RE: Step Right Up, You're The Next Contestant ((Open))
Q&A For A Little Sci-Fi For You
Q:Just to clarify on the history a bit and my understanding of it. People who had valuable skill and/or were genetically healthier were selected to colonize planets and were sent off to them. Those deemed not as good were dumped into the Breeder ships. From there, those in charge skimmed off the best that the ship produced to continue sending them to more planets to colonize? I assume that's what the fate of those "children [who] would grow to either be socially acceptable and put into one of the training programs to better themselves," but please correct me if I'm wrong.
A: So the way that I had envisioned it was that those deemed to be superior human specimens were sent off to colonize worlds where they would be taught a particular skill to make themselves useful to the new world. The person who really makes the decision on who is useful and who is not is the matchmaker...although the "Authority" which are the guards of the place can put in a good word for a child if they have noticed redeeming qualities about them.
All of the boys are taken from the ship unless they are ill or sickly and then they are usually put to work in the engine room until they pass. The girls are really the ones that need to prove themselves.
Q:"
All of the men would have jobs off the ship either on world or on another ship." But that's not true, right? Since there are quite a few guards and other ship staff on board the Breeder ships, not to mention that the the women of the Pot have to be sleeping with someone.
A:Right, so I guess what I'm saying here is that
all of the boys will be taken off the ship initially. If their aptitudes in the future set them up as a fighter, they would do some time on a Breeder Ship to give them an idea of where they now stand in society. Some of them will stay to become Senior Authorities on the ship but most will leave to do other things like patrol the cities and colonies or work on other transport ships and such. If their aptitude sets them on the path of engineering or navigation, they will find a spot on the ships crew. Again, most of them will only be there for a short time and then they will probably find work elsewhere. Think of the Breeder Ship as kind of a central place for intern/apprenticeships. Not all boys will come from the ship either. There will be boys and girls that are born in the cities and colonies too that would never see a Breeder Ship until it comes time to intern if their respective fields put them there. Not all of the Authorities are men either. Also, people from the world that the Breeder Ship orbits can come and go to the ship as they please. That's who the women in the Pot sleep with. Soldiers, blue collar workers on pay day, bakers, cooks and so on. Middle class people would probably use the women in the Pot as well. People with higher paying jobs would probably stick to the top level of the ship unless they were slumming or throwing a party and there goal was quantity over quality.
Q:Clearly the Match Maker (the role, not the plot), matches people together, but what exactly would being "favorable" to him/her mean? Does that mean you're deemed valuable and are thus paired with another valuable member of society to breed and make further genetically desirable babies? I understand that being unfavorable means getting dumped into the Pot, which is bad (for most people). Just not quite sure on the first bit. In essence, what are the possible outcomes involving a meeting with the Match Maker?
A: The role of the Match Maker was actually taken from the movie Mulan, I am embarrassed to say. I was watching the movie in the background while I was writing and I was like...that's such a cool character with such a tiny part. I would be an interesting thing to put in a story. Anyway, if you haven't seen that movie, basically she sees all of the girls of age in a village...or in this case a Breeder Ship...and meets with them to see if they would make suitable wives for soldiers and men of society. She judges their grace, cleverness, charm, poise, so on and so forth and pits their scores against what the men she has been assigned to have asked for. Kind of like a realtor for women or a pimp, I guess. Only it's for marriage and not sex, that goes on in the Pot. All of the men would have jobs off the ship either on world or on another ship.
Q:Are there other ships in service that are not Breeder ships? I thought those were only for those deemed unfit and undesirable, but you mentioned "the top level for the high class crowd that don't want to smell the stench of the poor" in one of your plot ideas, so I was a bit confused, especially since "wealth" had been completely redefined. Unless this high class crowd is in fact the physically fit and skilled crowd, in which case it makes more sense.
A:There are many other ships beyond a Breeder ship. In fact, the Breeder ships are probably the worst built ships in the galaxy since they were some of the first built. Their original purpose was to help the survivors of Earth escape before it's destruction. Ships are kind of like cars. Almost everyone has one...although most citizen ships are meant for short distance traveling either in their planet's atmosphere or to one of the satellite ships off world like Breeder Ships and casinos (since they have the same laws as the casinos in America...which cannot be built on land but have to float. Fun fact for you.). There are other ships meant for space travel between worlds, exploration, colonization, trade and pirating....and so on.
Bonus Answer:I'm going to throw an extra one in there because there seems to be some confusion about the Breeder Ship in general. The ship is large...very large and has many levels. Those levels are 1) The companion type people and the Match Maker meeting rooms, 2)High level ship staff, 3)Low level ship staff, 4)Authority housing, 5)Authority housing (They need a lot of guards because of the amount of people they have on board), 6)Families (housing for those who are pregnant or who have small children. They get to stay there until the children are about five and then those who are pregnant take over as babysitters while the mothers go back to the Pot), 7)Common rooms and Breeding dens, 9-11) The Pot (The Pot is basically a brothel. The women have their assigned rooms where they can keep trinkets and such from their clients and also where they can bed them in private...unlike with the Breeding dens which are designed for large..."parties". I can go into more detail on the Pot if you like but it's pretty easy to get the idea from here, I think)
Q:Are there any rules in the Pot? Like, what are people meant to do in there? Breed, obviously, but is it more an "Alright, you're useless to us, so just keep making babies and maybe you'll actually do something good by having a good who's less shitty than you are," or is it more an "Alright, you're useless to us, so we're dumping you in this hell hole so you don't fuck up what we're trying to do up here on the nice levels," or is it both? Is there a form of authority and control down there, or is more like a giant prison free-for-all? The existence of the Companion type characters near the top suggest to me that there is some kind of law and order, but I just want to check.
A:The Authority keeps all members of the ship in line, including the ship's staff. They are controlled by the government of whatever world their ship happens to orbit. By the time our story starts, order has been restored for the most part and a form of wealth has been established once more. I figured that money would be based on a credit system like most sci-fi shows and movies. Like that apple pie will cost you 70 credits and so on. There's always going to be a class system. That's just the way humanity works. There is high society that live in mansions on higher level worlds, then companions (some of which live off of the ship in a companion home or on their own. These are the best of the best.) and then there's middle class folks that live in decent houses on established worlds. Then there's servants and house keepers. Then there's blue collar workers and soldiers and finally colonists. Breeder's don't have a class. They are pretty much just there as cattle. I'm sure I'm missing levels but I'll fit them in there somewhere when they come up.
Q:Ok, I understand that the Pot is akin to a HUGE brothel, and since they still need to eat, the women basically just HAVE to whore themselves out to survive, right? Also, you already mentioned it, but I just wanted to clarify; the only upward mobility (at least temporarily) for a woman who's been assigned to the Pot is to have a child, and thus have some better time in the Family sections, correct?
A:They could also get further elevated if their child turns out to either marry well or get a good job off the ship that would support their mother. Then the child is bound by custom to take their mother away from the ship so she can have a better life and retire. Some women are luckier than others. It's like the lottery though, the more tickets you buy, the more likely it is that you'll get a winner.
Bonus info:
- Boys get pulled to go through the training programs around 10 so they're separated from the young girls before they get too promiscuous. The girls start testing when they're 14 to see if they have an aptitude for anything and go to the Match Maker at either 17 or 18 depending on what time of year their birthday falls. If they still haven't managed to get a better life by then, they're thrown in The Pot.
- Most of the women in Pot would be fairly young...probably 35 at the oldest. Lifespan in The Pot isn't very long.
- Since breeding is so important, they would want to keep the pregnant women in clean and untainted living environments. It would be likely that only female Authorities would patrol that area of the ship as well and there would be strict disciplinary action taken against any man that broke that rule. (No pregnancy kinks, please. I'm not into it and I won't do it.)
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