Slaves are a very important part of the Lorath Matriarchy economy, and day to day life. Due to the large number of slaves that populate the planet Lor, a control method was devised to control their actions in social environments. The most logical method of controlling a slave would be to influence their nervous system, and a logical location to place such a device would be on the neck of the slave, thus a collar design was made.
The slave collar is intended to be placed on the neck of the subject, due to the large number of nerve clusters, the proximity to the brain, and the fact that all neural activity that takes place below the neck having to be passed through the spinal cord.
The slave collar is often designed like a “choker” piece of jewelry, designed to be kept as skin tight as possible, and in some cases is weaved directly into the flesh of the neck to prevent removal. The external structure of the collar can include various designs for visual ascetics that are placed to please the owner’s tastes. The structure of the collar just below the outer section is comprised of a thin inlay of “Stone Thread” to prevent the breaking of the collar. Below the “stone thread” section of the collar is the processing ring of the unit. The processing ring contains a small processor unit meant to process the requests given to the collar, a bacterial battery pack that is given additional power by a feed of blood from the slave, and a series of heating coils are also placed to be in direct contact to the subject’s flesh.
The slave collar functions in several methods. The primary method is through the use of thin “wires” that are connected to the processor of the collar and passed through the skin and into the spine, brainstem, cerebral cortex, and additional parts of the brain depending on the desires of the slave owner. These “wires” are designed to imitate nerve fibers, and often are installed to become a needed “gateway” for all nerve impulses indicating thought, or intent of the slave to make a conscious muscle movement. Meaning, it can establish direct control and manipulation of a subject's brain. And it can cut off or alter information being sent to the body, or received from the senses. NOTE: These more advanced control features are only available on the “larger”, more visible, models of the slave collar, and not the standard collar.
The secondary function of the collar is to serve as a tracking device to keep track of the slave; this is accomplished by a steady radio and psionic transmission that is able to be picked up by a tracking device used by the slave owner, or the slave owner’s psionic abilities.
The third function of the collar is as a discipline device, this is accomplished by several methods. The discipline functions of the collar include; electrical discipline, heat discipline, neural discipline, and fatal discipline.
Electrical discipline is accomplished by passing strong but regulated electrical impulses through the subject’s spine and into their muscles (except for that vital one, the heart), this causes muscle spasms, loss of bowel control, moderate to severe pain, and unconsciousness when used extensively.
Heat discipline is applied directly to the neck of the slave by the main section of the collar. the heating effect is accomplished by the use of passing electrical energy through the metallic fibers of the collar, and not the parts of the collar that are tied to key parts of the slave, such as the spine and the brain. When the heating effect is used on a low setting, it can cause irritation, scalding, and redness. the effect can also be used to higher settings, including a setting high enough to burn clear through the slave’s neck, to use the fatal heat setting, several safe guards must be disabled.
The neural discipline involves controlled manipulation of the subject’s natural nerve impulses, and adding in un-natural ones. The function of the neural discipline spans from causing minor pains to causing severe involuntary spasms, muscle movements, loss of motor control, forced manipulation of limbs, and the cut off of nerve impulses to various parts of the body, causing numbness or failure of organ function. Safeguards must be disabled for the use of life threatening function of this feature also.
The fatal discipline function is a combination of the three discipline functions. To use any of these fatal functions, a series of safe guards must be disabled. The first safeguard is password that can be entered through a radio transmitter or a psionic command, the second safeguard is a verbal password, and the third safeguard is a simple “yes or no” prompt. During the execution the option of terminating the process is also available.
The fourth function of the collar is as a means of giving a reward to the subject. The reward functions include direct emotional stimulation, the playing of music, stimulation of various senses through neural manipulation, and pain suppression.
The direct emotional stimulation feature is accomplished through the use of a “Neural Stimulant” pack that can be installed on the collar; the neural stimulant pack is then able to directly stimulate the subject’s state of mind through the controlled manipulation of the subject’s neural chemical balances.
The collar includes a small set of speakers; this allows the playing of music as a reward. The music selection can be made by the slave if the owner allows, or the owner can select the piece to be played. This function was included due to the results of various psychological studies carried out by the Psionics house. The research found that slaves were far less likely to attempt to defy their owner if they are comforted through musical stimulation.
The collar can stimulate the senses of the slave through the use of controlled electrical impulses and neural chemical manipulation. The sense stimulation can give false visual impressions, false audio impressions, false tastes, false scents, and false touch sensations. The false touch sensation is often the most useful function; this function is able to reward the subject through false impressions of being physically comforted. (I’ll leave this up to imagination.)
The pain suppression feature is a very important part of the collar’s function, this function allows the slave to be oblivious to physical pain that is inflicted upon their person, and this allows them to work harder with more efficiency with minimal complaints.
Helashio individuals whom are brought into servitude to an individual, or prove to be stubborn during training often are equipped with a collar to maintain control over their actions. The collar that is placed upon the slave often eradicates any gained knowledge or intellectual depth during the slave’s day to day existence. This deletion of memories is often carried out every 72 hours. Memories that may cause malicious intent and ideas are often wiped away within 24 hours. Only the owner, or individuals authorized to do so, may allow a slave to gain extensive memories, complex feelings, or knowledge. The only memories that Helashio slaves are permitted to recall often are their memories pertaining to their training. Often these memories are “refreshed” by the collar to allow for the slave to recall the memories quite vividly.
The device has several levels of installation. A minimal installation places the collar strictly externally except for a series of small “wires” that are placed into the spine to manipulate the subject to a minimal degree. A moderate installation involves a more in depth installation of “wires” deeper into the subject’s nerve system. A full installation involves weaving the collar into the flesh of the subject, and placing “wires” deep into the subject’s brain and nervous system. The minimal procedure can be carried out by an automated function on the collar, the moderate procedure can be carried out by an individual with some medical skill, the bulk of the procedure is automated by the collar though, and the full procedure requires a medical professional to manipulate the tissues of the neck, and the neural tissues involved.
Side effects include emotional trauma during extended use, loss of muscle control when extensive electrical discipline is put into place, burns from the heating coils, dependency when neural stimulation is put into place. In some rare cases side effects include seizures, coma, and death.
Commands are given to the slave collar through the use of radio transmissions that are given from a radio command unit that comes with the collar. Commands can also be given by psionic transmissions. The collar is also able to be programmed to be compatible to verbal commands that must be programmed into the unit by the owner.