Meet Dr. Ishmael Stone, Philosopher, detective, monster-hunter, primes inter pares of a shadowy network of supernatural guardians sworn to shelter the world from the Infernal Orders. Philosopher Rex opens at a moment of crisis as the old orders are fragmenting and the Philosophers dividing into rival camps. Stone and his comrades on one side of the battle, the craven Philip Delacroix on the other. Complicating matters: just when Stone and his associates need them most, their various abilities are inexplicably on the wane.