Breakers
Breakers are fugitives that have chosen to ignore the contracts that they consigned themselves to in a desperate attempt to live a free life. They see themselves as escaped slaves using the corporations’ misleading promises and harsh treatment to justify their actions. The corporations paint a much different picture, one where Contracted are good, lawful citizens and the breakers are simple criminals.
Corporations have become a law unto themselves. Lawbreakers therefore are disloyal, the lowest of the low because they broke contract. There are many ways to break contract, running away is just the most obvious. Most contracts include provisions and clauses enough to shift planetary gravity if they were still on paper. To the corporations a contract is the basis of all civilization. It’s not a corporations fault if they neglect to mention that most contract laborers shipped in from nearby worlds are given the most dangerous jobs, charged for their space travel and housing, and have next to nothing left after paying what they owe. That fault lies squarely on the Tracted; they should have read their contract more closely.
The Contracted do have their rebels and rabble rousers but the promise of a better life for towing the line is enough to keep many placated within their own ranks. The Corporations are also adept at twisting ideas with propaganda. Progenitor Workers, those born and raised on-world, often get preferential treatment and relatively higher wages. Progens are constantly told that they could lose their elevated positions to the influx of lower paid workers coming from abroad. This rivalry helps keep divisions between Drops, or off-world Tracted, and Progens. The Corporations don’t want the various peons banding together against their masters. Instead the work crews fight amongst themselves over imaginary differences.
Breaking your contract by yourself is rarely successful. Security Officers catch individual Breakers quickly and drag them back to their positions a little beat up and with a harsher new contract in place. Contract Breakers need to band together and pool their skills to have any hope of success. Having a plan and the respect of the other Breakers is a good place to start. Muscle, medical skills, diplomacy, agility, and sometimes plain old shifty street smarts are all huge assets. These ragtag groups are equipped with stolen equipment from their work postings and any items of worth they pick up along the way. What they lack in equipment and resources they can make up for with ingenuity and sheer desperation. Most importantly, they have their best chance at freedom when they rely on each other.
Breaker Characters:
Rulebook:
Ari Gaylen - The Daredevil
Adesi Haddonis - The Face
Will Kollis - The Reluctant Leader
Nells Turnbull - The Sneak
Trest - The Gen-Mod Brute
FerrumSky - Deep Underground:
Marius Bickler - The Former Prod
Talla Kellerman - The Progen Technician
Exclusives:
Micha Donnelly - The Longing Heart
Grippe Candera
By Nick Baran with Rob Ferrick. Edited by Mike Hughes.
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