The Precursors are long dead, obliterated in an unknown cataclysm of which even the gods will not speak. Their experiments with essence have run wild; their great cities and laboratories have fallen into ruin; and the land itself has been rent asunder. Unbeknownst to all but Vorm, however, at least one Precursor has survived the millennia since the fall, albeit trapped and mindless. Kol T’varis, one of the greatest scientists of the Precursors, managed to copy his mind and spirit into a special Soulstone and secure it against the coming cataclysm.

Thousands of years later, when his laboratory was destroyed by a blundering cyclops clan, his Soulstone was shattered and his spirit was absorbed into one of the feuding creatures. Since then, Kol has hopped across the generations, ‘his’ clan always rising to become the strongest and most dangerous of all by tapping into the latent brilliance of his spirit. Crushgrin now bears the Mark of Kol, as will its offspring. Vorm, of course, cares little for the history at hand – he is simply amused and pleased by the increased power and warrior cunning of any cyclops that carries the time-tossed Precursor in its soul…