Post by ash on Mar 29, 2018 3:39:00 GMT
The Earth Caste is the slave caste of Akkadian Imperium. Regarded as talking tools, they have no rights, and their superiors do not value their well-being. Their enslavement is life-long and inescapable. Because ascending to a higher caste is impossible in the Imperium, masters cannot free their slaves. A slave who was no longer wanted would be sold, or perhaps donated to the state. Slaves whose masters wish to reward them are given empty honors and meaningless power over their fellow servants. Flight from the Imperium could result in freedom, but more likely will result in being returned to your master so you, and anyone you happen to hold dear, can be subjected to a deliberately elaborate and hideous death. To an Akkadian, being kind to a slave is as absurd as being kind to a communicator, a table or a toaster.
Either directly or ancestrally, most slaves are the result of the common Akkadian practice of attacking other civilizations with no provocation. Anyone the Imperium captures in war, civilian or otherwise, faces a lifetime of servitude, and if the Imperium engages in any military action on a planet, every person on it will be in chains before they leave. Persons who commit theft generally become the property of those they stole from or of the state. Numerous other crimes result in lifetime enslavement. Because upward caste movement is impossible in the Imperium, being proven innocent of a crime for which one has already been sentenced to slavery does not win one freedom. To an Akkadian, such an event is no different than the possibility that an executed man may later be proven innocent.
The Earth Caste contains numerous sub-castes, used to designate different occupations for which a slave is intended, and for which they have often been trained or even bred. Obsidian-Caste slaves, named for their relationship to the Fire caste, are soldiers. Though well-trained, these slaves are sent in massive numbers after enemies who’ll doubtless mow them down by superiors who regard them as pieces of equipment. Those lucky few who survive can look forward to being placed in charge of squads of other slaves. The best among them accrue just enough experience to be horribly overqualified for the sub-officer ranks to which they are confined.
Soil-Caste slaves are for agricultural use, Coal-Caste slaves are for mining and Iron-Caste work in factories. Each such slave is generally worked to death as they perform back-breaking labor, being granted inadequate rest and nutrition, their betters knowing that replacing a slave after five years is less severe of an expenditure than allowing them proper sleep and nutrition for the same time. Copper-Caste slaves serve in the households of their masters, cooking, cleaning, and doing other mundane chores.
Gem-Caste slaves service their masters sexually. Such slaves can be of any gender, and their work is rarely delayed until they reach adulthood. While low-quality Gem-Castes are found in brothels, other Gem-Castes are trained from birth on sexual technique, often specializing in masters of a certain gender or species. The use of a Gem-Caste slave by a married citizen is not considered infidelity, and is unlikely to draw resentment even from the spouse of the person in question, as the slave is an object, not a person. The child of a slave and a free citizen is a slave regardless of which member of the coupling is the slave, though for a free woman, carrying a Gem-Caste’s child to term is unthinkable.
Bronze-Caste slaves are living factories, bred with other slaves to produce ideal chattel to occupy each of the other sub-castes. Many sentient species that were conquered millennia ago have been fully domesticated via selective breeding. Countless artificially bred variations on more common races also exist. Some domesticated slaves are impossibly strong, agile, or attractive, and almost all have been bred for impeccable obedience. Attempts by other civilizations to free domesticated sapients have gone disastrously. While those built for labor can sometimes find jobs and become model employees for companies they treat as their surrogate masters, those bred to serve as Gem-Caste slaves often find life outside such an arrangement impossible.
More so than any other organization in the galaxy, the Akkadian Imperium is notable for its brutal punishment of disobedient slaves. Minor, potentially accidental infractions are met with brutal, prolonged floggings. More significant acts of disobedience and disrespect are met with more elaborate, creative and public spectacles of torture, which often result in the victim’s death. To the free people of the Imperium, these excruciations are public spectacles, often broadcast on television, to the point where some slaves are simply bought by networks to be subjected to these horrifying displays.
Below are examples of the elaborate and gruesome punishments the Akkadian Imperium has inflicted on disobedient slaves:
*The Roller. The slave is slowly fed into a pair of rolling wheels positioned to crush the victim into red goo.
*The Waste Basket. The slave is bound at the bottom of a pit, with air and feeding tubes forced inside of them. This hole is often in some kind of mound, and walled with glass on one side, so onlookers or audience members can see it. Passers by are encouraged to drop whatever they want into the hole. Invariably, these slaves end up submerged in a vile slurry of rot, urine and feces, where they wallow until the time allotted for their punishment has elapsed, or they die of infection.
*The Bed of Needles. The slave is strapped to a metal bed which, every minute, thrusts a single, thin needle through their body. The needles are always scheduled beforehand so as many of them as possible go off before the slave dies.
*The Virgin’s Woe. The a slave is bent over while an object, often a facsimile of the genitalia of the master they defied, is inserted rectally, at first only slightly, but then made to go deeper and deeper until it penetrates the wall of the intestine and causes death by internal bleeding.
*The Freezer. The slave is locked naked in a small room which, beginning at room temperature, gradually grows colder until it reaches temperatures in which the slave can survive mere hours. Once frozen, the slave’s body is often raised by a crane and allowed to fall against the ground and shatter in a ghastly display.
*The Swing. Barbed wire is threaded through the slave’s digestive tract and attached to a pair of long cables on either side. These cables in turn are attached to a machine which spins vertically in a motion grotesquely reminiscent of a jump rope.
*The Living Candle. A wick is forced down the slave’s throat, and the slave’s body is dipped in hot wax leaving a layer thing enough to allow the slave’s form to be recognized inside. The wick is then lit, and left to burn in a public place, often one where other slaves will be working.
*The Broken Barrel. The slave is locked in a confined space. Numerous jets face inward from the walls, floor, and ceiling, and, at random intervals, one of those gets will fire a blast of corrosive liquid at the slave.
*The Dragon’s Dinner. The slave is equipped with an oxygen tank made of organic or otherwise harmless and digestible material, and then fed whole and alive to a dragon or other large creature. Kept from suffocating, they are doomed to be agonizingly digested by the creature that swallowed them.
Either directly or ancestrally, most slaves are the result of the common Akkadian practice of attacking other civilizations with no provocation. Anyone the Imperium captures in war, civilian or otherwise, faces a lifetime of servitude, and if the Imperium engages in any military action on a planet, every person on it will be in chains before they leave. Persons who commit theft generally become the property of those they stole from or of the state. Numerous other crimes result in lifetime enslavement. Because upward caste movement is impossible in the Imperium, being proven innocent of a crime for which one has already been sentenced to slavery does not win one freedom. To an Akkadian, such an event is no different than the possibility that an executed man may later be proven innocent.
The Earth Caste contains numerous sub-castes, used to designate different occupations for which a slave is intended, and for which they have often been trained or even bred. Obsidian-Caste slaves, named for their relationship to the Fire caste, are soldiers. Though well-trained, these slaves are sent in massive numbers after enemies who’ll doubtless mow them down by superiors who regard them as pieces of equipment. Those lucky few who survive can look forward to being placed in charge of squads of other slaves. The best among them accrue just enough experience to be horribly overqualified for the sub-officer ranks to which they are confined.
Soil-Caste slaves are for agricultural use, Coal-Caste slaves are for mining and Iron-Caste work in factories. Each such slave is generally worked to death as they perform back-breaking labor, being granted inadequate rest and nutrition, their betters knowing that replacing a slave after five years is less severe of an expenditure than allowing them proper sleep and nutrition for the same time. Copper-Caste slaves serve in the households of their masters, cooking, cleaning, and doing other mundane chores.
Gem-Caste slaves service their masters sexually. Such slaves can be of any gender, and their work is rarely delayed until they reach adulthood. While low-quality Gem-Castes are found in brothels, other Gem-Castes are trained from birth on sexual technique, often specializing in masters of a certain gender or species. The use of a Gem-Caste slave by a married citizen is not considered infidelity, and is unlikely to draw resentment even from the spouse of the person in question, as the slave is an object, not a person. The child of a slave and a free citizen is a slave regardless of which member of the coupling is the slave, though for a free woman, carrying a Gem-Caste’s child to term is unthinkable.
Bronze-Caste slaves are living factories, bred with other slaves to produce ideal chattel to occupy each of the other sub-castes. Many sentient species that were conquered millennia ago have been fully domesticated via selective breeding. Countless artificially bred variations on more common races also exist. Some domesticated slaves are impossibly strong, agile, or attractive, and almost all have been bred for impeccable obedience. Attempts by other civilizations to free domesticated sapients have gone disastrously. While those built for labor can sometimes find jobs and become model employees for companies they treat as their surrogate masters, those bred to serve as Gem-Caste slaves often find life outside such an arrangement impossible.
More so than any other organization in the galaxy, the Akkadian Imperium is notable for its brutal punishment of disobedient slaves. Minor, potentially accidental infractions are met with brutal, prolonged floggings. More significant acts of disobedience and disrespect are met with more elaborate, creative and public spectacles of torture, which often result in the victim’s death. To the free people of the Imperium, these excruciations are public spectacles, often broadcast on television, to the point where some slaves are simply bought by networks to be subjected to these horrifying displays.
Below are examples of the elaborate and gruesome punishments the Akkadian Imperium has inflicted on disobedient slaves:
*The Roller. The slave is slowly fed into a pair of rolling wheels positioned to crush the victim into red goo.
*The Waste Basket. The slave is bound at the bottom of a pit, with air and feeding tubes forced inside of them. This hole is often in some kind of mound, and walled with glass on one side, so onlookers or audience members can see it. Passers by are encouraged to drop whatever they want into the hole. Invariably, these slaves end up submerged in a vile slurry of rot, urine and feces, where they wallow until the time allotted for their punishment has elapsed, or they die of infection.
*The Bed of Needles. The slave is strapped to a metal bed which, every minute, thrusts a single, thin needle through their body. The needles are always scheduled beforehand so as many of them as possible go off before the slave dies.
*The Virgin’s Woe. The a slave is bent over while an object, often a facsimile of the genitalia of the master they defied, is inserted rectally, at first only slightly, but then made to go deeper and deeper until it penetrates the wall of the intestine and causes death by internal bleeding.
*The Freezer. The slave is locked naked in a small room which, beginning at room temperature, gradually grows colder until it reaches temperatures in which the slave can survive mere hours. Once frozen, the slave’s body is often raised by a crane and allowed to fall against the ground and shatter in a ghastly display.
*The Swing. Barbed wire is threaded through the slave’s digestive tract and attached to a pair of long cables on either side. These cables in turn are attached to a machine which spins vertically in a motion grotesquely reminiscent of a jump rope.
*The Living Candle. A wick is forced down the slave’s throat, and the slave’s body is dipped in hot wax leaving a layer thing enough to allow the slave’s form to be recognized inside. The wick is then lit, and left to burn in a public place, often one where other slaves will be working.
*The Broken Barrel. The slave is locked in a confined space. Numerous jets face inward from the walls, floor, and ceiling, and, at random intervals, one of those gets will fire a blast of corrosive liquid at the slave.
*The Dragon’s Dinner. The slave is equipped with an oxygen tank made of organic or otherwise harmless and digestible material, and then fed whole and alive to a dragon or other large creature. Kept from suffocating, they are doomed to be agonizingly digested by the creature that swallowed them.
