The Earth had grown old, her landscapes mellow, her people lost in a brooding dream : an age of antique cities, scientific sorcery, crystal machines, great brazen flying engines with mechanical wings. Relentlessly the armies of the Dark Empire of Gran Bretan under the ferocious Baron Meliadus, conquered Europe's peaceful city-states. The Empire had humiliated and Mutilated Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke of Köln, but it could not rob him of his two consuming passions -- his love for Yisselda of Brass and his hatred of her ruthless suitor Meliadus. But first, he must fulfill an oath and seek out the secret of the Runestaff. Across bizarre landscapes, encountering every kind of wonder and evil, Hawkmoon rode with desperate urgency to meet his destiny and avert the doom of the world.