Ashen Program Stories are in Development! Check Back for Information as it Becomes Available.

Welcome to the Ashen Program

Program: Ashen

The Ashen Program is a near-future public-safety experiment built on service...shield, not sword. Volunteers accept the scars and downsides of becoming Ashen so they can work the worst nights and hold the line a little longer...harbors, stairwells, trains...places where quiet restraint matters more than spectacle. Their rails are both procedural and moral...body cams, calm reports, receipts for every action, and a Brakes Committee that reviews intent and outcome after each call. Public trust is fragile…applause is rare.

The stories follow men and women who still believe in words like honor, service, and integrity...and who struggle to live up to them. No capes. No clean wins. Just service under scrutiny…and the stubborn belief that protection, done right, still matters.

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I’m writing near-future, soft sci-fi about the Ashen...protectors who step between the public and harm. The mission is to build stories where honesty, integrity, purpose, service, and honor aren’t slogans but engines for the plot. Expect grit with clarity…restraint over spectacle.

I’ll share regular vignettes (quarterly or sooner) so the world keeps breathing...starting with a Halloween vignette on Friday, October 31, 2025.

The first full tale is a short story titled “Ashen Honor.” Two follow-up novellas are in production: “The Program: Birth of a Shield” (a prequel) and “Ashen Mission.” I’m aiming to release the first five or six stories together in early 2026.

Start reading, tell me what landed (or didn’t), and follow on Facebook and/or Instagram for new drops, timelines, and extras.

In the Works...

Ashen Honor

“Ashen Honor” follows Calder Luc through one long night when an Amber Alert points at an Ashen. Cal steps off-book, follows thin threads across the city, and meets a choice in smoke and stairwells where rescue and culpability blur. By the time the cameras find him, a child speaks, the crowd decides, and Cal files the receipts. On paper it reads as “success”, but the weight tells a different story.

The Program: Birth of a Shield

Before the myth, there were rooms with bad lights and blunt truth. This is the quiet build...a prequel...a city trying to earn a different kind of protection by setting guardrails first and letting brakes bite when they must. No spectacle...shield, not sword...minutes bought and accounted for. The only question that matters...can we carry this weight humanely?

Ashen Mission

In the wake of "Ashen Honor", Calder Luc is handed a single directive...find the Taker and bring the city back to level. He follows rumor and shadow, leaning on the quiet strength of his supports as the case keeps widening and he tries to separate fact from myth. Each answer opens a larger question. What looks like a suspect starts to feel like something bigger. When the trail finally narrows, the choice is not only who to stop, but what to reveal. Shield first...receipts ready.

"Rook's Exchange"

Freshly graduated as an Ashen, Rook’s Norm work teaches receipts, restraint, and the quiet math of being a shield. As he grows, the harbor keeps a different count…a new flow slipping through warehouses and tides, daring him to cut it off at the root. When a mission locks and the board closes, every move costs...he chooses anyway. After, his ledger won’t wash out. The Brakes weigh intent and impact…and clear the move, not the burden. Duty remains...but so does the price of the exchange.

"Ashen Fidelity"

Calder Luc continues his labors…quiet saves, calm reports, doors where the welcome goes unsaid. The public flinches, tempers rise, rumors do the talking. He works anyway…trying to make “shield, not sword” mean something you can feel, not just say. Fidelity becomes the question...loyalty to oath, to people who don’t want his help, to the person he’s becoming. A thread of incidents tests him…no easy wins, no applause…just the weight of staying when staying costs.

This story is in development. Details may shift as the draft finds its truth.

"When the Line Holds"

She started in a blue uniform…with a few like-minded partners who measured service by who got home safe. When a new program asked for volunteers, she raised her hand...and failed. She stayed anyway. Found the low-light room with headsets and maps. Learned to keep the rails and call the pace. Her work becomes custody of the brave...command without spectacle, care without applause...keeping people who live in the dark from being consumed by it…bringing them back, night after night, when the cost climbs.

This story is in development…details may shift as the draft finds its truth.

Questions?

Email programashen@gmail.com to get more information.

Copyright & IP Notice

All text, images, concepts, characters, settings, and related materials on this site (the “Works”) are the exclusive property of JKLucas and designated beneficiaries. The Works are protected under United States and international copyright laws and treaties. All rights are reserved. No rights or licenses, express or implied, are granted by viewing this site.

Originality & resemblance. The Works are original creative expression. Any similarity to real persons (living or dead), events, or third-party works is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

Permitted use. Personal viewing only. Any reproduction, distribution, public display, performance, adaptation, derivative use, or other exploitation of the Works, in whole or in part, requires prior written permission from JKLucas.

Prohibited uses (without written permission): Commercial use or monetization of the Works.
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Effective date: October 29, 2025.

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