Land of the Gweeblets: Prologue

No one is aware of the date in the Kingdom. The Great King has ruled for somewhere between forty five and fifty years. His father, King Gwenitine VII, reigned over the Gweeblets before him. Before VII, came VI, then V, and so on. No one can remember a time when they weren’t under the control of the Gwenitine family. All knowledge of the past was destroyed as far back as Gwenitine III. The original language of the Gweeblets, an elegant and descriptive dialect, was replaced with the Gwentinese under the rule of IV.
The Gwentinese language is very basic. It was created for the sake of communicating ideas in their simplest form: most thoughts are single words. There are no descriptive words. From a young age, the Gweeblets are taught only to serve the King. They have been programmed to fear the world outside of the Kingdom beyond rationality.
Each member of society serves one specific function and nothing more. They wear color coordinated jumpsuits that represent this function. Each Gweeblet is given a number at birth that will represent them for the rest of their lives. Although they may respond to names given by their parents, these names will mean nothing to the government. The number is each Gweeblets’ official name. This number will be significant in many ways, but it is most important in the raffle. This raffle enlists young Gweeblets into the King’s personal army, selects annual Birthgivers, and “rewards” a few lucky families each year.
Every Gweeblet serves a specific purpose, but each purpose serves a common goal; to benefit the King. Men are workers. They provide the labor in exchange for Duplings, the only currency in the Kingdom. The only place that accepts Duplings is the market. All the profits from the market go directly to the King. Therefore, the King gains from both the labor and the spending of pay. Women are Birthgivers. They have children when they are told to. After the child is born, the King chooses the fate of the child. He may allow the family to raise the child, a great privilege, or he may sell them to a far off kingdom.
Starvation is a huge problem in the Kingdom, as the King sells the majority of the food to the outside world. He pays workers too little to afford the overpriced market food. Thievery is strictly prohibited, resulting in immediate exile to the outside world. This is the average Gweeblet’s greatest fear. The King has numerous ways of watching for crime, and his punishments are extremely strict. No Gweeblet has ever gone unpunished for a misdemeanor. Perhaps none will.