The plot begins not very long after the Third Expansion began (the First Expansion ended when humanity was conquered by the Squeem; the Second Expansion ended with the conquest of humanity by the Qax, and the Third Expansion, ~5400 CE, began after the events of Timelike Infinity, pursuant to Jim Bolder's destruction of the Qax home-system).
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After 25,000 years have passed, the Mayflower is contacted by Pirius and Torec (protagonists of Exultant), former soldiers of the Coalition, which is revealed to have fallen.
Chronologies including most of the short stories and novels are included in the short story collections Vacuum Diagrams and Resplendent.
The album is resplendent with references to Judeo-Christian-Islamic mythology and theology, drawing parallels to the condition of Black people in the United States to that of the Jewish people during Exodus.
Around 1212 St. Francis preached at San Severino, in the Marches; the poet had a vision of two resplendent swords crossed on the saint's breast.