Fiction:Shiyozai

The Shiyozai Republic is a civilization founded by the Khozai, an avian race. The khozai are highly capable synthetic biologists, easily able to create a wide variety of artificial organisms. They consider the creation of artificial organisms to be a form of artistic expression. Because khozai consider biological engineering to be an art form, they have created many types of servants to do various forms of work in their society. These servants, collectively referred to as Shiyoni, are each designed, physically and mentally, for a specific occupation.

Due to their ethical concerns with the prospect of creating a race of forced laborers, they designed their laws to allow anyone to enter or exit their servant class freely, but also designed the Shiyoni’s psychology to ensure that they would always want to be in the servant class, and would always want to perform the sort of work they were designed for.

The Shiyoni are very happy with their lives, and are extremely insulted by anyone who refers to them as slaves. To them, their work is their passion, and they do it because they want to. All of them have unique personalities resulting from the way they were raised, though none of their personalities prevent them from doing their work.

Classes
The Shiyozai Republic’s society is divided into two classes, the servant class, and the master class. In theory, these classes are freely permeable, and anyone can move from one class to another by submitting a request to the Republic’s government. In practice, however, shiyoni who leave the servant class almost immediately return to it, and khozai never leave the master class. As a result the master class consists almost entirely of khozai and the servant class entirely of shiyoni.

The servant class consists of those who are in a specific contract with a member of the master class. This contract entails that the servant must obey and respect the master, and in return, the master must care for the servant, providing them with not only their basic needs, but also the things they need to live fulfilling lives. Because of the shiyoni’s psychology, this usually means giving them opportunities to perform the work they were designed to be passionate about. They must also be given contact with other sapient beings.

It is to be noted that this contract does not entail that the servant is the legal property of the master, but rather, that the master has a title to the servant’s labor. This subtle distinction is of great importance to both the khozai and the shiyoni. It is one of the things that, in their minds, separates what the khozai are doing from true slavery, which they would consider abhorrent.

The Khozai think of their relationship to the Shiyoni in a way analogous to the relationship between a parent and a child. As a result, shiyoni do not reproduce normally, but are created by machines, they are created in an infant-like state and raised by the Khozai who will go on to be their masters, often along with the Khozai’s biological children.

The work of the servant class do virtually all of the unskilled labor in the republic.

Members of the master class do most of the skilled labor in society. They work in administration, politics, and research and development.