Eleven generations ago, a ship carrying convicts to a prison planet crashed on a nameless ocean world. Survivors built an egalitarian culture on the pads of giant water plants, winning food, shelter, and the necessities of life from vegetation growing on the pads, and from the sea. But in the water swam the kragens, armored sea-beasts who raided the gardens at will. Early settlers fed one of the largest kragens deliberately, hoping it would chase the other beasts away. Over generations, the creature grew monstrous, while a caste of Intercessors evolved to feed and worship the beast.Now, the Intercessors seek to reign over the population, using King Kragen to manipulate and terrorize their fellow pad-dwellers. Sklar Hast defies the Intercessors, and vows to slay King Kragen. For that he will face ruin, exile and the loss of his true love. His rebellion brings war and death, even as it unleashes a surge of scientific advances which promise a new age of discovery; but first, King Kragen