![]() ![]() Serfs are independent agents, you have no expenses with them, except for the occasional wedding gift and such. Slaves are expensive and inefficient - once you buy a slave they are yours, you must feed them, clothe them, provide accomodation for them, and so on, for life. Historically, there have been cultures where slaves were legally classified as speaking tools ( "instrumenta vocalia" in Rome before the Punic wars, for example), and there have been cultures were some slaves wielded military, civil or political power - the Janissaries and the Mamelukes come to mind.īy the way, once the European societies discovered the idea of serfdom, slavery was doomed. What specific tasks a slave had depended very very very much on the specific culture, specific master and specific slave. Using the words with different meanings is of course allowed, but you may want to explain.Īnd slaves are "classified as cattle" only if you want them to be classified as cattle. Slaves cannot have property, they cannot marry legally, they cannot stand in justice. ![]() Serfs can have property, they can marry legally, they can stand in justice. Serfs are not property the master does not own the serf: they own the domain to which the serf is bound. ![]() In real history the difference between a serf and a slave is that the slave has no legal capacity and belongs to a person or an institution whereas the serf has (either full or limited) legal capacity and is bound to a domain. Have both terms been, with historic usages in mind, chosen appropriately and can they be used safely without causing much confusion to the reader? Slaves are usually supervised by serfs, who treat them extremely sadistically. Slaves may be easily traded on slave markets and auctions, serving as tokens of bulk payment and speculation objects. Mind control implants, drugs and draconic punishments are used to keep slaves submissive. roles that bear little chance of survival). Slaves are usually not rented but bought by the military, serving as poorly armed or unarmed cannon meat or test subjects (e.g. They receive no education or training whatsnotever (and can usually not even speak properly) except for what is required for the execution of the job. They perform the dirtiest, most menial and excruciating labors and are considered to be expendable. The process of the direct transfer of a serf between owners is somewhat bureaucratic. Vice versa, free laborers can voluntarily sell themselves into serfdom in return for accomodation, food and safety. Serf families who receive salaries usually save them (over the course of multiple lifetimes) they can buy themselves free with the permission of their masters and the local magistrate to become free laborers (often becoming wage slaves in large cities). Owners can send serfs to the military (effectively the military rents them), receiving a large part of their pay such serfs usually serve in the line infantry. Universities utilize serfs as laboratory workers. Serfs working in the household usually are butlers, maidservants and cleaning ladies senior serfs can become personal secretaries. In rural environments, especially on very small farms where the serf-owner relationship persists for centuries, serfs are treated as a part of the family and sometimes live and eat together with their masters. Their children are usually allowed four years of education. In the rare case serfs are transferred to or born in a city, they work in factories as skilled laborers, having some responsibility, usually as a supervisor over slaves. They are most commonly found in the country, working on farms for dozens of generations. ![]() Serfs are legally bound to their owner like slaves and receive no or little salary. Let's call them serfs and slaves, the former standing higher than the latter. On the very bottom of the population pyramid, two groups, both damned to a short, hard life of menial work and unfreedom, exist. The lower classes have no access to higher education (or even decent vocational training) and are constantly monitored by the police.Īs already implied, every social class is separated into a subsystem of groupings that is even more complex that the system of classes itself, meaning that even the dirtiest proletarians and asocials have somebody to look down upon. A complex system of classes, sub-classes, castes and professional groups exists, with little or no social mobility. In my fictional country (a dictatorship), the social structure is very rigid. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |