Welcome to the official Universe Guide for The Forgotten series by author Dan Thornton.
Here you’ll find an in-depth look at the world introduced in Book 1, Fleet of the Forgotten—from key characters and factions to advanced technology, alien threats, and the political fault lines that define Earth.

The year is 2184.

Earth is fractured: politically, economically, socially. The great nations have slowly decayed under the weight of greed, inequality, and centuries of class warfare. New alliances have been built out of necessity.

But before external forces threatened Earth, terror did. A radical insurgent movement known as R5 appeared out of nowhere, smart, well funded and brutal. They waged a brutal global campaign to dismantle what remained of national governments. Blaming Earth’s collapse on corrupt elites and corporate malfeasance, R5 struck. What started as targeted killings and high-profile detonations soon escalated into mass casualty events on a planetary scale. In their final, devastating act, R5 redirected asteroids and turned them into weapons, unleashing kinetic strikes on several major cities. It was only in response to this shared existential threat that Earth’s fractured powers reluctantly laid down their rivalries and signed the OSC Treaty, forming a shield around the solar system. While the OSC was the shield, the ISA was the sword.

The Interplanetary Security Alliance holds the line between order and chaos. Its ships, built in an orbital shipyard called the Earth-Moon Assembly Platform, otherwise known as The Forge.

And now, the unknown has arrived.

Without warning, a hostile alien force strikes from deep space, overwhelming Earth’s defenses in hours. The Forge is under siege while the mighty battleships designed to protect the system are locked in a desperate fight for survival.

In the chaos, a young officer named Ryan Anders, barely graduated from the ISA Fleet Academy, finds himself thrust into command of an experimental starship. He was never supposed to lead. He was just a face in a PR campaign—one of the lottery cadets, plucked from Earth’s underclass to give the illusion of unity. But when the real captains fall one by one and Earth’s battleships are torn apart in orbit, hope seems lost—until a legend returns.

Captain Armstrong, Earth’s most decorated commander, emerges from the chaos to push back the alien onslaught in a desperate counterattack. Before vanishing into the fire, he transmits a final message to Ryan: the experimental starship he now commands carries a secret—one that may be humanity’s last chance. His order is clear: save the ship at all costs. With everything crumbling around him, Ryan has a choice—hide, run… or fight.

The Tone of the Series

The Forgotten is military science fiction with a human core. It’s equal parts thrilling space combat, political intrigue, and coming-of-age drama. It’s a story about people who were never meant to matter… becoming the only ones who do.

Expect:
Tactical starship battles where decisions cost lives.
Broken systems, both military and political, that crush the weak and elevate the ruthless.
Found family, forged under fire.
Secrets buried in history and technology that could change everything.
This isn’t a war story, it’s a survival story about underdogs who rise to the occasion.

Key Players

OSC (Orbital Security Convention)
The OSC was the world’s response to the horror of R5’s orbital strikes. Modeled after NATO but far more binding, the agreement required member nations to cede control of their space-based military assets to the newly formed ISA. What began as a desperate measure became a framework for Earth’s unified orbital defense—at the cost of national autonomy. While hailed by some as a milestone in human cooperation, others saw it as a power grab in the chaos of recovery.

Interplanetary Security Alliance (ISA)
Formed under the OSC after the devastating R5 attacks, the ISA is an autonomous military coalition governed by a council of equal-member states. The ISA is Earth’s only unified spacefaring force—commanding all orbital and interplanetary assets. Its warships are designed and deployed without the direct approval of any single nation, making it both powerful and controversial. In peacetime, it was seen as a costly relic. In war, it became humanity’s last line of defense.

The Martian Confederation
Originally founded as corporate mining outposts, the Martian settlements quickly grew into thriving, self-sufficient cities. Isolated by distance and hardened by struggle, Mars developed its own identity, both culturally distinct and increasingly resentful of Earth’s control. After winning independence, Mars focused inward, building a powerful industrial base and military. Though relations with Earth remained tense, growing trade and rising threats in space eventually led the Martian Republics to sign the OSC treaty and join the Interplanetary Security Alliance

R5 – The Rogue Five
R5 was not a nation, but a cabal. Extremists, rogue states, and criminal syndicates joined forces to dismantle Earth’s power structures and rewrite the world order. Funded by dark money and armed with black-market tech, R5’s early campaign of bombings and assassinations was only a prelude. Their final act was a coordinated kinetic strike from orbit. It leveled cities and forced a global reckoning. Though scattered after the creation of the ISA, R5’s reach may not be truly gone.

The Alien Threat
Nothing is known of the alien attackers; only the destruction they leave behind. Their ships are crystalline, jagged constructs, eerily silent and devoid of obvious engines or weapons. No hails. No signals. They arrive, observe, and then annihilate. Military installations are prioritized, and contact guarantees retaliation. Humanity doesn’t even know if it’s being invaded, exterminated, or simply in the way. Only one thing is certain: they do not negotiate.

Main Characters

Ryan Anders
Born on the wrong side of Earth’s broken society, Ryan Anders was a lottery cadet that was plucked from poverty as part of a PR campaign meant to project unity. Raised in the shadows of violence and loss, he fought to survive the Academy and earn a place in a world that didn’t want him. When the alien invasion struck, Ryan was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he couldn’t stand by and do nothing. He took command of an unfinished experimental starship named the Cosmic Explorer and began the long, uncertain path toward leadership. Driven by a promise to his mother and haunted by a world that left him behind, Ryan doesn’t fight for glory, he fights to protect the only thing that matters to him: his friends.

Anna Rodriguez
Tough, principled, and fiercely loyal. Anna grew up in a cramped apartment with six older brothers and a mother who never had time to rest. In a house like that, you either got tough or got run over… so Anna got tough. As one of the lottery cadets, she never forgot where she came from or what it felt like to be looked down upon. Sharp under pressure, her quiet calm exterior could be mistaken for meekness, but those who know her, know better. Anna is Ryan’s closest confidante and the moral anchor of the Cosmic Explorer’s young crew. She doesn’t want to be a hero, but she just refuses to be a victim.

David Kim
Ryan’s best friend and the Cosmic Explorer’s quiet ace. A frighteningly gifted navigator with instincts his instructors couldn’t explain, David was a natural at charting paths through gravitational briars and it was said he could park a starship on a dime (at least in the simulators). David thrives in silence, much more comfortable with quantum drives and encrypted nodes than small talk. Raised in a strict, traditional household, David struggles with self-esteem and has trouble navigating social situations. For Ryan, there’s no one more reliable. For everyone else? He’s the weird kid.

Elizabeth Miller
Class president at the ISA Fleet Academy, Elizabeth is disciplined, ambitious, and well-connected. Groomed for command, she expected to rise through the ranks the proper way. But when the alien attack struck, she found herself entangled in Ryan’s improvised escape plan aboard the Cosmic Explorer. Politically astute and always eyeing the next rung, Elizabeth often clashes with Ryan over authority and protocol, but beneath the tension lies a growing respect. Elizabeth understands the system. Ryan breaks it. Together, they all might just make it out alive.

Captain Benjamin Armstrong
Captain Benjamin Armstrong was Earth’s greatest tactician and the hero of countless battles. He is the face of ISA victory in a dozen forgotten conflicts. Nearly retired, he leads a last-ditch assault against the alien fleet to buy the Cosmic Explorer a chance to escape. His final communication to Ryan reveals a stunning secret and a final order: Save the ship whatever the cost and get to Mars.

June Armstrong
As the granddaughter of Earth’s most revered fleet captain, June Armstrong has lived her life in the shadow of a legend. Politically savvy and perceptive beyond her years, June was raised among diplomats, officers, and strategists, but she’s no stranger to the cost of power. She sees what others miss, including the cracks in those who claim to lead.