Though the Mizzoro are mystics and their martial study a form of contemplation, often the banished (and certainly many of the peripatetics) find employment as mercenaries, feared as they are for their swordsmanship. The mouse here has become an unorthodox soldier, fallen into the services of the Gallery, the fortress which sits between worlds, built in the dreams of a person long dead; yet it persists.

The name Simplicius was abandoned for Almucantar, inspired by the two stars glimpsed on the brink of death, which were guides in that fading dream.

Branko Mataja - Tuzna Je Nedelja