Empire's Undead Labor Project

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Empire's Undead Labor Project is the tentative name to describe this work organized by the Baharuth Empire.

Objective

The Baharuth Empire wanted to use the low-tier undead as laborers for farm-work and other purposes along the way. Considering the cost, efficiency, and optimization, the use of undead was chosen for this project over their golem counterpart. For instance, the goal of this project was the strengthening of the Empire’s military might.

Benefits

Deploying the undead to the farms would yield great benefits, like reducing the manpower required from the living. Along the way, it can lead to a price drop for farm produce. Farmlands could also be expanded upon, while injuries and death to humans on the job could be prevented. On the other hand, by leaving the production lines to the undead and freeing up the manpower for other areas, it would eventually lead to a larger pool of people from which excellent knights could be drawn.

Setbacks

One being that the Empire's group of priests opposed this project due to the notion that using the undead which were the manifestation of the hatred of life, was corrupting the souls of the dead. It was noted if the Empire were facing troubles with food shortage, with many dying from famine, it would be easier to persuade them to follow through with the project. However, since the food supply of the Empire was ample enough and there were no problems in terms of laborers as well, the priests felt the project was deemed unnecessary.

Not only that, but the unease of relying on the undead stemmed from the human laborers who are managing job security. They were concerned about whether to place their faiths in the obedience of the undead not trying to act against their control. Also, in places with a large number of undead, the balance between the dead and the living may end up being broken, leading to the creation of even more powerful undead spawning. It was an obvious source of unrest for people who often listened to the religious sermons of the priests.

Trivia

• Although the Empire is conducting the grand project in secret, the priests are aware about it and issued complaints regarding the involvement of undead.
• The newly-founded Sorcerer Kingdom is able to carry out a project similar to the Baharuth Empire's kind without any problems as there being opposition.
• After the Empire became a vassal state under the Sorcerer Kingdom's rule, their army had to join forces with the latter's undead army in the form of integration.