The novel opens with a description of the situation in Posthumus's homeland of patria, which has been divided into two parts: the north, which is ruled by the northerners, and the south, which belongs to the southerners. The southerners have lost their homes, their families, and their pride to the northers, who have stolen their land. The northerners have been driven from their land by the southers' rebellious energy and poverty, and they have been forced to flee to the west, where they live under the control of the westerners