A restricted, structured Social Contract, first dictated by the Chinese Empire, has been shaping the World since Middle Ages. Since Chinese scholars first identified the chance that every born human could be classified in one of two opposite and complimentary categories, the World was changed. The Chinese draft of a Society entirely divided in two, with the manual labour assigned to those inclined to follow, and rules making assigned to those inclined to lead, was assimilated, enriched and developed by the West, throughout the time, into the perfectly functional Society we know today.
A Society where Masters and slaves co-live in harmony, ownership is as natural as feeding and sleeping, and concepts of freedom are part of a forgotten alien universe from darker and the most primitive of times.
In this Worldly Society, children are born knowing they will be formally assigned a role at the age of ten; a ritual that has been kept from earlier times, just as the marks they are branded with once they begin a 'formal' education. The branding technique, however, has recently changed from the hot iron to a special and painless ink tattoo only allowed for that purpose and that, once done, does not fade nor can be removed. Though children cannot be designed to their roles before that age, some parents will pay an absurd amount for illegal genetic tests as soon as they are born, believing they should be raised differently from the start.
Once assigned, a slave child becomes immediate responsibility of their slave parent, or assigned slave guardian, if the Master so desires, and their most important responsibility just under the Master's well being. It's the adult slave's duty to start their training and refine their instruction, and they are the first ones to identify in what Slave Class (about classes) the child might better fit in.
All Children are home-schooled until the age of twelve, with a two year adaptation period to their roles. After that, while Master children will be usually sent to boarding schools or start at a public institution, slave children are commonly kept at home, and continue their studies with their slave tutor. That is, until they are ready to be evaluated by the Government and assigned to their respective Class, at the age of sixteen.
It's not that unusual for slaves to be owned by the same Master Family their whole lives, however claiming will commonly be discussed after their classification. It will happen either personally, from one Master to another, or through a legal request, initiated by the Master that desires claiming them. Original Masters, as they are called, have no power in objecting to a claim once the legal process is approved.
Both Slave children and Master ones are obligatorily taught, under different focus, in Mathematics, Geography, History, Language, Biology and Arts. Any further instruction, or special teaching, depends on their family's choices. All classified slaves will be taken under Preparatory Specific Training for a period of two years in which they will be prepared to formally take on the roles they will perform for the rest of their lives. All Masters are obliged to graduate from High School and after that, are sent to their own Preparatory Academies, for a minimum three years period, to formally earn their full Master title before they are allowed to continue with their lives.
In the special case a slave is classified at sixteen as a possible Personal Slave, their specific training will be delayed. They'll be given time to finish their general studies at home, if they still haven't, before being sent to Masters and slaves' Academies - from which they can only leave with their new official Masters, after being claimed.
Carmel Academy represents the Elite among the few authorized academies to train and form Personal Slaves.
Master and Slave Markings. The Master's marking is placed behind their right ear. The Slave's marking is done on the left side of their necks.
Both Dominant and submissive words do not exist in this Universe, nor does the D/s relationship type.
Personal Slaves are usually the only ones that are able to get approval for a College Degree if their Masters request it.
Slave Nudity is as common as traffic, specially torso nudity, and so are Public Sexual Acts, and Public Punishments which is why most places have an efficient heating system for the cold and all kinds of easy access private booths and rooms.
It is considered extremely impolite and even a legal offense to stare closely at those acts, as well as to stare at any claimed Personal Slaves, without permission.
It is expressively forbidden to touch a Claimed Slave in any way without permission.
Slaves are not seen as inferior to Masters, but as primarily different. Slaves and Masters are complimentary roles and the concept of inferiority in being owned does not exist. Being owned is first a matter of pride to a Slave, and it's not unusual for them to flaunt their Master's attributes among their own, just as Masters do.
That is not to say there isn’t abuse, and cruelty in the dark, but it is extremely rare and it’d be seen as a disgusting, shocking, upsetting crime. If found, the Master would be immediately imprisoned, just as any slave that kept on abusing their peers would be sent to the Labor factories.
A Claim is not a Romantic bond. It is rather a contractual life-long mutual responsibility. Whether or not Claimed Slaves are allowed to have sexual relationships among their own is at their Master's discretion. That said, a Claimed Slave is not a spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend, neither can they legally be, and this mere concept is alien to this Society. So is Sexual Monogamy.
Marriages are usually business arrangements between Masters from traditional families, although they may be romantic as well. It is, still, common for a Master to go through their lives without ever getting married.
In the same way, Arranged Claims are a fading tradition still silently kept by a few of the wealthy old families. In which, since their first illegal identification, slave children are promised to their Masters counterparts, to keep the ties between those families renewed and tight.
Once out of Preparatory Academies, a Master may claim as many slaves as they are able to maintain comfortably.
Subspace will be referred to as boundspace.
extra: Because the Society was heavily influenced by Eastern customs (thought they were adapted and transformed), certain aspects of that civilization may be more heavily present in it than the 'Western Civilization' that a lot of us live in today, and these acts are considered perfectly natural. That includes, though not only, neatness, cleanliness; the habit of slaves washing Masters when they arrive at the house, whether be it their own, or a visiting Master; taking off their shoes when entering their bedrooms; having vast presence of wood structures ad plants around the ambient; and use of Feng Shui and clear, earthly tones in their home designs and so on.
