Where there's a thread of wool

Where there's a thread of wool there might be a notch o' cotton

Sally was the head of imperial collections. She had been for thirty-something years, which would've made her at least 30 years old, if it wasn't for the fact that she had started 10 years before she was born. Time of birth is of little importance to the Elders of The Imperial Matters. Or ETIM for short. The ETIM largely regarded living beings as ephemeral drones and of little to no importance when it came to matters of state. Calling them 'Elders' was a little off the nose as well. They're immortal and ageless. But compared to the chosen few who worked besides them they were as old as time - and as such 'elders' semmed appropriate.

Sally was picked from a litter of approximately 3500 possible birthed children in the realm. The rest of the time-bounded mortals were born in the 15 years after her recruiting. It's reasonable to assume most of them has died in the first few after their births – the workerbees of the empire seldom lasted longer than a few years. This is one of the reasons Sally thought of her current employment and living situation as a positive. The full-day full-week slavery in the Recordings Chamber os the ETIM's Temple was one of the negatives. Well, that and torturical living conditions – although the chosen aren't really living, so 'conditions of existence' would be more accurate.