The Rat stories take place in some far future where the homeworld of Earth is an all-but forgotten legend, and where the League seems to be slowly disintegrating into a series of independent worlds with feudal societies - resembling the Empire of Asimov's Foundation stories. The technology of these planets consists of what Brian Aldiss calls "horrible Paleo-Industrial artefacts" (Trillion Year Spree): steam-driven wagons and robots abound in these societies which seem to exist in a far future Ruritania.
