“Then the invaders had come with their longboats and their own ideas of commerce; they did their trading in open markets next to their ships. They had taken over the king’s megaron for their governor and used the solid stone building of the agora as a prison. Prominent citizens ended up chained to the blocks, instead of standing on them.

The old invaders were pushed out by new invaders, and in time Sounis revolted and had her own king again. Still, people did their trading down by the waterfront; it had become habit, and the new king continued to use the agora as a prison.”

These paragraphs from Chapter 1 offer context to the history of the world, as well as a glimpse into how life changes as new influences become apparent. The megaron and agora are terms from Greek culture—megaron meaning a great hall and agora defined as an open-air space for meetings and other group activities, such as religious ceremonies. With the invasion, the megaron remained a place for those in power, but other things changed. Rather than a cultural hub, the agora became a prison, and things formerly done at the agora were moved to the shoreline. Though Sounis eventually regained its freedom, these changes remained, showing how culture changes with new influence and how old ways are either forgotten or intentionally left behind. The agora in Turner’s world is a solid structure, rather than an open area, which becomes relevant as we learn that Gen is imprisoned in the agora’s building.

“The king of Sounis was not polished. Nor was he an impressive bearlike man the way kings were in my mother’s fairy tales. He was too short and too oily, and he was a shade too fat to be elegant. But he was shrewd. He routinely doubled his taxes and kept a large army to prevent any rebellion by his citizens. The taxes supported the army, and when the army itself became a threat, he sent it off to fight with his neighbors. Their victories enriched the treasury.”

Here, Gen meets the king of Sounis right before he is assigned to the mission with the magus. Gen’s description of the king shows that physical appearance is not a factor in intelligence and that stories tend to favor people who look how we expect them to, such as kings being tall and imposing.