The Phoenix Empire has reached its peak after expanding for 233 years. That peaceful expansion has run its course and is now on track for a long, gradual decline lasting 610 years unless the forces of chaos intervene. Those forces include hundreds of independing planets on the Rim that are struggling to resist economic exploitation by Imperial Chartered Companies as well as one particular ICC that has its own 'Merlin' supercomputer and wants to engineer and exploit a rapid, violent collapse of the Empire. Can the Bentrik dynasty keep the dream of a peaceful empire alive?