The land is split between three Jaddite kingdoms in the north (Valledo, Ruenda, and Jaloña) and several Asharite city-states in the south, of which Cartada and Ragosa figure most prominently in the story.

After centuries of being dominated by the Asharites, the Jaddite kingdoms are regaining their strength, while the once-powerful caliphate of Al-Rassan is divided and vulnerable.

Fifteen years prior to the events of the main story, Ammar ibn Khairan assassinated the last Caliph of Esperaña on the orders of Almalik I of Cartada.

King Almalik I of Cartada organizes a purge of the wealthy citizens of Fezana to be blamed on his longtime courtier Ammar ibn Khairan.

Zabira hopes to overthrow Almalik II and install her own son on the throne of Cartada.

Jaddite Captain Rodrigo Belmonte halts the slaughter, leading to the death of a member of the powerful Derrada family.

To the south of Al-Rassan, in the Majriti Desert, the Muwardis practice a stricter version of the Asharite religion.

The brother of Almalik II convinces the Muwardis to intervene in the affairs of Al-Rassan, both to repel the Jaddites and to cleanse the Asharite lands of their impious leaders.

"[1] The possibility of cooperation between people of different faith is glimpsed as an ideal that leads to the miraculous, in this case an extraordinary act of surgery.

It is in the Epilogue, in the Kindath city of Sorenica, rebuilt after its destruction by Jaddites at the outset of their holy war, where the possibilities of co-existence are realized.

Silvenes, the capital of the former Khalifate of Al-Rassan, now ruined and largely abandoned, is seen wistfully as the symbol of civilization lost.

In contrast, the cruder Jaddite cities of Esperaña with their increasing military power and the ascetic desert communities of the Muwardi Asharites are places with fewer of the attributes of civilization.