Originally Posted by
obdigore
Ok, let me go a little deeper for you (mild spoilers for the 'Thorns' series from Lawrence)
Essentially Humans got so advanced we started shaping/altering reality (like the laws of physics), then we nuked the crap out of each other. Some humans 'ascended' to what they consider godhood and some still have slight ability to shape reality (magic). The entire society is still based on what we have today, in the bits and pieces that survived the nuclear war. For instance there is still 'The Church in Roma' and 'White Jesu'. There is also a nuke set off in the trilogy, and Jorg talks, numerous times, to different AIs that are still alive from the time of the 'builders'. You also find 'builder artifacts' and different stuff.
Let me warn you really quick, though, that Jorg, the 'protagonist' in this first series, is a bloody-handed bastard that will destroy anyone who gets in his way on his quest for power. This isn't a nice 'good guys' book. I don't think there are any good guys in this book.
Its essentially a couple hundred/thousand years further forward than something like 'immediate post apocalyptic'.