These excerpts primarily focus on a conflict between two major factions, the Line and the Gun, against a backdrop of a partially "un-made" world. The narrative follows several key characters: Liv Alverhuysen, a doctor traveling west to the mysterious House Dolorous to study the victims of the Line's devastating sonic weapons; Creedmoor, an Agent of the Gun who is reluctantly on a mission to retrieve a key figure, "the General," a broken former leader of the Red Valley Republic; and Lowry, a diligent but deeply disturbed Linesman, who relentlessly pursues Creedmoor and the General. The Line represents industrialized power, order, and relentless expansion via massive, track-bound Engines and mind-shattering noise-bombs, while the Gun relies on individual, often wicked, Agents imbued with supernatural power from their sentient weapons to wage a losing war. Liv's journey eventually entangles her with both Creedmoor and the General, leading her to the isolated, principled Republic town of New Design, where the climactic confrontation between the Line, the Gun, and the remnants of the Republic takes place.