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Description
Okay, so drawingshady made THIS AMAZING FANART of Undesired , and we got talking in the comments about some of the details in the drawing, and drawingshady randomly offered to help out with ideas for this AU and I was like HECK YEAH IMMA SEND YOU A NOTE. So we've literally spent the last few days brainstorming for this AU.

WOW have we come up with a lot of ideas!!! It's awesome to have someone I can bounce ideas off of, and drawingshady had loads of awesome ones herself (i.e. the CLIPPED WINGS IDEA?!? I would have never in a million years thought of that)

Anyhoo, now that I'm not really done done fangirling, ON TO THE INFO:
_____________________

---GENERAL INFO------
*Sahran legalized the slave trade centuries ago, and since then, slavery has become an important part of the culture:

In the city: To have any social recognition at all in the city, a family needs to own (or at least co-own) a slave. This is pretty much a statement of 'I am capable of providing for my family.' (At least, in their opinion it is). Even the poorest civilians try their best to own a slave, which is how co-ownership became a thing. When a family was too poor to own a slave, they would pool resources with a neighbor/ friend and purchase a slave together. The slave travels back and forth during the day (the houses are almost always close to each other) and serves for both families needs.

Outside the city: Outside Sahran City, slavery is less of a show of status, and more of a necessity for farming. While there isn't a whole lot of fertile land within Sahran's borders, the places that are useful for farming are large plantations, the bulk of the work being done by slave families. These families have typically been living there for multiple generations, and little 'slave villages' are common sights on larger plantations.

---ESCAPE HAZARDS------
-Pegasus/ Griffon wings are clipped to prevent flight.

- Void metal* bands are implants at the base of unicorn horns to absorb all magic traveling through the horn.
**Void metal is a metal mined from one of the canyons in Sahran. It absorbs magic by nature. There is no known limit to its absorption levels.

---OWNERSHIP TATTOOS------
-These are a huge staple in slave culture! Every slave (except oar slaves) has a unique tattoo that is recorded in the Sahran City Slave Logs.
* It is Sahran law that every slave has a bilateral tattoo on their shoulders and neck (bilateral meaning they're identical on both sides).

- The wealthier a slave's master is, the more tattoos the slave will generally have. A tattoo requires precision and an artistic hand, and is also potential for infection, so they tend to be pretty expensive.

- After being sold from one owner to another, many slaves get tattoos added onto their current ones as a sign of new ownership (these new ones are then added to the Slave Logs)

---TYPES OF SLAVES------
There is a HUUUUUGE difference between slave lifestyles depending on who owns them!!

House Slaves:
*Your run-of-the-mill type slaves, these guys are the slaves of commoners or low-ranking nobles. While they are expected to perform fairly difficult work, they are generally treated fairly, and most of their punishments don't exceed what a normal citizen would receive with the same crime.

- They almost always have strong loyalty to their masters, and the owners consider the slave to be a part of the family (although the higher in society you get, the less true this is).

- While it's actually against the law for a slave to be educated, most working class citizens overlook or even frown upon this law. Many household slaves have a pretty good education -- mostly from picking things up on the job and asking questions later on. Parent slaves teach their children to read and write as best they can, and many also have a wide array of economical knowledge.

- Just as it's technically illegal for slaves to be publicly friends with anyone -- slave or otherwise -- this is also ignored on a regular basis. House slaves are open about their friendships with both slaves and non-slaves, and many are also openly married with children, as well.

- House slaves are generally dressed in durable, comfortable clothes. Their collars/ wrist bands are made of common metals such as iron or brass

Palace Slaves:
*'Palace' is a general term here. Palace slaves are owned by the elites of Sahran society, and expected to perform very difficult work without protest. This life is much stricter and regulated than a simple house slave's, and punishments are very severe.

- Palace slaves have no loyalty towards their masters (who would respect a master that treats them like an animal?)

- Education is strictly prohibited, and any slave found attempting to be ecudated/ educate themselves is immediately punished.

- Relationships are always kept secret. Whoever is discovered to be in a relationship is typically punished in front of their loved one as a warning. Friendships are also hidden, although many palace slaves find it hard to bond through friendship anyway because of some who would use it as a way to gain favor from their master (i.e. you tattle on your fellow slaves about a friendship you know of, and I'll give you extra time off)

- Palace slaves (the ones that work INSIDE, anyway) are dressed very well, with decorative silk and beaded cloth. Gold is a sign of wealth in Sahran, and so richer slave owners adorn their slaves in gold collars/ jewelery/ etc.

Oar Slaves:
* The life that every Sahran slave dreads. Oar slaves are worked to the bone. Day in and day out, they're expected to row the huge merchant and military ships that sail in and out of Sahran's harbor. Life is short, painful, and unpredictable.

- The lifespan of oar slaves is extremely short, most lasting only a year or two.

- Beatings are frequent and harsh. Even one slave setting a bad example is a danger to the ship. Imagine a ship-wide revolt of oar slaves in the middle of an ocean voyage: ain't NO FLIPPIN WAY any ship captain is going to let that happen. Slave drivers are vicious and quick on their feet, and -- unlike the fairly-treated house slaves and must-look-pretty palace slaves -- whipping is evident all over the slave, from face to back to legs. Some oar slaves are blind for most of their lives due to a whip hitting them across the eyes.

- Oar slaves typically work in shifts, rotating out every 8 hours with a 'Team 2'. While not at the oars, they work around the ship with odd jobs like mopping, repairs, etc.

- Oar slave tattoos are the most simple out of all slave types. The ship's symbol (Sahran ships don't spell their names out on the side. They have a symbol instead) is tattooed on both shoulders. If a previous owner's tattoo is already there, the symbol is placed either at the base of the posterior neck or just below the clavicles.

- Clothing is almost non-existent. An oar slave is lucky to get a loin cloth/chest covering.

---SLAVE RESOURCES------
* While the majority of Sahran's slave population has been in the slave system since birth (countless generations of slaves before them, too), some are captured from the Outskirts, a fact generally unknown by the royals and generally ignored by the nobles.

NOTE: Species discrimination ISN'T A THING in Sahran (meaning griffons, dragons, etc can be normal citizens with equal rights if they come in OUTSIDE of the slave trade. The same goes for ponies.)

- Griffons and dragons are definitely rarer than pony slaves, but are highly prized for their strength and durability, especially in areas of hard manual labor (i.e. oar slave, farm worker, etc.). Diamond dogs are even rarer, and are so expensive that typically only royals can afford to buy one.

- All three species are considered very beautiful and exotic, and nobles love primping and preening their prized slaves by exercising them (aka toning those muscles) and dressing them in their finest gold and silks.

_________________

Anyhoo, that's all for now. Thanks again to drawingshady for all your ideas and help!

I'll hopefully be posting more on this AU soon. We came up with LOADS of ideas and I want to draw them all out before I start developing the story any more XD

Description
Okay, so drawingshady made THIS AMAZING FANART of Undesired , and we got talking in the comments about some of the details in the drawing, and drawingshady randomly offered to help out with ideas for this AU and I was like HECK YEAH IMMA SEND YOU A NOTE. So we've literally spent the last few days brainstorming for this AU.

WOW have we come up with a lot of ideas!!! It's awesome to have someone I can bounce ideas off of, and drawingshady had loads of awesome ones herself (i.e. the CLIPPED WINGS IDEA?!? I would have never in a million years thought of that)

Anyhoo, now that I'm not really done done fangirling, ON TO THE INFO:
_____________________

---GENERAL INFO------
*Sahran legalized the slave trade centuries ago, and since then, slavery has become an important part of the culture:

In the city: To have any social recognition at all in the city, a family needs to own (or at least co-own) a slave. This is pretty much a statement of 'I am capable of providing for my family.' (At least, in their opinion it is). Even the poorest civilians try their best to own a slave, which is how co-ownership became a thing. When a family was too poor to own a slave, they would pool resources with a neighbor/ friend and purchase a slave together. The slave travels back and forth during the day (the houses are almost always close to each other) and serves for both families needs.

Outside the city: Outside Sahran City, slavery is less of a show of status, and more of a necessity for farming. While there isn't a whole lot of fertile land within Sahran's borders, the places that are useful for farming are large plantations, the bulk of the work being done by slave families. These families have typically been living there for multiple generations, and little 'slave villages' are common sights on larger plantations.

---ESCAPE HAZARDS------
-Pegasus/ Griffon wings are clipped to prevent flight.

- Void metal* bands are implants at the base of unicorn horns to absorb all magic traveling through the horn.
**Void metal is a metal mined from one of the canyons in Sahran. It absorbs magic by nature. There is no known limit to its absorption levels.

---OWNERSHIP TATTOOS------
-These are a huge staple in slave culture! Every slave (except oar slaves) has a unique tattoo that is recorded in the Sahran City Slave Logs.
* It is Sahran law that every slave has a bilateral tattoo on their shoulders and neck (bilateral meaning they're identical on both sides).

- The wealthier a slave's master is, the more tattoos the slave will generally have. A tattoo requires precision and an artistic hand, and is also potential for infection, so they tend to be pretty expensive.

- After being sold from one owner to another, many slaves get tattoos added onto their current ones as a sign of new ownership (these new ones are then added to the Slave Logs)

---TYPES OF SLAVES------
There is a HUUUUUGE difference between slave lifestyles depending on who owns them!!

House Slaves:
*Your run-of-the-mill type slaves, these guys are the slaves of commoners or low-ranking nobles. While they are expected to perform fairly difficult work, they are generally treated fairly, and most of their punishments don't exceed what a normal citizen would receive with the same crime.

- They almost always have strong loyalty to their masters, and the owners consider the slave to be a part of the family (although the higher in society you get, the less true this is).

- While it's actually against the law for a slave to be educated, most working class citizens overlook or even frown upon this law. Many household slaves have a pretty good education -- mostly from picking things up on the job and asking questions later on. Parent slaves teach their children to read and write as best they can, and many also have a wide array of economical knowledge.

- Just as it's technically illegal for slaves to be publicly friends with anyone -- slave or otherwise -- this is also ignored on a regular basis. House slaves are open about their friendships with both slaves and non-slaves, and many are also openly married with children, as well.

- House slaves are generally dressed in durable, comfortable clothes. Their collars/ wrist bands are made of common metals such as iron or brass

Palace Slaves:
*'Palace' is a general term here. Palace slaves are owned by the elites of Sahran society, and expected to perform very difficult work without protest. This life is much stricter and regulated than a simple house slave's, and punishments are very severe.

- Palace slaves have no loyalty towards their masters (who would respect a master that treats them like an animal?)

- Education is strictly prohibited, and any slave found attempting to be ecudated/ educate themselves is immediately punished.

- Relationships are always kept secret. Whoever is discovered to be in a relationship is typically punished in front of their loved one as a warning. Friendships are also hidden, although many palace slaves find it hard to bond through friendship anyway because of some who would use it as a way to gain favor from their master (i.e. you tattle on your fellow slaves about a friendship you know of, and I'll give you extra time off)

- Palace slaves (the ones that work INSIDE, anyway) are dressed very well, with decorative silk and beaded cloth. Gold is a sign of wealth in Sahran, and so richer slave owners adorn their slaves in gold collars/ jewelery/ etc.

Oar Slaves:
* The life that every Sahran slave dreads. Oar slaves are worked to the bone. Day in and day out, they're expected to row the huge merchant and military ships that sail in and out of Sahran's harbor. Life is short, painful, and unpredictable.

- The lifespan of oar slaves is extremely short, most lasting only a year or two.

- Beatings are frequent and harsh. Even one slave setting a bad example is a danger to the ship. Imagine a ship-wide revolt of oar slaves in the middle of an ocean voyage: ain't NO FLIPPIN WAY any ship captain is going to let that happen. Slave drivers are vicious and quick on their feet, and -- unlike the fairly-treated house slaves and must-look-pretty palace slaves -- whipping is evident all over the slave, from face to back to legs. Some oar slaves are blind for most of their lives due to a whip hitting them across the eyes.

- Oar slaves typically work in shifts, rotating out every 8 hours with a 'Team 2'. While not at the oars, they work around the ship with odd jobs like mopping, repairs, etc.

- Oar slave tattoos are the most simple out of all slave types. The ship's symbol (Sahran ships don't spell their names out on the side. They have a symbol instead) is tattooed on both shoulders. If a previous owner's tattoo is already there, the symbol is placed either at the base of the posterior neck or just below the clavicles.

- Clothing is almost non-existent. An oar slave is lucky to get a loin cloth/chest covering.

---SLAVE RESOURCES------
* While the majority of Sahran's slave population has been in the slave system since birth (countless generations of slaves before them, too), some are captured from the Outskirts, a fact generally unknown by the royals and generally ignored by the nobles.

NOTE: Species discrimination ISN'T A THING in Sahran (meaning griffons, dragons, etc can be normal citizens with equal rights if they come in OUTSIDE of the slave trade. The same goes for ponies.)

- Griffons and dragons are definitely rarer than pony slaves, but are highly prized for their strength and durability, especially in areas of hard manual labor (i.e. oar slave, farm worker, etc.). Diamond dogs are even rarer, and are so expensive that typically only royals can afford to buy one.

- All three species are considered very beautiful and exotic, and nobles love primping and preening their prized slaves by exercising them (aka toning those muscles) and dressing them in their finest gold and silks.

_________________

Anyhoo, that's all for now. Thanks again to drawingshady for all your ideas and help!

I'll hopefully be posting more on this AU soon. We came up with LOADS of ideas and I want to draw them all out before I start developing the story any more XD