 The opening episode begins on Trantor, capital of the Galactic Empire, with the meeting of Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick, their trial, and their exile to Terminus.The action then jumps forward fifty years, to the first Seldon Crisis, where the repercussions of the recent independence of the Four Kingdoms of the Periphery are being felt on Terminus, and are handled by the first Mayor, Salvor Hardin.The scene moves forward a further twenty years, as Mayor Hardin faces down the domination of the nearby and most powerful of the Four Kingdoms, Anacreon, whose ruler intends to annex the Foundation by force.