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“What is the difference between dwarves of different colors?
“Short answer: None.
“Bio-Soft Interstellar invented dwarves. Bio-Soft Unlimited is their successor, and the largest manufacturer of dwarves. They chipped the dwarves to reassure buyers. What with biot rebellions underway in many corners of the planet and the solar system, few customers wanted the risk of free biots. They chose black as the color of authority and control. It had nothing to do with Treasure Island – so they said.
“Cybernetics Corporation introduced the white dwarf line simply to distinguish their dwarves from Bio-Soft's black chipped dwarves. Then they offered red dwarves with a series of upgrades. Other manufacturers offered other colors, but social pressure caused humans and free biots to desist from using more colors. Owners were simply too embarrassed to personalize or customize their dwarves. They preferred to pretend dwarves were either machines or humans, and not ask questions.
“Nodlon’s legal system is quite peculiar. Free men and biots live under one system, but biots under contract live under an entirely different set of rules.
“Dwarf children born to parents under contract are also under contract. They are chipped after birth. Synthetic children born artificially are also chipped. Agencies purchase synthetically born biots and collect the interest on their contracts.
“Biots born of free parents are free in Nodlon, and are not subject to the indignity of the chip. Save for the biots descended from those emancipated by Colonel Justin, few biots would be free. Only a handful of biots born under contract earn their freedom. Due to the interest on their contracts, very few biots can escape servitude.
“Either way, naturally born biots usually enjoy the benefit of having parents. They are not raised by an agency in a nursery. Albeit some agencies, such as Big Bee, have incredible success rates with their children and some parents fail to raise good children, biots tend to be remarkably stable and peaceable. Most psychiatrists believe this is due to the elimination of genetic disorders .”
“In the book, dwarves rebel under the Black Dwarf’s leadership. But they are mesmerized, and they are not acting of their own accord.”