A puppet emperor, treacherous courtiers, wrenched founding clans, corrupt enunchs and the one behind it all, the dowager empress. Follow A-Shen, son of a traitorous Duke, punished for his father's wrongs, whom he never met; and his sworn sister, A-Shan, a young ambitious girl from countryside, who left her troublesome family with her younger sisters; the future disinterested leaders of the land, in there journey through poltics and battleground, betrayal and revenge, legends and legacies, and life.