30 Slaves

1-The Galley Slave

Once he was a junior lieutenant in the Royal Navy of Queen Yocasta , until he led a mutiny and attempted to use his ship to bombard the city of Pier Point in the hope of starting a revolution and toppling the tyrannical Queen. The crews of the other ships refused to join him however, and a squadron was sent with units of The Eyes of Yocasta on board. After a sea battle the ship was retaken, and most of the mutineers were hanged within days in public from the yardarm in front of the rest of the fleet, as a warning to any other would be mutineers.

Alex Sertsov and the other leaders were spared the death penalty, as it was not thought nasty enough for them. Instead they were condemned to live the life of galley slaves, chained up on the oar deck of one of Her Majestys Triremes for the rest of their lives and forced to row all day until their hands blister and their backs are laid open by the whip. Alex sometimes wishes he could die, as his life is one of hard physical toil.

2-The Scribe

A slave he may be, but his life is far from hellish. He was educated well by the slaver who brought him from his parents as a child and taught him the skills of a scribe. He was also taught that slavery is a normal part of life. It is his job to supervise all the other slaves and do a lot of his masters bookkeeping. His master for his part is fond of him and sees no need to treat him badly.

Indeed, there are times when Isaac has finished his work, when he can relax almost like a free person. At Sunreturn he is allowed to celebrate with the rest of the family and his master even buys him gifts. He is totally loyal to his master and will do anything his master tells him unless it would cause his death or serious pain. His master has tested him without his knowledge a couple of times, leaving a gate open, and he did not take the chance to escape. In his will the master has asked that Isaac be set free.

3-The Gladiator

He was once one of the finest admirals that Acqua has ever seen, with a stellar naval career working for the De Madden Company behind him. A veteran of five major naval battles during the war with the Kraken States, in the fifth his ship was captured and he was taken alive by the powerful navy of Redhaven He expected that his fate was to be a public feeding to the massive Kraken Big Red but another fate was in store for him and he was enslaved and trained as a gladiator.

It was thought that he would die after a couple of fights but instead he has won battle after battle in the arena to the point where he has become very popular with the crowds. Indeed, if the authorities tried to execute him now it would cause uproar. He has very little hope of ever winning his freedom, but knows his situation could be much worse. As it is he is well fed, well treated and even his guards like him.

4-The False Princess

She used to be Zoë Comminus, the daughter of a middle-ranking noble in Vallermoore and one of the closest childhood playmates of Princess Crysta, the only child of Queen Yocasta When the Princess committed suicide the Queens ministers instituted the Princess Draft where girls like her were trained expertly to play the part of Princess Crysta so that the Queen would think that her daughter was still alive. If they failed in their duties in the slightest way or tried to escape they were murdered, and their bodies were shown to those who would have to take on their role.

Dracia Eldren taught them well. Zoë considers herself a slave as everything she says or does has to be the mirror image of Princess Crysta and she is not even allowed to scratch itches. She longs to see her family again and hates Dracia with a passion, whilst Dracia is using her subtly to influence the Queens royal policies.

5-The Doomed

Taken as a prisoner of war, Edward Bromhead now knows that unless he manages to escape very soon, his only future is a very painful death. He is chained up and forced to work in a factory that makes the hated Iron Puff. He and his fellow slaves have itchy bleeding patches of fungus on their bodies and are fed just enough to stay alive and work hard, so they are always hungry.

The Iron Puffs that they make are sent to the front to infect and kill their fellow soldiers. Edward yearns not only to escape but also to somehow blow up the factory to kill and injure as many of his captors as possible. His ribs show through his flesh and he is almost blind through being made to work for long hours in poor light. He feels guilty because he knows that his forced labour is helping the war effort of his captors country.

6-The Foreman

Once doomed to spend his life chained up in the sugarcane fields cutting cane all day, Rufus used his machete to kill another slave who was about to kill his master. Impressed with his loyalty and knowing that he owed his life to him, his master had Rufus unchained, given a bullwhip, and promoted to slave overseer. Now he spends the days beating any slave who tries to rest and on occasion, meting out torture, executions and other sadistic punishments when his master orders him too.

Hated more then the Master or any of the free overseers and seen as a traitor by his fellow slaves, he is certainly not accepted by those who are free as one of them because of his slave status. He longs like most slaves for his freedom so that he can somehow get back home to his family again.

7-The Zombie

In life, he got on the wrong side of a necromancer who raised him as a zombie slave the night after his funeral. His spirit is bound to its rotting body and is fully aware of what has happened but is helpless and must do whatever it is told. As well as using him for menial labour the necromancer has used him to murder his family and friends so that they can be raised as undead zombie slaves. He knows that when his body decomposes to bones, at least then his spirit will be free to move on to the spirit world.

8-The Soldier

Taken from his parents as a small child, he was brought up in the army of the De Madden Company as a soldier and sent out to conquer new islands, paid only what he can win in booty. Discipline is strict, but provided he behaves himself and obeys orders, he is not beaten or otherwise badly treated. Although he is a slave, his life is better then many of those that are free but poor.

9-The Helot

A simple patriot of his home city of Arga, he was captured during a war with a neighboring state. He did not go well, fighting bitterly against his newfound slavery. Now forced into hard labor by his captors, he is frequently beaten and abused because of his heritage (the two cities were rivals). He is planning vengence: many of Arga are in the camp of slaves, and he plans to led a rebellion against the tyrants that captured them.

10-The Pedagogue

Once a professor at the most prestigious of universities, she was captured by slavers en route to an important conference. After learning her identity, the slavers tripled her price (they had been trying to sell her as a flesh slave) and displayed her at the rich cities of the empire. She was purchased by a rich family and given the task of educating their four brats. Although more educated, she is treated less well than the Scribe, mostly due to the abrasive personality of her masters. She has quickly grown bored of teaching the uninterested children elementary knowledge and yearns for more challenging and intelligent conversation.

11-The Technician

A leading scientist, he was kiddnapped by members of the secret service of a dictator and now works with a Convict Collar around his neck, making deadly weapons to use against his home country, threatened with death id he refuses. His rations are good and his conditions of captivity are pleasent, as he is valued by his captors for his knowledge, but he hates what he has to do.

12-The Miner

Convicted of murder, his death sentence was commuted as Queen Amber was getting sick of executions and The Chair of Life had not been invented yet, to thirty years of hard labour in the Auchinduin Deep Iron Mine. After only two years of chipping away at the iron in the semi darkness, despite the good rations he gets, his sight and his health are failing and he is desperate to find a way to break his chains and escape.

13-The Willing

After witnessing a brutal murder, going to the police, finding that the gang who committed the murder were after him and, for reasons of his own, turning down the offer of a new identity and house far away, this man has moved in with his uncle and aunt, who expect him to do the chores in exchange for shelter. Whilst he thinks he is little better then a slave, he daers not complain in case he ends up on the streets as a homeless person.

14-X-Rated

Lured to work in the capital city of Banhoesea with a promise as a job as a waitress, this young woman was kiddnapped, beaten, drugged with Silverspider venom and put to work as a sex slave. Forced to service up to twenty men a day, her life is nasty, brutish and likely to be short unless she finds a way to escape. If she does get away, she will have her drug addiction to deal with.

15-Prospect

Unlike the vast majority of the slaves, he is one of his own free will and knows that it will not last longer then a year or two. He wanted to join The Regulators and travelled many miles to make contact with one of their chapters. They liked the look of him, and told him that if he worked for a year as one of their prospects, a glorified slave of the chapter, they would vote on his full membership.

As a prospect, his life as hard as he has to do all the small tasks, but most of the Regulators are not deliberatly cruel to him, as they were all prospects once and know how it feels.

16-In the Clink

His days are spent toiling away for eight hours a day on a treadmill, grinding corn into flour to make bread for the royal army. A deserter who deserted the army in a time of peace, but made the major mistake of taking his rifle with him, he was caught and sentenced to serve seven years in the military prison at Wheatsword grinding corn. Apart from his bland prison meals and an hour of excersise a day, he spends the rest of his time off the treadmill locked in a cell.

17-The Unicorn

This once proud magical creature was captured by The Keepers of Forbidden Birds and Beasts, had it's horn cut off, draining it's magical powers in the process, and is made to pull heavy carts full of manure by day and sleep in a stable by night, which it finds deeply humilating. It was captured because it attacked humans and killed one of them, and was sold to the family of the man who had died at it's hands. They did not execute it for fear that a Dark Unicorn would come seeking revenge. Besides, they prefered to humilate it endlessly instead.

18-Hareem Girl

Captured on the high seas by a privateer loyal to the Kraken States whilst on her way to her fiancee, this cultured daughter of a De Madden Company Admiral, the pearl of her father's eye, ended up in one of the hareems of Redhaven. Unlike the X-Rated she only has to please one man sexually, and he is quite close to her in age and not horrible to look upon or totally perverted.

Her biggest problem is boredom, for her quarters are locked and barred, and she des not have much to do. She can read the few books she has and has taken up weaving to give herself something to do whilst waiting for her Master's visits. Her food is sparse as her Master does not want her getting fat, but it is tasty.

19-Entranced

After falling foul of a wizard, his shape was changed by magic to that of a girl, causing him agonizing pain at the time, and a ring was put on his finger which controls everything he says, does and wears, forcing him to act like a girl and, worse, be the loving and adoring, sweet and helpful girlfriend of the wizard. He would throw up in disgust if the spell let him.

20-Singer of Songs

A caustic critic of Queen Yocasta , this man ended up in The Songpit for political reasons after he tried to organize a demonstration in the capital and draw attention to the spate of missing girl cases. He proved to be a truely great singer with bardic gifts and large numbers of people have flocked to hear him sing.

Of course, all the money from the entry fees to his concerts have gone to the Queen and he gets none of it, and has no personal freedon whatsoever. He doubts that the Queen will ever free him from his singing serfdom and would escape if he could. Unknown to him a few of his friends are secretly planning to bust him out of captivity.

21-Prison Trustee

A former violent burglar, he committed one burglary too many and was finally caught be the police and ended up locked up in The Paul and Peter Fortress where he made himself useful to the guards, making their tea, and doing other small jobs to help them where possible.

This progressed to beating other prisoners for the guards, helping to lock other prisoners up and then becoming the prison hangman. Whilst unpaid, he is seen by the guards almost as one of them now, and is hated by all the other prisoners with a passion.

22-Forest Clearer

A captured elf, taken in a major battle, he was put in heavy chains, given an axe and forced at crossbow-point by the guards standing well behind him to cut down the trees on the edge of his country. Because the humans who earlier did this work were frequently shot down by eleven bowmen from within the woods, they made the elvish prisoners of war do the job instead.

He hates what he is forced to do and also hates it that he did not have the courage to die in battle with his comrades rather then surrender and end up being used against his country.

23-Coin Thrall

A former thief, who made the mistake of stealing directly from the Royal Mint, this man was sentenced to spend twelve hours a day forging gold and silver coins, stamping them, cooling them with water and stacking them up in new rows. Unpaid and forced to handle huge amounts of money, he wears a pocketless robe and is searched intimatly every evening. He has been warned that if he tries to keep even one coin for himself, his ears will be cut off in front of the other coin thralls as punishment and a warning.

24-Goblin Slave

This young goblin child liked to wonder far from his tribe, exploring new areas, until the day when he wondered into territory claimed by The Order of the Knights of Rightous Victory and was captured by a mounted patrol, taken to one of the Order's castles, and tortured for two hours to find out who he was, where he came from and if he was a spy for his tribe.

He was then forced to bring the knights their food at mealtimes, polish their armour and do other menial tasks. The knights treat him as subhuman and delight in kicking and beating him if he does not come quickly enough for their liking when they bellow his name. His green skin is full of blisters and bruises.

25-Council Worker

Not all slaves have hellish lives. After rising to a high position in the De Madden Company and then being found guilty of embezzlement,this man was enslaved, given a suspended death sentence which will be enforced if he reoffends again and set to doing the local mundane council work of a small town, filling in the paperwork. He knows he got off lightly and hads no intention of committing another crime.

26-Dustman

Born to a family of slaves who have been slaves for as many generations as they can remember, educated only enough to count, this otherwise illitarate slave spends his days hauling away the rubbish to the landfill sites on the edge of town. Because he cannot read, there is no danger of his being able to use the papers in the bins to committ identity theft and gain his freedom.His masters can also use him to destroy any papers that might one day be evidence against them.

27-Litter Bearer

A former royal pretender to the throne, his forces handed him over to the king and melted away rather then offer battle to the royal army. To teach him humilty he was enslaved and became one of the king's litter bearers, carrying him in a litter whenever he wanted to travel far.
He got off lightly because the king was a kind man.

28-Slave of the Dragon

A foolhardy knight who thought that he could slay a dragon, he was snatched up in it's claws, his weapons and armour were peeled away from him and he was given the choice of being eaten as a quick snack or serving the dragon as a slave in it's cave. Now he does whatever the dragon tells him to do. Like the Coin Thrall, he is surrounded by gold coins and cannot spend any of them. He is not chained but knows that he won't get far if he tries to run away (his horse was eaten by the dragon.)

29-Unemployed and therefore Enslaved

As he could not find a job, he was set to work, unpaid, labouring in a chain gang building public roads for four days out of seven, whipped if he does not work hard enough.. His slavery will end when he finds a paid job, any paid job that is legal and above board, but there is a recession on and he has very little chance of finding paid work.

30-Cathedral Slave

He was an undertaker who was caught breaking into the tomb of one of The Priests of Mammon to steal the priest's Ring of Heaven. The priests took it very seriously and topok him to court over it, who sentenced him to a life of slavery in one of the cathedrals of Mammon, cleaning and polishing the gold altars, putting out the candles at night and other jobs like that.

He was fitted with a [Convict Collar} that will choke him if he tries to leave the cathedral or does not do what he is told (providing the orders are legal-he cannot be forced to break the law or put his life in danger.) Any of the priests can operate the collar at any time. He misses his freedom deeply, but he is fed well and his jobs, apart from cleaning out the toilets which is foul, are not that bad most of the time.