From the introduction: The Conqueror has laid waste to your land and is rebuilding it in his image. None of you are from the same tribe. You might have been neighbors once, but not kinsmen. You are all strangers. You are all foreigners. You may have been a native but now you are not. The language that you are speaking is The Conqueror’s language, because it is the only language you have in common. You have all left your homes and your people (such as they are) behind. You are sitting now around a dying campfire, huddled together for one evening, seeking mutual safety. You have come from a place you have no words to explain and you are surrounded by people you will never understand.