Twilight of the Gods (BNA novel)

Twilight of the Gods was the eighty-fourth and final Virgin New Adventures novel. It was written by Mark Clapham and Jon de Burgh Miller.

Publisher's summary
''"Oh, why not," Benny said. "After all, I've died before and it never did me any harm then."''

The once peaceful planet of Dellah lies in ruins. The god-like beings who infest the place have lured the inhabitants into holy wars, suicide cults and genocidal pogroms. As they run out of victims, the deities plan to invade more planets — and other races are preparing pre-emptive strikes to stop them. Humankind's small sector of the galaxy is about to become the battleground of leviathans.

There is just one hope. Professor Bernice Summerfield is, surprisingly, alive and well. And she's coming home. Bernice and her friends are determined to dispose of the gods once and for all — at any cost.

Chapter titles

 * 1) Clouds Across the Moon
 * 2) The Land of the Gods
 * 3) Revelations
 * 4) The Blockade Run
 * 5) Falling Angels
 * 6) The Hidden City
 * 7) The Journey to Casmov
 * 8) One True God (Accept No Substitutes)
 * 9) Inside the Mountain
 * 10) We Want You as a New Recruit
 * 11) Sacrificial Flames
 * 12) God Botherers
 * 13) Falling Through Infinity
 * 14) The Dying Universe
 * 15) Fractal Futures
 * 16) The Last Word

Plot
After setting up the weather-control system on the Braxiatel Collection, Braxiatel returns to the Mansionhouse and discusses his missions to ensure peace on Vremnya and Dellah with Emile Mars-Smith, who is now his assistant. The Stratum Seven Agent has declined to join the mission to Dellah, but Chris, Clarence and Jason answer the call and arrive ahead of Benny, who has been trying to find a job at another university.

Cepachi San, a recent convert to the Children of Maa'lon, is keeping an eye on the camp of the Followers of Moht when the god Tehke visits him. Tehke transforms a mountain into a statue of himself which attacks the camp, leading Cepachi to renounce Maa'lon and become Tehke's first servant. The god presents Reverend James Harker with the head of Maa'lon and adopts the Children as his followers, having already killed several other gods due to the scarcity of faith on Dellah following the blockade. Tehke goes to the palace and speaks with the Sultan of Tashwari of the imminent Day of Reckoning, overheard by Palma Tabaa, a handmaid who provides information to the resistance.

Emile informs Benny, Jason, Chris and Clarence that the Time Lords and the People are planning to hide in their respective bottle universe and Worldsphere whilst a Doomsday Probe destroys Dellahan space if the situation is not dealt with in two days. To prevent this, the plan is to fly the Revelation to Dellah and send the planet into the gods' original universe using a node which, as representatives of the Time Lords and the People, neither Chris nor Clarence can use without dying. As a result, Braxiatel wants the two of them to recover Teran Sevic from Tashwari to assist in brokering peace on Vremnya whilst Benny and Jason use the node.

to be added

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Jason Kane
 * Clarence
 * Chris Cwej
 * James Harker
 * Maande
 * Emile Mars-Smith
 * Cepachi San
 * Palma Tabaa
 * Tehke

Colleges and universities

 * Benny ends up working at the University of Vremnya.

Entertainment

 * Chris and Clarence watch a show that ran for thirty-odd years, which involved characters being captured and lots of running.
 * Benny listens to the Foundations.

Food and drink

 * Clarence eats pizza.
 * Chris eats muesli yoghurt.
 * Chris and Clarence eat cornflakes with milk.

Individuals

 * Benny and Chris have a toast to dead friends: Chris to Roz Forrester and Benny to Clarence.
 * Bernice receives a message from Christine Summerfield.
 * Wolsey is with Bernice as she settles in at her new university.
 * Emile Mars-Smith is working for Braxiatel.
 * The Pantheon includes:
 * Jerr'm
 * Lud
 * Maa'lon
 * Moht
 * Tehke

Locations

 * A war was once fought at the Valley of the Defeated, later renamed by the Children of Maa'lon as the Valley of the Devoted.
 * Tehke killed a man in Tashwari.
 * Mount Casmov is the site of Dellah's only remaining major power station. The subsurface hypertunnel to access it was destroyed by the Sons of Lud.

Objects

 * Braxiatel carries an umbrella and a pocket watch.

Planets

 * Benny mentions her trip to Heaven.

Species

 * The Time Lords planned to launch a Doomsday Probe and wipe out Dellah and everything in that corner of the galaxy to remove the god problem.
 * According to Braxiatel, his "former people" have retreated into their bottle universe, and the People are locked inside their sphere.

Technology

 * Emile uses a palmtop organiser.
 * Benny arrives at the Collection on the Nervous Norvin.
 * Braxiatel provides the ship Benny and the others use to dimension hop the planet Dellah.
 * Benny and Jason are protected from the gods' influence by alpha-wave disrupters.

Continuity

 * Emile mentions the parasite that was in Benny's mind.
 * The Ferutu first appeared in Cold Fusion.
 * Benny visited Heaven and met the Doctor in Love and War.
 * Christine Summerfield got out into the "real" universe in Dead Romance.
 * Tehke was previously mentioned in The Taking of Planet 5.
 * One of Tehke's other forms is that of Urmungstandra. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)
 * Benny mentions dying before. (PROSE: Falls the Shadow)