“I stand today before the eyes of the world and declare
that my people –all those people who possess unique abilities–
are from this day forward sovereign individuals. If I should learn
that one such as myself has encountered misfortune, harassment, or persecution,
the party responsible will answer to me, be they individual, agency, or
government. By the same token, if one of my people acts in a way contrary
to the universal principles of compassion and dignity, they too will answer
to me and mine. We are sovereign…”
—Donner Declaration, 18 April 1985
In the year 1985 of an alternate Earth, homo sapiens sapiens learned
that it wasn’t the only sentient species on the planet. Living side by side
with humanity were the Sovereign, people who could look quite human, but who
might have any number of unique abilities that set them apart, and sometimes
above, mere humans. The world also learned that several Sovereign had been
subjected to human rights abuses, including imprisonment, torture, and
involuntary experimentation. In those early days of the Sovereign Era, Nate Charters
and his friends from Abbeque Valley High learned of much worse, as is told
in Matthew Wayne Selznick’s
science fiction coming-of-age adventure Brave Men Run –
A Novel of the Sovereign Era.
Titles for the world of the Sovereign describe the major characters
from the book and the important people in their lives.
