My most anticipated drama of the year, Empires and Tribes: Storm of Prophecy 九州·海上牧云记, released its second trailer today. The cinematography is still jaw-dropping, and the longer trailer gives us a glimpse at the cast. I’m especially impressed by the performance of antagonists Wang Qianyuan and Wan Qian.

Also, I finally finished the book and wrote an actual synopsis for the story!

In the mythical realm of Novoland, a wandering peddler brought a gem to the court of Duan. In it held a world of its own. Rumplestiltskin The peddler named as a price one’s most valued object. No one took the offer but the young prince Muyun Sheng (Huang Xuan).

While his brothers fought for the throne, the whimsical half-spirit prince spent his days seeking the mysteries of the gem. To the outside world, he was declared insane and then dead.

Years later, when the emperor passed away and his brothers past away, the abandoned prince was pushed to the throne. Longing for the world of the gem and the woman he saw in it (Janice Man), he escapes the palace by blowing apart the barrier between it and the River Folks. Along with the palace, he left behind chaos and a country under attack on all sides.

Leading the attack on land is Shuofeng Heye (Zhou Yiwei), a man who has tamed the wolves and seeks to unify the nomadic tribes and finally give them a home of their own.

And then there is Muru Hanjiang (Shawn Dou), the son of the exiled family of generals who once once were equals with the Muyun’s. Returning from the land of giants to seek revenge for the betrayal by the Muyun family, he ends being an unlikely ally to the young Emperor against the new ruler, Muyun Sheng’s uncle (Wang Qianyuan). But it was also he who, years before, was cast off as a baby when prophets told his father that he was destined to become the future ruler of the Empire.

Interwoven among the men are the women who also cannot escape from the storm of prophecies. The woman who was prophesied to become Empress (Xu Lu) but whose heart died with the death of a former prince (Sun Jian), the Princess who lusts for blood (Zhang Jianing), the ruler of the River Folks who wants to build an empire of her own (Kan Qingzi), the treacherous Empress (Jiang Qinqin) and her niece (Wan Qian), and a string of women who are mostly plot devices in the book.