Umm?? Tell me more about the Stacked Deck?? What *does* it take to become a Card? (the concept for this story sounds super cool!!!)
Oh boy, you pushed the button, prepare to die >:)
I won't kill you, just "make" you read like a thousand words of text. Okay, here we go.
First of all, a WorldAnvil article I made several months ago (incomplete) with some of the basics of the Stacked Deck's structure: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-fracture-inscrutablecoy/a/the-stacked-deck-organization. Go ahead and read it (you might want to click the Queen of Diamonds sublink as well), I'll be here when you get back. Done? Awesome.
The Jack of Clubs is also head of facilities, the Ace of Spades head of operations, and the Queen of Hearts head of personnel, though as usual most of the practical duties of that position fall to the Ace of Hearts.
The head of facilities is responsible for the care of the building and the people who take care of the building (referred to as cook and clean staff or C&C); he's good at fixing things and keeping track of the maintenance schedule for the whole 200,000 square-foot building.
The head of operations takes care of missions for the Deck. Heists, protection details, smuggling of goods and people, if the Deck does it, she is the one saying how and when.
The head of personnel takes care of the people. The two of them together are responsible for the Deck and staff's emotional and physical needs: food, supplies, salaries. They make sure the Doctor (yes that is the character's name, yes they are an actual medical doctor, no they do not have a non-suspended medical license) has what they need, and also keep track of leave (in conjunction with operations).
To answer your actual question, what it takes to become a Card is mostly to have a spark inside of you, something that reminds a Suit of themselves and why they do this. They scout prisons mostly, and keep an eye on the homeless and orphans. Ember was found in a magistrate's prison for attempted assassination, Ace saw a hunger and a bright fire to bend the world to her whim, and so took the teenager in in the hopes of both encouraging that hunger and decreasing the megalomania (which is just bad for business). Eleven was a runaway that Jack found on a mission to another city. She was an excellent thief and he saw a need for belonging, for family in her. Prue got in by literally breaking into the compound and the Suits just kind of found them amusing enough to keep, any kid that would just do that must have courage in spades and a considerable mischievous streak.
If you're selected for the recruitment process, there's about a six-month training and evaluation period in which you're given the basics of combat and thievery and evaluated to see how much potential you have regarding it. The contract you sign before being allowed into the compound states that execution is the consequence for failure or betrayal, but in reality, failed recruits usually just become C&C staff (they can't really leave once they've been taught how the Deck works and the usually didn't have anywhere else to be). If you do pass, there's an initiation ceremony, you get your division's tattoo, and you're officially a member of the Stacked Deck.
Uh, hopefully some of that was interesting/answered your question! I love talking about this so anyone can feel free to send more, haha, I would rather do this than pack for school.
FCD taglist: @arieadil, @youareshauni
