In the books, Corus is full of countries fighting for superiority, humans struggling to survive, and strange animals that are a product of and dependent on the life force-derived magic of the world.
The fall of the civilization caused much to have been forgotten, but some few of the people of Corus still command magical powers, referred to as Talent.
Place names are used frequently and complexly, however, a full map of Corus is included in each book – readers are advised to check it often.
His father is killed in action while serving in the Militia, leaving his grandparents and mother to raise him on the family Nightsheep farm in the small country of The Iron Valleys.
On Acorus, the Duarchs, a pair of joint rulers, oversee the remaining Alectors from their seats of power in the cities of Elcien and Ludar.
For this reason, the schemes are complex, designed to maximize advantage while minimizing actions likely to require overt response.
Generally speaking, such struggles violate the tenets of The Views of the Highest a set of teachings that forms the basis of the Alectors' ethical framework.
As a framework, it contains many ideas derived from sound ethics, but places the Alectors firmly in a stewardship role over their subjects, in some sense like the attitudes of Victorian England.
The Alectors are jealous of their supposed monopoly on this array of powers, and usually destroy any steer who demonstrates signs of Talent.
They are wispy, fairy-like creatures usually surrounded by an amber-green glow (generally visible only to the Talented), the Soarers are few in number and appear only infrequently.
Their species is actually made up of two very dissimilar "genders" the intelligent, talented but weak Soarers, and the strong but unintelligent Sanders that have the ability to drain life force.
Individuals whose auras bear reddish streaks usually cause trouble sooner or later; they lack control of their baser impulses.
Usually a more powerful individual can eventually pierce such shields, but as this is time-consuming and exhausting, it may leave the attacker vulnerable to counter-attack from other sources.
A Talent lock employs life force to create a secure condition on a door or container.
If too many attempt it, the corridors become porous, occasionally decanting travelers midway to their destination, a fatal mishap.
Even with the corridor operating properly, individuals may fail to translate correctly, due to weakness of Talent, accident, or sabotage.
This event weakened the rulers considerably, and strengthened lesser but ambitions Alectors seeking power for themselves.
When connected to the world life force web, especially the ley lines, talented humans such as Alucius (Scepters) and Mykella (Lady-Protector) could also soar (levitate).
Alectors linked to the Master Scepter, but existing on other worlds disintegrate when they die, leaving behind little beyond a fine ash.
The matriarchy of Madrien, in the later books, employed one of the scepters to project a kind of gem through which every male soldier could be killed or tortured.
Places where three or more such intersections occur are suitable locations for Tables, since they draw on this life force parasitically.
Recorders can also monitor the network, the operating status of other tables and of the grid, and can usually discern who is traveling and when they will arrive.
Such materials possessed great durability (lasting in some cases thousands of years after the end of the Alector occupation).
Alector residences and official buildings were commonly lit by steady burning torches that exploited small amounts of life force to create light.
At the time of their occupation of Acorus, they seem limited in the forms available: there are Sandoxen, large beasts of burden, and Pteridons, reptilian fliers used by the Alector airforce, the Myrmidons.
Essentially a laser, the lightcutter draws life energy stored in an attached crystal and focuses it into a beam that may be used as a tool, or offensively.
Because they draw life force, and because ambitious Alectors could use them in rebellion, lightcutters are normally found only in hand held, pistol sized models.
The crystal spear thrower played a role in the first three novels; it was mentioned obliquely in the prequel trilogy.
A complex mechanism of crystals and wiring, the spear thrower fuses sand (shoveled into a hopper) into glassy flechettes that it hurls from a barrel-like "formulator."
The device can reduce even stony hills to gravel in short order; it was derived from equipment used to cut passes through high land formations in the process of road building.