The Naga slither over each other in a writhing wave that crashes against the city's inner wall. They flood the now empty streets with their sibilant war cries. Blinding Shadow slides her blade between reptilian ribs, spills cold blood down the side of the wall. Her victim thrashes madly, swipes at her with ones of its eerily human arms, but she's much stronger than she looks. One open-palm strike sends the creature flying. He hits the ground two blocks away and vanishes into the undulating throng.

"This is impossible, even for me!" she shouts to the Kashra warrior beside her. "We should fall back."
"Hold your tongue, Outcast, or I'll feed it to the vipers!" He swings his mace in a wide, upward arc that intersects a Naga's maw at its apex. The razor-sharp, circular blades bite into scale and bone. "The Brama will deliver us from this evil."

"And if they don't?" The question dies on her lips as the Tesla Grid roars back to life. Quantum power surges through her emberblade, searing the blood and flesh that still clings to it. The Kashra smiles as a fleet of armored chariots flies over his head.

"Arrogant bastard."

I've done Mesoamerican post-apocalypse and Chinese science-fantasy. This month's article is a post-apocalyptic science-fantasy based on the myths and religions of India. There's also a hint of theoretical physics mixed in there. Everything's better with theoretical physics.

A Brief History of Ghyll

Many centuries ago, the planet known as Ghyll was a fetid swamp, choking on its own greenhouse gases. Then humanity arrived. They transformed the atmosphere and drained the swamps, forming scattered islands of habitable land. They erected cities of stone and steel, glittering urban jewels powered by an invisible Grid of quantum energy. They pushed back the native flora and fauna to make way for mechanized agriculture and mining. The colonists prospered and multiplied.

Then, the Long Night changed everything. The villainous Asura, extra-dimensional beings trapped in the Grid, conspired to destroy the relays that fed power to outlying farms. Most of the population fell to starvation, disease, or the hordes of Naga (a displaced, alien species) that washed over Ghyll like a tide of blood. Much was lost during that dark season, including most of the scientific and historical knowledge brought from Earth.

Now, a religion called The Path has restored order to the cities. Its priests struggle to keep the Tesla Grids operational. They have conscripted slaves to work in the farms and mines, replacing dead machines with iron-age tools and toil. The rest cling to the decaying hulks of their shattered cities, grasping at the shadows of an age long dead.

Life on the Path

The Path teaches that the world is a proving ground for human souls. The Devout progress from one incarnation to another, moving up or down the caste system as they learn to live good and proper lives. Those born into the high castes earned their wealth and privilege in past lives, and those trapped in the low castes are paying for past sins. In a universe where everyone gets what they deserve, everyone must deserve what they get.

Brama

The highest of the castes is the priesthood, keepers of the last shreds of technical and scientific knowledge the Devout possess. They maintain what's left of the civil infrastructure, primarily the monolithic generators at the heart of every human city. On matters of spiritual significance (which means just about everything), they can over-rule even the Khan himself.

Kashra

The warrior caste is also the royalty of Ghyll. They wage its wars, enforce its laws, and execute its criminals. Each city is ruled by a Khan, whose title is hereditary. On earthly matters, his word is law. Of the high castes, only Kashra routinely venture outside the Grid; they must "keep the peace" everywhere from rural farms to the outcast Fringe.

Vaish

Skilled artisans and merchants make up the highest of the two labor castes. However, their wealth is negligible when compared to that of the Kashra and Brama, and their political power is non-existent. A few Vaish families can afford vimanas and hologlims, but the poorest families, living near the Fringe, are lucky if they have electric lights.

Shura

Those who work the land are both Ghyll's most populous caste and its lowliest. They have few possessions and no power under the law. Their lives are hard, brutal, and most often short. Anyone who steps out of line, or gets too old or sick to work, is hastened to their next life by Kashra blades.

Outcasts

Those whose caste is not known, who take lovers outside their caste, or who run afoul of the Brama in some other way, are cast off The Path altogether. Outcasts earn their livings as musicians, artists, criminals, or handlers of the dead. Since they aren't allowed to own property, paying Outcasts for their services is considered a (purely optional) form of charity. It is illegal for an Outcast to resist the will of even the lowest caste member in any way; they can even be murdered legally.

In Tesla's Shadow

Though the Brama have preserved enough knowledge to keep the Tesla Grids running (most of the time), they are not always able to repair the vehicles, weapons, and devices that tap into them for power. Every year, a little more high-technology slips through their desperate grasp.

As the Grids decay, power failures divide cities into concentric rings by caste; property in the center of a city is the most valuable because power is more reliable there. As one moves outward, power outages become a weekly or even daily occurrence. On the Fringe, most people have given up on high-tech altogether.

Vimanas

The wealthiest Brama and Kashra still get around in hovering vehicles called vimanas. The most common models resemble chariots: simple platforms without seats or doors, intended for one or two passengers. Most Kashra armies also maintain a few tank-like weapons platforms and massive troop transports. Of course, the second they stray outside the Grid, even the best vimanas become intimately reacquainted with the ground.

Hologlims

These high-tech sunglasses appear to project three-dimensional images when one looks through their lenses. They use the Grid for communication as well as power, and can function as televisions or cellphones.

Smart Cable

Lengths of metallic rope that can bend, stretch, and coil on their own. They respond to spoken and gestured commands, and can distinguish between their owners and other people. Kashra use them to restrain prisoners. A little reprogramming (and the addition of a tiny, razor-sharp blade) turns a smart cable into a smart whip.

Emberblades

These slim, quick blades cause an exothermic reaction in organic tissue. In other words, they inflict wounds that burn. They get their name from the telltale glow of airborne microbes smoldering on their surface.

Warding Spheres

Using radar telemetry and hover technology, these silver spheres float around their users, detect incoming attacks, and intercept them at a safe distance. The Brama wear them as status symbols.

God-Men

Some of these intrepid Outcasts are former Brama who brought their sacred knowledge with them when they fell from grace. Others are self-taught scientists trying to reclaim humanity's birthright. All are con artists and iconoclasts. The less scrupulous God-Men travel from city to city, exorcising demons, foretelling the future, and lifting curses... for a price. Nobler souls settle down and open clinics or workshops. These "gurus" use their knowledge to improve the lives of their fellow Outcasts.

Virtually all God-Men are students of chemistry. It makes possible the miracles of pharmacy, electricity, and gunpowder. A guru's home is filled with jars, vials, distilleries, and specimens. They can concoct poultices to clean wounds and drugs to alleviate pain. They construct telescopes to study the heavens and spy on Kashra patrols. Some can even build radios and computers from high-tech scrap.

However, the true source of the God-Men's power is not knowledge, but ignorance. They disguise the workings of their weapons, armor, and poisons to inspire awe in the superstitious. They conceal makeshift guns within their sleeves, and then strike down enemies with a wave of their hand. They fashion crude illusions out of lenses and mirrors. More than one unwary Kashra has been blindsided by a puff of sleeping powder or a walking stick shotgun.

Nullists

These heretics believe that the reality we perceive is merely an illusion created by our minds to shield us from the true nature of the universe, which we cannot safely comprehend. It also rejects The Path and its caste system as part of that illusion. As you can imagine, this makes Nullism simultaneously appealing to Outcasts and extraordinarily unpopular with the Brama.

Nullist scholars speak of something called the holographic principle. Just like a shadow play, where two-dimensional images reflect the movements of three-dimensional objects, the things we perceive are merely the three-dimensional shadows of a multi-dimensional world. They claim that much of our high-technology is based on the physics of higher dimensions, which the Ancestors understood intimately.

Through study and meditation, Nullists seek revelatory insight into this higher plane. Enlightenment allows Nullists to perform miraculous feats, which they offer as proof of their beliefs.

Xen Nullism

The most prolific school of Nullism was created by former Kashra generals. It reasons that, if reality is an illusion created by our minds, our minds may be able to influence that illusion. Through ritualized training, they are able to achieve superhuman degrees of strength, speed, and agility. They can catch arrows in mid-flight, walk on walls, and snap sword blades in half with their bare hands. Kashra in many cities kill them on sight.

Vajra Nullism

The older and more ascetic school focuses inward, trying to free the mind from its illusory cage. Through an arduous regimen of meditation and self-torture, they become increasingly impervious to external forces. Vajra monks can go for weeks without food or water, hold their breath for hours, and even become invisible, immovable, or intangible. Their ultimate goal is transcendence beyond the material form, but where The Path promises immortality, the Vajra expect only oblivion.

Pick Me Ups

An enterprising Vaish hires Nullists and God-Men to guard his caravan on an expedition to the blasted ruins of a city that did not survive the Long Night. At first, their only problems are highwaymen and the occasional Naga. Then, they reach the ruins and unearth a device that can convert the Grid's quantum field into thermal energy. The party turns in on itself when the Outcasts discover that the Vaish is an Asura-worshipper who means to finish what the Long Night began!

An idealistic guru has been rousing the rabble in the worst shantytown along the city's Fringe. He's even earned the support of local Vaish by installing electric lights and repairing a section of the sewer system. The Brama don't dare move against him for fear of igniting a revolt, so they hire a few mercenaries and Nullists to do their dirty work. They might as well have sent the guru a duffle bag full of guns.

Wandering gurus and Nullists spread enlightenment among the rural farms. This often involves publicly humiliating the Kashra and debunking the superstitious nonsense of opportunistic God-Men. When this activity sparks a revolt at a large plantation, our heros jump right in, but can they hold out against an entire Kashra army?

Power-mad Nullists seek revenge against a tyrannical Khan. Getting to him will mean laying siege to one of the most heavily fortified cities on the planet. Fortunately, the Asura and the Naga are willing to help. How long can the enemy of your enemy remain your friend? How far will you go to make sure the Khan gets what he deserves?

Next Up: Set sail for Kindred Shores!