It is a new feudalism. A Twenty-First Century dark age. A vicious patchwork anarchy.

There are almost as many different forms of Kurian rule as there are Kurians. Some rule as god-kings, more as warlords, and others with almost corporate bureaucracy.

There are a few truths to the Kurian order. First, humans are their servants and livestock. A farmer depends on his horse to pull the plow, the dog to flush game and bark in warning, and the pig for bacon. And the lifespan of a cow whose milk production drops or the chicken who no longer lays eggs is a short one. Wherever the Kurians rule, they demand production and obedience. They possess terrible weapons to punish disorder and rebellion.

Why then do they not control every square meter of ground? Because the Kurians exhibit all the focus and some of the weaknesses of heroin addicts. Their lives are very simple: obtain the next infusion of fresh vital aura. Nothing else really interests them for long. Millennia ago they ceased developing the Lifeweaver sciences, though at one time they were the greatest minds of their race, and they apparently lack appetites for food, drink, or sex (although they still reproduce). Some appear to enjoy wielding their power in cruel and capricious manners.

They place buffer areas around the few Freeholds using Quislings, Grogs or less powerful Kurians to cover the borders of their little realms. They appear to be as quarreling, double-dealing, and scheming as the great Medici and Borgia families of the middle ages, although perhaps prohibition era ganglords warring for turf are a better comparison. Most Kurians, when they work together to rule an area, belong to the same family. Betrayals between blood kin appear to be very rare, some theorize that relations are able to make use of each others Reapers if necessary so perhaps black sheep of the families do not last long.

In the fifty years since the Overthrow, technology world wide seems to have dropped to a late nineteenth century level. A few samples of higher technology are nursed along as long as spare parts and skill allow. But mention of an "Internet" usually involves a discussion of fishing, and the sight of an airplane in flight is a reason to stop and stare. Railroads are the chief means of transporting goods cross country, or coal and oil-burning ships at sea. The Freeholds use shortwave radio to keep in contact, with couriers for confidential information. While the Kurians seem to have the phones working in most places, it is not unusual to see a horseman galloping with a message across the broken-down road system.

Most of humanity is oppressed and miserable, and wherever those conditions existed throughout history, there have been people willing to die to change things. So perhaps there is hope that humankind will emerge from this dark tunnel after all....