[@Rilla] I'd imagined the mechanised world, overtaken by the [i]cold, unfeeling[/i] grasp of technology to the point where status is determined by contribution, to have a desolate aura about it, when contrasted with a [i]thematic opposite[/i], a world full of magic and natural life. Magic feels dead, nature feels dead, Hence the phrasing, [i]semi-[/i]desolate. It's a matter of perspective, really.