The Burrowing Rodent Empire: Origins

Mari Stonepaw is just a gopher. Not a legendary warrior. Not some chosen savior. Just a rodent with modest psionic ability, a quiet life in The Burrow, and absolutely no interest in having reality come apart around her. Then she wakes up in a cave with no memory of how she got there. From there, things only get worse. Otherworldly creatures start closing in. Home stops feeling safe. Mari gets dragged into something much bigger alongside two familiar allies: Jerro, an awkward beaver engineer, and Greg, a brooding marmot who is at least good in a fight. The deeper they go, the stranger the world becomes. Time refuses to behave. Reality keeps shifting. And the truth behind the Burrowing Rodent Empire is far more dangerous than it has any right to be. Completed science-fantasy. Rodents, psionics, strange worlds, and escalating multiversal problems. We burrow. Greetings, handlers of Royal Road. This is a completed novel I’m posting here in full. It was first published on February 2, 2026 (Groundhog Day, also known as Convergence Day by Handlers). There are a lot of deeper connections and Easter eggs tied to the broader Gopherit universe, but you do not need any of that outside context to enjoy the story. If you end up reading, ratings, follows, and reviews help a lot. If you would like to learn more about Gopherit, take part in an art competition, or join a community of hundreds of thousands of handlers, then head over to gopheritshop.com - hub for all things Gopherit.