The first volume is set after the Ice Age receded, causing the creation of large sea analogous to the Mediterranean, and wiping out a fertile basin and the thousands of Mrem and Lishkash who lived there. A group of Mrem, the Clan of the Claw, are trapped along the southern shores of the new sea, cut off from the rest of the Mrem in the north. "The Mrem Go West" tells of how the Clan, lead by Rantan Taggah, elect to head west in the hopes of finding a route back to the rest of the Mrem. They are soon opposed by Sassin, a Lishkash noble who refuses to let the hated Mrem cross his lands.