Written by "Roger" of "Dreaming of Serenity"
The ‘Verse is a wide and diverse place with tens of billions of inhabitants across hundreds of worlds. While most of humanity is “free” there are several different systems of servitude that exist across the ‘Verse. Some are worse than others. Some are highly frowned upon, and others are even illegal. What follows is a general guide on these types of servitude from most oppressive to least oppressive.
Contents:
Chattel Slavery
Forced Labor
Indentured Servitude
Contract Labor
Serfdom
Chattel Slavery
This is slavery as most people imagine it. Human beings are pure property (i.e. chattel). They are bought and sold. They often lead lives of hard labor in poor conditions. Some masters are incredibly cruel to their slaves, holding the power of life and death over their property (though it is poor business sense to mistreat such an investment). Some masters allow slaves to own some property and grant them other rights, but for the most part the slave has no rights and no chance at freedom save escape or being set free by one’s master.
One can become a slave in really only one of two ways. Either you are born to a slave and thus become the property of your parent’s master, or you are forcibly captured and forced into a life of servitude. You might be captured as a prisoner in a real war, as a survivor from a ship or settlement raided by bandits, or as someone who got lost at night in a city and abducted. Alternatively, you could start on one of the lower tiers of servitude and your service is transformed into full blown slavery.
With just about zero exceptions, chattel slavery is completely illegal. However, slavery still exists in the ‘Verse (AKA everywhere), but the Alliance and other governments can’t be everywhere to police such things. Sometimes they simply don’t have the manpower to constantly stomp it out. Other times they might not know it is going on. More frequently though, they turn a blind eye to it or simply don't want to hunt down slavers operating outside their own territory. Once in a while there will be a show of force where a raid frees a bunch of slaves, but complete emancipation is unlikely.
Chattel slavery is practiced primarily only in the Rim (at least in large numbers) with slaves owned either by very wealthy individuals or very powerful corporations. In descending order, most slaves are owned by mining companies, wealthy landowners/”nobles”, and terraforming companies. A few slaves might be found used as house slaves, sex slaves, or some form of oddity for a slave (e.g. bodyguard/assassin).
For the most part anyone who is a “slaver,” i.e. actively captures people to be sold as slaves, is a criminal and anyone who buys slaves from them or owns slaves is also a criminal. Human trafficking is about as bad as you can get, but in some places it is not only overlooked but actually legal.
Forced Labor
Forced Labor is basically identical to slavery but for a few key exceptions:
Forced labor is not illegal. Some worlds (primarily Core worlds) outlaw it at the local level, but there is no widespread law against the practice (even in the Alliance).
Laborers retain some rights. Notably, forced laborers cannot be beaten without cause and cannot be killed without trial. The children of forced laborers are also born free.
One becomes a forced laborer after being convicted of a crime.
Terms of service range from a few years to life.
Forced labor is a sentence in lieu of prison. Rather than have you stamp out license plates or work on a chain gang at the prison, you are effectively loaned out to someone else as a pseudo-slave. Sometimes forced labor is assigned for truly severe crimes when merely siting in a cell might not seem like enough punishment. Other times forced labor is assigned but simultaneously reduces a sentence (e.g. two years forced labor instead of five years of imprisonment).
Forced labor is a favorite of many smaller worlds because it:
Eliminates the need to have expensive prison systems/keeps what prisons they have from becoming overpopulated and requiring more prisons.
Has that rough sense of “frontier justice” that many Rim communities appreciate.
Arguably works better to rehabilitate criminals through honest work potentially combined with learning a trade and building contacts for employment at the end of one’s sentence.
Stimulates local economic growth.
Provides revenue to the local government.
More developed worlds often have the opposite opinion. They lack some of the basic world views about crime and punishment seeing this as little better than slavery. They also lack the practical concerns of small Rim worlds (i.e. they have large pools of laborers, have large tax revenues, can afford prisons, etc.).
Indentured Servitude
Indentured Servitude is a step down from forced labor and shares many of the same characteristics.
Indentured servitude is legal most everywhere but the Core.
Laborers have rights, even more than forced laborers.
Indentured servitude is not a criminal punishment but a civil punishment or civil contract.
Terms of service range from a few months to many years.
Indentured servitude can be a punishment for debtors. If you can’t pay what you owe then your debtor will become your master until you work off the debt.
Alternatively, and more commonly, indentured servitude is a form of contract payment rather than a punishment. For someone who requires a good sum of money, offering their bodies for a period of service is often their best choice. A standard system is that the master will pay for the person’s voyage from wherever they come from out to the Border or Rim world. They will then work typically seven years in whatever profession while the master provides room and board. At the completion of their service, they will have paid off the debt of the voyage and then will also be provided payment upon release (e.g. a parcel of land to start their own farm/business, tools of their trade, some money… or alternatively just a large sum of nothing but money).
Indentured servants carry little social stigma, nothing beyond what any poor person would have. The Core often looks down on the practice as barbaric but most in the Rim and even Border see the benefits to both master and servant. However, in some case indentures are worse off than slaves. While a slave is a lifetime investment worth preserving, a master only has an indenture for so long and might literally work them to death before their term expires.
Contract Labor
Contract Labor is just a step down from indentured servitude.
Contract labor is legal almost everywhere. Where it is illegal, the punishment is typically just a voiding of the contract and forced payment for the completed work.
Contracted laborers have all the rights of regular citizens.
Contracts are entered into voluntarily.
Contracts typically last one year.
Contract labor is a mix between a regular job and indentured servitude. Most commonly found in agriculture, the “boss” will hire on workers for the year. These workers are given free room and board and do all the work their boss commands (within reason). At the end of the year the contract ends, the workers are released and free to re-sign for another year if they please, and are paid a full year’s salary. Workers may quit and terminate the contract whenever they want during the year with no legal penalty, but they forfeit all wages earned up until that point (e.g. if you quit 11 months in, you walk away with nothing for all that labor).
Contract labor is favorable for bosses because it ensures that your workers will actually stick with the job and see it through to the end. It keeps them from quitting if they find a better job or a better offer elsewhere (and it can give you an excuse not to pay them if they do leave). In many ways they are also more than just employees but temporary members of the household who can be called on for any number of tasks and hopefully trusted as if they were members of an extended family.
It’s not always so great for workers, but there are benefits. For a young bachelor with a kind boss, it can be a great setup (not so great for someone with a family elsewhere or a slave driver for a boss). Contract labor sometimes pays slightly higher rates than standard “at will” labor where you can quit whenever you please. Also, just as you can’t quit whenever you please, the boss can’t just fire you at least not without paying the full contract salary. So just as the boss is ensured he has workers, you are ensured a job, roof over your head, and food in your stomach for the full year. This is particularly appealing in an industry that typically has bursts of seasonal work rather than year round jobs.
Serfdom
Serfdom doesn’t exactly fall well within the above scale nor is it certain that it exists in the ‘Verse, but it is certainly a possibility given the number of worlds and the odd customs of some. I swear this will be the last entry, and I will refrain from adding a social commentary entry on the modern industrial society and how a “freeman” is actually a slave often living and working under harsh conditions.
Serfs are the basic members of a feudal society. They inhabit a precarious position between freeman and slave with a unique relationship to their lord. In short, serfs are tied to the land and serve their lord and he in turn has certain responsibilities to them. In 2520 the potential Feudalism of the ‘Verse might be a bit more advanced than the Middle Ages, but the same principles apply.
Duties of the Serf:
Serf owes labor on the lord’s land and must partition his time between his own land and that of his lord (typically with the needs of the lord taking precedence.
The serf owes a tithe/tax either in the form of goods from his personal lands or as hard cash to the lord.
The serf often will owe military service to his lord in times of war.
Duties of the Lord:
The lord owes his serf land to live on and to work.
The lord owes his serfs protection from any and all threats.
The lord owes his serfs justice for any crimes committed against them, including protection from the possible tyranny of the lord himself.
During times of hardship, the lord owes charity to support his serfs.