Baana's first emperor, Emperor Aetius, lays in his bed, dying of an unknown disease. A curse, he tells everyone, a curse that some foul demon has cast upon me. He orders the captain of the guard to be the next emperor, not having a son, and tells him to make sure that the law that orders execution to all the natives stay intact and to never revoke it.

As Emperor Aetius passes away, the captain of the guard, Octavian, sends out a worldwide search. What for, my liege? One of the scouts wonder. To destroy all magic-users, no matter if they are from Baana or not, replies the new emperor. The scouts and soldiers are ordered to keep this mission a secret, pretend to be simple farmers or peasants when entering and staying at another land or village, kill the magicians in the alleyways at night.

A month later Octavian is lying in a ditch just outside of Dunsur, dead. There are many fights between the men who want to become the emperor, and the lone survivor takes the throne. His heritage is unknown. He has no family, no one to support him, and only cruel ways of ruling, but his family remains in the palace for the rest of Baana's time.