SARI Act

This page is a stub. If you've ever used wikipedia you know what that means. Please, if you've read a story with this character in, add a few details here and then remove this tag.

The Supernormal and Android Rehabilitation and Identification Act enforces mandatory screening for Atlantean crystal and Savant Radiation exposure in the general population of Hope City. Introduced after the Hope Tower Incident to ensure that people with supernormal abilities could be more widely tracked. Most people who test positive are subjected to dialysis to negate any powers they might have acquired.

Exemption

There are three classes of people who are exempt from the dialysis requirement:

1. Those for whom dialysis would be ineffective for some reason. Examples include Red Vermilion and Crimson Ogre.

2. Those who could not survive as normal humans. For example, Ivy's mutated symbiote has entirely replaced her circulatory system, and only it's constant Savant pulses keep her alive.

3. Those recruited as Enforcers, or licensed masks, to help the agency hunt down rogue supernormals. As far as possible, these are drawn from the first two categories, in order to minimise the total supernormal population. However, there are exceptions (including Antique Blaze fr exactly one year, Major Stealth for the duration of one mission, and Circadian as an ongoing badge), though these people are expected to undergo dialysis as soon as they are no longer actively needed by the city. (See the Circadian short story for more detail that could be included here)

Registration Marking

Individuals with Atlantean crystals are expected to carry a badge of jewellery bearing the ancient Atlantean crest (an eye within a triangle), in order to mark them. This broadcasts a low frequency data pulse when probed with radio waves on a specific channel, allowing the enforcers to check people if their equipment detects radiation on the streets. A person who is picked up by the sensors and isn't carrying the icon will usually be picked up by patrols and have a DNA sample taken; if they've been issued with a badge and aren't wearing it, they could be fined or even jailed. Hiding or denying a badge are also criminal offences under the Act.

A number of government-certified craftsmen are authorised to make badges in more aesthetically leasing forms, including chokers, pendants, hair slides, spectacles, tie pins, and even clothing. These are sold to individuals who already have a government-issue badge, and carry the same ID number.

Technically, there is a slightly different crest for radiation-exposed supernormals (the triangle is inverted); and one for people who naturally emit Savant Radiation (the triangle is within a starburst), but most people don't know that these have different meanings unless they've been issued with one themselves.

Some subcultures have started wearing the crest as a protest against the labelling of people; seeing it as an invasion of privacy. Their crests often look the same as Act-mandated ones, but don't include the transponder. This makes it harder for the general public to be sure if someone is genuinely a supernormal or just a "poser", but poses no real difficulty for the agency. This doesn't stop some groups (such as the Punk Renaissance movement) proclaiming their fashions to be an act of protest, and implying that the government wants to prosecute them for it.

Organisations

The act also officially created several subdepartments, under the now-public City Special Forces. See that page for more details on these. The existing departments (such as Hope One) were incorporated into these or disbanded, and their personnel assigned jobs elsewhere. However a significant number of scientists and military types instead chose to leave, defecting to organisations such as New Hope.