Have you read David Abraham's Long Price Quartet? I'm only halfway through the third book, so I'm not sure how it's going to turn out, but his viewpoint nation -- the nominal good guys -- is built on magical slavery, and Abraham has the magical slave characters remind you of how much they hate it in every book. (And there's some other nastiness in the culture too, including regular old non-magical slavery, but also a very nasty succession system for the leaders.)
Now, that's not so much an Evil Empire (or any kind of empire, actually) as a Morally Complex Collection Of City-States, which is one reason I'm liking the series. But the Kainate is clearly set up as the protagonist culture, and the rival Galts (who are militarily aggressive, but don't keep magical slaves) as the antagonists.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-10-01 02:06 am (UTC)Now, that's not so much an Evil Empire (or any kind of empire, actually) as a Morally Complex Collection Of City-States, which is one reason I'm liking the series. But the Kainate is clearly set up as the protagonist culture, and the rival Galts (who are militarily aggressive, but don't keep magical slaves) as the antagonists.