Corper

I live for the Corp; work for the Corp; die for the Corp.

— Corper motto

"Corper" is a usually derogatory term for the families who stay their whole lives within a single corporation. They're born in corporate hospital and a burial plot on corporate catacombs is registered in their names the same day. Proud Corpers can trace their lineage back to logged tasks in labyrinthine systems and important contributions to successful projects. Some Corper-lines becomes too entwined with that of a franchise that they never work on anything else.
Most people in Megacorpolis still have lives outside work, but the Corper is an image of what the Megacorps hope things will be like and preferably soon.

Corporate Bloodlines

Corpers come from any race, class and walk of life. Most have been Corpers for decades with an illustrious few who go back at least a century, with names engraved into corporate legend for infamous all-nighters or spectacular marketing feats. Parents raise their children to be the perfect worker and loyalty is the ideal virtue, with productivity as a close second. Wealth and promotion is the ultimate measure of success. When parents can't get it for themselves, they put it on their children to get that promotion and raise the corporate ladder for their future families.

by Pat Research

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Many never do. Many spend generations stuck in the same rote role and assigned task. From parent to child, bloodlines of janitors and server technicians spend decades cleaning and maintaining the same area from cradle to grave.
Being a Corper comes with benefits, though. They're schooled in corporate schools without cost, enjoy corporate healthcare and insurance, and never have to think for themselves. For many, there's no better life to be had in the Megacorpolis.

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On the other hand, the life of a Corper is centered around their work. While every Employee in the Megacorpolis has the pressure to perform put on them, the Corper has the added weight of his or her entire family always hanging over their heads. Corpers are expected to excel at what their lineage has always done and there's no greater shame than to lack this aptitude. Abuse of enhancements, either genetic, cybernetic or narcotic, is common among Corpers. It can make them unhinged and unpredictable at times, especially when a project isn't going so well. Every Corper is addicted to Java; that's just a matter of time.

Traditions

I love my work, of course. Born and raised to it.

Most Corper traditions center around work, performance, productivity and the corporate structure. Promotions are cause for wild celebration while demotion can see them shunned by their relatives. Product releases are always great moments within Corper families, even to those with only a passing role in it. Records are kept of every task logged as completed, every product shipped and every word of praise fleetingly uttered by a superior.

Love and marriage are complicated matters for a Corper. It'd be unthinkable for many to marry outside the corporation and certainly so to wed someone working for a rival.
A potential spouse must have all the right preferences as far as products are concerned to meet families (and corporations) standards to be considered.

by WiseStep

One tradition all Corpers share regardless of parent-corporation is trash-talking of rivals and other Corporations. When Corpers from competing Corporations meet, the talk often escalates to fist-fights over whose product rankings or financial quarters, and whose is better.

While Corper typically have good salaries, they're charged for everything from their birth to burial, the corporate-assigned clothes they wear and corporate approved meals they eat, from coporate approved sources.

A Corporate View

Corpers are viewed with a mixture of jealousy and disdain by the other citizens of Megacorpolis. They have their entire lives taken care of and every moment has corporate backing. It is a level of security that is not found by others. But on the other hand, they've gotten little interesting to say to anyone else other than release schedules or bragging about their franchise.
On their part, Corpers view all others in three categories: consumers, co-workers and rivals. The first two come with their own complicated set of ritual and approaches, varying between corporations and even franchise-families. Rivals need to be beaten and shown how much better the Corper's franchise is.

by CaptainBroverdose

by CaptainBroverdose

"Vacation"

As a general rule, Corpers only take vacations when forced by their superiors. Burnout from stress, drug abuse and even death from overwork are horror stories told around the water-cooler between Corpers. It is weakness, they say. If they'd really loved their job and Corp, they'd handled it better.
Human Resources generally know better and try to manage the Corpers as best they can. Corpers are a good asset for a Corp and not one to be squandered unless the project schedule is really right.

by DeRezzurektion

No matter what other languages they speak, Corpers are all fluent in Corp-Speak, a sort-of-language that consists of jargon, business terms, motivational slogans and corporate shorthands.

Corper-Approved Clothing

Some Corpers dress for their occupation even when off work but usually possess a lot of project swag: t-shirts and coffee cups branded with franchise images.
While brand loyalty makes such things common sights across the megacity, Corpers often wear nothing else. Even if that means wearing a full mascot outfit.

by Youngblood Corporate Wear

Ronin

If a Corporation dies, the Corpers within it sometimes go nutty.
These so-called Ronin alternate between obsessively working on long-cancelled projects or seek horribly revenge on those who caused their Corporation's demise.
This revenge is sometimes exacted on customers who failed to appropriately appreciate the franchise, with very little concern for collateral damage.

by Even Amundsen

Some Megacorps are dabbling with some human experimentation when it comes to their Corpers, using genetic manipulation and other mad capers on to try and create a better worker.
Usually, Corpers are all too happy to participate and are compensated with one whole day off should the experiment go awry

Anarchists, hackers and malcontents loathe Corpers as everything that is wrong with the world. Meetings between the two rarely go well and it is the concept for many movies, from Rom-Coms to gritty revenge flicks. Since they are corporate-produced, Corpers always look good in these stories and always come out on top. Screenings are mandatory for Corper whose lineage is displayed on the big screen.

When a corporation goes down, either to bankruptcy or violence, no one is as screwed as the Corper families in it.