History
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Personal History
Born into slavery to a wealthy family, he was trained from the ground up to become a slave worthy of his house title. While sailing home from a successful trade deal, the ship he and his master sailed on (along with 15 other crew members) lost a fight to a group of pirates. After sending four of the pirates to water-bogged graves, he was captured and sailed away as the ship burned in the distance, with all but him and another slave still aboard. The pirates gave him the name of the lost ship, Shackleton. Used as a deck hand, he was sullen and quiet, getting his work done when it was assigned and doing more in order to not be whipped. The pirates sold him at auction to a wealthy merchant, who kept him well fed and allowed him to continue to practice his skill set. The merchant decided to set sail to unload cargo of fine horses, leather, and cured meats. Once they had reached their destination, the merchant became quite ill and soon passed away. The remaining crew had no want or need of a slave as formidable and large as he, and sold him to the island they had landed on -- home of The Golden Tether.
Island History
Shackleton's upbringing as a slave child, on a small island off the coast of Skridfinnia, was much different than that of many others. The small town where he grew up was home to a different sort of attitude about slaves and ownership, wherein slaves were hand selected and bred for loyalty, beauty, and their parents' respect for their craft. Slaves had their own class, and were an essential part of the area's complex social structure, providing owners and houses time to devote to work, school, and family.
Regarded as the nizhe, the slave class is purely bred to be an artisan class that are highly trained at a young age to hunt, sail, mend, and protect their respective houses. Each slave, a rab (plural: rabi), will be given to a house who will train them to fulfill their duties. Rabi are treated as family members, given their own quarters, fed proper meals, and given doctor's visits for health. They are often chosen and bred as the family grows, so that each new child has their own rab, and the two can grow and bond and often become lifelong friends. Rab are often very content with their place; however, if they show signs of disobedience, they are not considered to be disobedient and are simply given other tasks to do.
At their home, rabi speak to their masters in a normal way. Addressing guests, visiting relatives, or other house leaders as casually as your own house is considered to be disobedient and will bring shame upon the rab and their house's ability to raise an obedient slave. Many slaves are considerably loyal their house and will adhere to this rule with a golden tongue. Rabi address themselves in the third party, using gender neutral tones. It is only until the go ahead is given that the rab might speak to a guest or relative of their house in a casual manner. An example might be, "This one is gracious for the opportunity One has given him."
(the island of shackleton's birth)
(Skridfinnia by night)
Child Rearing
Each year, houses are given the chance to breed their rab and, in exchange, be granted a rab child who is five years of age. There are some rules to breeding and rearing, as described below:- Rab children and house children are raised alongside each other, watched over by matriarchs that are elected into their positions. Children are raised in an area of the town known as the Children's Gardens, where creativity, emotional support, and confidence are built.
- Upon the age of five, all children are accounted for or given back to their houses.
- Each rab child is, then, raised with their house until death or disease takes them
- After reaching adolescence, males (including Shackleton) are given a shot that renders them sterile, until they receive a second shot to reverse the first. As Shackleton never returned to his home country after he was captured, he is still rendered sterile unless someone is able to reverse the effect
- more soon...
