The Orion Universe — Jackson Tran
Jackson Tran

Contemporary epic fantasy · Jackson Tran

TheOrion Universe

Every gift comes with a price. Who pays for it?

Serializing now · new chapter weekly Book one written · serial opens September 1, 2026
Knight of Orion, Book Two Saint of Orion, Book One
Saint of Orion, Book One

New hereInduction · start here

Start Here

Three steps, in order. The first one is free and takes about twenty minutes.

01 Read Chapter One Free here, no account needed. Also on Royal Road, if that is where you read. If the first chapter doesn’t land, nothing else here matters.
02 Take the Codex Greybriar’s field reference on Charisms (gifted individuals), as a PDF. Signing up is also how you hear when a book goes live. Request access →
03 Read ahead Patreon members read two installments in front of the free serial. Everything there reaches the free feed a fortnight later. See the tiers →

The SeriesRegister · titles held

The Books

Two of five planned. Read in order.

Cover of The Saint of Orion

Book One

The Saint of Orion

“Every team needs someone who can hold the line.”

They found Joan Byrne at sixteen in Bardstown, Kentucky, and told her the thing that kept happening around her had a name, a grade, and a price. Every gift is paid for in minutes off the person using it. Minutes to spend, nights to buy back. Jo learned the arithmetic the day she couldn’t afford the one life that mattered.
Six years on and now she runs point for Team Orion, a Greybriar Section Six unit that pulls Charisms out of the Aviary — a network that traffics gifted people, because a gift with a price on it is a thing worth owning. Her grading card reads high in two classes and struck in a third: no approved trial exists for what Jo does. After her first operation, the team names her the Saint of Orion. 
Then the team crosses something that doesn’t spend Charisms. It consumes them. And it has been eating for a very long time.
Drafted · in revision Read
Cover of The Knight of Orion

Book Two

The Knight of Orion

“Every war needs someone who can hold their own.”

Book two moves the fight to England, where Jo works to finish off the trafficking network Section Six has spent years pulling apart — only to find it was the small problem. Two powers at war are circling her now, both intent on owning her

In progress

Serial to ShelfSchedule · serial ledger

The Release Ledger

The whole plan, in public. Book one is written; the serial is the edit, done out loud. When the last installment posts, it comes down and becomes a book.

StagePhaseStatus
01 Opening InstallmentsBook one is written. The first six installments get the final polish before anyone sees them. In progress
02 The Serial OpensRoyal Road, one installment a week. Patreon runs two ahead of the free feed. Sep 1, 2026
03 The Epilogue PostsTwenty-eight installments in all: prologue, twenty-six chapters, epilogue. The whole book, in public. Feb 26, 2027
04 It Comes DownBook one leaves Royal Road and Patreon. Last chance to read it free. Mar 19, 2027
05 The Saint of Orion · PublishedEbook, paperback, and Kindle Unlimited. Codex subscribers hear first. Apr 20, 2027
06 The Knight of Orion · SerializesPatreon in early May, Royal Road late May. Same rhythm, same promise. May 2027

Dates move. The order doesn’t.

Restricted MaterialForm GB/5-2 · restricted

The Greybriar Codex

Greybriar’s field reference on persons of charism: classification, handling, recovery. Released to readers on request.

Greybriar Codex · Form GB/5-2 Section Five · Standards

Classification of Persons of Charism

The handbook the Academy issues on qualification. It states what the Service can measure, what it may do with the measurement, and what the body charges for the work. It does not say what a gift is.

Class Gleaning · GL
Layer Mind — thought, want, motion
Verb To read what remains. Subject to the decay window.
Handling Paired posting. Never solo interview.
Containment redacted per standing order

The Codex arrives as a PDF. You’ll also get word when a chapter drops and when a book goes live. Nothing else, and you can leave any time.
Access granted. Check your inbox — the Codex is on its way.
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Browse the declassified entries →

Early AccessAnnex B · early access

Read Ahead

Every tier reads two installments ahead of the free serial — the same two. The higher tiers are for readers who want to put more in, not for readers who want to go faster. Everything on Patreon reaches the free serial within a fortnight.

Tier One SECTION FIVE (CADET) $3 / month
  • Two chapters ahead of the free serial
  • Name in the back matter of book one
Most read Tier Two SECTION SIX (OFFICER) $7 / month
  • Two chapters ahead of the free serial
  • Name in the back matter of book one
  • The ebook free on publication day, for books released while you’re a member
Tier Three SECTION ONE (THE BOARD) $15 / month
  • Everything in Section Six
  • A signed, numbered bookplate for every book released while you’re a member
The cover fund

Put a real cover on it

The one thing I can’t make myself. An illustrated cover and print wrap from a working artist runs about $1,200, and it is the difference between a book someone picks up and a book someone scrolls past. It is a real object with a real price, and it gets finished when the number does.

$25 · your name in the acknowledgements
$60 · a signed first-run paperback
$150 · signed copies of all three

Chip in on the cover →