Officially, slavery is illegal in the Empire of Lirith Kai, but where there is both a product and a market, ways around the law will always be found.

A foreigner residing in the Empire who has not applied for citizenship may own slaves, provided the slaves are not citizens of the Empire either. In some areas, this particular loophole has been stretched to make it possible for citizens to own, or at least control (by "leasing" from non-citizens), non-Adantri slaves; in other areas, this dubious practice is not sanctioned. It is more likely to be tolerated in a border area and in people of wealth and standing who have strong ties beyond the border.

A citizen of the Empire may be indentured, contractually bound to service for a specified length of time, though only to another citizen, in exchange for money or to clear himself of debt. Parents who are very poor may indenture a child in order to get money to feed their other children. The contract may specify the types of services to be demanded of the servant, or it may not. An indentured servant's contract may be bought and sold, thus shifting a person's service from one master to another; there is no law against selling a CONTRACT, but only against selling PEOPLE. In some cases, obviously, the difference is negligible, but in law it is a wide gulf.

An apprenticeship contract is a different matter, for there is no money exchanged--unless the would-be apprentice pays for the privilege of studying. In this case, the apprentice exchanges his or her services for a specified period for training in some particular skill. Usually the services and the training to be exchanged are spelled out in considerable detail.

Some convicted criminals may be bound to service for a period of time--in effect, they become indentured servants--as the Imperial government sees no value in housing and feeding criminals. Criminals whose crimes are too severe to allow them any measure of freedom are usually executed; if their offense is mild, they pay fines. Violent criminals may be bound to service in mines, or to repair roads throughout the Empire; those convicted of non-violent crimes are usually put to work in the cities.

But there also exists, clandestinely, the literal enslavement of Adantri by Adantri. The center of this nefarious practice is Ini Palel, the heart of much criminal activity in the Empire. This trade is mostly in children between eight and fifteen years of age, and is far larger and more lucrative than most citizens of the Empire imagine. The victims are usually, though not always, of the lower economic levels; the customers are mostly the rich and/or aristocratic. An Adantri slaver--defined as either one who sells or one who buys a slave, is always condemned to a slow death, as the practice is held to undermine the very foundations of Adantri society; an unfortunate side effect of this policy is that any Adantri slave-owner who knows himself suspected is likely to kill his slaves, thus destroying the evidence, since the penalty for murder is less severe than that for slaving.

The enslavement of Adantri by non-Adantri receives the same harsh penalty--if the slavers are caught by Adantri lawmen.