Azi are mass-produced genetically-engineered cloned people, created by the Multiworld
Union political bloc in
C. J. Cherryh's epic
future history sometimes called the "
Alliance-Union Universe". This future history spans several novels and many accompanying short stories, and azi feature importantly in the novels
Cyteen,
Downbelow Station, and
40,000 in Gehenna.
In scenes reminiscent of
Aldous Huxley's
Brave New World, we are told how the minds of azi are programmed by
hypnopaedia, or
"tape", from birth.
Tape gives an azi his or her knowledge of life and how to be a person as well as
values,
worldview,
reason for existence, comfort in life, and ultimately,
instructions to be followed. If an azi becomes confused or difficult, his mind is erased and reprogrammed with new tape. If this happens frequently enough, he and his entire batch are considered defective, and destroyed.
Azi are engineered for quality, to be the best possible product. They are invariably beautiful, and Cherryh's novels contain horrific scenes of rank upon rank of beautiful, empty people.
Cherryh never explicitly comes out and says it, but azi are undeniably
slaves of the state that created them. The "Born Men" who own them are given a semi-divine status, and are to be obeyed in all things.