The Quintana Trilogy

When miners discover a strange new artifact in the mines, maiming those who touch it and spawning deadly, shadowlike witherers, the discovery draws the attention of Salvatore, head of the secretive Luminoso cult. Hoarding ancient artifacts and terrorizing the city, the cabalists of the Luminoso temple collect scientific knowledge without understanding it, while watching the skies for heavenly signs, determined to bring about another golden age and crush any who meddle with their sacred prerogatives.   

After Lord Carbón, one of the rulers of Quintana, discovers an artifact created during an ancient period of magic and super science, he enlists his energetic young chancellor, Iliana Diamante, and his former rival, the elderly Lord Torre, to hide the object before the Luminoso cult can seize it in a bid for power. To stop them, the spider-like Salvatore, head of the Luminoso, enlists his underling, the treacherous Naila Roja, to coerce the secret from her father-in-law, Lord Torre. Salvatore thinks he can control the artifact and bring about a new era of glory with himself in command.

When an ancient artifact kills the head of the Luminoso cult and descends into the Rift on a trail of fire, it falls upon Lord Carbón, his chancellor, and a sympathetic cultist to decipher the object before it returns to destroy the city of Quintana. Unfortunately, the treacherous Naila Roja, fresh off a murderous ascent to the top of the Luminoso, wishes only to force Quintana to bend a knee and acknowledge her as its ruler. She is blind to the dangers and possibilities of the artifact, and on the hunt for secrets hidden in the vaults of the Luminoso temple.

As one of the rulers of the ancient city of Quintana, Lord Carbón enjoys power and privilege that the lower castes of the city can only admire and envy. His wealth and status come from the coal mined atop the plateau and shipped across the Great Span - a mysterious bridge built during a legendary period of super science. When miners discover a strange new artifact in the mines, maiming those who touch it and spawning deadly, shadow-like witherers, the discovery draws the attention of Salvatore, head of the secretive Luminoso cult.