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Khraban's Archive

These people thought I was a queen? Fine - then I’d act like it. Perhaps I’d get somewhere with it.

“You are enough like Viella that nobody need ever know,” Khoor shrugged. “I need a wife to help me rule. I need heirs."

 I saw again the charred edges of the photo, the young girl who had reminded me so much of Jia Li, and for just a moment, my heart twisted so painfully that I could hardly breathe.
Whoever had tried to erase that smile for good - they had only failed by one single remaining image.

THE QUEEN'S EYE
Book one of Khraban's Archive, COMING SOON!

Jia Li always insisted she’d rather get kidnapped by aliens than do her GCSEs, but she’s still quite surprised when it actually happens. Mistaken for the Queen of Khraban, who the rumours say was murdered by her handmaiden, she is given a deadly task - guide her friends through the country to her within five days, or they will die, and she becomes the King's bride.

With the ability to control the minds and thoughts of both her friends and the people who surround them, Jia Li is forced to make a choice. What does she value more - her morals, or her friends’ lives? What would she rather sacrifice - a nameless, faceless stranger, or her girlfriend and two closest friends?

With her friends assisted by the handmaiden, their fate seems sealed. But Jia Li isn’t the only one who thought that the sacrifice of a faceless stranger would be easier than a friend - and as she makes herself known throughout the King’s household, she is only pulled deeper into a tale of love and betrayal, puppets and princesses - devotion and death…

'The Reluctant Mother' - Queen Viella, her handmaiden Lorna, and her assistant Selka, by @papoochu on Instagram.

EXTRACT - SNEAK PEEK!

It had not begun in the mouldy changing rooms of a secondary school, but much, much earlier than that - but how were the humans to know that? They knew nothing of his realm. Nothing of his history. Nothing of anything at all.
The king sat alone in his office, the little light flitting through the thick curtains glinting on the circlet pressed down on his jet-black hair. Broken, defeated, a shell of the man he’d been so long ago, thanks to those horrible little yellow pills that tear souls away and rip minds apart, leaving him little more than a ghost - was it possible for a ghost to cause this much damage? Of course, they had some story or other, on Earth, of spirits bound in chains, forced to tread the paths of those that they destroyed in life… and the cloak around his shoulders, shielding what was exposed of his pallid skin from the little sunlight, certainly weighed him down, so heavy that sometimes he felt that he might sink lower than the floor of the Forahu and disappear forever. Buried alive. At least it would be peaceful.
The memories were faint, but they were there. Now, hunched over his desk, with dark bags under his eyes and crumpled paper scattered across the floor - well, he could easily have been the tyrant king of last year.
But since then, of course, he’d woken up.
There was a knock at the door. The guards standing there glanced towards him anxiously, as though they, too, still remembered and feared the outbursts of their unpredictable king.
“Let them in,” he said wearily. He’d anticipated this meeting ever since the attack this morning.

Meet The Characters

Meet the characters from Khraban's Archive!

Jia Li Wen

Our bold, beautiful protagonist, as she'd describe herself, or an overconfident, slightly scrawny teenager, as everybody else would. Jia Li will never go without a fight, whether that be a battle against an alien king for the minds and lives of her friends, or an argument over whether or not she needs to clean her room.

FUN FACTS:
- Has a cat named Moonlight, who is 'enormous'.
- Ate an entire tub of play-doh as a kid, and will proudly tell the story to anybody who will listen.
- Adores Boudicca.
- Plays a lot of video games, usually Minecraft with Becky. They have a palace.

Bonnie Moreno

Bonnie can articulate just about anything, except her own thoughts. Brilliant, witty and emotionally stunted, she is usually the prevailing common sense, if there is any at all. And she's pretty good with a sword.

FUN FACTS:
- Loves Jane Austen and has a collection of clothbound ones.
- Loves Hamilton and SIX, which she went to see with Becky.
- Favourite game as a child was Human Rights Lawyer. She did not convince many friends to play with her.
- Contrary to popular belief, is actually the younger sister.

Becky Roberts

Most people look at Becky (sometimes Beck) and see the scowl and the hoodie, but don't let that fool you - he's a softie who just happens to be extraordinarily bad tempered, is all. Just don't ask about his brother.

FUN FACTS:
- Can and will tell you all about how Empress Matilda was the rightful heir to the English throne.
- Theatre kid.
- Likes cola bottle tangfastics but not the cherry ones, so he gives them to Josh.
- Speaks quite a few languages, but never sees fit to tell anyone this.

Josh Davies

Josh is considered uniquely attractive until he opens his mouth, at which point the words 'TARDIS' and 'interstellar' tend to send people running. He's smarter and wiser than most people realise - quiet, close to his grandparents, and had no connection to his mother's side of the family. For no reason.

FUN FACTS:
- Josh is obsessed with Doctor Who, and he and Jia Li have watched all the old ones together.
- Loves Persuasion and Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
- Favourite food is doritos.
- If you listen for long enough, he can tell you every star in the sky, as well as all the ones the Doctor has visited.

Ginette Cherith

Ginette considers The Gang to be her friends, but doesn't dare to imagine that they might feel the same. She's too preoccupied with her ghosts to bother with friends. It's all fine. Really. But she'll still help them bunk off school to find Jia Li, when asked. What is she, a coward?

FUN FACTS:
- Seamstress - often makes her own clothes.
- That is not hair dye! Her hair is naturally that colour. Which has nothing to do with her ghosts, or the weird langauges she wrote in as a kid. That would be stupid.
- Loves animals of all kinds, helps Josh and Jia Li to look for specimens in the dirt.
- Interested in astrology, and likes to do tarot readings, 'as a bit of fun'.

Lorna Apteryx

Viella's handmaiden - well, officially, anyway - is both incredibly secretive and vexingly nosy.

Leita Apteryx

Lorna's overprotective older sister would rather die than let her get hurt, and would also rather die than ever lose an argument.

Ash Gairnsworth

As has a guilt complex. Which causes just about everybody many, many problems.

Tahmina Gairnsworth

Tahmina has had just about enough drama for one lifetime - which is a shame, considering everything that's about to kick off.

Khoor Kivya

Khoor was never supposed to be king, which is obvious to anybody who knows him. His strange behaviour since Viella disappeared might have a more sinister explanation than madness, though...

Selka Brachton

'The King's Glorified Babysitter', as she dubs herself, has almost as many secrets as the missing queen herself. And more supplies of coffee than your average student.

The Planet

Tatan Culture

Information about the culture on the planet Tatana, and specifically the country Khraban (see across ->)

Khraban is situated in Miouma, the largest Tatan continent. It was originally a large country involving Arbacus, to the south-east, and Baudikka, to the east, but Khraban and Arbacus split after centuries of civil war, and Baudikka declared independence due to the population claiming to have stronger human blood than most.
After the Revolution, the monarchy was reworked. The monarchs in the east of Miouma agreed to act as envoys between the people and the Council, and for their work to be primarily diplomatic. Monarchs and their heirs work directly with the people, and the Palace was turned into a place of refuge in order to provide a direct service to the public.
Royal tradition dictates that a royal child is given a name beginning with the same first letter as the last family member of their gender.
Royal children can be Heirs, Spares, and Heirs of the People. Heirs of the People are expected to play a bigger role in communicating with the public.
In Miouma, family colours ae worn to traditional events. this is a matter of great pride, and depends on the family's career. As white fabric is difficult to create and maintain on Tatana, royalty and nobility traditionally wear white, and farmers wear orange as a combination of red (politicians, who owned the land) and yellow (scientists, who developed mordern farming techniques).
FAMILY COLOURS:

White: Royalty, or granted special permission.
Black: Member of the royal household, including residents of the Palace.
Grey: Diplomats.
Red: Politicians.
Orange: Farmers and agricultural workers.
Yellow: Scientists.
Green: Business and economy.
Turquoise: Public sector (teachers, retail, transport etc).
Blue: Religious leaders (usually...)
Light blue: Manual labour and apprenticeships/for those currently in higher education.
Purple: Emergency services and millitary, notably doctors.
Lilac: Law - judges, lawyers, solicitors etc.
Pink: Artists, athletes, performers, architects and designers.

Miouman Stories

Fairytales in Miouma are often as messed up as on Earth, but pay close attention - they might be more important than they seem...

The Red Queen (Lo Sel Ilkah)

The Red Queen’s kingdom was in disarray. For this, the people blamed the heretic Queen, the Red Queen (called so because of the stain of her sins), and chained her to a rock by the sea, hoping that the sacrifice would appease the angry gods. The Red Queen, however, did not die. When the people investigated, they found that a rebel was slipping food to her by night, but the rebel was wily and could not be caught, able to blend with the trees almost as though they were one of them, and disguise themselves in the forest.
The people debated whether or not to kill the Red Queen themselves, but eventually, they decided that if they could prove that her soul was redeemed, the gods might accept this as proof of their kingdom’s goodness and show them mercy. The Red Queen was then subjected to many trials intended to cleanse her, all the while believing that the rebel had run away and hidden in the forest, abandoning her. She was made to stand outside for a day and a night in the freezing cold, to withstand lashes and burning flames, to witness the torture of those that she loved. And, in all of this, the Red Queen became hard and cold, and the day that she learned not to flinch at pain was the day that the kingdom rejoiced, for she must truly be redeemed for the gods to steel her nerves.
But the poor weather persisted, and the crops failed, and soon the kingdom turned on each other, once more seeking a scapegoat. Clearly their redemption had not gone far enough. The gods wanted more. And so they once more chained the Red Queen to the rocks and left her there to die, under constant guard, lest the rebel return and save her once more.
But return they did.
There are two endings to the story. One, in which the Red Queen turns the rebel away, furious with their perceived betrayal, and refuses to accept their help, dying by her own hand - after her body is thrown into the sea to be embraced by the gods, the stricken rebel follows, allowing the waves to consume them as the trees had once sheltered them. Or, in the other, the guards wake up one day to find the Red Queen simply gone. Her shackles are undone, and she is no longer there - there are rumours from the townsfolk of her escape having been aided by the rebel, and the ghosts of the pair have haunted the woods ever since, warning any who go there not to tread lightly, for these woods are full of history.
It’s just a story, of course. But all myths come from somewhere. Every story has its root.

Lo Khraw O Vfeksan

The ‘crow and the sparrow’ is the closest translation, although ‘vfeksan’ is usually mistranslated as ‘vixen’, of the title of this story.

The crow and the sparrow were born in cages and taught to sing for money, condemned to a life behind bars by virtue of what they were. Although close friends, they were separated and given to different owners, and while the owners loved them, they could not set them free.
The sparrow escaped her home and flew to the crow’s home, where she disguised herself and was able to sneak around and visit him. But even then she was not free, for the crow did not know who she was, and she was forced to live in the shadows, unnoticed and unseen. When the sparrow finally shed her disguise, she was once more locked up with the crow.
The crow and the sparrow spent a long time picking at their cage and trying to break themselves free. Their owners tended them daily, but they longed for the sky, for sunlight rather than artificial light. One day, the master of the house left the stove burning - the quick sparrow was able to convince the crow to flap their wings in the direction of the flame, and soon the house was alight.
The crow and the sparrow escaped their cages, and lived freely in the woods, singing to their heart’s content and not a moment more.

The River People (Fo Ziule Jestaf)

'The River People'.

In the midst of all the trials of the battles [Lo Loifira, ‘The Bad Times’], a trickster visited the village of Twarah, offering the people there food and fabrics, both scarce at the time. When their Zaiana [priest] challenged the Trickster, the conditions of the trade were revealed and the people refused.
As revenge, the Trickster had the river that sustained the people dry up.
Once the river ran dry, the people began to lose hope. The war had already taken its toll, and many who despaired cried, hoping, perhaps, that their tears could flood the barren trench where the river had once flowed. But their tears, too, dried up, and they soon died.
Before long, the survivors were forced to abandon their home and go out searching. The war had ravaged their lands, and the journey was long and difficult, but they were aided by many kind people along their way, who gave them maps, supplies, and hope.
After the Reversion [a battle after which a treaty was signed to prevent such widespread civilian casualties ever re-occurring], a band of the survivors found a muddy bank by the graves of those slaughtered. Such destruction had formed a valley cut between two ancient lands, and the torrential rain had flooded the valley, cutting the country in two once and for all.
The survivors celebrated, and built castles and towering palaces in their new home. The people who lived on the left bank of the river took the name Arbacus, after one of their number who had perished on the journey. On the right bank, the woman who Arbacus had loved deeply became their leader. When she died, years later, her people named their new land after her, and called it Khraban.