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[ikachan]

I was just thinking about how we have no choice over what material our foreign weapons are and I thought "what if we could hire them to make it for us with the materials we want?".
Say for example I wanted a silver maul but couldn't find or buy one. My idea was that when the trade caravans do their annual visit to the fortress we should have the option to hire an immigrant from that race. We could arrange that they work in your fortress for a negotiated time (maximum of one year until the caravan returns). I also thought that maybe we could hire mercenaries too and they will fight & train in our fortress. If war was declared on that race then the mercenaries become hostile and the paid workers become slaves (in which case you can keep them as long as you wish). However slaves should have a higher chance of going insane.
When you own an interracial worker or a slave then you have the option to build new workshops to build foreign weapons from your chosen material e.g. owning a human to forge many silver mauls. Only the foreign workers can use the workshops. If an interracial employee dies for any reason their home country will get upset and this may possibly lead to war to fun. We could allow the ability to sell slaves back to the home country or to another race. We could even sell our own dwarves to work at other fortresses for a set amount of time.
A new type of noble could be introduced called a diplomat. The diplomat can leave the map and travel to a chosen race to negotiate peace settlements

[Manveru Taurënér]

Mercenaries and many other types of foreign visitors are planned already, and should hopefully not be too far off in development either as it's set to go in during this development cycle.

"Inns, taverns and dens
   Taverns/inns
      ...
         Fortress guests include hill dwarves, merchants, diplomats, adventurers, mercenaries, bandits, travelers, etc.
      ...
"

Slavery is though as far as I know unthinkable to the dwarven race, and thus not something they'd ever consider doing, but hired foreign workers I'd bet is already planned, although I can't recall seeing it mentioned specifically ^^

[GreatWyrmGold]

You should be able to get slaves once Toady adds playability to goblins and humans.
Another slavey note: They're not free hired hands. Slave rebellions should be a thing once slaves are invented. It would be worse to leave them out than to add minecarts without the ability to ride in them!

[Kazymir]

There's also the "problem" of slaves assimilating into the population, particularly if slaves are permitted to earn or buy their freedom. As it stands now, goblin civilizations are frequently completely comprised of the descendants of slaves they've taken.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Of course, their status as "slaves," while probable, is by no means fully accepted...

[Putnam]

It's against the ethics of dwarves to keep slaves.

Not that that'll prevent their inclusion, but it's kind of a thing.

[GreatWyrmGold]

You should be able to get slaves once Toady adds playability to goblins and humans.

I'm pretty sure this is planned.

[Carp McDwarfEater]

A slave and a prisoner of war are two different things. I know at least in the United States some jails make their inmates work, but slaves are obviously illegal.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Well, I suppose that the "canon" Dwarvish stand on such matters as working POWs depends on the raws' definition of slavery. Work without pay, or selling sentients?

[Escapism]

A slave and a prisoner of war are two different things. I know at least in the United States some jails make their inmates work, but slaves are obviously illegal.

I heard a person likening them to slave encampments, that free labour for the state was the reason behind the very high jail-times etc. in murrika. It doesn't seem to be that far-fetched, with almost 1% of the population being in prison.

[AutomataKittay]

A slave and a prisoner of war are two different things. I know at least in the United States some jails make their inmates work, but slaves are obviously illegal.

I heard a person likening them to slave encampments, that free labour for the state was the reason behind the very high jail-times etc. in murrika. It doesn't seem to be that far-fetched, with almost 1% of the population being in prison.

Pretty hard since there're more and more pressure to not have them work from companies, and not many jail actually does it. Most of the jail overflow's pretty much because of drug-related convinctions last time I looked it up, I might be off by a bit, though.

There're just not that much market for it either, jailed people don't makes for good quality products, nor reputation.

[Owlbread]

I don't see why immigrants couldn't turn up on our doorstep from other races, looking for work, rather than having to buy them via the broker all the time. You could have both. Other fantasy games frequently have multiracial settlements with one particular culture. I would suggest as well that one option for dealing with newly-discovered animal men tribes could be to make an agreement with them that you will feed them and provide protection for them if they agree to fight for you or do physical work. They will then operate autonomously and keep to their own stuff, but they'll do the jobs you've asked them to do. A noble or similar could be appointed to deal with them, a diplomat for instance. Learning their language would be an essential skill for him.

I also remember having a large discussion about this kind of thing in a thread a long time ago. I ended up getting into an argument with someone over how I thought different races could be better at doing different jobs, so tigermen workers may be excellent trackers from their hunting and also excellent warriors for their agility and skills in wrestling/restraining their prey, but something strong like a troll would be superior for hauling. Elves could be very useful animal trainers and rangers, due to their knowledge of animal men languages and such. It would mean that different types of animal men actually differ on a kind of social/cultural level rather than a physical level too.

Here's a story for how this could go. A goblin army has met the Dwarves on the battlefield and are making ready for the great clash of shields and swords. The Dwarves are outnumbered but foolhardy; they do not seem discouraged by the hide and leather clad baying masses before them. The Dwarven general stands atop a small hill, brandishing his  blood-spattered battle axe at the Goblin leader. The Goblin leader deems this to be a show of bravado, and believes the Dwarves to be making a last stand, hoping that their superior troops will hold against the overwhelming numbers of goblins. The goblin general even chuckles to himself, a sound like gas escaping from the mouth of a corpse. He knows he will be victorious.

However, much to his amazement, the Dwarven force begins to slowly advance. They begin to sing monotonously, almost like an incantation or chant. The Dwarven general raises his battle axe into the air, throws up his head to the sky and bellows a command through his flowing beard. The Dwarves break into a charge, battle axes raised, the song becoming a deafening roar. The Goblin general is utterly shocked by this suicidal charge, and bellows his own command to his men. The two forces clash together and the battle is bloody. Severed heads and limbs sail through the air in arcs of gore, goblin and dwarf alike. It remains far closer than the Goblin general realised, with the chances of victory lying in any side's hands. Suddenly, a goblin scout shouts to the general. The general looks. Ten figures on the tree line to his left, dressed in the light armour of the Dwarven culture, but with helmets that seemed to have removeable grates at the mouth area. The figures are several feet taller than any dwarf on the battlefield, and move almost silently. The Dwarven general suddenly gives a high-pitched shriek, rather like a cat. The figures suddenly fall onto all fours. They tear open their mouth grates revealing chops and fangs. They charge at the goblin general and his entourage at a speed he never deemed possible. The goblin general screamed and fell from his beak dog mount as the cheetahmen bore down upon him, tearing at his throat and eyes. As his life blood poured into the soil and he was torn to shreds, he saw his men break rank and retreat. The cheetahman on top of him hissed something to him. A paw with claws extended suddenly slashed across his face, tearing his brains and ending his wretched life.

[ikachan]

You make a good point and to expand on the idea of being better at animal training we could also have it that other races can train new animals that are normally untrainable by dwarves e.g. elves training unicorns or goblins training trolls.

I'v also seen in goblin invasions that often their soldiers can come mounted on all sorts of animals. In the book "The Hobbit" dwarves (and hobbits) only ride ponies because horses are too big for them to ride. So maybe mercenaries could also have the ability to ride different animals e.g. elves riding unicorns or humans riding horses.

Also the only beers we can currently brew are dwarven beers. So interracial workers could have the ability to brew new types of beer.

[Owlbread]

You make a good point and to expand on the idea of being better at animal training we could also have it that other races can train new animals that are normally untrainable by dwarves e.g. elves training unicorns or goblins training trolls.

I'v also seen in goblin invasions that often their soldiers can come mounted on all sorts of animals. In the book "The Hobbit" dwarves (and hobbits) only ride ponies because horses are too big for them to ride. So maybe mercenaries could also have the ability to ride different animals e.g. elves riding unicorns or humans riding horses.

Also the only beers we can currently brew are dwarven beers. So interracial workers could have the ability to brew new types of beer.

Perhaps we could see new things like whiskies and the like. That sounds like a good idea. You also have to consider the benefits of having flying workers/soldiers, and soldiers who can see in the dark.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I am for sensible racial talents. Elves are agile, they're good archers. Trolls are strong, they're good miners. Antmen have minimal personality and will, they rarely go on break and do work faster. I don't want random things, like goblins are bad at weaving, gremlins are good at mechanics, frogmen are good fishers...
Different races should also have drawbacks, also sensible. And then there's the social ramifications, both internal (dwarven haulers see trolls taking their work and grow resentful) and external (the Mountainhomes don't like you as much because you have goblin citizens), especially since dwarves are typically xenophobic.