Serfs and Serfdom

This essay on Serfs in the Known Worlds was written by Tariq. It is not entirely accurate to Vargo.


Serfs make up about 80 percent of the population of the
Known Worlds. In some areas that figure changes. It is lowest on
the al-Malik worlds (60-70pc) and highest in the Decados and Li
Halan worlds (90pc) Serfs in al-Malik territory generally have
the most freedom and civil rights, while Serfs in Li Halan
territory have the most Democracy. There are no prizes for
guessing where they have the least freedom.

Average income for a Serf is about ONE Firebird per year (above
and beyond their subsistence needs). A Firebird translates to
between US$10-100. Serfs are property.

Serfs do not have the freedom to leave the lands of their
master. A Serf will live their whole life without ever wandering
too far from their village. To leave the fief carries the death
sentence. Serfs are property, but unlike Slaves, Serfs are not
the property of a person, but of a piece of land. If a Slave
owner leaves home, she can take her Slaves with her, but she
can't take the Serfs. Think of Serfs as being like utilities
on a property. <"This Keep, located on prime farmland comes
fully serviced with water, sewerage, electricity and 700 Serfs." >

Unlike slaves, Serfs can earn an income, and Serfs can own some
personal property, like their clothes, a few pots and pans for
cooking, a bed, and not much else. They may not own weaponry. A
Serf in possession of a gun is subject to mandatory execution.

Serfs may not learn to read and write. Educated Serfs are
likely to be discontented Serfs and likely to want to escape or
spread seditious ideas. Penalties for teaching a Serf to read and
write vary depending on who the teacher is, though it is
universally unpleasant. The penalty for the literate Serf is
standard - Death.

There are malcontents and misfits, but they don't last long.
They either conform or die, or escape and get killed. Many nobles
enjoy a good Serf Hunt, particularly the Decados. Some escaping
Serfs even provide more entertainment than a Grakkle-fox hunt.

In some areas, the master has the 'right' to take his or her
pleasure of whatever Serf catches his or her 'attention'. Only the
Li Halan are notable as a whole for NOT exercising this right.
Many Decados would consider it a duty, rather than a right,
though luckily, few Decados even notice Serfs. The Church
discourages the exercise of this right.

A Serf should never look a Noble in the eyes. That implies a
sense of equality and mutual respect, which is simply outlandish.
A Serf can be killed for such impudence. Many Decados consider it
good practice to execute the Serf who is the last to bow when he
arrives. It is logical, especially to the Decados mindset. The
Serf who was last to bow is either disrespectful or 'spirited'
and hence likely to make trouble, or slow and stupid, and hence a
likely drain on resources. And it keeps the rest of them afraid,
which is good management.

In return for absolute obedience, the Noble is theoretically
responsible for the welfare of the Serfs. She must protect them
in time of war or raids, and is supposed to see that they are
housed and feed. Serfdom means a guaranteed job. For the most
part, that's the way it works. House Hawkwood is noted for taking
the duty to protect and care for the Serfs most seriously.

In rural fiefs, Serfs are 'free' to live their own lives, as
long as they don't stray from the boundaries of the fief, or
touch a weapon. They can go to the pub after work, they can marry
and have children. And they can work. On Sunday, they can stop
work and go to Church. There really isn't much more to life than
that. Few would want more.

In urban fiefs, life for the Serfs in not so free and easy.
Few Serfs actually live in the larger towns, but in the big
industrial cities Serfs make up a lot of the cheap proletariat
labour in the factories. Factories themselves are the Serf's
entire life. In the cities, the opportunities to escape are much
greater, so the methods to keep them contained are much more
draconian. Leg irons and such are common. Serf labour teams
chained together are a common site in many of the big industrial
cities.

But most urban Serfs live their whole life inside the
factory walls. And the factories are not the clean, efficient
automated things of Western industrial society. They are hellish
sweat shops. Technology over most of the Known Worlds is late
industrial revolution, Victorian era to mid-20th Century. (Tech
level 3-4) A more unpleasant life would be hard to imagine. The
only break from the hellish existence is Sunday, when all work
must stop. Even then, the kinds of people who keep Serfs in these
conditions are also the kinds of people (mostly Guilders) who
would disobey the Church's law on keeping Sunday as a day of
rest.

Avestites can win kudos amongst the Serfs and Clergy by
finding factories that operate on Sundays, and turning the
machines off for the Restday. Unfortunately for the factory
owner, Avestites usually can't find the 'off' switch, so they
stop the machines in their own particular and renowned style.

Despite the number of Serfs, few Player Character would have
ever meet many, unless from the villages, and few would want to.
They are smelly, uncouth and almost incomprehensibly stupid (it
being a well-learned survival trait to pretend idiocy). A Noble
or Freeman talking to a Serf, is either looking for trouble- makers,
that is, anyone intelligent, or wants more work done. Either way,
it's best to look dumb. And a Noble being 'chummy' is either
stupid, hypocritical, an evil Republican, or looking for trouble-
makers.