Background into on the "Morph" universe...
A bit of background on this universe:
The BioGen Corporation was the only company to successfully create a sentient species. It marketed these "morphs" (who resemble furries, oddly enough) as three general classes of laborers and indentured servents, based on their intelligence. (i.e., a worker class, foreman class, and the overseer class)
Indentures are represented by a locked bracelet around a morph's left leg. This bracelet has a "smart" tag embedded in it which contains the morphs model, serial number, and the amount of their indenture, which is anywhere between 100-700 thousand credits. The morph's owner holds the key to these bracelets, although BioGen has a master key if such a situation warrants it. Morphs typically are given names by either BioGen (in the case of a mated pair) or by their owners (if at all). Most are called "Morph" by their owners.
In this universe, there is a law about sentient beings being guaranteed a certain amount of rights. This law is referred to as the Morph law as it was put into place after BioGen announced that they intended to sell morphs as indentured servants. This law provides for medical care (although morphs have a nanite-based fast healing "feature", according to BioGen's market materials), and making sure that a morph's basic rights for a safe workplace and health are provided for. The state and federal agencies that enforce this law is known collectively as the Department for the Welfare of Created Beings. The federal branches serve as oversight for the states, and also handle interstate affairs. The state departments handle the bulk of the enforcement and other work. The taxes that fund these departments are also built into the Indentures. A morph generally earns credits toward paying off their indenture at the same rate as if an owner had hired someone for the job duties. A fair number of owners cheat the system in a variety of ways, however, such as not reporting overtime and such.
Our protagonist is a "Foreman" class morph model TIGM02 (Tiger-morph, Male, Bio-version 2.x), serial #10375. At the start of the story, he has been working for about 10 years. He has had two owners, the second owner purchasing him from the first after the first owner went bankrupt in the second year of ownership.
The BioGen Corporation was the only company to successfully create a sentient species. It marketed these "morphs" (who resemble furries, oddly enough) as three general classes of laborers and indentured servents, based on their intelligence. (i.e., a worker class, foreman class, and the overseer class)
Indentures are represented by a locked bracelet around a morph's left leg. This bracelet has a "smart" tag embedded in it which contains the morphs model, serial number, and the amount of their indenture, which is anywhere between 100-700 thousand credits. The morph's owner holds the key to these bracelets, although BioGen has a master key if such a situation warrants it. Morphs typically are given names by either BioGen (in the case of a mated pair) or by their owners (if at all). Most are called "Morph" by their owners.
In this universe, there is a law about sentient beings being guaranteed a certain amount of rights. This law is referred to as the Morph law as it was put into place after BioGen announced that they intended to sell morphs as indentured servants. This law provides for medical care (although morphs have a nanite-based fast healing "feature", according to BioGen's market materials), and making sure that a morph's basic rights for a safe workplace and health are provided for. The state and federal agencies that enforce this law is known collectively as the Department for the Welfare of Created Beings. The federal branches serve as oversight for the states, and also handle interstate affairs. The state departments handle the bulk of the enforcement and other work. The taxes that fund these departments are also built into the Indentures. A morph generally earns credits toward paying off their indenture at the same rate as if an owner had hired someone for the job duties. A fair number of owners cheat the system in a variety of ways, however, such as not reporting overtime and such.
Our protagonist is a "Foreman" class morph model TIGM02 (Tiger-morph, Male, Bio-version 2.x), serial #10375. At the start of the story, he has been working for about 10 years. He has had two owners, the second owner purchasing him from the first after the first owner went bankrupt in the second year of ownership.