Slavery

Slavery

At the beginning of the Epoch of Flame, slavery had only just been slowly dialing down in use over the course of a century. Before then, the practice of owning other sapient kinds to perform labor had been around for many millennia. The religions of the world did not see it as sinful and the practice had been regularly accepted in society. Contractor quests could include returning runaway slaves to their owners, Prythian paladins would process and identify slaves to make it easier to return them, and often the higher classes' palaces and keeps would be stocked with slaves. 

Slaves vs Serfdom

There is a distinction to be made with serfdom and slavery in that serfdom was technically not the same but the movement of serfs was restricted by their lords and they could be separated from their families if they were seen as needed more in another place than the one they resided in. 

Sources of Slaves

Slaves were often prisoners of war, debtors, and captured criminals. Slavery based on the superiority of one Kind over another that had one group force another into captivity is actually a more recent invention based on a confluence of factors in multiple regions. One key region that saw the last gasp of chattel slavery was Thrale in the first century PR.

Compliance

Slaves were kept in line by multiple tools. The whip and the chain were used in regularity to instill submission upon slaves. Physical beatings, painful punishment, refusal of nutrition, and other means were also used to keep slaves in line. One of the greatest tools to insure compliance was the covenant ring. These were magical rings that were made to link one's mind and physical feeling to another in order to ensure cooperation or a deep intimacy such as a lord and their bodyguard or two wedded spouses. The pain one felt would be shared as would the thoughts of both parties. If one died, the other died. Covenant rings could be modified into slave bands where one party would be excused from sharing themselves but the other would have all the effects of the band still active on them. These tools were used by rich slave owners to doubly ensure compliance not only from those banded but also to intimidate those around them who would want to ensure the safety of the banded. The bands were expensive but effective and often were given to the most influential members of a community of enslaved people such as the elders.

Waning Practice

Slavery has not truly been completely ended in the Epoch of Flame but the sight of slaves serving at their masters call in normal society and the practice of regular chattel slavery and indentured servitude has died down by 0 PR for multiple reasons. One, having individuals and families responsible for their own feeding and housing is cheaper than having to do so for slaves. Two, non-slaves can be expected to learn and expand upon their abilities without fear that they could use those abilities against their masters. Three, with the settling of Velas and Xatla the options to procure slaves was reduced as many were captured in war and then sold. Four, debtors could potentially be more profitable to bosses looking for laborers than slaves as one can squeeze money out of them for longer. Five, it became easier to convince a man to work and suffer in silence if he thought himself free versus one that could chafe under their captivity even if they had a comfortable living. Six, an abolitionist movement had sprung up in the last century before the Epoch of Flame which had slowly but surely ended the explicit practice. These types would succeed in most places except Thrale where other means were taken.

Modern Slavery

Slavery is not dead on the planet Tys. Prisoners are forced to labor against their will as terms of their sentences in places like a Thralish penitentiary or a Skalovian gulag. Sexual slavery and the violent coercion of men and women into prostitution to pay off debts or for pure profit exists in the dark cracks of the cities in civilization. Even chattel slavery is still practiced but the explicitness of its arrangement is often hidden.

Thralish Slavery

Thralish settlers captured the bestials found within and beyond their borders to work the land and till the fields. They had no legal recourse to freedom and were objects and possessions just like the ox and plow. Their children would become property. They were banned from learning that went beyond what was necessary to do the hard work their masters gave them. They justified this as an economic necessity along with a moral one. It was claimed that the bestials had no ability to form proper civilization by themselves and thus they needed other, more intelligent and forward-thinking Kinds to help them. Ignoring empires ruled by bestials across the water and in contradiction to the growing queendom of Wakunansi Hyenidae bestials known as gnolls who would grow to create cities and landmarks from profiting off of the land trade and protective guidance they gave merchants. Nevertheless, this idea would develop into Kind Burdenism, a belief that it was the civilized kind's duty to try to uplift the lesser kinds and bring them into the light of civilization. Another way the Thralish justified their practice of slavery was the supposition of the inborn supremacy of Kinds over others. Humans created empires, humans mastered magics to deep degrees, humans built nations, humans warred "better" than others and as such they were superior to other Kinds. This superiority meant the weak should respect the strong and follow their lead. After the end of chattel slavery in 46 PR, these ideas would feed the new Tierian movements.

Slavery in Play

If a player takes a slave, ask them to not unless they are playing in an evil campaign. There is no such thing as a lawful and good society that contains slavery. Any who would forcefully attempt to trample the dignity and spirit of another living thinking being deserves a bullet. Being seen owning a slave is cause enough to be imprisoned or summarily executed in most nations.