Everybody knows something – about the steps, the tattoos, the kidnappings – but I don’t even know what questions to ask.

Inter-racial tension comes to a head when the queen of the tiny realm of Arcadia is assassinated. The delicate Ellisians, small in number, have dominated the stronger and more numerous Cadians for decades, using the powerful Negaforce to subdue and torture, but the Cadians have finally found a leader who can organise them into resisting. The queen’s two daughters were also supposed to die, but both attempts were botched, and the realm is now in the hands of the eldest daughter, whose cruelty is honed to a fine point by her paranoia.
The Ellisians have a matriarchal society, where males, with their weaker Negaforce, have no value. They are discarded at birth and sent to be trained as mindless soldiers, overseeing the Cadians. When the queen’s youngest daughter becomes curious that some of these Brethren soldiers are her brothers, it triggers an unstoppable sequence of destruction.