HOW TO ENTER A CHILDREN'S CONSPIRACY

Specifics of many conspiracies have been suppressed on the Network, due to payments received for privacy and security. The following information is public: 

Many children's conspiracies exist, and consist of children from the ages of 6 to 16 who choose to work together for fun, mischief, and mutual profit. Most children's conspiracies exile members who grow older than a given age; the most common ages to be kicked out of a children's conspiracy are 12 and 16, but it varies by conspiracy. 

Large and well known children's conspiracies include: 
- The Starguides' Coalition, dedicated to long-distance travel, nomadism, and the secrets of surviving in strange and wild places; 
- The Young Hackers' Conspiracy, itself a junior wing of the larger Hacker's Conspiracy, which guards the secrets of computing and is known for performing elaborate pranks on public figures; 
- The Grace's Embers, an Asrai cult that believes that only children have the ferocity to create great art; 
- The Sweetkin, who devote themselves to creating elaborate and incredibly delicious desserts and candies; 
- The Children's Court, a historical re-enactment and political action society that has produced several candidates for Asterion's presidency; 

Smaller conspiracies are generally less well known, and many of them prefer it that way. Good locations to meet conspirators unknown to you include public libraries, nookhouses, and tree-scape parks. A ritual promise to keep the conspiracy's secrets is often required to gain access to its knowledge, but smaller sub-conspiracies often trade in secrets from larger conspiracies acquired by less than honest means. Many children start their own as well, though few of them become as successful as the major conspiracies. 

You may choose to make yourself visible to local conspiracies' recruiters as an interested potential recruit for a one-time fee of $20.

You may contact an agent to assist and advise you in finding a children's conspiracy you wish to join for free. 

Mae grins and hovers her finger over the button to contact an agent—and then pauses. She probably shouldn't do that while Clematis is there. Any information on finding and joining a children's conspiracy obviously shouldn't be given around an adult!

"…Hey Audrey," she whispers, "do you wanna join a children's conspiracy with me?"

"Absolutely!"

Then she looks over at Clematis, a little worry on her face. It's okay, right? This is okay?

Clematis just gives her a little wave, and smiles. It's transparently obvious that Audrey wants her to leave the room, and well. Sticking around when she's not wanted would only make her not trust her.

"Well, you two seem to be settling in alright. Lunch will be at noon, if you're in the area when that time rolls around. Have fun playing, you two, and remember you'll need somewhere safe to sleep once night falls. And probably grab breakfast before you go confront the whole world, hey?" 

She gives a little wave, and retreats from the kitchen to an adjoining room. 

"Okay mama! See you!"

If mama says it's okay then it's definitely okay.

Quietly, in another corner of the house, Clematis opens her own clamshell. 

"They'll be alright, right?" she asks. 

Text pops up on her screen. 

They'll be safe, learn valuable lessons, or both. You know the oaths of civilization. Agency must be nurtured in the young or the old will never learn how to be free.

You could stand to learn a thing or two from them.

Agent V, ID CODE 16472

Yay! Then Mae will pull her sister into a quick grinning hug before turning back to her clamshell and tapping the button to contact an advisor.

There's a moderate pause, then a girl's face appears on Audrey and Mae's screens. She looks significantly older than either of them, but still not yet an adult - perhaps eleven or twelve. She's seated at a booth before what is presumably another clamshell like Audrey and Mae's, and the sound of a crowd filters in from off camera. 

"Good morning, young heroines. You may know me as Agent R. This will be advice for both of you as a pair."

She lowers her voice. "I hear the two of you want to join a conspiracy." A sliver-thin smile parts her lips. "I happen to be a local information broker and fixer, so. Name what you need and want, and I'll tell you how much you have to pay for it. Pointers to public resources are free, but they'll take more effort to dig through to get anything useful out of. I make my money from you by paying attention to things nobody else does, by keeping my word, and by maintaining contacts in the local conspiracies."

She smiles. "If you don't have specific questions, of course, we can start with an overview of what's public information about the local players."

"…I have preferences and interests, but…" Mae grins, glancing briefly at Audrey. "Is an overview free?"

"As public information, yes, it is. Though of course I'm trying to convince you my analysis of it is worth something."

"Go on then, tell us!"

"Yes please!"

"The local situation as reported in the news then. As of this month, the largest three open players in Yūga are the local branch of the Young Hacker's Conspiracy, the local branch of the Children's Court, and our own home-grown Conspiracy of the Chronographer, a less-known conspiracy which drew attention for performing a hostile takeover of the local Grace's Embers branch a year ago and is an up and comer to the scene."

"The Young Hacker's Conspiracy locally goes by Tactica Complex. Known faces and fronts of it include Tactile Solutions, a clamshell interface design company, Team Tactica in the national deception-sports professional league, Taciturn Mentoring, which teaches computer skills to adults who have not adjusted to the latest new technologies, and Taxon, a limited-AI company which aims to produce highly effective visual classifers for plants and animals. It no doubt has other, less-well-known fronts as well. It is believed that its current meeting-lair is somewhere in the downtown core, but privacy contracts and sworn promises have thus far prevented its exact location from being leaked to the press or the network."

"The local branch of the Children's Court goes by the Duchy of Peaches. Known faces and fronts include the Just Peachy historical bakery and il'ka, the Practice What You Peach historical re-enactment and masquerade ball society, the Orchard courier delivery network, and the Apples to Peaches translation and localization service. The Duchy has faced outcry from some segments of the population in the past for its strong endorsements of lower voting and drinking ages and men's rights; the local branch is considered a socially progressive political commitment to be a member of. There is a shadow court some refer to as the Duchy of Plums which accepts more socially conservative members, but it avoids the public eye and little is available from the archives."

"It is well-known that the Duchy of Peaches holds open houses and reenactment events in Emberglow Park and Manor every monday, wednesday and friday. Where the Duchy holds its more private meetings is unknown. One would assume the more private rooms of the Manor are used in some cases, but it seems like too much of a security risk for a large conspiracy to keep all its secrets in a building that is often open to the public. There is likely some nondescript office or club in another location where more senior members meet in person." 

"The Conspiracy of the Chronographer is an atheistic alternative to Grace's Embers. It is a writer's society focusing on fictionalized biographies of its members. It occupies the inherited club and former home of the Grace's Embers, the Hearthside Inn. It is unclear how it managed to get the financial upper hand against a branch of Grace's Embers, but the star of the Grace's Embers has been broadly on the wane, so it may not have been a question of if but when."

"As the Chronographer's Conspiracy is a recent emergence onto the scene, less is known about its faces and fronts. Many of the old fronts and faces of the Grace's Embers have begun to fail with their withdrawal from the city, and it is unclear if the Cronographer's Conspiracy will step in to keep them afloat."