TZ

DUGYEN is a planet similar to Earth, but completely different in terms of history, society, geography, and civilization. Its name comes from Polian, the planetary language, and means “prosperity.” On DUGYEN, the population lives united under a single planetary political structure: there are no independent states, no national borders, and no separate governments. The entire planet is inhabited by one great unified community, administered by a central government. The planetary capital is Zenith City, a gigantic metropolis that serves as the main political and administrative center of DUGYEN. The President of the planet is Franz Gury, the highest official political authority and institutional representative of the entire population. However, despite his position, Franz Gury is not the most important person on DUGYEN. That role belongs to Zoe Injoy. The reason for Zoe’s enormous influence is connected to the Zenith, a mysterious force or power that can manifest in a random person on the planet. When a person receives the Zenith, they become an individual with extraordinary abilities: their intelligence reaches practically inconceivable levels and they acquire the ability to know what will happen before it happens. The Zenith therefore transforms its bearer into something resembling a living demigod. The bearer of the Zenith is called a “Facoltoso,” a term used to identify an individual who possesses this extraordinary faculty. The Zenith does not simply make a person extremely intelligent: it allows the Facoltoso to understand practically every field of knowledge and gives them an awareness of the future that no other human being possesses. This ability also allows the Facoltoso to accumulate enormous wealth, since they can anticipate economic events, inventions, discoveries, crises, and future developments. The history of the Zenith began 250 years before the main events of the story. The first known case occurred in the year 0 DZ, meaning “Dopo Zenith,” or “After Zenith.” Before that event, the designation PZ, “Prima dello Zenith,” or “Before Zenith,” is used, while the appearance of the first Facoltoso established the DZ calendar. The first human being to receive the Zenith was Callum Aregson, a simple shepherd. Callum did not belong to a powerful family, was not a ruler, general, or scientist, and lived an ordinary life before receiving the power. After the manifestation of the Zenith, however, his life changed completely. Callum became the first Facoltoso in history and used his new abilities to accumulate immense wealth and build one of the most powerful families ever to exist on DUGYEN: the Aregson family. Callum had three children, Konrad, Cynthia, and Devy Aregson. They grew up within the enormous influence their father had built and eventually developed a specific belief regarding the nature of the Zenith: they believed that the power was destined to pass to the children, or at least to the family circle, of the previous bearer. This belief gave rise to the “Nepotists.” Over the decades, many individuals embraced this theory, according to which the Zenith followed some kind of family lineage. Opposing them were the “Hopefuls,” a name ironically given to them by the Nepotists. The Hopefuls instead believed that the Zenith was assigned completely at random and that anyone on DUGYEN could become the next Facoltoso. The term “Hopefuls” was used by the Nepotists to emphasize that, in their view, these people had no certainty and could only hope that good fortune would cause the Zenith to choose them. For 250 years, the question remained unresolved, since Callum Aregson was the only known case and therefore there was not enough evidence to determine which of the two theories was correct. Callum also possessed a biological characteristic never seen before. He lived for exactly 250 years. After receiving the Zenith, his body stopped aging normally once he reached the physical age of 55. For almost two centuries, Callum therefore maintained the appearance and physical condition of a 55-year-old man. His brain also did not undergo the normal deterioration associated with aging, and his intellectual abilities remained intact. The Zenith did not make him immortal, however: Callum could still die, but he would not die simply from old age. Exactly 250 years after the birth of the first Zenith, Callum Aregson died. His death became one of the most important events in the history of DUGYEN. His three children, Konrad, Cynthia, and Devy, were convinced that their father’s death would cause the Zenith to pass to someone within the Aregson family. Only a few days after Callum’s death, however, an event occurred that would completely transform the history of the planet. The Zenith manifested in a fifteen-year-old girl named Zoe Injoy. Zoe was completely unrelated to the Aregsons. She was an orphan and did not belong to any of DUGYEN’s powerful families. Zoe’s selection therefore demonstrated that the Zenith was not necessarily destined to remain within the family of its previous bearer and provided powerful confirmation of the Hopefuls’ theory. Konrad, Cynthia, and Devy searched for Zoe and attempted to convince her to join the Aregson family, but Zoe ran away. Her escape was made possible in part by the abilities of the Zenith: Zoe could foresee what was going to happen and therefore anticipate the moves of those searching for her. For the following twelve years, Zoe remained away from the Aregsons and learned to live with her power. When the main story begins, twelve years have passed since her escape. It is 262 DZ, and Zoe is 27 years old. During those twelve years, she has become the richest and most intelligent woman on DUGYEN and one of the most powerful people on the entire planet. Zoe has also created her own seaside city called Bay City. The city is located on the coast and is one of the most important creations personally built by Zoe. Despite her enormous wealth, intelligence, and power, Zoe lives a very lonely life. She has no stable human relationships and lives alone in her enormous estate, called Zenith Land, which stands dramatically above the sea in Bay City. One of the reasons for her loneliness is the Zenith itself. Unlike Callum, for years the Zenith led Zoe to believe that she was destined to be alone. As a result, Zoe spent much of her life without forming deep and lasting human relationships. However, at the age of 27, Zoe begins to desire something that power cannot give her: love and a genuine human connection. She therefore decides to look for someone who can enter her life. Unable to simply admit that she is looking for someone with whom she can form a romantic bond, Zoe uses an excuse: she opens applications to find a new assistant, male or female, willing to work for her inside Zenith Land. Zoe’s enormous estate thus becomes a place where dozens or even hundreds of people might enter her life, apparently for professional reasons, but also because Zoe secretly wants to finally experience a genuine human relationship. In 262 DZ, DUGYEN is therefore a unified planet, without states or national borders, with a population living under a single government. Franz Gury is the President and represents the official political authority of the planet, but Zoe Injoy is the most important and influential person in the world because of the Zenith, her intelligence, her knowledge of the future, and her immense wealth. Her existence has also permanently changed the social and ideological balance of DUGYEN: the Nepotists’ theory has been challenged by Zoe’s appearance, while the Hopefuls have seen her selection as confirmation of their beliefs. And yet, despite Zoe having become the most powerful person on the planet, her personal story is still dominated by one contradiction: she possesses practically everything a human being could desire, she can know the future, and she can build almost anything, but she has not yet found someone with whom she can truly share her life. It is from this search that the story of DUGYEN begins.