I guess it would be balancing that with making characters like… palatable? Obviously a lot of people will end up not being so in a modern lens [those who proactively engage in and encourage slavery, indulge in that trade or the like] but as others have mentioned here there is a pretty easy way to think about it that removes a lot of those reservations for me which is to just write people… as people.
Like in my head, for example, lets say I have a character who is a sculptor, recognized for their talents in their youth they were adopted from a small village on the Western edge of the empire by a Patrician family who sponsored their learning in return. This character’s adoptive family might be actively participating in and encouraging of slavery but they individually could reasonably be against that practice, restricted in their capacity to change things by their father still running the home or by having unsympathetic family.
I think that one concession I need to make for this though is definitely that all the ROs need to be genderlocked, I think I can find a way to manage the MC’s gender [either a similar solution as Blue Samurai / Mulan / Defiled Hearts where they disguise as or pass as male or are assumed male due to working in a field dominated by them / social expectations, writing the character as being a social outcast in other ways like by being a foreigner so usual decorum and law wouldn’t follow them, or perhaps a former slave with no family tethers, or some other alternative] but there is simply too many variables with RO gender too. I think I just need to finish research though to see how I want to approach it at this point since it feels… complicated. The biggest thing for me is how I can approach the story, stay faithful to the culture good and bad but also not make those who play non-male characters feel like they do not get a full experience of the game.
Though I guess one way to simplify these things is, since MC will be older than the typical MC [mid-30s - 40s] to expand the concept of sui iuris to not just those with children but also those above a certain age deemed no longer ‘desirable’ for marriage? And that perhaps a similar principle follows those who denounce their gender by appealing to the cult of Cybele / galli tradition of denouncing gender [the equivalent in the setting to ‘nonbinary’].
Also the post below was just like a first blush draft I accidentally posted when trying to add an edit lol. [It looks like instead of sui iuris I think I meant ius liberorum, apparently the former is a general distinction of a woman having private and financial liberties but still having a legal ‘guardian’ while the latter is for those who bear 3 children [4 if freed] and can basically become fully independent, more research to be done.]
It’s definitely tough to write characters sympathetically when there’s values dissonance, but I do think its possible. Slavery is obviously bad to a modern reader, and I don’t think you need to go out of your way to portray it as wrong. Most people know that it is. You don’t want to glorify it, both because it was a bad thing and because of COG/HG’s publishing standards. But for many people of the past, slavery was a fact of life. Slavery was also different in Rome than it was in America, as Rome for the most part wasn’t partaking in chattel slavery.
People can also hold a mix of contradictory ideas. You can have, for example, a Roman patrician who is extremely generous and fair to the MC, is deeply in love with his wife, and cares for his children, but also owns slaves and holds xenophobic beliefs. Doing this is not inherently glorifying these undesirable traits. It is creating a complex character who is deeply flawed, but also intends well. Trust your audience to know right from wrong, you know?
Good luck on your game. It sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun!
I think context is needed on who exactly the MC is——because it is through their lens will be be seeing this world, both the good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. Now the question is——what do they consider just, and evil?
If they’ve been raised by a noble family who employ slaves and have been taught from birth that that is ‘normal’; even if they believe that it’s not right, they might still believe it to be a ‘necessary evil’, a societal structure that cannot be changed. However if they were instead raised by a poor family, a slave family, or are a foreigner from a culture that doesn’t partake in slavery; those rose-tinted glasses will not be present and the MC can clearly see the atrocities that Rome is committing and can try to change things (or use the current social climate to gain power or achieve their goals)
As for the Emperor character that you are wondering on making him pro-slavery or not, I feel like it could be the crux of his character if done right. Maybe he starts off like that, but the MC can influence him to try and see the evils of slavery and form social reform, if you think you care capable to writing such a plot-line. A piece of advice however, if you go that route, don’t make him go from an evil slave-owner to a ‘good’ slave-owner. There’s no such thing as the latter.
