In 1894, Tsar Nicholas II ascended to the Russian throne, steadfastly rejecting the currents of modern thought in favor of an unadulterated system of autocracy. His coronation day, however, was shadowed by misfortune.

The disastrous war Russia waged against Japan ignited a wave of civil unrest. Simultaneously, Prince Alexei was diagnosed with hemophilia, and the Siberian mystic Rasputin began to exert his influence.

The shadow of Rasputin lengthened. As the Romanovs indulged in opulent seclusion, the Tsar’s soldiers met the desperate pleas of a hungry people with brutal force.

The Great War drew Nicholas to the front lines. Meanwhile, in Russia, a tide of public anger swelled, fueled by the staggering loss of life and the controversial political maneuvers of Alexandra and Rasputin.

With Rasputin’s passing, Tsar Nicholas persists in his disastrous governance, both in the conduct of the war and in domestic affairs. The people, burdened by hardship, are increasingly driven from mere discontent toward outright revolution.

With the Tsar's abdication, the nation fractured into civil war. As loyalists advanced upon the fortress holding the Romanovs captive, the dynasty’s destiny became irrevocably fixed.