It was a ruthless system, but it had been invented by people who had survived two decades of devastating general plagues. After the plagues everything had become different, in much the way that everything was different after a world war. The experience of massive dieback, of septic terror and emptied cities, had permanently removed the culture’s squeamishness. Some people died and some didn’t. Those who took steps to fight death would be methodically rewarded, and those who acted like fools would be buried with the rest.