Noiro: the Land Beyond - legendary land of ice and snow beyond the northern seas, home to a dying people and the arena for extraordinary events.. Beneath the ice in the artificial city of Traumesse, a team of scientists have created comfortable living and breeding conditions for the last endangered Fishfolk. Led by Artistic Director Ang Semo, the Folk now labour underground, manufacturing the computer-construct sagas to which the world is addicted. Just as the Folk are held within an alien culture, losing contact with their own, so Ang Semo is trapped within an unwilling body, burying her desires in the making of her immensely popular saga "Greed". Salter Bren, Spokesman, First Loading Operative and suetstone carver, has other dreams: dreams of a return to the traditional culture of the Folk, to the harsh tundra and the mystical paths of his ancestors. With the spring thaw comes the very sudden appearance of the remarkable Democratic Travelling Circus. Its chaotic vitality will change the destinies of everyone on Noiro.