A former court pharmaceutist-poisoner in the service of Fernando of Castile becomes a zealous monk. A ridiculous teenager from the village of Zaprudy becomes first a vagabond and then the heir to the crown. The daughter of the Hamelin Prophetess becomes the talisman of Hening's Bottom. The influential Guild of Cutthroats performs Rites without which the mighty of this world would fare poorly. Noble knights are unarmed, while commoners are armed to the teeth in accordance with state regulations. And, floor by floor, a new Tower of Babel is being raised in place of the one once destroyed.
And all because six centuries ago the Iranian physician Burzoy, nicknamed the Serpent King, decided to change the world for the better...