To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.
Lives that shape our world
Know that some names outlive the empires that made them. Everyone has heard the names; almost nobody knows the lives. Here each one is told as a single story: the childhood, the outsider years, the turning point and the ending nobody remembers. From the steppe to the Swahili coast, and from Athens to Agra, every life comes as a film and a written dispatch, with every source listed. The first film is released on Sunday 15 November 2026, and a new one follows every Sunday.
Season I · fifteen lives
Fifteen sealed letters, one for each life in the first season. Each one opens on the day its story is released. Read the riddle, guess the name, then break the seal.
No. I · Conquerors
Genghis Khan’s Greatest General
Arrives
No. I
From Mohi, on the Sajó, 1241
A blacksmith’s son who began by guarding a tent door, he planned campaigns across 5,000 miles. Then history all but forgot him.
Who was he? Opens
No. II · Explorers
China Ruled the Oceans — Then Walked Away
Arrives
No. II
From Nanjing, 1405
Captured as a boy and made a eunuch, he rose to command the largest fleet on Earth. Then his empire turned its back on the sea.
Who was he? Opens
No. III · Rulers
The Sultan Even His Enemies Admired
Arrives
No. III
From Jerusalem, 1187
A Kurdish officer’s son from Tikrit, he took Jerusalem without a massacre, and gave away so much that nothing was left to pay for his funeral.
Who was he? Opens
No. IV · Conquerors
The Corsican Who Crowned Himself
Arrives
No. IV
From Notre-Dame, Paris, 1804
Teased at military school for his island accent, he took the crown from the altar and put it on his own head.
Who was he? Opens
No. V · Rulers
The Queen Rome Feared, Then Rewrote
Arrives
No. V
From Alexandria, 30 BC
The first of her line to speak Egyptian, she bet her kingdom on two Romans. She chose death over a Roman triumph, and Rome wrote her story.
Who was she? Opens
No. VI · Rulers
How a Rejected Art Student Took Over Germany
Arrives
No. VI
From Vienna, 1907
Twice rejected by the Vienna art academy, he slept in a men’s hostel. He went on to seize Germany, launch the deadliest war in history and drive the Holocaust.
Who was he? Opens
No. VII · Scientists
The Genius Who Lit the World and Died Broke
Arrives
No. VII
From Hotel New Yorker, New York, 1943
He helped put alternating current into the world’s homes, and died in debt in Room 3327 of a New York hotel.
Who was he? Opens
No. VIII · Rulers
Raised in a Cage, Queen at 18
Arrives
No. VIII
From Kensington Palace, London, 1837
Raised under a system that never let her be alone, she was queen at 18 and wore black for almost 40 years.
Who was she? Opens
No. IX · Rulers
He Built the Taj Mahal — and Died His Son’s Prisoner
Arrives
No. IX
From Agra Fort, 1666
He built a tomb for the wife who died giving birth to their 14th child, then spent his last years as his son’s prisoner, within sight of it.
Who was he? Opens
No. X · Conquerors
The Abandoned Boy Who Built the Mongol Empire
Arrives
No. X
From the source of the Onon, 1206
His father was poisoned, his clan abandoned his family, and his captors locked a wooden collar round his neck. He escaped.
Who was he? Opens
No. XI · Scientists
Her Notebooks Are Still Radioactive
Arrives
No. XI
From Paris, 1898
A governess who studied at an illegal underground university, she won Nobel Prizes in two sciences. Her notebooks are still radioactive.
Who was she? Opens
No. XII · Conquerors
The Tomb That Was Never Meant to Be Opened
Arrives
No. XII
From Gur-e-Amir, Samarkand, 1941
Lamed by arrow wounds, he sacked Delhi, Damascus and Baghdad. Scientists opened his tomb in June 1941; days later, Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
Who was he? Opens
No. XIII · Thinkers
The Man Athens Killed for Asking Questions
Arrives
No. XIII
From Athens, 399 BC
He wrote nothing, charged no fees and asked questions nobody could answer. His city sentenced him to death, and he refused to escape.
Who was he? Opens
No. XIV · Rulers
The Sultan Who Killed His Own Sons
Arrives
No. XIV
From Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, 1536
A poet-sultan who besieged Vienna and married a woman who had been enslaved, he ordered the deaths of his oldest friend and two of his sons.
Who was he? Opens
No. XV · Conquerors
Undefeated in Battle, Stopped by His Own Army
Arrives
No. XV
From the Hyphasis River, 326 BC
Taught by Aristotle and king at 20, he never lost a battle. His own army made him turn back, and he died at 32.
Who was he? Opens
Written dispatches
Every film comes with a written dispatch: the same story to read at your own pace, with every source listed.
The first dispatch arrives with the first film, on Sunday 15 November 2026.
A chart of the dispatches
Each letter is dated from a place and a moment in its story. Open a letter and its name is written onto the chart.
The chronicle
From Socrates, born about 470 BC, to Hitler, who died in 1945. Drag the timeline sideways; each line opens its letter.
Our charter
Every film follows one person, from the beginning to the ending most people never hear, and tells it as a single story.
We choose people everyone has heard of, and tell the parts of their lives almost nobody knows: the childhood, the outsider years, the turning point.
Every episode starts from four to six real sources: biographies by historians, translated primary sources and specialist articles. The script is checked against them before a word is narrated.
When the sources conflict about a date, a number or a motive, the film and the dispatch say what the disagreement is. We don’t smooth it over.
Each dispatch ends with the books and articles it was built from, so you can check our work and read further.
The narration uses AI voice synthesis. Some scenes in the films are AI-generated illustrations, used sparingly where no real image exists, and disclosed. The dispatches use real images only, each one credited.
When we get something wrong, we fix it and record the fix on the corrections page.
Some of these people did terrible harm. We tell those lives to explain how it happened, never to celebrate it.
Given under our seal, in the year of our first season, MMXXVI.
A Name in History
In the antechamber
We’re considering these lives for future seasons. Who should we send for next? Tell us in the comments under any film.
The Post
Every Sunday, when a new film is released, the Post brings you its story in about 300 words, with links to the film and the full dispatch. Nothing else, and every letter has an unsubscribe link.
The Post opens with the first film, on Sunday 15 November 2026.