Sold to the Highest Bidder

Found here.

Starting out as a fill for the request 'Sex slave AU' on the Hetalia kink meme, this sci-fi/steampunk hybrid quickly sprouted into an astonishing narrative combining twisting interpersonal plotlines with a vivid account of the multiple layers of society within the universe. To quote the author:

"Sci-fi/steampunky AU (minor elements of both, probably more sci-fi than steampunk), where sexual slavery is legal. Nobody's really moral or immoral in this here space opera: England's a pirate stealing freefolk to sell them; the Nordics are gentleman thieves working to free them; Turkey and Greece are buddy cops Federal Agents hot on both trails. France, Spain, the Italies, and Rome are slave bondsperson trainers of varying ethics; Hungary's the legislative power who somehow has to keep them in line. The east Slavics are high-society slave-owners struggling to maintain a nascent empire; the Baltics (plus Poland) are revolutionaries struggling to try and bring it down. Plus, all your favourite sci-fi tropes: screwy alien biology! Multiple habitable worlds in the same solar system! Not explaining ever how their space travel works!"

Although the plot and worldbuilding are good in themselves, the primary draw of this 'fic is the excellent characterisation, which makes many of the plotlines extremely emotionally motivated.

So far the main plot threads are the Nordics-and-Netherlands thread, focused on planning to liberate a still-fighting Belgium; the England-and-Prussia-(and maybe America) thread, focusing on Prussia's promotion from untameable slave to crewmember and the intention to rescue America; the Estonia-and-Russia thread, which mainly deals with politics within the Empire; the Baltics-and-Estonia thread, which has Estonia unwittingly dealing with revolutionaries out to overthrow his owner; the France-and-Canada thread, with France trying to hold on to Canada; the Italy-Germany-America thread, with America going through bondsman conditioning; and finally, Greece and Turkey, trying to chase down the Nordics on embezzlement charges. Needless to say, these plotlines intertwine a lot.

Tropes used in Sold to the Highest Bidder include:

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• Les Yay: Katya and her bondsgirl. They're implied heavily to have sex and love each other enough to be considered married.
• Ho Yay: The Unsinkable and Captain Kirkland oh so much.
• Steampunk Duh.
• Sex Slave in the premise