Was slavery practiced in Cheliax before Aroden's death?

[deuxhero]

I'm leaning toward yes since Andoran broke away and explicitly abolished it, but is there anything more definitive?

[The Raven Black]

As far as Halflings are concerned at least, slavery goes a while back.

Excerpts from Halflings of Golarion :

"Halfling slaves as part of human settlements go back at least as far as ancient Osirion."

"Others were captured, sold as slaves, and ferried across the sea to burgeoning Taldor."

"Records of halfling life in ancient Taldor are nonexistent, but a look at modern Cheliax suggests what life must have been like in those long-ago times."

And closer to your query :

"Halflings have long held a place in Cheliax, much to their detriment. Throughout Cheliax’s centuries of expansionism and conquest, the empire poured a stream of expendable halfling labor into their holdings in the form of slaves."

[deuxhero]

Thanks. That confirms Cheliax's halfling slave thing isn't a post Thrune invention.

[Misko]

I wish I could find it but there is a post somewhere from one of the staff members saying that Aroden was an egotistical jerk. And given his area of concern is around humanity I'd hazard a guess that really only includes humans since the Azlanti tended to be pretty anti-non-human.

So that'd reflect pretty heavily in Cheliax during the period he was still alive. So in addition to halflings there were probably other non-humans slaves.

[Cole Deschain]

Aroden was a Lawful Neutral guy from a culture puppeteered by Aboleths... I think his faith most likely takes the stance that slavery has to have rules, rather than outright opposing it.

[Chakat Firepaw]

Something to remember about pre-Thrune Cheliax is that it wasn't solidly good. Consider the "Six Trials of Larazod" from the Council of Thieves AP. This murderplay predates Thrune by a century and clearly shows that Asmodeans were solid enough a part of Cheliaxian society to be the heroes.

Yes, it was banned and caused uproar at the time but the clear implication I got from the adventure was that this was due to its unprecedented lethality: The PCs are the first cast to ever survive the play and, IIRC, it was dangerous just to attend.

[Kobold Catgirl]

So what I'm getting here is that Aroden was the "my chaotic neutral rogue HAS to murder this innkeeper, he's bored!!!" guy of Lawful Neutrals.

[zimmerwald1915]

Chakat Firepaw wrote:

Something to remember about pre-Thrune Cheliax is that it wasn't solidly good. Consider the "Six Trials of Larazod" from the Council of Thieves AP. This murderplay predates Thrune by a century and clearly shows that Asmodeans were solid enough a part of Cheliaxian society to be the heroes.

Yes, it was banned and caused uproar at the time but the clear implication I got from the adventure was that this was due to its unprecedented lethality: The PCs are the first cast to ever survive the play and, IIRC, it was dangerous just to attend.

I mean, it was a continent-conquering empire. That tends to do bad things to a society. Even if it was the worst, most backwards continent.