Pax Drone

Pax Drones are people from Packilvania who were subjected to the nation's Drone Policy (Debt Relief One). The policy was abolished in 2022. They are distinct from Drones in Paxism which are the spirits of the dead which have assimilated with Noi.

The Drone Policy effectively functioned as a form of a debtors' prison, under which destitute individuals unable to pay a court-ordered judgement - typically to private lending institutions - were incarcerated and subjected to compulsory work regimens, typically in harsh conditions. The product of their labor was used to offset both the costs of their imprisonment and their accrued debt, with some periods of incarceration ranging as high as 21 years. Typically held in large penal colonies in the Packilvanian interior, Pax Drones were used on farms, factories, and construction sites. There have also been instances of Pax Drones being used on Packilvanian-funded projects in foreign countries.

History

Origins

Forced labor has had a consistent and widespread presence throughout the history of the Packilvanian penal system. Convict labor has been used extensively on infrastructure projects throughout the vast nation, and the Demirite dynasty established the first organized penal colonies in the country. These outposts were typically located in remote regions of the Packilvanian interior, and were effectively used to both isolate prisoner populations from the rest of society while also utilizing them to develop and settle sparsely populated areas.

The usage of penal colonies expanded rapidly after the fall of the Demirite dynasty and the rise of the Packilvanian Communist Party, which increasingly subjected both ordinary criminals and political prisoners to the system. The colonies were expected to not only rehabilitate through the supposed joys of socialist labor, but to also support the Communist Party's new economic policies. The Party sought to restructure the Packilvanian economy as an autarky centered around collective farms and mass industrialization. The loss of foreign trade required that entire industries and supply chains now had to be brought onshore, often in a highly inefficient manner. The Party viewed prison populations as a pool of labor that could effectively be forced into low- and semi-skilled positions that now needed to be filled. The penal colonies, once an artifact of the Packilvanian frontier, would now become increasingly integrated into the nation's overall economic structure.

Establishment

Pax Drones as an official policy were established after the Second Packilvanian Civil War by the victorious Bedonite dynasty. The transition away from the communist economic model had brought with it the resurgence of private lending. Access to credit was vital for not only newly privatized former-state entities but also for a recently reestablished and rapidly developing class of small business owners and farmers.

Abolishment and Legacy

(The rest of this is WIP seriously just ignore it)

Pax Drones are legally citizens of Packilvania however they have sold their labour for a period of 7 to 21 years to creditors due to defaulting on debt. According to the Packilvanian government, this policy was designed to enabled poor families to accumulate and protect their wealth even if they have fallen on hard times. Indeed, Packilvania has become one of the wealthiest nations in the world by total assets owned by citizens since the policy was introduced. However, analysts argue that wealth generation in Packilvania has arisen due to economic growth and high stock prices.

Although Pax Drones are regarded as full citizens of Packilvania, sapient rights activists regard the Drone Policy as a form of state-sponsored slavery. The owner or lessor of a Pax Drone's labour can rent, sell, lease or sublease the labour of a drone to others. Pax Drones have no control over whom they work for and what work they are required to do during the period that they are under this system. Furthermore, their rights are circumscribed and their status is reduced to mere property. Their movement and actions are controlled and dictated by their owners including procreation and romance, eating, hygiene etc. Their owners are entitled to use physical force against them in order to discipline them. Despite some laws to protect Drones form excessive force, the reality is that owners are brutal and often kill Drones without consequences.

Pax Drones have been used by the Packilvanian government as mercenaries for hire via various foreign relations programs (refer to Foreign relations of Packilvania for more information). Pax Drones have also been used as farm and factory labour construction, and sanitation workers. Despite prohibitions by Paxism on using Drones for allegedly immoral work such as prostitution, drug trafficking and violent crime, there have been reports of Drones being used in this capacity. As many as 20 million to 100 million people were subjected to this policy at its height. Considerable numbers of Pax Drones exist in foreign nations including nominally democratic societies where their legal status is obfuscated by Packilvanian legal jargon. Free Pacific States hosts the largest community of former Pax Drones outside of the Paxsphere as many of them are asylum seekers and refugees. Some nations have declared the Drone Policy as a crime against sapientkind.