I spend a bunch of time bedbound (orthostatic hypotension - don’t ask for it by name, or at all), and sometimes I go on long mental rambles. I got to think how I might construct a Dark Sun without slavery in it. Two notes:
* I haven’t tried to preserve all the other features unchanged. I went for the vibe: desert environment, swords and sandals, all of that.
* This is one evening’s pondering, not a serious plan of action. I’ve written real gaming book outlines and contributed to ones for game lines, so I’m sure this is not that. It’s more a proof by existence to show that something (I think) with the vibe and without slavery can work.
the premise is here is that there’s never been large-scale slavery on Athas. Powerful individuals do sometimes treat prisoners as slaves, but they have to keep it secret. Keeping slaves is punished with loaf of status and privileges, at best; and worse, it gets you executed.
instead, I’ve looted a real but neglected concept from history: the Roman system of patronage. This was
really important in both the republic and the empire. There’s a book about one aspect of this, whose title gets the. Sin point across:
Murder Was Not a Crime: Homicide and Power in the Roman Republic.
The basic status for anyone who wants to live in one of the cities is “contributor”. There’s a universal levee for labor. You “donate” two days a week or one week a month, doing whatever you do, and in return you get basic protections from the authorities. You can stay in one of the official barracks, you have the right to buy and register property, you can pay standard fees and work in any lawful occupation, and you get a share of civic water. Everything else, including having offenses against your person and stuff other than theft taken as a crime, requires a patron.
Patronage is a bit like idealized feudalism in miniature. Your patron gives you protection as a extended member of their clan, supports you in job-seeking and in legal disputes, owes you a share of clan food and resources, and so on. Doing patronage badly or dishonestly can cost the patron loss of status and privileges, like being fired from civic positions or losing authority to have privately employed soldiers. As a client, you owe your client a personal labor levee, which can take up to as much time as the civic levee but not more. You owe your patron gifts on top of thst (there’d be a table of expected swag based on patron and client social positions). You support them in social and other conflicts. Your patron can assign you special tasks to be part of your labor for them, and you’d better do them.
You can have a second patron, and many social climbers do. Figuring out how to juggle conflicting orders, though, is on you as the climber. The city intervenes only to prohibit you from taking a third patron.
There are many levels of authority In the cities, down just two or three in villages. For an actual core book, I’d work this out in detail, with diagrams of the pyramid of power in different cities to show ways it can pile up.
Patrons vary, of course. Good ones give their clients useful gifts, mention them in public proclamations of the patron’s excellence, connect them with good people to know in the courts, the temples, the civic professions, etc. Bad ones give cast-off crap and do as little as possible for their clients.
There‘s a lot more I could spin up, but I’m tired, so let’s look at the social context of adventuring. Clients‘ accomplishments give credit to their patron, which means that patrons who can afford to are always looking for clients who can do something distinctive. Performers, gladiators, lawyers and doctors, teachers, they all help their patron rise in prestige. And so do those who can venture into the wastes, negotiate with outsiders who can be dealt with, triumph over those who can’t, and return with interesting things that weren’t nailed down firmly enough. Doing PC stuff is a well-known, familiar, expected part of the society.
And there you go. No slavery, lots of shitshow happening in routine exploitation, social and dungeoneering action both routine, room for lots of interesting weirdness swiped from history in ways learnable from Grand Master Robert E. Howard. Oh, and note there‘s no necessary ethnic or species or gender exclusion required. Women can be both patrons and clients, people don’t worry much about gender diversity, nonhumans may have extra work burdens but can be part of this system too. Anyway, enough for now.