The Builders’ Legacy — Book Two of the Tartarus Series The rebellion is moving real gold through the Gate Network, placing currency directly into the hands of people who have lived under Cartel debt for generations. Each shipment creates room for independent systems to breathe. The Cartel answers with counterfeit credits that pass every test, freezing markets in uncertainty. Vendors delay payment. Buyers pause between transactions. Entire districts question the value of every coin they touch. The rebellion is not fighting for territory. It is fighting for trust, and trust is beginning to thin. Arthur Waite continues the work at the edges, where the Cartel’s influence is strongest. During these assignments he discovers three solar systems that appear on no archive or survey record. Each one is fully powered and structurally intact. Cities stand ready for occupants who are no longer there. Oceans move with no sign of habitation. Rail lines, platforms, towers, and sealed facilities remain functional without a single living presence. The silence of these systems draws Arthur deeper into the Astral, along paths that do not match any known map. Beyond those corridors he finds remnants of Builder design and the Lodge, a preserved point of origin linking the empty systems to intentions set long before the present conflict. Their existence suggests the Builders did not leave ruins. They left preparation, and the meaning of that preparation reaches farther than the struggle between the Cartel and the rebellion. While Arthur searches for the purpose behind these systems, Meridian works to hold the rebellion together. Sylara, Isolde, Myrdin, and the Operators confront the economic pressure the Cartel applies across the network. Markets narrow. Trade routes close without warning. Allies shift position. Progress slows as each settlement decides which currency can be trusted and which future they are choosing. In the city of Hades, quiet changes take hold. People act on chances they were never given before. Daily life shifts in ways the Cartel cannot fully predict. No single moment defines the outcome, but small actions build into a movement that grows from the ground rather than from command. The Builders’ Legacy continues the Tartarus Series with a focus on economic conflict, hidden history, and the steady work required to keep systems stable while uncovering the truth behind the Builders. The story widens from rebellion and control toward a larger design that has waited for discovery, and the cost of understanding it reaches every world connected to the Gates. About the Tartarus Series The Tartarus Series follows Arthur Waite as he is pulled from an ordinary life on Earth into the wider reality of the Astral Plane, Builder structures, and the forces shaping the settled systems. The series centers on the gradual uncovering of truths that most governments either misunderstand or refuse to acknowledge, including the existence of Tartarus, the Dark Lords, and the remnants of Builder design hidden throughout inhabited space. Arthur joins a small team operating independently of major powers. Their work brings them into conflict with the Cartel, whose influence spreads through trade, currency, and political pressure. Through investigations, rescues, and economic operations, the team discovers how much of the known world stands on foundations the Builders left behind, from sealed facilities to entire functioning systems with no people left in them. Across the series Arthur moves deeper into Astral corridors and encounters structures that predate all modern settlements. The rebellion grows as people recognize the openings created by the team’s work. The series focuses on steady pressure, hidden history, and the realization that the Builders left systems waiting to be understood, and the struggle to uncover their purpose shapes every world connected to them.