The Elwin family was once a respected member of the kingdom of Regnael's noble class. Lord Wyman Elwin, however, was more fond of gambling and drink than tending to his estates - such a disgrace was he that the crown was forced to step in and seize his estates. In the aftermath Matthias Elwin, Wyman's heir and the present Lord Elwin, was left with little more than his title and a small manor house on the periphery of the kingdom.

Clara Elwin, the youngest of Matthias' three children, has been convinced from a young age that the mysteries of arcane magic hold the secret to slowing her family's slow decline, and perhaps even restoring it to its former status. For years she had scrounged and scraped for any scraps of magical knowledge she could get her hands on - unfortunately, without any tangible results.

Until the day a mysterious benefactor arrives, offering her a tome that - so he claims - is filled with exactly the information she has been seeking all this time. Is it the genuine article, a charlatan's trick... or something still more sinister?