Ruby Empire

The Ruby Empire is an ancient civilization of humans settled on the planet Raylicon in the Saga of the Skolian Empire books by Catherine Asaro.

History

Around 6,000 years ago an unknown race moved a group of Mayan humans from Earth to the distant planet Raylicon. Then the kidnappers disappeared, leaving their victims, who later became known as the Raylicans, on their own.

The Raylicans developed star travel using the remains of three starships left behind by the aliens on their new homeworld. They reverse engineered the technology, allowing them to achieve spaceflight and colonize hundreds of planets. They also discovered the Locks, an ancient and sentient alien technology that allowed them to create the psiberweb, an interstellar network existing outside of normal space and time that transmits messages instantaneously.

However, their shallow understanding of space-faring technology, and possibly their corruption, led to the empire's collapse. This isolated the hundreds of planets in their empire from each other for thousands of years. Eventually, about 400 years ago, Raylicans re-achieved space flight, this time fully understanding the technology, and started to rebuild their empire.

At this time, however, the psions (and their genes) which had a strong enough KAB Rating to power the psiberweb had been all but lost. As a result, the Rhon project was created to genetically engineer the traits necessary to create the psiberweb. It was this project that led to the divergence of the two great empires in the series, the Eubian Concord and the Skolian Empire.

Society

The Ruby Empire was a matriarchy ruled by powerful females who held the title of Ruby Pharaoh. The Pharaohs wielded enormous power, leading armies to wars and treating their husbands like property. Succession went strictly through the female line, men being seen as incapable of such responsibilities. A man could only become a Pharaoh under special circumstances, such as his when his royal mother had no daughters.

The ancient dynasty of Pharaohs was called the Ruby Dynasty. This is also the name for the ruling family of today's Skolian Empire, as Lahaylia Selei, the progenitor of the modern Ruby family, was cloned from the genetic material of one of the long dead warrior queens.

Raylicon

During the golden era of the Ruby Empire, Raylicon was the empire's capital and center of political power. Yet despite being the birthplace of two interstellar empires, today's Raylicon is a nearly abandoned world. The sole inhabitants are the Abaj, a group of warriors who are all clones of the original extinct Raylicans. They act as bodyguards to the Ruby Dynasty, ruling family in the Skolian Empire.

Ruby Dynasty

The Ruby Dynasty are the direct descendants of the Ruby Empire, which now help to govern the modern Skolian Empire in the Saga of the Skolian Empire series of novels by Catherine Asaro

The descendants of the Ruby Dynasty are all Rhon psions. They can read moods, and even particular thoughts. They were created in a genetic engineering experiment to help power the Locks, ancient devices that control the psiberweb.

Ruby Dynasty members differ physically from the members of other noble Houses, who are mostly dark-haired and dark-eyed, also with swarthy skin. This is because some ancestors of the Ruby Dynasty came from ancient colonies of the Ruby Empire, where people genetically engineered themselves to better adapt to their surroundings. The first Skolian Imperator Jarac was extremely tall (over 7 feet) with golden skin, eyes and hair. Some of his descendants inherited these traits, particularly his daughter Roca and grandsons Kurj, Althor and Kelric. Ruby family members who look similar to the first Pharaoh Lahaylia, such as Dyhianna, Sauscony or Taquinil, are on the other hand smaller than average and slim with black hair. Eldrinson Valdoria, a native Lyshrioli, had violet eyes, fair skin and burgundy hair, which is also true for several of his children, especially Eldrin and Del-Kurj. All Ruby Dynasty members are very good-looking, which is no wonder, as their progenitors have been bred for it.

Once a member of the Ruby Dynasty makes contact with a Lock, they become part of the Triad (formerly a Dyad). A member of the Triad is called a Key. Three types of Keys exist: Assembly Key, Military Key and Web Key. Each Key has to have a unique personality different from the other two as much as possible because two identical personalities cannot coexist in the Triad. So far the title of Pharaoh was always associated with the Assembly Key while the title Imperator was associated with the Military Key.

Ruby Dynasty members

(listed by surname)

Selei branch

1. Lahaylia Selei (previous Ruby Pharaoh, founder of the Skolian Empire, mother of Dyhianna Selei and Roca Skolia, deceased)
2. Dyhianna Selei (current Ruby Pharaoh and Assembly Key, mother of Taquinil Selei and Althor Vyan Selei)
3. Taquinil Selei (economics professor)
4. Althor Vyan Selei (Jagernaut Secondary)

Skolia branch

1. Jarac Skolia (first Skolian Imperator, father of Dyhianna Selei and Roca Skolia, deceased)
2. Roca Skolia (Councilor of Foreign Affairs, former ballet dancer, wife of Eldrinson Althor Valdoria, mother of Kurj, and 10 Valdoria children)
3. Kurj Skolia (former Imperator, firstborn son of Roca Skolia, deceased)

Valdoria Skolia branch

1. Eldrinson Althor Valdoria (husband of Roca Skolia, father of following 10 Valdoria children, Dalvador Bard and Web Key, deceased)
2. Eldrin Jarac Valdoria Skolia (bard, consort to Dyhianna Selei and father of her 2 sons)
3. Althor Izam-Na Valdoria Skolia (Jagernaut Secondary, presumed dead)
4. Del-Kurj Arden Valdoria Skolia (singer)
5. Chaniece Roca Valdoria Skolia (twin sister of Del-Kurj)
6. Havyrl Torcellei Valdoria Skolia (farmer)
7. Sauscony Lahaylia Valdoria Skolia (Imperator, presumed dead)
8. Denric Windward Valdoria Skolia (teacher)
9. Shannon Eirlei Valdoria Skolia ( Blue Dale Archer)
10. Aniece Dyhianna Valdoria Skolia (Rillian Queen)
11. Kelricson Garlin Valdoria Skolia (current Imperator and Military Key)

Qox-Skolia branch

1. Jaibriol Qox II (former Eubian Emperor, husband of Sauscony Valdoria, presumed dead)
2. Jaibriol Qox III (current Eubian Emperor, son of Jaibriol Qox II and Sauscony Valdoria)
3. Rocalisa Qox-Skolia (daughter of Jaibriol Qox II and Sauscony Valdoria)
4. Vitar Qox-Skolia (son of Jaibriol Qox II and Sauscony Valdoria)
5. del-Kelric Qox-Skolia (son of Jaibriol Qox II and Sauscony Valdoria)

Other members

1. Akushtina Santis Pulivok (Rhon psion, former waitress, wife of Althor Vyan Selei)
2. Delson Valdoria (son of Del-Kurj and Chaniece Valdoria)
3. Jaqui Valdoria (son of Del-Kurj and Chaniece Valdoria)
4. Rohka Miesa Varz (daughter of Kelricson Valdoria and Savina Miesa)
5. Jimorla Haka Varz Carn(son of Kelricson Valdoria and Rashiva Haka)
6. Eristia Leirol Valdoria (daughter of Althor Izam-Na Valdoria and Syreen Leirol)
7. Ryder Jalam Majda Valdoria (son of Althor Izam-Na Valdoria, Coop and Vazar Majda (mixes DNA of all three parents))