Selling items is IC. If you don't get caught doing it, you have plausible deniability, and you can spin it IC however you desire.
Incidentally: old material never posted on IGS:
The Face of the Slaver: Part IIThis is a follow-up to an investigation I started late last year. The basis for my investigation was the placement of several buy orders in Republic space for slaves.
In a period of about two months, over 30,000 slaves were sold to me right in the heartlands of the Republic by 1542 different sellers in batches ranging from 1 to 323 slaves. Most sellers were Minmatar (68%) with roughly equal numbers of Caldari (12%), Gallente (11%) and Amarr pod pilots (9%).
My investigative method was to try and interview each seller and ask them four short question as soon as possible after the sale had been made. I only told them they had sold slaves to me after question number 2. In some cases where the seller was unreachable I send them the question in a mail.
Due to my duty roster, refusal of some sellers to talk to me and language barriers, only a portion of all slave sellers have been interviewed. Therefore I cannot vouch for the validity of the numbers below:
1. How do you feel about slavery and the practice of selling slaves?68% despises and opposes it
16% is neutral about the issue
14% is in favor of slavery
Most pod pilots opposed the practice of slavery, some were even were outspoken opponents. The last group was usually quite embarassed when I confronted them with their own slave selling practices. Their vehement opposition to slavery was more a popular front than any true comitmment to the cause. This point was emphasized by me catching several TLF corp leaders and a member of an anti-slavery organization selling slaves themselves.
2. Were you aware that slavery is illegal in the Republic?94% yes
6% no
Awareness was generally high. Only a few newly graduated pilots were unaware of the laws. The vigorous customs inspection helps to reinforce this awareness:
Hugo Din > well i got caught twicw with those slaves so wasn't putting them back in my ship lol
3. Why did you sell those slaves?57% didn't know what else to do with them.
23% didn't want to trash (kill) them.
13% sold them for profit
7% had no need for them anymore
To my amazement, nearly everyone remembered selling the slaves clearly. Most pod pilots didn’t treat them as 'just another commodity' even though the market mechanisms do. Only a very few showed the typical pod pilot alienation of considering them as non-real people. Most pod pilots simply considered selling the slaves the least harmful way of getting rid the problem of owning some. A few batches of slaves were caught up in general 'hangar cleaning sales', but most were consciously sold.
Merdaneth > Why did you sell those slaves?
Thamystocles > my plantation burned so i didnt need them
4. How did you acquire your slaves?79% I rescued them from Angel pirates
11% I rescued them from Caldari entrepeneurs
9% I acquired them from other sources
It is clear that the greatest threat to Matari freedom is the Angel Cartel. Slave raiding activities directly related to the Amarr Empire were nearly non-existent.
ConclusionsMost pod pilot citizens of the Republic are aware of its laws concerning slavery. Still, many of its citizens sell their own kin and will continue to do so due as long as the Republic does not provide for an easy way to return legal citizenship to the acquired slaves. Current Republic legal procedures causes tens if not hundred of thousands of citizens to remain in bondage, living out their lives locked up in pod pilot hangars or jettisoned into space for fear of being caught by roving customs patrols.
PostscriptMost of the slaves I bought have since been released to an organization who has experience in dealing with these (often traumatized) specimens.
The Face of the Slaver
http://oldforums.eveonline.com/?a=topic&threadID=1217598Tribal Liberation Force corporation caught trading slaves
http://oldforums.eveonline.com/?a=topic&threadID=1221516The Hand of Maak betrays its founding principles
http://oldforums.eveonline.com/?a=topic&threadID=1217606