PART ONE: BEFORE

This is the table of contents and front matter for The Mercy of Gods, establishing the book's structure across six parts: Before, Catastrophe, Puzzles, Turnabout, Fissure, and Small Battles in the Great War.

The provided text consists entirely of the book's table of contents and page numbering, with no narrative content. It maps out the chapter structure across thirty-six numbered chapters distributed among six major parts, along with front matter pages and an acknowledgments section.