The death of Spire City's greatest inventor couldn't come at a worse time.
The fabled city of beetle-drawn carriages is occupied by a foreign power, and that country is at war with another.
Five people find their lives spiraling together in the aftermath of his death: Temli, an airship captain; XXXXX, an unnamed correspondent from the front lines; Keene, a grizzled beetle hunter; Jensha, a singer chained to one of the city's spires; and Alless, the former apprentice to the late inventor.