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- sue wrote:
Its a thought that has been bouncing around my head for a while now?
What does happen to orphans in wop? Down towners are probably left to fend for them selves, but the kids of ops killed on BPNs? Does any one have a support system for them in thier wop? or the SLA too heartless even for that?- Ed replied:
HexWoP has orphanages for the children of deciesed SLA Ops. This is not because SLA feels any sort of obligation twords them but because SLA feels that they are a valuble comodity which, if properly raised, can provide some of their most loyal servents (In HexWoP this is where Enforcer Shivers and their cousins the Dark Finders are recruited from).
Orphans under 10 never remain on their world of origin, they are always shipped to somewhere new so that their only ties are to SLA. They are indoctrinated regarding their parent's heroic sacrifice and the ignominy of the trators who were responsable and put through a ragiem of fitness and training that kills aproximatly two out of three children. By the end they are machines, loyal and perfect in their dedication to SLA. The best become Dark Finders, the rest become Enforcer Shivers.
Orphans over 10 are educated more conventionaly. Given scholourships to the best schools and touted around as a shining example of the careing face of SLA. They are still indoctrinated and most will serve SLA as Operatives or Shivers upon finishing full time education.
The only exception to this are Shaktar orphans who are always returned to their tribe world to continue their education.
Hex
Et in Arcadia Ego- rw wrote
In MLWOP, there is a system of SLA sponsored orphanages situated around Mort that take on abandoned/orphaned kids through the Dept of Social Services. In areas of downtown where the children are homeless, DSS bag teams (eerily similar to Skin Traders) patrol and pick up unsupervised kids with all the grace of dog catchers on PCP. The operators are often SLA subsidiaries or "licensed" contractors who pay an operator's fee and are issued SCL 11 as a SLA employee. With a net and attitude in hand, they stalk lower rent tenements and downtown sectors looking for "vagrant" children.
Many of these individuals see the child they collect as income (10 creds per kid) and are ruthless in their acquisitions. It doesn't matter how they get them or if the kid actually has parents as collateral damage and bloodshed is par for the course. Many are little better than company authorized kidnappers who exploit their humanitarian mission for profit. Unfortunately, they are often so low of importance to remain below Cloak Division's radar scope, but they do clash regularly with Monarch and community watch groups. It's sad that the Skin Trade actually takes more care to avoid injury to its captures.
The orphanages themselves vary greatly depending upon the area they are located and their actual purpose. Most are drab, underfunded, overcrowded cesspits that eject their hapless charges onto the street as soon as possible. They are breeding grounds for subversives and DN and the larger gangs regularly recruit from the worst ones with promises of power and revenge. At least a handful of Mort's prominent Serial Killers got their starts in such fine training institutions.
The average orphanages show a great deal more concern for their charges and do everything they can to make a difference. Unfortunately, they are also critically underfunded, but the level of apathy from the staff is not nearly as high. Many of the children raised here leave to become normal civilians who lead standard Mort consumer lives. These are often the sites of heavy recruitment by SLA's military and Shiver divisions.
The best orphanages are setup as development grounds for future operatives or important employees. Since each child is examined on entry into the DSS system, they can be selected and diverted to the most appropriate facility. These are often housed by race for those groups (such as Brainwasters) that require a different approach and are very productive. Interaction between races in these facilities is encouraged to form more well-rounded operatives. Some departments such as Cloak covertly sponsor particular orphanages in order to groom the sort of future employee they desire.
The darker side of these orphanages is that they are often used as testing grounds for control techniques, psych warfare, and chemical experimentation.
I'll probably put together a story idea and/or BPN on this later this week.
Rob
- From: Rosie Fean
Felt the need to reply to this. Not sure whether you should put me down for a lurker or not now, two replies in one day and all... I know this is a long thread, but I haven't been awake enough to read many emails recently...
In MLWOP, there is a system of SLA sponsored orphanages situated around Mort that take on abandoned/orphaned kids through the Dept of Social Services. In areas of downtown where the children are homeless, DSS bag teams (eerily similar to Skin Traders) patrol and pick up unsupervised kids with all the grace of dog catchers on PCP. The operators are often SLA subsidiaries or "licensed" contractors who pay an operator's fee and are issued SCL 11 as a SLA employee. With a net and attitude in hand, they stalk lower rent tenements and downtown sectors looking for "vagrant" children. [snip]
It all depends on whether you think SLA operate as a slick, smooth machine and that all that paperwork is just to keep the machine running smoothly or whether you think SLA is a massive monolithic creature which isn't actually controlled directly by anyone and all that shit that is thrown at the ops and the general public is just because of the sheer hugeness of the system.
I haven't quite decided which WoP I like better, but lets carry on anyway...
The first SLA would collect all the orphans up and educate them to become SLOPS in the first place, with the possible exception of Shaktarian orphans (who are brought up on the home planet anyway, right? If so the death of their parents would have less of a direct effect on their lives, although, obviously, they would be effected by their deaths...). They would be indoctrinated into the workings of SLA from an early age and would be incredibly loyal to the company. However, if SLA are going to go that far, why not do DNA testing on all kids on Mort to find the BEST sla-ops?
A less well organised, monolithic, organisation would attempt to take care of some of the orphans of SLA, perhaps the kids of the most popular and well known slops, perhaps just random ones depending on whether the paperwork was sent to the right department/had the right signatures on it/was the right colour. However, there would be lots of orphans who would be left on the street/forgotten about/stolen by people working for SLA and sent to the skin trade.
While lurking in the shadows I haven't seen much about a less organised SLA, and since I work for a large organisation, I can't believe that SLA can be half as competent as they appear on the surface...
Comments?
Rosie xxx
- rw replies
A less well organised, monolithic, organisation would attempt to take care of some of the orphans of SLA, perhaps the kids of the most popular and well known slops, perhaps just random ones depending on whether the paperwork was sent to the right department/had the right signatures on it/was the right colour. However, there would be lots of orphans who would be left on the street/forgotten about/stolen by people working for SLA and sent to the skin trade.
While lurking in the shadows I haven't seen much about a less organised SLA, and since I work for a large organisation, I can't believe that SLA can be half as competent as they appear on the surface...
I agree that SLA is inconsistent in how efficiently its departments operate but have never decided it it was conscious decision by Slayer or not. In an Orwellian "1984" kind of way, I don't think the WOP's citizens can always tell if SLA is watching them or not, but the doubt of how observant SLA's enforcers are keeps the majority of them in line. The visible actions of a few intimidating and efficient departments (like Cloak) makes the threat real, but there is a limit on how much subversion they can tackle. A decent number of people realize this and think they can stray away from SLA's. For a while they succeed, until they become enough of a threat to draw SLA's attention and an operative squad is sent after them. If they become a real threat, one of the more powerful departments makes them vanish.
When the subject of one of our stories or player characters are involved, it seems like there is a higher threat of one of the well functioning departments within SLA (such as Cloak or Stig) to show up to protect the company assets. The rest of the time, the characters are swamped in the endless bureacracy until they are noticed.
- From vagus@zombieworld.com
Comment: In our games, orphan's have a number of fates.
- Civilian children face a life that would best be described by a Third-Eye Charles Dickens.
- Employee or Operative children are either shipped off to family or squad mates of the deceased. In a few rare cases, the age requirements for meny have been lowered for those orphans particularly talented and/or vangeful.
- Of course, there are gaps in any "community safety net," and many orphans, civilian, amployee, and operative alike, end up in the clenches of the skin trade.
If you want to add anything Feel free
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