It is the middle of the 2nd Century, and the world is mired in chaos. In China, it is the third century of rule for the Han Dynasty, and all is far from well. A strange alliance of corrupt officials and supposedly timid court eunuchs have managed to gain a firm grip on power, and any that oppose them are slandered as ‘Partisans' and all but destroyed. As the years wear on, a coalition of nobleman officials - including Confucius' descendant Kong Rong, polymath Cai Yong, the influential Yuan clan heir Yuan Shao and rising star Cao Cao - dedicates itself to challenging the wrongdoers, while in the country at large, a number of new and dangerous movements rally the weary and frustrated common folk against their rulers. The most dangerous of these new movements is the Taoist sect known as the ‘Way of Peace', whose leader inspires an uprising that is known to history as the ‘Yellow Turban Rebellion'. But these divisive troubles all precede a unifying horror: Dong Zhuo. The obedient provincial inspectors make way for ambitious provincial governors, and passive calls for change are replaced by armed dissent: this is the beginning of the chaos that precedes the arrival of the famous ‘Three Kingdoms era' that changed China forever.