 Chronologically, "The Emperor's Fan" is the earliest story in the Novarian series, being set centuries before the others.It also drives part of the plot of the final volume, "The Honorable Barbarian", in which the fan is at last recreated and a later emperor accidentally consigned to the fan's limbo.The attempt to restore that emperor brings back Tsotuga instead, resulting in him regaining the throne of Kuromon after an absence of two hundred years.