The great war is a generation or more in the past and the remnants of the free kingdoms of Eberron are in shambles. Emporer Caius has consolidated power and rules over a new Pax Imperium from his throne at Karnath, while his agents of the Crimson Sun seek to wipe out the last vestiges of rebellion from the frontiers, the cities, and from inside his own court. Inquisitors Esther Crona and Locke Pierce are dispatched to help the magistrate of a small slaver berg to squash a local rebellion.