[B0rsuk]

Interesting stuff there, HoneyBadger. Speaking of other sources of slaves, European rulers avoided Arabs on purpose. The reason: religion ! Islam would unite slaves, they could organize and fight for freedom. Even worse, they might be able to spread the religion.

Now that I've read the book I have an interesting observation. It appears the most intolerant, xenophobic religions are the monotheistic ones. Greeks, Romans* simply added gods to their pantheons, at least until they converted to Christianity. The intolerance granted by monotheistic Christianity and Islam made them strong factors in uniting people (often using very brutal or very devious measures, but that's not the point). Now I'm thinking about modeling these things in a game like Civilization or preferably Master Of Magic. They could make interesting, or at least fresh game mechanics. I would include shamanism (belief in minor, local deities rather than a number of strong global ones a.k.a. polytheism) and atheism.

* Romans and Chinese are good examples of major powers who avoided mixing religion and government. Apparently it can be done.

I was absent so I had no chance to read your PM, HoneyBadger. The good news is the time was well spent, and apparently I've seen a badger, who was cool enough to escape the wheels despite maintaining a leisurely pace.