Genetic slavery

Genetic slavery, sometimes euphemized as genetic indentured servitude, was a form of slavery common on certain human-settled worlds, but outlawed by most star nations. Its basis was the genetic engineering and trade of subservient human beings designed for specific purposes.
== Production ==
Genetic slaves were produced in batches in breeding facilities outside the more "civilized" parts of the human-settled universe. Their radically engineered genetic makeup often caused medical side effects, and gave most of them a shorter lifespan than naturally born humans (even apart from the fact that most slaves were never given the prolong treatment even after it became widely available. ()
== Slave trade ==
Genetic slavery was the backbone of the planet Mesa's economy. The Mesans, mainly their most powerful company, Manpower Inc., bred genetic slaves for a wide range of purposes, including hard labor, dangerous labor and sex labor. So-called 'pleasure slaves' like Manpower's C-line were bred to be attractive and then forced into sexual training at the age of nine. ()
== Design and appearance ==
Genetic slaves had a physique to suit their intended purpose, e.g. extraordinary attractiveness for pleasure slaves and immense physical bulk and strength for heavy labor slaves. Manpower also attempted to design for specific mental functions in certain slave lines; e.g. the J-11 model was ostensibly designed for accounting and record-keeping. However, the effectiveness of such breeding was limited,As narrated in : 'Manpower's geneticists did breed for those skills, but genes were far more plastic than they liked to admit [...] There was no gene for "accounting," nor was there one for "file-keeping."' a fact Manpower avoided discussing with customers.
All slaves had an identifying 'genetic marker' on their tongue, which could not be disguised or imitated. () Audubon Ballroom members would frequently stick out their tongues to show their markers, as a gesture of threat to their enemies. () Elaine Komandorski was able to find a biosculpt technician who could alter her marker. ()
== Fight against genetic slavery ==
Some star nations, notably the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven, had implemented a zero-tolerance policy when it came to genetic slavery. Both were signatories of the Cherwell Convention, a multi-lateral Solarian League accord which equated slavery with piracy, which in the SKM netted the death penalty.
The Manticoran and Havenite Navies had long stringently enforced anti-slavery agreements, and even a few Solarian Navy commanders did turn captured slave transports over to Manticore's or the Republic's navy. As a result, Mesa was in a long term cold war with at least these two star nations. () In contrast, the Solarian League had an uneven track record with the Convention's enforcement, and the Silesian Confederacy was especially lax regarding it.
While the Silesian Confederacy did technically outlaw slavery, the law was ignored by most of the citizens.
During the First Havenite-Manticoran War, the Committee of Public Safety used Mesan operatives for assassinations such as the Manpower Incident on Earth where Haven could not be publicly involved.
The Audubon Ballroom was another powerful adversary of the genetic slavers, kidnapping and assassinating them whenever possible. () In the 1920s PD, the newly founded Kingdom of Torch, an entire star nation mostly made up of former genetic slaves, stepped into the open and formally declared war on the planet Mesa. ()
Unknown to most, the Beowulfans, considering themselves responsible for Mesa's existence in the first place, fought genetic slavery through the Biological Survey Corps. It officially conducted civilian survey missions, but was in fact a para-military force created to fight slavers. ()
== True purpose ==
Unknown to most Mesans and their enemies, genetic slavery was actually little more than a side business for the Mesan Alignment, a testing ground for genetic modifications and breeding programs meant to improve the Alignment's genetic lines. It also had the welcome side effect of distracting from the true, much more nefarious purpose of Mesa's genetic engineering. ()
== References ==
Category:Society
Category:Law
Category:Mesa
Category:Mesan Genetic Lines