Protected Persons (Benacian Union)
The Benacian Union, a Humanist state that emerged from the ashes of the Kalirion Fracture and the Republican War, has a unique system of categorising its population, known as the concept of the "Protected Person". This system evolved out of the antique customs and usage of Shirerithian neofeudalism and was first used as a catch-all term for those persons who had been assigned to the Benacian Labour Reserve in lieu of incarceration or capital punishment. However, following the Great Treachery and the subsequent calamities, the practice expanded dramatically, encompassing those who fell outside of society by failing to adhere to the Union Covenant, failing to accrue merit, or being convicted of a felony.
Protected persons are a class of subjects who have been deprived of liberty for the protection of themselves and for the benefit of society as a whole. They are individuals who have been designated as protected persons by the Benacian Censorate, local Cull Commissions, or the Worshipful Guild of the Sacred Carnifices, based on the three principle routes mentioned above. The most common route for becoming a protected person is by failing to accrue merit by induction into one of the Guilds of Benacia or any other public body or corporation. This is often referred to as being a "Subject Without Merit." These individuals, who are typically juveniles at the age of fifteen, are given over to the municipal corporation with responsibility for their bailiwick of residence in order to serve as bondsmen. They are indentured and employed directly by the municipal corporation or else hired out to liveried companies (private corporations chartered with the guilds of Benacia), within the bailiwick. Rented bondsmen receive only provisions of sustenance and shelter sufficient for their basic needs, whilst their notional wages, if hired out, are paid directly to the Hall of Allocations and Appropriations of the bailiwick.
The second route for becoming a protected person is by failing to adhere to the Union Covenant. This can include acts of rebellion, sedition, or other forms of dissent. The third route is through conviction for a felony, with the sentence being commuted to service in the Benacian Labour Reserve. Under these conditions, protected persons are required to perform labour, forgoing any payment in exchange. They do, however, have certain rights, such as the right to sufficient food and sleep for their needs, the right to fair and just punishment, the right of petition to their administrator, and the right of appeal to the Worshipful Guild of the Sacred Carnifices
The phenomenon of the protected person is not uniform across all realms of the Benacian Union. In the aftermath of the Scouring, including periods of famine and sharp economic contraction, and ongoing resistance, up to half the adult population of some bailiwicks of Elluenuueq and the Unified Governorates of Benacia were consigned to the status of protected personhood.
By linking liberties to one's place in the hierarchy, the Benacian Union was able to curb what would otherwise have been uncontrolled flows of migration away from afflicted regions, and prevent the spread of revolts and sedition amongst the populace. The economic utility of maintaining the protected persons within their bailiwicks of residence was most apparent in the benefits accorded to the agricultural sector in having access to seasonal labour during planting and harvesttime. Similarly, the liveried companies concerned with manufacturing and construction benefited measurably from having a reliable resource of unskilled and semi-skilled labour to consistently call upon.
This system of protected persons, however, is not without its complexities and variations. For example, in the former Goldshirean realms of Chryse, Ransenar, and the Sovereign Confederation, the application and treatment of protected persons differs greatly from that in Elluenuueq and the Unified Governorates of Benacia. Chryse, as the capital and a Free City in its own right, is a showcase city for the Benacian Union and as such, the use of protected persons is kept to a minimum in order to present a positive image to the international community. The Sovereign Confederation, meanwhile, maintains cadres of protected persons on a far smaller scale than its counterpart realms in the west, primarily out of ecological and economic necessity, and accords to its remaining subjects the semblance of citizenship rights. Ransenar, having voluntarily sought admission into the Union-State, received generous protections for its former citizenry - seeing the entire population admitted into the Union-State as meritorious subjects, with the enhanced freedoms that entails.
Given the disparities in the scope and treatment of protected persons between the realms of the Union-State, the Fourth Session of the Congress of Chryse (1712 AN) agreed to review the practice and to codify it through a new edict. This edict, known commonly as the Edict on the Status of Protected Persons, outlined the rights and responsibilities of protected persons, as well as the administration and regulation of their labour.
