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Non-cliche slavery in fantasy campaign settings?
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<blockquote data-quote="Grue" data-source="post: 6279918" data-attributes="member: 11989"><p>Seems to be a bit of cart before the horse thinking here... I'm assuming this is a world building thought exercise. Slavery exists(ed) for economic reasons, not as a moral test or some sort of cultural need as a social measuring stick. Other posters have covered why the economics of magic would not negate the utility of slavery in a baseline fantasy setting... making golems or spending money on binding is not cheap. On the filip side using extraordinary magical means to manage and control slaves doesn't fit well for a non-magictech fantasy setting... the lash and the collar are far cheaper tried and true methods (considering the magical training and infrastructure involved). If the economic incentive isn't there the other stuff has no reason to exist.</p><p></p><p>It's not a pretty institution... I've seen (and used) it both as a major element in something like an Al Qadim setting or just as a background bit of fluff for ancient world style empires. I'm not going to give a hard time to Paladins who don't go to extraordinary means about slavery in their native society (that accepts the institution as a cultural norm and totally economically dependent on it for generations... as long as they uphold their moral code even when dealing with slaves), but I will slap them around a bit if they don't take an opportunity to help slaves from the nearby Orc empire (who use their slaves as both a labor pool and food source).</p><p></p><p>The reason it is an unambigously evil institution because it is ownership of another person and their legal status is no more important than the master's favorite horse (at best). Servus non habet personam (A slave has no persona ... is not a person). We take laws and rights for granted in our modern era but there were ancients who saw the institution as morally wrong as well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Grue, post: 6279918, member: 11989"] Seems to be a bit of cart before the horse thinking here... I'm assuming this is a world building thought exercise. Slavery exists(ed) for economic reasons, not as a moral test or some sort of cultural need as a social measuring stick. Other posters have covered why the economics of magic would not negate the utility of slavery in a baseline fantasy setting... making golems or spending money on binding is not cheap. On the filip side using extraordinary magical means to manage and control slaves doesn't fit well for a non-magictech fantasy setting... the lash and the collar are far cheaper tried and true methods (considering the magical training and infrastructure involved). If the economic incentive isn't there the other stuff has no reason to exist. It's not a pretty institution... I've seen (and used) it both as a major element in something like an Al Qadim setting or just as a background bit of fluff for ancient world style empires. I'm not going to give a hard time to Paladins who don't go to extraordinary means about slavery in their native society (that accepts the institution as a cultural norm and totally economically dependent on it for generations... as long as they uphold their moral code even when dealing with slaves), but I will slap them around a bit if they don't take an opportunity to help slaves from the nearby Orc empire (who use their slaves as both a labor pool and food source). The reason it is an unambigously evil institution because it is ownership of another person and their legal status is no more important than the master's favorite horse (at best). Servus non habet personam (A slave has no persona ... is not a person). We take laws and rights for granted in our modern era but there were ancients who saw the institution as morally wrong as well. [/QUOTE]
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Non-cliche slavery in fantasy campaign settings?
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