I'd assume that was the "minimalist" position, yes. "Breeding thralls" seems _too_ much like out-and-out DH-style "slavery".
Donald R. Oddy:
> I think it depends on what exactly is the status of a thrall in
> Orlanthi society. If they are simply property of a bloodline
> then it is purely a matter of how the head of the bloodline views
> it.
What makes you think bloodlines have property? :-|
> If they are more like people with very limited rights then
> they may well be able to appeal to a clan member to champion
> their cause.
I think that's more likely the "official" legal position. In practice I'm not sure if it makes much practical difference. Their rights are likely sufficiently minimal that I'd hestitate to suggest what they actually might include...
> Whichever, a thrall is going to have great difficulty claiming rape
> as their word will count little against that of a freeman.
I'm not talking about "claims" of rape, since I was assuming the thrall would pretty quiet on the matter, one way or another. I'm thinking in terms of "how it looks". Is a thrall someone it's proper to have sexual relations with? (I suppose they will at least generically be Orlanthi adults in the initiatory sense, if you've pinched them off another clan...) Do a thralls "rights" include being able to consent, or refuse consent, to sex?
> There is also the issue of who thralls breed with, since an Orlanthi
> all thralls will be female.
Really?
> In a similar vein, what standing do thralls have in religious matters?
> To cut them off from Ernalda seems unreasonably harsh yet they are
> hardly going to be welcomed among the free women. Is there perhaps
> a cult of Ernalda the Thrall which gives them a place on the
> periphery of the rites? Given that Ernalda is described as enslaved
> by Yelm there is a mythic basis for such.
Tricky, since to allow them to worship on that basis would be mythicly equating _oneself_, as the clan chief in particular with the Evil Emperor. (Pretty much wearing an "Insert Death here" t-shirt.)
End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #549
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