Life-Service Bond
Life-Service Bond (Omólogo ypiresías zoís, خدمات باند زندگی), a condition of enduring contractual obligation between patron and patronee, estimated at a nominal sum reckoned as the life-debt (chréos zoís, بدهی زندگی) of the supplicant, redeemed in increments by the value of services rendered to the bondholder. Originates in Neo-Babkhan and Raspurid customary practice, subsequently popularised in the Imperial State of Constancia during the reconstruction period after the Second Euran War.
Following Raspurid practice, the recipient of a life-service bond is known as a Kul in recognition of the honour thereby bestowed through meritorious service to a higher purpose. A Kul generally enjoys a position of greater privilege and protection than is afforded to the bandaka class of unfree persons, typically Androphagi or latterly Iterans, who mostly labour as helots and serfs on public farms.
The life-bond is a practice usually encountered only in Raspurid and rural portions of Constancia, as the urban population, comprising mostly of refugees from Vey and the Euranikon province, enjoys - almost without exception - the continuation of previously held citizenship rights.
