After a pandemic, an invasion, and several other destabilizing calamities, North America has found itself in a decades-long state of chaos. North Korea has invaded the West Coast and colonized everything west of the Rocky Mountains. The rest of the continent has been torn apart by warlords with weapons of mass destruction. There is no safe place in these dangerous times.

If you want to survive, you need protection. A series of competing security corporations has risen to fill the role government once did. If you pay enough and play by their rules, these companies and their massive armies will protect you from harm. If you don’t, then you become just another casualty of a flawed system.

One man, Daniel Barton, has a plan bring order and stability back to North America. His grand vision is to unite the security corporations into a single government. However, many want to see him fail, and the Dranthyx threat still looms. The question is, can Barton pull it off?

The sequel to Gaughen's acclaimed debut, Interest, takes place 35 years later. Principal is both horrifying and inspiring, a vivid premonition of a future that is closer than we think.