The Brabazon Workworld
"The sky smells of smog and furnace-fires. You near the workworld - where debtors, the poor, and the sick are put to use."[1]
The Brabazon Workworld, called Brabazon for short, is a massive factory complex in Albion, located near the transit relay to the Reach.
Work Them to Death[edit | edit source]
"Grimy workers trudge from work to home, eating as they go. Time is precious here: minutes not spent at work are given to sleep."[2]
The first of several workworlds[3] established in Albion,[4] Brabazon primarily employs the less fortunate who might otherwise go to debtors' prison,[5] and is rather reluctant to let them go even when their debts have been paid off.[6] Its main purpose is the processing of hours,[7] which, as one might imagine, tampers with how time works in the area.[8] However, its workers also produce rugs,[9] glassware,[10] and raw components.[11]
The workworld is notorious for exhausting the lives of its employees - both due to its abysmal working[12][13] and living conditions,[14][15] and because the workworld and its immediate surroundings run on a faster clock than the outside thanks to the processing of hours;[8] workers leave their shifts visibly older than when they entered,[16] and a sentence of "a few years" may manifest more like decades.[17][18] Overseers working in the factories are not exempt, either.[19] It is both unsurprising and understandable, then, that a trade in stolen hours has appeared in Brabazon.[20]
Many former employees retreat to places like Hybras in an attempt to relive their stolen youth.[21] Even more die in Brabazon, and their debt is passed on to their descendants and relatives.[22] It is not uncommon to see entire families working their way out of debt.[23]
Cognitive Dissonance[edit | edit source]
"He points out a plaque on the wall. 'This is a list of the original donors, who helped us set up Brabazon Workworld. They've all contributed to this place: a place where the destitute can learn new skills, and find a home.'"[24]
The factories of Brabazon are neighbored by a pleasant and painstakingly manicured[25] residential district called Little Nice, after the city in France.[26] This is where its higher-ranking Overseers and Governor live,[26] and where the children of Brabazon's inmates attend school between shifts of work[27][28] in hopes that they may earn their way out of the Workworld more quickly.[29] The district is protected from most of the runoff of time-processing and the fumes coming from the factory.[30] So are visitors, who are each given a quantity of hours to prevent them from feeling the effects.[31][32]
The Governor holds near-absolute power here, especially since the workworld is rather far from New London's authority.[33] He views Brabazon through heavily rose-tinted glasses,[34][35] and its mission as merciful.[36][37] Many of the wealthy donors who tour the workworld[38] hold similar views,[39] and are completely detached from the lives and suffering of the workers.[40]
Of course, this all stands at odds with the reality of the situation. Many of Brabazon's disgruntled workers are determined to strike and end the workworld's appalling conditions.[41] They cannot do it alone, however, and a cadre of revolutionaries intends to help them.[42] Additionally, there is an emerging effort to help workworld employees escape their indentured servitude, called the New Street Line.[43][44]
References[edit | edit source]
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