//**THE WORLD OF RHAND**//

Five hundred years can be a long time, even in the life of a planet.

Before the Spectrals arrived Rhand was a peaceful, beautiful world, its climate temperate, its oceans warm, its weather interesting but not dangerous.

Society, while far from perfect, was at least running smoothly, and there was hope for brighter times ahead.

Civilization was technologically sophisticated;

there was abundant energy, advanced medicine, and a world spanning teleportation network operating from four satellites.

The Spectrals changed every bit of that.

Weapons used by the Spectrals have substantially altered the climate of Rhand.

A world which was once dominated by great forests and rolling grasslands is increasingly a world of ice.

Every winter is a little colder, every year the snow piles a little higher.

The other seasons have altered as well, and the advancing ice destroys the delicate weather patterns of the old Rhand.

Storms and tornadoes are common now, as are sudden weather changes.

Various attacks by the Spectrals, including the use of biological weapons, destroyed what harmony existed in human affairs.

Chaos descended on society in a matter of days, and within a few years the vast majority of surviving humans were living impoverished, barbaric lives.

Growing out of the desperate early years of the struggle were a number of different cultures, but they were almost all primitive.

Various poor tribes, whether hunters, fishermen, or herders, found themselves low on food and turned to violence to survive.

In the turmoil of the ongoing war, with Spectrals and their servants, there was little chance for peaceful cooperation.

Society became increasingly militant, as violence became the only reliable answer for desperate people.

Only in the 'green belt' around the equator was there a semblance of order, for it was there that the old government influence was the strongest, and it was there that the Orca made its stand.

Although there are few truly strong governments among the city-states, it is in the green belt that the nuclei of real nations, of real civilizations, are forming.

The high technology of Rhand was largely imported, as Rhand was essentially a rural world, a place to get away from industries and offices.

Without a large industrial base, the losses suffered in the initial Spectral attack were not repairable.

Early leaders conserved their equipment and hoped for replacements to arrive, but even the most frugal areas have expended all their sophisticated equipment and technology.

The middle ages arose rather quickly.

Only one outpost of science remains.

In the Spectral's initial attack three of the four teleportation satellites were destroyed, and the fourth damaged.

After the first assaults, however, there were no longer any weapons which could damage a satellite, and so this injured base has continued to function, crossing Rhand in a steady orbit which takes it above every
point in the world.

It is called the Morningstar, and it is the tool and the hope of the Orca.

The World Of Rhand [R-FRP4-8.1.0.0]