Me>>Given that I said slavery is _primarily_ a lunar institution, the
>>logical inference is that Lunars own most of the slaves in the
>>Empire and not Dara Happans.
>I thought that Lunars were Dara Happans and vice versa. Or at least
>the posh Lunars were Dara Happans and the meritocrats were Pelorians
>of some lower sort.
This is a little complicated so bear with me.
All cultures of Peloria have Lunars among them. A Lunar is anyone who worships the Goddess or any Lunar God. Lunars like to claim that Nysalorans or Gerrans are Lunars because they worship past incarnations of the Goddess. However the worshippers of these past incarnations do not necessarily agree with this.
Because of the importance of the Goddess within the Empire, most of the highest positions, the Emperor, the Satraps etc. are Lunars. Most of them are so lunarized that they considered themselves to be Lunars and not Dara Happans, Rinliddi or Darsenites. There are certain places in the Empire that are considered to be Lunar such as Glamour, Jillaro, Graclodont and Torang. Other places may exist but these are the important ones.
The majority of the Empire do not worship the Goddess and instead governed by their traditional aristocrats. This is not a problem to the Lunars for the aristocracts are all sworn to obey the Emperor who is Lunar Numero Uno. Many aristocrats like to have a Lunar to help them grease the imperial wheel and so they usually order a relation to become a Lunar to act as an advocate.
There are many Lunars beneath the aristocracy. Most are simply content with the message of the Goddess while some are competent to rise from humble beginnings to be Lunar VIPs. Most of these Lunars are found in Dara Happa and in Rinliddi. Places like Pelanda and Darjiin have less need for the Goddess's mysteries (they already have the Jernotian Way and SurEnslib) and so there are fewer Lunars there, although the people at the top are still mostly lunars.
Turning to the specific example of Dara Happa, the truly posh are not Lunars. They think they run the Empire and produce copious literature to support this (such as the Fortunate Succession) but this is mostly an illusion, save for a few like Tatius the Bright. They view the Goddess as a lesser diety of the Middle Heavens who feverently supports the rule of Heaven. A few of them are lunar advocates for the nobility.
>There are references to slaves in the Entekosiad, in the Coming of
>Lendarsh, it refers to Fifths which is translated as "servant", or
>in Dara Happan as "Half Person". Lower still are Sixths which means
>Slaves.
Lendarsh was a Dawn Age hero and two centuries earlier than the Plentonius. Today his social system is used by Pelandans and not by Dara Happans. Even Valare Addi from Yuthuppa had to have the system explained to her despite being born a Third-Minus-Less under the same system.
>Another reference is in the Biography of Valare Addi. Valare was a Third-
>Minus-Less (rank "third"=craftsman; gender "minus"=female; birth sequence
>"less"=younger) and therefore of very low value. She was "scheduled to be
>sold in times of need". [...] So Dara Happans had slaves before the
>Goddess; she freed them all, and they have subsequently re-instated the
>practice.
Not necessarily. Carmanians ruled Dara Happa at the time so the Carmanian class system for their farmers* was used at the time, nicked (like so many other things) from the Pelandans. After the Goddess overthrows the Carmanians, the Dara Happans go back to their traditional social classes.
*Distinct from their own caste system. All Carmanians would be Firsts (although they would divide themselves into Karmanoi, Hazar and Vizier), the majority of subjects would be fifths or sixths whereas a few quislings would have intermediate rank.
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