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“In the beginning, those who believed in the ideal of supreme harmony journeyed into the hills to make their vision a reality. To some, it might have appeared that they vanished without trace; those who had scorned and persecuted them soon forgot they had ever existed. But the believers did not simply vanish into oblivion. Armed with magic and technology whose like has not been seen since, they delved into the ground, painstakingly carving out the network of tunnels that would become their new home.

“And in that home, that subterranean sanctum, the believers built the Great Machine. Untouched by the weaknesses and sentiment of mere mortals, it would govern its followers’ lives according to perfect, logical axioms. It would provide for them, and they would serve it by serving the community, content in their assigned roles. Harmony, in all things.

“But the Great Machine’s idea of harmony was uncompromising. Over the years, it would sentence many of its people to be exiled to the surface, their foreheads marked so that they would always be known as outcasts. Rebels and malcontents and renegades – even some whose only crime was to speak out against the summary nature of the banishments – all faced the same sentence, leaving none who would question out loud the wisdom of the Machine’s judgement.

“Now, the Great Machine and its obedient followers face a judgement of their own. Now, they face consequences for the mistakes of the past. For the outcasts are coming home.”

This story has "magi-tech" and "mad science" themes and involves mostly human characters.

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