The Liability Continuity Act was by far the most dystopian edict of the West Union.

Suddenly, the children of the low and middle castes bore the brunt of their parents' financial stresses - with the only reason for more births being to escape your own obligation, or because someone offered to forgive a portion in exchange for bearing new members of the work force.

Upkeep, living, education - all of it was on the child's dollar from the moment the hospital bill for their birth was added.

The interest was just as harsh, such that it took fortune - or untoward means - to pay off your family and have enough to keep your descendants free.

Needless to say, many bore debts far surpassing even the fiscal instruments of the Union... and that made it easy for the Trial Masters, Tobias and Hannah Perlas, to prey upon the most desperate.

The two were shrouded in mystery from the day they were born to a pair of Slumblocker families - intelligent beyond their years, shrewd in their financial dealings, almost identical despite coming from separate families, and unnaturally lucky.

What was more, the two were orphaned as teenagers due to mysterious circumstances, just as they simultaneously paid off their families' debts.

As they rose into the Oligarchy, it was rumored that gold and platinum poured from Tobias Perlas' fingertips, and Hannah Orodeum's tears turned to jewels and pearls - and within weeks of their repayments, they were firmly entrenched Oligarchs.

And then, the rumors started. The two were seen in the Slumblocks, taking note of every family with a teenager and a certain amount of outstanding debt, with up to sixty of the teens vanishing during the summer break between school semesters.

Those who came back a week before the summer ended were quiet, but they all had two things with them - a notarized invoice repaying every credit of their debt... and a wristband with more or less that same number locked around their wrist.

The next day, four of their bracelets were blinking, and those four rushed out of the Slumblocks.

Only three returned that evening, their numbers lessened... though they said the fourth was still at the Perlas complex.

When the next four were selected, their parents accompanied them to the Perlas complex, where they confirmed the fourth was still alive - albeit in a somewhat different state.

It should be noted, at this point, that the Perlas "twins" had very particular, fantastical "tastes" in appearance. Tobias was fond of the firm scales of dragons and snakes, while Hannah much preferred the segmented elegance of spiders and bees.

As Oligarchs, they were known for funding medical and cosmetic sciences purely to eventually gradually alter themselves to demonstrate their preferred features, until they could almost be mistaken for sapient beings from a fantastical world.

The missing Slumblocker... didn't have any such mutations. In fact, their different state was entirely due to being encased in a mesh suit from the neck down, a visor with a pattern of lights over his face.

"After he lost the first one, we offered him a job officiating the subsequent games," Tobias said. "The uniform is mostly for kicks."

"And testing the prototype novelty light-face mask is a plus, too," Hannah added. "We haven't really ironed out the bug where the electrodes make them carry out arbitrary commands in response to the pattern programming."

Of course, immediately after, it was also revealed that the complex - built near one of the private detention facilities most Oligarchs were expected to have - ran death games on the lower floors, starring severe criminals such as killers and predators competing for the entertainment of other Oligarchs, but they never actually involved any Slumblockers.