One hundred percent playthings. We could never figure out what their Shifts were about. As far as experiments go, I've seen plenty, but these don't seem to achieve anything, other than amusement. And even the Drafts seem more like toy soldiers going to war than for any actual purpose. I mean, if you have the power to remove people from space and time and attach wings and keep an enclosure like the barrier here, what would you need them to help you in a war for?