Deathwatches

[darkrosetiger.livejournal.com]

At some point, I'm going to be starting another Keptverse series, and I started wondering....what happens when a master dies? Presumably, you can will your slaves to your heirs, but until the estate is settled, would Commerce want someone in the household to make sure no one tries to run? What do people think?

ETA: To be more specific:

Lord X has been ill for several years, and has been comatose for the past few months. His breathing and heart rate suddenly become very erratic, so his Agent calls the doctor. About two hours later, the monitor flatlines. It's 3 am. What happens next?

Comments

[fae-lie.livejournal.com]

Interesting set of questions for the set-up.

How would Viggo the butler know that the right person has shown up to take possession? Has to be some sort of handover from the professional handling the estate for the master who died (executors can be lawyers, bankers, etc.), so presumably there would be the possibility of someone telling the slaves what is happening - if they thought about it, and cared enough to do it. And even if the slaves could look after themselves in the same house for the interregnum and were trusted to do so, they would still need to be able to shop for food, and so on, without a master to protect them or provide the money. The slaves could have got used to living without much in the way of orders, too....

What were the slaves told by their master about what would happen? (See http://maculategiraffe.livejournal.com/65056.html.)