beccaelizabeth's dreamwidth journal

I was in the bath thinking about how I'd write a B7 clone
as you do.

Started thinking about names, words, meanings. Connotations are particularly tricky in F&SF. It's the invented words problem - old words accumulate connotations, assocative meanings, like onion layers. New words have to try and pull some together or sit there looking kind of naked and skinny. New words mean nothing until they mean something in relation to existing words. A mouse is not a rat is not a squirrel, but what about your new invented word for a rodent? Is it none of the above, is it one of the above with a new word, is it sharing the associations of one or more of those, is it going to have a new symbolic meaning? So then you get to names for characters, which are always going to be serious big with the associations. If you make up new words, the new associations have to accumulate. But people will try and do it in relation to existing structures. Have a name starting with Chris? Does Christianity, Christofer and all the related, survive until or exist within your made up world? How about Mary, what's it mean here? So I think about Blakes 7 characters, and I decide I really have to do something about the names. They mean something now, but they mean fairly specific cause most of them I've not heard outside that context.

And then there's choosing what to call your Evil Empire. If it's an Empire, it's going to have trouble being read as anything but Evil. History had a go, but colonialism and Star Wars won. But do you want a Federation? Administration? Bureau? How about if the government calls itself the Government? Management? Thesaurus.com has a long list: authority, bureaucracy, command, control, direction, domination, dominion, empire, execution, executive, governance, guidance, influence, jurisdiction, law, ministry, patronage, political practice, politics, polity, power, powers-that-be, predominance, presidency, regency, regime, regimentation, regulation, restraint, rule, sovereignty, state, statecraft, superintendence, superiority, supervision, supremacy, sway, union. Empire gets you place ruled by sovereign; rule; Synonyms: authority, command, commonwealth, control, domain, dominion, federation, government, people, power, realm, sovereignty, supremacy, sway, union. And Theocracy is without alternatives.

I had some ideas about Saint and Sanity and those security dudes with the halo headgear, or Server as a title, in a cybertech world where computing power is deliberately limited. Religion and computers? New BSG. I'd really have to check that out first. But the idea of a Server sitting at the center of a galactic Web... shiny.

And then there's that whole thing with Alphas, and what does the rest of society stratify as? And is it hereditary or test based?

Today I'm thinking it's all aptitude, but mix it with a little Cyteen style genetic expertise and some reproductive control and that aptitude can be cloned for. With a margin for error. Way to reuse your actors at regular intervals - every world is an Alternate Universe, running the same people through different lives, some more different than others.

If control over reproduction is an important part of a government's plan then wanting to have children is an important reason to rebel.

I have in mind a 4 tier structure, A B C D, with Earth the random E that never got under control but can't get out into the universe to bring chaos either. Or just E for Elsewhere, E for the Aliens that look like humans.

Alpha suggests Beta, Gamma, Delta. Not C. I can work with Gamma though.

Alphas are the brains, the maths and the science. They make systems, analyse, pull the world apart and figure out how to turn it into numbers. As far as they're concerned they're the new magi, mages, technomages. They can do anything, given time. They're the rulers of the universe. If an alpha rebels it's because of their approach to systems - they're a set of rules, you work them, you find the weak points and apply the right force and achieve your goals. Or it's a simple misunderstanding of their place in the universe - it's a very fine line between knowing that your class rules the universe and applying that knowledge to your own person. Alpha keywords are intellectual, reason, logic, analysis, and calculation: the numbers are everything. Alphas know nobody else really understands how everything works.

Betas are not the heart. But they'll try and give you that impression. Sure, some of them genuinely care, but what they are above all else is *connected*. An Alpha will happily work from home, contributing to the collective wiki, keeping their name on their own results and calculations but not particularly fussed about meeting any of the other names they see. It's just another data point, the results matter. Betas look down on them as poor little socially blind children, who may some day grow up to appreciate the important things in life. A Beta understands that it's not what you know, it's who you know. Betas are the secret rulers of the universe. An average beta can give orders in such a way that people will carry them out with no particular resentment. A *skilled* beta never has to give orders at all, because those they work with just happen to come up with the plan the beta wanted all along. Some betas are powers; the really good betas wait for them to grow up, and get on with being powers behind the throne. They look down on rebels as not having the skill to work the system. If a Beta becomes a rebel it will be because of their social net, either because they've already rebelled and they still owe them, or sometimes because they can see how the system is hurting them. Beta keywords are social, collective, group, community, but above all else favour. Betas know how people work, and that that's all you really need to know.

Gammas are the hands. According to the other groups. Alphas think of them as a sort of multiplier of their own hands - sure, they could build everything they think of one piece at a time, but if they design the program right even a Gamma can put it together, and they have more man hours to put into it. Betas will smooth over any of that pesky free will business and keep them on track, which from an Alpha point of view is what Betas exist for. But Betas also know what a Gamma does when they're not at work, and they understand the key difference: For a Gamma, work is the least important thing. See Alphas and Betas are wired to their work, they don't turn off. An Alpha relaxes from a long day of math by doing some sudoku and maybe using lego. Betas go out and party, but they're there to meet and greet. When a Gamma goes to party, they've finally reached the important bit of the day. They're going to have fun. It won't be the kind of party with much talking. They'll drink, they'll dance, they'll grab some food, they'll work the arcade machines or play darts or pool or go in for sports. Gammas are gamers. They know how things work, hands on, practical. They look down on Alphas as being too disconnected, and Betas are clearly parasites. Gammas get things *done*... and then they go do the important stuff. If Gammas rebel it's because there's a rule that's got in the way too much, or because they've had it with doing all the work and supporting all the leeches. Gamma keywords are practical, applied, constructive, but also fun and games. Gammas know you don't need to work.

All that is how the government divide up the world.
Deltas know different.
Deltas aren't made, they're born. Everyone else comes out of the repro centers, comes out of tanks if you want to get technical. Deltas do not. Natural births, random selection, sexual reproduction. Every last one of them is a pattern never before seen, and they can see the pattern. The government tries to stamp its citizens out of moulds, fit them into boxes, and keep them rolling along preset lines. Deltas point and laugh.
Deltas are widely regarded as being, one and all, the criminal classes. It's not that simple, but seeing as their very birth is a crime, it's not exactly untrue either.
To join in with society a Delta needs to get sugared, psyched and snipped.
The snip makes them like the rest of the controlled classes, sterile, barring failure rates.
Alphas, Betas, and Gammas are united in their failure to see why this is any kind of problem, let alone one worth starving for.
Deltas, in some cases, would rather die.
The Delta belief in 'psych and sugar' would mystify Gammas, amuse Betas, and seem trivial to Alphas. Psych profiles are just a fact of life. Gammas never see theirs, just do the equivalent of online are you a hobbit tests while they should be working. Betas know the computer thinks they're the keys to the kingdom, but they also know they're not worth a whole hell of a lot compared to getting to know people. Alphas just think the entire universe needs must be quantified to be understood, so of course people must be made maths too.
Sugar is what gets put in the water to keep people sweet. Deltas filter it out - and use it in high concentrations as a recreational drug. But they take it when they choose, they don't partake as routine. Gammas and Betas, and the vast majority of Alphas, aren't supposed to know it exists. They take the state approved drugs - or the dodgy but fun sort - and they know the security forces will be down on them like a ton of bricks for misuse. They think Deltas are druggies who got paranoid, is all.
To be precise, they think D-grades are druggies who think with their gonads. Only Deltas ever call themselves Deltas. And only Deltas make a distinction between Deltas and the trule D-grade, downgraded. If psych and sugar doesn't work, if that failure rate happens to be you and your partner, or if you just don't play quite right, downgrading could be in your future. It means loss of services - all of them, from electricity and water on up. On sealed colonies it can means loss of air privilege. Healthcare? Forget it. Education? Only what you hear from other Ds. It's the end, but it lingers. Former citizens get to hang around as non persons, until they line up to slot in place again.

Much of Beta heavy government would rather Deltas didn't exist, but can see the usefulness of D-grading someone. A select few Alphas know enough about genetics to know why that 'failure rate' stays constant, despite the associated costs.

There are a few in government who don't quite fit the boxes. The scary ones, who have the math for Alpha and the aptitude for Beta. The ones who can see those psych profiles and read beyond them, make the numbers really work, make people really work by the numbers.

Most citizens consider them a myth.

Most citizens, about most things, are wrong.



So, set out to have a bath, end up designing an interstellar civlization. One that entirely coincidentally duplicates ways people get categorised here and now. Mostly so I can poke them to pieces.

I was thinking of the White Wolf world books, with the different clans and paths. There's a section on how they're different, and a section on how they see all the other clans, and then a section on how each clan sees them. Diversified vampires real well. Could do the same for other systems. The irritation of having a preset personality to go with a skill set could be part of what people are rebelling against.


I should probably eat and go sleep and stuff.

... I kind of want to keep writing. BG plays my Delta character. He got caught, so he's technically a D-grade now, but he keeps that well quiet. The psych and sugar never stopped him stealing, so here he is out the system again. He's got observations on the Alphas they'd never see in themselves. Alphas don't make eye contact, they've got better things to do. They never bow their heads to anyone, walk straight, wouldn't get out of the way or hold a door open. "They never have to think of it, cause their garbage buys more than your gold. Their shit doesn't stink. They haven't cleaned their own bathroom in their whole lives." Betas make eye contact all the time, even when you'd rather they didn't. They have to schedule their journeys longer than others, cause they know they'll be meeting people along the way. Their body language is all deference and politeness. If they met in a corridor or doorway they'd be all 'after you' and whoever went first would have, obscurely, lost. Elaborate praise is their stock in trade, and they always notice your haircut.
Gammas you can tell if they're at work or not by if they look at you. Work doesn't merit eye contact. Work doesn't need eye contact. You are wasting their time, you are wasting your time, and all time must be wasted anyway so what's the point?
After work? Are you playing? They'll look. They'll read the clues. And they'll know a lot more than Betas give them credit for. A Beta will know what team you're on; a Gamma will know the stats back as far as they can hold. An Alpha would only have interest in the stats until they noticed how random Gamma games are. If they're not all skill, an Alpha isn't interested.

Alphas haven't noticed how to get Gammas into the rebellion. Betas think they can keep them out by giving bread and circuses, or an extra beer ration. And they're right - to a point. But it has to be *new* circuses, have an element of challenge, be a puzzle that's worth waking the brain up for. If rebellion was an ARG Gammas would be *there*. And they'd win it, eventually.

Deltas don't have a choice about rebellion, Gammas think it's fun, Betas join in the wave that'll work for them and theirs, and Alphas... have interests specialised and varied, but mostly need time to work, and something important enough to work on.

There's many creative kinds of fun to be had with that setup.