Appendix I: Guide for the Perplexed

So, what’s going on here?

The Hanging Academy is set in a world where everybody is either a natural dominant (a “topper”) or a natural submissive (a “subling”). Toppers usually get better jobs than sublings, but this is not universal. Sublings are generally required to die by age 40, before their production of thanerone starts its rapid fall-off. A few with important positions are allowed to live past age 40, but most die by age 35, and often make elaborate plans for their final exit. Sublings are, for the most part, content with their position in society: it’s a lot better than it was 50 years ago, and their natural submissiveness makes their societal role at least acceptable, and, for most of them, desirable.

The most common method chosen is asphyxiation: hanging, strangling, drowning, or suffocation. Hanging is popular because the subling can have a big party and put on a a display of struggling in the noose.

There are several colleges of hanging. The Hanging Academy is the most prestigious, and only their graduates can use the title “Noosemeister”.
Think Caltech vs. MIT, Georgia Tech, Florida Tech, etc.