As indentures, do they keep any of the money produced by their work, or does it all go to the holder of the indenture? If the former, they should pay you some amount out of that until all the money they *cost* you (ie, all the money you won't get back) is paid off.
I am not crazy about the ear thing, as it could have unforeseen health consequence (damage to the inside of the ear, for example, or a propensity for infections). But you could perhaps dock their ears, enough to make the spell work and to be visible, without cutting off the whole ear.
I would be inclined to be more lenient if this had been done purely as a reaction to what happened to Feralan, as I would be pretty freaked out if my son got accidentally crossed with a demon, and might do things I otherwise wouldn't. But Zascalle was apparently planning this for a long time.
Usually indentured servants get a modest wage, enough to live on. I don't know what Saza intends there. Zie intends that they do scutwork in a Herethroy farming village -- assistant kitchen work, say, and housecleaning, and helping at the harvest. So they wouldn't be generating any money, the way that Dorze did. The village has communal housing and food, which presumably they will share with Zascalle and Thiane, so their basic living costs will be low.
They will have cost me roughly a million lozens [about ten million $US -bb]. I can't imagine how they could possibly pay off any fraction of that significant enough to be worth mentioning -- certainly not doing scutwork, and probably not doing any job we would trust them with. Fortunately a fair amount of that goes to Saza, who (a) needs it and (b) will be doing an errand I very much need doing, so it's not utterly without value.
We don't much want to employ them in any position that requires trust.
I don't need the whole of the outer ear, though I do want most of it, because it is a punishment as well as a practicality. I, or any master-healer, should be able to deal with most health consequences. I won't be taking the inner ear.
I agree with your last point altogether. I am pretty freaked out that my client and friend got accidentally crossed with a demon!
Oh, I knew the term would be approximately forever. It had more to do with the repayment being an aspect of the punishment; they would be thinking about why they had to pay that money the rest of their lives.
And if you put all the money they paid into an account with interest, it would eventually equal the amount you lost. Long after they were dead.
Ahhh. They do here, or they can. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but it has to do with how our monetary system works and the fact that banks loan out money...basically, if you keep your money in a "savings" account (on which there are withdrawal limitations) the bank will pay you a small interest rate, because they know the money will be available for them to loan out (at a higher rate of interest) to people who want to buy houses or land. You can get a higher interest rate if you agree to leave the money there for a certain amount of time (three to five years is typical); that's called a certificate of deposit.
>>I can't imagine how they could possibly pay off any fraction of that significant enough to be worth mentioning -- certainly not doing scutwork, and probably not doing any job we would trust them with.<<
If one wanted to be filthy according to local custom, one might observe that a cley in the possession of a wizard can be worth a great many more lozens than a cley in the possession of an ordinary Cani, and that the gods have provided a means of transferrence. But I'm guessing that's up to Saza, since you (reasonably) want nothing more to do with them.
Seconded. There's something about forcing criminals into metaphysical prostitution that upsets my respectabilities. On the other hand, requiring them to do magical labor would be well within bounds; at least the more loyal of the pair has some magical skill; that may be useful to the farmers in some respect.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 10:06 pm (UTC)I am not crazy about the ear thing, as it could have unforeseen health consequence (damage to the inside of the ear, for example, or a propensity for infections). But you could perhaps dock their ears, enough to make the spell work and to be visible, without cutting off the whole ear.
I would be inclined to be more lenient if this had been done purely as a reaction to what happened to Feralan, as I would be pretty freaked out if my son got accidentally crossed with a demon, and might do things I otherwise wouldn't. But Zascalle was apparently planning this for a long time.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 11:04 pm (UTC)They will have cost me roughly a million lozens [about ten million $US -bb]. I can't imagine how they could possibly pay off any fraction of that significant enough to be worth mentioning -- certainly not doing scutwork, and probably not doing any job we would trust them with. Fortunately a fair amount of that goes to Saza, who (a) needs it and (b) will be doing an errand I very much need doing, so it's not utterly without value.
We don't much want to employ them in any position that requires trust.
I don't need the whole of the outer ear, though I do want most of it, because it is a punishment as well as a practicality. I, or any master-healer, should be able to deal with most health consequences. I won't be taking the inner ear.
I agree with your last point altogether. I am pretty freaked out that my client and friend got accidentally crossed with a demon!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 01:57 am (UTC)And if you put all the money they paid into an account with interest, it would eventually equal the amount you lost. Long after they were dead.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:17 am (UTC)Well...
Date: 2010-06-10 03:56 pm (UTC)If one wanted to be filthy according to local custom, one might observe that a cley in the possession of a wizard can be worth a great many more lozens than a cley in the possession of an ordinary Cani, and that the gods have provided a means of transferrence. But I'm guessing that's up to Saza, since you (reasonably) want nothing more to do with them.
Eww!
Date: 2010-06-10 04:08 pm (UTC)Re: Eww!
Date: 2010-06-10 06:32 pm (UTC)Re: Eww!
Date: 2010-06-10 06:43 pm (UTC)