[Rainbow Six]

Some good points already made in this thread.

As well as slavers who take their captives by force though, it’s also worth considering whether groups would exist who would attempt to take their captives by subterfuge. When some encounter threads were posted last year I started putting together a piece about a group that I entitled “People Smugglers”. Basically they were a smallish group (around six to eight strong) who travelled around southern Poland in a Soviet Army truck. The People Smugglers would claim to be able to smuggle into Krakow refugees who lacked any useful skills so would normally be turned away from the City by the Ormo – obviously the refugees would pay the Smugglers for this service, either in gold, barter goods, etc.

Unknown to the refugees however, the Smugglers have links with the City’s underworld, and those smuggled in find themselves “sold” into forced labour against their will.

I think it’s a variation on what Fusilier and HQ have already suggested and borrows from RL themes such as the Snakeheads who smuggle people from Asia to the West. The Slavers / People Smugglers have the benefit of not requiring additional manpower to guard their “cargo” as the cargo cooperates with the smugglers during the journey, removing many of the challenges BT outlined in his initial post – the refugees don’t need to be restrained, guarded, etc as they are being transported willingly...only when they emerge from the truck at the end of their journey does their fate become clear to them.

The People Smugglers also benefit from being paid twice - once by their patrons in the City, who pay for the "merchandise" and once by the refugees, who have unwittingly paid for their own transport into slavery.