Jargon
Splicing mills
Originally military-run, these are facilities for human gene-splicing. When the war ended, the Republic's splicing project was deemed unethical and shut down; but smaller black-market mills and clandestine operations have since popped up.
Gen-Zero hybrids
The original military test subjects. The test group was made up of volunteers, cosmetic splicing aficionados, relatives of the personnel involved in the experiments, child soldiers and wards of the state. During these tests, the military contractor's scientists discovered that young children adapted better to the animal gene.
First-Gen military-grade hybrids
The military's first successful run of bio-engineered soldiers. The children used for this first issue were test-tube babies, created using processes based on cloning and IVF paired with artificial womb technology (In-vitro artificial birthing, or IVAB).
Second-Gen military-grade hybrids
An attempted mass-production run using DNA from the first-gen hybrids. The results were less than satisfactory, as the majority of the second-gens had developmental disorders and health problems.
Consumer- or “Pet-grade” hybrids
In both the first and second generations, hybrids born with less animal traits that were not as useful for military purposes were sold to high-end consumers as exotic pets.
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What determines the grading of military-use vs. consumer/pet?
Type of DNA used: Hybrids with DNA from wild animals automatically fall under Military classification.
Presence of weaponizable traits/potential for public harm: Hybrids with claws, working wings for flight, scales/hard skin, augmented strength, etc. are reserved for military applications. Those born with very few dangerous traits may be slated for sale to consumers.
Presence of defects: Any physical, neurological or developmental abnormalities that hinder the hybrid's ability to fight disqualify it from military use. If the hybrid has few dangerous traits and is healthy enough to be sold, it may fall under Consumer classification.
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As the "pet" hybrids became popular, child protection groups and other human rights organizations decried their production and sale as unethical. Not long after, a whistle-blower from one of these groups discovered the gen-zero hybrids that were being field-tested on the war front.
It became clear with protest after protest that the splicing project would be shut down. Any gen-zero hybrids with families were discharged, consumer-grade hybrids were sold off, and hybrids deemed either too dangerous to be released to the public or too sickly to be sold were slated to be euthanized in what came to be called “the Purge.”
The Purge survivors, joined by a number of discarded Pets and black-market specimens, fell into three distinct categories as they struggled to get by in their new surroundings:
1. Hybrid (or “Beast-Ear”) Gangs
Organized groups that are highly territorial. Their leaders are often called “alphas”. Many of these groups are wary of humans or outright hostile toward them. Oftentimes, the anti-human gangs resort to petty crime to obtain necessities rather than seeking any kind of assistance or employment.
2. Strays
Loners and small, wandering groups. Many of them are sickly and/or skittish and reclusive, relying on begging, scavenging and charity. Some of the braver, more able-bodied ones look for whatever employment they can get without legal documentation.
Hybrids are legally considered property like pets or livestock, so child labor laws do not apply, and some human-run businesses exploit them. An alternative is working for trading guilds or local clinics, which pay in food, clothes and other necessities.
3. Stray colonies
Communities of strays with more permanent settlements. They tend to be less aggressive and more likely to eke out a living through semi-legal means than the gangs, hiring themselves out to whomever will allow them to work and sharing their resources amongst themselves.
Trading Networks (or "Trade Guilds")
Human-run co-ops started during the war that provide necessities and employment to the needy in the Harlein Quarter. They operate by either offloading excess stock or acting as unofficial staffing agencies. Some of them work cooperatively with hybrids. The guilds conduct their business in an area commonly called the Trading Market.
