This fantasy tale is the third in an interlocked collection unified by the five-thousand year history and culture of a barren region called the Waste. The whole collection (Tales of the Waste) spans belief in magic to practical science, myth to recorded history and the rise of successive empire from the ruins of countless others. All these rose and fell in the same region, which may or may not have been preceded by races called forerunners who left still evident remnants. This particular novel is focused on power and its consolidation as the barbarians wait to pounce. By this time the Empire died eons ago-but the ideas and the physical world that created it did not. Over the course of a thousand years it resurrected itself, though in a form with different form and power centers. The ancient capital at the edge of the Waste-the Cleft and the lower city-ruled by faction in the woman's Sitting Circle and the ancient guidance of the Prefect provide a backdrop for the tale as seen through the eyes of a scribe and other witnesses to the events. High adventure as they fight for power and, in the background, the impending onslaught of the cannibal Urrids. This is also a tale of the impact of the physical environment on human culture. The central fact in this world is the Waste-an arid region floored by rock, sand and salt flats roughly corresponding to the present day Mediterranean basin. To the north there are still massive receding glaciers, to the east mountains and an immense melt water lake. To the south a river has carved a deep gorge, in whose cliffs lie mystery and eons of history. And, to the west lies the most interesting ancient artifact of all: There stands the Wall. A massive construction of stone that wards off the encroaching ocean, which at any moment threatens to overtop it and then flood the entire known world. Men now maintain it, but the forerunners began it. It is a central focus of their lives, for if the Wall fails, everything dies.
