Arkan: N + 22: 0

On a journey that departs from India toward Europe, a caravan carries with it a young man named Lazlo, destined-whether by chance or fate-to become the father of cartomancy and the Tarot. At fourteen, on the banks of the Danube, already within what was then the Germanic Empire, he meets S鄜gier Manner, the "Sagittarius Man," a mage who, in only three days, reveals secrets capable of transforming his mind, body, and soul forever.

Back among his people, Lazlo demands to be called Arkan-"profound mystery." At sixteen, he weds Luma ("universe," in Romani), with whom he fathers Nitcho, the first of his 22 children, baptized as "Triumphs." After losing his wife to the flames of intolerance, Arkan wanders the world, seducing women of the highest castes and courts. He deifies each child so they would become the figures that later gave shape to the Major Arcana of the Tarot.

But tragedy spares not even the mage: unable to foresee his death, he leaves behind not only his children, but also a legacy of power. It is Nitcho-the Fool-who narrates the saga, leading the reader through kingdoms and centuries, between history and the human mind.