Slavery

"Nothing wrong with a little slavery. Put's hair on your chest. Nothing like the hunt."

- Tarak Aydin, Chief Slavemaster of Kordan

Slavery is the practice of owning other sentient beings and treating as property, for reasons ranging from everything protection, punishment, "enlightenment" to entertainment. There exist many economical benefits to owning slaves, but there too exist social alienation of the slaves to the condemnation of their owners. In Xai society, there are no moral repercussions to owning slaves, and indeed, the Xai Ascendancy possesses by far one of the largest slave networks in the known galaxy.

The Xai treat their slaves differently on planets they hold according the traditions on each. On Aurora, abusing one's slave is normal and except, while on Xyon, if the slave is harmed in a way that prevents him or her from performing their duties, then compensation must be paid. After the Dark Ages of Xyon, owning fellow Xai as slaves was outlawed and looked down upon, and ever since, non-Xai have been regarded as populations perfect to exploit for slaves.

History
"Slavery is older than I am."

- Shala Alla Tok

Slavery has been one of the oldest functions in Xai society for several millennia, going back to the first slaves of the period proceeding the Dark Ages. The Xai masters treated their fellow Xai slaves with a level of respect, viewing them not as property, by unrelated family members cared for by the master's family. Provisions were made in that after ten to twenty years of service, a slave had to be released, though his or her family remained if they could not pay for their release. However, a slave that loved the family he served could remain, but had to be compensated for their choice, using with money or items of interests, or in many cases for their family. However, this noble version of slavery had been perverted by the Iconians not long after the culture of slavery's introduction into Xai civilization.

In the early years of the Dark Ages, when the Iconians reigned supreme, slavery remained largely untouched by the Iconians' ideals and beliefs. However, as Iconians with large slave households came into power, they changed the system of slavery into a form that allowed them to treat their slaves as property, and refuse to release after a period of time had passed. As the Iconians' grew in power, so to did the number of slaves they held. Soon, after the failed attempt to break Vespa Icona's grasp on power in Xyon's capital city of Oxida Nova, huge swaths of the Xai population were enslaved by the Iconians armies.

As much as 80% of the Xai population (not counting the free Iconian population) had been enslaved by the time the Dark Ages reached their apex. When the first Changed male was created, and led the Xai against their Iconian masters n/a BXU, the Iconian notion of slavery had been removed and outlawed by subsequent leaders. However, not all aspects of slavery from the Iconians' point of view had been removed. Many cultures of the Xai that sprouted following the fall of the many Iconian-ruled kingdoms and empires held onto the corrupted views of slavery from the Iconian era, and carried those beliefs well into the colonization era. The Xai came into contact with many species, all of whom were nowhere near are advanced or powerful as the Xai, and were eventually enslaved.

These slaves remain today, working as house-servents, bodyguards, entertainers, and factory workers. On worlds such as Kordan and Aurora, slaves are treated far worse than if they were taken to other worlds of the Xai. Most often become playthings, used for sex, hunting, or even food&mdash;as the Xai are indeed capable of eating other sapient species. Of the many species exploited by the Xai for slavery, the Elysians and Tarapi are known for their active resistance against the Xai and their enslavement of others. While the slavery of the post-Iconian era remain oppressive, many worlds such as Midnight still practice the unadulterated version of slavery, though it remains a novelty in the more "modern" areas of Xai society.

Methods
"There is no escape."

The Xai have since developed ways to make slaves enjoy their servitude, by mapping the genome of each species they enslave, and developing genetic mutations to insert into each species to make it impossible for them to not want to serve their new masters. While most of a species will fall to this tactic, some individuals of a considerable mental and physical might could resist this mental domination, and fight back. However, some Xai are impressed with this resistance, and may give the individual a place within Xai society to aid in the keeping of other slaves. In some cases, as with the Aurorans, some races willingly submit to the Xai, given the benefits the Xai bring to their civilization, such as prolonged lives and greater technology, as well as greater freedoms. Given their mastery over entire civilizations, the Xai can justifiably be said to have mastered slavery, developing it into an art of sorts.

Other methods of controlling slaves range from pain-inducing bracelets that cannot be removed, to others tactics such as lobotimization, mental reconfiguration, to simpler means such as psychological attempts to break the will of a slave to make the belief of escape impossible (quite often true), and whipping and torture, though the latter more often associated with the worlds of Aurora and Kordan. Using PsiTech, the Xai can also dominate the minds of entire world populations and force them into servitude and crush the will of entire armies with ease. Though this requires considerable effort, though a small cruiser-sized vessel carrying a number of psions can easily do the job if the Xai were so determined to do so. This tactic is often used to pacify small worlds that neither the Obsidian Guard or Colonial Security Forces can spare troops to deal with themselves.