Realm Slave Industry

Overview

Slavery is a part of life on the Blessed Isle, though not a massive part, with perhaps a million slaves scattered across the Realm itself and more in its service within various satrapies and allied states. The capture of prisoners for sale as slaves is a key part of funding any campaign by the Imperial Legions, and they provide a pliable labour force for vast agricultural plantations and industrial enterprises across the northern Blessed Isle. The life of slaves is one of powerlessness, but few owners are so wasteful as to cast their lives away with excessive brutality, with some exceptions around the peripheries such as the captive-scale units of the House of Bells and the fighting pits of Pangu.

House Cynis is synonymous with slavery in the Realm due to its holding of the Imperial Slave Monopoly: only Dynastic Dragonblooded may own slaves, but only members of House Cynis may buy or sell them. House Cynis thus stands in undisputed control of the Isle's slave markets, and must be brought in to serve as middlemen in any Dynastic slave trade. Because of this, many Dynasts simply do not bother purchasing slaves, instead renting bodies as needed and leaving them otherwise in the care of expert Cynis trainers.

Rank and Position amongst Slaves of the Dynasty

While the Realm sees almost as many different structures for slave administration as it has overseers, there exists a standard template for organizing larger slave holdings, be they the entertainment 'troupes' serving at Dynastic galas or the chain-gangs labouring in the Isle's mines and plantations. Such large groups of slaves are controlled by a strict hierarchical system in which all but the highest ranks are filled by slaves.

Dynasts, of course, are present in overall control of the slaves. The Slave Overseer is nominally administrator of the slave group and its facilities, but they will generally keep themselves separate from the day-to-day operations, as well as maintaining 'proper' residences seperate from slave pens. Actual administration falls to functionaries who are rarely Dynastic Exalts: patricians as well as ocasional outcastes or unExalted Dynasts serve in the positions of 'Billmaster' (responsible for the business side of things), 'Whipmaster' (responsible for security and discipline), and Lodgemaster (responsible for facilities, training, and general slave health).

Below those positions, all ranks fall to slaves. The highest rank of slave is the 'foreslave', which usually comes with individual quarters (sometimes even in the Overseer's household, but always outside the locked slave pens) and sometimes a small stipend or (more commonly) a chance for 'bonus' payments when goals are met and affairs kept in order. Where they are present, foreslaves will sometimes fill the roles of Whipmaster, Lodgemaster, and Billmaster, though they do not recieve those titles (and more than one may hold each role). Additionally, a foreslave is charged with the task of locking the slave pens every night, taking the key to a free official in the evening and collecting it again in the morning. The pecking order between foreslaves varies widely, based on the whims of the Overseer.

In the next tier come the 'mandoors' who are in charge of individual work teams. These tend to be responsible for smaller 'units' of slaves (a scale of 25 is typical for service slaves, while labour slaves can have one mandoor charged with an entire talon of 125). The mandoors are held responsible for maintaining order and discipline as well as passing on instructions... they tend to speak some dialect of Realm language as well as the native language of the slaves in their charge. They must account for their slaves at the beginning and end of a day, and must inspect their slave pen for damage or vandalism, organizing repairs and exacting punishment. The mandoors enjoy special benefits such as separate sleeping quarters and extra clothing as well as additional personal items. Mandoors are able to amass some power of their own, as they decide distribution of food and clothing to their charges.

In labour forces made up of slaves (rather than household service slaves), a rank of 'kaffers' exists, provided with special clothing and cudgels. These are charged with maintaining discipline amongst the slaves, under direct command of the foreslaves, and recieve larger rations as well as freedom from many restrictions placed on other slaves. They enforce curfews, patrol the pens for escape attempts, and issue discipline ordered by the Overseers, foreslaves, and mandoors.

The next level in the hierarchy are the jongens, who control 'fangs' of between five and a dozen slaves. They also receive more clothing and extra rations, though not so much as the mandoors. Jongens control the distribution of supplies in the same manner as their superiors, but given the small size of their commands and the absence of seperate quarters, they lack the same opportunity for corruption. While groups under mandoor command are generally linked by language and broad function, a jongen's fang will share a more specific role.

Below jongens are the 'slave mothers', who look after the children of slaves (including wetnursing) as there is rarely time allotted for slave parents to provide their child with care. 'Slave mothers' also care for sick or injured slaves. They are granted a small alotment for clothing, but often recieve less food than slaves of ostensibly lower rank due to their less-valuable labour. Still, the position is desired by many slaves in labour gangs as (though hard) the work is less harsh than mines or fields.

At the bottom are of course the 'unranked' slaves, but even within these there is a hierarchy. Slaves with skills (artisans, tutors, musicians, etc) recieve better treatment than those useful only for labour. Elder, experienced slaves outrank newer, younger ones, if only because they are integrated into the existing power structure and can work to divert food and clothing rations from new arrivals.

Freeing Slaves

There are two ways for a slave to achieve freedom in the Realm. The first is for their owner to request it by submitting a motion to the Deliberative, finding three sitting Senators to sponsor it. Should it pass, the slave is freed, but a Dynast may only free three slaves this way a year.

The second road to freedom is Exaltation, for a Dragonblooded is never a slave.

Revolt and Abolition

Rebellions amongst slaves are not common on the Blessed Isle, facing little chance of success: the population is hostile to escaping slaves, the military forces and ruling classes eager to see it preserved, and the slave population of the Blessed Isle is vastly outnumbered by 'free' peasants and citizens. Still, they do occur, the largest typically as adjuncts to larger popular uprisings as seen in the Unbroken Rushes Rebellion.

Abolitionist feeling too is rare, more an affectation of patricians or citizens who have more power over the free populace than Dynast-owned slaves. The Princes of the Earth, raised as pinnacles of the system both religiously and economically, and not interacting with slaves on a personal level, are almost never in a position where any reason for doubt would arise.

For every rule, of course, there are exceptions, and in the case of the Realm's upper classes this takes the form of the Society Recognizing the Inherent Immorality of Human Enslavement within the Perfected Hierarchy.

Punishments and the Correction Wheel

Punishments for slaves can be light or severe, depending on their owners and the reasons for their punishment. Typically, due to the system of rank and administration, slaves punish slaves, with masters and overseers more detached from the process, though some Dynasts encourage a more involved approach.

Created during the Unbroken Rushes Rebellion, the Correction Wheel is a large circular device on which a slave is affixed in such a manner that its turning causes them excruciating pain. It is a tool most often used directly by Dynasts rather than slaves, for the greatest infractions against one's master (such as disrespectful glances), and is not used refularly by all households or owners.

Yet, regardless of their inclination, there is a tradition which ensures all Dynasts understand their relationship with slaves, harden them for their future roles as Princes of the Earth, and ensure they do not make the mistake of thinking of slaves as being of more worth than they are: the Turning of the Correction Wheel.

There are various ways to select a slave for the Turning... some simply punish the last slave to merit discipline, some draw lots at random. House Cynis raises a slave alongside each of their children, as a loyal servant and playmate, and this slave is placed on the Wheel for the Turning. However the slave is chosen, when a Dynastic child reaches the age of nine and prepares to leave for Primary School, they come before the assembled household and turn the Wheel.

Officially known as The Society Recognizing the Inherent Immorality of Human Enslavement within the Perfected Hierarchy, and cooloquially as the Abolitionists, those within the Realm working for an end to slavery are an underground organization within the Realm which seeks an end to the system of slavery that presently exists there.

The existance of the Abolitionist movement has been a long one, but it entered official scrutiny almost two hundred years ago, when copies of the 'Abolitionist Manifesto' were left behind when, under cover of chaos caused by the Ragara Widow's Uprising, several raids occured to free slaves held on plantations and in markets. While most escaped slaves were later recaptured or killed, the incident brought much attention... little of it good.

The 'Manifesto' presented a philosophy which was a variant of Immaculate Doctrine. While the commonly accepted interpretation sees slaves as having been reincarnated into that position due to actions in past lives, and says that by owning slaves, a spiritually-superior Dragonblooded uplifts them regardless of how they iare treated. The 'Manifesto' claimed that this was a false doctrine... that the key to advancing up the Hierarchy was choice: slavery did not help the slaves because they did not choose it... they were as spiritually enlightened as other humans, and enslaving them blocked their opportunity to perfect themselves by denying them the ability to choose the Immaculate path. Likewise, a Dragonblooded's behaviour towards her slaves, the choices made in their treatment, were just as relevant to their place in the Hierarchy as the choice to be overindulgent or cowardly. Mistreating slaves was a sin because it dragged an enlightened Dragonblooded soul down into the mud.

Reaction to the doctrine was swift, if not fully forceful. The Deliberative declared the Society to be an illegal organisation. Neither the Mouth of Peace nor the Empress directly declared the doctrine heresy (neither she nor the Sidereal masters of the Immaculate Order wanted to change the status quo, but they both hoped to keep the option open in case future end to slavery became a useful political ploy), but both stated that those who shared the philosophy of the Abolitionists 'bordered on treason'.

Attitudes towards Abolitionists and slave freedom

Deliberative: The Deliberative favours slavery, and is unlikely to back any abolitionist measures, though one member (Cynis Tenezar) would approve of such actions. The Deliberative does, however, support freedom for individual slaves as a reward: each Dynast may petition to free up to three slaves a year, and requests which manage to gain the needed three-Senator sponsorship are almost never voted down.

Immaculate Order: The Immaculate Order supports the current view of the Perfected Hierarchy, making slavery a proper concept and opposition to its existance a religious wrong. Immaculate clergy themselves rarely keep slaves, as they are seen as 'worldly goods'... this at once shows that the most enlightened Dragonblooded do not keep slaves, while at the same time affirming n religious doctrine that slaves are, indeed, nothing more than property.

Dynastic Society: Dynastic society supports slavery, for a number of reasons. The largest slaveholders, House Cynis, have their power linked directly to continued slavery. The industrial Houses, Nellens and Ragara, require the slavery system to maintain the profitability of some of their enterprises. The military Houses Tepet, Peleps, Sesus, and Cathak, use the slave industry to garner additional income (enslaving pirates is one of few profitable ventures left to the Tepet, and provides needed income to upkeep the Peleps-controlled Imperial Navy.

Houses Ledaal and V'neef are indifferent on the matter... they benefit from slavery, but might also benefit from the other Houses losing it should the cost not be too high.

Within these groups, a minute few hold 'abolitionist' beliefs. Almost all keep these as secret as possible... there is a tendency by Dynastic society to shun those who too openly border on heresy.

Realm Society: Not being allowed to own slaves, non-Dynastic society has little to say on the matter. Privately, however, two groups ten to support abolitionist ideas: patrician industrialists who have been restricted by labour shortage and low overhead of Dynastic competitors support abolition as liquification of the Realm's labour would eliminate Dynastic advantage and render the market competitive. Peasant farmers also support abolition, because it would both raise the price of agricultural goods and open empoyment opportunities for their offspring in Dynastic households.

Slave Society: Is it better to die on your feet, or to live on your knees? This is the conundrum of the slave. Most slaves in the Realm come from the barbarians and nomads of the Threshold, where life is nasty, brutish, and short. Life as a slave may not be easy, but it is longer and more secure than life where they originated, and the worst Dynastic transgressions do not compare to what would await them at the hands of most Wyld barbarian raiders. This is considered, by some slaves, as a better life: they work loyally and in return are granted escape from the wilderness, food and shelter. Other slaves, remembering their barbarian roots, see their lives as slaves to be empty: what good is living if you are not truly alive, and you can only be truly alive when you are free. Those who believe this most strongly usually die very quickly, usually by their own hand or suicidal escape attempts. A few slaves are devout Immaculates: they accept their place as being deserved due to the sins of a previous life, and strive to serve as best they can to earn their way to a higher station in the next life. Perhaps the larger group of slaves is that whose members are simply clinging to survival: they serve to get food and avoid beatings, fear escape due to the punishment recieved if caught, and hardly dare to dream of better things. They are not happy being slaves, but they are resigned to it, and have little hope of change.

Legions: While looting enemy bodies and villages provides some income and pay for troops, Legion campaigns are hugely expensive, and their costs are covered primarily by the capture and sale of slaves. The Legions are thus reliant on the industry, especially in the absence of the Empress.

Magistrates and Black Helms: The Imperial Magistracy and Guardians of the Realm are concerned only with the letter of the law, and prosecute all criminals. It is illegal to free a slave one owns without Deliberative permission. Freeing or aiding the escape of a slave owned by another is theft, as is killing that slave. Being unExalted and owning a slave is illegal. Being a slave and trying to escape or aiding an escape is theft punishable by death. It is illegal to be a member of the Society Recognizing the Inherent Immorality of Human Enslavement within the Perfected Hierarchy, or to call yourself an abolitionist. By recommendation of the Empress, penalties for these crimes are to be harsh.