Introduction: Yan BarCarran is the orphan daughter of a spacefaring clan, about to graduate from the school where people with the rare God-given power are sent to train. The next phase in her life is the apprenticeship, where she will begin her lifelong career. She鈥檚 hoping for a research position, but that's not what she gets.Aymon Sandreas is the Voice of the Empire, wielding the unfettered power that being a theocratic dictator provides. But he鈥檚 getting older, and he needs to choose a successor. He needs someone that he can shape into a leader: someone who will carry on the tradition, someone who will be able to make difficult, correct decisions, and someone he can bear to spend the rest of his mortal life working with. He picks three students as potential leaders: the talented and thoughtful Yan, the impulsive and striving Sid , and the mysterious and troubled Kino. Only one of them will survive their apprenticeship to take his place.Yan鈥檚 life spirals into chaos. Her best friend, Sylva, is in love with her; she can鈥檛 make her new coworkers get along; she hates the man who is supposed to train her to survive assassination; and above all, she's learning how large of a burden it is to keep the machine of Empire running.Act 1 complete, act 2 coming 2024? We'll see. TBD....