Gideon is an orphan living in the Ninth House. The Ninth House is one of Nine Houses under the Emperor, the “kindly Prince of Death,” a necromancer who has become God in the eyes of the Houses (10). The Ninth House was created on a desolate planet at the far edge of the Dominicus solar system to watch over the Locked Tomb, a grave that contains an enemy of the Emperor who cannot be killed. Since Gideon was not born on the Ninth, she is considered a foundling and thus property of the House. Gideon has been abused her entire life by the Ninth, especially by Pelleamena Novenarius and Priamhark Noniusvianus, the Reverend Mother and Reverend Father that rule the Ninth House. Gideon grew up beside their only child, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, who also torments Gideon. The two are the only young children left after a plague wiped out all the other Ninth children shortly before Harrow was born. Unbeknownst to Gideon, the children were intentionally killed by the Reverend Mother and Father to make Harrow the strongest necromancer possible.

Gideon ascends through the “enormous hole cracked into the planet’s core” up the Ninth Houses terraces to a landing pad, where a shuttle she illegally purchased will take her off planet (18).