In the real world, Y2K passed without incident...but what if it hadn't? What if the dire predictions had occurred? Witches, Sorcerers, Magicians, ESPers, Psions, Psychers, Mutants, Metahumans, Supers...there have always been special ones among us, their numbers small and widely dispersed. Whether respected and celebrated, or hunted and persecuted, their level of integration into society has always been directly proportional to the sophistication of that society; i.e., the more primitive their culture, the more readily they were accepted. This story centers around a handful of such gifted individuals, who must learn to accept - and even exploit - those differences in 21st Century North America, forty years after a global upheaval - The Turning - has shattered the Earth's climate and killed billions. A full generation has passed among the residents of a small Iowa town, who now live among mounds of hi-tech wreckage, unable to refuel or repair or replace any of it...so they salvage where they can, and improvise where they can't. There are fears of a looming Second Dark Age: refugees from the ravaged lands to the west and south are pouring across the borders, desperate victims and opportunistic vandals alike. And appearing among the general population are the gifted ones, the "Lumins" - Homo sapiens luminos - those who have extended senses and abilities...and whose numbers are on the rise.