Themes: family vs ideals, leadership, loyalty, liberalism
Rory is the firstborn of the popular local politician Jacqueline Baciu. While they were still kids, Rory and their sibling Eli had to raise their terrible half-sibling, Frankie.
Rory has always tried to make their mother proud, and they have always been successful in everything they took on. Thanks to the global market, nothing is impossible if you commit and work hard.
Now that Frankie has become some local Suzerainist leader's protégé and Eli has left to chase their dream in Jamrock, Rory has been feeling the weight of being the reasonable one on their shoulders even more.
With unwavering determination, Rory was promoted at a very young age as a sweatshop owner’s right hand person. It is a lot of work and pressure of course, but one day they could rise to the top and become the boss. And from there, accomplish what their mother started and change the destiny of the neighborhood. The thing is - Rory knows they can lead and they should change stuff for the better. They just did not have time to think about HOW they should do that.
Everybody who lives in La Cage is mostly poor and desperate. The families and professionals living in Apartment Blocks are the ones who really try to keep some semblance of normality in their lives. The Block A is the wealthier one - it consists of people that are sure to have food even next week but are not entirely sure if they can get medical care in times of need. All while enjoying the luxury of reliable electricity and mostly repaired windows. The people living here have at least some "power" due to their jobs, but almost everybody is afraid that their little slice of paradise will be taken from them by relocation to a different flat.
Suzerainists believe in self-governance for Revachol and the very intense need for its independence. They mostly follow right-wing values, some of them are very nostalgic towards pre-Revolution imperium, and some of the Revolutionary communists might find themselves also aligned with this point of view. They are hostile towards the Coalition, partly Moralintern and very much towards corporations. They have a lot of revisionary sentiment.
Suzerainists mostly gather around the leadership of von Bergens, but there is a possibility for some discussion on who is best suited to lead them. They wear a Revachol sun as a symbol of clear allegiance to Revachol.
Globalists are people who mostly believe in some version of the current status quo, want to be under the Coalition control, believe that corporations can be reined in/ controlled/ regulated only by international control, or are not a problem at all. They would mostly tend towards centrist, centre-left ideas and they do not mind things taking quite some time. They wear blue forget-me-nots, showing allegiance to Moralintern and Coalition. At this moment, Globalists are hardly organized. The Moralintern mission in the block is trying to stay away from local politics. Jacqueline Baciu is considered a hero by some, old, washed up, and possibly corrupted by others.
They used to be THE cool kids - organizing disco parties, performing stand-ups, and not caring about anything (or anybody) else. Now, as adults, they are in charge of the best club in La Cage (no matter what The Second Club thinks) and will do anything to make sure their guests enjoy themselves. But the upcoming few days will also force them to remember the past they would rather forget: have they grown enough to face up to what they have done or will they continue to avoid it forever?
Everyone knows HealthiLife: the vitamins aren’t cheap, but what is your health worth? That’s the question its sales cadre asks as they go door to door, promising health in a little pill. Some swear by it but those who signed up to sell it only curse the day they did, somehow never able to get out from under the debt.
But now there’s a new game in town: Elixir! Health in a vial, treating all manner of ailments and slotting neatly into the HealthiLife product line. The cynical might say it’ll be just as useless as HealthiLife (and the foolish and cynical might say it will get you just as sick), but nothing sells like hope.
When the two managers go head to head, however, and secrets about the organizations are brought to light, who will come out on top – and who will get trampled beneath their feet?
