In the Kiliswa village, status depended upon how many bricks you could carry at once. If you put down any of your bricks, even for a second, you would immediately be pounced upon by your rivals.

It was a harsh life. It wore at you, carrying gigantic piles of bricks everywhere you went, day and night. Only the strongest survived; the rest perished.

Among the strongest were Ja and Na, twin brothers whose parents had died from carrying too many bricks at once (a twin pregnancy was especially hard, for the mother must carry her additional weight AND her bricks for an extended period of time, up to and including time spent in labor).

Ja and Na were different from the rest of the village, however. They'd devised a new, ingenious method of carrying bricks that distributed the weight more efficiently than ever before. As a result, they became the new leaders of the village, each carrying more bricks than five ordinary people.

The secret to their brick-carrying power was much coveted. But their worst enemy turned out to be each other; during the night, Ja stole a couple bricks from his brother while Na was getting a few minutes of sleep (while standing up). And so the great brick civil war of Kiliswa began.