Mantica has changed. With the drowning of the Abyss, the crisis in the
East is over, a victory made possible by an alliance of peoples beneath
the Green Lady's banner. Galahir is saved, the Great Cataract remains
unclaimed, and the Ahmunite fleet rests eternal in the depths of the
Infant Sea.
The West tells a different story. Scarcely noticed by the Lady's
alliance, a massive orc invasion surged across the Ardovikian Plain.
Against this green tide, the men and women of the Successor Kingdoms
stood alone (with the exception of a little hired help). Rising boldly
to the challenge, they united in the construction of a Great Wall along
the Southern Plain, from which their armies decisively drove the orcs
out of Ardovikia. It was a grand victory, and in its wake are those who
talk of a new and glorious age in the West.
Standing at the precipice of a new era is little comfort to Uslo
Dargent, general of the mercenary company Dargent's Claws. Known to his
men as 'the Silver Cat', Uslo's posting was uneventful during the war,
and now, eight months after its end, it is nothing less than utter
tedium. Denied a place in the defining conflict of his lifetime, Uslo
itches for glory.
Not everything about the war was quite so enviable. The Young Kingdoms
of the Plain are devastated, unaided or exploited by the Successor
Kingdoms; the roaming Plainsmen of Ardovikia, having fled south to
escape the orcish swarm, find themselves trapped beyond the Wall, forced
into serfdom for Southern Lords. In a stroke of mutual good fortune,
Uslo and the Ardovikians discover that their desires are aligned. The
indentured Plainsmen wish for a return to their northern home and will
need help crossing the Wall. In exchange, they promise to lead Uslo to
something far more valuable than the glories of war - treasures from the
age of Primovantor!
However, events in the east are not as distant as they might seem.
Another has his eyes on the Plain and, with an army of the dispossessed
at his back, would set his claws upon it.
Two leaders seek their destiny. Both will discover they are pawns in a
game far greater than they can imagine, and, on the Ardovikian Plain,
both will find far more than they bargained for...
