audio | interview with probably not a vampire

[omniavincit]

[ William jumps right in—unless they're brand new, most inmates should know his voice. It belongs to the guy who stays with them in the dorms and is usually out of bed before six in the morning. Maybe you recently heard it raised at Travis outside the commissary! ]

I spoke to the Navarch, and while it's almost unheard of for her to correspond with inmates, she's agreed to take questions on your behalf. I'll be sitting down with her and broadcasting the interview to the network.

For privacy and ease of organization [ and to minimize network arguments ] please message me directly with whatever you'd like asked. It can be anything, but I'd prefer it be interesting. If I have a problem with it I'll let you know.

[ This is not a threat, but it is wry. ]


[ WARDEN FILTER ]

We should pool our tickets.



[ ooc: TO AVOID A MILLION INBOX THREADS, just reply here with "private" in the subject line if you're sending William a question! Or ignore him and discuss shit publicly, I'm not the police. ]

Comments

text | jvolkhov | 1/2 | sent privately then ALSO posted publically

[saklas]

By definition, it's not private if it's going through you. For organization, you have a copy; for transparency, I'm CCing this to the larger network.

1. How are inmates and wardens chosen as people to be approached or taken, out of the literally infinite amount of the living and dead?
-A. If it's the case that this is only one of many ships, is it the case that everyone that ever dies comes to one of these?
--i. If it is the case that everyone that ever dies comes to these, why?
--ii. If it isn't the case that everyone that ever dies comes to these, how is it decided who does or does not qualify?
-B. If your jurisdiction and reach can only be said to cover this single ship, how is it decided who comes here as opposed to elsewhere?

2. Who decides what is a good or bad person, when deciding whether someone should be an inmate?
-A. What is the process, and who makes the final call?
-B. Is the judgment made primarily on the person's character? On the effects of their actions? The intent behind their actions? Is there room for cultural relativism, or does the person making the call simply go by the rules of their dominant culture and impose them broadly regardless of the inmate's environment?
-C. What is your take on the idea that moral rules are vehicles of established cultural power in order to ensure their own dominance is maintained?
-D. Has this person or group of people ever made a mistake?
-E. Why aren't there more impactful people in this system? Leaders of countries, Princes, that kind of thing?

3. What are your overall statistics of success versus failure in this system?

4. What kind of failure in an inmate do you consider a failure of the redemption system rather than a personal failing on their part?

5. What benefit does it confer to this system to not give inmates an opportunity to refuse "reformation"? Has this option ever been considered?

6. What benefit does it confer to this system to have inmates not be told what they're being charged with? Why do they have to go through a file?

7. Why are there no actual, trained psychologists onboard?

8. Why aren't wardens paid a salary?

9. Are you paid a salary?

10. Is the repair crew paid a salary?

11. What benefit does it confer to this system to be able to request blankets and foam cats but not what kind of food we eat?

12. Why don't inmates get attorneys?

13. Why is it that when some inmates graduate, they still have no choice but to return here and work as wardens?

14. Why is there such a lack of transparency between you and the wardens, and between you and the inmates, and between the inmates and understanding what they're supposed to be doing?

15. Passengers from other ships have reported cultures of abuse that develop and seem to become entrenched through the rules. What are your plans to prevent this?

16. In what way does an individual inmate owe the greater universe a complete sacrifice of their identity, values, and personal law? Why can you obligate some people to suffer for the good of the universe without their consent, and how much suffering do you consider an acceptable amount?

17. Has there been a warden promised a payment that couldn't be made for them? Here or historically.

18. If a warden's payment is impossible, are they told this immediately, or after they finish their work?

19. Why isn't the autodoc technology sold or available on worlds where surgery is risky and sometimes fatal?

20. What are the expected arrangements for inmates or wardens who need medical help that the autodoc cannot provide, in the event that there is no warden to be a doctor? Dentistry, severe disease, glasses prescriptions, deadly allergic reaction, stroke, chemical dependencies, or mental illnesses, for example?

21. Why aren't inmates provided with the things they are currently using to treat ongoing chronic problems at home?

22. How and why can you disable Court gifts in people? Is the effect permanent?

23. Why weren't we told about the additional staff on board?

24. Why are inmates allowed to come in dependent on substances that they then have to withdraw from all at once, when most medical advisement says that this is extremely dangerous?

25. How long do inmates take to graduate, on average?

26. If it takes an inmate months or years to graduate, how can they possibly resume their lives?

27. If it is frequent that people come to vessels like this and return home, why isn't the knowledge of places like this widespread?

28. Can people petition to be wardens, or do they have to be approached?

29. If someone qualifies as both a warden and an inmate, which is chosen for them and how?

30. Who founded the Admiralty's Transformative and Penal Reparation Fleet? When? Why? Who currently leads it?

31. Where is the Reparation Fleet headquartered?

32. How many ships like this are there?

33. Why can't inmates access more than a third of the ship?

34. How much of the ship can wardens access in total?

35. How does the SIRE work?

36. If the SIRE can see people's memories, how is that ethical? No permission was given to retrieve those.

37. What do you think about the general culture of ignoring boundaries and autonomy inherent to this system?

38. Are you aware of the deleterious effects of solitary confinement that have been well-documented among prisoners?

39. If an inmate's clothes can be personalized and the SIRE can easily read memories, why can't their introductory video also be personalized?

40. Why can't inmates write home or contact their families?

text | jvolkhov | 2/2 | sent privately then ALSO posted publically

[saklas]

41. Can I speak to your manager? I would love that. Thanks so much.

[grindset]

[That last one may or may not have gotten a snort out of him; no one was around to witness it, so we'll never know for certain.]

This is an impressively comprehensive list.

[saklas]

I like to think of myself as

a problem.

[grindset]

Not the worst thing a person can be.

I will re-read these and try to answer some - it likely won't be much.

A. Mercer

[lessandmorethanhuman]

I'm interested to see what answers you get.

[saklas]

Mm, me too. It'd be a shame if she promised to do this and then went back on it. It seems like could really undermine the trust that wardens have in her!

text

[sanctus_dei]

This is a good list.

Any of the wardens bother to respond? Do they have any answers to any of this already?

text

[saklas]

It's for the Navarch. I haven't seen anyone try to answer.

I don't think the wardens know most of this, either. The divide is about who consented to be here, I think. Besides that* we have more in common with each other than either of us have with management.

* Arguably the most important thing there is?

[sanctus_dei]

Right, but I thought maybe the wardens would step in with at least a couple of answers. Are they really that ignorant to their own jobs? I guess whatever they're being offered is pretty heavy. Considering everything else around here they could probably offer them whatever they wanted.

My guess is that either someone in their life is dead and the Navarch offered to bring them back. Maybe some of them are dead too and were offered the job as a chance to be resurrected. Maybe they died trying to save a drowning puppy or some shit.

[omniavincit]

Don't be passive-aggressive.

Do you want to ask her about windfalls?

[sanctus_dei]

I can assure you that I don't deal in passive aggression.

I don't know. Maybe. Maybe I want to keep it a mystery. Who doesn't love a good mystery?

But I'm sticking with my resurrection theory. If they can bring me back to life I'm sure they could offer it to people who actually ask for it.

Just be sure that the person you're asking it for would want it too.

[grindset]