Five years prior to the default starting point of the game, the Empress vanished. While she had temporarily disappeared before, by the present of the game it is believed she will not return, and the Realm stands on the brink of civil war. Simultaneously, the Solar exaltations held in the Jade Prison have returned. With the Houses ignoring the threat of the Celestial Exalted to position themselves to take control of the Realm, the number of Solar Exalted in Creation is slowly growing. Thus, the backdrop to the setting sees the newly arisen Solars (among various other heroes and villains) struggling to survive their enemies in this time of tumult long enough to make their mark upon the fate of Creation, for good or for ill.