Dominate

Once you have mastered surviving, and have built your base of operations, next comes dominating the other exiles, converting them to your thralls (if they are npcs) as well as in the future perhaps taming the wild creatures roaming the land.

Thralls:

Here is an overview posted by the devs in their Dev blog #12 explaining the different thralls available to you.   We started in the south with the weaker exiles we came across, but as you move further north or west or east you will encounter npcs with more potential to aid in your growing settlement.

You will need to knock out the npc with a truncheon that you can craft, then press "E" once they go unconscious to attach your fiber bindings (craftable) to their body to drag them back to your camp.  In order to convert them to a thrall which will do your bidding, they must be dragged over to your wheel of pain, fed gruel and turn the wheel of pain on to do the slow conversion to thrall.