The map is the territory.
When Keepers of Maps redraw the world, the world bends to their will. In the Imperium, they draw the maps to keep the Imperator's rule secure, and the people pinned firmly in their place.
Jali is a young girl from Sintesesourra, a small town at the furthest reaches of the the Imperium, swept by cold winds from the Great Steppes. When Keeper Kelvil comes to redraw the town, her life is upended and she is sent on a journey to discover the limits of her own power and her own true purpose. Her journey takes her from the poor towns of the south to the wealth of the palace of the Imperator in Corsantin, from the free peoples of the steppes to the strictures of the Great Keep.