworld tree, and harvest any intelligent life they found to feed their thirst for immortality.

In the year 2022, the Kurians finally arrived on Earth. Their appearance conincided with a number of natural disasters, presumably caused by the Kurians themselves, which left human society in tatters. To make matters worse, the Kurians released a deadly virus called Ravies into the population, further destroying any chance for organized resistance. In short order, the Kurians had taken over most of the planet, and set up dozens of small, self-contains provinces, ruled by a single Kurian, in every populated region of Earth.

Main Characters
As the series progresses, the protagonist rarely stays in one location for any length of time. Typically, each book tracks his progress across some new region of Earth, and as such, there are very few recurring characters. The second half of the series has seen a more stable core group of characters than the first, as the main protagonist continues to gather supporters willing to follow him across the country.

David Valentine
David Stuart Valentine, code name Ghost is the main protagonist of the series, and is the title character in most of the novels. At the start of the series, he is his mid twenties, and is a Lieutenant and Wolf in the army of the Ozark Free Territories, one of the scattered regions of human settlement outside of Kurian control. Valentine is described as having a distinct Native American heritage, and unlike most humans, has an innate ability to sense when a Reaper is nearby. (This is known, half-jokingly, as the "Valentingle".)

As the series progresses, Valentine is also initiated into theranks of the Cats, and eventually reaches the rank of Major. He deals the Kurian Order several major defeats, including the death of several Kurians and a number of Reapers, and manages to free border regions in Jamaica and Louisiana. Unfortunately, he also makes some powerful enemies within his own command, and is brought up on charges more than once. By the time the events of the fifth book occur, he has become a minor celebrity within the ranks of the unified Texas and Arkansas armed forces.

Valentine is frequently shown to be better educated than most other humans, thanks to the schooling he received under Father Max, his foster father. He is versed in areas ranging from military history, to literature, to politics. He is also shown to have little tolerance for corruption or britality from either side of the war, and has often risked his own freedom or safety for people his comrades would likely consider the enemy. Father Max convinced Valentine to join the rebel army on his own, but Valentine later learns that his birth father was also a soldier, and was killed in the line of duty.

Valentine is not married, but has had a few serious relationships during the course of the series. He is a father, along with Malia Carrasca, daughter of the leader of the rebel forces on Jamaica, but was not aware of the child until he was back on the mainland.

Alessa Duvalier
Alessia Duvalier, code name Smoke, is a female Cat who frequently accompanies Valentine on non-military operations. She meets Valentine approximately four years after his initiation into the Wolves, performing reconnaissance for his regiment. Duvalier is the person responsible for bringing Valentine into the ranks of the Cats, and does so in order to take him into Kurian territory on an espianoge/sabotage mission.

Duvalier is a thin, muscular woman with short red hair, who has been a Cat since the age of sixteen. As such, she spends most of her time under cover, and as a female agent, is frequently called on to use her body to obtain information. Her views on sexuality reflect this reality, as she barters sex as freely as any other type of currency. However, though she spends much of the next five years with Valentine, the two have never had a sexual relationship.

Her duties as a Cat rarely allow her to spend much time in a given area. Valentine frequently finds her in his room with no warning, only to have her disappear just as suddenly. There are strong hints in later novels that Duvalier does, in fact, have real feelings for Valentine, but presumably does not want them to interfere with what she considers a more important cause.

Ahn-Ka
Ahn-Ka, nicknamed "Uncle" by the human members of Valentine's regiment, is one of a species of Grog known as the Golden Ones. We learn from Ahn-Ka in later novels that the varies strains of Grog are not biologically compatible, although they clearly share a number of genetic and social traits. Unlike the bulk of the Grog forces fighting for the Kurians (called Grey Ones), the Golden Ones are highly intelligent and capable of speech, including fluent English. Ahn-Ka is liberated, along with a regiment of Grogs and Quislings, by Valentine as he escapes from New Orleans. He forms a quick bond with Valentine, whom he refers to as "my David", and travels with him for the remainder of the series.

William Post
William Post is a former Quisling officer, second in command of a Kurian gunboat. Post is one of the commanding officers of Ahn-Ka's Grog forces, and is convinced to mutiny and turn against the Kurian by Valentine. He follows Valentine to Jamaica, then back to the mainland, and is promoted to the rank of Captain under Valentin. Post plays a key part in several of Valentines victories over the Kurians. Even when his character is not present in the story, he is the catalyst for the major discovery Valentine makes attempting to save Post's wife, Gail.

Everready
A veteran Cat who trains newly initated Wolves to use their newly imparted skills. He is responsible for training Valentine during his first few months as a Wolf, and later aids Valentine and Duvalier in their attempts to infiltrate the Kurians in the Kentucky/Ohio region. His code name derives from his habit of leaving live Everready batteries in the mouths of Reapers he has killed.

Books

 * The Way of the Wolf
 * The Choice of the Cat
 * The Tale of the Thunderbolt
 * Valentine's Uprising
 * Valentine's Exile
 * Valentine's Resolve