The Strategist

Ruin is coming.

For ten millennia, the Machinery Selected the greatest leaders of humanity, bringing glory to the Overland. But the Machinery came with a Prophecy: in the ten thousandth year, it will break, and Ruin will come.

Now, the Prophecy is being fulfilled. The Machinery has Selected a terrible being to rule the Overland, an immortal who cares little for the humans she governs. Some call her the Strategist, others call her the One, everyone knows her as Mother.

Mother will do anything to break the Machinery and finally bring Ruin. She will even make a deal with the oldest creature in creation – her ancient enemy, the Dust Queen.

But if Mother wants her help, first she must play a game. One in which humans are nothing more than pawns, and the world itself is at stake.