3305 Local -- Call For New Members

[Tricia50]

3305 Local was a clandestine and illicit miners' union formed shortly after the first dropships landed colonists on Rubi-Ka. As the inhuman working conditions in the mines lead to an ever-increasing number of deaths ("Without," in the words of original 3305 Local member Jakk Keaane, "even the respite of a lasting sleep,") these brave people banded together to form an organization to better their working conditions—an act expressly forbidden by Omni-Tek.

Through the resurrection technology that may be the only lasting good ever bestowed on the citizens of Rubi-Ka by Omni-Tek, these miners would die in service over and over again, each time coming back to work after only the briefest possible delay for recuperation. Since "workplace immortality" (as Omni-Tek called it) was thus guaranteed, little attention was paid to the safety or comfort of the common miner. In Omni-Tek's view, this mandated total control over the working environment and the workers by Omni-Tek bureaucrats concerned only with the maximum economic efficiency of the mine. If deaths were to be avoided, it was only to offset the cost of resurrection. Thus, any organization of the mine workers was forbidden by Omni-Tek as "cost ineffective spoilage."

Though powerless to officially lobby for meaningful changes, 3305 Local members worked to ensure the safest possible environment for themselves and each other however possible. This meant tending to equipment and watching out for each other as best they could, ensuring that those OT bureaucrats who seemed to operate with more consideration for the miners had more productive shift quotas, and banding together to alleviate the misery however possible. Sometimes, a grim gallows humor was their best escape.

As an ever-increasing demand for notum forced the men, women, and Atrox of 3305 Local to work harder, faster, and in more and more dangerous situations, agonizing deaths become so commonplace that betting pools arose each day, with the miner who died the most times (and the miner who guessed who would lead that day's death toll) winning the price of their daily dinner-and-drink, paid for by the other miners. No one would ever purposefully try to win the prize by dying the most times, as it was infinitely preferable to suffer the pain of parting with a few credits in order to forgo the agony of a death in the notum mine. This dark lottery became known simply as The Blood Prize, and it is recalled by today's 3305 members with the utmost pride and respect—we use it to refer to our struggle for freedom on Rubi-Ka, which will be the last Blood Prize we will ever have to earn.

The custom of the Blood Prize led in turn to something called the Black Pact, which played a pivotal role in the war for freedom on Rubi-Ka.

Omni-Tek would dispatch doctors to the mines only to patch up miners as a cost-saving mechanism. If a miner were too far gone, the doctor would simply administer life-ending treatment to hasten the resurrection topside, or—with more and more frequency—simply allow the miner to expire of natural causes as a way of saving even the cost of more humanely ending his suffering. This soon became common knowledge, and miners began to whisper morbid and somber promises to each other at the beginning of their shifts. If any particularly painful but not immediately lethal injury should befall a miner, his coworker would end his torment in the most humane manner possible. Thus, the Black Pact was born, and with it, the hopes for freedom on Rubi-Ka.

In order to facilitate this practice, miners began to clandestinely arm themselves with whatever weapons they could find. If it was both easier and more effective to fulfill your end of the Black Pact with a smuggled handgun or hacked nanocrystal, all the better—those miners who had to end a colleague's life with their bare hands—or worse, slow and cumbersome mining tools—frequently said it was better to be on the receiving end of that dire promise than to be tasked with the killing. Weapons became commonplace in the mines in short order, and the miners became expert at hiding them and concealing their nature. With time, not a single miner, from the lowliest driverboy to the checkweighman and overman, was without some form of weapon and a measure of expertise in its use.

Thus, when the first great eruption of revolution struck Rubi-Ka, the men and women of 3305 Local had the tools at hand to rise up against their Omni-Tek slave masters with furious resolve and effect. Though not the first work camp to rebel, 3305 Local was certainly among the first, and to this day those original members are remembered with great respect and admiration.

All of those original members were captured or disappeared in the early years of fighting—many of them no doubt imprisoned still, either here on Rubi-Ka or offworld. We, the current men, women, and Atrox of 3305 Local, take our name from this proud history and a tattered scrap of cloth bearing the insignia and motto of 3305 Local—"From the ground, up."

We may never know if this humble bit of fabric was part of a uniform, a hand-made battle flag, or simply a memento crafted by idle hands during a slow watch, but they were found with our most recent "founder," Tricia50, when she was rescued as an infant from a convoy of burning and ruined ground transport vehicles near Borealis.

Tricia50, who's name itself comes from a partially destroyed printout listing her as cargo, will never know if she was the natural birth of rebel parents, vat-bred by rebel forces, or part of an OT shipment of vat-breeds that was attacked by rebel forces, but she does know that whatever her origin, the heroism of the original 3305 Local members has inspired her to fight for the freedom of all Rubi-Ka. Whether she was born a slave or a tool of the master, she knows how she wishes to live: as a free citizen of Rubi-Ka.

May the 3305 Local continue to inspire us all, now and in our future freedom.

3305 LOCAL — "FROM THE GROUND, UP."

***
((OOC))

3305 Local is looking for mature players eager to work with others to take full advantage of the opportunities Anarchy Online presents to really kick ass and have fun in the MMORPG environment of Rubi-Ka 1.

Of course, "fun" means something a little different to everyone, but by collaborating together, we can create an open organization that has room for our differing play-styles and desires.

By-and-large, you'll be able to influence the direction 3305 Local takes in how it and its members relate to each other, other clans, Omni-Tek, the Council of Truth, the larger world of Rubi-Ka and even Funcom, out here in the real world.

Interested parties can send a /tell to Tricia50 in-game, reply to this thread, or email me at tricia50@semiautomatic.com.

[__________DarkMenace]

[__________DarkMenace]

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