The trilogy primarily takes place in the fictional kingdom of Adro, one of the Nine Kingdoms founded by Kresimir, a semi-mythical figure now worshiped as a deity. At the beginning of Promise of Blood, Field Marshal Tamas has just committed a coup d'etat against Adro's corrupt and ineffective monarchy. The novel then focuses on the efforts of three men and one woman – Tamas, his son Taniel, a soldier, and former police inspector Adamat, as well as the laundress Nila – in the aftermath of the coup, dealing with conspiracies by royalist supporters, war with Adro's neighbors, and an emerging scheme to "summon" Kresimir
