The Great Chief Matarka has died, and in accordance with her last will and testament, a contest will be held to announce her successor. From all over her realm, figures of great influence--leaders of the military, the church, and industry--have come to participate in the tests that are to be conducted to name the heir to Matarka's chiefdom. And so begins a sprawling, high-stakes adventure. Some of the participants are willing and eager to succeed, while others want no part of it but their very lives are on the line; this creates some engrossing internal conflict even as relationships and alliances are tested.

A matter of life and death -- A game without rules.