Servant Race: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[DearS]]'' has the eponymous aliens, who imprint themselves on a master and follow their every whim. They are very [[Genre Savvy]] about it, though. While they try to become servants to humans, they're well aware that slavery is generally looked down upon on Earth, so they hide this while making first contact and go about enslaving themselves to humans very, very discreetly.

* The Abh in the backstory to ''[[Crest of the Stars]]'', and it's a big point in United Mankind's anti-Abh propaganda.

* Furniture is treated like this in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]''. The anti-fantasy reason they are like this is because {{spoiler|their existence is just a figment of their master's imagination. They have no existence outside of the master's mind, and so naturally, they are created only to serve that master}}.

 

* The Alpha Primitives in ''[[The Inhumans]]''.

* The Mole Man's Moloids in ''[[Fantastic Four]]'', created by the Deviants.

* Longshot's people in the ''[[X-Men]]'' canon, created to serve the whims of the [[Starfish Aliens|Spineless Ones]].

 

* Twi'leks from ''[[Star Wars]]''. Although they are exceptions.

* In ''[[The Mole People]]'', the modern descendants of ancient Sumerians have [[Evolutionary Levels|evolved in two different directions]]: pale-skinned humans (with the occasional "Marked One"), and humanoid mole creatures who are incapable of speech and used as slaves. The protagonist refers to it as a "[[Artistic License: Biology|forced degeneration]]", and he and his friend end up [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds|destroying the civilization by unwittingly inciting the mole-men to revolt]].

 

* Most client races in the ''[[Uplift]]'' universe. By galactic custom, client races are "indentured" to the race that uplifted them for 100,000 years, after which they are free to go and do the same to any [[Uplifted Animal|upliftable species]] they run into. Patron species are often quite nasty to their clients. Earthclan—humanity and its clients, chimps and bottlenose dolphins—scandalized traditional galactic society by treating the uplifted species as equals, something only the more liberal clans (such as that of the Tymbrimi) came anything close to.

* ''[[The Sparrow]]'': The Runa are happy to be this to the Jana'ata. Then the humans land on Rakhat…

** In-universe, this is the standard argument for leaving things as they are. Hermione never attacks this premise in a coordinated way, because [[Take That|she went to a trade school and was never taught to do conceptual things like frame a strong logical argument]].

 

* The Jem'Hadar and Vorta of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', though the Vorta aren't so much a Servant Race as a Middle Management Race; in their first appearance it was claimed that their homeworld was annexed by the Dominion, possibly semi-voluntarily, and that many Vorta were not at all happy about this. Given that it was [[The Mole]] saying all this [[Unreliable Narrator|it should probably be taken with a grain of salt]].

** A more reliable recounting of the Vortas' origins suggests they were a primitive tree-dwelling race that the Founders uplifted and genetically enhanced to serve in the non-combat roles of the Dominion.

* The Silicates and I Vitros from ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]''. Both [[Turned Against Their Masters]] - the former in open rebellion, while the latter was eventually the subject of a civil rights movement.

 

* Humans in [[Mesopotamian Mythology]] were created by the gods to be a servant race.

 

* The [[Meaningful Name|Helot]] genetic upgrade from ''[[GURPS]]: Bio-Tech'' produces people that are humble, docile and non-aggressive. [[Blatant Lies|The designers claim this is just to help them function in urban societies.]]

:''GURPS Aliens'' contained a species of, well, aliens who had been genetically-engineered this way some time in the distant past. They are, if anything, more extreme than the Helot upgrades; they can't do much of anything without a master—and the setting makes slavery illegal. (Using servants of this species is tolerated by most governments, but it's considered a major dilemma, and all normal labor laws apply.) The species was abandoned by its masters long ago; the masters left complex instructions for maintaining a society, but eventually changing conditions made the orders inapplicable and many of them simply starved.

* ''[[New Horizon]]'': The Wafans (Wave Form Androids) were created as this. Being sapient and capable of independent thought, this didn't last very long.

 

* Prinnies in ''[[Disgaea]]'', depending on whether you count them as a "race" or not. They're the reincarnated souls of thieves and murderers.

* Several examples in the ''[[Star Control]]'' universe, most clearly the Androsynth who have a [[Sins of Our Fathers|grudge against humanity]] for doing this to them. Also, arguably, {{spoiler|the Ur-Quan themselves, who were genetically modified into two subspecies while enslaved by [[Puppeteer Parasite]]. After their revolt, they modified those puppet masters into subsentience and now keep them on their ships as "Talking Pets" for [[Translator Microbes|translation]]}}.

* The Norns of the ''[[Creatures]]'' series were created by the Shee, an entire race of [[Absent-Minded Professor|absent-minded professors]], to serve...''[[Mundane Utility|tea.]]'' By the time the player gets involved, the Shee have long since left, and the Norns are practically extinct save for a small clutch of eggs. You mission is to rectify this, helping the Norns to survive both the environment [[Artificial Stupidity|and their own remarkable stupidity]]...[[Video Game Cruelty Potential|or ruthlessly torment them for your own twisted amusement.]] It's your choice.

 

* The Ferin of [[Terinu]] were a genetically engineered slave race for the Varn Dominion. The Dominion has also conquered other races for their service, and tried to do it to humanity as well.

* [[The Fair Folk|The Fae]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130227021614/http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00452.html are described as this] in ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' and can also serve as an one example of what happens when a Servant Race loses its masters.

** Cyantians were also briefly a [[Slave Race]] when the Moulin Phedra (more commonly known as "Squids") conquered them a century and a half after the Rumuah went extinct. That time they rebelled.

 

* Neosapiens in ''[[Exo Squad]]'' started out as this before they [[Turned Against Their Masters]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]

[[Category:Race Tropes]]

[[Category:A Slave to the Index]]

[[Category:Tropes of Hats]]