 He lives in isolation, but after surviving an assassination attempt, he is forced to notice the growing cultural strains around him.The pre-selects, due to their abilities and thus money, make up 10% of the population, but control over 95% of the resources of the world, and are using that power to shut out the “norms,” or non-augmented humans.A plague breaks out that only kills augmented humans, a plague much more virulent than a similar one that had swept the world 20 years before.