The year is 2090, and the Western world is ruled by a handful of transnational corporations (TNCs) that control everything from the food we eat to the drugs we take. Many people live in Smart Cities where travel and social activities are limited. Although free to go, most remain because their needs are catered for by the Dominion---the ruling body for all TNCs.

Governed by an unelected group of leaders from the most powerful corporations, known as the Directorate, society is strictly hierarchical, with the lower caste workers at the bottom. The middle caste is comprised of skilled workers and engineers—the critical thinkers who have become the most disillusioned. Many have left the Smart Cities to start their own society of dissidents.