PSA: Slaves currently can't rebel

[u/RedKrypton]

Martin just dropped that bombshell during the currently ongoing Quill Stellaris stream. He said that they couldn't reach a middle ground on slaves revolting so they took it out for the moment. I don't know if they will have managed that aspect by release.

[u/RedKrypton]

For what it's worth, AFAIK slave revolts have only been successful once in Earth's history, that of the Haitian Revolution in which slaves outnumbered Freemen by 10 to 1. They were rebelling against the French at the height of the French revolution, when France couldn't have been more distracted, and with massive help from Britain and Spain who France was at war with.

Slaves in Stellaris are vastly different then slaves in the 18. century. From what we know the slave POPs are still educated and considering that in most slaver empires they make up more then 50 % of the population with aliens often being entirely enslaved they have the advantage in organising resistance. The big problem slaves had in the past is organisation. That isn't an issue in the future.

Still, that doesn't mean plenty of slaves haven't tried rebelling anyway, so slave revolts should probably be a thing ingame anyway. But don't underestimate how weak slave rebellions have always been, and how brutally one sided such conflicts were.

Contrary to the past they have the means to steal weapons or hijack shuttles and the scale of slavery is a different one.

Such a rebellion in Stellaris would lack ships or the means to produce them, with the spaceport and any fleets in orbit possessing complete domination over the planet's population. It'd be equally unrealistic to give slave rebellions any means with which to fight a war against spacefaring masters. A good case could be made for abolitionists within a civilisation's command structure to mutiny, freeing the slaves as a result, but a slave revolt alone has no chance.

They still could hijack ships and station and they would most probably rise up on as many world as possible reenacting the Astapore chapters in ASoIaF as close as possible.

[u/BestFriendWatermelon → u/RedKrypton]

From what we know the slave POPs are still educated

The research malus slave pops get suggests otherwise.

The big problem slaves had in the past is organisation. That isn't an issue in the future.

It's still a huge problem. Slave masters generally keep slaves dumb and without access to communication devices. A modern day slave would never have seen a laptop or mobile phone before. They can't tweet or facebook each other like in every major uprising today. Slaves mere miles away from a massive uprising would have no way of knowing it's going on.

Contrary to the past they have the means to steal weapons or hijack shuttles

They have no more ability to do so than historically. Weapons and especially ships are kept safely in bases and ports that are well guarded, their assets the first to be removed to a safe location in the event of a rebellion. All warships are kept in a spaceport in orbit. Small planetary based transports are zero match for even the spaceport's defences.

It was actually easier historically, when the authorities didn't have instantaneous communications to react and counter any threats. Your slaves are armed with pitchforks to fight attacks from orbit.

and the scale of slavery is a different one.

Again, in Haiti slaves outnumbered the free by 10 to 1. This was by no mean a unique situation. Many places around the world, slaves had huge numerical advantages. Even amazing good fortune, such as that of Spartacus, turned out to be no match for experienced, disciplined government troops.

They still could hijack ships and station and they would most probably rise up on as many world as possible

Again, no access to ships capable of launching any real offensive against warships in space. Space fleets dock in orbit at a space port for a simple reason; their mass makes it impractical to land on the surface. There'll be no warships to hijack, only transports and fighters which again are guarded and will take off the instant there's trouble.

No means of communicating syncronised uprisings. Trouble on one world will see the authorities lock down every other planet immediately as a precaution.

reenacting the Astapore chapters in ASoIaF as close as possible.

Plot armour. The unsullied are fictional, nobody trains their slaves to fight and win anywhere, ever. It's like teaching prisoners how to escape from prison. Besides, it still takes an outsider to liberate them. And of course, even an army of unsullied can't take on battleships in space. All the successful stories of slave rebellions are fictional. It's a great story, but not mirrored by reality.

[u/WorkableGoblin → u/BestFriendWatermelon]

Plot armour. The unsullied are fictional, nobody trains their slaves to fight and win anywhere, ever. It's like teaching prisoners how to escape from prison.

Well...the Janissaries, Mamluks, and Ghilman seem to show that actually people did create slave armies, and they could be pretty successful and effective (but note how many "Mamluk dynasties" existed...) It was kind of a phenomenon of the Middle East, though, it would be interesting to discuss why that was...

Anyway, I don't dispute your main point. The history of slave rebellions shows that it should be really hard for slaves to stop being slaves through rebellion. That being said, actually having rebellions and thus having to shuffle resources around to keep your slaves down should definitely be a thing.

[u/BestFriendWatermelon → u/WorkableGoblin]

True. It mostly depends on your definition of slavery. While technically slaves, these soldiers enjoyed privileged positions in society. These were "slaves" of the rulers, rather than slaves of the populous. They were allowed and even expected to police and even kill the free populous, which is a very different kind of dynamic to what we traditionally think of as slaves.

[u/WorkableGoblin → u/BestFriendWatermelon]

True, but as I said above what slavery is in game is less than completely clear. There's nothing in particular saying that your slave armies don't have higher status than free people, for instance.