Good question. That is -- since the stories are set in "our history - plus", of course there are workhouses. The question is what sort of equivalent institution exists in Alpennia. I've never intended Alpennia to be any sort of utopia. It's just a question of whether my viewpoint character have been forced to confront things like this. Of the on-stage (but not viewpoint) characters, the one who's been most outspoken on behalf of working class issues is Akezze. She's cautiously trying to raise Margerit's consciousness a bit.

My viewpoint character in Floodtide will find other options before getting to the point of dealing with workhouses, but you're right that it should be one of the possibilities confronting her. (I'd already pencilled in several of the other options, but not that specific one.)