Merchant House Slaves in Tyr? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Merchant House Slaves in Tyr?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
JabbaVonHutt
Sep 14, 2010 15:34:29 I know that the Merchant Houses sorta work by their own rules, but at the time of the overthrow would their slaves have been freed as well? What about slaves in their caravans now coming into or out of the free city? Would they be exempt from freeing them? Would they seek vengeance on any slave escaping while in Tyr?
#2
OneWeirdCat
Sep 14, 2010 16:37:04 Hmmm, I think that the bigger merchant houses would be able to get away with bringing slaves, but wouldn't very often flaunt it. Tyr has iron, iron is rare, iron is dead useful, and Tyr is pretty self sufficient the way that most of the City States are. Piss off the ruling council, you may be banned from lucrative trade. Fly low, don't make waves, many of the revolutionary council, particularly the nobles, templars, merchants would be willing to overlook minor infractions.
Bringing a large amount of slaves would cause outcry, so they probably wouldn't push that, and the council would be forced to make the merchants free them. As for seeking vengeance, well, that depends on how quiet and efficient they are. Also, chiefly, is the slave worth it going after? A PC slave, well, it also depends on the house too, or your plot hooks then.
#3
nosan2
Sep 14, 2010 22:22:03 Good question. At first, I imagine caravans too close to Tyr and too low on travel supplies would have to enter the city and risk having their slaves liberated. I see early Free-Tyr's governement as too weak to really protect the merchant houses slaves from being let loose by the hordes or recently freed.

Another way of looking at it is that merchant houses may not have been bringing that many slaves into Tyr anyways due to Kalak's tendancy to impress slaves for construction of the Ziggurat.
#4
Pennarin
Sep 15, 2010 15:21:25 Merchant Houses with Emporiums within Tyr's city limits would IMO keep their slaves within the building, outside the compound using low-level staffers to do a slave's work.
Small Merchant Houses without Emporiums, or even smaller merchantile enterprises, but that still use slaves would leave them on the outside of the city, with a caravan and guards, until they leave the city to go to another slaving locale.
Any other denominations that cannot do either of these, or doesn't travel away from Tyr, would be forced to hier free citizens.
#5
snakefeather1
Sep 15, 2010 20:19:14 I would imagine doing business in Tyr just became less profitable, and the Tyr based merchant houses may suffer.
#6
natebot
Sep 22, 2010 2:58:04 I imagine there are small outposts located a few minutes to hours outside the city walls with services for slave-owning trade caravans, where they might stop before entering the city walls. For a fee the caravans can hire Tyrian laborers to take the goods the short trip into the city walls. The Tyrian government, such as it is, doesn't have the power to enforce its new laws outside its walls.

#7
Grummore
Sep 22, 2010 7:11:51 Sometime I imagine the Merchant Houses of DS like the MegaCorporation of Shadowrun. They are their own master inside their territories.
#8
BRJN
Sep 24, 2010 23:17:44 Part of the merchant house code is "obey the laws of the land". So if you are going to do business in Tyr, you don't bring slaves along. (Note however that you can always try to invent a ruse to get around this: "Why my good templar, I pay this man a daily wage to act as my bodyguard; he gets meat, bread, and water.")

The really good question - because there is lots of plot hook material here - is this: do the other city-states recognize Tyrian ex-slaves as freedmen?

I don't have any trouble imagining a slave-taker operation setting up shop just outside Tyr's oasis and looking for careless ex-slaves to return to their proper place in the social pecking order...

I also don't have any trouble imagining the Tyrian Guard hunting down and exterminating members of the above as a way to get battle practice...
#9
dreamernaut
Sep 25, 2010 1:34:21 I see Tyr as a city that atm is always on the verge of riot and mob rule. The various leaders including the merchant house leaders have to work a balance between furthering there factions influence and avoiding the ire of the mob. With former slaves being a large portion of Tyr's population I don't see how the merchant houses would be able to openly keep and trade slaves within Tyr without risking a riots. I'm thinking of something not totally dissimular to post tsarist russia.

A really wicked SOB may attempt to take advantage of the freed slaves situation by establishing a system of indentured servitued, but before a formal system of law is established this could be tricky. As a result, the best option for exploiting the labor force through day labor schemes that after a time make something like indentured servitude seem like a great idea. All the while the evil merchants gets a reputation for being generous and charitable in these hard times while they are really just creating another form of slavery.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 JabbaVonHutt Sep 14, 2010 15:34:29	I know that the Merchant Houses sorta work by their own rules, but at the time of the overthrow would their slaves have been freed as well? What about slaves in their caravans now coming into or out of the free city? Would they be exempt from freeing them? Would they seek vengeance on any slave escaping while in Tyr?
#2 OneWeirdCat Sep 14, 2010 16:37:04	Hmmm, I think that the bigger merchant houses would be able to get away with bringing slaves, but wouldn't very often flaunt it. Tyr has iron, iron is rare, iron is dead useful, and Tyr is pretty self sufficient the way that most of the City States are. Piss off the ruling council, you may be banned from lucrative trade. Fly low, don't make waves, many of the revolutionary council, particularly the nobles, templars, merchants would be willing to overlook minor infractions. Bringing a large amount of slaves would cause outcry, so they probably wouldn't push that, and the council would be forced to make the merchants free them. As for seeking vengeance, well, that depends on how quiet and efficient they are. Also, chiefly, is the slave worth it going after? A PC slave, well, it also depends on the house too, or your plot hooks then.
#3 nosan2 Sep 14, 2010 22:22:03	Good question. At first, I imagine caravans too close to Tyr and too low on travel supplies would have to enter the city and risk having their slaves liberated. I see early Free-Tyr's governement as too weak to really protect the merchant houses slaves from being let loose by the hordes or recently freed. Another way of looking at it is that merchant houses may not have been bringing that many slaves into Tyr anyways due to Kalak's tendancy to impress slaves for construction of the Ziggurat.
#4 Pennarin Sep 15, 2010 15:21:25	Merchant Houses with Emporiums within Tyr's city limits would IMO keep their slaves within the building, outside the compound using low-level staffers to do a slave's work. Small Merchant Houses without Emporiums, or even smaller merchantile enterprises, but that still use slaves would leave them on the outside of the city, with a caravan and guards, until they leave the city to go to another slaving locale. Any other denominations that cannot do either of these, or doesn't travel away from Tyr, would be forced to hier free citizens.
#5 snakefeather1 Sep 15, 2010 20:19:14	I would imagine doing business in Tyr just became less profitable, and the Tyr based merchant houses may suffer.
#6 natebot Sep 22, 2010 2:58:04	I imagine there are small outposts located a few minutes to hours outside the city walls with services for slave-owning trade caravans, where they might stop before entering the city walls. For a fee the caravans can hire Tyrian laborers to take the goods the short trip into the city walls. The Tyrian government, such as it is, doesn't have the power to enforce its new laws outside its walls.
#7 Grummore Sep 22, 2010 7:11:51	Sometime I imagine the Merchant Houses of DS like the MegaCorporation of Shadowrun. They are their own master inside their territories.
#8 BRJN Sep 24, 2010 23:17:44	Part of the merchant house code is "obey the laws of the land". So if you are going to do business in Tyr, you don't bring slaves along. (Note however that you can always try to invent a ruse to get around this: "Why my good templar, I pay this man a daily wage to act as my bodyguard; he gets meat, bread, and water.") The really good question - because there is lots of plot hook material here - is this: do the other city-states recognize Tyrian ex-slaves as freedmen? I don't have any trouble imagining a slave-taker operation setting up shop just outside Tyr's oasis and looking for careless ex-slaves to return to their proper place in the social pecking order... I also don't have any trouble imagining the Tyrian Guard hunting down and exterminating members of the above as a way to get battle practice...
#9 dreamernaut Sep 25, 2010 1:34:21	I see Tyr as a city that atm is always on the verge of riot and mob rule. The various leaders including the merchant house leaders have to work a balance between furthering there factions influence and avoiding the ire of the mob. With former slaves being a large portion of Tyr's population I don't see how the merchant houses would be able to openly keep and trade slaves within Tyr without risking a riots. I'm thinking of something not totally dissimular to post tsarist russia. A really wicked SOB may attempt to take advantage of the freed slaves situation by establishing a system of indentured servitued, but before a formal system of law is established this could be tricky. As a result, the best option for exploiting the labor force through day labor schemes that after a time make something like indentured servitude seem like a great idea. All the while the evil merchants gets a reputation for being generous and charitable in these hard times while they are really just creating another form of slavery.