Imperial Slavery

Cmnd Fulsom

C
You know, the concept of imperial slavery is fascinating to me. Largely because it almost sounds half-way good, if you squint real hard and don't think about it. But really let's walk through this. How it works is essentially a form of indentured servitude, except presumably the person who holds you contract doesn't owe you anything when the term comes up.

So, best case scenario, you're 20, you live in a high tech system, you make a stupid decision and you spend what, a decade I don't know, delivering office mail, loading crates? worst case scenario, you're 40 and you live in an extraction system and spend the term of you indenture performing grueling manual labor. Either way, you end your term destitute, probably alone, and in a system where "social security" is to go back to the mines.

If that sounds like a system designed to keep the poor in a state of perpetual bondage, that's because it's exactly what it is. The empire doesn't have a working class, they have slaves.



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Cmnd Fulsom
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
Had this same thought every time someone mentions how imperial slavery is better than the federal solution of guaranteed income. Which system is better? Idk, I guess it depends on whether you subscribe to the ethos that menial labor has more inherent value than free time.
 

MarkAusten

MarkAusten
Cmnd Fulsom said:
You know, the concept of imperial slavery is fascinating to me. Largely because it almost sounds half-way good, if you squint real hard and don't think about it. But really let's walk through this. How it works is essentially a form of indentured servitude, except presumably the person who holds you contract doesn't owe you anything when the term comes up.

So, best case scenario, you're 20, you live in a high tech system, you make a stupid decision and you spend what, a decade I don't know, delivering office mail, loading crates? worst case scenario, you're 40 and you live in an extraction system and spend the term of you indenture performing grueling manual labor. Either way, you end your term destitute, probably alone, and in a system where "social security" is to go back to the mines.

If that sounds like a system designed to keep the poor in a state of perpetual bondage, that's because it's exactly what it is. The empire doesn't have a working class, they have slaves.



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Cmnd Fulsom
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I disagree. Slavery is involuntary, they have no choice. "Imperial Slaves" are voluntary, they do it to themselves.

Each to their own definition.
 

Eros

Eros
They achieve roughly the same thing

Capitalism, you get economic slavery. We see it in todays world easy enough. Whole social classes born into bondage since schooling in the areas they can afford to live is so bad that children do not aspire to be anything better than what they can directly see available. There is the promise of bettering ones self, but increasingly in a rampant capitalist system that has gone stangnent *Cough, USA and most '1st world nations'* The probability of bettering oneself in true terms to ascending class boundaries is about 0.1 to 1%, So, the idea that Capitalism brings choice and that somehow relating that to the lore of a videogame... you will see that it roughly boils down to the following

Slaves -> no choice, they are owned, classic slavery
Imperial slaves -> Like Roman system, slaves have rights, anyone can give themselves into a contract in order to serve some kind of debt, once its done, its done.
Capitalist Economics -> The wealthy run everything and those with no wealth are virtual slaves that sit roughly between Classic slaves and Imperial slaves in real terms.
Communist Economics -> Pretty much impossible to actually achieve due to human nature of greed... which is why Capitalism works so apparently well, rewarding psychopathic behaviour, so it ends up looking like everyone is a slave to the government

So basically, Imperial Slaves, Capitalism, Communism... roughly the same with different flavours
 
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DNA-Decay

DNA-Decay
Our cleaner just moved to the other side of the country.
she's from the Philippines. She has friends who went to work in UAE.
Their passports were taken.
They don't get paid.
They are paying off their debt to travel there.
It takes years.

There's a documentary called "The Jammed" about trafficking slaves into brothels in Melbourne and Sydney in the early 2000's.

I think the picture we have of slavery is a bit colored by our own circumstances. And enjoying too many late nights on kinkdotcom.
 
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lokvette

lokvette
In the old games id fill up my ship with Imp slaves then head to the edge of the then bubble and set them free.

This game I move them for a profit.:D
 
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Vorxian

Vorxian
MarkAusten said:
"Imperial Slaves" are voluntary, they do it to themselves.

Each to their own definition.
Click to expand...

^ this.

I think the official explanation was that the concept of Imperial Slaves was renting oneself out to earn a living. Not the classic sense of the word slave... more like having a maid to clean your house, paying them, letting them live in your house and have absolute freedom.. Not like the whole black slave thing that inspired the movie 12 years a slave (which is a fabulously made film btw).

So these Imperial slaves are very well treated and fairly reimbursed for their services.

It's the 'non Imperial' slaves I feel very sorry for... which is why I transport Imperial Slaves on the Imperial Flagship Cutter.. You should see the recreational facilities on that thing. It literally is like Burj Al Arab with wings.
 

777Driver

777Driver
DNA-Decay said:
Our cleaner just moved to the other side of the country.
she's from the Philippines. She has friends who went to work in UAE.
Their passports were taken.
They don't get paid.
They are paying off their debt to travel there.
It takes years.

.
Click to expand...

Imperial Slavery does remind me a lot of the UAE and other parts of the gulf, although what you describe is in the minority. Have spent over 25 years in the Gulf, have met (And made friends with) many Filipino/Sri lankan/Indian house maids/labourers.

My last cleaner/maid was earning more than the Sri Lankan Prime minister, 3 holidays a year, enough to give her kids an education back home, same deal with most of the maids and gardeners working for expats. 300BD a month is a huge amount of money for them to send back, hence why so many travel to the Gulf from Asia and the far east.

What you have described about holding passports/lack of pay also happens here in the UK with a section of illegal workers, this is more to do with signing up with a dodgy agency and having everything done off the books, you can't go to the police because you are not even supposed to be working in the country.
 
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MarkAusten

MarkAusten
Stasis Wolf said:
The real crime in Imperial slavery is that any pilot can purchase their contract not being bound in any way to honor it. They can then go and sell the "slaves" contract anywhere including non-Imperial systems in black markets where said contracts will obviously not be honored. Essentially making Imperial slaves just ordinary slaves.

I know that "this is only a game," but human trafficking is deplorable in any century
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True and FD offers you the same deal with some paying passengers, so it is not just Imperial Slaves that fall under this thing.

You know, we probably would not be having this conversation if FD had called them Imperial Indentured Servants.

We get hung up on the word "slave".
 
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h347h

h347h
Any system that lets me take people in a cargo hold and sell them anywhere legal or more importantly illegally is bad. And there is nothing stopping people from just jettisoning them into stars.

I mean nothing is stopping criminal organizations from purchasing them and using them for I'll gains.
 

Han_Zen

Han_Zen
MarkAusten said:
True and FD offers you the same deal with some paying passengers, so it is not just Imperial Slaves that fall under this thing.

You know, we probably would not be having this conversation if FD had called them Imperial Indentured Servants.

We get hung up on the word "slave".
Click to expand...

Once an imp has accepted the slavery contract, they are properties. Their so called rights does not apply much, once you are +50ly from Achenar.

Life expectancy in a imp slave mine is short. It doesn't matter if your contract is 5 or 15 years.

Imp slavery is slavery with a few sunshine examples in the core worlds.
 

Edith_The_Hutt

Edith_The_Hutt
Slaves can be bought, sold and transported hundreds of light years without their consent; something that indentured servants do not have to suffer.
 

Flimsey

Flimsey
How the imperial slavetrade is working has bean debated more then once. It is not logical that they can be a comodity because their value is their debt.
I had some thought on it for nearly a year ago:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...rs-not-cargo?p=4543749&viewfull=1#post4543749

What i think of now is maby only ppl with a high enough imperial rank could make money ferrying them. I still think they should be passengers not bulk trade commodity. Short range in big numbers or few mid range.
 

Whiterose

Whiterose
Don't care as long as I make a stonking profit selling them. Personally I think we should be able to sell childrens organs as the profit in them would be huge.
 
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