Since the Warming, a terrible period of global warming in the 21st century, the way people live has changed dramatically, as they are now forced to spend most of their lives indoors. The world has evolve into a giant datasphere, where all people and things are permanently connected. AIs have long since passed the Turing Test, and become virtually indistinguishable from human beings. They are capable of autonomous behavior, speech and even human-like emotions and feelings. Belladerma is a leading manufacturer of AIs, and an entire industry has grown up around the overhaul and reprogramming of robots.
AIs are also know an robots, sentient beings, and djinns.
In the private sector, Donu-Tech, where Evan Chan worked until his untimely death, and Cybertronics, are developing commercial AIs specifically adapted to certain tasks or environments. However, the integration of AIs in human society has provoked strongly conflicting views. While the Campaign for the Freedom of Robots wants to liberate them from the daily drudgery and humiliation of their subservient roles, groups such as the Anti-Robot Militia are dedicated to the physical destruction of AIs. They are spurred on by the fact that from time to time an AI malfunctions, and takes its revenge on the society which created it. Evan Chan, specialist in thermal imagery at Donu-Tech, friend of Jeanine Salla and fan of poetry and sailing, has been murdered aboard his yacht, Cloudmaker.