WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0080 0080
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Watu Slavery
Watu & Non-Pachyaur Slavers
To the Watu, their slave ownership is indistinguishable from their dependence upon elephants and colossadants as beasts of burden or any other culture’s use
of beasts of burden for undesirable tasks. The Watu see
their ownership and caustic treatment as necessary to
their society, and this is the chief difference of opinion
between them and their Brachachon kin, who find the
idea abhorrent.
Outsiders claim all Watish slaves are humans and humanoids, but this is untrue. Outcast Pachyaur are often
sold into slavery to become overseers over the humans
in bondage, but they are owned nonetheless.
Slavery among the Watu is not a casual, societal convenience. Life under their ownership is harsh and uncompromising. The Watu slave’s lot in life is miserable
and often cruel. Bondage is for life, and there is no
compassion or reward for a lifetime of service.
Attempts to escape (regardless of success or not) are
punishable by death. Though harsh discipline is expected and accepted, wasting slaves is unacceptable,
and the overseer who does so is dismissed or punished.
Watu family groups often exchange slaves as gifts,
their value measured by docility, strength, and fertility.
Trained adults are most coveted. Receiving a rebellious
slave as a gift is considered a slight at best, an omen at
worst.
Watu freely engage in diplomacy with vidijo races; indeed, human ambassadors and agents are common in
the more cosmopolitan shamabas, where their presence
is not only welcome but considered by many to be quite
stylish. Most Watish negotiations with vidijo center on
trade in materials and flesh.
Human slavers find a ready market among the Watu,
whose cruelty consistently depletes their slave pens
faster than natural or administered breeding can replace.
Watu find dealing with the agents of the Black Tower, the
twisted and pale Bev al-Khim, especially rewarding. The
Pale offer chain upon chain of ragged yet sturdy human
slaves from as far away as the beleaguered Old Countries.
Much to the Watu’s liking, the wily Bev al-Khim accept
all manner of materials in trade (anything from grain and
seed to casks of sweet water), whereas most human slavers insist upon gems and silver.
Rumors & Whispers
The view from outside Watu society paints a dark picture of them. The bulk of any “news” from Watish lands
comes from their own slave pens, rumors carried by the
few escapees who survive the experience.
• Watu wizards ensure that slavery continues after
death. Some say sorcery reanimates dead slaves
