 It is described in the novel that during the next five centuries, two great Houses (the Iarovitch and the Maranovitch) fought for control of the kingdom in civil wars similar to the Wars of the Roses.In the 1830s a secret organisation of Fedorovitch supporters was formed.Early in the twentieth century the reigning monarch, King Michael Maranovitch of the House of Maranovitch was assassinated together with his family, and civil war broke out as the Iarovitch tried to crown Nicola Iarovitch king.