This lady is among the most common type of human chattel which generally represents about 55-75% of the population of a Drow State's slave population. Unconsecrated Field slaves are those slaves which are assigned to the Great Estates of the Drow Homelands and more recently the Drow Colonies on the Northwestern Continent. They weed, plant, reap, harvest and thresh as well as maintain the irrigation networks, spread fertilizer, tend to livestock and do various other tasks for maximum long term productivity. While not as productive as High Elvish Agriculture, it is never the less has a noticeably higher level level of productivity of those in human realms of similar latitudes thanks to carefully refined methods and the use of spells, though it is labor intensive. Every square meter of their territories have been cataloged, evaluated and put to productive use. Building tall barracks instead of villages and isolated cottages is one manifestation of this.







Field slaves include those who's ancestors have been in bondage for a hundred generations and freshly captured humans (though there is a certain degree of favoritism towards those born in bondage, at least as a default) from many lands and realms from Coldlanders* and Imperials through Interterrans, Northwestern Continent Natives, peoples from the Southern Continent, The Naga Rajs and those from the Distant Eastern Empire and more. They are not Disposables and receive a level of medical support, but their lives are still fairly hard. The average agricultural workload for a slave farmer is broadly similar and in some cases actually slightly lighter than that of a typical peasant as the population density is higher. Never the less there are lull times in which fields lay fallow or don't need that much tending. During those times, field slaves are often rented out to other parties who have a need for temporary unskilled and semi skilled labor. Likewise, additional labor is often rented during harvest time and often estate owners will employ Discarded Dark Elves as supplementry field hands to work alongside the slave workforce.





The diet of slave farmers is as a rule mostly what they produce and is sufficient but often bland. Potatoes, bread, noodles, peas and more recently beans, squash, maize and soya make up the lion's share alongside preserved vegetables and small amounts of cheese. Fresh Vegetables are grown in communal gardens which add something to the diet along with a few herbs and spices. Meat is reserved for special occasions, harvest time and as an incentive for hard workers. Fish is more common as most Drow States are coastal. Beer and (in the more southern states) wine is also rationed out at mealtimes. Sugar is becoming a more common part of the diet of many slaves and since 27 IA Cannisterized food has begun to show up. Extra rations is a common reward and cut or limited rations is a common punishment for minor infractions. Urban slaves eat a diet which is in general similar, but more standardized.







For the majority of those born to Slave Fieldhands chores are usually assigned at age 4-5 and get progressively heavier until age seven when they are sent out to do limited fieldwork before recieving a full workload at age 15. Most born to fieldhands will become fieldhands themselves and baring disgrace their ultimate fate is to toil until they expire and be cremated, composed and used to enrich the soil that they worked. Never the less, there are some which are sent elsewhere. From the ranks of Fieldslaves are often drawn Janissaries and Naval Crews. A certain number of Fieldslave children are also selected to be apprentices to the household Artisans either to help maintain the estate for for ultimate sale. Others are selected for education in literacy and numeracy to become clerks. Attractive individuals may be selected to become personal attendants or sold to pleasure houses. Some are Consecrated and become gang bosses and overseers.





Leaving aside the Overseas Colonies the majority of Drow Agricultural Holdings are controlled by Great Warrior Houses with a smattering of Middling Warrior houses holding up much of the remainder. These houses maintain their prominence and influence through three main factors: the training and maintaining of hosts of the Drow warrior elite, control over the bulk of the food supply and control over the lion's share of the slave labor pool. The Warrior Houses are, as a rule, conservative and strive to an ideal of self sufficiency. Even so, some of them have begun to adopt various mechanical aides such as disc plows, threshing machines and mechanical reapers derived from Infrastructural designs. Those in the new Colonies are particularly keen in these new mechanisms and means.







*This source by in large has dried up, though by 37 IA a decent number of slaves of Coldland origins remain on Drow Estates.



