With the Emperor’s death, eyes turn towards Toshi Ranbo as most of the people of the Empire wonder who shall control the Steel Throne. But the Empire is vast, and many plans and dreams are unfolding within it....

In the provinces of the Crab, two armies gather. In the south, Hida Kisada looks over his troops with satisfaction. Years ago he led an army into the heart of the Empire, shocking it with his audacity. Now he has another army, and once again he plans to shock an empire. In the north, Hida Kuon has tired of the Scorpion Clan’s attempts to assassinate his grandfather and has decided to make his displeasure known with typical Hida firmness. Soon, Kuon vows, the man known as the Defender of the Empire will learn the folly of offending the real defenders of the Empire.

But the Crab may be the least of Bayushi Paneki’s troubles. The peasant rebellion centered in Ryoko Owari has spread like a plague through the Scorpion provinces, leaving dead samurai and burning granaries in its wake. The Master of Secrets struggles to discover the secret behind the violence, knowing that his clan’s enemies are watching, and waiting. Meanwhile, a young Scorpion named Bayushi Shinzo sits at his master’s feet and listens raptly to the ways of a new kind of enlightenment. His mind forever changed by what he has heard, he will demonstrate its rightness in a way his kinsman will be forced to understand.

In Shiro Moto the Khan sits and broods over thoughts of the Steel Throne. Once he thought that Kaneka was the leader the Empire needed, a strong man who acted decisively- -but the days go by and the Shogun does nothing but kneel before an empty throne and the Empress who sits beside it. No longer, Chagatai has vowed. If Kaneka will not bring leadership to the Empire then he will. That the Lion will attempt to stop his armies does not bother him; nothing will prove the worth of his actions more than defeating the clan known as the Right Hand of the Emperor.

Her family’s castle besieged by the Crane and Lion armies, Kitsuki Iweko eats her morning ration of rice slowly and thoughtfully. The Unicorn have supplied the Dragon with the rice they need to survive the winter, allowing her clan to continue its war. But as she scrapes the last few grains out of the bowl Iweko wonders why exactly the Khan is sending his armies eastward, and why this troubles her more than the movements of the Crane and their allies.

Young and relatively untested, the new Lion Champion Matsu Yoshino begins his first winter as Champion with enemies on two sides. To the north, his trusted vassal Akodo Shigetoshi holds the line against the Dragon, while to the west Ikoma Otemi and his advisor Ikoma Fujimaro prepare the Lion defending the Unicorn border for a long winter of waiting. Yoshino’s restless spirit detests the coming winter, knowing that there will be little chance for battle under such difficult conditions. When the spring thaws come, however, he will prove to the entire Empire that he is worthy of his father’s legacy, and the Golden Lion of Toshi Ranbo shall live again.

On the plains below Shiro Kitsuki Doji Maseru drills his troops and prays to his ancestors. Every week, it seems, the Lion commanders pull another unit away from their Crane allies and send it to the west to meet the growing Unicorn threat. Maseru doesn’t begrudge his allies they troops they need to protect their borders. But he hopes that the political might of the Crane can force the Dragon to sue for peace before they realize just how fragile the lines encircling them have become. Further south, Doji Domotai has become troubled by the omissions and inconsistencies she has been finding in the reports of her Daidoji commanders. The next time Daidoji Kikaze reports to her, she has decided, he will explain the source of this problem to her.

On the Islands of Silk and Spice Yoritomo Naizen watches the conflicts unfolding on the mainland with a wary eye. The ocean offers a bountiful supply of food, and his clan is growing rich selling that food to whoever will pay for it. But money alone will not secure Mantis prestige, and so he waits for the moment to remind the Empire that his clan should not be left out of anyone’s calculations.

In the lands of the Phoenix the Last Wish watches Isawa Sezaru from afar. Alone and grieving over Aikune’s death, it longs for the companionship of a new wielder. Sezaru’s power and knowledge remind the Wish of Isawa, but there is a coldness within him that his first father never had. Torn between loneliness and fear it struggles to make a choice.

The Warrens of the One Tribe are in mourning for the valiant Chief-of-Chiefs the humans called the Emperor. Naseru gave his life that his pack might live to defeat Tomorrow, and there can be no greater fate. His Name shall live on forever. Even as the Broken Shinbone returns from the human Tomb of Seven Thunders, another tomb has been discovered on the Plains Above Evil. This one is of Nezumi make, a relic from their lost empire. The One Tribe elders do not understand how this tomb could have simply appeared when the Grasping Paw have called those lands home for so long, but they fear that its appearance heralds something sinister for the Nezumi’s future.

And far, far south of the Empire Kyoso no Oni looks over the Wall of Bone and smiles. The human whelp who calls himself the Dark Lord of the Shadowlands musters the last of his forces behind that Wall, preparing for the battle that will show who is Jigoku’s true chosen. After her demon-army has crushed their Lost opponents, and all of the Shadowlands acknowledges the might of the Oni Overlords, she will turn her attention back to the squabbling samurai of Rokugan.