As Easy As ABCDE

Harry Tuttle: Bloody paperwork. Huh!
Sam Lowry: I suppose one has to expect a certain amount.
Harry Tuttle: Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light. Get in, get out. Wherever there’s trouble, a man alone. Now they got the whole country sectioned off, you can’t make a move without a form.- Brazil (dir. Terry Gilliam), 1985

Beliefs

The service groups make a simple, enjoyable job a major event through their oppressive bureaucratic regime. A true artisan finds no joy in the obscenities of paperwork, red tape and idiot bureaucracy. The office-dwellers may thrive upon this form-fueled free-for-all, but not the real nuts-and-bolts workers. Members of the Amalgamated Brotherhood of Crafters, Ductworkers and Electricians (ABCDE) take pride in the skill and service they offer on behalf of The Computer, free from the bottleneck of bureaucracy. Real workers must rise up above the tsunami of paperwork and fix what needs fixing. Take up the torch of freedom and set ablaze the stranglehold of administration. We must reclaim the lost treasures of personal pride and craftsmanship from those who would blunt our bowsaws and dull our screwdrivers.

Recruitment

The ABCDE recruit most members from disaffected workers in Technical and Power Services. Brothers listen out for frustration and grumbling amongst repair crews, sowing seeds of descent by harking back to the old days before they introduced the 463.56/C. The ABCDE also seek out disgruntled low clearance citizens who show great natural potential for handicrafts and toolmanship, troubled by a future trapped in the food vats. While the ABCDE can’t simply pull them away from the vats, they can offer an engaging pastime that provides genuine working experience and opens up the possibility of new careers in time.

The ABCDE apparently arose from the sense of frustration and anguish felt by conscientious workers stymied by bureaucracy. Bureaucracy oppressive weight seems to stem from CPU’s desire constantly draw focus to their strangehold control over all other Service Groups through paperwork. Citizens who have worked in the hands-on services appreciate increasing dependency on paperwork over just getting the job done. The ABCDE meet up in factories, boiler rooms and the outskirts of the Underplex, where they stockpile supplies and tools, gather information and brainstorm activities against the stonewalling service groups. The ABCDE has spliced into the network of internal communications that carry requests for assistance and repairs, and uses shortcuts and backdoors provided by the Tranz to get in and complete work. The Brotherhood seek no reward for their efforts, even though they constantly place themselves in harms way. The work ABCDE does has no approval and no paper trail, making the quick fixes as hazardous for the beneficiary as for the Brother; but, they do get the job done ten times sooner than through the normal channels. Getting the job done so easily opens up the possibility for new recruits and sticks another nail in the side of bureaucracy. The Brotherhood remain constantly alert for covert monitoring and traps set by IntSec. As a result, Brothers loathe giving their trust and friendship too easily to those they encounter in their travels. A member will trust to the trigger first, and then the citizen and the situation second – but only because they feel compelled to get the job done, no matter what. The ABCDE considers Pro Tech an upstart bunch of technophiles who use quick and shoddy repairs as a means to blackmail citizens into joining their ranks. Pro Tech takes no pride in its work. They would happily fill out a thousand forms if it meant getting their hands on some inane new gadget. The Brotherhood believes in freeing every citizen from reliance on technology. Technology is only a means to an end. This might seem all too clean and helpful for a secret society – and in truth, you would be correct. The rogue repairman facade keeps the lower ranks happy and provides them with something to commit to. As they work, they create a wide web of contacts and favors, implanting jury-rigged repairs with technology provided for by the secret society. The upper ranks of the ABCDE – the Inner Order – benefit considerably from all this potential influence and illegal taps into systems they might otherwise not have access. Members only ascend into Ranks 6+ through hard work, trust and giving up something truly damaging from their background to the Inner Order as collateral. Blackmailed into submission and obedience, the members of the Inner Circle fight a war of words and wiles against unseen enemies who would subvert Alpha Complex to their own petty ends. The Inner Circle believe in a pre-ordained pattern of events leading to an ultimate goal, a new age of order. Selfish powermongery and the chaos bureaucracy brings stand in the way of humanity ascension to a higher purpose. The Lower and Upper Magi, who occupy the uppermost ranks of the society, trace the origins of the ABCDE to a time before The Computer, to groups like the Free Mesons and the Knights Tempura. The ABCDE is a Class C secret society.

Attitudes

Friends: Communists, Free Enterprise Enemies: FCCC-P, Pro Tech, CPU, Illuminati

Recognition Signal

A tug on the forelock or bill of a cap, countered by a responding tug and a tap on the side of the head.

Advancement

At lower levels, members advance by getting the job done and making fools out of those who adhere to the established system over all else. Daring acts of repair in the face of overwhelming scrutiny, jury-rigging a solution with absolutely no standardized parts. Hanging Technical Services by the noose of their own paperwork and bloated infrastructure. Damaging administrative facilities, form storage warehouses and request processing centers. At higher levels, Brothers find promotion through undermining bureaucracy, subverting missions to meet certain criteria set down by the Magi and gathering useful blackmail material on citizens in high places.