Slavery

This article describes slavery as represented by the game mechanics and world generation of Dwarf Fortress. It does not endorse slavery or the treatment of sentient beings as property.

Overview

Slavery is not a major gameplay mechanic in Dwarf Fortress, but the concept occurs in several parts of the game. Historical figures can become enslaved during world generation, and slavery can also occur through several distinct game mechanics. The game represents several forms of enslavement, including:

• Child enslavement — Goblin snatchers abduct children, who may subsequently become slaves.
• Forced domestication — Goblins can enslave Trolls and use them as mounts, haulers or war animals.
• War slavery — Civilizations can enslave defeated enemies and bring them back to their settlements.
• Undead servitude — Undead creatures raised by necromancers can be regarded as being under the control of their creator.
• Slaves of Armok — The game's subtitle, Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress, uses slavery as part of the game's fictional terminology.

Slavery is also represented in the game's ethics system, which determines how different civilizations regard the practice.

Civilizational attitudes

Civilizations have different ethical attitudes toward slavery.

Civilization	Attitude toward slavery
Humans	Acceptable
Goblins	Personal Matter
Elves	Opposed; perpetrators may be punished with exile
Dwarves	Capital punishment

These attitudes primarily determine how a civilization reacts to slavery as an ethical issue. They should not be confused with the separate mechanics through which slavery actually occurs.

Slavery in world generation

During world generation, historical figures can become enslaved. In mechanical terms, enslavement is closely related to imprisonment: an enslaved historical figure can potentially escape. Relevant game definitions and tokens can be found in: [[1]] [[2]] There are references to slavery like:

• "the end of the former enslavement of"
• "escaped from the slavery of"
• "escaped from the slavery of" / "escaped from the prisons of"
• "was enslaved by" / "was imprisoned by"
• "the enslavement" / "the imprisonment"
• "as a former slave of" / "as a former prisoner of"

Child enslavement

Goblins are particularly associated with the abduction of children. Goblin snatchers can enter settlements and abduct children. See: Goblin snatchers

Abducted children can become part of the goblin civilization rather than remaining members of their original civilization.

Children can potentially be recovered through a citizen recovery mission. Adventurers can also encounter and rescue captives through quests. See:

• Missions
• Quests

Troll enslavement / forced domestication / sentient livestock

Goblins can also enslave Trolls. This is mechanically different from human-style war slavery. The Troll is treated as an animal-like creature under goblin control and can be used for purposes such as:

• carrying loads;
• pulling;
• riding;
• combat.

This creates a distinction between sapient creatures that are treated as animals and ordinary domesticated animals. This form of enslavement is particularly relevant to modding because the Entity_Token#ANIMAL token can cause a creature to be treated mechanically as an animal, even when the creature is otherwise sapient. The relevant distinction is between:

* a creature being part of the civilization's main race;
* a creature being defined as an animal or special animal caste;
* a creature being treated as a pet;
* a creature being used as a mount, puller or hauler.

This can produce a situation in which a creature is biologically or culturally sapient but is mechanically handled as livestock or a domesticated animal.

War slavery

Civilizations can enslave defeated enemies and take them back to their settlements. This can be described as spoils-of-war slavery or war enslavement.

The ethics value for slavery also affects whether a civilization is willing to accept caged sapient creatures from merchants.

Higher or lower ethical values appear to have relatively limited mechanical consequences beyond determining whether the civilization permits slavery at all. The ethical value therefore primarily establishes the civilization's attitude toward the practice rather than providing a detailed slavery simulation.

Undead servitude

Necromancers can raise dead creatures as Undead. The resulting undead are generally under the control of the necromancer who created them. This can be interpreted as another form of forced servitude, although the game does not necessarily classify undead as slaves in the same mechanical sense as enslaved historical figures.

Modding Slavery

There is no dedicated `SLAVE` creature mechanic in *Dwarf Fortress*. A mod can simulate slavery by defining the enslaved creature as an `ANIMAL` and also as PET. There are three main approaches.

Modding approaches

Method	Description	Can be embarked with	Can be traded	Has slave-population in world-gen	Can be trained	Can have labours	Can have a specific interaction	Can have specific traits	Can have a pet-value	Slave can be married to non slave and have kids	Graphic modding needed
Existing creature as ANIMAL	Define a existing creature itself as an ANIMAL.	yes	yes	yes	If non-speaking	If can_learn	No	No	yes	yes	no
Special caste as ANIMAL	Add a special caste to an existing creature and define that caste as an ANIMAL	Yes for the special caste, but not the main race	both	No	If non-speaking	If can_learn	Only for the special caste	Only for the special caste	Yes, both	yes	yes
Creature copy as ANIMAL	Create a copy of the original creature and define the copy as an ANIMAL.	Yes for the special creature, but not for the main race	both	Yes	If non-speaking	If can_learn	Only for the special creature	Only for the special creature	Yes, both	no	yes

• Can be embarked with: creatures can be selected as livestock animals
• Can be traded: can be selected in the trade agreement
• Can have a specific interaction: an interaction specific for this slave-creature can be defined
• Can have specific traits: tokens as desired can be assigned to the slave-creature.

The choice depends on the desired behaviour. A special caste is useful when the enslaved version should remain closely connected to the original creature. A separate creature provides more freedom when the enslaved version needs substantially different properties.

Assigning tasks

• You can assign them tasks if they are CAN_LEARN and CAN_SPEAK

How to make them show up

• for creatures that do not naturally spawn, you need [ANIMAL_ALWAYS_PRESENT]. otherwise the civ has them only available if they somehow domesticated them
• you need [ANIMAL_ALWAYS_PET] to make them selectable for embark.

Other notes about ANIMAL-sapients

• It can be assigned a (bed)room
• It can be assigned position like tavern keeper or priest
• It can never be assigned for any of the noble positions
• It cannot be assigned a pond or pit and cannot be tied to a rope
• It cannot be assigned to a trainer
• If an ANIMAL-sapient is brought by the merchants, it will come clothed and the merchants will charge extra for the clothing.
• Its thoughts can be viewed in full detail.
• It can be expelled. It does not seem to make any relationships at all.
• If they cannot speak, they are listed as livestock, but cannot be assigned labours, so
• the can be assigned labours, if they are able to speak.
• If they cannot speak, they are trainable

Further testing is required to determine if it will petition for citizenship.

• If you catch a hostile creature in a war, it cannot be pacified. It can however be sold to traders.
• If you attack a site that is inhabited by the creature that you have defined as animal, you cannot capture them as livestock. Unfortunatly.

Example

A mod that wants dwarves to have an enslaved caste can add a special `ANIMAL` caste to the dwarf creature. Setting its population ratio to `0` prevents enslaved dwarves from appearing as a separate natural population, while still allowing the caste to be used for individual enslaved dwarves.

For elves or other races, a separate copy of the creature can instead be used as the enslaved version. This provides more control over its properties, but the game treats it as a different creature.