Manpower Incorporated (Honorverse)
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Manpower Incorporated, is about a business found in the Honorverse, a fictional universe created and developed by David Weber.
Manpower Incorporated is a Mesa based business that specializes in manufacturing genetic slaves. Although slavery is outlawed in much of the galaxy, the company does not seem to have any trouble staying in business. Its main market can be found in the Solarian League.
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[edit] Manufacture
Most of Manpower's slaves are artificially conceived. Manpower "gengineers" first manipulate genetic material so that the final product suits the purpose that he or she is designed for. That genetic material is then used to grow a batch of slaves in a breeding chamber. Each batch contains between three to five infants.
Although the company officially claims to know enough about the human genome to be able to produce slaves that will perform exactly as they intend them to, this is not the case, and unofficially, the company knows this. Therefore all slave children are subjected to the "phenotype development process", a brutal conditioning process that is probably intended to break a slave's spirt.
[edit] Types
Manpower designs slaves for a variety of roles.
[edit] Pleasure
Pleasure slaves are essentially sex slaves. They are designed to be attractive, submissive, and libidinally energic. As part of the phenotype development process they are frequently raped by one of Manpower's phenotype technicians from the age of nine onwards.
As a group, pleasure slaves are often clever and a high percentage of them manage to escape after they are sold.
[edit] Mechanics
These slaves are produced for assembly and manufacturing jobs. Physically they are fairly strong, and mentally they are mechanically inclined.
[edit] Other types
Manpower also offers personal servants, slaves bred and trained as personal servants, technical combat, and heavy manual labor.
[edit] Audubon Ballroom
Although the phenotype development process is intended to increase submissiveness and reduce escape rates, a fair number of slaves do escape. Of those who do, most take new names, and live the rest of their lives in obscurity. Some however, join the Audubon Ballroom, and fight back against Mesa. Manpower employees who are captured by members of the Ballroom, often die very badly.
[edit] References
- Weber, David & Eric Flint. Crown of Slaves Baen Books 2005 ISBN 0743498992
- Flint, Eric "From the Highlands" a short story in Changer of Worlds ISBN 0743435206
