When a planet-wide plague left the decimated population in chaos and anarchy, an international nongovernmental aid organization had provided assistance to the stunned survivors. Seeing the need for strong leadership, the directors of the organization named themselves the Conclave of Elders and established the New Dispensation. Ruling as benevolent autocrats, they established a one-world government, banning divisive influences including religion, nationalism, and family solidarity. By N.D. 47, troubling counterforces were beginning to emerge, challenging the Conclave's total control.

At the beginning of the New Dispensation, the Conclave of Elders had taken responsibility for bringing order amidst the chaos of a devastating worldwide plague. In N.D. 48, the 48th year of the New Dispensation, following upon the events chronicled previously in N.D. 47, challenges emerge to their benevolent autocracy including the rise of a militant religious cult and a spot of deep science gone awry.