Enter a world where empires stand on the brink of war, and terrible monsters tear at the fragile borderlands of men; where decaying cities teem with chaos and corruption, weeping innocents are sacrificed to chthonic cults and nobles live in decadent pleasure while the realm burns; where heroes, wizards, and rogues risk everything in pursuit of glory, fortune, and power.

This is a world where adventurers can become conquerors, and conquerors can become kings.  This is the world of the bestselling Adventurer Conqueror King System. It is a world that has captivated thousands of players - and now, for the first time, that world is coming alive in fiction.

Autarch's new anthology Annals of the Auran Empire brings together an extraordinary roster of fantasy authors to explore the Auran Empire's dangers, dungeons, and doomed champions. Leading the anthology is Nebula Award finalist John C. Wright, whose tale "Shadowblade" unfolds in the kingdom of Rorn during the dark days following the death of Arëtar Pendaelen.