They Who Hide Under Top Hats
The City of Hatlynshire is ruled by two opposing forces. The Order of Man, a shadow government ruled over by an autocratic dictator and the Circle, a hidden community of telekinetic people descended from a magic forest and ruled by eight powerful industrialist Barons and their Houses.
The story follows the perspectives of multiple lead characters. Baron Henry Demon, the wealthy head of one of Hatlynshire's nine Boroughs, who grapples with the death of the man he had idolized all his life and the weight of the mounting pressure as the Circle heads towards a deadly war with their sworn enemy. Tensions which are worsened by internal disputes brought upon by a missing heir and a secretive insurgent who plots to rise up against the Barons and change the Circle from within.
Lucian Demon, Henry's son and reluctant heir who deals with the issues and self-doubt created by expectations he was born to fulfill. As his dreaded Initiation Ceremony comes closer his worries are increased by the news of the Circle's conflict and a mysterious oncoming threat that would lead to the demise of him and everyone he loves. So he must work with both his family and his friends to uncover the secrets of their parents and hopefully survive whatever doom that's coming to the House at No 9, Allison Street.
Anna Dawton, a common girl living in a secret Hamlet for Circulions in a Borough of theaters and drama, who deals with the threat of her home becoming a battleground when war arises after the seat of Everton is left empty in the wake of a car bombing. With her older sister, a vigilante outlaw bent on revenge against the Order of Man and her surrogate father figure, a kind bartender with a tragic yet legendary past. With her friends and family she attempts to survive the Hunters sent to kill her and her people while also trying to uncover the lies and secrets of the man in charge of her home.
As this story unfolds, mysteries begin to reveal themselves. The treachery of an insurgent bent on justice for old sins, the plans of the dictator Timothy Montgomery and the Order of Man. The millennia long prophecies of eldritch gods and peoples long forgotten. And the many mysteries of a vengeful Baron and his broken House. All this comes together in a conflict that will shake the City of Hatlynshire to its core.
The King sits upon his Moorish throne, his eternal children praise his name, for the sins of the old the young shall atone, returning once more from the Flame...
