On Slavery in the Country of Colo
Within the country of Colo there still exists the institution of slavery. It is primarily used as a means to punish Colians that do violence or murder on their countrymen or kinsmen, but it is also an accepted (if unpopular) means of generating wealth from the practice of brigandry and piracy.
When a Colian exerts violence on another Colian that is not deemed justified or necessary, it can be punished by forcing the convicted individual into slavery. The punishment is for life, and can only be commuted by the slave owner (typically by freeing the individual after a satisfactory term of service, or upon the death of the slave owner). Once forced into slavery, the convicted person is sold in an open market to the highest bidder and the price of the sale of the convict is given to the family or clan of the wronged party.
A healthy Human male can fetch a price of as much as 1,000 gold marks, and a marketable Human female can bring twice that much. A slave is the property of his/her owner, and the owner can use that property in anyway they see fit short of killing them outright. Even though they are slaves, society in Colo recognizes that the slave is a rational being with rights and dignities given them at birth by their creator, Maranon. By their own actions, or by virtue of their defeat at the hands of a Colian in battle, their freedoms are forfeit to their new owners (or any subsequent owners after them). In terms of Colian law and justice, however, even slaves have a value beyond their purchase price and the unjust slaying of a slave, even by an owner, will bring a fine equal to that established value. A typical "man price" for the killing of a male Human slave would be the equivalent of that slave's annual labor value. Traditionally, this is set at 30 punts a month, or 36 marks a year. That is the minimum value for the life of a Human male slave, according to Colian society. Some Ryuri might judge that value to be considerably higher, given mitigating circumstances.
Children born to enslaved women are not typically enslaved themselves. According to the Maranonic Faith all rational beings are granted freedom and autonomy of action by the nature of their unique souls, and it is only through the forfeiture of those freedoms that slavery results, either by direct or indirect actions on the part of the individual. Colian society, as a rule, allows children born to slaves to be raised by their parents until they are able to provide for themselves, at which time they will be allowed to make their own way in the world. This is the "norm" in society, but it is not always the rule.
While slavery as a form of punishment is the societal justification for the institution, it is also used by pirates and brigands to justify the capture and sale of both sailors and non-Colians captured in battle. Crews from captured ships and residents of farms and villages raided by brigands outside the accepted borders of Colo are routinely sold at the slave markets, with the profits going directly into the pockets of the pirates and brigands that captured them. As long as prisoners are obviously not Colian, questions concerning the legality of their capture are rarely (if ever) asked.
Many on Colo abhore the practice and propogation of this vile institution, but the roots of slavery in Colo run deep and its immensely prifitable nature makes any significant change to the institution almost impossible. Many ardent practitioners of the Maranonic Faith openly call for the ending of the institution, but as of now, it is a fact of life in the country of Colo.
