... and the information we have on the Amarr doesn't help. Mass rape, keeping families enslaved for generations, and treating slaves as no better than animals - yeah, that doesn't sound like people dedicated to helping slaves reach spiritual enlightenment at all.
Frankly, I think it is this perception more than anything that harms the slaveholding RPers. Aside from the TonyG claptrap - which contradicts most other published PF - I don't think I can think of any "mass rapes", and quite a few instances of educated and relatively off slaves living in conditions that may not be "comfortable", certainly aren't "like animals".
This isn't to say that slaves AREN'T kept like animals or treated horrifically in some parts of the Empire - but the perceptions that there's no such thing as an unabused slave, or that 95% of Amarr are just in it for the kicks and don't really believe in enlightenment, etc, etc... These are, frankly, some of the hardest things for us to RP around. Esna's had to go to really extraordinary lengths in order to disabuse people (pun intended) of that notion.
Here's my take on abuse and slavery within the Empire.
Gottii's slavery was pretty brutal, mostly because the PF I read about a lot if not most Brutor slaves were kept specifically for hard manual labor. ( also pushing a mill in a circle makes for an easy time lapse transition)
Gottii's slaves died quite often. High-gravity mining is hard and dangerous. Slaves had a hideously high mortality rate. From real life, I took inspiration from real life mining slavery in the Roman Empire and European sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean, which had life expectancies of months if not weeks.
The slaves were caught between their Holder (who wanted greater profit) and the priests watching over the flock so to speak (who were the True Believers for the most part, and actually bought into the belief they were trying to better the lives of the Matari). This served (or will serve) as a central theme in a lot of the fiction I wrote. Again, I tried to take inspiration from historical sources, in this case the Spanish New World colonies with the tension between the Crown and the Church in running say the Peruvian silver mines.
That said, I would imagine Gottii's slavery example to be pretty extreme. Most slaves wouldnt have such conditions, indeed, the Matari race wouldnt be to numerous if they were. I figured that rape of slaves is highly discouraged, both for religious reasons and for the more cynical and practical sense that it gets in the way of carefully constructed DNA-modifications wrought by the HEP. (for example, Gottii's high gravity modifications required constant genetic tinkering to keep those traits "breeding true", overseers raping their charges would dilute those modifications, and cost their Holders money, so the Holders have a practical reason to keep it from happening, and punish it severely)
That said,
of course there is sexual exploitation of slaves. The Holder in the St. Arzad story is quoted as having a Matari "lover". (which, as any sexual harassment seminar will tell you, its impossible to have a healthy and balanced relationship between two people of such disparate positions in their respective organization). Sexual exploitation of slaves has
always happened in the course of human history. Its part and parcel of what slavery is.
Is rape of slaves probably outlawed in the Empire? Of course, for a variety of reasons, and not all of them cynical. But rape is outlawed
now, and it still certainly happens. The problem is having such a defenseless underclass greatly enhances the opportunities for sexual predation, and a slave by definition almost always has little to no legal or social recourse. So its certainly part of the Empire, but its likely not openly accepted or acknowledged. Though behind closed doors or in an isolated slave camp is another matter.
But slaves are
always abused, at least in this regard. Its mentioned in the slavery PF that slaves within the Empire are kept in line with either drugs or the threat of violence. Using violence, or the threat of violence, is
always abusive. Theres no way to threaten someone with physical harm in a non-abusive way. Theres no such thing as "good slavery", just "subtly threatening slavery". Slaves live in a constant state of fear of punishment, no matter how well treated. They live in fear. And that in itself is abuse.
So its about various degrees of control, of how overt the threat of physical harm is. Not everyone is likely whipped, in fact I would imagine many slaves, particularly highly trained, assimilated and educated ones might go their whole lives without being physically punished. Buts the threat is always there, even if its remote.
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Topic: Where have all the Slavers gone? (Woe is Me) (Read 24592 times)