Mercurian Clones

The Empire shipped the majority of its prisoners to Mercury to work on in the mines and on the Mercurian Ring project. Due to the dangerous nature of the work and the need for experienced workers each prisoner is fitted with an Exhaltation Chip and if they die or are crippled are transferred to a new cloned body.

Problems with the cloning process started after the House War. An unknown factor was introduced into the process during the attack and clones started to come back physically changed, more bestial with each generation. The cloning technology was originally purchased from the Jovian Collective and the Empire lacked the ability to restore it. Each clone got 16 lives before they were considered too far gone to work, which was enough to stop a cure being cost effective.

The clones (referred to as clones even on their first 'life') are some of the most highly skilled technicians in the system and often get shipped to other planets, or into the belt, for specialised jobs.

Debts
All non-capital crimes in the Empire are punishable by fine. Those that cannot pay are sent to Mercury to pay off that debt, plus fees for transport and induction. In practice few can service the interest on their debt, let alone pay off the principle. Bonuses for dangerous work and extra shifts are available, but usually balanced out by recloning fees, still they offer a chance at release.

Names
When prisoners are brought to Mercury they lose their name for the duration of their stay. They are assigned a 6 digit alphanumeric code which is prefixed by a hexadecimal digit representing how many lives they have lived (0-F). Among the prisoners they also give themselves more conventional names.

Clothing
Prisoners are assigned regulation overalls and heavier armoured suits when mining. They mark themselves as on breaks by shrugging off the tops half of the overalls, usually with a vest beneath.

To protect against glare they are all assigned heavy duty goggles and always wear them, or have the on their forehead or round the neck ready.

Mutations
In the House War of 31 IY a nanovirus was introduced onto Mercury and corrupted the cloning technology. Initially all attempts to clone resulted in failure but after extensive work to cleanse it from the system viable clones became possible again. Even so the system is still not perfect and every time a new clone is processed it becomes more corrupted than the last and becoming more bestial in nature. The effects are unpredictable but can include an increase in size, muscles and hair, as well as developing fur, scales, tails, claws and bony horns. Ancestral traits can also become more pronounced.

There are rumours of clones that continued to mutate, becoming larger and more bestial over time, eventually leaving the prison facilities and living on the surface but it is assumed these are all fanciful.