Well, I'm gonna go over this once more, with the example of Sweden (once more). Slavery was "abolished" (as in, people stoped using slaves) in Sweden somewhere around 1000-1300 or so (varying depending on region and such). Basically during the time the Swedes went from "vikings" to christians. However, as they stepped into the medieval ages, the Swedes did not, unlike almost every other European country, embrace serfdom. I can't really tell why, but instead, Sweden gained a powerful "farming class", made out of indipendant (rich) farmers. These has many times proved to be a powerful political force during Sweden's history.
Anyway, back to the point. In the 18th, 19th century or so, Sweden also underwent the same agricultural reforms as the rest of Europe did. However, this did not make the farmers more free - in stead it bound the poorer farmers to a greater one, and because of him only leasing their farm to them, they had to work both at his farm as well as their own (which probably wasn't much anyway, as most of their land was "stolen").
In the end, this led to the "statare system", which was basically the same as slavery. This system went on far into the 20th century, much to the shame of modern Swedes.

I'm no expert, but from what I learned in my history lessons, the same, or variants of it, happened all over Europe too. There was a "rise of the merchant and middle-class", but those classes weren't really that big. One cannot compare modern middle-class to 19th century middle-class. For example, there were very few people who actually belonged to it, and they were often extremely rich, leading to a big gap between the lower- and middle-classes.
This also brings me to another important point - the lower class. The middle class back then was immensely dependant on a lower, working class to "keep them floating". And they abused the hell out of that class, too. Working 12 hours a day, unhealthy environments, hardly any pay. There always has to be those who carry the weight and to the hard work. They might be slaves, working class, or any other given title, they're basically the same anyway. If all the slaves in Morrowind were released, there would just be a great rise in the lowest of lower classes - the propertyless, those without neither house nor work, who have no money to pay for food or beds. If they don't take what work that's offered them, they will starve to death.

And don't talk nonsense about them "living of the land" or "swimming back to Argonia". Such things are just silly to begin with - Morrowind is neither Argonia or Elsweyr, and you need hunting experience if you're actually thinking of catching anything. A pack of Nix-hounds would easily surround and hunt down a stray ex-slave.

No, slavery will remain in Morrowind, because a economical system built on free or low-payed labour will not change just because a king decides it should be so. There would still be a need of workers to toil in the fields. Racism would still be common practice. Beastfolk would still be shipped in and sold on the black market. It's just the same.

Not that I never said that the free labour system was much better for the workers. In many ways, it could be almsot considered worse. Most farmers were in fact driven off the land, and were replace by farm hands that didn't own their own land and lived in the nearby towns. It was horrible for the people who worked the farms for they were both working the fields but also weren't getting any of the food from it. And the owners of the land did not provide for them as they would slaves or serfs or even sharecroppers and the people were forced to buy the food that they grew on the market. Sweden is not the best example as it was a very backwards country until fairly recently and gave up slavery/serfs not because of either moral beliefs or economic profit but for political pressure from nearby more powerful countries, ie France, Britain, Netherlands and their ilk.

And the rise of the merchant/middle-class was not very big, but they were important. They controlled the money that flowed through the nation and were in fact much of the time more wealthy and indeed, more important than the aristocratic upper class. They were the Bourgousie that Marx railed against. Houses Hlaalu and Dres are more similar to these people in almost every way than the aristocrats, drawing another similarity.

But the free labour system is a radically different system than slavery or serfdom. You can say that "oh they are bad for the worker" but so is pretty much every agricultural system except the idyllic version you see in fairy tales. Even today, farms are generally worked by the lowest of the low in society. Even in the developed Western nations, which are barely agricultural at all, the farm workers are poor. Here where I am living in Colorado, you can go out into the countryside and see farms being worked by extremely underpaid, mistreated Mexican immigrants. But they are slaves. Through that logic, almost every labour intensive job, which tend to be poorly paid, and much of the time dependent on the country can be thought as slaves. And Morrowind will not be different than the rest of Tamriel unless you think that everywhere else practices the type of farming where rugged individuals farm for themselves and sell the rest to feed the cities in nice little cottages with barely no hardships which is imagined everywhere, especially the US and France.

Just to point out, Morrowind isn't Sweden.

Well that's my point! I was only arguing against people saying freeing the slaves would change their situation - which it wouldn't, as they would stay on the lower end of the social ladder, forming a new lower lower class, together with the poorest of poor dunmers. Slaves wouldn't just up and leave, or suddenly become rich, healthy middle class people like the one's we saw in Oblivion (as unrealistic as they were :rolleyes: ), so I said what I said because as I understand it, that was what people (not you, perhaps then, if that is what you ment) was trying to prove.

Oh, and I could go on for hours about how modern day people are enslaved, but I won't, because then I'll come off even more as a raging lunatic. Too many people call me "commie" allready. :meh:
(bonus points for using a red smiley)



Well it sure isn't Eternia, land of healthy, blond arians with perfect dental insurance, where people are always smiling happily and never threatened by anything other than the Big Bad, either.

You meet one in Morrowind, he is looking for an escaped slave. You can help him or help the slave, whichever you wish.

They basicly get payed to find escaped slaves.

You can be one as well.
I think there's few people who really has "slave hunter" as a continuous occupation. More likely it's a job you stumble upon.
Unless you're actually hired by, say the Dren plantation, too track down escaped slaves. Though then, you would probably be employed as a guard as well.

I suspect that slavehunting would often be carried out by bounty hunters, because compared to bandits and murderers, catching escaped slaves is relatively safe.