>Thralls, for me are the puzzle. How *are* they controlled?
The obvious answer is, if someone has powerful magic and an independent frame of mind, you *don't* make them into thralls. You might keep them in line with shackles and whips for a while, but first chance they get they'll be off into the hills, possibly leaving a dead overseer behind them.
Ortlanthi-style thralldom works because the thralls are encouraged to believe that running away into the wilderness would be a worse life than they have to endure on the tula; and they're not allowed to learn useful skiils or magic (iirc, thralls are not allowed to become initiates of O & E - they're legally children??).
Stephen
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