Fwurg

[Nehket Aeka]

"That depends on the circumstances. The signing of such a contract must be witnessed, and the level of witnesses depends on the status of the person agreeing to be a slave. Normal commoners can be witnessed by any noble, though if the commoner is to become the slave of a noble, the witness must not be of the same house. Nobles must be witnessed by two other nobles, both of whom must be of different houses, and of course also of houses different from the signing and accepting house. Noble witnesses must also be of equal or higher rank than the signing party."

"If it comes to light that someone was forced to become a slave, those responsible will be sought out and brought to justice. If it truly was a third party that forced someone to become a slave, the slave will remain a slave, as the one that took on responsibility for the slave accepted the slave in good faith and can not be held responsible.

This is why someone signing to become a slave can speak out then and there, during the signing, and this is why there are witnesses. If a witness has doubts that the person is being coerced, they are legally allowed to take appropriate measure to prevent the signing."

[Maria Latharion]

"That might work. We could switch the noble with someone assigned by the Triad Boards. Someone unrelated to the volunteer. If that is acceptable."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Why switch the noble? Let us put someone assigned by the Triad Boards next to the noble. Otherwise someone on Mirda might claim that the contract is invalid on grounds that it wasn't correctly witnessed. And there is no law or custom against having multiple witnesses... Please do try that someone with good social standing is assigned, such as yourself or a high-ranking priestess, otherwise it would be difficult to explain why they stand as equal to a noble."

"It seems we have addressed most issues. Is there anything else that needs to be said on the subject? If not, we should decide when this exchange will be started. We will also need to decide when and where we shall announce this exchange of culture. I propose that we make a joint statement in the senate, after we have done all necessary preparations."

[Maria Latharion]

"I will make sure the witness is of an appropriate rank.

If possible I would suggest to wait a short while with the exchange. Things are a bit hectic on Stellaria at the moment. The population is unsettled by a few things.

I would rather wait till things have calmed down a bit, so we can assure the maximum chance of success."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Does this have anything to do with the news about Mandalorian activity? If so, we might be able to offer some assistance. As you know, the Veolian Commonwealth has two military fleets, and I could inquire with House Shebi about moving their fleet to protect your worlds. If you think this would help, of course."

((OOC: I will be away from 2013-7-3 till 2013-7-28, so we should probably postpone the exchange news until then.))

[Maria Latharion]

"Unfortunately that is only a part of the problem. The confidence in the Triad Boards is at an all time low. I just hope the upcoming Peoples Board elections will improve the situation.

I don't think the presence of one of your fleets would have any influence. Forgive me for not elaborating further, but while I know more than the average citizen, I don't know what is happening exactly."

((OOC: Fine by me gives me a chance to execute my plans.))

[Nehket Aeka]

"Very well then, I shall inquire no further."

"Are there other questions with regard to slaves or other facets of veolian culture you still want to ask?"

[Maria Latharion]

"I don't have any more questions as of now. Miranda?"

[Miranda Asillion]

Miranda shook her head.

"Do you have any further questions regarding cybernetics or astrian culture, senator?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"I have one last question. It is something that I have not understood for a while now.

Your culture is centered around equality. Equality of people in a social sense, as you do not have nobility, and everyone is capable of entering a position of leadership. And equality of sexes, as you make little distinction other than personal preference with regards to a partner.

However, for all this equality, your culture insists on using the prefixes lord and lady in front of any title you bestow. Why is this, what makes ones sex if such importance that even your military ranks are prefixed with the sex of their holder?"

[Maria Latharion]

"Well not every rank has a lord or lady prefix.

It's an old way of showing the importance of a certain function, dating back to before the Gender War. They signified a role that not just anyone could achieve. These days no function or title gets the prefix any more. The functions that still have the prefix have so from tradition.

So it's not so much a way to specify gender but rather a way to emphasise that the function is important."

"It might also make a bit more sense if you translate it to astrian. Lord and lady are the same basic word only with a different suffix."

[Nehket Aeka]

"I see. I have no further questions then."

"I shall put together a small group of coordinators for the exchange we discussed, and have them contact their counterparts at your embassy. If there are any difficulties, or things we think up later, I propose that we meet again to discuss those if need be. Though I and Serrah will be unavailable for a few weeks, others should be able to work with you to find a solution."

Senator Nehket Aeka stood, and waited for her slave to join her.

"This has been a good conversation. Thank you for your presence, Doctor Asillion, I appreciated your honesty. Maria, I hope that we can do this again in the future, as I enjoyed this very much.", she said as a way of parting.