Written By Gesa
June 23, 2019, 3:37 a.m.(5/3/1011 AR)
I was not enthralled because I was a criminal. I was born a thrall. My mother was born a thrall. Perhaps her parents were criminals or Abandoned who were "mercifully" spared by becoming thralls or perhaps it was a parent before then. I don't know. Mama and I didn't talk much about it. I was not beaten or treated cruelly although I did get slapped a few times on account of my mouth. My mother was a nursemaid to some little lords, and when we were little we played together in the sand. It wasn't the worst childhood.
However, it lacked choice. I didn't get to choose much of anything. Not the hour I rose or the clothes on my back or what I would do during the day. I didn't choose where I lived. I didn't even get to choose the blanket I slept with because we got what the noble family didn't want anymore. Now, you could say commoners outside of the Isles don't have much choice, but that isn't entirely true. A commoner in the poorest portions of the Compact can choose to leave. They can choose to say the hell with it and never leave their bed again and lie there until they die if they'd like. A commoner girl can choose what color cheap cotton or wool she'd like her dress made from. A thrall doesn't get that choice.
The most oppressive part of thralldom I experienced was the lack of color and beauty. Those that know me know I love loud color. The gaudier the better I've always said. I would help the noble ladies my mother and I served sometimes, and it was my favorite thing because for a little while I got to be surrounded by beautiful things even if I would never possess anything but the rough spun dress I was given to wear. I remember it as being colorless for the most part. I was under-stimulated. Underwhelmed. If I hadn't of left I would have remained in this colorless world doing what I was told my entire life, as far as I knew. If I wanted to be a mother my children would have likely lived through the same. That I was a thrall on Kennex lands would have been the only thing that saved me.
I ran away from the Isles when I was twenty. Do you know what my freedom cost me? I never got to see my mother again. She died a month before thralldom was outlawed on Stormbreak. I lost all of my friends. I l had to give up the boy I loved so fiercely because he was one of the few choices I got to make. All of it gone forever.
I'm one of the lucky ones because I am free and relatively successful. I can't help but think of my mother, who was denied choice her entire life, and died a month before she would legally have been given that choice. Think of all of the people like her when you think of thralldom. Mama I'm sorry. I hope if you are given another turn on the wheel that you are spoiled for choice.
However, it lacked choice. I didn't get to choose much of anything. Not the hour I rose or the clothes on my back or what I would do during the day. I didn't choose where I lived. I didn't even get to choose the blanket I slept with because we got what the noble family didn't want anymore. Now, you could say commoners outside of the Isles don't have much choice, but that isn't entirely true. A commoner in the poorest portions of the Compact can choose to leave. They can choose to say the hell with it and never leave their bed again and lie there until they die if they'd like. A commoner girl can choose what color cheap cotton or wool she'd like her dress made from. A thrall doesn't get that choice.
The most oppressive part of thralldom I experienced was the lack of color and beauty. Those that know me know I love loud color. The gaudier the better I've always said. I would help the noble ladies my mother and I served sometimes, and it was my favorite thing because for a little while I got to be surrounded by beautiful things even if I would never possess anything but the rough spun dress I was given to wear. I remember it as being colorless for the most part. I was under-stimulated. Underwhelmed. If I hadn't of left I would have remained in this colorless world doing what I was told my entire life, as far as I knew. If I wanted to be a mother my children would have likely lived through the same. That I was a thrall on Kennex lands would have been the only thing that saved me.
I ran away from the Isles when I was twenty. Do you know what my freedom cost me? I never got to see my mother again. She died a month before thralldom was outlawed on Stormbreak. I lost all of my friends. I l had to give up the boy I loved so fiercely because he was one of the few choices I got to make. All of it gone forever.
I'm one of the lucky ones because I am free and relatively successful. I can't help but think of my mother, who was denied choice her entire life, and died a month before she would legally have been given that choice. Think of all of the people like her when you think of thralldom. Mama I'm sorry. I hope if you are given another turn on the wheel that you are spoiled for choice.
Written By Gesa
June 23, 2019, 3:20 a.m.(5/3/1011 AR)
Reading through the Whites I have seen quite a bit of commentary by certain nobility regarding thralldom. They speak of economics. Of tradition. Of what is best for society as a whole.
They do not address us as individuals. I've noticed we're not people to them when they talk about us. So in an effort to remind my illustrious betters of my status as a person I will be sharing my account. I invite other ex-thralls to do the same.
We should not allow our humanity to be taken from us. We are people and that should be the first point in the discussion. Not economics or tradition or a societal problem that must be solved.
They do not address us as individuals. I've noticed we're not people to them when they talk about us. So in an effort to remind my illustrious betters of my status as a person I will be sharing my account. I invite other ex-thralls to do the same.
We should not allow our humanity to be taken from us. We are people and that should be the first point in the discussion. Not economics or tradition or a societal problem that must be solved.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.