Just sign here... (Concordant setting)

[gridlore]

Getting away from the blimps for a second, I was thinking about making indentured servitude part of the setting.

Historically, this was a common way for those too poor to pay the cost of passage to the New World to make the trip. A formal agreement for a period of time where the indentured person worked for the family that paid his/her way over. I could see this becoming big as we move into space.

It would of course be tightly regulated (and an entire arm of the legal profession would spring up around it) but it could make for some fun plot points.

Any opinions?

Comments

[kengr]

Unless you've got a *very* uniform legal system, the way contract language is interpreted on different worlds may lead to some surprises.

And seemingly minor differences in language could lead to really different results.

Silly example is the contract in "Pirates of Penzance", where rather than "until the age of 21" it says "until he has his 21st birthday". Normally not a problem, unless you were born on Feb 29th. :-)

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Well, if we assume that the Concordant has something akin to the "interstate commerce" clause, it could be regulated at the interstellar level, and subject to Concordant courts, not the local versions.

Also note that this would primarily be an issue on colonial worlds, which don't have full self-rule.

[kengr]

That's "Concordat" (noun) as opposed to concordant which is an adverb or adjective, I forget which. :-)

But I still forsee people, especially on more "advanced" worlds "deliberately misusing" such things. With or without the complicity of the servant.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Oh, that certainly will happen, but for the most part it will be an accepted and regular part of society.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

Any code of laws can and will be circumvented by people who are inethical enough and think they can get away with it. Likewise, indentured servitude will also be taken advantage of. The more complicated you make the laws, the more loopholes there will be. And any charge of law will be appealed, and re-appealed, and counter-appealed, ad nauseum....

Which is just too darn bad for the player characters, now, isn't it? ^_^

[collie13.livejournal.com]

It could certainly lead to interesting game play. Remember Hati on Reality Fault? ;)

[murphymom.livejournal.com]

Sounds like what Schwarzenazi wants to do to us teachers...(bitter, moi?)

[10binary-cats.livejournal.com]

R.A.H./Friday: The transportees could take whatever they could pack into their (small) cabins and carry in their arms.

What would you take?

In a high tech society you could put a lot of useful basic homesteading tools in a reasonably compact kit. At least enough to raise a house on a frontier world...

do new worlds start with a centralized high tech centers for low tech hinterlands (you shoot your skronk with hand loaded rounds, drag it back to the cabin with your g/horse[gengineered horse], cook it on a wood fired stove, but reheat the leftovers in a microwave oven)? A mix of technology from offworld and locally made.

i seem to be rambling, but ideas pop up from the darndest places.

(a skronk is ummm.. hexapedal omnivore somethingorother...them's good eating tho'!)

ideas?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I see colonization going in waves, with the first wave funded by the Terran superpowers grabbing land, followed by the exodus of every racial/religious/social group that wants a homeland all their own. The degree of xenophobia will determine how far they'll run (yes, the Aryan Nations types will have a small empire. Can't have good Space Opera without Space Nazis.)

In the "modern day" (which is currently late 25th Century in my notes) new colonies are established through the Ministry of Colonization, who insure that the proposed colony is properly funded, has enough people signed up to insure genetic diversity, etc. In most cases, you sign on to a new colony by paying in - you become a vested shareholder.

Later, after the colony has been established, you can start attracting skilled workers (and unskilled labor) by offering indentures to cover the high cost of travelling out to the rim. Not all indentures are going to be for miners or farm hands! I can see a colony "headhunting" firemen, engineers, and teachers to fill skilled roles. The indentures insures that they'll hang around long enough to at least start training locals in those roles.

As far as I can tell, you'll see a situation a lot like what we have in Firefly. Technology that is useful and can be easily repaired will be common on colony worlds. As they grow in population and create more solid industrial infrastructure, you'll see franchise factories open to produce the modern goods seen in the more established worlds. A colony nearing its centennial might be a very interesting place.. it'd have a beanstalk, and the city at the base would be very cosmopolitan and modern, but go 200 miles in any direction and you'll find the equivilant of sodbusters and mules working the land.

At least they're not hunting Squonks.

[10binary-cats.livejournal.com]

(yes, the Aryan Nations types will have a small empire. Can't have good Space Opera without Space Nazis.)....

JEWSSS in SPPAAAAACCCEEE!

Two comparison models for you

[capplor.livejournal.com]

There are, in current society, such things as "au pairs" and "human traffiking" which might be be similar.

Note that au pairs have a bit of a sweeter deal than an indentured servant, and victims of traffiking tend to be told they're becoming servants, and end up being less (without the ability to complain, usually because they don't speak the local language or understand the local society).