Nucleus (OLD VERSION)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

[This series has been rebooted! Check out the new story featuring these same charactersHERE. I hope to see you there!]

When desire meets destiny, even monsters can love.

In 2295, the superpowers that survived World War Three compete for the Moondust Crystal—an artifact that controls the Radi-Mons, radiation-eating monsters spreading an STD that grants immortality at the cost of your humanity.

Lorna, a Nordic psionic agent working for the new North American government, infiltrates Taiwan hunting Crystal data. There she collides withXin, a heartbroken programmer whose android lover was kidnapped by the regime that employs his college classmateDilinur—a woman torn between duty and forbidden desire. Meanwhile in Africa, dropoutJabaridiscovers his gift for piloting mechs might be humanity's last hope.

When the Radi-Mon Primarch Skarn breaks free—obsessed with making Lorna his mate—these four must unite across enemy lines, even as their factions demand loyalty.

But the Crystal doesn't just control monsters. It holds power over hungers they've tried to bury: vengeance, belonging, redemption...and each other. In a universe where sex is currency and love is rebellion, they'll discover the most dangerous virus isn't the one that transforms your body—

—it's the one that opens your heart.

The Dust of MoonbeginsNucleus, acharacter-driven, 4-book series where Game of Thrones meets The Expanse, with the bedroom door wide open. It's a space opera where hope survives, love conquers, and the good guys can win—they just might need a shower afterwards.

What to Expect:• Four POV characters whose personal dramas are as explosive as the space battles• Unlike grimdark fantasy, the naive-but-noble can triumph if they work for it• A multicultural future: African mechs clash with Chinese psionics while Nordic refugees deal with American corporate intrigue• Found family dynamics interrupted by interspecies pregnancy, android awakening, and the occasional genocide• Romance that drives the plot: from desperate one-night stands to soul-deep connections that transcend species• Cozy slice-of-life moments between battles (there's a cooking scene with a baby dragon in Act 3)• Adult content that matters: every intimate scene advances character or plot• Violence, political intrigue, and complex moral choices• A feel-good ending for all POVs once they overcome hardships• Oh, and tentacles (you'll understand when you get there)

🌶️ Spice Level: Ghost Pepper — Explicit scenes in ~15% of chapters, each one plot-relevant

💬 Author actively engages with every comment

🖥️ This story uses AI tools for editing, translation and proofreading. But all plotlines, characters, and dialogue are written by yours truly.

Updates onTuesdays&Saturdays

📚 Complete Acts 1-3 available (390k words)

🟢Currently onAct 4: Red Planet Rhapsody

Visit the official site for info on characters, expanded lore, and more:

www.nucleusseries.com(Desktop browsing recommended)

Discord server is live. Preview emojisBatch 1,Batch 2, or join the serverHERE

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2025
Author: Vel Woven

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 339
Views: 98,053

Chapters(165 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(6)

CSSalmonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I’ve been reading this story for a while now and I like the universe and setting, respect the worldbuilding and originality and find the characters and their journeys engaging. I can tell this is a story which has been planned from beginning to end.
In terms of style, overall it is carefully crafted with vivid descriptions and attention to detail. The characters are distinctive and their backstories and individual arcs are really different from each other. The decisions they make are meaningful and drive the story.
There are a couple of interesting touches to this story that make it different. Although it is a space opera, the action so far has all taken place on Earth. In most (all?) space operas based on the modern world, Earth will be under the control of a single authority and planets will essentially take the place of cities. In this story, although civilisation has spread across the other planets, Earth is still contested and different regions are under the authority of different powers. Those powers have their own culture as well as the locations themselves preserving elements of the local culture of modern day Earth (historical Earth from their perspective). I find this a cool and original approach and the sensitivity and research that has gone into representing those Earth cultures is impressive.
I’m not yet completely clear on what event or invention has caused the more supernatural elements of the world to come into existence, but I’m keen to find out as the story progresses.
In summary, I think you will like this story if you like well planned story arcs and have the patience for a slow burn fiction with fleshed out characters.
Dormouse PieRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Nucleus is a large-scale space opera set in the not so distant future, with four protagonists from all over the world, bound to each other in a mysterious way.
Story
One of the strengths of the story is its interesting worldbuilding. The world as we know it has been reshaped into new empires, each with its own cultural roots and its own take on technology and magic. Besides the successors of the US and China, the third world power is Africa, which I found particularly heartwarming to read. A great method the author uses to add flavour to each is the use of ancient languages (Latin, Old Norse etc.) in spellcasting. The story threads of the four main characters are easy to follow and blend together seamlessly. The pacing is well-balanced.
Style
Elegant, sometimes a little flowery prose. Excellent use of the five senses for an immersive effect, especially colours and lights. Sexual content is handled tastefully.
Grammar
The text is AI-translated but seems to have gone through careful human editing, with very few typos or grammar mistakes.
Characters
All four leading characters are sufficiently fleshed out, with their own histories, voices, motivations and sets of values, and of course, with their own battles to fight (literally as well as figuratively).
All in all, I usually avoid AI-assisted content, but I didn’t regret making an exception for Nucleus. Thanks for a great story!
Rowdha Al SolRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There is a lot to unpack here, and I have not actually read the entire book yet; this review is based off of the early chapters and is more a stamp for my own train of thought than anything. This review is subject to change depending on how the rest of the story actually goes.
First thing that sticks out right away is that there is clearly some passion put behind the worldbuilding. I mean, that's really what this book is shaping up to be about: the fictional universe. It's layered with the author's own spin on corporate greed, government oversight, and psionic warfare.I do not particularly believe many of the worldbuilding elements, and once I start asking enough questions, things begin to drift into that hazy part of storytelling where ideas feel more like placeholders than fully realised constructs. The setting has flair and surface-level intrigue, but when dissected, the deeper layers seem underdeveloped, as if the foundation was sketched in broad strokes without being anchored by internal logic or political nuance. It often reads like an outline dressed up in atmosphere, with concepts that invite curiosity but collapse under scrutiny.
This is not to say you cannot suspend disbelief. It's very easy to do here and this really is only from a critical standpoint. Otherwise, the worldbuilding sufficiently falls into what you'd expect of most modern science fiction.
On tropes:
For Lorna, for example, the worldbuilding leans heavily into a militarised surveillance state laced with techno-futuristic corruption, yet with flourishes of hyper-capitalism, such as the hypersexualized holographic ads commodifying pleasure amid urban decay. That's not really a spoiler. That's just a common enough trope in sci-fi. The last ten or so sci-fi/cyberpunk stories I read all had the same thing. You can expect the same here.
The characters lean heavily into familiar tropes, particularly from military sci-fi and urban fantasy genres. Lorna is the classic battle-hardened-yet-beautiful fe
SamaSriRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The future. Dystopic and fantastic, with the promise of something heroic. Multiple heroes, each of them written to be as real as can be, with believable flaws and well as charming characteristics.
I'll surely have to come back and revise this, but what I've read so far tells me that we have a gem in the making. It's early stages, but even now, I can feel the world is immersive, the characters have depth (and maturity) and the story is compelling. Even the places, the food and the languages are anchored in what we know or can look up. The tech is not overwhelming (there was one novel I had to give up on because of that), and well researched.
Edit #1:
The more I read, the more I see a tremendous effort both into tech research, world building as well as characters. The companion website (nuclearseries dot com) is a treasure trove that helps keep in-novel info-dumps to a manageable level. It is a must-read, showcasing amazing depth of thought. Am upping the score (from 4.5) to 5/5.
Edit #2:
Just read about the milestones. My fav, predictably, is: Lorna Weiss 😁
Second fav: Jabari Adomako.
Fuuka Natsukawa could've been in the fray due to her skills and attitude, if only she had a bigger role. Also Thomas Mendoza, for the same reasons.
MahoganyBirdRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
As of the end of Act 1, Nucleus has set up four distinct characters in a world both foreign and familiar. My experience with Space Operas is limited, but I know enough about the genre to see that this is some very grounded setup that can lead to unique places, places I'm excited to explore! The author has obviously spent a lot of time thinking about this world, as evident from their website companion to this story, and it shows in every chapter.
Style: For the majority of this story, the writing style serves as a solid scaffolding for the plot and set dressing, focusing on important aspects and highlighting exactly what the author wants to share with the reader. The inclusion of location images, names, and dates helps the reader track the action and supplements location description. My biggest gripe is that while I can tell who's who, I don't feel the uniqueness of the different POV characters as much as I would like. Even with that, I think this story has a unique identity.
Story: While this may be because I personally am a sucker for the arcs that are being set up, I have not seen anything quite like what Nucleus has going on. There are elements that fit into established tropes, but as a whole the originality of the story has me hooked. I'm interested in learning more about this world and what's going to happen next.
Grammar score: There are some parts that feel a bit off, but it's nothing major that a slight edit won't fix. I need go back and read a chapter or two aloud to get a better idea of just what it is that felt off, but overall it's a very smooth read.
Character: Having four main characters is a massive risk. I think it paid off, as I'm excited to see what each of the four perspective's will be up to, but it obviously won't hit the mark for every reader. There are a few instances where the character's feel a bit less rational than they should be to facilitate the plot, but I think that those issues are easily fixed. Overall, the cast is a diverse one with
AleoRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
This isn’t a review—just some honest thoughts from a regular reader.
After finishing the story, I found myself struggling to describe how I felt.
Surprisingly, the strongest impression I had was:
— Wow, the illustrations are gorgeous. I want that artwork.
But this is a novel, not an artbook—so that reaction left me thinking: maybe the story didn’t leave enough of a mark.
The four main characters are interesting, yes—but the narrative felt… tangled.
Like four different threads knotted together, pulling in different directions.
And I honestly fear that after one night of sleep, most of the plot will fade from my mind.
After reflecting on why, I think it comes down to these key issues:
1. Unclear Core Narrative – Too Many Threads, Not Enough Focus
All four protagonists are trying to tell their story, but without a clear hierarchy or focus.
There’s no strong narrative anchor—no clear main character, goal, or central conflict.
It feels like watching four TV shows at once: everyone is important, but no one stands out emotionally.
2. Flat Emotional Curve – No Sense of Build-up and Release
The story lacks a strong pacing rhythm—there’s no emotional tension that builds toward a satisfying release.
Without clear emotional highs and lows, the experience feels flat, making it hard to form lasting memories.
3. Hard to Connect – Actions Without Understandable Motivations
Without a clear emotional or logical chain behind their decisions, it’s hard to step into their minds or feel invested in their journey.
Even though I was told their stories, I never truly felt invited to walk beside them—which made emotional connection difficult.
That said, I’m not sure if my thoughts are entirely fair or accurate —
but my honest takeaway was this:
the illustrations were the part that stayed with me the most.
This isn’t meant as criticism, just one reader’s personal reaction.
I hope it offers some perspective.
Also, I gave it 3.5 stars—and I do feel a bit bad about it.
Not because the work lacks