It's the beginning of the 4th century AD. Italy, with around 14 million inhabitants, is the most wealthy, populous country in the world. It is also the center of the Roman-Byzantine Empire. At this time, the persecution of Christians became forbidden by law. Despite that, the tensions between Christians and pagans were far from over. At this time the Italian region 'Venetia et Histria', sometime referred to as 'the Venetian kingdom', grew in commercial importance. The prosperity of the Venetians and Histrians brought enormous divisions in the population. The love of money caused the wealthy Italians to drain their neighbours. The underclass, who didn't take it any longer, united in several fraternal gangs to target the rich. The murders and kidnappings increased. Only life in fortified cities was safe for the common people. During these days cargo fleets sailed into Aquileia. The ships contained envoys from Yemen, Funan and the Yamatai confederacy. In Aquileia not everyone was happy with the envoys that resided among them. The diplomats often engaged in criminal behaviour and they disregarded the boundaries of the community. When a Funan ambassador and his man violate two young girls, the civilians have enough. Assassination plots are made. And some people decide to emigrate...

Keiko (17) visits a port town on Tamna (Jeju Island). She is part of a shamanistic dance group that is send together with an envoy from the Yamato court. Keiko used to be a cleaner-slave at the court of shaman Empress Iyo of Yamato. Life at the Imperial court was characterised by harsh labour and stern discipline. At Iyo's palace there were around 2200 female slaves who worked for the Empress, men were not permitted and neither were Iyo's servants permitted to leave the palace. Only two soldiers were permitted to deliver important messages to the Empress when needed. The palace was secured with hundreds of troops as defence. Empress Iyo developed a distant character due to traumatic events that happened to her during her early reign (which included several revolts and two assassination attempts on her life). Keiko was born into slavery as the daughter of two Kyushu slaves. The landlord of her parents, with the approval of her parents, send Keiko at age seven as tribute to Empress Iyo in exchange for debt relief. The debt relief also led to a promotion for her parents. So, the fellow slaves of Iyo became Keiko's only family. Two months after the sudden death of Empress Iyo, Iyo's companion-lover and only friend Baudine ascents to the throne under the name Eiko. Eiko sends envoys to China, Funan, the Byzantine Empire and to the Korean island nation Tamna with the approval of the ruling elite of the Yamato confederation. The envoy is not well received by the Tamna people. When the ambassadors are killed, the Yamato troops (stationed in Kyushu) retaliate with an annexation of Tamna island. Keiko, still residing in the port town two months after the annexation, send a letter to her mistress Eiko, requesting her to visit Tamna.

The Yamato Empire battles a rival kingdom that occupies the Kanto plain. The rebel king, Tamaki, invaded the region around Mount Fuji. Consequently, the Fuji river became the militarised border between the two powers, with constant causalities on both sides. During this civil war, hundreds Korean families migrated into Kyushu and the Kinai plain. The reason? The Korean peninsula was fragmented by military and social unrest in and between the tiny rival countries. This made the stable Yamato regime attractive for young people. During this war, a Roman envoy arrived in Kinai, with the initiative to extend Roman commerce in Southeast Asia to East Asia. The Yamato benefited from trade with Roman trade settlements in Southeast Asia and the country increased in much agricultural products. Two years later, Emperor Carinus send cargo with tribute for the shaman-Empress Iyo. The Yamato elites didn't trust this gesture. Especially not, after the Ryuku ambassador informed them that the Romans annexed the Ryuku islands and stationed a military settlement. This news caused a sense of uncertainty and dread in Yamato society (around 3,5 million people). Especially, the Korean immigrants (175000) were troubled by the developments. But... in the fertile plain between the Kiso and Akaishi mountains there were small towns that, due to their isolated location, didn't notice any consequence of the developments that happened outside the plain. It was a 'safe and quite' place, despite being located close to a militarised zone. In this buffer district, inside a fortified town, lived 100 monks, 200 prisoners and there was a fort that was used by the shaman elite. In this fort lived 20 slave shamans. These young women performed oracles and dance rituals on command. One of them was a British-Roman slave that was send as a 'gift' to the Empress Iyo. This woman, Baudine, decided to write in order to avoid boredom.

When Yamato is faced with an internal political crisis the leaders agree to annex the eastern tribes at the east coast. This military strategy unified the confederacy and lessened the national tensions. There were sailors from the 'Black tooth islands' living in the East. They requested peace. But the peace would cost them something...

Queen Himiko was only 14 when she became the head of state of Yamato/Yamatai, a unified polity containing 28 ancient Japanese kingdoms and several Korean statelets on the Korean peninsula. When Himiko turned 19 the prime minister of Yamato decreed a full annexation of the Korean peninsula. The Chinese Han court at the time was suffering of civil wars, epidemics, decades of famines and a decreasing population. This made the Chinese Empire incompetent to 'defend' their dominance in East Asia. Herein, the Japanese saw their chance to expand the boundaries of their new nation. A young adventurer, Juno, who had resided in Japan (Wa) for almost twenty years, is requested as a 'governor' of the future colony in Korea. Nobody knows much about this man...neither where he was born nor why he resided in Japan... Himiko doesn't trust him.

General Yu send a small envoy (30 men) to the court of Empress Himiko of Wa (ancient Japan). The aim was to negotiate about the military presence of Wa in Silla. In the Imperial Capital of Wa the Korean envoy received permission to install a small embassy, right next to the embassy of Baekje and China. The palace of the Empress was located hidden in the woods, just outside of the capital. The area around the property was heavily guarded by hundreds of soldiers. The ambassador of Silla was ordered by both General Yu and King Naehae Isageum of Silla to spy on the weak government of Wa (and if needed to bribe client kingdoms and chiefdoms in the region). Lady Eunyeong (a tribute slave girl who - on command of Himiko - served on the Roman embassy in Silla for 3 years) received the news about the plans of Silla. She informed her master about it. Consequently, she was entrusted to manage the palace while the Empress and half of her servants moved to another accommodation in a far removed town. This was done in secret and only few statesmen knew about it. Meanwhile Eunyeong exploits her advantage, at the palace and the capital. She goes so far that she even takes some state matters in her own hands. She is aided by Woohyoun.

Five years after the edict of Milan was signed and ratified the living conditions of Christians still didn't improve. Violent persecution by city governments were still the daily practice, even though provincial laws granted them legal protection. In Britain, however, religious freedom became a practical enforcement in society. There were refugees from the Far East (China, Korea and Japan) that fled towards the Danube Provinces (Alpine regions) of the Eastern Roman Empire. One of them is Yeo-il Sin Ying, a former slave girl who fled to Noricum to avoid the political and military chaos in her home country.

After a series of terrorist attacks that happened in the capital district of Wa, where rebels assassinated around 242 people within two months, the Emperor executed 112 conspirators (throughout the whole country). Furthermore, he banned 20 suspects towards the colony Usan.

Eunyeong is a Sillan girl who was captured by the army of the Yamatai confederation as a spoil of war. As a result she ended up as a slave in the palace of the shaman-Empress Himiko. After two years she is returned back to King Isageum of Silla, on the command of Himiko, to work as a hostess for an envoy from Gaul.

The Roman-Byzantine client country Albania send an envoy to Yamato with tribute. The Byzantine-Albanian ambassadors became involved in a domestic struggle between the confederate kingdoms of Yamato. Consequently, the 20 ambassadors became the scapegoat and the envoy was returned to Europe short after arrival. Three years later the Byzantine-Albanian king send another group of ambassadors. This due to reports that Queen Eiko of Yamato recently passed away and was succeeded by Jina, a Korean princess. The Albanians, however, were not permitted by Rome to spend much money on tributary to Asian countries. Both envoys of Albania were against the protocol for Roman-Byzantine protectorates. The truth is, that the Albanian people longed for independence. Even though, independence was unrealistic due to the geographical location of Albania and due to the fact that both Rome and Persia rivalled concerning the small countries at the Caucasus. The envoys were a symbolic gesture, from the Albanian leaders, to give an illusion of independence to distract the population. What happened to the second envoy?