THE STORY OF THE ROTSTORM

Across the ruins of Ferron, the rotstorm ever rages- a nightmare of arcane lightning and acid mists, where the spectre of the god-bear Anshuka hunts children, twisting them into monstrous beasts. The crow-man Varratim, twisted by the rotstorm, found a cache of lost technology deep in the ruins of Ferron- orbs of light that can fly through the sky and shoot fire and force. With these orbs Varratim kidnapped children sensitive to the magic of the world, the skein, to empower an ancient dagger that could kill a god- a dagger he stole from Deathless Tullen One-Eye, the most powerful mage ever to live. Tullen was sentenced by Anshuka to wander the earth forever and watch the ruin of his people and has spent three centuries wandering the world seeking to escape his chains.

Varratim tried to kill the bear-god Anshuka to free his people, but he was stopped- Floré had left the violence of the rotstorm behind, but when Varratim’s orbs stole her daughter Marta and killed her husband Janos she hunted him down. Floré saved her daughter and her god, but the skein-mage Tomas took the ancient dagger for his own devices.

With Varratim dead and their scheme for absolution failed, from the nightmarish depths of the rotstorm demons and goblins and rust-folk have struck forth and claimed as their sanctuary the Northern Marches of the Undal Protectorate. To help her people and Marta who was sickening from the skein-magic inherited from her father, Floré and her comrades sought out the besieged island of Iskander. They aimed to find the whitestaffs, mages sworn to support the Undal Protectorate who had abandoned their posts when Varratim’s orbs first flew. Instead she found betrayal, and a horrifying revelation- the whitestaffs had taken the mage Janos from his deathbed and were using him as a font of power, hoping to realise new extremes of magic. Meanwhile the new brutal war-leader Ceann Brude led the Ferron on a devastating campaign of terror across the protectorate.

Floré and her comrades managed to save Janos, but the folly of Tomas came to fruit- Tullen One-Eye manipulated him into breaking the chains of magic binding him. With his power and his dagger returned, Tullen and Janos faced down at last- and the one-eyed mage left Floré’s husband dead on the ground. With the power he harvested from Janos’s magic, he resurrected the god-wolf Lothal who once led the armies of Ferron to blood and glory.

Through the Undal Protectorate, the land is gripped in a Claw Winter, a frozen mirror of the punishment of the rotstorm laid down to the west. Abandoned on the island of Iskander, Floré and her comrades must find their way back to the Protectorate. Marta is hidden somewhere in the north, dying from the skein-magic she cannot yet control.

After centuries of bondage, the immortal mage Tullen One-Eye has been unchained and the great god-wolf Lothal hunts again. And deep in Orubor's Wood, the god-bear Anshuka stirs from her slumber. The last time the Judges warred, an empire fell.

If she is to save her daughter and free her people, Floré will have to defeat the great wolf and kill the man they call Deathless. But how can she kill the unkillable man? And is steel alone enough to take down the gods themselves?