Those on the side of progressing humanity through advanced technology have finally triumphed over their oppressors.The unholy war between the small but mighty island realm of Charis and the radical, luddite Church of God's Awaiting has finally come to an end. However, even though a provisional veil of peace has fallen over human colonies, many secrets of Safehold's past still remain unearthed. With new alliances forged and old regimes fractured, Merlin--the...

With humankind reduced to a single colony on the world of Safehold, the human rulers of the planet, in an effort to preserve the remnants of their industrial civilization, build a religion designed to hide the colony by keeping its society medieval.

The Kingdom of Charis and the Kingdom of Chisholm have joined together, pledged to stand against the tyranny of a corrupt Church. The youthful Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm has wed King Cayleb of Charis, forging a single dynasty, a single empire, dedicated to the defense of human freedom. Yet there are things Sharleyan still does not know. Secrets Cayleb has not been permitted to share, even with her--and these secrets may threaten all they have achieved...

"For centuries, the world of Safehold, last redoubt of the human race, lay under the unchallenged rule of the Church of God Awaiting. The Church permitted nothing new--no new inventions, no new understandings of the world. What no one knew was that the Church was an elaborate fraud--a high-tech system established by a rebel faction of Safehold's founders, meant to keep humanity hidden from the powerful alien race that had destroyed old Earth. Then...