Chonokhan
Recruit
Before I begin, I would like to point out, that this is a Suggestion for Mount & Blade Bannerlord, not a debate for people to bark at each other in. If you have an issue with slavery or anti-slavery, or are just politically obsessed with crying down people you disagree with please kindly go away, there is really no point in arguing or trolling here.
Now, in-game we have a ransoming system, where we can random lords and troops back to their lords or families in return for gold. It's a simple system and it works very well for the job intended.
I propose that Taleworlds create a new mechanic, that will allow us to exploit one of the oldest human practices in the world: Slavery. It has vast potential in economics and can also be used in the military or entertainment spheres. Currently we get to ransom captured warriors, earn a bit of money and loot.. and enjoy the fruits of victory... but what if we could get more?
Slave Labour in Cities!:
Could allow faster build times, especially for those giant projects that require a nearly endless supply of disposable labour!
Grant an economic boost to city income, taxation and trade!
Give a live target practice dummy for your soldiers to train on!
Entertainment for the masses! who needs tax cuts and high food rations, when you can distract them with blood and gore in the gladiatorial arena!
Imagine having a personal retinue of slaves, trained to do EXACTLY what you command, without question or thought.. Hop on your swords? or maybe kill that guy over there! Perhaps even repress the city inhabitants when they don't feel like paying taxes today...
Slavers Guilds are happy to accommodate your needs! A slave to fetch your food? Feed your pet lion? Plough the land? or fight to the death for your dinner time entertainment... they will be happy to do it all! Prices differ based on troop tier.. also not responsible for assassination or damaged goods.
Slave Soldiers
Imagine having an army of slaves, brutally beaten and made to suffer indignities to ensure their loyalty to the one who holds the whip. These guys will hop on their own swords for you or will happily exterminate an entire village for your personal pleasure.
Veteran gladiators that have fought to the death and have come out, scarred but ready for more! Armed with gladiatorial weapons, like war forks, spathas, huge cleaving axes and terrifying maces These guys are happy to fight for glory and their freedom.
Janissary are those elite-trained, masterful warriors of battle, taken as slaves and culturally (and religiously) converted, now loyal to your cause and waiting for that opportunity to battle your enemies... Masterful archers and swordsmen, though these guys are pricey, they are definitely worth the dinars.
Mamlukes, now these guys are those wild foreign soldiers, taken as slaves and trained in merciless combat to become the ultimate weapon of the Shah. Capable of riding into battle atop their powerful steeds, unleashing a hail of arrows into the enemy, before crashing into them and obliterating them!
Sofas (not the type you sit on!) are slave warriors, trained in the Afro-Mandinka ways of tribal combat, very lightly armoured, ferocious, fanatical tribal warriors capable of smashing and bashing their way into the enemy after filling them with darts, javelins and arrows.
Ahsam, a rag-tag grouping of slaves, peasants and servants, armed with whatever weaponry they could find (or be provided with by the state) and sent into the fray to absorb fire and hopefully killing someone on the enemy's side, before dying a horrible death... a perfect "chaff" unit to protect your slaves with superior worth. Perhaps they could be useful pushing battering rams or holding ladders... better for them to eat arrows than your own regulars.
Anti-Slavery
When something like Slavery exists, something else positive rises from the darkness to free the slaves and end the tyranny! A faction that condemns slavery and supports the freeing of slaves will lose the economic benefits of slavery, but gain the moral high ground and support from those who seek to be liberated, as well as those sympathetic to the cause of freedom and equality.
Naturally, those in the slave "underground" will expose information and do everything they can to help refugees escape to freedom. They will infiltrate the slavers giving information on their whereabouts and capabilities, steal the foul profits made off the backs of the slaves and will work to shame and demoralise those who dabble in the disgusting practice.
building an Anti-Slaver guild in your city would grant access to a "black market" of sorts (for this age), smuggling unique weapons, armour, information and possibly maps containing the locations of hidden slave camps and valuable caches of resources. There could be a "Funding" bar that when it reaches maximum, would cause an armed slave uprising in a random city of a random faction that allows slavery. Funding the cause of freedom and liberty is more valuable than profiteering from slavery!
Anti-Slaver factions could also recruit freedom fighters... escaped slaves and sympathisers that seek to free others or take revenge for the wrongs done to them! Though they wouldn't be as well armed as state troops or as numerous as slave troops... they have a fiery desire for freedom in their hearts and are willing to fight for that very cause.
Rebels: These guys are your guerrilla infantry, former soldiers / slave soldiers that turned their backs on their masters and escaped! now they are ready to fight back. They would be armed with whatever weapons and armour their former masters gave them. A light troop, capable of flanking enemies and inflicting good damage, but definitely not your main battle line guys.
Freedom Fighters: Men and women that have endured horrific torture and cruelty at the hands of their former masters, now escapees that have come together to fight for the cause of freedom... their gear is mostly looted from enemy slavers and caravans that profited from slave labour. They are capable core troops... but definitely not the best.
Reformed Brigands: These guys are "accused" criminals, murderers, rapists and thieves... now reformed by the Anti-Slaver guilds and the cause of freedom, they have come to use their skills and experience to battle tyranny in the ways they know how. Armed with a random assortment of bandit weapons, a useful irregular force to support the main army.
Champions: These are the "elite" anti-slaver units, men and women that have survived years of horrific battles in the arena. Escaped or freed, now they have taken on the cause of freedom for all, donning their gladiator gear. They have battled against regular troops, slave troops and even the slave masters themselves! Very strong "elite" troops.
Now onto the final subject of this long post: Captive Lords
I feel that it is not enough, that we can just ransom or execute these lords, especially if they are valuable. We can already put them on the diplomacy table... but their worth is lacking in there. I feel like this should be improved... especially if it's a family member, we should be able to demand peace and non-aggression for a period of days, while holding the prisoner as a "companion guest" in our party, rather than as a prisoner until the time of the treaty ends... that way, if the enemy break the treaty, we will be allowed to kill (or convert) their subject in our party.
Now, in-game we have a ransoming system, where we can random lords and troops back to their lords or families in return for gold. It's a simple system and it works very well for the job intended.
I propose that Taleworlds create a new mechanic, that will allow us to exploit one of the oldest human practices in the world: Slavery. It has vast potential in economics and can also be used in the military or entertainment spheres. Currently we get to ransom captured warriors, earn a bit of money and loot.. and enjoy the fruits of victory... but what if we could get more?
Slave Labour in Cities!:
Could allow faster build times, especially for those giant projects that require a nearly endless supply of disposable labour!
Grant an economic boost to city income, taxation and trade!
Give a live target practice dummy for your soldiers to train on!
Entertainment for the masses! who needs tax cuts and high food rations, when you can distract them with blood and gore in the gladiatorial arena!
Imagine having a personal retinue of slaves, trained to do EXACTLY what you command, without question or thought.. Hop on your swords? or maybe kill that guy over there! Perhaps even repress the city inhabitants when they don't feel like paying taxes today...
Slavers Guilds are happy to accommodate your needs! A slave to fetch your food? Feed your pet lion? Plough the land? or fight to the death for your dinner time entertainment... they will be happy to do it all! Prices differ based on troop tier.. also not responsible for assassination or damaged goods.
Slave Soldiers
Imagine having an army of slaves, brutally beaten and made to suffer indignities to ensure their loyalty to the one who holds the whip. These guys will hop on their own swords for you or will happily exterminate an entire village for your personal pleasure.
Veteran gladiators that have fought to the death and have come out, scarred but ready for more! Armed with gladiatorial weapons, like war forks, spathas, huge cleaving axes and terrifying maces These guys are happy to fight for glory and their freedom.
Janissary are those elite-trained, masterful warriors of battle, taken as slaves and culturally (and religiously) converted, now loyal to your cause and waiting for that opportunity to battle your enemies... Masterful archers and swordsmen, though these guys are pricey, they are definitely worth the dinars.
Mamlukes, now these guys are those wild foreign soldiers, taken as slaves and trained in merciless combat to become the ultimate weapon of the Shah. Capable of riding into battle atop their powerful steeds, unleashing a hail of arrows into the enemy, before crashing into them and obliterating them!
Sofas (not the type you sit on!) are slave warriors, trained in the Afro-Mandinka ways of tribal combat, very lightly armoured, ferocious, fanatical tribal warriors capable of smashing and bashing their way into the enemy after filling them with darts, javelins and arrows.
Ahsam, a rag-tag grouping of slaves, peasants and servants, armed with whatever weaponry they could find (or be provided with by the state) and sent into the fray to absorb fire and hopefully killing someone on the enemy's side, before dying a horrible death... a perfect "chaff" unit to protect your slaves with superior worth. Perhaps they could be useful pushing battering rams or holding ladders... better for them to eat arrows than your own regulars.
Anti-Slavery
When something like Slavery exists, something else positive rises from the darkness to free the slaves and end the tyranny! A faction that condemns slavery and supports the freeing of slaves will lose the economic benefits of slavery, but gain the moral high ground and support from those who seek to be liberated, as well as those sympathetic to the cause of freedom and equality.
Naturally, those in the slave "underground" will expose information and do everything they can to help refugees escape to freedom. They will infiltrate the slavers giving information on their whereabouts and capabilities, steal the foul profits made off the backs of the slaves and will work to shame and demoralise those who dabble in the disgusting practice.
building an Anti-Slaver guild in your city would grant access to a "black market" of sorts (for this age), smuggling unique weapons, armour, information and possibly maps containing the locations of hidden slave camps and valuable caches of resources. There could be a "Funding" bar that when it reaches maximum, would cause an armed slave uprising in a random city of a random faction that allows slavery. Funding the cause of freedom and liberty is more valuable than profiteering from slavery!
Anti-Slaver factions could also recruit freedom fighters... escaped slaves and sympathisers that seek to free others or take revenge for the wrongs done to them! Though they wouldn't be as well armed as state troops or as numerous as slave troops... they have a fiery desire for freedom in their hearts and are willing to fight for that very cause.
Rebels: These guys are your guerrilla infantry, former soldiers / slave soldiers that turned their backs on their masters and escaped! now they are ready to fight back. They would be armed with whatever weapons and armour their former masters gave them. A light troop, capable of flanking enemies and inflicting good damage, but definitely not your main battle line guys.
Freedom Fighters: Men and women that have endured horrific torture and cruelty at the hands of their former masters, now escapees that have come together to fight for the cause of freedom... their gear is mostly looted from enemy slavers and caravans that profited from slave labour. They are capable core troops... but definitely not the best.
Reformed Brigands: These guys are "accused" criminals, murderers, rapists and thieves... now reformed by the Anti-Slaver guilds and the cause of freedom, they have come to use their skills and experience to battle tyranny in the ways they know how. Armed with a random assortment of bandit weapons, a useful irregular force to support the main army.
Champions: These are the "elite" anti-slaver units, men and women that have survived years of horrific battles in the arena. Escaped or freed, now they have taken on the cause of freedom for all, donning their gladiator gear. They have battled against regular troops, slave troops and even the slave masters themselves! Very strong "elite" troops.
Now onto the final subject of this long post: Captive Lords
I feel that it is not enough, that we can just ransom or execute these lords, especially if they are valuable. We can already put them on the diplomacy table... but their worth is lacking in there. I feel like this should be improved... especially if it's a family member, we should be able to demand peace and non-aggression for a period of days, while holding the prisoner as a "companion guest" in our party, rather than as a prisoner until the time of the treaty ends... that way, if the enemy break the treaty, we will be allowed to kill (or convert) their subject in our party.
