Explanatory text in opening titles: "This story starts in another world. One that is both like, and unlike, your own. Here, a human soul takes the physical form of an animal, known as a daemon. The relationship between human and daemon is sacred. This world has been controlled for centuries by the all-powerful Magisterium. Except in the wilderness of the North, where witches whisper of a prophecy. A prophecy of a child with a great destiny. During the Great Flood, this child was brought to Oxford."