From the game's introduction:
It is winter. You are the Siverati, a tribe of people who have lived here since the First Ages. This year, there was a sickness that struck down many of your number. Winter arrived early. Food has been in short supply, and game is scarce this season. There are few of you left. Spring will come in four weeks. In four weeks, the sun will return. If you can survive the winter, the rivers will thaw, and those who remain will have plenty to eat. Still, the game is scarce this winter. To rely on the traditional ways of hunting will mean certain starvation. The tribe’s only recourse is to return to the old ways, to enter the Dream.
User Summary:
Underlying this game poem is a ressource allocation game. Players decide whether to venture forth into the Dream to summon animals into the hunting grounds or whether to hunt, and how big the groups are they dream or hunt in, in each step narrating the outcome of their choices and of their luck.