Lets concentrate on this for a moment.
Are servants, butlers, and house maids, a slaves? They may be the lowest class workers, living in theirs "masters" houses, and working for them for less than minimal wage, but they are not slaves, they can freely change their contracts, "masters" and houses, working for someone else, or somewhere else, and maybe they would be able to change their fate, educate some more, and maybe sometime got better job. Is that a slavery?
Or, as in your example. A person who has life debt to other, despite of is this a money debt, or honor one. Is that person a slave?
And yet game forces us to belive so, and emprie who is against slavery will hate us only because we have stratified society with servant class and leader class, because there is no distinction between those.
And there is distincion, and huge difference, between:
1. forcing someone into work because i fear they have three eyes or i hate that they have genitals on their face and i see it discusting so i want them to die while working - this is xenophobic slavery
2. Putting someone into mines because they born into lower class or because they are stronger, because its just more efficient than someone else, but if they dont want to do it by themselves i have to force them - this is authoritarian slavery.
and there is also the factor of property. Slavery require us to be owner of someones lives, but we are not owners of our servants of those who has debt, or rather - we shouldnt be, so they also should not be called slaves.
And with those examples, i just cant see xenophobes who put xenos, who they hate/fear as housemaids.
Ok, so it seems you have a different understandig of slave than i do, or at least what the description in the game means.
Ok, so first regarding servant, butlers and so on. If they are able to freely change their contract and basically walk freely, no they are of course not slave. But then there are those who cant do this, and those are in slavery, either direct or indireclty (wage slaves).
It seems that your understandig is, that battle thralls and entertainers in the game are free pops in servitude. But those are not free pops, these are slaves. Like literal actual slaves. Or let me explain it very exxagerted: I have my battle thralls enclosed in a pen, because thats the maximun on living standard i am willing to spend on dumb soldiers. Twice a day i feed them and occassionally they get dropped on a planet to fight for me. Depending on how the war goes, i either bomb the planet into pieces or i come back and pick up whats left of my armies. How do i keep them in check you ask? Fear, Horror and Pain. Undermine their self esteem and their unity and tehy will be to afraid to revolt and will never gooble up and form big masses. Occassionally small groups of slaves become unruly but those are quickly shot down, further strengthening their fear in me. I also like to send them off to war with a speech that ends with "Some of you may die, but its a sacrifice I am willing to make.
Now, i know you want to jime in and say "Oh, thats xenophobic, not authoritarian"... Well i never mentioned a different species.
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