The Flat Countries are the fourth world of the sixth branch of the Great Tree. They are made up of three major continents floating about in the Sea. No map has

ever been drawn including all three, because they are frustratingly unchartable. They bob about freely, occasionally knocking into one another and causing mild

destruction on the coasts. Early on, scientists sent expeditions to the bottom of the sea and tethered the underside of each continent to the sea bed with magical

chains in order to keep them from falling off the edge of the Sea, for the Flat Countries are not on a globe, but rather on a disc. At the Brim, the water of the Sea

pours off in a thundering waterfall. Of course, no one who ever got that close lived to tell what there lay after the Brim. They were lucky that they failed in their

endeavors to explore the edge, as the universe beyond was wicked and perilous, full of fires and dark beings that wished them ill. Paam herself lounged in the

stacked ruins of far worlds, watching them and plotting their elaborate demise. After all, she was the goddess of destruction, and she did have an eternity of

boredom to cope with, so it was only to be expected. She'd been watching and waiting for hundreds of thousands of years, waiting for her chance. The chance she'd

so hoped for came in the form of Bluetree.

Bluetree was a demon-not a very good one, being that she was half human. She wasn't particularly wicked, nor did she look demonic, save for a slight reddish tinge

to her skin and two little bumps on her forehead that she fancied to be horns. She'd lived on the Big Country in its capital city of Rakhmakar, since she was born.

Bluetree had a crippling fear of skyships, boats, carriages, water, fire, insects, fish, space, dark magic, indigestion, swords, teeth, sharp objects, and the color orange.

Due to her social paranoia, she rarely left the Rakhmakar barrio. She'd left the capital once to deliver a package to a particularly wealthy client who lived across the

Desert, but she didn't get far from the city when she saw a glimpse of a demon caravan in the distance and scuttled right back through the gates.

Not only was Bluetree a low-functioning sociopath, but she was also an atheist-a thing unheard of in the Flat Countries. See, the gods were not so much revered as

they were despised. This did not mean that the people didn't celebrate their holy days or sacrifice at their temples. The gods hated the people of the Flat Countries

as much as they were hated themselves, and relished any chance they had to send down a plague or wild lightning, so the people pretended to respect them.

Bluetree, on the other hand, did not believe in any of the gods. She was a 'scientist,' and an embarrassment to all Rakhmakarians (who did not understand any of

her 'science' gibberish and did not care to learn). So when Paam materialized in her laboratory one bleak morning, what happened was no surprise.