Pen (Term)

Places where Gen are kept and sold for the Kill. Citizens who pay their monthly Gen tax to the government receives a Gen each month. (See: Secret Pens)
Junct Territories are usually governed by "settled in bands of Freeband Raiders" which have captured large enough numbers of Gens to breed.  As when roving and Raiding, the "Leader" distributes the "spoils."  These settled-in bands of Freeband Raiders gradually become a civilization by establishing Gen breeding farms from which they dole out Gens into the Pen distribution system. 
The Pen system acquires Gens for the Kill from Genfarms, from Sime parents whose children Establish, and from Licensed Raiders who are civilized juncts who systematically "raid" (hunt and harvest) Gens from nearby Gen settlements.  Licensed Raiders operate under strict rules designed to avoid reprisals from local Wild Gens, and to avoid over-hunting an area, driving the Wild Gens away. 
Licensed Raiders specialize in supplying Choice Kills to the Choice Auctions.  Genrunners specialize in supplying children to the Pens on the probability that the child will Establish and become Killable.  Unlicensed Raiders are generally citizens down on their luck and unable to afford Pen Taxes, so they hunt Gens out-Territory for their own Kills, ignoring husbandry laws and incurring the wrath of the Licensed Raiders who generally dispatch them on sight.  Unlicensed Raiders may also be Sime citizens out for a thrill, often after a few days of carousing. 
Freeband Raiders are mostly children who changeover out-Territory and combine efforts to Kill and Kill and Kill indescriminately.  They rarely live more than five years after changeover.  (see lifespan graph)
Usually, Pens do not breed Gens.  We see an exception in the novel First Channel, as civilization of juncts reaches a critical mass and change begins. 
(Source:  NOTES TO COPYEDITOR / To Kiss or To Kill)  “Pen” is capitalized when it refers to a place where Gens are kept, but not when it refers to a pen for cattle or to a writing instrument.
Category:Terms