Mirrane was a female secret agent of the Persian Empire, traditional rival of the Byzantine Empire. She was physically attractive and well able to make use of her charms to influence men in the service of her empire, and also fiendishly clever and capable of hatching and implementing intricate plots. In a society where most women were forced into subservient roles, she had considerable independent power, answerable only to the King's Vizier in person and under no man's orders in the field.