Empires Fanfic: "Exile" by Lance Rund (Published in YARF!) (Patreon)

So the next story was written by a friend of mine who asked me about LGBQT issues in the Empires universe. I had no real answer at the time because it just wasn't something I thought about, not being in the LGBQT community myself. I just said that "discrimination for whatever reason" wouldn't be allowed in the Central Alliance military, on the books, but of course some people would or would not honor that because there will always be people that discriminate for their own reasons. 

He asked me how society would accept someone being gay and it made me think about how, really, these large star empires are made up of many different societies, each with their own rules. Some are very tolerant and accepting, and some are very strict and view any sort of deviation from tradition as a thing to be quashed. 

The A'Kii in the Empires universe are one of those societies. It is a matriarchal and very strict, with males basically "assigned" to a pack or squad of females essentially for breeding purposes (to make healthy new pups who will become stalwart soldiers). A LGBQT person in this society is expected to just shut up about their feelings and desires and go along or they will get exiled at best or "honor killed" if there are no outsiders watching (the concept of "honor killing" at the time was not widely known, so I found his story compelling even years later). 

I'm glad my friend asked these questions because frankly I probably wouldn't have thought much about it. I love sharing my stories with interested people who bring me fascinating new takes on things I created but hadn't completely contemplated all the ramifications of. It makes me a better writer.

So without further ado, here is Lance Rund's short story, "Exile", a stand-alone story published in the pages of YARF~ that takes place in the Empires universe but has no relation to  any previously mentioned characters or action. Also enjoy Lance's beautiful illustrations as well, which he provided just for this story.