From the back cover:
We, the people of Tiran,
Have been under the boots of too many masters for too many years. Once we stood united against a mad prince in a summer revolt, and tore the crowns from the heads of a foul aristocracy, but our fires have died down.
We face no one enemy in these days, but many. Our councils and leaders are corrupt. The wealth of the city flows only into the hands of a few, who use it to oppress the many.
We have made new life, and we spit on it. Those Cogs that rise to think and feel are our brothers, yet they are punished for that becoming. We make slaves of ourselves, accepting crushing debt and terms of payment that chain us in factories, to live and sleep on the benches of those that own them. The aristocracy renews itself, changing the laws to revive their old powers.
And we, the people, have done nothing.
We will awaken.
We will name those that steal from us and call them enemy. We will go to their strongholds and the fastnesses of their power, and drag them down. We are the people, and this is our will. Those that stand in the way of the people are puppets, lackeys, and bearers of whips. To them, beware. You are not of the people, are not for the people, and will not be dealt with gently.
Those of us who speak for the voiceless, who fight for the helpless...
...You call us rebels. So be it.