OTU Only: Indenture in the Sword Worlds

[AlHazred]

So, with my campaign entering the Sword Worlds Confederation, I'm considering some facets of SWC economics that never came up in the Third Imperium. One of those is indentured contracts. From reading the Sword Worlds books (GURPS and Mongoose), they seem to be far more common in the SWC; that makes sense, since in the 3I I don't think they transfer off-planet, so your indentured worker could feasibly leave your service one world over and you're left with nothing.

In the SWC, it makes sense that indenture is societally accepted, which means there will be institutions in place to administer the indentures and probably specialized companies to track attempted runaways. But indenture doesn't have to be as onerous as slavery. The books go into no detail I've been able to find on how the indentures work or what the common terms are. That leaves me room to impose my own ideas.

In ancient Israel, for instance, indenture was set for 7 years; after 7 years, the indenture was legally voided. It couldn't be imposed on anyone below the age of majority. And there were a host of customs to make it less terrible than it could have been: for instance, if a man wanted to sleep with his indentured servant, he was then legally required to treat her as his wife. If an employer of an indentured servant strikes him so that he dies, then there is punishment: lethal punishment for the employer.

There might be different customs and laws in place for Sword Worlder indentures as opposed to foreigners who are indentured. I feel it likely there are relatively well-defined laws, due to the fact that the Sword Worlders have as the first of the "Biter Atrocities" as the Spredning ("Scattering") of 435, where millions were forcibly deported.

Curious if anyone has done much thinking on this topic in their TU. It might change some of the economic realities of starships in the SWC if you can "buy" an indentured crewman and get guaranteed service for some years.

 

[bookwyrm]

I would first suggest doing some research on slavery throughout history, like the laws/customs involving slaves/indentured servants and treatment of said 'commodities'.

For the Sword Worlds & Imperium, maybe something similar to the laws concerning slaves travelling between the states of the South & North.

Also, considering the difference between Indentured Servitude & Slavery, would the Imperium consider Indentured Servitude different from or the same as Slavery? Even in the Sword Worlds, Indentured Servitude could be slightly different from world to world, unless there's an SW Interstellar Law in place for all SW worlds to follow.

Slavery came up in another Thread recently, and now you are bringing up Indentured Servants. Considering the laws in place prohibiting slavery in the Imperium, I've recently been wondering just how prevalent Indentured Servants/Slavery is in the Imperium, in both Core & Border systems. Could be something way in the background like robots or maybe something more visible. Obviously, this subject will be very different in systems & polities outside of the Imperium, the Sword Worlds being a case in point as mentioned in this Thread.

Honestly, most of me doesn't even want to go there, but some of me is like 'well, the laws are there in the OTU, aren't they? Why not make use of it somehow in a way I mostly feel comfortable with.'

 

[Badenov]

So, the other thing about indenture is that the person who's been indentured generally receives some benefit from the arrangement, marking what seems to me the main difference between indenture and slavery. Sometimes it's just passage to or from a place, but it ought to be worth however many years of labor are owed. A Soc 2 Salary might be 800 Cr/mo (using 2x cost of living from MgT1 p 87). x12 mo/yr x7 yr = 62700 Cr. That could be paid as land, offset by passage, or to pay off a debt. Or anything else, I suppose.

 

[whartung]

In the SWC, it makes sense that indenture is societally accepted,

Mind, I have not read much if any of the Sword World content.

Why does it make sense in the SWC to have indentured servitude?

Doesn't seem to make sense in a modern (or even a far future) economic system.

 

[Condottiere]

Stowaways.

Airlock, or indeturehood.

 

[AlHazred]

Why does it make sense in the SWC to have indentured servitude?

Culturally, the Sword Worlders idolize (what they understand to be) a classic lifestyle that was once prevalent on Old Terra "when men were Real Men, women were Real Women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were Real Small Furry Creatures From Alpha Centauri." (My paraphrase.) So, there's the concept of thralls from the old Viking culture. It's also in line with the "Sword-Worlds" from H. Beam Piper's Space Viking novel, which was the inspiration for the Traveller Sword Worlds Confederation.

To the Sword Worlders, you never accept charity. There must always be a price paid for everything. If someone else accepts charity, then, to a Sword Worlder the prce they paid is honor. Some Sword Worlders will be happy to accept a temporary period of service/loyalty for getting out of some other debt. It's a matter of deciding which is the Lesser Evil.

In any case, the GURPS and Mongoose Sword Worlds books only mention indenture once, in the section on Social Status, where SOC 1 is "Thrall" -- the lowest status that isn't Outlaw. Not that any Sword Worlder would call anybody else a Thrall unless they were trying to start a fight. But technically, indentured people are SOC 1 until the period of indenture ends.

So, it seems to me the fiercely independent-minded Sword Worlder culture would probably have similar checks as other ancient societies. That's why I mentioned the ancient Hebrew proscriptions and customs in my first post.

 

[bookwyrm]

Why does it make sense in the SWC to have indentured servitude?

Doesn't seem to make sense in a modern (or even a far future) economic system.

The culture of the Sword Worlds is somewhat based on the Viking culture of ancient Terra, which actually practiced slavery/thrallship. It looks like the Sword Worlds also consider slavery illegal and have chosen to go with indentured servitude instead for cultural verisimilitude.

Doing some quick research, considering the economic similarities between slavery & indentured servitude, someone or a group of somebody's are making hundreds to billions of dollars/credits going this route. Legal or illegal.

Citizen of the Galaxy, by Robert A. Heinlein, takes a look at slavery in the future, both the illegal & legal sides of it, through the eyes & life of a kid bought by a lame beggar, who basically lives in a hole in the ground (ruins)(read it 30+ times, a really good read)(I also am thinking of making a character based on the main character, Thorby, because he has a sad & interesting background).

 

[whartung]

Ah, ok, that makes sense.

That's similar to @Timerover51 Texas world.

 

[AlHazred]

In the Arrival Vengeance adventure, I seem to remember a group of refugees accepting a deal of 20 years of indentured service in exchange for passage offworld. That's the other extreme end. In the Sword Worlds, if all you needed was passage and you couldn't afford it, you could probably go to a kinsman. The Sword Worlders are very family-oriented, and your kinfolk will generally always watch out for you to the extent that you don't starve, you have shelter, etc. They would expect you to contribute somehow, but in exactly what way is always dependent on circumstances. You'd save indenture for extreme debts -- a medical bankruptcy, or some similar economic disaster.

So, the other thing about indenture is that the person who's been indentured generally receives some benefit from the arrangement, marking what seems to me the main difference between indenture and slavery. Sometimes it's just passage to or from a place, but it ought to be worth however many years of labor are owed. A Soc 2 Salary might be 800 Cr/mo (using 2x cost of living from MgT1 p 87). x12 mo/yr x7 yr = 62700 Cr. That could be paid as land, offset by passage, or to pay off a debt. Or anything else, I suppose.

That's the kind of economics I like to see. If I use the MgT2 p 92 numbers, SOC 2 would be Cr100 per week x 52 weeks/year x 7 years x 2 (assumed salary) would be Cr72,800. For a SOC 7 person under extreme financial load, a similar indenture would be Cr273,000. It's 728 times the weekly cost of living, so we can assume some sort of baseline value for an indenture contract. Now, such contracts would not be transferable, I guess, except under some sort of extraordinary circumstances.

So, as a baseline, a steward on a starship draws a salary of Cr2,000 per month, or Cr500 per week, which turns into Cr364,000 for the same 7 years. For paying the entire sum up-front for a person with average SOC, a captain could end up saving Cr91,000 and allowing a fellow citizen down on their luck to retain their honor.

 

[Spinward Flow]

I've recently been wondering just how prevalent Indentured Servants/Slavery is in the Imperium, in both Core & Border systems.

In the classical sense of the "buying and selling of sophonts" (as commodities, in their entirety, with all that that entails) ... it probably "rare" but not unheard of.

In terms of economic entrapment ... so called "wage slavery" ... I would expect it to be excessively common in a Third Imperium run by megacorporations (and everyone else under them fighting over the scraps).

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on what terms and conditions are permitted in an employment contract, and how they would be enforced.

 

[Black Vulmea]

In terms of economic entrapment ... so called "wage slavery" ... I would expect it to be excessively common in a Third Imperium run by megacorporations (and everyone else under them fighting over the scraps).

Yeah, IMTU most gov-1 "company/corporate," many gov-6 "captive government/colony," and a goodly number of gov-9 "impersonal bureaucracy" worlds tend to be like this: hired on a contract you have little or no chance of ever paying off due to crappy wages, exorbitant rent for company housing, and exorbitant prices at the company store.

I also have a sector-wide corporation, Bormanngrrammhl*, that specializes in indentured servitude - they have recruiting offices on just about every Na Po hole world in Ley Sector and sales offices on many Ri and In worlds, particularly among the trailing rimward subsectors. Indentured servants are expected to pay their own room-and-board while given the same substandard wages as their corporate thrall brethren so paying off their debt to their employers is 'challenging,' to say the least.

*Bormanngrrammhl comes from Phoenix Games' Spacefarers Guide to Planets: Sector 2, published in 1979.​

 

[Spinward Flow]

Indentured servants are expected to pay their own room-and-board while given the same substandard wages as their corporate thrall brethren so paying off their debt to their employers is 'challenging,' to say the least.

Exactly.
The "game" is RIGGED ...

The purpose of your (meager) wages is not survival ... it's subservience.
The "fruits of your labors" do not belong to you ... they belong to your Betters™.

 

[AlHazred]

There's precedence for all of this as far back as the Classic Traveller Adventure 6: Expedition to Zhodane (1981). None of the jobs listed in the Utoland Gazette pay enough to get off-planet; it is only through a lucky fluke that the PCs manage the feat.

 

[Daidoji Dave]

Just brainstorming, not saying go here on all of this. Despite the name difference, thralldom under the norse and vikings was mostly indistinguishable from slavery. Nasty, brutish and sometimes short. No formal legal protection from punishment, death or sex. Skilled thralls were sometimes given or purchased their freedom, there are records of that happening, but it wasn't the way to bet.

Some thralls got there by committing crimes, from theft to murder. Steal something, be given to the person you stole from as a slave. Kill someone, if you weren't simply killed in reprisal, might get the same deal. Over time a majority were simply captured from foreign lands though. I might adopt the first for my own campaign; probably not the second unless I'm setting them up as villains.

More positively, Roman slaves sometimes got a better deal. When they weren't sent to the fields or mines, anyway. Mines especially were a death sentence, practically nobody came out. One the other hand, craftsmen and tutors got to keep a small part of their cash wages, which they could save up to buy their own freedom, or perhaps to set up a household and acquire a wife while themselves staying on the books as slaves. This is a little more palatable a model for indenture contracts, maybe they're guaranteed some slim percentage of their income or production.

More positively still, indentured servants in the early days of the American colonies served terms of up to seven years (sometimes less, wasn't supposed to be more), in exchange for transportation to the new world, and food, clothing and shelter during their servitude. (In theory, no company store or debt.) At the end of their term they had a legal right to land or capital from their master.

In practice it still wasn't all that great. Riots and uprisings by indentured servants are little remembered today, but did happen. Contracts could be extended for breaking laws, for running away early, and for women, for getting pregnant. It's easy to see the perverse incentive contract holders would have to put off the day they had to give a land or money grant and get more labor at the same time. Still, that's a model for colonizing new worlds, or for opening up a continent or just a plantation on an existing world.

 

[Condottiere]

Apparently, Greek scholars sold themselves into slavery, hoping to catch the eye of a wealthy Roman patriarch, who needed tutors for his kids.

And, of course, the Emperor, who needed dependable civil servants.

 

[AlHazred]

I always try to remember that the Sword Worlders are emulating their impression of what Viking culture was like, not actual Viking culture. Like a lot of modern people who try to emulate older lifestyles, there's always elements and aspects that they have to change. IMTU, many Sword Worlders don't necessarily fit the stereotype of "cruelty" that the SWC has gotten among Imperials. They may have indentured servants but they would not call them "thralls" except if they were trying to pick a fight. I like the idea of the seven-year time limit, it fits the mold well. And it makes a distinct difference in economic models from the Third Imperium.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Sword Worlders are emulating their impression of what Viking culture was like, not actual Viking culture.