From the introduction:
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there was a man known publicly as Hego Damask II, an unlikely plutocrat that acquired great wealth and influence in spite of his disadvantageous parentage. His spindly reach is destined to remake this galaxy over the next few decades, for while to most he is merely a successful financier, he possesses a second, rather less known identity – that of Darth Plagueis, Dark Lord of the Sith. Born with powers far beyond all but a fortunate few in this galaxy, he was sired to continue the legacy of the Sith Order and spent many decades of his life apprenticed to Darth Tenebrous, cultivating his gift and developing an obsession with immortality and the source of the abilities shared by himself, his recently deceased master and those of the Jedi Order.