The book is of a family with a lot of heroes starting with Narpenio the first who sails with the Vikings and uses the skills which he obtained there to rescue his kidnapped great love. Later in the first story Alex his descendant battles roses that bud of man's blood, to resemble and have the abilities of man, on the land and at sea. A war ensues against the "Never Roses." In the next story The crowded stairs of sanity Alex and his descendants become pirates searching for honor by signing on to sail for King Phillip II of Spain during the time of the Spanish Armada when they were Warring with England . However the King of Spain didn't want to use Pirates as sailors but as Pirates or as Alex saw it something lower. So that no honor was never found for him but in later generations.