Terra McGillis:Hawthorn Initiative

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The Hawthorn Initiative

AKA "The Lottery"

Proposed by Professor Janet Hawthorn in 4959, the Initiative promised to determine the factors that made a person suitable to become a Lancer. It was to be a colossal project, but by all estimation it would be both more cost-effective and more efficient than relying on the random nature of natural lancer screening.

Military and government personnel who wanted (more) children were encouraged to enrol with considerable financial incentives and promises of comfortable insurance. Their children would be augmented before conception and, alongside this, their medical needs would be met, they would receive a top education, and extensive training. In return, they would agree to a set period of military service once they became of age. In all cases, the goal was to monitor and test for pilot aptitude.

Those that passed (i.e. those who “won the lottery”) would receive all the benefits Lancers the galaxy over have come to expect. And the Union would use their physiological and psychological profiles – recorded data from their upbringing, and environment – to refine the next batch of “lottery kids”.

Janet Hawthorn, PhD

formerly a leading Union scientist, she oversaw a variety of Lancer screening programmes before spearheading the Hawthorn Initiative. Seeking to unravel the mysteries that elevated a Lancer from the general population, her ideas eventually became the subject of considerable military interest.