“ A group of wizards who will give others temporary magical powers, but the price is high and those who can't pay or won't pay get very badly hurt or even killed.”
“ A modern kingdom still strictly adheres to ancient traditions due to their long forgotten deity getting annoyed at the moral decay, appearing as an AI Singularity and forcefully correcting everything it sees as morally wrong. As such, even though the weapons and technology have improved, the culture hasn't.”