Rudolf lives in the attic of his own house. Years ago, he fell out with his family and moved up there, while his wife and children, as well as the woman’s lover, remained downstairs. Rudolf and his family are not only separated by the ceiling: the man has built up another world in the attic. He has come into money, and by means of that he indulges his old passion of gathering chess-game-sized figurines, managing cities and countries on model tables. His figurines live a more and more independent life… Armies march, attacking and defending themselves, revolutions get organized, citizens rebel against tyrannic regimes. All this is governed by Rudolf, who already believes himself to be one of his figurines. The game-world played with the figurines turns into the real one, while the outer one becomes nonexistent.

However, a few things happen that force Rudolf to acknowledge the world “downstairs”. Horrible events give birth to the determination in him that he has to deploy his empire, his destructive force, against the traitors downstairs, his own former family. And this revenge will be horrifying.

The novel’s main character is an initially normal man who gradually turns into a lunatic. And yet we sympathize with him to a certain extent as he was hurt for a long time.  And when he becomes irrevocably wounded, the readers almost keep their fingers crossed for him – so that the empire of figures can defeat the world of bad people!