Political Conspiracies
Sarantium is left with no ruler after their Emperor Apius dies leaving no heir. In contending for the envied title, Flavius is murdered. Petrus conspires with his men to have Flavius killed while his son is burned beyond recognition leaving no competition. Petrus does all this to secure the position for his uncle Valerius who was an imperial guard. After fifteen years, Petrus becomes the emperor accomplishing his lifetime goal. Political conspiracy is a common thing as each wants to put their own in power. In another instance, the Queen of Antae, Gisel captures Crispin to deliver a message to the emperor, an offer of marriage. To save her life, Gisel had to look for help from emperor Valerius the second since there was an attempt on her life. Zoticus helps her escape to Sarantium. Valerius the second had planned to give her safety to attack and capture Antae and unite them as one kingdom under his rule. The emperor had known about Gisel’s situation even before Crispus had arrived. How he knew is not told meaning being alert and spying was essential for one to avoid being overthrown. They had to have all the bases covered at all times.
Revenge
An imperial courier, Tilliticus is sent to fetch for the greatest mosaicist of their time, Martinian of Batiara. The emperor was looking to decorate the big sanctuary he had dedicated to their god, Jad. Instead of delivering the message immediately, Tilliticus seeks his other activities which caused a lag in delivering the message. He gets sacked from his job. Thinking that it is Crispus that had informed him, he seeks out Crispus by sending assassins his way. Crispus is saved by Carullus, his entitled protection. Crispin is given the job which angers Styliane since she was the sponsor of the royal mosaicist. She tries to seduce Crispin although he does not fall for her charms. Her husband, Leontes refuses to help Crispin when he gets attacked for the second time. Styliane is the daughter of Flavius who the emperor had arranged to be killed. As much as it was a long time ago, it seemed like Styliane still bore resentment towards the emperor. The way she and her husband were tormenting Crispus only showed that they were still looking for a chance to avenge his father’s death.
Belief in Supernatural beings
The people of Sarantium believed in a god whom they called Jad. They revered him and this is seen when the emperor summons the greatest mosaicist to do the decoration of the sanctuary he had dedicated to Jad. Zoticus has a mechanical bird who has a trapped human soul, Linon. When Crispus goes to him for advice about his oncoming journey to Sarantium, he gives him the bird. The bird acts like an advisor to Crispus on his journey since they can communicate. Along their journey, they encounter a girl running from her captors called Kasia. Kasia is to be presented as a sacrifice to the pagan god, Zubir. Linon offers herself to be sacrificed to free the rest as she claims that she was to be offered as a sacrifice anyway and releases the bird’s soul. Later on, Zoticus learns that the pagan gods had not let go of all the girls he had saved that were to be sacrificed. He journeys to the forest and lets all the birds go while awaiting death as his punishment from Zubir for trapping the souls of the sacrificed women. The pagan gods gave a human sacrifice to appease their gods and ask for blessings in their lives.
