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[Servant Corps]

In some of the books I'm reading, they mention 'royal slaves', which is very interesting type of slave. I wonder if DF can implement it, or not.

A Royal Slave is a slave that is owned by the King. Since he is owned by the King, the Royal Slave is expected to do whatever the King orders him to do, and will do whatever the King desires. This however leads to some rather interesting things...

Since the Royal Slave is owned by the King, the King can trust the slave to do as he is told. The King, at the same time, cannot trust the freemen to do as he is told, since freemen has different agendas and beliefs, they are free to do as they please.

Therefore, the King has an incentive to appoint Royal Slaves to positions of leadership and let the Slaves has lots of influence, because a Slave would be very loyal to the King and will accept any orders from the King.

However, the King must be careful of relying on Royal Slaves to run his empire. There is always the possibility that Royal Slaves may seek to turn the King into a puppet. Luckily, if the King is wise enough, he can rotate Royal Slaves in and out of position, and pit people against each other in order to keep power. A King may also attempt to buy the loyalty of his Slaves, for example, allowing for the Royal Slave to "own" (in reality, to 'control') other slaves.

[Vincent]

Dwarves abhor slavery for some odd reason.

However, It could be implemented for other civilizations that have a king.

[SirHoneyBadger]

Dwarfs don't like slaves because slaves do the work that dwarfs could be doing instead. Dwarfs aren't real big on unemployment.

[Fossaman]

The 'royal slavery' thing as you describe it has interesting parallels to pure feudalism. The main difference is that slavery is a one way obligation; the slave must do as the master commands. The feudal system is set up so that there are obligations both ways. The feudal lord would have sworn underlings, possibly so far as swearing to do whatever the lord wanted. But in turn the feudal lord would agree to provide certain things to the vassals.

I'm not sure whether DF's dwarves would be feudalistic...they do have nobles, so there's a good chance of it.

[Craftling]

This means concubines right?

[chucks]

I think all sorts of typical feudal relationships and social entaglements could be fun.  Whatever duties on responsibilities they may have, a King with slaves to carry his sedan chair throughout the mountainhome and the kingdom stands to be VERY entertaining indeed.

[Foa]

I'd like to step into this political cauldron type, the nobles get their silks and wines, while you do what you want with your Dwarves.

Less hammer time, more user friendly, more entertainment...

[Silverionmox]

We need to make it completely flexible. That makes it simpler at the same time. All we need is a bunch of titles (serf, baron, duke, eunuch, marshall, general, vizier, sultan, caliph, etc.), a set of rights (supreme ruler, can own property, can own slaves, is allowed to vote in the king's election, is allowed to pass on his title to his children, etc.) and couple them together in the raws to have a sensible starting point.

There are several ways of interaction (election, duel, rebellion, buying titles, granting a fief,..). Those have to be hardcoded, though there should still be significant flexibility to edit them in the raws (number of electors, etc.). Those variables also can change in the game.

When those two are in place, everything will change naturally to resolve conflicts.
- changing the title of an individual
A rebellious noble could have his title taken away and become a captain, for example, which almost forces him to serve in the army, where he could redeem himself, etc.
- changing the rights of a title
Traders buy the right to bear arms in exchange for a tax. Citizens of the Ravels of Smithing, a fortress, lose the right to travel without paying toll on the king's roads. etc.

[Tormy]

Dwarfs don't like slaves because slaves do the work that dwarfs could be doing instead. Dwarfs aren't real big on unemployment.

I don't know...so what makes a dwarf happy? Working in the mines, or drink booze while chatting with friends?
Slavery is a must have feature imo. [It should be controllable in the RAWs of course]

[Foa]

With the soon to be gennable cultures, some dwarves may like it, and some may not.

[chucks]

If there are slaves, I would like to suggest having various types of slaves.

Concubines, eunuchs, slaves w/ their tongues cut out, and others could be along a list of various things performed upon enslaved people in attempt to secure their loyalty and servitude.  Some sort of ritual maiming or denial of freedom to mark a group of slaves as similar would be interesting to view.

[Pilsu]

I only hope human slavery will be thoroughly unpleasant. Gives the player a reason to wage war against them

[Craftling]

Not unpleasant just different. Humans might treat their slaves in different ways than dwarves and elves.
Dwarven slaves would haul stuff and bodyguard etc while being able to get posh jobs. But human ones would be used for worst jobs around.

[Neonivek]

Well a Slave is only a social status. A few cultures treated people who were "slaves" well enough that they were almost like citizens (and often could become one over time).
-I wish I could remember examples. One places definition of Slave refered to people who worked for an employer and whome lived on his land. They got paid for their work and their offspring would be considered citizens. Athens? maybe not... Minowen Cretes? Maybe
--Note: Crete is two groups so to speak. When they were defeated the new government was radically different.

If Dwarves establish "Slaves" then perhaps it should be that they are simply not allowed to run for official possitions or move to new locations to find work. They also could be last to recieve any provisions for emergencies such as drought or Famine and the laws could be more favorable towards citizens rather then slaves.

Dwarves don't have to apply menial labour to their slaves at all.

[chucks]

I remember some quote about piercing a slave's ear with an awl to put in a ring.  Perhaps slaves could be marked in ways such as piercings and tattoos and brandings.  Historically, a person of enslavement would always have some sort of a mark or identifier to him, but those sorts of things also had other cultural meanings.

Perhaps during world gen, cultures could gain some sort of significance to trinkets and jewelry to wear as signifiers of both high and low stations in lives.  Even legendary guilds of workers could have some sort of symbol or tattoo or marker to note them as being part of some specific group.