Slavery in Fantasy

[X Equestris]

I came across this article on Fantasy Faction earlier this week, and it raised some interesting points.

Slavery in Fantasy | Fantasy-Faction

The thing that most stood out to me was the point about how it's a little naive to have your antagonists be the only slaveholders in your setting when slavery has, until recently, been very common in almost all cultures.

That got me thinking about slavery in my world. I've managed to keep it from being something only antagonists do. I've got a group of tribal peoples called the Amraki who take slaves in inter-tribal war, as well as occassional raids on lowland nations. I'm planning on writing a story with a protagonist from one of the desert Amraki tribes, though I doubt the slavery will come I to focus given where I'm going with the story.

In the past, slavery was practiced by some of the lowland peoples, such as the Helsa, Corhiel, Ciriac, and Dynion(all of which are inspired by various European tribal groups) and the Mklarites (a people inspired by Axum who conquered and assimilated similarly African inspired nations). Slavery is illegal in the modern nations founded by people of those ethnicities( The Seven Marches, the Kingdom of Corhiel, the Empire of Ciria and the Kingdoms of Vannen and Anjenne, the Kingsom of Vyspa, and the Mklarite Empire) due to the spread of the Faith of the Mother, which emphasizes free will.

The only country I would say fits the "antagonistic slaveholders" mold in my world is the Tyrian Dominion, which is based on Rome, the Phoenicians/Carthage, and a little bit of Aztec in the mythology. The Tyrians once ruled most of the continent before a massive civil war greatly weakened them and they were reduced to a vestigial empire after executing one of the Faith's Prophets and trying to wipe out the religion's followers.

The Dominion has always relied on large numbers of slaves. They believe their gods need human blood to survive, and that children's blood does the best job of that. At the height of their power they demanded children from conquered people's as sacrificial tribute, which made them hated by virtually everyone. Slaves were also used to build temples, city walls, and roads by the Dominion's government, while privately owned slaves did fairly typical farm and housework. The Dominion's rulers have always been mages, and they have no issue with blood magic, so a fair number of slaves are and were used as human batteries by them. Along with the demands for sacrificial tribute, this insured that no conquered peoples supported the Dominion when it came crashing down.

Now, the Tyrians mostly breed their slaves from existing stock, though they go through so many in sacrifices and usage as human batteries that Tyrian merchants are happy to buy slaves from their former Colonies, which are now independent city-states, or from pirates who raid the coasts for captives. Some groups, with the backing of the Tyrian government, launch occasional raids on Mklarite border towns, which has nearly started a war between the two empires. Some extremely poor people in Tyrian sell themselves into slavery in the hopes of a better life.

I've only written one story heavily focused on slavery, which involved a Mklarite freedman living in Tyria with his family. They helped slaves escape via a rough equivalent of the Underground Railroad, and the story ends with the freedman giving his life so that his family and six escaped slaves can flee the country by sea. I've also entertained the idea of writing a novel featuring a slave revolt in the Dominion, but I have more fleshed out ideas to work with first.

So what about you guys? How do you handle slavery in your worlds and stories? Is it common, rare, or somewhere in between? How do your various cultures view it? Have you written stories from the POV of slaves, former slaves, or even slaveholders?

 

[Feo Takahari]

My giant flaming rule of thumb is to never, ever make slavery feel natural or justified. I read an online story once where dragons keep slaves, and they have an aura about them that makes other species want to bow to them and be subservient to them. The author did nothing at all to challenge the implications of this, and he condescended to every reader who criticized it, assuming they were objecting to the mere existence of slavery in fiction. I wanted to scream at the screen.

As for slavery in my stories: never unless the story itself is devoted to an egalitarian message. To hell with historical accuracy--I'm not writing history! I'm writing about the worlds I want to discuss, with the traits I want to discuss, and I don't give them a trait unless I'm going to do something with it.

 

[X Equestris]

My giant flaming rule of thumb is to never, ever make slavery feel natural or justified. I read an online story once where dragons keep slaves, and they have an aura about them that makes other species want to bow to them and be subservient to them. The author did nothing at all to challenge the implications of this, and he condescended to every reader who criticized it, assuming they were objecting to the mere existence of slavery in fiction. I wanted to scream at the screen.

Yeah, I think the key with writing these things is to avoid those unfortunate implications and make it clear that you as an author don't support it.

 

[Reaver]

Excellent points made by you both. I'm of the same mind as Feo when it comes to adding real-world issues to my fantasy stories. I don't do it unless the story needs it. So far they haven't.

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[DeathtoTrite]

In my world, slavery is present to a greater or lesser degree in every country expect one-- which is founded by a bunch of ex-slaves who are now republican (like Italian Republicans in the Renaissance, not GOP) cannibalistic warriors. In some countries, a Mamluk-esque system is in place. I personally hate it when authors feel the need to throw in 19th century abolitionism into a middle ages piece.

 

[ThinkerX]

Oh yes, slavery is present in my worlds, though its not always called that.

Main empire of my main world is 'Solaria,' which has the roman empire as a rough base - and Rome was big into slavery. Dominant slave owning province is 'Niteroi,' seat of the 'Maximus' family, who are customers for a thriving slave trade extending far south of the empire proper. Niteroi is covered with huge fields of cotton and dotted with open pit mines, all slave worked. Life expectancy of those slaves is short - 2 to 5 years. More, slaves are a measure of personal wealth. Niteroi's lords - and other slave holders can't abandon slavery without forfeiting a giant chunk of their wealth.

Elsewhere in the empire, you have bondsmen or serfs, peasant farmers bound to the land. Not quite slaves, but close to it. About half a century prior to the time most of my tales are set, the paranoid Emperor Franklin DuSwaimair decided that imperial needs trumped the needs of the estate lords, and began recruiting large numbers of serfs into the imperial legions - while denying those same lords the right to any army other than constables, personal bodyguards, and militia's (a process that involved no few dead aristocrats). Serfs who served a full 20 year hitch were granted a plot of land on the frontier and awarded citizenship along with their immediate families. (Maximus clan still views this as the blackest sort of treason).

At the end of the Traag War, Emperor Morgan DuSwaimair the second, flat broke and desperate for cash to keep the empire running, offered the Maximus the defeated populace of Traag as slaves in exchange for the nullification of that particular debt. Given that a few of those slaves were willing and unwilling participants in bloody demonic rites, well...that didn't work out to well, as some of my characters are discovering in the current WIP.

In Cimmar, across the ocean from Solaria, the reigning Gotlander minority turned the placid Slavi near majority into serfs so tightly constrained they effectively became slaves.

Among other races...

elves employ servants guiled into service, living in a sort of mystic haze. Such servitude lasts anywhere from days to decades, though there are compensations of a sort.

Hobgoblins and goblins practice slavery among themselves. Hobgoblins in particular keep entire populaces of other races subjugated, though they are usually granted a degree of autonomy (meet this quota or else type deal). It is possible for individuals and even small groups to challenge their status, though.

Rachasa, the cat-men, are more hunter gatherers than ought else, typically dwelling in small semi nomadic bands (though there are exceptions). However, rachasa dislike fire, and will sometimes recruit slaves just to tend to 'fire related things,' because fire is so dang useful.

 

[DeathtoTrite]

Life expectancy of those slaves is short - 2 to 5 years.

That's REALLY great for a mine slave. In the Athenian silver mines (which also operated under the Roman Empire) life expectancy was 3-4 weeks...

Not that I'm saying 2-5 years is good. Just that it could be A LOT worse.

 

[BWFoster78]

The thing that most stood out to me was the point about how it's a little naive to have your antagonists be the only slaveholders in your setting when slavery has, until recently, been very common in almost all cultures.

This statement genuinely confuses me. You have a ton of options:

1. Slavery could be a part of many cultures as it was on Earth.
2. You can create a world that has absolutely nothing to do with Earth and have either:
a. One or more cultures have slaves when others don't
b. No cultures have slaves

Why are you a slave (sorry, really couldn't resist, probably should have) to what happened on Earth?

Look, the antagonists being slaveholders is kind of like showing someone is a bad guy by having him smoke or trying to show that the mood is dark and depressing by having it rain. Okay, not terribly original, but effective. Such devices have their place. If you want to find a better, more realistic way to do it, that is your right. I, for one, am not going to look down on anyone for utilizing standard literary devices, though.

As for slavery in my stories: never unless the story itself is devoted to an egalitarian message. To hell with historical accuracy--I'm not writing history! I'm writing about the worlds I want to discuss, with the traits I want to discuss, and I don't give them a trait unless I'm going to do something with it.

See, I agree with this. I feel absolutely no need to be "historically accurate." I'm not writing historical fiction, or even historical fantasy. I can have the cultures do whatever I want them to.

My giant flaming rule of thumb is to never, ever make slavery feel natural or justified.

I'm much more concerned with how it fits the story over this kind of stuff, though. For example:

I like how Brent Weeks uses it in The Lightbringer Saga. One of the characters is a slave, and the protagonist, a horny teenage boy, gains ownership of her, a friend, with the intention of setting her free. But he owns her now. He can make her do anything. I love that he experiences that fight of morality/doing what's right versus what he really, really wants to do. Weeks also uses the situation to make her vulnerable to manipulation by the enemy. Great use of slavery as a plot device to increase conflict and tension.

Yeah, I think the key with writing these things is to avoid those unfortunate implications and make it clear that you as an author don't support it.

In my books, the good guys feel really bad, for the most part, when they're forced to kill people. I made that choice because I felt it was the right one for my story and my characters, not because I felt the need to tell people, killing is bad.

Truthfully, I enjoy some action/adventure books where the protagonist goes around killing people like it's no big deal. When I read one of those books, I don't think, "Oh, the author endorses killing." As authors, I'd think we'd all really want to stand firm that, just because a character does something, does not mean that we endorse it.

Basically, I firmly support you doing anything that you need to do to make your story awesome. If that means you have your antagonists have slaves even though no one else does, I don't think that's a problem at all.

Thanks.

Brian

 

[X Equestris]

This statement genuinely confuses me. You have a ton of options:

1. Slavery could be a part of many cultures as it was on Earth.
2. You can create a world that has absolutely nothing to do with Earth and have either:
a. One or more cultures have slaves when others don't
b. No cultures have slaves

Why are you a slave (sorry, really couldn't resist, probably should have) to what happened on Earth?

Look, the antagonists being slaveholders is kind of like showing someone is a bad guy by having him smoke or trying to show that the mood is dark and depressing by having it rain. Okay, not terribly original, but effective. Such devices have their place. If you want to find a better, more realistic way to do it, that is your right. I, for one, am not going to look down on anyone for utilizing standard literary devices, though.

Here's my point: if indeed your antagonists are the only people holding slaves in the entire setting, and quite possibly the only ones who have ever held slaves, there should be a very good reason why that is the case. It sort of strikes me like saying that only one society ever came up with the idea of war or violence and everywhere else was peaceful. Why is your world that way? If an author can give a reason that sounds plausible, I can accept it. If not, the suspension of disbelief is damaged.

Slavery seems to have come about as agrarian societies formed in the real world, likely as a way to supplement manpower. There needs to be a reason why a society has decided not make use of slavery's economic advantages. Maybe they're hunter-gatherers and they don't need extra labor, so slaves wouldn't be worth the trouble. Maybe there's a prevailing philosophical or religious movement in their culture that feels slavery is immoral. Maybe they've reached the point where automation can take care of most or all work, and so slaves are largely pointless. Maybe they have something similar to it with some differences, like serfdom. It could be some combination of these or other factors. Or maybe no one ever came up with the idea, though I personally find that unlikely.

What really shouldn't be happening is having not-Mordor ruled by not-Sauron being the only place in the world to have come up with and used slavery, with no reasoning why no one else in the entire world stumbled on the idea. That just ends up being cheap characterization, like having the bad guy gleefully kick puppies for no apparent reason.

Now, as far as the point I made about being clear that you as an author don't support something, here's what I'm getting at: the audience doesn't know you as a person. As anyone who has spent time on the Internet can say, some individuals hold political or social views that one might never believe a human being could hold. If you spout off something that can easily be seen as racist or sexist, alarm bells are going to start going off for your audience. Similarly, if it starts to look like your story endorses slavery, the reader may start having some questions about what sort of person you are.

Of course a character doing something doesn't mean you endorse it. But if the theme of your story starts to look like "Some groups of people are better than others and everyone else should be their slaves" that looks really bad. If people start to spot that sort of subtext, you need to rewrite whatever it is and make sure to avoid it. Not saying you should change things just because one person says something, but if you can see where they're coming from and other beta-readers, editors, whatever can see it, something needs to be done.

 

[ChasingSuns]

I personally have a couple of nations that use slaves. One of the nations is a species that is essentially my take on elves (though they don't share the same physical characteristics and are not called elves). This nation is SUPER corrupt, and the lords enslave the lower tribes. I also have a nation that is a series of city-states that are a large trading hub. They do not use slaves, but if someone has worked up a debt they can choose to allow themselves to become a slave until the debt is paid. This nation is very different from any of the others that the main protagonists are familiar with, but is not an evil kingdom. The kingdom that is ruled by the main villains has never used slaves. They were actually a very peaceful nation until they were invaded many years ago. I will have a character who is a slave in the elf-like kingdom. I feel like I will be able to show that not all of the corrupt kingdoms condone slavery, and hopefully I'll be able to show different perspectives on the issue.

 

[Feo Takahari]

I like how Brent Weeks uses it in The Lightbringer Saga. One of the characters is a slave, and the protagonist, a horny teenage boy, gains ownership of her, a friend, with the intention of setting her free. But he owns her now. He can make her do anything. I love that he experiences that fight of morality/doing what's right versus what he really, really wants to do. Weeks also uses the situation to make her vulnerable to manipulation by the enemy. Great use of slavery as a plot device to increase conflict and tension.

Hold up. The main character is in a position where he would be legally and culturally allowed to rape someone. He actually considers it. And this is a character we're supposed to like? Maybe I'm being weird here (God, I hope I'm not considered weird for thinking this way), but that hits so many buttons for me, I'd have an easier time relating to and sympathizing with that character Nihilanth talked about in another thread who's addicted to eating people.

 

[ChasingSuns]

Hold up. The main character is in a position where he would be legally and culturally allowed to rape someone. He actually considers it. And this is a character we're supposed to like? Maybe I'm being weird here (God, I hope I'm not considered weird for thinking this way), but that hits so many buttons for me, I'd have an easier time relating to and sympathizing with that character Nihilanth talked about in another thread who's addicted to eating people.

I think that it's meant to cause an internal struggle for someone who has grown up in such a society. Society wouldn't have a problem with it, and the character has been taught such, but inside there's a part of him that knows that this is wrong. It's kind of an idea of breaking away from a society's expectations in favor of one's own moral standing. Or at least... that's what I thought it was, I could be totally wrong though

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

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