Hey /tg/ can you help me figure out how to price a fantasy slave market?
I am assuming some flat stuff like:
>longer-lived species (elves, dwarves, etc) will increase the price
>studier species (dwarves, orcs, etc) will increase the price
However maybe halflings would be valuable as cupbearers or factory workers or something? And maybe orcs wouldn't be that valuable because they have short lifespans (does lifespan even matter for salt miners or whatever, for instance)?
Any advice on how slave market prices worked IRL and should work in fantasy would be welcome.
>>43551011
>>43551011
What, are you using D&D?
Take the monthly cost for hirelings, make it a one-time, up front cost with only small monthly payments for upkeep, but impose penalties on morale/loyalty.
>>43551011
Well, when slavery was at its height in America and you could still import new slaves from Africa, they went for the equivalent of what today would be about $15,000 per slave.
Slaves are one of the most prized possessions. Why? Because they are the most capable resource one can have. They can be trained to do whatever you want, they are capable of reasoning.
So already the slaves will be expensive(say, in the tens of thousands of dollars range) due to how versatile a tool the slave is. This does not account for the other expenses though.
Shipping the slaves can either be nearly zero(kidnapped a hobo from the street) to being exorbitant(a slave from far off lands, beyond our continent).
Then there is the general health and well-being of a slave to consider. A physically powerful, mentally competent man will be worth far, far more then a cripple or someone who is daft. As such, it is to be expected that a sophisticated pricing system will be developed to gauge the worth of slave depending on their physical and mental health, their 'exoticism'(humans are so boring, I'd like an elf slave. Yes, I know they are thrice as expensive.) and the cost it took to ship them to the slave market.
Then their is personal taste. Most slave trade in the world I created are auctions, with a base price(a base price calculated according to the rule-of-thumbs above).
tldr; better, faster, stronger, harder is more money money money.
>dat classical booty
aw yiss
>>43551011
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/economy/wages_and_prices.htm
Ancient times, but should give you an idea of what prices and stuff are like in a very depressed economy (which most of history was). The "30 pieces of silver" was in fact the price of a slave (3 silver deben is 30 silver kit or so, and silver kit are about the same weight as most silver pieces in Antiquity though not always of the same purity). So Judas' price was fairly noteworthy and 30 pieces of silver comes up elsewhere in the Bible as well, and it is indeed a "handsome sum" as it is called once. Yes, that is more expensive than a house or many many other things.
>>43554071
As an addendum, it should be noted that those prices are from when Egypt was the height of its slave trading but still trading far, far less than Roman times. In their case it would be more of a direct seller->buyer thing, instead of any... sales fronts. The pharaoh would also gift slaves to people when they were acquired via conquest. Male workers were preferred in spite of the higher price on female slaves (and if slaves are disproportionately male some supply/demand can be expected to creep in, even if the depressed economy doesn't quite obey normal market dynamics). Romans were the ones who made slave markets really happen, because they did what the New Kingdom Pharaohs did but on a mass scale because they were truly expansionist. They would take the entire defeated army and sell them into slavery, often in bulk to merchants, who would then resell them in slave markets.
>>43551011
Slaves in the Antebellum South could range anywhere from the equivalent of $12,000 to $176,000.
Average price of a slave correlated to how close the US Government seemed to be to moving against the institution of slavery, with an all time peak in 1860.
So basically: A slave could range anywhere from a month to a year of a rich man's earnings.
Here are some prices from the Roman Empire. Roman denarii and Greek drachmae had the same silver content in the 1st century - 3.9 grams under the rule of Augustus. That's about $2 USD per denarius.
>Rome, 1st century AD
Beatiful female, ~6,000 denarii (prices varied a lot, depending on location and buyer, some went for tens of thousands of denarii)
Deformed jester for amusement, 5,000 denarii
Male born and educated in slavery, literate and fluent in Greek, 2,000 denarii
Healthy male, 1,200 denarii
Girl, 600 denarii if bad mannered, more if not
Boy, 300 denarii
>Egypt, 1st century AD:
Healthy male, 1,000 drachmae
Girl, 8 years old, 600 drachmae
Very young child, 300 drachmae
>Dacia, 2nd century AD:
Woman, 600 denarii
Boy, 600 denarii
Girl, 6 years old, 300 denarii
>Ravenna, 2nd century AD:
Trained woman, 625 denarii
>Egypt, 2nd century AD (after devaluations):
Adult slaves, both women and men, 350-700 denarii
Children, usually 7-15 years old, about 200-300 denarii, although exceptional slave girls could cost 900 denarii.
Generally, women were more expensive than men, girls more expensive than boys, and trained slaves suitable as teachers or expert craftsmen more expensive that untrained ones. Disabled slaves were cheaper, and the only refundable illness was epilepsy, the buyer having the responsibily to spot other problems that could lower the slave's price.
Slaves aged 20-25 fetched higher prices, and young children the lowest, being a risky investment due to high infant mortality and the cost of raising them to adulthood. Extremely wealthy Romans flaunted their riches by paying ridiculous prices for vanity purchaces, like beautiful women and the rare midget.
Most women were sold for housework, a minority for prostitution; most men, for physical labour or as house slaves. Sex with slaves was legal from age 12 upwards.
The slave population was abundant during the expansion wars and when piracy was common, and started dropping in the 2nd century AD.
>>43551011
Orc slaves would be ideal for coal miners and other such dangerous tasks. They're strong, keep going even when sick, and their lifespan doesn't vary as much due to sickness or harsh conditions.
>>43556876
They're also rebellious gits.
One could also factor in cultural racisms onto slave markets. I assume the buyers are human so if you're playing traditional fantasy, many are probably racist. I could see this mostly falling on dwarves and orcs. People may be less willing to buy these races due to a stigma on them. This will reflect in price but will be tempered by usefulness of the race, relations with that race's nation and amount of slaves on the market.
In my setting (at least this in this era), dwarves are the slavers. They have a massive empire and are keen on nabbing anyone they can and turning them over for a profit coldly and cruelly. They have niches for all the races and are not racist or picky. They even often sell dwarves of lower castes and defeated families/clans just as often as anyone else. However, human nobility are their pickiest customers. Elves must be flawless or what is the point of buying one. They despise buying dwarf slaves as the dwarves are usually stubborn as mules when working for human masters who they see as beneath them. Orcs are unruly and only the dwarves are cruel enough to bend them to their will so humans generally steer clear or are tricked into buying them. Beast peoples meet a mixed review. Most humans are repulsed by them but some take them as exotic pets or hard laborers depending on the type of animal they resemble. In the end, humans generally buy humans.
>>43557039
Also, it is worth mentioning that the prices for run-of-the-mill humans are not incredibly steep as the cattle are many and underground railway transit is standardized in this empire.
>>43554288
>price of a slave correlated to how close the US Government seemed to be to moving against the institution of slavery
>mfw slave traders used the same sales tactics as gun dealers today
"Lincoln's coming for your slaves!"
>>43551011
Shit tier: No valuable skills, old and weak or handicapped. Price: same as a cheap animal (goat, pork...)
Low tier: No valuable skill, young and strong. Price: same as a valuable animal (untamed riding horse, mule, cow...).
OK tier: Marketable skills (good looks for sex slave, extra strong for gladiators, literacy for oldfags, skilled worker...). Price: same as a rare animal (trained horse, trained falcon...).
God tier: Specialized skills (genius engineer/architect, goddess of love, god of the arena...). Price: Very expensive
Another thing to bare in mind is not all races will be ok with slavery and some might be ok with it as long as it's not their race being sold. In such a case buying one might get you on their hit list and governments might ban their sale to avoid war, also think about what might happen if a half demon or angel goes on sale.
I'm impressed with the quality of this thread.
>>43552094
>Well, when slavery was at its height in America and you could still import new slaves from Africa, they went for the equivalent of what today would be about $15,000 per slave.
Things would be wildly different in a more violent and chaotic world like most fantasy rpg settings.
If you like at history, say pre-year 1000CE in Northern Europe or Britain, non-free people made up a significant part of the popularion (with unfree women being the largest demographic out of the four: free men, free women, unfree men and unfree women)
In the US slaves represented an investment and they were in essence very costly imported goods, things are very different in settings where slaves are made up of people from the same region or culture.
>>43552188
In practice though, wars and regional conflicts will glut the market for slaves periodically and most fantasy settings will not have it be some kind of organized venture where you import far away brown people.
Yes a slave is worth a lot, but slaves can also simply be taken.
>>43551011
>And maybe orcs wouldn't be that valuable because they have short lifespans (does lifespan even matter for salt miners or whatever, for instance)?
I think that would be determined by how good their output was compared to the alternative. If they could work twice as long but only live slightly shorter they'd still be more valuable
elf slav how much?
>>43559245
What skills do they have?
Male or female?
What are the local laws concerning slave treatment?
Are they of mage stock?
>>43551011
How has no one commented on all the reaction faces in this portrait yet?
>>43551011
So answer the question: who in my fictional culture is buying these slaves? What are they paying for, really?
>>43559281
I didn't even think about that one. in a setting where Magic skill is hereditary, like sorcerers in DnD, having a program for breeding magically talented slaves would be lucrative.
but it also would probably put you on the fast track to a Mage War scenario
>>43559501
You could always have the limiting factor being that breeding too powerful of a sorcerous slave has its own issues... specifically, you may not particularly want an oppressed caste whose powers are too stupendously overpowering.
>>43559501
>in a setting where Magic skill is hereditary, like sorcerers in DnD, having a program for breeding magically talented slaves would be lucrative
It might not even be feasible, considering the socio-politcal dimension of heritable magic.
>>43559526
Why would you oppress them if they are useful?
If they are in any way possible to weaponize, they'd be an enormous asset to any pre-modern nation. Imagine what all the trade wars would have been like if you had guys who could make wind, fire the sails of enemy ships without ever missing, or been able to scout by flying or bird familiars.
A guy like that is a ridiculous force multiplier and you wouldn't oppress him, you'd pamper the fuck out of him and let him get his dick wet whenever he wasn't doing magic in the hope of keeping your pool of magic-users larger than that of your rival nations.
Breedable magic fucks settings up something fierce.
>>43559541
>>43559501
>>43559526
Or it could be a cabal of old as fuck liches. Some magical WMD killed all the people on their island nation and they now want to repopulate it. Buying a load of slaves seems the most sensible way to do this.
As they are prime magic users they see magical ability as a trait that needs to be encouraged in their new people.
So they are buying all the most magical elves, dorfs, humans, orcas, gnomes and anything else that is compatible and of child producing age.
They are essentially creating an all mage race from mongrel stock..
>>43559342
Because its not a portrait, there is stuff in the way of most of the faces, and quizzical isn't particularly poignant or useful for trolling.
>>43557874
Southerners keep falling for it, of course they still useit.
>>43559617
I think there was some harry potter-esque web novel like that.
Some True Fae in the modern age were breeding fucktons of fae/demon/misc magical creature mongrels for a vaguely explained purpose, taught them basics of magic, and set up a contract system that allowed them to enslave and torture each other.
>>43559612
>Why would you oppress them if they are useful?
Because
>having a program for breeding magically talented slaves would be lucrative.
Either way, if you can breed up better sorcerers you are eventually going to breed something that can't be controlled.
>>43560543
Well there's certainly a difference between eugenics for a civilization's own populace that simply was founded through imported slaves and a livestock breeding program.
>>43559794
Its not even remotely limited to the south, and in both cases its republicans trying to protect freedom and democrats attempting to steal it. Its genuinely hard to find cases where modern and slavery era republicans/democrats line up perfectly like that, incidentally.
>>43555287
>Slaves aged 20-25 fetched higher prices, and young children the lowest, being a risky investment due to high infant mortality and the cost of raising them to adulthood. Extremely wealthy Romans flaunted their riches by paying ridiculous prices for vanity purchaces, like beautiful women and the rare midget.
Suddenly that Roman trader asking for twelve midgets in Southeast Asia makes a whole lot of sense.
Shame about the Chinese official that died on the journey back to Rome, though.
>>43555287
Thanks.
man it'd be pretty frikkin sweet to buy a masterwork loli for $1800
>>43560820
>man it'd be pretty frikkin sweet to buy a masterwork loli for $1800
Why would it?
>>43559342
If you weren't so new, you would already be familiar with all the shops of this image.
>>43560859
Well, to feel like a vice president, of course.
>>43560820
She'd be much more expensive in modern times even if the same echange rate was in place.
Lolis were cheap back then because small children died from all sorts of shit back then, and buying one was a huge risk.
>>43560975
That's why I said it'd be pretty sweet to get one for $1800. But yes, it would be definitely cheaper nowadays to just make your own.
>>43559501
>having a program for breeding magically talented slaves would be lucrative.
This isn't just heresy. This is oh shit my subcontinent just caught fire.
Breeding program for mage-slaves just sounds like the opening to Fallout-Fucking-Narnia. Unless your slaves are protected by law. A system where being a slave is almost honorable. Christ... imagine owning a slave that could turn you inside out using his brain. If you want to be the person wearing the pants in that relationship you're either going to need a bigger gun or some kind of anti-magic dohickery.
>>43561040
Or mind control.
That always works too.
>>43561074
A fragile as fuck leash almost guaranteed to give them a reason to destroy you. Essentially suicide.
>>43561074
Problem is that the more slaves you have, the more people you have controlling them, the greater the chance of magical backfire or plain old human incompetence. Assuming numbers are left to grow out of control.... Well.... look at poor down trodden un-magical slave stock in the real world.... I'm not saying that it would defiantly end in a magical slave revolt turning quickly into magical communists, but I'm not saying that it isn't off the cards.
>>43561263
>magical communists,
Nigga, don't act like you wouldn't love Sparkling DokiDoki Love Princess, Magical General Secretary Cure Stalin.
>>43561481
I don't have a fucking clue what you just said but I think it made me diabetic.
>>43555287
How much did appearance have to do with a female slave's price? I always thought the attractive ones became prostitutes while the more homely were for housework.
>>43561597
It was more like the attractive ones were bought by rich guys, while the upper-middle class guys could only afford plain slaves, and the aveage person didn't have slaves because paying for another person's living expenses was impractical for Plebarius the plebian.
>>43555287
>>43554071
>>43554168
This is really good info, thank you.
>>43561521
He's talking about the ridiculous names of Liberian warlords.
The Qunari in Dragon Age basically have sorceror-slaves, don't they?
It's an interesting idea but in most settings with magic magic is such a fuckin' weapon that it's difficult to see how it could be long-term stable. I think the safest route is probably never to give your slaves any spell that can easily be weaponized. If magic requires a lot of academic study, then if you keep all 'battle' magic from your slaves and use them for administrative purposes you still have a useful enslaved mage caste but not one that can easily overthrow you.
It's worth noting that not all cultures with slavery have used it in the sense we imagine it. In the Ottoman Empire slavery could be a route to a high level of social advancement, same (to some extent) with some Chinese empires. In some Southeast Asia states slavery was just 'a thing', like you would conquer your neighbouring state and take 30,000 slaves but they wouldn't be worked to death as such - the labourers would be put on land and used as your labourers, the artists would be used as your artists, etc. Although the slaves would have someone responsible for them (probably royalty for the majority) it'd be more like a cultural/population injection than an unusually oppressed populace.
>>43561597
Keep in mind that slaves had no veto right to sex. At all.
Buying one to do housework didn't stop the owner from fucking them, necessarily.
But buying a slave specifically for prostitution is different. Prostitute slaves were actively marketed to strangers while "household" slaves would only (usually) get used (if at all) by family members, slaves in that household (often requiring permission from the owner), or guests. Sex with household/housework slaves was "kept in the villa," as it were. They'd be expected to have other jobs (even something as simple as looking sexy and pouring wine), but the owner could fuck them if they wanted.
Prostitute slaves has sex as their full-time job.
Also also keep in mind that Romans had something like 15 or 20 different classes of prostitute (ALL named), everything from pennies-per-fuck hags on the street to hetairai-esque upper-class courtesans.
How about making orc chieftains or dorf kings selling their own kin into slavery? It was a thing with slavs. An upstart warlord sells his people to get money for his conquests.
Dwarven professional slaves are expensive - their expertise at construction and architecture makes them highly valued at the related professions. However the most expensive type of Dwarven professional slave is abarber, Dwarven haircare is the finest in the world.
Elven professional slaves are ludicrously expensive - they're quite literally a generational investment, because you can hiring a strategist who will not only tutor your next 6 generations of children but will be their captain as well. Some families are hesitant to buy Elven professional slaves because of the level of influence they can end up having on the head of the household.
>>43561834
Dwarf slave costs thousands of gold
Dwarf slave designs my defenses, the best defensive structures in the world.
Dwarf Warlord turns up.
Defenses crumble.
>I paid for my own destruction, didn't I?
Sneaky fucking Jewarfs
>>43562068
Everybody knows that's why you only buy dwarfs as sex slaves
You are all forgetting that an important part of most Magic Users is the Catalyst. Doesn't matter if you have much magic potential if they can't access it.
Plus, you could tweak catalysts for certain purposes so they aren't used against you.
And there would be a historical justification. Many slaves were marked as such, so damaging their overall magic ability to keep them in line isn't too out there.
>>43562448
Yeah but you're just asking for trouble. If it doesn't go full blown Magepocalypse, you're at the very least looking at some kind of underground cabal of Wizard-Triads or something. It's fantasy troupe 1037 that thing you got shackled in the basement, that slave race you mind raped, that artifact you totally disenchanted/deactivated... well there's a magical star alignment coming up and the magic users are about to get their driver updates.
>>43560739
>Democrats trying to steal slavery
>Democrats
>Southern conservative Democrats who were all hardline supporters of slavery
>Removing slavery
I'd say go to /his/ and learn you some stuff, but that's like telling you to go read a youtube comment section for nuanced opinions.
>>43563074
The youtube comment section might be educational for someone so blatantly wrong as he is though.
>>43551011
Base price set for a 25 year old slave. Treat modifiers as additive except ones for age, gender, and attractiveness, which are multiplicative. Positive modifiers are all applied before negative ones.
-15% for every 5 years above 25, -25% for every 5 years under 25. Slaves under 5 or over 55 are assumed to have a "negative" cost, in that their risk is considered high enough that they won't do enough work to justify their cost. Adjust these percents based on the prime and life expectancy of the race if they differ significantly from humans.
+30-50% for females if selling to a market that will likely use them as a display of wealth, as concubines, or to bear the children of gladiatiors/warriors. An additional +50-100% based on the attractiveness of the female may also be added.
+20-30% for males if selling to a physical labor market, such as the American south. An additional +50% if they are attractive and being sold to someone who intends to use them for a "different form of physical labor"
During times of war, or otherwise when prices of commodities spike, price of male slaves increases by 20-40%.
During times of economic prosperity, prices of male slaves increase by 10-15%, while prices of females increase by 35-40%
+60-75% for slaves with accounting or clerical experience
+55% for trained blacksmiths or silversmiths.
+45% for craftsmen or misc artisan skills
+40% for bodyguards
+20% for skilled cooks. +40% for professionally trained chefs
+15% for non-cooking domestic skills, such as cleaning
-60% for known runaways
-60% for crippled or lame slaves
-50% for having a vice or addiction
-30-50% for barren female slaves.
-30% for other physical impairments
An additional -10% for each negative modifier may be added for female slaves with such impairments, excepting barren slaves, where it is already included.
>>43559501
That's a slave revolt waiting to happen. You don't want your labor caste to be able to shoot fireballs.
Bloodline sorcery makes more sense for nobility.
>>43561263
>>43559501
>>43559526
What about something like the golden throne that is powered by the souls of those with magic capability. Either as some sort of shield/wall that needs constant fueling to keep some terrible power at bay, or perhaps some sort of WMD guaranteeing peace through MAD. The weapon might not require constant sacrifice but in order to activate it you still need to kill a whole lot of magic wielders.
The breeding program would ensure a steady supply of expendable bodies should they ever be needed. If the devices doesn't require trained mages but simply those with the spark then the mage slaves could be kept untrained and shackled with some sort of magic inhibiting chains to make sure they don't cause any trouble.
There is also the moral issue raised if its right to breed and enslave thousands like animals vs the safety of the realm.
>>43559617
>cabal of old as fuck liches
you misunderstood. while that would be a large and sustained purchase, that wouldn't constitute a market all by itself unless it was really artificially instrumented.
if no one else is buying, or if their buying power outstrips anyone else's, then their generations-long system of slave trade is more of a cultural monolith than a market system, ie. they create artificial conditions that have less and less to do with a true market.
>>43551011
>>43564148
One important detail: it's a fantasy setting, so your gender roles must be taken in consideration. If they are like our historical ones, no change... BUT, if you go the rule system route of "genders are mechanically equal", then ignore the genders and use roles as specified by >>43564148. Those are some nice modifiers.
Are you going to DM this setting? If so, you can easily link game stats to price. How, that would depend on the system, though.
>>43561710
I really need to keep up with the Liberian news if their warlords are declaring themselves to be magical girls
>>43555287
>Rome, 1st century AD
not him, but for the less informed read take those prices with a LOT of salt. The city of Rome had localized hyperinflation because of all the issues of getting goods into the city. Because of that prices in Rome were 1.2 to 4 times what they were in the less developed parts of the Italian peninsula. In order to keep the city livable the empire had to pay for food at times for the general public, mostly via bread lines.
>>43551011
Quality thread!
Take the person's effective yearly income- what they would be making if they were being hired out to do whatever it is as a freelancer. Then subtract the yearly cost of living for a slave of that class and any material/equipment costs. Then multiply by 20.
That's your base price. Now you can apply the random variation. (2d6+3)*10% Reroll this every few months. Slaves in the ancient world are volatile because the wars that create them are irregular and create gluts and shortages.
The price listed above is the equilibrium price. I derived the price from the finance equation used to determine the present value of a perpetuity. In financial terms, there's not much difference between 20 years and eternity. I assume a cost of capital of 5%, which is usually pretty reasonable. If you want to change it, then just divide by the % instead of multiplying by 20. Remember to base this on YEARLY prices, not monthly.
You can always handwave a surcharge for unusually hard-to-procure or in-demand slaves... but usually this is reflected in the effective "wage" they could have charged.
Remember that if they're magically or otherwise compelled into service that you have to include the cost of maintaining that compulsion.
>>43551011
Wow. I thought /tg/ was better than this. only 1 or 2 people have a clue how to help you with this, and it seems you've completely ignored them. Oh well. Good luck with that.
>>43559526
>what are janissaries and mamluks?
Does this entry have anything to do with this thread, today?
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=53482799
>>43558005
How much for a cheap animal though?
>>43559612
like janissaries. sack european village, rape/sell the women, behead men who don't convert to islam, enslave the ones who do...but the children you brainwash into loyal soldier caste(think the unichs in game of thrones) and eventually end up treating fairly well once proven loyal and effective(well...until they were a threat and got executed and disbanded but still that was like 400 years later)
>>43551011
>halflings would be valuable as cupbearers or factory workers or something?
You mean an Ice Wizard will buy a fresh batch of halflings to work at his toy factory every december?
>>43564148
>During times of war
hard to say how that'd go. on one hand you want to field cannonfodder on the other hand thats probably when you'd be capturing/accepting the surrender into slavery of the most male slaves. probably depends on the country if this a price hike or glut
>>43558005
pretty sure baseline slaves would cost more than cheap animal (goat, pig) though. and depending on the sort of healthy slave and the sort of horse/cow i could see that go either way which is higher.
i doubt a falcon is equally valuable to a particularly good slave though. theres no way thats right
>>43576602
Are they slaves if they want to work there?
>Not packing PC slave characters
Come on, scrubs. Here is how you do it:
1. Make a character with whatever skills, who at least one of the other characters own. Sure, they get to boss you around, but that's fine. Let them go lazy.
2. Let them train you, pick a useful specialization for you. You don't even need to meta whatever system you use, the others feel they control your character, will never feel like you are trying to one-up them, and will always feel your character is an extension of theirs.
3. Always have legit reasons for not only sticking around the party, but also having powerful and convincing arguments for not leaving your "masters", whenever the GM tries to split the party.
4. Fuck those people who claim slaves can't be happy. Not everyone want to have to deal with everything themselves, and a lot of people would LOVE to have someone make the right decisions for you. Lodging and equipment? Maintenance of said equipment? Food and drink? Medical expenses? Who gives a shit, your party provides everything for you. You don't even need to worry about whatever currency your setting uses, and you never need to worry about such stupid shit as "obligations" for anyone other than your masters.
Boring to play all the time, sure, but you practically need to have a least one character in your backlog like this.
>>43551011
Rarity is a big factor to keep in mind. If orcs or elves are one in a million rare finds the prices will be much higher. While if they are a dime a dozen then it will be lower.
Also education level and things like that have a major influence. Really a lot of this depends on the what the world is like and how the industry there works as well as the nobility.
>>43576709
You wouldn't want to buy slaves as cannon fodder. That's expensive and wasteful.
Slaves that sell during war are used in the growing and production of wartime commodities, such as grain and cotton. This was a huge thing in the American South during the War of 1812.
>>43576820
Nowadays you can buy kids in India or Cambodia for 2000 to 3000$. A Moldovian prostitute goes for 8000 to 10000$. Koi carps can sell for 100000$ and more. Messenger pigeons, horses, and dragon fishes can easily cost many 10000$.
The price indication in my slave list is for animals of equal quality. The falcon isn't some random bird. He's a unique and beautiful specimen trained by a master. Also, I assume slaves to be plentiful. If they are rare, increase the price.
Tits increases the price
>>43560788
eXplain?
>>43583118
>The Liangshu records the arrival in 226 A.D. of a merchant from the Roman Empire (Da Qin) at Jiaozhi (near modern Hanoi). The Prefect of Jiaozhi sent him to Sun Quan [the Wu (kingdom) emperor], who asked him for a report on his native country and its people. An expedition was mounted to return the merchant along with 10 female and 10 male "blackish coloured dwarfs" he had requested as a curiosity and a Chinese officer who, unfortunately, died en route.
>>43551011
We need the advice of Weeping Orc, master slaver. Does anyone remember that thread?
>>43552094
Man, at first that sounds like a lot (you'd assume slaves were cheap and all), but then you start thinking about it. This slave (assuming a healthy man) will likely be doing physical labor. Something that's hard and tedious, but probably doesn't require too much knowledge and skill.
Quickly checking, the average monthly wage for a "general laborer" in modern times in the USA, according to one salary-calculating website, is somewhat over 2000$. In just seven or so months, the slave would be worth it. Even if we assume something worse paid, he'd need to work a year or two and then it'd be free labor in comparison.
That's honestly terrifyingly good if you're a rich landowner and need a lot of workforce. Man.
>>43559617
Cool scenario, but in it they don't keep the slaves as typical servant slaves.
They are rebuilding a nation that is under their overall control, but all they demand from slaves is
>1)Live there, build and prosper
>2)Learn magic, niggas
The latter gives a direct route of social advancement, forming a magical nobility society. There may be plebe revolts and the like, but they are outgunned by the nobles.
>>43559526
>>43561040
>>43559501
Could work if the slaver race is inherently anti-magical.
They can't into magic, they can only negate it.
But magic is useful.
So they get sorcery slaves do it for them, any revolt results in suppressed magic and removal of revolutionaries.
>>43563074
>>43563256
I think he meant a simple dichotomy of Republicans - Freedom, Democrats - Non-Freedom.
With the institution of slavery being taken as the example of non-Freedom, not attempts to ban the right to own slaves.
>>43584936
But bear in mind that it costs money to keep slaves as well. Food, somewhere to keep them and some method of making sure they don't run away (either guards or treating them well enough that they have no incentive to leave).
Also, physical labour in a slave-owning pre-modern society might not be as lucrative as it is in the modern day. $24k per year seems like a fairly good wage, but historically most labourers were pretty poor.
