The Great Design is seldom understood by any one individual, but within it, the Journey’s rules are made clear to all those who ascend. My most astute colleague, the gift of ascendancy is simple yet contains a myriad of strange and wondrous options. Those that grow in one way will find their choice honed into a far more guided direction from then on.

  This of course is applicable to all creatures and beings, not just dwarven-kind here on the surface. In fact, one might say we often benefit less from the Journey than others do. Whether it be fear or ignorance, those who live in the lands above are often surprised by how much growth can appear within a minor creature of even the first layer.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  This is nothing to say of the designers themselves. Though there is much debate over what to call the great collective that created the Journey, I personally was raised to call them simply the Origins. There is little doubt in this scholar’s mind that the Origins care as much for each monstrous creature as they do beings such as myself. We are all part of the story that the Journey is telling, moved to create in the wake of the Great Design. I hope you may find it within yourself to relent in the face of the universal affection the Origins bestow upon us.

  - Letter from Lynsimus the Wise to the headmaster of Buran University