Like most things, it began with the end of the war.

The government found that after the rebellion, society needed to be repaired.

Too many liberties, after all, had proved to create a society of unrest. Even worse, the years before the rebellion had uncovered a disastrous trend: people, given free reign over their lives, tended to delay families, marriage, and children to alarming rates. Officials were certain the weakened state of the family was the cause of the rebellion, and such destruction needed to be stopped at all costs.

Even more concerning to the officials was the unequal distribution of the workforce. It seemed that too many citizens wanted to obtain cushy official jobs, leaving the newly reformed society without the base labor source it desperately needed to rebuild. After months of debate, it was decided. Citizens would be happiest, the government proclaimed, if the Officials took a greater role in people's everyday lives.

Skeptics would point out that the Officials seemed more concerned with the threat to their own livelihoods, but that was the type of talk that only existed in hushed whispers of empty halls.

Instead, most people kept their heads down and accepted the rule of the government through its Officials without a second glance. Each child was educated by Officials until their eighteenth birthday. On that day, each new citizen had two options. They could be married by "selection", or be sorted through the Officials' mate coordination system. Marriage by selection was the equivalent of being in love, and though disfavored by the Officials, was a way of appeasing those most critical of the new government.

Additionally, to cut down on government expenses, each spouse would be given different assignments. One spouse would stay home as the domestic partner (known as the "Domestic") while the other (the "Career") would be required to work, vote, and participate in any Official business. This allowed the Officials to allocate resources and save unnecessary waste by designating one "point of contact" for Government business. This was a modern society, a new beginning, so there was no need to discriminate between heterosexual and homosexual couples.

It was all bullshit.

Effectively, the new government created two separate classes. One with the ability to do whatever they wanted within the confines of the law, and the other to be almost completely crippled. But people found a way to make it work. After all, there was not much of a choice.

However, the government quickly caught on to the schemes of many to opt out of the Official program. For the first few years after the new regime, parents would encourage their children to marry by selection, if only to circumvent Official involvement and to choose their own destiny. But to the Officials, these radicals bordered on fighting for the very thing that destroyed the previous establishments: liberty. And that was not acceptable. Thus, a "compromise" was made. Individuals could select whether to opt out of the Official mate selection system, but they would then be unable to choose their future career or status as a domestic or official partner. Officials believed the selection penalty would be strong enough to make every citizen think twice about avoiding the mate selection system.

But even then, this was not enough to spur the rapid growth of the labor force the Officials needed. The new regime had to rebuild and while the top priority had been the physical infrastructure to support the government, the labor force had been crippled by the previous wars. Especially since those in actual positions of authority did not want to have to debase themselves with menial labor.

So it was decided.

Every three years, every woman in a heterosexual couple and the domestic in each lesbian couple were to begin fertility treatments designed to encourage re-population as quickly as possible. At the end of the six week treatment, lesbian couples were administered IVF through sperm "donations" forced on gay couples. And, in the supernal act of mercy, each Mayor that oversaw the local officials and enforcement were granted the power to give three deferrals—or exceptions—every year.

It was not a fair system, but it was life.