Indentureship
Debt servitude awaiting citizens who cannot pay, and the fate Zander expects when his lease comes due.
Story so far
When Zander cannot cover the twenty-five thousand credit monthly lease he owes Dictum Waystation Controls, Limited on Squirties, he states his expectation plainly: he is going to get indentured.
Indentureship is the standard consequence of insolvency in Syndicate space, and The Embargo has made it inevitable for him — no transit through the tunnel gate, no refueling customers in days, not even reporters. The Uzi Jesus toy's advice to start a church is the only alternative on offer, and the Raul figure's cry of "never kowtow" only underlines how little choice he has.
Role
The debt-servitude endpoint that hangs over ordinary citizens ruined by the crawl's disruptions.
Relationships
Sources — 7 recorded facts, by chapter
- The crawl's exit: not freedom but a fixed term of seasons in a post the system assigns, with a stipend, a survival risk, and no way to check on the people you left behind.
- Multi-season contract of NPC service that crawlers take instead of dying, ending in freedom if they survive it.
- The contract binding former crawlers like Milk to dungeon service until a service quota is met.
- Post-dungeon servitude that broke Justice Light and cost him his wing during something horrific.
- The long servitude former crawlers accept on leaving the dungeon, with assignments that can turn lethal without warning.
- The contract offered to surviving crawlers, with a year knocked off as the quest reward.
- Debt servitude awaiting citizens who cannot pay, and the fate Zander expects when his lease comes due.