Queen Beatrix rules Ussland with absolute authority from the Palace of Ivory in the north of the country, using her soldiers and a network of informers to root out dissidents. Most of the Queen’s subjects are impoverished, although her soldiers are well fed. The nobility, who are said to be blessed by the “Great Heavens”, live lavishly. Ussland is isolated from its neighbours. Travelling abroad is considered defection and is punishable by death, as is communication with foreigners who are all deemed to be enemies.

The highest court of law is the Queen’s Justice, whose members travels to areas of unrest and act as inquisitors, judges, and executioners. Their decisions are held to be infallible and they frequently mete out the death penalty for obstruction. The arrival of the Justice brings a state of fear and paranoia in which people frequently inform on their family members and loved ones.

The Queen’s father King Ulbert overthrew the previous rulers to take power. He is said to have ascended to godhood on his death, ruling from the Great Heavens through his daughter. It is assumed that on her death Queen Beatrix will also be worshipped as a divinity, and her son Prince Hendrik, who leads the Queen’s Justice, will assume the throne. The rulers that King Ulbert overthrew were adherents of the Xamite religion, which had a strict moral code. The Palace of Ivory now forbids Xamitism, which it calls the Unspeakable Cult. The Queen’s Justice is often called to the south of Ussland from which the Xamites once ruled, to deal with cultists.

It is rumoured that a rebellion against the Queen is brewing among the commoners. Poems written under the pen name Everyman are circulating that speak of a new Ussland without nobility, where everyone is considered equal and food is shared. The Queen’s Justice has been dispatched to a boarding house in the middle of the country that has been identified as a rebel meeting place, to crush the revolution before it takes hold.