Nordau was a servant to Vizier Hwenua in the city of Shallam, during the days of Sultan Petureceh's reign. He discovered Hwenua's corpse in his prison cell not longer after he had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to overthrow the council, and he wrote to Hwenua's father, Relio, to share his suspicion that his son had been killed by the Sultan. Soon, he too would be found dead after a suspicious riding accident.