Part book, part game, a Sci-fi adventure gamebook in which YOU are the hero! The Polytope is the beacon of hope for humanity. In its confederacy the torchlight shines across galaxies, binding together those decedents of Old Earth and illuminating the otherwise black void of the cosmos. The Polytope brings order, after a fashion, and though it has long-since encountered xenos its culture and society would be recognisable by denizens of that once antediluvian paradise - Old Earth. Humanity's diaspora extends to the fringes of known space. Obscure disagreements, ruinous wars; the reasons for fragmentation or long forgotten, or else studiously redacted. In 4M-525 countless billions of Omega citizens - Smegs for anyone of a higher status - eke out a mundane existence mining, or farming, or geo-grafting. Their labours were to be alleviated by a benevolent regime with the creation of a servitor class. From their humble beginnings as crude robots, this sub class has risen to match humanity, to mimic humanity - in some cases transcending them in all things except emotion. Recently, from their settled homeworld of Ctesiphon, the 'Ascendency' Prime Committee announced their secession from The Polytope. This demand for independence has not yet been answered by the leaders of humanity. At the same time, prodigal sons of the human diaspora known as 'Poor Cousins' have begun to return, carrying ominous news from distant ringworlds. Eagerly awaited Si-fi gamebook from the author of the award-winning 'Restless Heart of Evil'