Warning: This page contains spoilers

This is a summary of the events and characters in Oblivion, book 1 of the Rakkan Conquest series.

Backdrop

The story takes place on a single, large island where two races live, humans and rakkans, who are engaged in a constant war. There is a single goman named Archimedes that has travelled to the island and has a weapon (the Staff of Arria) that can win the war for the humans by weakening rakkans whenever they are close to it. If he falls, it’s likely the rakkans will overwhelm the humans.

The humans are united in a single empire of the city Toria, led by King Medus II. Each human city has a regent that governs it, as well as their best fighters being elevated to the status of gods in most places.

Conversely, the four rakkans cities are not united and each has a warlord that rules them. The rakkans are pale skinned, averse to sunlight, and live over double the lifespan of a human. They are initially set up to come across as a race of demonic villains, but we later learn they are a mixed bag much like humans. Some are decent but others are depraved. Each rakkan city has a legion associated with it, which refers to their whole army.

Magic

Most rakkans are much stronger than humans and can conjure ferven (a hot, fiery substance) on their body or anything touching it.

A small proportion of humans are born with powers: super speed and can conjure algor (a cold, blue substance) on their body or anything touching it. They are usually exalted as algus. Some algus have escorts, which are animals bonded to them in order to help them fight or spy.

Gomans have a magic called cogi. It allows them two things: to see possible future memories as visions (i.e. visually only), and to access the mind of anyone they touch. This allows them to both steal memories and implant false beliefs and memories to control people. Only rakkans are immune to cogi.

Plot

Darius has his memories stolen by a goman named Archimedes, including his empathy and compassion for others. He only has one memory of his childhood left, which is of his baby brother murdered while he tried to save him. After that, he wakes up and is being chased by Archimedes and cares only for his own survival.

He has a panther escort named Lyra who travels with him. They are met by an algus named Lex (Alexandra) who says she will help him, and are accompanied by a twelve year old boy named Omid. She takes them to her home city of Laltos and teaches Darius to tap into his magic along the way. Darius also forms a bond with the boy.

In the city, Omid is captured by Archimedes and has his mind drained. Lex kills the boy with an arrow rather than let him be kept in enemy hands and then she and Darius flee.

Darius is angry with her for killing Omid—the first time he realises he actually cares about another person—but eventually understands why she did it. They then go to meet a woman known as the Waif Magician, a half-goman, to try to find a way to get Darius’s memories back and defeat Archimedes.

The Magician explains that Archimedes sees many possible future memories and can only be killed by being blinded in a sudden attack. She leaves the pair when Archimedes finds them. But in secret, the Magician meets with Archimedes and says she will deliver Darius to him.

Darius and Lex next travel to Darius’s old home city of Margalvia where he meets three allies he had previously, Sulla, Brutus and Varro, who are all rakkans. At this point Darius learns that he is in fact half-rakkan and that is why Archimedes is hunting him—he is the only rakkan susceptible to cogi because of his human half.

Archimedes wants the location of the Urukan Mine, the only source of kuraminium in the land. This is the only known metal that doesn’t melt when in contact with ferven and is used by the rakkans to arm themselves. He discovers that the rakkan cities hate each other but have a treaty to allow them to share the mine.

Darius learns he used to have all the powers of the human algus, as well as rakkan powers, making him one of the most formidable warriors in the Empire. But Archimedes has altered his mind so he cannot tap into his rakkan power.

Darius and his friends later lure Archimedes into a fight in which they succeed in killing him and ending the threat to the rakkans. But the Staff of Arria is stolen by Waif Magician. Darius never succeeds in getting his memories back, but he does unlock his rakkan powers, which makes him one of the most formidable fighters again.

Oblivion finishes with Archimedes dead and, as a consequence, the humans facing a new threat from a rakkan city, Viridia, home of the Viridian Legion.

Characters

Darius and Alexandra are the main characters.

Darius is a warrior afraid of blood. He is at first amoral and selfish and cares only for his panther Lyra. Lex tries to teach him to listen to his moral compass. By the end of the story he decides he should try to follow it and just wants to be a strong warrior to protect those he now cares about given that, so far, most he has cared for have died.

Lex is daughter of a regent and an algus warrior. She’s often callous due to her overwhelming quest for revenge on: Archimedes for taking her son, and the Viridian Legion for killing her husband. She has no character arc other than achieving her first ambition of killing Archimedes.

She suffers from chronic pain in her hip, an injury that has no physical cause, and relies on taking a medicine known as the ‘tears of the weeping plant’ in order to manage her pain. It is also revealed she has previously had suicidal tendencies.

The pair share some romance, a kiss, but nothing further happens. Darius falls for her. Lex clearly has feelings for him but the extent is left ambiguous.

Nikolaos is the point of view of the team around Archimedes. He is a philanderer and cares only about his own ambition. He’s a bit of a coward and ends the story being captured in Margalvia.

Sulla is a comedic character, most characterised by his total lack of fear. He is extremely loyal to Darius for the few scenes he is in the book.

Brutus and Varro are brothers and good friends of Darius and Sulla. Brutus was previously an adoptive father of the old Darius.