Lukas grimaced as the teacher continued on about the Orox Empire as though he didn’t just say something utterly horrifying. Human Domestication and Slavery Period? Something that lasted over 2,000 years and only ended 300 years ago??

“Wait! Wait wait. I… I can’t. Stop. We need to rewind. I need to learn more about the HDS Period.”

Rasdogir vas Gromin Wratu closed the book he had in his arm and stared at Lukas, face as blank as ever. “That isn’t the lesson for today,” he said plainly, the barest hint of curiosity in his voice, not annoyed.

“Well, it is now! I can’t think about anything else!”

“It won’t be on the next test.”

“That’s fine. I’m ahead for the reading you gave me about the empire anyway. I just… I can’t… I mean slavery existed where I came from… and domestication did too… but never… no one ever did THAT to people…”

The golem sighed and brushed his hair out of his face so he could very pointedly look at Lukas with his eyes, “If you’re so determined about it, then fine. I had no plans for such a discussion today, however, so you will have to settle for what I know off the top of my head. As a golem, a race created to serve a purpose and one that generally does not achieve sentience, aside from with rare cases such as myself, it is an odd concept.”

“Golems are, by nature, what more sensitive people may call enslaved. Again, however, golems are typically not sentient like a human is. Golems are hunks of material animated in a very careful process. The situation that humans found themselves in is much different and far crueler.”

“Humans are the youngest of the mortal races. They came into existence at a time when everyone else had strong nations and powerful militaries. They breed quickly when compared to elves or dwarves, and they reach maturity quickly. Unfortunately, that made their tribal societies a target. Humans were not seen as people for a long time. They were seen as savages. Uncultured less-worthy monkies.”

“They didn’t stand a chance against the powerful nations that selfishly turned their gaze to them. How could they? They were primarily peaceful island tribes. Once the Orox Empire perfected sailing longer distances, the HDS Period only ramped up in ferocity. It started long before then, however. Around 5,000A if I’m not mistaken. Which I think was around 12,000 years ago. A little less than that, so let’s say the human domestication effort lasted around 11,000 years. In that time, the appearance of humans went through drastic changes from the initial palate.”

“In the very beginning of the HDS Period, the breeding of humans was done in an effort to make them more physically capable to tend fields and do other menial tasks - this was more common in places that could not afford the sort of materials or knowledge that making golems for the tasks required. However, unlike most golems, humans have true free will, and breeding power into them not only created a large number of issues, but also made them a much greater escape risk.”

“After, I believe, something like 1,000 to 2,000 years of this, human breeding tended more towards appearance-based preference instead of efficiency. The only breed, so to speak, or race of humans that looks more closely to what they would have originally looked like, are the brown-toned Fire-Opal humans. To a lesser extent, the Starlight humans are also more closely representative of the original appearance of humans as well.”

“For the Starlight humans, their breeding started with albinistic traits that were filtered and line bred to have freckles… although I suppose they might be called leucistic instead of albinistic? I’m not sure. I am not a biologist in the least.”

“For Fire-Opal humans, breeders sought to maintain the brown-tones that humans originally had. They only tinkered somewhat, for clearer skin, fewer blemishes, and more of an underglow to the skin.”

“Let’s see… I suppose next would be Onyx Vitiligo. They were bred with darker and darker skin tones until they were practically onyx in color. At some point along the way, vitiligo was introduced and bred into the race, which creates patches of skin that are of a different color.”

“Amethyst humans were bred later on, with a lot of effort and a touch of magic. They were started from breeding Starlight humans to have a bluer, and then purpler hue to their skin. After a few thousand years, this resulted in purple-toned humans.”

“Even stranger than that, however, are the last of the races that came about from breeding. They were only “completed” towards the end of the period, and were bred using specialized magics. These magics and breeding efforts made Pyrite humans, a race of humans that appear gold, as though they were made of metal. They even have golden eyes.”

He sighed, “Only around 300 years ago did this cycle of pain finally come to an end. It did not cease without war and blood violently shed on both sides, however. It’s unknown who started the trade networks for human slaves, but by the time it was destroyed, it was almost a full-blown war, with humans and their allies making raids and strikes on key locations and trying to vanish into the night.”

Lukas stared, wide-eyed and mouth agape. That sounded like something out of a romantic fantasy novel, the humans giving their all for centuries to earn their freedom. In a conflict that long, it seemed pretty unlikely that most of them would actually get the chance to hide away and start a new life when they were done. “That’s… I… well, how are they viewed now?”

This mostly got a shrug from the dispassionate golem. “That’s a very broad question. It depends entirely on the region, when the conflict ended there, and how much harm was done in the process. There were some places the process was relatively smooth and ended centuries before the rest of the world; usually in Nergin, Nixis, and Fae-heavy territories. These places weren’t perfect by any means, and the prejudice that humans are aligned with Nixis and Fae by default follows them even today, but they were a great improvement all the same over the slave nations. Though I’m hardly qualified to talk about that in detail. Or any of this in detail, truth be told.”

“This is merely surface-level knowledge. All the same, the general status of humans globally is… complicated. They are viewed as more or less equals to most, but broadly uncultured, even by their once-allies. There are few highly influential human families or heroes, at least compared to the majority of races. They still have the image of violent rebels to many. Especially Naga, who never heavily participated in the slave trade, but who have very rigid societies.”

“However, the slave systems, for the most part, dissolved rapidly and violently in the last couple of centuries of the freedom movement. To such slow societies, who frequently live far longer than many other races, the cultural and economic harm caused was as atrocious as the slave business itself. While this is a matter of interpretation, it is true that many nations had to change entire government and economic systems in a short time as a result of the internal conflicts it inevitably caused, causing catastrophic damage and changing many social orders at their foundations. Not all nations made it through these periods of transition. This isn’t helped by the fact that several of the countries that were strongly opposed to the slave trade were significantly successful without it, and considered the governmental collapses to simply be a result of poor foundations to begin with, and were an inevitable result.”

“At this point, humans in the middle to lower class of their societies live more or less the same lives as anyone else. However, it is difficult for them to be taken seriously at the highest levels of political power since they generally lack figures and bloodlines that are globally admired. This isn’t helped by the fact that rumors of humans being more commonly associated with nixis and fae isn’t entirely false."

"The Divine didn’t outright express approval of their enslavement. However, they did little to help them, simply taking the results of their labor in tributes without comment on the fact it came from slaves. Bear in mind, however, this was simply the broad consensus; there were a great many gods and goddesses who fought the slave trade tooth and nail, and many others who did and still do brutally oppress those they can. At this point, though, only the nergin continue to fervently fight these groups and have a full ban of all slavery in any place with a significant population of them.”

This left Lukas with a confusing mix of feelings, and it seemed clear that they were beginning to run short on time, so the young man tried to focus in on more specific questions. “I see. That’s a lot to take in… well, do you have time for a couple more questions?”

This just got a sigh from the human-looking teacher. “I suppose so.”

Lukas nodded appreciatively. “So… genetic diseases and reparations. Has there been much on either front?”

Rasdogir vas Gromin Wratu was silent for a moment, expression as unreadable as ever. “I can’t say I’m familiar with either term. I assume they are concepts from your homeworld.”

“Oh! Right, of course. Genetics is… well, where I’m from anyway, they are what determines your features and stuff for biological creatures. A few specific protein combinations called DNA and RNA, or deoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acid, code for particular features in organisms which express themselves in the form of traits that get passed down through reproduction, combining and showing in new ways depending on… erm. Anyway. Inbreeding and that kinda thing can cause DNA to do weird stuff and cause all kinds of diseases. Reparations are the concept of giving resources as available to people who were really disadvantaged over generations due to the actions of others, like how humans have no really famous representatives and probably don’t have much generational wealth. That kinda thing,” Lukas cleared his throat, a little embarrassed that his enthusiasm for knowledge overcame his time management.

This all got no response from Rasdogir vas Gromin Wratu until the end of his explanation, who seemed as nonplussed as ever. “I see. There are many mysterious diseases in humans that cannot be cured in conventional ways, yes. That would seem to be a reasonable explanation; if disease is the natural state of the body, that is the state it will return to upon healing, after all. That said, it’d take minds far more clever and specialized than my own to state the accuracy of that hypothesis here. Much differs between worlds. As far as reparations go, there has been on and off talk of the idea for a long time, but it has yet to be possible. It is unlikely to happen any time soon, either,” Seeing the scowl forming on Lukas’ face, he explained further. “To be clear, this is mostly because the world is in what has been called an Era of Frost. The winters have been earlier and harsher, and the ice of the poles have been encroaching further and further. Life has had a difficult time keeping up. According to the most ancient entities, this is not the first of such ages, and it is unlikely to end any time soon. It is also unlikely to be the last. Ideas have been put forward on how to avoid it, including things such as the creation of more gases that may keep heat from escaping the moon, but the broad scale implementation of this or any other possible solutions are simply not feasible. Not without entering another Age of High Magic, or a time when the use of magic is taught very broadly and commonly, but the last was the height of the Orox Era. There is simply not the kind of global resources or unity required to do such a thing since the dissolution of the Empire.”

Suddenly, Rasdogir stood, making Lukas jump. “Class is going to begin soon. I suggest reviewing the lesson for today, according to the syllabus. I do hope you found the conversation interesting, but know that staying on topic and doing all you can to excel here will best prepare you to put yourself in a position to add your voice to those calling for reparations. If you feel as strongly on the subject of equality as you seem to, work hard. The connections you’ll find here will do much to help you.”