Like those aboard their counterparts in our world, the lives of those who crew the sailing vessels that plough the seas of North West Alifros as either merchants, pirates, or naval ships, is never an easy one. It's especially difficult for the lowest of the low, the tar-boys. Young boys, who've either been sold into indentured servitude aboard a ship by their parents or press ganged into service by a mysterious sub-human race known as the Flickermen, (for their ability to light up like glow worms and fire flies), they do all the menial tasks aboard ship. On a decent ship, with a decent Captain, their lives are merely hard, but on a ship where bullies are allowed to thrive, it can be a living hell.

Pazel Pathkendle has experienced the many sides of this life, and has invariably borne even a larger share of abuse than most as befits his status as the member of a conquered race. Still, things could have been a lot worse if not for a benefactor who occasionally manages to pull strings to get him placed in as good a posting as possible. Now, he can't but hope that his fortunes are improving as he has secured a position aboard the grandest ship ever built, the Chathrand. Of course he's not to know that the ship and all its passengers and crew are about to become a pawn in a plot hatched by the Arqual Empire to conquer and destroy the one power that has rivaled them for control of Alifros, the Mzithrin Empire.

On the surface, it appears that the Chathrand's charge is to deliver a new ambassador from the Arqual Empire to the Mzithrins. Former Admiral Eberzam Isiq, a hero of the Empire, his young bride, and his daughter are on more than just your regular mission of peace. Thasha, the admiral's daughter, is to be married to a Prince of the Mzithrin Empire in order to cement a relationship between the former foes. Although if young Thasha has anything to do with it, the wedding will never happen. Even before she steps on board ship she is plotting and scheming of ways she'll be able to vanish before the great ship reaches its final destination.

Unknown to the Admiral and Thasha is the fact that her marriage is merely one small part of an intricate plot designed to throw the Mzithrin Empire into a horrible Civil War making them ripe for conquest. Through chance, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, both Pazel and Thasha begin to realize there is more to the voyage than meets the eye. Unfortunately, that's the sort of knowledge that can get a person killed if the plotters were ever to catch wind of their awareness. Together the two of them form an unlikely alliance, and alongside some even unlikelier allies, (a talking rat and a race of warlike, insect sized little people for starters), they must somehow figure out a way to keep Thasha alive and prevent a war that will result in the deaths of thousands of innocents.