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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4644481" data-attributes="member: 54707">My players have both taken slaves as gifts and bought them, to then turn around and free them, sometimes to make a point to their former masters about how everyone should be treated respectfully or that you can free slaves and thereby turn them into voluntary and dedicated servants.For instance once my party went into Bulgaria where they bought two men (former chieftain sons captured in war) and then freed them and offered to pay them to retain them as servants. Both men agreed if they were allowed total freedom in three years (they didn't really get the "you're now completely freed" idea, they had been raised as Slavs). In any case they eventually became devoted men at arms, and they were often useful in negotiations with the Bulgar court.Anyways the party were all Christians from Constantinople and their mission was as much religious as political, and slavery was dissolved and absolved in their homeland on religious grounds and so they were trying to convert the Bulgars both into political allies and into religious allies. The Byzantines were strong believers that if nations were religious allies they were far more likely to be political, economic, and military allies. So you might want to consider what I call, "mutual interest overlap."So the players could take the slaves and then decided to free them, though that would be up to them. But in some respects I would leave it up to the players to debate how they want to handle things. That is, go ahead and do what you think would be natural in that culture and then leave it up to the players to make their own moral decisions about what that means, and how they could address any associated problems.A few other cultural areas of difference you might want to explore: political (epically assumed political ideas that maybe no one has ever considered an alternative for, like converting enemies into allies rather than just killing them, that is to say, coalition building - maybe that culture wants to be allies with enemies of your player's nation, and hopes to use your guys to float the idea of their old enemies entering into negotiations and now becoming mutual allies to support Meznamish , or greater Svimozhia.) Maybe the kingdom you are visiting doesn't just want their old empire back, but to create a far larger set of strategic alliances to prevent future problems. Maybe they want buffer state allies, or even have territorial expansion in mind. What would all involved nations and peoples stand to gain and lose by such an alliance or set of alliances?You could also explore both obvious and subtle religious traditions, economic differences, and even technological ones (maybe that kingdom or that of your players has a secret material, like advanced steel or a better weapon design) and medicinal ones. For instance someone becomes sick at dinner. The natives insist they be bled or use some other similar treatment, the players want to use medicine or magic. And come to think of it, differences in magic, ritual, etc. would make for some interesting differences.Language and misunderstandings in translation lead to difficulties. Differences in entertainment (storytelling and song), drinking habits (maybe they shun alcohol and/or drugs - maybe they regularly indulge) and so forth.If the players are also on a mission from others, or if the natives think they represent their own kingdom as obvious or even secret de facto agents, then that could lead to some really interesting encounters. In either direction. In cases like that both sides spend a lot of time feeling each other out, trying to decide what is really going on, and how much they can or cannot trust each other. Small things become amplified and sometimes important things get lost because of assumed expectations.</blockquote>

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