The Characterisation of Annabelle le Roux

Chapter Ten: The Roots of Evil

The Lesser Lord George was a slave, a supreme slave but a slave none-the-less. The Mamlish was a society built upon a strict hierarchy and manners – of course, it did not follow that those at the top of the pyramid had it better than those at the bottom.

In fact, there were checks and balances that worked to make sure that those who were nominally at the top of the Mamlish society did not grow powerful. It was impossible to make any policy decision as a free person. It was impossible to get a position in the government as a free person. The idea behind this was that if you had never been a servant to a person, then you didn't have the skill sets required to be a servant of the people.

Some slaves came from a long line of slaves. Nominally all slaves were eunuchs, because it was thought that if you had children you might serve your family rather than your master. Besides the practice of turning people into eunuchs was recognised as undignified and may require some people to be impolite. In fact, eunuchs were outlawed in one of the early moves by the policymakers.

Now all that was required to be a eunuch was a vow of chastity. A vow of chastity required that the vower vow not to engage in any activity that might be seen as unchaste in a place where they might be caught.

What was seen as unchaste – well it depended on whether the person was free or enslaved. For free people being seen talking to a person that they were not related to was potentially seen as unchaste, but it must be understood that slaves have to go out into the world and would have to interact with a diverse group of people, both free and enslaved. Certainly, the bar was much lower for the enslaved, as befitted their position.

The Lesser Lord George's owner was named Radnor Colt. He works as a weaver in the homeland. Radnor had sent the Lesser Lord George over to Zilby to create find a market that he could see his cotton reams to.

In this, the Lesser Lord George did his job admirably. All schools in Zilby were required to wear school uniforms. All school uniforms were required to be made of the finest cotton. The finest cotton often turned out to be Colt Cotton

Radnor was a kind man, he didn't like to involve himself in the personal lives of those who worked for him., but when he did he extended a kind ear and did whatever he could to relieve the suffering of those he could. He did not distress himself over things that he had little or no control over. He certainly did not go looking for trouble such as bothering himself with the sufferings of those who were under the people who were under him.

Whenever the Lesser Lord George entered a room a caller would call out "Heree, Heree, listen all you can hear. Here comes the honourable, the admirable Lesser Lord George. He comes as the esteemed representative of Radnor Colter and is worthy of the task he attempts to do. He does not consider his own needs first, but always defers to the interest of his master. All you who can hear, listen instead."

The inspiration for the Lesser Lord George came from all the meticulous people in James life. The people who seemed to get all together by planning and organisation. Of particular interest were James's parents Cecil and Cornelia. The two believed in plans and they were always disappointed by the lack of detail in James plan.

"James is always just trying to wing it" Cornelia said when presented with a colour-coded notebook that James had made detailing his activities for the week. "I don't know how he thinks he will get anything done when he has simply put "Play" for three o'clock this afternoon. What will he play, where will he play, what will he wear when he plays"?

"This is how he wears out his better clothes. He has no system of tracking how many times he has worn each pair of underwear, how will he know when he needs to buy a new pair" said Cecil.