Slave Dealer, handler and their stock and trade

The slave trade has a multi millennia history even predating the student men. Some people captured others as slaves and yet more people were willing to buy them. While the Dark Elves have always had a hand in the slave trade (though as a general rule as buyers) their are plenty of others who engage in the trade. Slaves are taken by armies at war, bandits and pirate as well as con-men with more slaves being put into slavery as a punishment or penalty for not paying back debts. Not every state is involved in the slave trade. By ancient Dwarvish Law stretching back to time immemorial a Dwarf can not own another being as property with similar laws being part of the legal codes of the High Kingdom of Illvanas for some ten thousand years. In the Allergonian Empire, the Principality of Oestia and more recently Infrastructure slavery is formally outlawed as well as a few other human states. However there are numerous other states which do allow the ownership and trade of slaves. The most extensive users of slavery among the human states west of the Dragonspine mountain are the Saddle Kings, followed (in descending order) by the lands of the Quanthrathi and Venoa's colonies (though slavery has been outlawed within the city of Venoa itself due to a combination of pressures from the Empire and High Elves as well as the prominent guilds), the Protectorate of Nycon, many of the Interterran island states and city states on the northern coast of the Southern Continent, most of the eastern principalities and the Kingdom of Torion. Where there are people willing to buy and sell their fellow sapient beings, there are Slave Dealers.

In most areas Slave Dealers are considered an unsavory lot to say the least. While this is obviously the case in which slavery is illegal, it is also the case even in most areas where slavery is legal. Leaving aside the cruelty inherent to the slave trade a fair number of slave dealers not only buy and sell slaves but also abduct people on their treks to pad out their inventory. They also frequently do business with pirate crews, criminal organizations who've long found that it's more profitable to hand over the people they've been paid to eliminate or they find inconvenient to passing slavers than to dispose of corpses. Needless to say the business of the slave trade can often be very cut-throat, sometimes quite literally. Even in slave states they are generally seen as a necessary evil to be kept at arms length. Only in areas like the Black Ports where the slave trade was a major part of the economy are people open to slavers. Even so dealing in slaves can be a very profitable for those who manage to get the hang of it. Those that don't often end up dead, destitute or merchandise for one of their rivals. Despite the risks there are always a few merchants who out of desperation or the prospects of wealth to get involved. One does not dabble in the slave trade. While slave dealers will often sell other items on the side once one gets involved in the slave trade they're generally stuck in it as is their family. Despite this there are a few wealthy families and noble houses which got their start in fortunes made off the slave trade, as well as those who would never dream of dealing in slaves themselves but have made considerable money by investing in the slave trade.

In general their are two types of Slave Dealers: there are overland slave dealers who lead processions of slaves either in carts or on foot overland and the owners of Slave Ships. Among the employees of slave traders their area number of free associates that are required to handled slaves, almost uniformly arranged in a specific hierarchy. On top of the hierarchy is a head overseer who's job it is to manage the chattel in a slave caravan or ship, who depending on the size of the operation might have one or more subordinate overseers underneath him. Beneath him would be various support personnel, including cooks, clerks, quartermasters and occasionally healers. Beneath them would be armed guards to prevent escape and at the very bottom of the hierarchy are handlers. Handlers are tasked with dealing with slaves on a day to day basis. They move them from place to place, deliver food and water, secure manacles, muck out bilges and beat slaves into line. Most slave handlers share some similar qualities: they are well muscled, stocky, are capable brawlers, ill tempered, enjoy bullying, do what they're told and are of substandard intelligence. They generally have some armor (such as the second hand padded vest depicted here) and carry a solid wood club as their main tool of the trade. Among their class is a slightly higher order which possesses the discretion to nab the occasional vagrant or drunkard and put him in chains. Their lot is generally kept well away from their employers when they are engaged in business. Many a slave dealer camouflages his profession through careful use of words, rich clothing and refined mannerisms, but handlers can generally convey a brief if frightening look into the brutal details of the slave trade.