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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6280693" data-attributes="member: 2067">I think for me, this is kind of how it plays out.The idea is that in D&D, "good" is associated with valuing the autonomous personhood of another. Forcing someone into any act against their will is "not good." Making someone legally bound to obey your commands is "not good," regardless of how well you treat them and how nice you are to their families and how many "outs"  you give them. It doesn't have to be cartoonishly evil, of course, but the very principle upon which slavery is based: "you can own people," violates the typical D&D Good-alignment tenet of "lives -- and the choices people make with them -- are precious and sacred." Evil isn't just cartoonish. It's often banal, even utilitarian. In D&D, "evil" is typically associated with the idea of disregarding that sacredness for life and the choices people make in them. CE and LE folks don't care at all about what you want to do with your life (in the former case, you're irrelevant, in the latter case, you're a useful tool). Slavery fits right into that model -- it turns the lives of people into nothing more than labor and property. What's more is that it dehumanizes those people you own, which is always a great way to turn a blind eye to the fact that you're pretending that these people aren't as worthy of free action as their "owners" (whoever those happen to be). When I think of a Lawful Good society, and how slavery might go down there, I don't see slavery. I see sort of an idealized communism -- a central authority tells everyone what to do. Everyone who trusts that central authority (which is most everyone, because this is an LG society that believes in central authority) does the work confident that their labor is being used to benefit all the people around them. The central authority legitimately looks out for the good of every member of that society (because it is an LG authority). Those who don't want to be a part of that society, who don't trust that central authority, are given permission to seek their lives in the "wilds."If such a society goes to war (something that I'm sure would sadden them greatly, but which might occasionally be necessary for the Greater Good), slaves wouldn't be in the cards. It'd be more of a "conversion at sword-point" kind of system, where they would allow people to become willing members of their society, or allow them to get the heck out of dodge. People who join the society are treated no better or worse than any other member of society, and are expected to contribute the same. Those falling outside the society are in the "not our problem" bucket. Now, tetch that down to a Lawful Neutral society, and you might have a version of slavery. But it is a very legalistic vision of slavery, and it is something that happens internally as much as externally (debt bondage and whatnot).And then you have the Lawful Evil societies that delight in making their slaves suffer.</blockquote>

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