From his humble home on the wandering planet, Rykas Dah, Master Kattericticus, the Wellspring for the Lirum, realizes that he has awakened halfway through a galactic chess game where many of his best pieces have already been wiped from the board, and he is starting with an extreme handicap. The fragile peace existing between the four dominant star systems is in the process of disintegrating. No one can see it, but Planet Uruk is about to fall into...