It is the year 1537. The great winged Lion stares over a Venice where
magic thrives. The rich Venetian Republic is a bastion of independence
and tolerance. Perhaps for that reason, it is also corrupt, and rotten
with intrigue.
But for the young brothers Marco and Benito Valdosta, vagabond and
thief, Venice is simply home. They have no idea that they stand at the
center of the city's coming struggle for its very life. They know
nothing of the powerful forces moving in the background. They have
barely heard of Chernobog, demonlord of the North, who is shifting his
pawns to attack Venice in order to cut into the underbelly of the Holy
Roman Empire. All Marco and Benito know is that they're hungry and in
dangerous company: Katerina the smuggler, Caesare the sell-sword,
Montagnard assassins, church inquisitors, militant Knights of the Holy
Trinity, Dottore Marina the Strega mage ...and Maria. Maria might be an
honest canaler, but she had the hottest temper a boy could find.
Yet among the dark waters of the canals lurk far worse dangers than a
hot-tempered girl. Chernobog has set a monster loose to wreak havoc on
the city. Magic, murder and evil are all at work to pull Venice down.
Fanatical monks seek to root out true witchcraft with fire and sword.
Steel-clad Teutonic knights, wealth traders, church dignitaries and
great Princes fight and plot for control of the jewel of the
Mediterranean.
And somehow all of these, from thieves to mages to princes, must gather
around Marco and his brother Benito, under the shadow of the great
winged lion of Venice.
