The narrative follows , a "Changer"—a genetically modified human capable of altering his appearance. Horza is not a hero in the traditional sense; he is a mercenary, a shapeshifter, and an enemy of the Culture, who believes that society’s reliance on machine intelligence is a failure of morality.
The story is set during the Idiran-Culture War, a defining conflict in the Culture's history. It explores the collision between:
A technologically advanced, post-scarcity, anarchist, and hedonistic society run by altruistic super-intelligent AIs known as Minds.