Everyone knew that the glossy posters and expensive advertisements to get the turned to register were traps.
At least, Dave hoped everyone knew this. Though his logical thought process told him otherwise, otherwise no one would do it, would they?
On April 13th 2009, the world changed. People woke up…different.
Only some people. Some people woke up as mermaids or wizards or half animal people or simply super-powered humans. And it didn't take long for governments to organise a system to deal with it. Two types each ranked from class A to class E, and every "turned" person was required to register.
Though nobody knew the exact percentage of humanity that had been turned, Scientists suspected it to be around 41.3% of the population of Earth. It was up to the turned person to step forward, unless it was painfully obvious, no-one would know.
And so they did. Millions of people signed the forms, wore the bracelets and signed their lives away.
Because people do terrible things in the name of science.
If you received a letter, to tell you that the government had "selected" you for special training or unique job opportunities or any of the lies they made, your fate was sealed.
You could receive this letter at any time after being registered. And there was no way out.
The only people who were free at all, were those who didn't register. But this was a crime. A taboo. A felony in a class of its own. But Dave and Dirk Strider did not give one individual shit.
Dave was a Vampire. A Type 2 Class C turned (though some individuals can rank higher than their general species assignment, it's best to lay low). His classification roughly translated to "he wasn't human anymore and was of middle-class power levels."
Dirk Strider, was a Type 2 Class B turned. A no longer human entity of mid-to-high levels of power. An Incubus.
The two brothers were part of a small cult known as "the signless" as they bore no bracelet to say they were more than ordinary, and if they did, it would've been one Sollux de-activated. They bore no sign for their cult, or their government. And it spread like wildfire thanks to the big mouth of Karkat Vantas.
His father managed to communicate to his sons what the government's true intentions were, and through this knowledge, Karkat set up the cult in his name. His, and his twin brother Kankri's.
While Karkat himself wasn't "turned" his father and brother were. His father could make you believe or do anything he said, his words were gospel. Nothing could dissuade those who listened. Kankri, however, was fast. He could speak at 200 words per minute, and was getting faster, and could run 100 meters in 2.2 seconds. He could read a book and tell it back to you in ten minutes, 5 minutes if he didn't have to tell it back to you word for word. Not that anyone would understand him when he spoke that fast. But as far as the brothers knew, their father was long dead.