Author Description

The Zafranama 2213. Deadlands. Outside the Great Wall of Aryana. Boredom and slavery plague the Empire. Aryan-Athmans maintain caste apartheid through religion. By divine law all religions within the Empire must embrace Athman Caste Society. Those religions that stand outside of Athman Caste Society are rewritten and assimilated as though they had always belonged to the 'divine' society. Within the Great Wall of Aryana there is no truth or justice, only those who suffer from too much and those who suffer from too little. Outlaws who live outside the Great Wall in the Deadlands try to help. Some sabotage infrastructure and prepare for war. Some run an underground 'train' to help slaves escape caste bondage. Others collect the old books and try to illuminate the Empire with the way it was before the Collapse and Great War. But the outlaws are silenced, silenced as spiritual lepers, lechers unworthy of Athman Caste Society. This, then, is the Dark Age. The age where spirituality is tyranny and tyranny is spirituality. The age where cruelty is justice and justice is cruelty. The age where darkness is light and light is darkness. This, then, is the Age of Kali. The old librarian, Banda Singh, leads a group of outlaws on a mission to prevent the Aryan-Athmans from incinerating sacred artifacts and texts salvaged from the old world. As the outlaws follow Banda through the deadly ruins of the Deadlands he relates stories from the old world; stories of how the old world fell to the corporations; of how the corporations warred against one another for resources; of how a new caste was established to dominate and control society through all religions; of how old gods were turned into new slaves; of how the ruling corporate class, the Athmans, were able to destroy and assimilate all religions into their caste hierarchy; and of how Sundri and her outlaws-the Outlaws of the Dead-ran a 'train' out of the Empire to help untouchables escape caste slavery. Stories and legends of heroe