VN Ren'Py Harem Hotel [v0.18.2] [Runey]

[DigDug69]

I still want to spank Ashley's mom too. lol

Of course you do.

 

[Quetzzz]

The minister of slaves and those freedoms, may very well have been nothing more than a move to appease those people who were against slavery, and keep them docile.

That's possible, yes. You're right, the government is corrupt and is in cahoots with the media, using propaganda to shape public opinion. Maybe it's because slavery is so important to its economy that they'd use a figurehead like that. My gut feeling was that it would've been the other way around.

 

[Quetzzz]

If the government is aware of the clans (as Lin suggests), and Iksa is a terrorist, why hasn't she been removed?

Seems I jumped the gun. This is later explained during an event with Vanessa.
All this lore is becoming too much to hold in my head. That's a compliment though.

 

[Corvus Belli]

Which is why I mentioned the other possibility, as a form of wildlife preserve with elves in a natural setting.

That would be a potential explanation for not enslaving the Owl Clan as a whole, but it does not explain leaving a wanted terrorist alone when they know where she is, and they also know there's literally nothing the Owl Clan could do to prevent her being taken. It's not like their "nature preserve" is going to be negatively affected by removing and imprisoning a single elf.
It's also a really poorly maintained nature preserve, given the fact that poachers apparently keep flying in via helicopter and abducting some of them. And also, you can apparently sneak military grade automatons into the "nature preserve" without anyone noticing.

As for the number of elves versus humans there.
That is a smaller percentage than the ratio of free versus slaves in the southern states during the U.S. Civil War. Approximately 9,000,000 free in the confederate states, versus Approximately 4,000,000 slaves in the confederate states.
1/3 slaves in Sylanar, versus almost 1/2 slaves in the confederacy.

Remember, it was not 1 in every 3 people owning slaves in Sylanar, there were huge factories and farms using slave labor, along with mining operations, all of which would have been able to use a huge number of slaves.
And they would have been owned by only 1, or maybe a few people who owned or operated those businesses.

I'm not sure why you think any of that's relevant to the point; regardless of "free people vs. slave" ratios, or who owns the slaves, and in what quantities, it remains true that increasing the slave population by a few hundred is an utterly negligible amount, and would have precisely zero effect on the market value of a typical slave.
Also, remember Ashley saying her family was so poor, they couldn't even afford a slave of their own, and so one was provided by the government? If "can't even afford a slave" is a metric that defines someone as “poor”, then that kind of implies that slave ownership is fairly common, wouldn't you say?

We have a population of female elves of 500 million (500,000,000). Despite the elves longevity, we're still going to go by the age metrics as the youngest and eldest elves aren't capable of child bearing. So we're looking at the Elven equivalent of the 15-24 and 25-64 age groups (or 57.79% of the population)

There's a pretty massive flaw in your premise, right there; you're making the assumption that their population would be roughly equivalent to humans, in terms of proportional age ranges, and that's absolutely not the case. Those "eldest elves" would have to be almost a thousand years old to be past child bearing age, if we're talking about common elves (who live fifteen times longer than humans, and so would need to be about 975 years old to count as equivalent to a human of 65). Given that humans arrived on the continent only a few centuries ago, and one of the things slavers tend to do is "kill the elderly, as they make poor slaves" there's probably vastly fewer elder elves than you think. And there have been three violent slave uprisings, so large quantites of the adult elves who managed to survive the original invasion were probably killed during those uprisings, and any common elf born since then is still the equivalent of a child/early teen.
Lin was a very young kid when humans arrived and is equivalent to a 20 year old human, so every full-blooded common elf born after that point would have to be even younger than Lin is. As for the half-elves, Mariella is one of the oldest half-elves (Runey said she was 315) but is the equivalent of a human in their early 40's. Dark elves may have half the lifespan of a common elf, but that's still seven and a half times longer than humans; the youngest dark elves born into slavery are the equivalent of early 40's.
All-in-all, I imagine the common elven population is overwhelmingly the equivalent of 25 or younger, with a small proportion of "adults", and vanishingly small numbers of 65+ equivalent elves. Runey has said the elven population was in the "tens of millions" when humans arrived, and is now in about a billion. Even if we assume "tens of millions" means "100 million", and that not a single elf has died in the last 300 years (which is a pretty massive assumption), then you're still looking at a population that's 90%+ the equivalent of 40 or less. It also means, by the way, that their population growth has been substantial, and from a vastly smaller number of potential parents; until fairly recently, only those original "tens of millions" of elves were old enough to breed, and their population still increased by at least a full order of magnitude. The only logical conclusion is that elven birth rates must be higher than human ones, or else the population numbers are literally impossible.
The population of Earth has increased by an order of magnitude in the last three centuries, but that's 10-15 human generations. HH elves have increased by the same order of magnitude (or possibly even more) and that's with, at most, 2 or 3 common elven generations.

 

[Quetzzz]

Runey has said the elven population was in the "tens of millions" when humans arrived, and is now in about a billion. Even if we assume "tens of millions" means "100 million", and that not a single elf has died in the last 300 years (which is a pretty massive assumption), then you're still looking at a population that's 90%+ the equivalent of 40 or less. It also means, by the way, that their population growth has been substantial, and from a vastly smaller number of potential parents; until fairly recently, only those original "tens of millions" of elves were old enough to breed, and their population still increased by at least a full order of magnitude. The only logical conclusion is that elven birth rates must be higher than human ones, or else the population numbers are literally impossible.

Good catch! It's said a few times that Elves reproduce slower/with more difficulty than humans. So having this population growth of Elves after 300 years implies that there's commercial breeding going on in the background. And a lot of it.
That opens up the question... How would robots be able to compete with the price of an Elf, when Elves can be made even cheaper by just breeding more, flooding the market and reducing price? There's the factor of "Elves learn slowly", which might be contradicted by their otherwise superior memory. I can't guess how many years it would take before a newly born Elf would become a "productive slave". It can't be that long, because a cheap Elf can be bought for 400, which doesn't seem like a huge amount of money. (The equivalent of a plane ride for 3 people.)

 

[DigDug69]

[QUOTE="Corvus Belli, post: 11940693, member: 305037"


I'm not sure why you think any of that's relevant to the point; regardless of "free people vs. slave" ratios, or who owns the slaves, and in what quantities, it remains true that increasing the slave population by a few hundred is an utterly negligible amount, and would have precisely zero effect on the market value of a typical slave.
Also, remember Ashley saying her family was so poor, they couldn't even afford a slave of their own, and so one was provided by the government? If "can't even afford a slave" is a metric that defines someone as “poor”, then that kind of implies that slave ownership is fairly common, wouldn't you say?



[/QUOTE]
As for leaving the elf terrorist in place.
1: There is very little that she can do to harm them, with her limited resources.
Such a small number of slaves can do no real harm, and the government can use an uprising from those elves as grounds to tighten the controls on the slaves, if necessary, and come out looking like heroes...
Government: We tried to give that community of elves their freedom, and they repaid us by attacking us.
Proving that slaves could not be safely freed.
Read below quotes for more details.

Quetzzz said: There were some statistics quoted that 15% agreed with giving Elves more rights. I doubt any pro-elf propaganda would decrease this number, at least. But, I agree, we'll have to wait and see how it goes.

2: as addressed in another post: (read both quotes)
""Unless you take into account the corruption in the Sylanar government.
We know that the government is corrupt, and heavily invested in slave labor.
The nations whole economy is based on it, just as the confederacy's was.
A corrupt government would have no issues with changing the statistics, so that it looked like there was not much support for freeing the elves.
If it appeared that there is not much support, then fewer people would be likely to join together to try to push for freeing the slaves, since they would have seen themselves as the minority, with little hope of success, and possibly a substantial risk. ""

""Many third world dictators get re-elected without true majority support in the country.
They control the government, so they could rig the elections. Example: look at this world, and the nations it has and the many elected dictators..
The minister of slaves and those freedoms (and Leaving those slaves in place) , may very well have been nothing more than a move to appease those people who were against slavery, and keep them docile. ""

Dictatorships do not like the opposition to know how many supporters they have, so they keep them docile, and ignorant so that they can stay in power.

As for the elves dying out:
We know that they had a habit of neutering the males, and that it is hard for elves to become pregnant, and without un-neutered males or with only a small number, the race will die out.
All you could have in the long run, would be half breed elves if human male donors were used, and that may piss off the human parents of those children if they were enslaved.
Also, male elves are far more likely to be put to doing hazardous or physically demanding labor, which would eliminate many of them from the gene pool earlier, with work place accidents.

Basically, there may well be a billion elves, but how many of them are un-neutered males?
And also take into account the slow aging of elves and the difficulty of impregnating an elf.
It could take 120 to 150 years before a newborn elf could be old enough to be able to do labor.
So, breeding them like the confederacy did is not a viable option, because the cost of feeding them and caring for them for that long, would be astronomical.
If you want them to be good and healthy slaves when they grow up, you need to feed them reasonably well, and if you want them to be healthy slaves, you will need to supply at least basic medical care, for 120 to 150 years...
And even then, they will be a very young slave

*aging based on Lin who is 300 years old, and considered to be the equivalent of a 20 year old human.

 

[Corvus Belli]

How would robots be able to compete with the price of an Elf, when Elves can be made even cheaper by just breeding more, flooding the market and reducing price?

The issue is that even if they can be bred quickly, it takes over a century before an elf is the equivalent of a 10 year old human. Any elf born since the most recent slave uprisng is still a child, even if they were born the day after the uprising ended.
How quickly you can produce an elf, and how quickly you can produce an elf capable of being used for their labour, are different things. On the other hand, a robot is good to go the moment it rolls off the assembly line; they can be put to work from day 1, while an elf that you bred might be "work capable" when your great grandchildren are old enough to vote.

 

[shadowtempered]

That opens up the question... How would robots be able to compete with the price of an Elf, when Elves can be made even cheaper by just breeding more, flooding the market and reducing price?

The fact elves are dying out in this world and it's on the hush hush would suggest it isn't an easy thing to control. Either due to mix lineages taking over, not enough male elves, not enough coupling between elves or whatever. They're dying at a rate faster than expected that it surprises people.

Robot power by default will win out if that remains the case long term. In theory, no dis-obedience, customized to the owner's preferences and able to be created at a moments notice (assuming whatever materials they're crafted from isn't rare).

 

[DigDug69]

The issue is that even if they can be bred quickly, it takes over a century before an elf is the equivalent of a 10 year old human. Any elf born since the most recent slave uprisng is still a child, even if they were born the day after the uprising ended.
How quickly you can produce an elf, and how quickly you can produce an elf capable of being used for thewir labour, are different things. On the other hand, a robot is good to go the moment it rolls off the assembly line; they can be put to work from day 1, while an elf that you bred might be "work capable" when your great grandchildren are old enough to vote.

As for the cost of a slave.
Ashley's family were dirt poor, meaning poverty level.
Thousands of syls has been mentioned for slaves.
Slaves are not cheap, and you have to feed them and pay for any medical care that they may ever need.
The state sponsored slaves in the game are so that both parents have the chance of working, and increasing their income.

Many people who talk about their ancestors in the confederacy scream that their ancestors never owned a slave, and did not fight to protect slavery.
The truth is, that most of their ancestors, did not in fact own slaves, but those who fought, did fight for a government that was fighting to protect slavery for the same reason that the government in the game was.
Whether that was the persons stated reason for fighting, or not. They did fight for a government, that was hellbent on protecting slavery.
Their economy heavily depends on slavery.
Take away the slavery, and the economy will collapse.
Those rich people who actually owned the slaves, and were often connected in some way to high level public officials and were often those very same high level public officials, who risked losing everything if the government chose not to protect slavery.
Even in the south, slaves were far too expensive for the common family to own, but then, the vast majority of the slaves were owned by the rich plantation owners, and not the common people.
The case would be similar in the game.
The vast majority of the slaves would be owned by the elite and big business, with the businesses such as factory's, farms and mines owning the majority of those.


I use the confederacy for comparisons, because the parallels with slavery in the game are nearly identical.

 

[Corvus Belli]

Ashley's family were dirt poor, meaning poverty level.

Yes, exactly my point. When "poverty level" is synonymous with "can't even afford a slave", it kind of suggests they're pretty commonplace.

Thousands of syls has been mentioned for slaves.
Slaves are not cheap, and you have to feed them and pay for any medical care that they may ever need.

Cars are not cheap, and require maintenance and operating costs, but they're still owned by a vast number of people, and not reserved purely for the wealthy. The wealthy can afford more of them, certainly, but they're still ubiquitous among the common family. How many people do you know who own a car, or more than one?

Many people who talk about their ancestors in the confederacy scream that their ancestors never owned a slave, and did not fight to protect slavery.

Syl'anar is not the Confederacy. Both have slavery, and both treat(ed) slaves terribly, and that's where the similarities end; something being true in the Confederacy, does not make it true in Syl'anar.

Even in the south, slaves were far too expensive for the common family to own, but then, the vast majority of the slaves were owned by the rich plantation owners, and not the common people.
The case would be similar in the game.

Two points. First, Syl'anar is not the Confederacy; slaves being too expensive for the common family in the south has no bearing on Syl'anar, no matter how often you repeat it. Asserting "it was true for the Confederacy, and therefore must be true in Syl'anar" is not a compelling argument. We know that some slaves are definitley owned by corporations and businesses, but we also know they're commonplace enough that random citizens can purchase them off the internet.
One of the earliest events in the game is Two Tie Guy approaching a random person on the street (the MC) and asking if he'd like to come to a slave auction on the beach; if slave owners can confidently presume that random people on the street can afford a slave, then they're probably fairly commonplace. And how much is he selling those slaves for? 200-400 syls. They're cheap as chips.

Second, you're wrong about slave ownership in the Confederacy.
Almost one-third of all southern families owned slaves; in Mississippi and South Carolina, it was barely less than half, while in Arkansas and Tennessee it was about 25% . The idea that they were "far too expensive for the common family" is wrong. There were just over 395,000 slave owners in the southern states, which sounds like a small quantity for a population of 9,000,000, until you remember that families owned and had power over slaves, not just one individual adult. The slaves may technically have been owned by only one person, but an entire household benefited from that slave. So, yes, technically a specific Confederate soldier might not have owned a slave, but his family very likely did.
As for number of slaves owned by each master, 88% of slave owners owned fewer than 20 slaves, and nearly 50% owned fewer than 5 slaves. To put it another way, a vastly larger percentage of Confederate families owned slaves, than the percentage of modern families who own stocks.
You might find this interesting:

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[DigDug69]

Yes, exactly my point. When "poverty level" is synonymous with "can't even afford a slave", it kind of suggests they're pretty commonplace.


Cars are not cheap, and require maintenance and operating costs, but they're still owned by a vast number of people, and not reserved purely for the wealthy. The wealthy can afford more of them, certainly, but they're still ubiquitous among the common family. How many people do you know who own a car, or more than one?


Syl'anar is not the Confederacy. Both have slavery, and both treat(ed) slaves terribly, and that's where the similarities end; something being true in the Confederacy, does not make it true in Syl'anar.


Again, Syl'anar is not the Confederacy; slaves being too expensive for the common family in the south has no bearing on Syl'anar, no matter how often you repeat it. Asserting "it was true for the Confederacy, and therefore must be true in Syl'anar" is not a compelling argument. We know that some slaves are definitley owned by corporations and businesses, but we also know they're commonplace enough that random citizens can purchase them off the internet.
One of the earliest events in the game is Two Tie Guy approaching a random person on the street (the MC) and asking if he'd like to come to a slave auction on the beach; if slave owners can confidently presume that random people on the street can afford a slave, then they're probably fairly commonplace. And how much is he selling those slaves for? 200-400 syls. They're cheap as chips.

Then you need to study history.
Both the Confederacy And Syl'anar were strongly tied to slavery.
It's is historically documented that the Confederacy was able to keep prices lower on Cotton and other agricultural products because of slavery.
The lower prices made it easier for them to sell at lower prices, and still make a killing in profits.
Take away the slavery.
Require them to have to pay people to do the same jobs that the slaves did, and the prices will have to go way up, which would have made it very hard for them to compete in the European markets because of shipping costs, and they would lose out on the higher profits.

Syl'anar uses slave labor, and just like the confederacy, it is cheaper to use slaves, than to pay workers an hourly wage.
Pay the workers, and the prices go up.
Pay them enough or they can form Unions and strike, which would make the costs of doing business go up even higher.
If the prices go up high enough, then foreign markets may find it cheaper to buy from local to them competitors, and profits go down.
If it gets bad enough, the businesses will start to try to move to overseas locations, and when that happens, Syl'anar loses revenue.
Unlike the Confederacy, most of Syl'anars business is not agricultural, so the businesses can pack up and go to where the customers are, and open new factories.
That at least would cut out the cost of shipping overseas, and help raise their profits slightly, but not to the levels it would have been with a slave workforce.

Cars are not a luxury in most parts of the U.S. and many other places.
Mass transit is often very limited, or requires traveling for miles, just to catch a train.
For example. For me to travel to a city that is about thirty minutes away by car, I have to catch one bus to another town, which stops roughly a dozen times on the way to that town.
That town is not really on the way to the city.
There I have to leave that bus, and had to wait about 45 minutes for the bus going to that city, which which also stopped numerous times along the way.
Then I had to take a cab across town to the location of the courthouse where I was dreading being chosen for Jury duty.
Altogether it took me close to 3 hours to travel the distance that I can drive in my car in just about 30 minutes.
My car blew the alternator the day before (a Sunday night), and I had to be at the courthouse by 9am Monday.

Cars are far more of a necessity, slaves are a luxury, except for situations like caring for disabled people, and the elderly.

 

[Quetzzz]

Both the Confederacy And Syl'anar were strongly tied to slavery.

They would be more similar if colonizers had conquered Africa and enslaved everyone there. This didn't happen, so you can't draw the same conclusions either.

 

[DigDug69]

They would be more similar if colonizers had conquered Africa and enslaved everyone there. This didn't happen, so you can't draw the same conclusions either.

That makes no sense.
There was no real market for them to sell to in Africa.
There were not many cities in Africa at that time.
Mostly it was villages and jungle.
The market was in Europe, but Europe had the wrong climate for growing cotton and tobacco.
Moving to where the market was, was not an option for the southern farmers growing that stuff.

Which is why I said this in my last post.
" Unlike the Confederacy, most of Syl'anars business is not agricultural, so the businesses can pack up and go to where the customers are, and open new factories. "
Climate determines where the crops grow, so they had no option to move, but the Syl'anar tech companies would have no problem packing up and moving, if it meant better profits.
Other nations did have cotton growers, like India, but the weather was not as favorable as the weather conditions in the south, so the cotton was of a lower quality than southern cotton.

 

[Corvus Belli]

Then you need to study history.

You being wrong does not mean I need to study history, chief.

Both the Confederacy And Syl'anar were strongly tied to slavery.

I didn't say otherwise. I said the similarities weren't much deeper than "both benefit financially from slavery." They're different places with different economies, and different cultures. It does not automatically follow that "since X was true in the Confederacies economy, then it must also be true in Syl'anar's economy."

Syl'anar uses slave labor, and just like the confederacy, it is cheaper to use slaves, than to pay workers an hourly wage.
Pay the workers, and the prices go up.

Again, I didn't say otherwise. "Both benefit from slavery in a material way" does not mean "both are the same." Which part of this are you having difficulty with?
And again; Two Tie Guy was confident that a random passerby would be able to purchase a slave. True or false? I'll answer for you, it's true. If someone can presume that "random dude #45648" can afford a slave, then they cannot be priced outside the financial means of the average person.

Cars are not a luxury in most parts of the U.S. and many other places.

And house elves are likely viewed as a necessity in Syl'anar. I mean, what? You expect people to spend multiple hours of their own lives sweeping, dusting, tidying, making beds, doing laundry, ironing clothes, cleaning bathrooms, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning dishes and the kitchen, and all those other things that are elf work? Again, when "can't even afford a slave of our own" is a synonym for "complete poverty", then it stands to reason that the average household is in fact able to afford a house elf.

For example. For me to travel to a city that is about thirty minutes away by car, I have to catch one bus to another town, which stops roughly a dozen times on the way to that town.
Altogether it took me close to 3 hours to travel the distance that I can drive in my car in just about 30 minutes.

So a car is a tremendous convenience, and one you dislike having to do without, but not actually a necessity? Since you were in fact able to get to the courthouse without your car. It simply would have been far easier, and more convenient for you, to have a car that day. Kind of like how convenient it is for a Syl'anar household to have a house elf, then?

 

[DigDug69]

You being wrong does not mean I need to study history, chief.


I didn't say otherwise. I said the similarities weren't much deeper than "both benefit financial from slavery."


Again, I didn't say otherwise. "Both benefit from slavery in a material way" does not mean "both are the same." Which part of this are you having difficulty with?

My last post on this.
If you go back and look at my posts, you will see that I said that they were "ALMOST" or "NEARLY" identical, not that they were identical.

Have fun, but I am growing bored with this.

 

[Corvus Belli]

My last post on this.
If you go back and look at my posts, you will see that I said that they were "ALMOST" or "NEARLY" identical, not that they were identical.

But they're not "NEARLY identical." They are, in fact, quite different. Simply put, you are wrong. The end.

 

[TheDevian]

I didn't read everything, not enough time, but a couple points, sorry if I missed where they were mentioned...

The issue is that even if they can be bred quickly, it takes over a century before an elf is the equivalent of a 10 year old human. Any elf born since the most recent slave uprisng is still a child, even if they were born the day after the uprising ended.
How quickly you can produce an elf, and how quickly you can produce an elf capable of being used for thewir labour, are different things. On the other hand, a robot is good to go the moment it rolls off the assembly line; they can be put to work from day 1, while an elf that you bred might be "work capable" when your great grandchildren are old enough to vote.

This was (at least at one point), why they were pushing the half elf slaves, and don't really care about the full elves, and why they have rights, and the half elves don't.

Yes, exactly my point. When "poverty level" is synonymous with "can't even afford a slave", it kind of suggests they're pretty commonplace.

Ashley's family had one because the state gave her to them, as a from of child care for the poor, the idea being that the parents can both go work, and their kids will still be cared for. This is why they lost her when Ashley moved out, or turned 18, or something like that (something that really upset her father).

That said, IIRC, the cheapest slaves are around 500 syls, which is about $3500us. While not the most affordable thing, with a loan, or payment plan, it is within reason for all but the poorest of households. It would be like any other major appliance. Anyone from lower middle class on up should be able to afford at least one. If you can own a washing machine, buy a big screen tv, or something like that, then you could get one, but you do still need to support them, food, room and board, etc. Like maintenance on some other equipment.

But you know, it could be worse, think about what it would be like if we had Rosie instead of our Cynetic maid.


No thanks, I don't want a BJ anyway, thanks for the offer...

 

[Corvus Belli]

I didn't read everything, not enough time, but a couple points, sorry if I missed where they were mentioned...This was (at least at one point), why they were pushing the half elf slaves, and don't really care about the full elves, and why they have rights, and the half elves don't.

True, but half-elves still mature at about 1/7th the rate of a human. So instead of it taking 270 years for them to become the equivalnet of an 18 year old, it only takes 135 years. That's a notable reduction, but it doesn't really address the whole "takes longer than an entire human life span for them to mature" issue.

That said, IIRC, the cheapest slaves are around 500 syls, which is about $3500us. While not the most affordable thing, with a loan, or payment plan, it is within reason for all but the poorest of households. It would be like any other major appliance. Anyone from lower middle class on up should be able to afford at least one. If you can own a washing machine, buy a big screen tv, or something like that, then you could get one, but you do still need to support them, food, room and board, etc. Like maintenance on some other equipment.

Exactly my point. They're not priced outside the range of an average family, and they provide a notable benefit in terms of convenience for that family, but with monthly operating costs; kind of like a car, which is why I think cars work as a decent comparison. An initial upfront cost that's achievable for people on a lower income after a few months saving or a decent payment plan (and is less than the monthly disposable income for those with well-paying jobs), and then a vastly smaller monthly maintenance cost (food costs, primarily), and you never need to do any housework ever again.
They're also less than 500 syls. At the beach auction, you see three elves being sold, the cheapest of whom was priced at a starting bid of 200 syls, and ultimately sold for 320 (I think).

Let's try this for example; how many people in this thread would be willing to pay a $3500 one-off cost and then food costs every month, to be able to have a real-life Lin living with them, with all the benefits that entails? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say a lot of people would call that a bargain, in both the real world, and in Syl'anar.

 

[Quetzzz]

No thanks, I don't want a BJ anyway, thanks for the offer...

Oh c'mon... You haven't lived until you've gotten a BJ from a vacuum cleaner at least once.

 

[TheDevian]

True, but half-elves still mature at about 1/7th the rate of a human. So instead of it taking 270 years for them to become the equivalnet of an 18 year old, it only takes 135 years. That's a notable reduction, but it doesn't really address the whole "takes longer than an entire human life span for them to mature" issue.

Some, yes, but some, like Maria and Hana, age at the same rate as a human, at least in their early years.

Exactly my point. They're not priced outside the range of an average family, and they provide a notable benefit in terms of convenience for that family, but with monthly operating costs; kind of like a car, which is why I think cars work as a decent comparison. An initial upfront cost that's achievable for people on a lower income after a few months saving or a decent payment plan (and is less than the monthly disposable income for those with well-paying jobs), and then a vastly smaller monthly maintenance cost (food costs, primarily), and you never need to do any housework ever again.
They're also less than 500 syls. At the beach auction, you see three elves being sold, the cheapest of whom was priced at a starting bid of 200 syls, and ultimately sold for 320 (I think).

Let's try this for example; how many people in this thread would be willing to pay a $3500 one-off cost and then food costs every month, to be able to have a real-life Lin living with them, with all the benefits that entails? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say a lot of people would call that a bargain, in both the real world, and in Syl'anar.

Yeah, you can't blame the people at the bottom from doing what they can to make their lives better, in whatever way is socially acceptable. Most people are not going to rock the boat, they only want their own piece of the pie. It comes down to the people in charge, the people who rule the government, the church, and schools.

The androids have a lot higher per unit cost, but they have a much lower operation cost, keep them charged, turn them off when not in use, store them in a closet. Enough solar panels or something, all you need to do is replace any parts that might wear out.

What you need to change a system like this is a strong leader, to make the tough decisions, and a lot of work to change the minds of the masses. Impactful leaders don't follow trends, they don't go with the flow, or listen to focus groups, or worry about themselves. The best leaders do what it right, no matter the cost to them, or anyone who doesn't have their people's best interests at heart. And no matter what most people in Syl'anar might believe...

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