The Methuselah Council

ENTRY 001 CONTINUED

The biotechnology and AI development of Kobra World is the most advanced in the lower Orion Arm, and they make fabulous amounts of money in these two fields. Tissue engineering, advanced body parts cloning, cybernetics, and even total rejuvenation of the human body is possible on Kobra World, and its been this way for thousands of years. On KW you can literally live forever and these people are called "Methuselahs". Unfortunately this advanced technology has created some serious social problems on KW that needed to be addressed. Several hundred years ago, the Methuselah Council was created to deal with these issues. The Council only has authority over people 300 years or older. These undying people can amass an enormous fortune during their life and can wield extraordinary influence with those finances, so the Council was created to make sure those problems wouldn't crop up. 

This is how it works, once you turn 300 years old you go on the "MET Watch List" if you continue to live in Kobra World region, and every 100 years you must donate at least half your total wealth to the planetary government of Kobra World. The amount of money that Methuselahs give to the government is called "the Gift", and accounts for nearly 10% of revenues in any one year. Nearly a two-thirds of the Council are self-aware AIs, most of who diligently watch the finances of anyone over the age of 300. They make sure that the rule of giving up half your wealth every century is self-imposed, otherwise the Council steps in and removes all a Methuselahs money altogether. Most septuagenarians follow the rules and avoid the extreme penalty of Forfeiture that the Council can impose. With a massive overpopulation of one trillion people, the Farris presidential administration has made the cost to achieve this immortality extremely expensive to the average person.