Sunphoenix:
Well, not exactly. I think calling slavery illegal is a bit strong. It is 'frowned' upon by the church... but the church is not everywhere! Known space is huge, and though the church effectively controls most of the 3rd Imperium it is not every at once and neither can it look everywhere at once.
Actually based on some of the quoted source material by others, it isn't clear to me whether or not Slavery is in fact "illegal" (in a formal & official sense) based on Imperial Law.
So while there is always corruption and people who will choose (or be paid) to look the other way, it actually makes a considerable difference if the taking & keeping of slaves is technically Illegal by Imperial Law. As you say, if this is merely a matter of the Church "frowning" on the practice (without the Church actually stating that Slavery violates Church Law), that is one thing. After all, the Church frowns on a great deal of Guilder activity in general without such activity actually being criminal or in violation of Imperial (or Church) Law (and thus legitimately pursued/persecuted by Church officials/forces).
But if slavery & Chainer activity is in fact legally criminal, that puts the activity of freeing slaves in a very different light. After all one would think that the Muster could not officially/publicly sanction (ie hunt down) a person for freeing slaves if it was illegal for the Chainer to have the slaves in the first place since legally the Muster would have to official & publicly disavow knowledge of the slaver operation/activity (of course unofficially they may have a contract out on the person).
But this issue of the official legality (or criminal illegality) of Slavery in the Known Worlds will likely need to be ruled upon by the GM when he gets more free time to address it (ie after the Labor Day holiday). If Imperial Law doesn't cover the issue, I suspect it may become a regional thing where the local law dictates and, as such, slavery may be legal on some worlds or on some portions (estates/fiefs) on certain worlds but then be illegal on other worlds or parts of a world. If this is the case, that could make for an interesting dynamic... sort of like pre-Civil War USA where the legality of slavery depended on which side of the Mason-Dixon line one found one's self. Of course using pre-Civil War USA as an example, as I remember it the Fugitive Slave Act required the non-slave northern states to respect the "rights" of slave holders living in the pro-slavery southern states with regards to "escaped property" and I think similar legal thinking formed the basis for the shameful Dred Scott Supreme Court decision.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:28, Sat 01 Sept 2012.