Riddleport has several fighting arenas, Zincher's main among them, and a constant influx of pirates and Ulfen who, understandably, have captives they've taken as slaves. So it would seem that slaves are a commodity at some level.
But what's the public policy by the Overlord on slavery within the city? I'm guessing that it's an accepted (though perhaps not condoned) fact of life there, and authorities either don't care to interfere or perhaps have laws actually that enforce ownership rights.
Beyond the city's limits, then, what are the views of slavery in areas of Varisia not so distant. Do Shoanti ever have slaves? I'm guessing not, but perhaps a couple of its tribes take captives from battles? Are there, though, for example, orc/half-orc slaves that they keep or bring to sell in Riddleport's markets?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Considering how odd most of the Inner Sea region finds Andoran's passionate abolitionism and how seedy Riddleport is?
I think local slavery is something of an institution,possibly supported more by custom than by law.
However, I don't think the Shoanti, taken as a whole, would keen on taking and keeping any prisoners in enough surplus to make selling them in a settlement terribly tempting. Certainly, individual Shoanti can do whatever, but the portrayals we've gotten of them so far lead me to think that if Shoanti take and keep prisoners, the goal there is to either extract concessions from their people or to fold them into the Shoanti's own population- and I severely doubt the likelihood of their hauling in enough Orcs to make them some sort of special case.
I mean, if you want things to work that way in your campaign or for someone's background, go wild, but I'm not seeing that in what we've been presented to date.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
According to James Jacobs on some older threads on this forum, slavery is legal in Riddleport, but illegal in Korvosa and Magnimar. Kaer Maga is definitely the center of slavery in Varisia, with open slave markets and such. However, it's also home to a significant faction of freed slaves and abolitionists. I imagine Riddleport has some radically differing opinions of the matter as well, but the current leader seems quite greedy...
As far as I know, Shoanti do not take slaves. I would imagine the cultural trauma of having been enslaved by the Thassilonians is too great for that, in addition to more practical reasons. Regardless, any half-orc children or defeated orc foes would probably not be kept around long enough to become slaves. I'm guessing other orcs are more likely to bring in orcs and half-orcs as slaves, in addition to defeated Shoanti.
Of course individual clans, or renegade Shoanti such as those exiled to the Nolands, might differ from the norm. In the latter case, I think it would be more than likely.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Also consider the Chelish influence on the region. The Chels very much see slavery as a common thing. They also look at the other races in the area as sub-races (much like the Qadirans do).
Being that this city is heavy on criminal elements and Sczarni, the idea of using slaves for profit, for illegal fights, and other items would be a very acceptable practice.