- the story takes place in alternative history universe where the barbarian clans from the northern and western Europe have been united under a chieftain whose descendants would declare themselves kings, and later emperors as their territories expand.
- they have ideas like those on the fringe right of today, thinking that all there should be insofar as the government is concerned is only what is strictly necessary for enforcing the rule that any physical interaction with the person (body) or belongings (property) of one of their citizens must be done with their informed voluntary and ongoing consent (the obvious exception being that the government could violate citizen rights for the purposes of ensuring the citizens do not violate the rights of each other, or commit any act against their government, when it is reasonably necessary for them to do so and even then only to the most justifiable extent, this is to preserve the government and maintain stability of order by enforcing the law upon their citizens). To this end the government only involves itself in areas relating to law enforcement and the military (which includes the full justice system, especially the courts and the prisons, which are focused entirely on doing whatever could be done to turn criminals into law abiding citizens who can go back to being productive to the empire and not parasitic, this usually involved treating the victimizers as victims, like patients in a mental hospital requiring rehabilitation to