Publisher's blurb: Parabola. Known throughout the universe as “the city of a thousand-thousand rusted veins,” this world of ancient metal pipes and a near-endless number of twisted towers is a strange pocket dimension that exists alongside the infinite number of other spheres in the universe. Parabola is a world of nothing but city streets, alleys, and sewers, a place where bizarre, terrifying creatures are commonplace and the heroic adventurers who journey from sphere to sphere are looked at as the outsiders. The inhabitants of Parabola are considered enemies by many of the citizens of the cosmos. Where possible, the rulers of other places have done their best to block passage between their home world and the city of Parabola. Portals have at times been destroyed. Guards at cosmic ports of call have been instructed to turn away all visitors from Parabola. Some of the larger worlds of the universe have even gone so far as to use tons of earth to bury those portals that could not be destroyed. Still, despite the best efforts of the other spheres of the cosmos, the citizens of the city of Parabola find their way through the many obstacles and visit the other lands as they wish. Some of them take a perverse joy in terrorizing the citizens of the other worlds, traveling across time and space for the chance to murder a random stranger. It is likely no surprise that most sentient beings in the universe consider the people of Parabola to be nothing more than wicked, vile monsters that must be stopped.