Slaves can be seen hard at work throughout the city. From the stoop-shouldered water carriers in the king's fields to the pampered concubines of the wealthy, Nibenay's slave population is diverse. The city demands many different kinds of talent, and virtually anyone can be sold into slavery. Slaves are treated much like animals. Favored concubines and gladiators may receive special treatment, while laborers and household slaves are ignored at best and often beaten if they offend. Visitors to Nibenay should be on guard; no laws protect travelers from being waylaid and thrown into bonds by slavers.
Marriage
Slaves are the property of their masters. Consequently, mating is conducted at the discretion of owners and generally entered into for profit. Formal marriages are unknown among the slaves of Nibenay. Strong male dwarves are bred with female human slaves for a stud fee in hopes of producing powerful muls. Female brood slaves are bred constantly and their offspring sold to keep the slave population constant or to help it grow. Slaves occasionally give birth to their masters' children. These offspring may be sold, kept as slaves, or even adopted into the masters' families. Illegitimate children born to slaves always belong to the master of the female. Consequently, promiscuity is encouraged in female slaves, but males are severely punished if caught engaging in such activities.
Ownership of Property
Slaves may possess property in Nibenay at the discretion of their masters. But regardless of how masters choose to allow their slaves to acquire property, the state always considers such property to belong to the masters. Consequently, some nobles provide favorite slaves a small stipend while others keep them in corrals like erdlu. Nibenese nobles have even been known to occasionally allow slaves to earn their freedom. Extraordinarily loyal slaves have, at times, been freed, married and even given small plots of land. Such indulgences are rarely afforded to the slaves of the free citizens. They may take good care of their investments, but would never give them away.
Occupations
Slaves are found in the employ of every class and profession in Nibenay. Free citizens use slaves to assist in their various businesses. Craftsmen use slaves to cut trees and shape weapons. Builders tie slaves to massive sandstone blocks and make them haul the block miles to the city. Slaves can also be seen carving the elaborate stonework on city buildings. The elemental temples use slaves to tend their fields, and at the School of Augurs, slaves staff all areas not directly related to psionic study. The slaves of nobles tend the springs and rice fields of the noble houses. Some nobles also purchase scholar slaves to maintain family libraries and to assist in the education of the young. The Shadow King has collected a large contingent of scholar slaves. They work in a university within the subcity, studying ancient writings found deep in the Crescent Forest. The state uses slaves in the army, and as laborers and stone-cutters around the city. Huge numbers of slaves spend their entire lives within the walls of the Naggaramakam. Half the slaves of the sub-city tend to Nibenay and his templars, while the other half build, maintain, and decorate the city. Stables of gladiators are kept by nobles, merchant houses and the king. High ranking templars may also maintain a cadre of these slave fighters. Individual gladiators occasionally rise to great popularity. Some have even won their freedom through such games.
Typical Residences
Slaves are kept in a variety of conditions. Some slaves enjoy small individual cells within the homes of their masters. Others live in corrals or barracks where they huddle with other slaves for warmth. As a rule, a slave's accommodations afford little luxury and no privacy.
Education
Slaves receive training specific to the tasks they are assigned to do. Only the state may teach slaves to read and write, and once this knowledge is acquired the slaves are never permitted to leave the Naggaramakam. Nobles purchase their few literate slaves from slave traders in the marketplace. These unfortunates are usually former traders who were captured in the desert and had no affiliation with a merchant house to prevent their enslavement.
Funerals
For centuries slaves were buried in shallow graves in fields set aside for that purpose. A cleric was always paid to conduct the ceremony, for a slave is as susceptible to undeath as a free citizen or noble. Recently, the enterprising abbot of the Temple of the Sun has begun to offer a service to collect and cremate dead slaves for a fee that is somewhat less than the cost of burying them in the fields.
Right and Duties
In Nibenay, slaves have no rights except those extended by their masters. Masters are free to improve or destroy their property, including slaves, as they see fit. As in other cities, the Nibenay's slaves are expected to promptly expedite any commands issued by their masters as long as these commands remain within the laws of the state. Nibenese slaves sometimes gain more responsibility than their counterparts in other cities. This is particularly true of the scholar slaves, who are sometimes charged with educating young nobles or studying sensitive documents. Such responsibilities are not always welcome, for more than one slave has been executed for simply knowing too much.
Becoming a Slave
There are three common ways to become a slave in Nibenay. The first is to be born into slavery. All children of slaves are themselves slaves. The second method is to break the law or fail to pay taxes. The templars of the Chamber of Order are authorized to freely administer penalties ranging to death. Thethird method involves being from fines to slavery captured by slavers While citizens are fairly secure from this fate, visitors to Nibenay only receive the protection of city trade laws. More than one traveler who has had too much to drink in the elven market has woken up on the auction block with a brand burned into their skin. The head of every family in Nibenay has the right to pawn family members to the state or to other citizens as compensation for debts or in exchange for loans or favors. The labor performed by the family member is considered interest on the loan. If, after an agreed upon period of time, the family head cannot make good on the debt or loan, the family member in pawn is retained permanently by the lender.
Family members in pawn are always treated with civility and not brutalized like slaves may be. They are, however, completely subservient to the lender. If the person in pawn is of eligible age and the family cannot pay the debt, the lender may retain the pawn as a spouse. Kowett's Caravan Slaves of the Naggaramakam whisper the name of
Kowett's Caravan
The legend of Kowett, a former slave of
the Shadow King, provides hope and inspires the slaves to
dream. The stories describe Kowett as a concubine to a
templar. The templar showed him a tunnel deep beneath
the palace that leads to the safety of the Crescent Forest.
Now Kowett lives with his slave tribe deep in the forest,
mounting regular excursions back beneath the city to take
more slaves to freedom.
This story is, unfortunately, an invention of Nibenay
himself. He has found that slaves are much more
productive if given a shred of hope. Occasionally, his
templars catch a few slaves searching for Kowett and
his tunnel. These slaves are transferred to an outpost far
from the palace, and the remaining slaves hear rumors of
another successful escape.