Content Warning: This section discusses self-harm and genocide.

The Dragon Republic is the second book in a trilogy; it is preceded by 2018’s The Poppy War and followed by 2020’s The Burning God. The events of The Poppy War lay the foundation for The Dragon Republic’s focus on military operations and the characters’ emotional trauma, particularly that of the protagonist Rin and her surviving friends.

At the beginning of The Poppy War, Rin is a war orphan from the Second Poppy War. She lives with a foster family that mistreats her and tries to marry her off for their benefit. Rin wants to escape her village of Tikany in Rooster Province, and she convinces a scholar named Tutor Feyrik to tutor her for the “keju,” a country-wide exam. The students who score highest from each province can attend the tuition-free military academy at Sinegard, and Rin sees this as her way out. She studies for years, burning her arms with candle wax to improve her focus. This is the beginning of her relationship with self-harm, which lasts throughout the trilogy.

Rin tests into Sinegard but is an outcast due to her dark skin, southern accent, and poverty.