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Old 02-27-2012, 12:29 PM
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Raellus Raellus is online now
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I agree that the idea of bands of unscrupulous and predatory "slavers" capturing civilians and selling them into bondage is a bit cliche. I'm sure, however, that it would likely happen on a small scale in relatively chaotic areas. I'm not throwing stones here- I'm guilty of using this device in my own campaign (an infamous NPC calling himself Damien the River Pimp).

I think that indentured servitude and de-facto serfdom would be far more common in the T2KU. It's really just a slightly grey shade of the conventional definition of chattel slavery. I can see desperate civilians agreeing to work for those who can afford to feed them, creating a binding indenture contract. IIRC, this is the situation in T2K Krakow with the Robotniki [sic?]. I suppose that some groups might hire bounty hunters to recover folks who break their indenture.

With the return of feudalism in some parts of the T2KU, serfdom would also make a comeback. In this case, civilians would agree to feed/serve their local warlord in exchange for "protection", essentially becoming serfs.

In any case, there might be instances where one local polity with a surplus of labor would attempt to trade some of that labor (without the consent of the labor force) for resources that they don't have. This practice, in effect, fits the conventional definition of chattel slavery. In this case, you would need parties to broker and transport these groups of involuntary laborers.

So yes, to make a long story short, some forms of slavery would be fairly common in the T2KU, but I doubt you would encounter too many parties of dedicated slave catchers.
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