The Argead Dominion is the last holdout against the Imperial Padishah's brutal westward expansion. An aging arsenal of decaying tanks and antique rifles lets Argead forces scrape by, but true victories are won by the Polaris: elite battle-mages enslaved for the world-ending sins of their ancestors. Taki is an ambitious Polaris stuck with the dregs of his kind in a squad named Tirefire the Lesser. Though career suicide might be bearable in the right company, his new companions are anything but. The sniper despises him, the man-at-arms is profoundly depressed, and his beautiful captain has a...