Slavery

Slavery is a lucrative business in the post-Great War world. Although many of the larger pockets of remaining civilization have outlawed slavery, smaller dictators allow the purchase and sale of other human beings.

Slavery also happens to be one of the most controlled businesses in the post-nuclear world. Nearly all of the slave trade in New California is done through the Slavers' Guild, a collection of older slavers who decide prices and organize capture hunts among the people of the Wastelands. Anyone caught capturing or selling slaves in the Core Region without the blessing of the Slavers' Guild is usually executed. Since the Guild holds so much power, it often controls smaller towns where it operates, although from behind the scenes. Members of the Slavers' Guild have a distinctive tattoo covering most of their face, making them readily identifiable to both friend and foe, allowing the Guild to make fast judgments when someone without "the tat" has a tribal up on the auction block for sale.

As of 2241, the head of the Slavers' Guild is Metzger, whose headquarters is in the Den.

Slavers in the Fallout games do not discriminate between people based upon their race or ideology--anyone who can be easily cowed into submission, captured, and fitted with a slave collar is perfectly acceptable "meat" for them to use. Similarly, Slavers may be of any ethnic background themselves; their only qualifications for members to join their ranks seem to be how tough and ruthless the applicant is.

Typically they act like Raiders with the exception that their goal is to kill the most dangerous member or members of a group of travelers and then take the rest alive to be sold into slavery. Their acceptance of the idea that every human life has a price tag gives them an extremely calm, even blasé, attitude towards cruelty in general (though unlike Raiders, they tend to not act unnecessarily cruel--they don't want to potentially damage the merchandise).

Appearances In-Game
In Fallout 1 the only direct mention of slavery is by the Khans hostages.

Fallout 2 is peppered with Slavers, most notably in The Den. The Vault Dweller is able to join the Slavers for extra cash, but his/her Karma will take a beating, and he/she will be branded permanently as a memebr of the Slavers' Guild which ruins the reactions of certain NPCs. There is also a large slave-holding pen on the NCR/Northern California border run by a slaver named Vortis. Although there is frequent conflict between the Slavers and the NCR Rangers, Vortis probably profits off of all the caravans who are known to purchase slaves as porters and sell them off at the end of their journeys. Some random encounters feature Slavers as well as slaves, often together. If the player is a member of the NCR Rangers, Slavers will act more aggressively towards the player.

Slavers play a fairly large role in Fallout 3 as well. Paradise Falls is a Slaver town, and several quests feature slavery as either major or minor elements, most notably Head of State and its association to slavery in the United States prior to the American Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's role as the 'Great Emancipator.' Additionally, the Lone Wanderer can capture people to sell to Slavers. Alternately, the Lone Wanderer can kill Slavers on sight. An option in the quest Rescue from Paradise involves the systematic slaughter of pretty much all the Slavers in Paradise Falls; one of the rare instances in gaming where town slaughtering results in good karma. See Slaver Reputation for more information. The Lone Wanderer can even buy a slave, Clover, who will then serve the player as a bodyguard. The player does not have the option of activating the explosive collar of Clover. The number of slaves present compared to the number of Slavers is remarkably low, meaning that the slaves are being shipped off somewhere. It is revealed by Wernher that many of these slaves are being shipped off to work at The Pitt in the DLC of the same name.

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