the desert was summer at its most extreme , and whoever had control of it tipped the balance , siding with one of the four in a bid to unmake sky and earth , to shape anew stars and continents , to usurp the role of nature and fashion out of these rendered carcasses a perfect , singular existence , building into the new world 's fabric a mechanism by which to order and determine the number of its inhabitants , to maximize production while minimalizing aggression , the whole to function as a stable unit , pure and static and without the need of blood to run from veins .