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User:SkyrimScholar/LoreSlavery

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needs updating to remove Morrowind bias; needs to mention the Altmer use of goblin-ken slaves, needs to include information about Dwemer using Falmer as slaves, and Falmer using their own slaves also
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Slavery was once widespread throughout Tamriel, whether it was the practice of using defeated enemies as slaves or selling your own children to combat hunger, and the Dunmer have raided Black Marsh for slaves for ages. In fact, enslavement of Humans, Orcs, Argonians, and Khajiit by Elven races was traditionally permitted. The Ayleids, often depicted as brutal slavemasters of whole races, lost their hold on heartland Tamriel after the rebellion in 1E 242, led by Slave Queen Alessia.[1] Even the former slave race Imperials pursued slavery, as Tiber Septim's army sold captive Bretons into slavery after the Battle of Sancre Tor.[2]

Slavery in CyrodiilEdit

 
An Alessian knight rebels against his Ayleid oppressor

While relations between the Nedes and the Direnni were cordial, if rather unbalanced, the Nedes suffered greatly under the tyranny of the Daedra-worshipping Ayleids. The Ayleids would commonly stage raids on Nedic lands, enslaving those whom they captured.[3] Once in Ayleid lands, the Nedes were held in bondage alongside members of various other human races, forced to work in a variety of menial jobs, such as agriculture and maintaining infrastructure. In Ayleid kingdoms under the grip of more malevolent Daedric princes, human slaves were subjected to horrific cruelties. In the year 1E 242, the Slave Queen Alessia led the Alessian Slave Rebellion against the Ayleid slave masters, resulting in the emancipation of all slaves within the Ayleidic empire. While the slaves were freed, centuries of Ayleidic suppression and intermingling with other enslaved groups had taken their toll on Nedic culture in Cyrodiil, and all that remained were their mixed race descendants, the Imperials.[4][5][6]

Slavery in HammerfellEdit

In the year 1E 808[7] the "warrior wave" of the Yokudans, the Ra Gada, made landfall in Tamriel. They quickly swarmed the province of Hammerfell, killing or enslaving all that they crossed. Soon they had displaced the Nedes everywhere but in the remote region of Craglorn. There, Nedes embittered by the decline of their culture began to turn to sources of spiritual guidance other than the stars.[8][9]

Slavery in MorrowindEdit

Second EraEdit

Further information: Argonian § The Akaviri Invasion and the Formation of the Ebonheart Pact
Because of the decisive intervention of two legions of free Argonians against the Second Akaviri Invasion at the Battle of Vivec's Antlers (2E 572), the Argonians of Black Marsh won their freedom from Dark Elf enslavement.[10][11] This was one of the terms of the Ebonheart Pact, the alliance between Nords, Dunmer, and Argondians that was signed in the battle's aftermath.[10] In order to hold the Pact together against all odds, the three races represented in the Great Moot were required to operate with mutual respect and amazing will, and to mollify the pride of the Nords and the Dark Elves while addressing the injuries suffered by the once-enslaved Argonians.[10]

Third EraEdit

 
Slaver camp near Tear

Since the advent of the Third Era, slavery has been illegal throughout the Empire, but protected by law in Morrowind. This exception was granted by Tiber Septim in the Armistice of 2E 896 as a concession to the Dunmer, who saw the use of slaves as their ancient right. Recent developments have seen the rise of Abolitionists, such as the Twin Lamps, often with support from members of the leading families on Vvardenfell. Nonetheless, slavery is still in widepread use in the province and the topic provokes strong reactions.[12][13][14]

"We are disappointed that the Imperial Cult does not speak out against the inhumane practices of slavery in Morrowind. But perhaps you are right. It is by demonstrating our superior commitment to civilization and humanity that we best disprove the Dunmer's barbaric insistence that we are no more than animals." -- Im-Kilaya, Head of the Argonian Mission in Ebonheart

House Dres thrives on mass-abduction of Argonian and Khajiit into slavery, often with the support of local rival warlords, selling their own kind. Dres families work Argonian slaves on large Saltrice plantations on the southeast coast of Morrowind, while others profit from the slave trade itself. They hold thousands in their infamous slave-pens of Tear, to be shipped by smugglers to cave holding pens on the Bitter Coast. The plantations of House Hlaalu nobles make widespread use of slaves as farm labor. House Redoran employs them in a lesser degree, though some of their warriors use slaves like gladiators, pitting them against beasts for entertainment.[citation needed] House Telvanni uses slaves as servants for housework and as labor in mines. Towns like Molag Mar, Suran and Tel Aruhn have regular slave markets. In a shrewd political maneuver, King Helseth, representing his own house of Hlaalu, formed an alliance with House Dres. Subsequently, he renounced the slave trade, setting the remaining Houses of Indoril and Redoran against him in a bloody civil war. Helseth emerged from the war battered, but without the loss of his essential powers, leaving the slave trade generally destroyed, and slavery without a foothold in all of Tamriel, although the practice persists in remote areas away from Mournhold.

ReferencesEdit

SourcesEdit

Cyrodiil
High Rock
Morrowind/Black Marsh

See AlsoEdit

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