Imprisoned by the thousands in the bowels of an uninhabited moon, they have been erased from official history. Xinthia has sworn that, one day, she will lead her people to the sun.After losing the imperial throne to the Kerkans, all members of the Khelek Dynasty and their allies were banished to the barren caves of Tazma. Sixty-five standard years later, their descendants are still held captive there. Xinthia has had enough. "In 1972, the Moroccan king Hassan II escaped an attack organized by General Oufkir, a close relative. Oufkir was executed, but his wife and six children, the youngest of whom was only three, were thrown into a dungeon from which they would not emerge for nineteen years. it is from this event of unspeakable cruelty that I imagined the fate of the 'damned of Tazma.' " —Sam Timel