It is 1599, and the Roman Empire is still a force to be reckoned with. Surrounded by enemies, the Romans survive and thrive by cunning statecraft, military skill, technical power, and an ear in every court. The Fourth Italian Legion, Legio IIII Italica, is one of the pillars of the Empire. Can the legion stop an excursion from the Bavarian army, the feared landsknechts, into the neutral territory separate from both Rome and Bavaria?

Within all empires and states, there are the soldiers and people who have to live their lives as best as they can in the sweep of events beyond their control. This is the story of Leonardo Titianus, a young Roman centurion who's better suited to be an artist. There is Caius Manteuffel, the driven regimental commander of German landsknechts. Lukas Drusus is a chameleon-like Roman spy. And finally, there's Justinius Desiderius Mannheim, the local village idiot.

As armies maneuver and clash around the small neutral Alpine village of Lenggries, officers and soldiers march and fight tedium, while farmers and shopkeepers struggle to protect their village and freedom from the landsknechts. Townspeople and soldiers, Romans and Bavarians, spies and traders, see how they survive, thrive, or die in a dangerous, fascinating, and humorous version of the sixteenth century!