evildmguy said:
The best slave race is the one that doesn't know it is a slave race.
agreed. I think in DS9 I saw what I always thought was the best way to run a slave empire. The slaves, like in Ancient Egypt, need to worship their masters. The
Dominion in DS9 had Founders at the top, with Vorta and the Jem'Hadar as the slave races. The Vorta were the science and diplomacy branch of the slaves and the Jem'Hadar were the muscle and military branch. Admittedly the Jem'Hadar usually got others to do the manual work, but they didn't seem opposed to doing it if they had to...
In addition to the Vorta and Jem'Hadar worshiping the Founders, they had other chains. Ketracel white bound the Jem'Hadar since they couldn't live without it. If the Vorta began to display any signs of free thought, they were killed and the clone replaced with a clone.
So if I was going to have slave races, I'd come up with a religion for them where the master race was to be worshiped. I'd reward some slaves by making them priests and I'd make sure their priestly powers where tied to gods (their masters)...that way they'd lose power if they stopped.
Then I would also create a disease that could never be permanently cured <genetic disease?> and that the slaves would need a supply of something from their gods (masters) to survive. Create a ritual around the substance...maybe saying it was part of their god they were eating, part of his essence.
My most recent slave race IMC, is the goblin race. They use to be halflings. The males look like regular goblins, but the females look like female halflings with goblin skin/eye colors. The males are the brute force and the females are the intelligent and charismatic. If they are good slaves, then their life is extended. If they are not, they are disposable.