This fantasy tale is the second book in a series called the Empire of Salt, and the sixth in an interlocked collection unified by the five-thousand year history and culture of a barren region in Tales of the Waste. The whole collection 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 political development in the face of barbarian onslaught on the folk still living in what remains of the old Imperial capital. 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 over top 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.