Intergalactic Summit

What is Slavery? Slavery is indentured servitude that you have no choice over.

Is Slavery bad? Well in principle that is debatable. For myself, I do not buy slaves. I rescue human beings.

Every slave I have ever acquired was rescued. I currently have been charged by the Lord to care for over 500 slaves, many of which are children. The first 400 or so were rescued on a mission, where upon I was contracted to destroy a Blood Raider base. The rest I rescued from a cargo container that they had been jettisoned in and left to die. Since then they have been treated as well as the crew members on my ships. Their needs are provided for, and I gave them charge of my home to take care of, something I do with great trust. When I am at my home estate, I try to visit with them as often as I can.

My heart breaks for the horrors these people have witnessed. Of those I rescued from the Blood Raiders, almost half had already witnessed family members be butchered by those cultic monsters like cattle by the time I had arrived, their blood being drained from them as they wept. Many of the children who saw their parents die this way, often would ask to walk with me on the estate grounds, pouring their hearts out in bitter tears. Expressing their grief, many of which needed to scream out at the ocean as they begged me for answers, the waves accepting their grief as I calmly listened and offered what support I could. These children often randomly embrace me when I am walking near them, usually excited about some simple thing they found or were able to accomplish. Many of those that were orphaned have often expressed to me how loved they feel after being cared for by my efforts, which astounds me at times. Being a capsuleer can sometimes desensitize you to the impact of little things. From arranging guests to entertain them, reading to them, or to simply offering a listening ear.

All I can truly do is provide these sweet children with the means to better themselves, and freedom if they become fully prepared. While they are under my charge, I do my best to teach them the love of God, and make sure they know that no one is beyond his grace.

I do not work them like the stereotypical slave driver that many outside the Empire perceive holders as. I have sat down with each one that becomes of age, getting to know them somewhat, then going through an interview-like process. I asked each adult what kinds of work they are interested in, what level of education they wished they could have, etc. I have hired tutors to teach them, although I plan on holding a holiday party relatively soon to raise money to add a small university, including a wing for the children solely for educational purposes to my estate.

Many of my fellow capsuleers who are not Amarrian may demand I free them immediately. However, I ask them this.

To what end? They would be helpless. What good is freedom if you are unable to better yourself, or acquire the basic necessities?

Currently, they are given shelter, provided with sustenance each day from my personal estate chefs, given free medical care, learning opportunities such as carpentry or welding, and they are given jobs to teach them basic skills. Currently, most of them are simply working to be blue collar workers, of which there are many opportunities to learn the skills for on my estate.

However, at least 10 have expressed their interests in chemistry or other sciences, and since then they have been taught by my personal scientists in my research facilities. However, many of their compatriots have told me that they wish to be doctors, teachers, lawyers, and a myriad of other such white collar careers. I have looked into gaining the necessary professionals to assist them in these goals, but currently have had little success beyond hiring some minor tutors. If you know of any non-capsuleer professionals that would be interested in teaching those respective genres and can arrange for my meeting them, I would be grateful.

The end goal for them ultimately would be to acquire their freedom, although I doubt many will wish to gain it because of how comfortable their lives are. I never use Vitoc to influence them, and do my best to care for them. In some ways, they are better off than the crews on my ships, because they are not often in dangerous situations, and get to stay in one place. Although my crew are provided for in most of the same ways, just not to the same extent. I am unable to bring that amount of resources on every ship I own, not even a battleship.

On separate note, I do own "Freed slaves". They were gained from a mission I was given by the Amarrian Government to pursue a minmatar raiding party. However, they are treated just as well as the actual slaves I own and given the same opportunities.

And for the crews of the minmatar ships that I pursued? For those who are offended by that mission, you should know that at least 97% of them survived and were rescued by my men after hours of searching. They were then given free passage to their homeworlds, along with some reimbursement for their ships. No I do not provide such compensation to all hostiles I encounter, I simply saw it as appropriate given the situation.

Also, it should be mentioned that any slave I own that has family outside of my realm of influence has been given the opportunity to contact them, given that my agents are able to track them down. Which, unfortunately, is not always possible.

As I realize I am running out of room to continue, I shall end with this. I do everything in my power to care for those under my charge. Whether they are legally a possession, a member of my crew, or a capsuleer in my corporation, I take what God has given me very seriously.

Slavery is illegal in the State, period. That said, the question of semantics is far more debatable. Just calling it slavery is enough to condemn the concept in most peoples eyes, but for the sake of argument, my opinion is as follows... Those who keep slaves that they abuse, deride, molest and kill on a whim, feeling that their blood alone is enough justification, are wastes of space and taking up room in the universe that should belong to someone else. Those in the Empire who actually take people from dire straits, shelter and educate them for better lives, are more caretakers than anything else. I don't agree with the concept of ownership of human beings, since you can uplift someone into a productive life without lording over them, but I also comprehend the vast differences between the Empire and the State, and that slavery will not be abolished overnight, if ever.

By that definition, I would call you a caretaker, then. Ownership is a technicality, only slightly removed from certain extremes of indenturing contracts with which I'm quite familiar. So yes, we'll skip that bone... It's been gnawed on enough. The remainder of my opinion stands as is. I consider it morally incorrect, but accept that it exists, and since it does, would much rather it were undertaken as a form of stewardship in the spirit of what you present here, than an entitlement for "nobles" who would be nothing but dead weight where I come from.

You're right Dea, I don't care about you, your harebrained efforts to read a novel of woe into my thoughts, or your charade of championing every cause in the Cluster. Goodbye.

The honorable Lord displays the true purpose of this divine institution. To be a Holder is to be one tasked with a great burden. Destined to serve their fellow man and do all that is within their ability to ensure the salvation of those not Chosen. Without us they are lost so we must not fail.

It's good to see your view on this debate Vulxanis. It's too often forgotten that there are Holders who care about the people placed under their stewardship.

If only I could have another shot at my uncle for how he treated Rin and his other charges...

I commend you Vulxanis. The end of my navy career was spent cleaning up the mess of Holders that cared more for personal wealth than God's work. If any of your tenants have any interest in starship manufacturing, I will always have a few slots open for willing students.

I wish I had been fortunate enough to have a master half as good as you are.

Slavery is owning another human as property, with all the legal rights that implies.
Slavery is bad because:

• It exploits and degrades human beings.
• It allows for legal discrimination and impairment.
• It leaves a legacy of discrimination and disadvantage
• It is the fuel, and result, of and for racism.
• it both results and perpetuates gender discrimination.
• it allows and perpetuates the abuse of children.

You sound like a good person Mr Viceroy, so why do you need to own these people as slaves to do you're good works? In what way are their lives improved by being your property? In what way would they be worse off if they were your employees rather than your slaves?

I posit to you that there is no facet of their lives that would be worse off if they were all free people right now. Unless you would be unwilling to pay them a fair price for the work they do for you. Unless you would rather turn them to the streets than employ them as equals, as fellow humans, rather than own them as property.

The fact that you are a kind owner does not factor into it. People do not own other people. End of story. If you are unable to provide for these people, to continue your charitable work, without owning them as property, then are you really as noble as you seem to claim? Because I am not so sure.

The easy answer to all of that is that we're not just a slave nation, but a rather authoritarian one as well. Personal freedom invariably leads to a large portion of the impoverished population contracting problems such as drug use, gang warfare, and violent upheaval. The things that plague the lower classes of all other empires are much less of a problem in Amarrian space. If you commit a serious crime here, you are likely to be indentured rather than imprisoned. You are not kept near the people who would have been your gang affiliates, as your master is likely to move you to a completely new place. You do not have the chance to re-create those pressures because your master has an interest in keeping you in line.

Contrast that to what happens to prisoners of war, criminals, and impoverished debtors in other parts of the cluster. It may not seem very humane if you've learned, all your life, that it's wrong no matter what. However, if you've grown up with it, then traveled to other empires and seen the institutions that replace it elsewhere, you don't have that opinion. Imagine what we think of taking all of your criminals, sticking them in a cage with very little to do besides scheme and stew, and essentially create a university of serious criminal activity. And then stick them with the convict label for a few years to make sure that the only jobs they have when they get out are low-rent, menial affairs that they worry, everyday, that they'll lose or will not receive enough money from to even cover their rent.

Given that, I wouldn't necessarily say slaves are any less free than poor folk the cluster over. In my travels, I'm sorry to say that freedom is very often an illusion; you're free to do precisely what you're told and hope you aren't punished for some minor transgression by losing your job or freedom for years. Capsuleers can be egalitarian about it, but the slave system provides those who are in trouble with food, shelter, and someone whose logical interest should be in generating an Amarrian from a slave who can return his investment with hard work. It's a rehabilitation program, essentially begun as a humane alternative for prisoners of war millenia ago and continued today. When the practice is working correctly, which in the majority of cases it does, we generate civil Amarrians who appreciate the value of freedom and citizenship. When it doesn't, those Holders can find themselves in bondage just the same as their charges were.

There is a reason we very rarely execute soldiers we capture in battle or lock them in giant prison camps. There is also a reason that our prison system is so relatively small. While slavery is a dirty word elsewhere and carries certain stigmas, that's simply not the case in the Amarr Empire. I would say that, before you wonder how we could not accept your point of view on the system, imagine how Amarrians look at your own system and cringe. I mean, say what you want about the slave system, it's infinitely more logical than the prison system.