- Oct 21, 2020
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preface: this is mostly an elaboration on the content of the game and the society of Zeta how we are"building it"...it is not canon, but close. Things I say here though could be contradicted in the future by further content added to the game.
A couple of the answers you are looking for are given during active play, others are in the library itself.
To the point...in Zeta there are slaves, in the ancient History sense of the term. They can be used sexually and shared freely by their owners, but the enslaved status goes beyond being a sex toy.
Sexual slavery per sé is more within the realm of BDSM between willing partners, where themes of cnc and rack apply. The "slave" in that situation might very well be a free woman or man.
Zetan lore:
It's not so much that women are free use, rather that sex is very free and a completely normalised way of interacting. For comparison, look at the Bonobo chimpanzee, who use it as a social lubricant, a way to defuse conflicts, a way to establish dominance or broker piece, strengthen relationships and so on.
Some slaves can be kept purely for sexual use, and they don't have much of a say.
Any woman who is not formally a slave, but this is true for men also, has to find their place in society and have the freedom they can afford/are able to defend.
A free person can defend their freedom, their possessions and their virtue (if they want to) with a blade, with a compromise, with their wits or with the power of their name or personal wealth that allows them to employ those that defend it for them.
Women who are daughters or wives of men who are absent because deployed on orders of the queen do get an extra bit of protection and are customarily left alone by predators... in general however, preying on a woman for sex is risky.. she might be a fighter herself, or have ties to someone stronger than you, in general, straight up abuse is frowned upon when not actively punished... but again, exceptions such as slaves or mutants occur, and the queen's men rarely intervene in domestic affairs.
How about cuck situations and people like Z who seem to do whatever they please? Again we go back to the founding rules of Zeta.. you take what you can, and what you take is yours, if you have the tools to keep it.
If Zaton walks into a house and decides to hump the lady of the house, it is up to the man of the house (or the lady herself if she is not in the mood or not interested) to stop that from happening, if they have the means to.
Zaton not being a horny teenager and knowing the ways of the world (not to mention drowning in pussy as it is) will probably elect not to do that.
That said, there are finer rules of common sense, common courtesy and not wanting to burn every bridge you cross, that would stop Zaton from doing so... In polite society it's just not the done thing under normal circumstances.
There are always personal considerations of jealousy and pride to be made, and it is pointless to make a potential enemy for a quick romp with a random woman.
That said, Z is an elite fighter and does have a fairly elevated status partly because he is a Stalker, partly because he is comparatively rich, partly because he has the ear of the Queen. Many people either know him directly or know of him by reputation. Some latitude exist for people like him.
Women are not necessarily inferior to men at all, or subject to men.
Mandisa runs her own business, the personal guards of the Queen tend to be good fighters and have decent status. The Revered Mothers, and above them the Priestesses, are untouchable as they are carrying the next generation of Children of Zeta, and their partners are vetted by them, but mostly the priestesses, for "quality".
The reason why Ain is wearing a collar and Shani is not lies in what happened in their family outing in the market. She is a juicy target for a multitude of reasons. The collar is for her protection. It affirms just who her father is and what might happen if someone tries it on again. It is also a punishment for having put herself and her sister in mortal danger, not to mention the reputation of her House. It's not a rule or law, but it is how Z has decided to deal with that particular situation.
Shani on the other hand, has the skills to defend herself and doesn't need a collar.
Nadia is fresh from the countryside. She's still adjusting to how things work there and whether she will need/want a collar to protect herself or not is to be seen.
In theory, her father could, if he wanted to, have her in his bed.. if he had the strength of body or personality or the authority to make her agree to it. That he does not get to do so, despite, according to her, wanting to, is just another example of how varied the sexual and social landscape is.
Collars are not mandatory or necessary. Igor does not use a collar on Kateryna. Then again, she rarely goes anywhere without an escort.
Ain being potentially married off is yet another example of variety. Like in ancient times, marriages could be alliances between Houses, or a commercial transaction, or just a love affair. The parents could decide for her that she has to get married, kick her out of the house, or choose her husband for her... Z doesn't do that because he is rich enough to afford options.
He loves her as his daughter and wants to see her happy... so if she wants to marry a good kid, he'll make it happen, if she wants to stay home, it can be a problem for another day, if at all. He does have the age and wisdom to know that she might just want to start a family, at some point, and if and when she asks him, he will decide how he feels about it.
A less wealthy man might want to marry off his daughters rather than feeding them, a more cruel or uncaring or selfish one might decide to enslave them himself. A man who fancies himself a solid fighter might try his luck at seducing just about anyone and succeed..or die trying.
There are many ways in which one becomes officially a slave in Zeta... conquest, debt, birth, punishment, order of the Queen or the Temple.. getting out of slavery often depends on the goodwill of the owner of the moment, unless one is declared a slave by the Queen herself, in which case slavery is permanent until she changes her mind.
Ultimately, the lore is flexible enough to allow for all manner of configurations, as long as the main tenets hold true, being that the power dynamic has to be believable. Z stepping to the Queen and bending her over in the arena, as badass as he might be, would be suicide, unless she ordered him to, just to make an example.
On the whole, my personal take on Zaton is that he is not unnecessarily cruel, he is dominant and does not suffer opposition or humiliation, but he is also a caring and doting family man, who might enjoy doing his daughter after having spanked her, but is not shy about his feelings of affection towards them. He is fiercely protective of the wellbeing of those he cares about, but is not shy about exploring sexual proclivities and involving them ( Shani being, for now, for reasons abundantly explained elsewhere, the notable exception).
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