Young Russian doctor Igor Ovsyannikov goes abroad, where he was offered a job. But instead of Turkey, he finds himself in... Pax - a parallel world inhabited by cat people. From the very first steps in his new world, Igor is attacked by wild Sarma nomads. He is beaten off by the more civilized Nols, who have created a powerful state. The Roman legionaries who settled in Pax thousands of years ago helped them in this. Much time has passed since then, and the descendants of legionnaires eke out a miserable existence as males satisfying the slightest whims of their mistresses. Igor, who received the name Igr in the new world, cannot come to terms with the fate of a slave. After all, unlike other men in Pax, he is fluent in using edged weapons...