A nameless girl is the lone survivor when her village is massacred by biomancers, mystical servants of the emperor. Named after her lost village, bleak hope is secretly trained by a master vinchen warrior as an instrumen...A nameless girl is the lone survivor when her village is massacred by biomancers, mystical servants of the emperor. Named after her lost village, bleak hope is secretly trained by a master vinchen warrior as an instrument of vengeance. A boy becomes an orphan on the squalid streets of new laven and is adopted by one of the most notorious women of the criminal underworld, given the name red, and trained as a thief and con artist.