Oræl Rides to War

*Oræl Rides to War* is the name of the science-fiction / fantasy book series detailing the history, future history and ultimate fate of the Earth, culminating in the opening to *The Final Fall of Man*. The books in the series are as follows:

1. *Bad Cow*
2. *Greyblade*
3. *The Last Days of Earth*

The series follows the degeneration and downfall of human civilisation on Earth, starting in the "last great golden age" in 1990 AD and ending with the destruction of the world in 3700 AD. It sets up the post-Earth interstellar union of the Six Species in the Cursèd's Playground galaxy, and introduces and expands upon the Firstmade Pinian Brotherhood mythos.

The story is centred around the Archangel Gabriel and his attempts to save humanity from its own broken nature.

*Bad Cow* takes place on Earth-under-the-veil, during the so-called Flutter between 0 AD and 2378 AD. With all contact with the outside urverse severed and the flatworld of Earth converted into a stellar-void style planet in a solar system, Gabriel attempts to re-establish communication with Angelic leadership, and with the Pinian Disciples who are hiding or lost somewhere on Earth. *Bad Cow* ends just before the lifting of the first veil, but the series does not detail this event or the events directly following, instead jumping forward to a point some centuries later.

*Greyblade* takes place on Earth after the Last War of Independence and before the Greater Fall of Man. Humanity has become terminally isolationist and xenophobic, turning their backs on the rest of the Four Realms and the outside urverse. Non-human sentients are restricted to the alien quarter of Adelbairn, and a lot of the human population does not even believe in their existence. Sir Greyblade of the Burning Knights comes to Earth on an initially-undisclosed mission, then departs on a quest taking him to the farthest reaches of the urverse, and then back to Earth. His mission culminates in the event known as the Greater Fall of Man.

*The Last Days of Earth* takes place on Earth in the final year of the world's existence, and follows the movements of Oræl the Vengeful and his associates as they destroy the seals of the Angelic Prison.

*"I started out thinking*The Final Fall of Man*was my*Lord of the Rings*, and*Oræl Rides to War*(of which*Bad Cow*is book one) was my*Silmarillion*. But that’s not the case. Oh, I have a*Silmarillion*. I don’t know if it’ll ever make it as an actual story.*

*"No, the fact is,*The Final Fall of Man*is my*Hobbit*. And*Oræl Rides to War*is my …* Appendices*.*

*"Or maybe you prefer to think about the movies, in which case – fine,*The Final Fall of Man*is my*Lord of the Rings*. And*Oræl Rides to War*is my*Hobbit*. With* Appendices *and* Lost Tales *thrown in to make it bigger and more complex, and make an awful lot of readers ask me “why did you do that?”*

   *"Yeah, that works for me. Also this blog is my*Bad Taste*and*Meet the Feebles*." - Hatboy, in*Musings on the ambitious flop that was “Bad Cow”

*"I won’t go on at much length, I hope, on the meta-side of this story. There was a lot going on here for readers of* Bad Cow *(its preceding volume in the trilogy) and* The Final Fall of Man *series (the trilogy’s distant, distant chronological sequel) to pick up on and enjoy. My science fiction travelled through a sprawling galaxy, at which point my sci-fi / fantasy stepped back and narrowed to focus on Earth, and has now zoomed out still further to take in the entire turning urverse, from The Centre to the howling winds at the far extremitites of reiterative Nonsense space. If you’re not a little bit dizzy, there’s something wrong – probably with both of us." - Andrew Hindle on* Greyblade*, and we're leaving "extremitites" in, damn it*