Second Wind
The Second Wind Program is a special scientific end-of-life program created and run by the Chimri Government.
Any adult Chimri citizen may register for the program at any time; age, race, health and all other factors are irrelevant.
When a Second Wind member suffers a life-threatening illness or debilitation, the program takes effect. The member recieves free, expedited care from the top hospitals in the nation, in addition to a monthy allowance sufficient to care for both themselves and any immediate family members for the rest of their lives.
In exchange, the patient becomes the property of the government.
Experimental treatments and research will be performed upon them, with any number of possible results both beneficial and dangerous-- should the patient die, their body will be used for further research.
The program is essentially a civilian method of donating oneself to the government for the benefit of scientific research and advancement-- as opposed to committing a crime and leaving oneself at the mercy of the Corros.
While some of the research conducted proves fatal, even then the patient's family is in the care of the government without further obligation. Contrary to popular belief in other countries, however, Second Wind members are not deliberately killed off; they are far more useful to the government and the Rose alive than dead, hence the program benefitting those people who are dying or may soon die.
As most active Second Wind members are near-death, it is believed that dying as a result of program study is a preferable alternative, especially with the free and generous care and medication offered by it.
However, it is not uncommon for members to recover from their ailments in part or completely thanks to the program-- or even, in some rare but notable cases, be rendered supernatural or even immortal in the process.
Even when this is not the case, however, many members and their families enjoy a quality of life they would otherwise have been unable to afford for the rest of their days.
Unlike other countries who typically use the term to imply joining the military, in Chimre, serving your country means to join the Second Wind program.
There is a considerable amount of social and often peer pressure on people living in Chimre to register, often with the insistence that members have nothing to lose and everything to gain from it, including a possible level of comfort typically reserved for the upper class, and the knowledge that one has assisted their country as well as the scientific community.
In slang, program members are often referred to as Windies or Windees.
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