The Sundered World is a beautiful and fantastic place, rich with blended cultures and diverse peoples that have mingled together after the Sundering to create new and wonderful marvels. Many that came crashing back from Mithbar have taken the last many decades to bring back magic, lost wisdoms, and institutions of commerce and learning that the world has not seen since those mythical creatures vanished.
The Flesh Trade, however, was something the civilized world wasn't entirely prepared for, though the darker parts of mankind quickly re embraced.
Slavery in the Sundered World is not a relationship of trust and mutual experimentation or exploration of kinks. It's not a relationship, it's not an agreement, a pact, bargain, or anything else like that. Slavery is just that, owning another person for whatever reasons one might wish to own another.
In many aspects it is the simple premise that might makes right. In others it's misogyny gone crazed. Perhaps simple necessity for work without the desire to pay wages. Whatever the reason may be, the Flesh Trade has exploded across the Earth like a wildfire, even in places that on the surface denounce it and turn their noses up at the concept. In some places it is becoming custom for a man to simply take the woman he desires, and make her his own. In other more 'civilized' places, slavery doesn't exist at all... however those in debt to a Lord or Authority find themselves having to work in order to pay off a debt they are not told how much even is. Indentured servitude is a flimsy mask, but one that helps those that utilize it to sleep at night. Slaves are 'liberated' by Avalonian Lords that then place them under debt, having them as servants until that debt (of which they never quantify) is paid off.
Entire avenues of commerce have sprung up in relation to the Flesh Trade. In nations and major cities that openly embrace the Slavers, a specific location has been set up, many calling it The Street of Chains. A marketplace specifically designed to cater to the selling of men and women as property. Mercenary groups flourish as manhunters, raiding small villages for new stock in which to sell to Slavers for profit. Slave Breeders make more money than most people on Earth could ever dream of making, enough to construct and have their own fortress cities in exotic and lush locations, much like the Drug Cartel's of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Slaves are of course from both genders, though females tend to be treated much better than their male counterparts in both actuality and in regard. Male slaves are for sport and hard manual labor, and Freemen sneer at them in open contempt more often than not for being weak. Though those male slaves that prove themselves as masters in the own right, of either artistry or martial capability, might find that they gain a measure of fame, after all the best gladiators in Rome enjoyed living better than the empires poor. Females are taken for various, but usually obvious reasons, and are quite often status symbols for many Slave owners, especially ones of the most appealing appearances or ability. Redhead female slaves are sought after, as that natural hair color is all but nearly gone from Earth at this point. However a dancer of extraordinary skill would easily trump a slave lacking in skill that just happens to have fiery hair.
In the end however, slavery is a part of the Sundered World. This is not to say that all slaves are doomed to a horrible existence, many enjoy not only comfort, but even some basic rights of their own. Each Slave Owner treats his or her slaves as they see fit, after all.
