Two small star nations separated by thousands of light years are all that remains of the First Empire. Yet both are growing again, each racing to reclaim former human worlds left devastated by the Mad Empress and her Retribution Fleet. But what began as a friendly competition between them soon takes a dark turn as suspicions about motives arise and the once powerful find themselves dispossessed. Who will be the first to rise from the ashes of empire and claim the mantle of humanity's renewed ambitions, ushering in an imperial dawn? The Wyvern Hegemony or the Republic of Lyonesse?