Thrall Toys - TLO Worldbuilding Art (Patreon)

Toy thralls became popular with human children after the Poison War, and remained so into the 13th century. At the same time, thrall makers were developing their own style of toys for their own children.

Almost all thrall toys made by humans depict thralls in major form, in military or labour context (Fig. 1). Both Savic and Brairi cultures hold that major form is the 'true' form of thralls, with minor being something like a disguise or illusion.

Where examples of minor form toys exist, they show thralls with extremely human characteristics, usually males in military uniform. Mutations and deformities are never seen. The aesthetic choices reflect late-War propaganda and illustrated books, which show the hero's companions as idealised 'good thralls'. The trope excludes the vast majority of thrall bodies such as intersex individuals, those with somatic mutations, and those with an average home form.

Exaggerated claws and teeth (Fig. 1) are standard, as are slit pupils (Fig. 1a, b). This last feature has not been recorded in thralls after the first generation created, and even those records are famously inaccurate, yet human media almost always caricature thrall  pupils as snake-like diamonds.

Human-made thrall toys are mostly produced either by specialist makers (Fig. 1b) or mass-produced in factories (Fig. 1a, c).

By contrast, toys made by thralls for their own children are made by hand, and use any available materials. Charms such as snake-bone (Fig. 2a) and ribbon (Fig. 2b) are sometimes attached for luck. On the South and East war fronts thralls have more time and freedom, and can make more elaborate carved toys (Fig. 2c)

Unlike the major-form toys for humans, thrall-made toys usually depict an intermediate form between minor and major. This might seem strange; while thralls can achieve intermediate shapes in transition they are not comfortable or possible to hold for long periods. However these shapes are popular with thrall children, who can identify both of their own forms in the doll. Most thralls have no preference for one form over the other, and the idea of one form being true and the other false is at odds with their internal experience.

Among thrall groups toys can be passed down for several generations, and sometimes even between cultures. For example it's not uncommon to find toys on the Savic side of the war fronts made of Brairi dyed felt (Fig. 3b).