Riot faithfully served his lord for two decades, putting his mage skills to use helping to fight the beasts in the Territories and to make the lives of the castle inhabitants easier. When his lord dies, he is replaced by a younger man with no interest in retaining a man of Riot’s age and old-fashioned notions. His position lost, his belongings confiscated, with barely any coin to his name, Riot flounders in a world that seems to have no place for him, desperate for whatever work he can find—but adamant he will not break the rules he has lived by his entire life.