Assignment 1: The Gorean Alphabet and Writing in Gorean Style and Method
Assignment 2: The Castes, Colors and Caste Laws of Gor
Assignment 3: First and Second Knowledge
Assignment 4: The values and tendencies of scribes
Assignment 5: Sub Castes of the High Castes
Assignment 6: Lower Castes and their roles in Gorean Society
Assignment 7: Gorean Languages other than Kassar
Assignment 8: Tools of the scribe- what they are and how used
Assignment 9:The specialty areas of a scribe
Assignment 10: Research- discerning what you need to know versus what you can find when needed.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Scribe Course Description and Syllabus
I have prepared a syllabus for a self-study course for apprentice scribes and scribe slaves. It is NOT a series of classes. One does not learn a caste or guild skills from sitting in a lecture. This course is desinged to challenge you to study on your own- research, learn, and practice what you have learned. Think of this in much the same way that a graduate course is handled in a university or college setting on Earth.
There are ten segments to this course. Each has an outline of topics, resources, and targeted subject areas The early segments deal with basics that EVERY scribe needs to know. The latter segments deal with more involvement in areas that are unique to the subcastes.
Each segment will be "passed" by an oral defense of your learning in that area before you may engage in undertaking the next section or segment.
Upon completion of the the tenth segment and its defense, there will be a general defense of all your learning through direct disseration, Q&A and providing examples of your work outside in the RP environment to substantiate your qualifications to become a scribe or scribe slave. An apprentice completing the course will then become a journeyman, and will begin practicing in a particular sub-caste of the blue- those areas being accounting, law, teaching, cartography, chronicling, literary creation and so on.
scribe slaves upon completion will be fully scribe slaves, limited to assisting in the tasks of scribes but not taking full authority for their assigned tasks as will be given by senior scribes or their master's on their behalf.
For those interested in achieving the level of Senior and then Elder Scribe, the path is long and arduous- time consuming and based upon subjective merit of the Elders of the caste. This is the tradition of the scribes. Be aware that scrhibes adhere to the love of knowledge- seeking function over form, efficiency over aesthetics, and work ethics over indulgence and decadence. It is a hard life but has its own intrinsic and intangible rewards.
If you have this love for knowledge, then I encourage you to inquire about this course.
Anzhela Dyrssen, Chief Magistrate and Head of the Blue Caste for Stones of Tumus.
*********************
** SYLLABUS FOLLOWS **
*********************
Syllabus and assignments for scribe training
Introduction:
We will go through several exercises and assignments to provide you with the basics of what you need to become a scirbe or scribe-slave. To begin, we’ll present you with a dissertation of sorts from the books of John Norman, regarding Gorean customs and principles that involve languages. Please study it because it is important for a scribe to have a high level of familiarity with the ways of communicating on Gor.
Gorean Language
Gorean Dialects
Gorean speech is no less complex than that of any of the great natural language communities of the Earth nor are its speakers any the less diverse. It is, incidentally, a beautiful language; it can be as subtle as Greek; as direct as Latin; as expressive as Russian; as rich as English; as forceful as German. To the Goreans it is always, simply, The Language, as though there were no others, and those who do not speak it are regarded immediately as barbarians. This sweet, fierce, liquid speech is the common bond that tends to hold together the Gorean world. It is the common property of the Administrator of Ar, a herdsman beside the Vosk, a peasant from Tor, a scribe from Thentis a metalworker from Tharna, a physician from Cos, a pirate from Port Kar, a warrior from Ko-ro-ba.
{Priest-Kings of Gor ~ 52}
There are several barbarian languages spoken on Gor, usually in more remote areas. Also, some of the dialects of Gorean itself are almost unintelligible. On the other hand, Gorean, in its varieties, serves as the lingua franca of civilized Gor. There are few Goreans who cannot speak it, though with some it is almost a second language. Gorean tends to be rendered more uniform through the minglings and transactions of the great fairs. Too, at certain of these fairs, the caste of scribes, accepted as the arbiters of such matters, stipulate that certain pronounciations and grammatical, formations, and such are to be preferred over others. The Fairs, in their diverse ways, tend to standardize the language, which might otherwise disintegrate into regional variations which, over centuries, might become mutually unintelligible linguistic modalities, in effect and practice, unfortunately, separate languages. The Fairs, and, I think, the will of Priest-Kings, prevents this.
{Beasts of Gor ~ 154}
There are, of course, many languages spoken on Gor, but that language I have called Gorean, in its various dialects, is the lingua franca of the planet. It is spoken most everywhere, except in remote areas. One of these remote areas, of course, is the equatorial interior.
{Explorers of Gor ~ 100}
Salutations
“Tal,” I said to the man, lifting my arm in the common Gorean greeting.
{Outlaw of Gor ~ 70}
In the halls we passed many individuals, who would normally, in Gorean fashion, lift the right hand, palm inward, saying “Tal,” which greeting, in turn, we returned.
{Assassin of Gor ~ 392}
“Tal, Kajirae!” cried one of the men, waving.
{Captive of Gor ~ 87}
Greetings, Ute,” said I, smiling. “Tal, El-in-or,” smiled Ute.
{Captive of Gor ~ 245}
“Greetings Captain,” said Thurnock.
{Hunters of Gor ~ 62}
“The Forkbeard greets you!” shouted Ivar. I blinked. The hall was light. I had not understood it to be so large. At the tables, lifting ale and knives to the Forkbeard were more than a thousand men.
{Mauraders of Gor ~ 194}
“Tal Master,” they said to me.
“Tal Slave Girls,” I said to them.
{Tribesmen of Gor ~ 345}
“Greetings,” said the captain to him.
“Greetings,” said Hurtha. Hurtha was a friendly Alar.
{Mercenaries of Gor ~ 444}
“Greetings Citizen,” said the first of my master’s men.
“Greetings,” said the fellow, before whom I knelt.
{Dancer of Gor ~ 309}
“Hail, Teibar!” called another.
From the latter manner of greeting, I gathered this Teibar might be excellent with the staff, or sword. Such greetings are usually reserved for recognized experts, or champions, at one thing or another. For example, a skilled Kaissa player is sometimes greeted in such a manner. I studied Teibar. I would have suspected his expertise to be with the sword.
{Magicians of Gor ~ 52}
“Then I wish you prosperity,” I laughed, “and will be on my way.”
{Outlaw of Gor ~ 29}
The Gorean phrase of farewell came silently to my lips. “I wish you well.”
{Outlaw of Gor ~ 170}
Gestures
Applause
There was Gorean applause in the room, the striking of the right palm on the left shoulder.
{Rogue of Gor ~ 13}
Applause of Warriors
There was some polite striking of the left shoulder with the right hand in the room, which is a common Gorean applause, though not of the warriors, who clash weapons.
{Raiders of Gor ~ 177}
Blowing a kiss
I blew her a kiss in the Gorean fashion, kissing and gesturing, my fingers at the right side of my mouth, almost vertical, then, with the kiss, brushing gently toward her.
{Marauders of Gor ~ 134}
Salute of a Warrior
Murmillius lifted his blade to me. It was the salute of a Warrior. A Warrior, I thought to myself, he is of the Warriors. I returned the salute.
{Assassin of Gor ~ 349}
Speaking in Third Person
“Who betrayed Ute?” she demanded. I shook my head. Ute's fists were excruciating in my hair.
“Who?” she demanded. I could not speak, so terrified I was. She shook my head viciously.
“Who?” she demanded. “I did,” I cried. “I did!” “Speak as a slave!” demanded Ute.
“El-in-or betrayed Ute!” I cried. “El-in-or betrayed Ute!”
“Worthless slave,” I heard a voice behind me say. I turned, as well as I could, and saw, to my dismay, Rask of Treve. I closed my eyes, sobbing.
{Captive of Gor ~ 287}
Writing
Gorean, I might note, is somewhat similar, and though I speak Gorean fluently,
I find it very difficult to write, largely because of the even-numbered lines which, from my point of view, must be written backwards. Torm, my friend of the Caste of Scribes, never forgave me this and to this day, if he lives, he undoubtedly considers me partly illiterate. As he said, I would never make a Scribe.
“It is simple,” he said. “You just write it forward but in the other direction.”
{Priest Kings of Gor ~ 100}
Archaic Gorean
Initiates do not eat meat, or beans. They are trained in the mysteries of mathematics. They converse among themselves in Archaic Gorean, which is no longer spoken among the people. Their services, too, are conducted in this language. Portions of the services, however, are translated into contemporary Gorean.
{Marauders of Gor ~ 26}
On the other hand, I suspect that they fear too broad a dissemination of the Caste knowledge. Physicians, interestingly, perhaps for a similar reason, tend to keep records in archaic Gorean, which is incomprehensible to most Goreans.
{Magicians of Gor ~ }
Inability to Read
Occasionally heralds, or criers, would pass by, calling out news or announcements. Many on this world, you see, cannot read. Thus the importance of the heralds, the criers, and such. Many things are advertised, too, in such a way, by calling out bargains, the fruits in season, the markets, the cost of cloth, and such. Too, one may hear men, or often boys, for it costs less to hire them, calling out the pleasures of various taverns, and the delights that may be found in within.
{Witness of Gor ~ 37}
This is your first reading and comprehension assignment. Following a little
Validation quiz that will be an “oral” exam of sorts, we will then dealve into the following ten topical assignements::
Assignment 1: The Gorean Alphabet and Writing in Gorean Style and Method
Assignment 2: The Castes, Colors and Caste Laws of Gor
Assignment 3: First and Second Knowledge
Assignment 4: The values and tendencies of scribes
Assignment 5: Sub Castes of the High Castes
Assignment 6: Lower Castes and their roles in Gorean Society
Assignment 7: Gorean Languages other than Kassar
Assignment 8: Tools of the scribe- what they are and how used
Assignment 9:The specialty areas of a scribe
Assignment 10: Research- discerning what you need to know versus what you can find when needed.
A list of url’s will be provided for most lessons to make your research easier.
Each of these assignments will have written work to do, as well as a small oral quiz before moving on to the next lesson.
Please remember that this specialty education is a privilege and is not meant to take away from your first duties as a kajira or from your red-silk training. Those are your priority concerns. You have as much time as you need to complete this training. Do not rush it please.
Welcome to the path to becoming a scribe-slave.
Assignment 2: The Castes, Colors and Caste Laws of Gor
This assignment deals with knowledge of Castes. As a scribe you will need to know a great deal about how Castes function, their codes (or laws) and a certain amount about what they acutally do.
A: List the number (order) and names of the High Castes, along with their colors.
B: List a few (8) of the lower Castes and their colors.
C: Explain what Caste Codes are.
D: For at least 3 of the High Castes, Please give a list of their codes.
E: What is the purpose of Caste and how does one usually become part of a Caste?
F: Where does the Caste of Assassins fit in the Hierarchy of Castes and in Society?
Helful Study Links
http://www.gorean-shores.com/gorhome/caste.html
Assignment 3: First and Second Knowledge
Gor has what is known as First and Second Knowledge. Please write an Essay on this subject. Please touch on the significance and need for these different levels of knowledge in the populace, the tenets of each type of knowledge and the level to which each “knowledge” is guarded if at all. Is there a “third” knowledge and what is it if it exists? . Don’t just say yes or no, but explain the logic and research points that make you think one way or the other. Wordiness won’t help your evaluation in this. Succinct, clear and to the point counts more than 1000 words.
Also explain within the essay the concepts behind much of the myths of Gor and how they relate to similar myths of Earth. This is important in terms of connecting Earth and Gor with the second knowledge.
Helpful Study Links
http://members.aol.com/UbarLuther/Scroll33.html
Learn from this as well, scribe to be- UbarLuther is perhaps the best reference and analysis site regarding Gor that you will find. It is urged that you study his essays, which are many and quite deep in delving into the Goran way of life.
.
Assignment 4: The values and tendencies of scribes
This is where you will learn and research what attributes or characteristics of the scribe are most noteworthy. These are partly a matter of Caste Code as well as parts of general human nature and behavior that attracts people to wanting to become a scribe. Examples of, but not limited to these characteristics or tendencies are “love of learning”, “detailed in their approach to things”, etc. There are no right or wrong answers in the context of this assignment and no fixed number of attributes to be listed. This is a thought exercise and is based on helping you read and analyze not only what a scribe is about, but how you yourself relate to these tenets.
With that in mind, research, cite and give your opinion in an essay, as to what the values of a scribe are, should be, and how they resonate with you.
This is an exercise geared toward self-fulfillment, and as such you are on your own for starting links;
Assignment 5: Sub Castes of the High Castes
While you know by now the High Castes’ names and purpose, along with much of their practices, it’s important to know how the taxonomy of professions works withing a caste. These professions are in effect, sub castes- an example being that Warriors have different functions in their overall profession- and as such you have Tarnsmen who while Warrriors are distinctly different than an Archer/Bowman would be, both in terms of skills, but also in terms of societal value. Choose three High Castes and give at least 4 examples of a subcaste within, explaining why that would be the right categorization along with an short dissertation on the value of that subcaste to society as a whole and its value within the Caste itself. Contrast this with the distinctiveness and narrow definitions of lower castes.
This exercise will help you to understand how Free society on Gor is arranged, and something of the hierarchical nature of professions and contribution to community and global life on Gor.
Helpful Links to start off : http://members.aol.com/UbarLuther/Scroll32.html
Assignment 6: Lower Castes and their roles in Gorean Society
This assignment is again, a research based essay on how Lower Castes function in society. Study the lower castes. Think about how society benefits (or possibly not) from several of these many castes. Contrast and compare at least five or six of them. Consider if any of the lower castes should perhaps be a sub-caste of a High Caste, rather than distinct. Explain why you think there is (or not) an equal amount of pride in being a member of the low caste free, as there is to being High Caste. Why do you think (or not) that there should be a binary division of Castes into high and low? Ist his a real value to Gorean society or is it a form of discrimination. These are your thoughts and not a text exercise. Learning the ways of a scribe are as much wisdon as it is practice, and one should always build toward a feeling of using learning and experience to make themselves knowledgable. Additionally, place yourself as a kajira in this higheracrchy- how does a slave’s role play out in terms of doing many of these tasks that Free of a caste can and do perform? How do you, as a soon to be scribe slave fit in terms of the “Three Pillars of Gor”? Again this is a self-awareness and personal growth opportunity.
Helpful Links to start off: http://www.geocities.com/mistieas/thecastes.html
Also- keep this reference for later- it will help here, and be of great benefit later on. It is an essay from UbarLuther- highly philosophical but will I think, help you compose yourself in thinking through many of the following assignments and ensure your own self-awareness as a scribe-slave in the future - http://www.geocities.com/delphius2002/id140.htm
Assignment 7: Gorean Languages other than Kassar
Beleive it or not, there are other languages on Gor besides Kassar. Even if very similar, there are distinction of speech and unique words that are regional and are reflective of customs. Research the following and provide insight where you can:
Barbaric (not Barbarian as that is commonly used to refer to Earth languages and the people of earth who arrive on Gor) languages of Gor- their names and regions they come from. Give some examples of the common words found there that are different from the Kassar..
Initiates use Archaic or Ancient Gorean extensively. Tell why you think a language that should be extinct by now is still in use by them. What is their purpose in keeping such a dead language surviving.
Dialect Differences- an example, contrast words and phrases from Torvaldsland with that of the Wagon People of the Tahari. Use this as a means to develop your own awareness of how the values and symbology of a region contribute to language.
It is important for a scribe-slave to know and recognize some of these distinctions, because in creating and reading documents, you may be dealing with far flung areas and cultures in your work. Clarity and protocol are necessities in dealing with peoples outside your own culture.
Helpful Links to Start:
http://members.aol.com/UbarLuther/Scroll45.html
Assignment 8: Tools of the scribe- what they are and how used
Here’s a little break from the thought invoking efforts of the last few assignments. Please list all that you can find of what you think comprises the “tools” of the scribe- instruments, materials, along with the accoutrements your reseach makes you think would be necessary, and how they are used. You will find lists of such things.out there, but I suggest before you simply grab any old list, that you think about it, compose your own and then hit the search engine to validate yourself and to get a good start on putting your mind into the task. You’ll find you learn more once you’ve comprised your own list, and then compare it to others- remembering things because you’ll say “oh why didn’t I think of that before”.
So this is a simpler task, but one that can be used to train you to open your mind, first to your own thoughts and then to others. It is the way of a scribe to think for themselves and then alter their opinion, rather than stick to a rigid unalterable list of dogmatic rules.
Assignment 9:The specialty areas of a scribe
Go to the scrolls and find the specialty areas of what a scribe does- these would be things like
Legalist,
Accountant
Record Keepers
Teachers
Magestrates and Praetors
Historians
Geographers and Cartographers
and so forth.
Describe what each does as a function of society, and how they can and should overlap. Think about what common skills are needed to perfrom any role in the list.
Examine each from an external perspective and an internal one, where you describe the role from an objective view, but then look at each one with your heart, much as a slave does with her feelings of submission, and explain what about each area
Helpful Links: http://goreanreference.50megs.com/castes/castescribe.html
Assignment 10: Research- discerning what you need to know versus what you can find when needed
This is important and is an assignment that will go on forever as a scribe-slave. Read the books as much as you can. It is not necessary to learn everything that can be asked of you from them. What is important is to know where to look for answers in the books.
One thing you do need to know however is a variety of laws of Gor. The distinction between laws that are of the homestone and those of Merchant law on Gor for example.
Desribe Merchant Law, and state some of those laws it covers. How is Merchant law determined in contrast wth city law? Why is Merchant law important as a bond between cities?
State some laws that are unique to Freewomen and their behavior within society.
What are capture laws? How do they work within the framework of laws regarding FreeWomen and slaves? How do capture laws and rites work in terms of slavers, raiders, and pirates?
List several significant crimes on Gor that are capital offenses.
Find out how severity of crimes differs from place to place on Gor. For example, what is done to a thief in Port Kar versus what is done to punish a convicted thief in Ar?
You are nearly done with your studies to be certified as a scribe-slave or working apprentice to the caste . All that remains after this assignment is :
An ad-hoc oral examination will be given that will meander around all the topics you’ve studied. You may be asked to speak at some length on a process, or topic that has been covered in your studies. You may be asked a “What would you do if?” kind of question. Don’t be nervous. Scribes and scribe-slaves are almost always a breath away from being asked a detailed, opinionated, educated or wild-rask question that needs to be addressed in a scholarly and composed manner. Your demeanor counts as much as your outright knowledge, and your thinking process counts the most of all.
Good luck!
There are ten segments to this course. Each has an outline of topics, resources, and targeted subject areas The early segments deal with basics that EVERY scribe needs to know. The latter segments deal with more involvement in areas that are unique to the subcastes.
Each segment will be "passed" by an oral defense of your learning in that area before you may engage in undertaking the next section or segment.
Upon completion of the the tenth segment and its defense, there will be a general defense of all your learning through direct disseration, Q&A and providing examples of your work outside in the RP environment to substantiate your qualifications to become a scribe or scribe slave. An apprentice completing the course will then become a journeyman, and will begin practicing in a particular sub-caste of the blue- those areas being accounting, law, teaching, cartography, chronicling, literary creation and so on.
scribe slaves upon completion will be fully scribe slaves, limited to assisting in the tasks of scribes but not taking full authority for their assigned tasks as will be given by senior scribes or their master's on their behalf.
For those interested in achieving the level of Senior and then Elder Scribe, the path is long and arduous- time consuming and based upon subjective merit of the Elders of the caste. This is the tradition of the scribes. Be aware that scrhibes adhere to the love of knowledge- seeking function over form, efficiency over aesthetics, and work ethics over indulgence and decadence. It is a hard life but has its own intrinsic and intangible rewards.
If you have this love for knowledge, then I encourage you to inquire about this course.
Anzhela Dyrssen, Chief Magistrate and Head of the Blue Caste for Stones of Tumus.
*********************
** SYLLABUS FOLLOWS **
*********************
Syllabus and assignments for scribe training
Introduction:
We will go through several exercises and assignments to provide you with the basics of what you need to become a scirbe or scribe-slave. To begin, we’ll present you with a dissertation of sorts from the books of John Norman, regarding Gorean customs and principles that involve languages. Please study it because it is important for a scribe to have a high level of familiarity with the ways of communicating on Gor.
Gorean Language
Gorean Dialects
Gorean speech is no less complex than that of any of the great natural language communities of the Earth nor are its speakers any the less diverse. It is, incidentally, a beautiful language; it can be as subtle as Greek; as direct as Latin; as expressive as Russian; as rich as English; as forceful as German. To the Goreans it is always, simply, The Language, as though there were no others, and those who do not speak it are regarded immediately as barbarians. This sweet, fierce, liquid speech is the common bond that tends to hold together the Gorean world. It is the common property of the Administrator of Ar, a herdsman beside the Vosk, a peasant from Tor, a scribe from Thentis a metalworker from Tharna, a physician from Cos, a pirate from Port Kar, a warrior from Ko-ro-ba.
{Priest-Kings of Gor ~ 52}
There are several barbarian languages spoken on Gor, usually in more remote areas. Also, some of the dialects of Gorean itself are almost unintelligible. On the other hand, Gorean, in its varieties, serves as the lingua franca of civilized Gor. There are few Goreans who cannot speak it, though with some it is almost a second language. Gorean tends to be rendered more uniform through the minglings and transactions of the great fairs. Too, at certain of these fairs, the caste of scribes, accepted as the arbiters of such matters, stipulate that certain pronounciations and grammatical, formations, and such are to be preferred over others. The Fairs, in their diverse ways, tend to standardize the language, which might otherwise disintegrate into regional variations which, over centuries, might become mutually unintelligible linguistic modalities, in effect and practice, unfortunately, separate languages. The Fairs, and, I think, the will of Priest-Kings, prevents this.
{Beasts of Gor ~ 154}
There are, of course, many languages spoken on Gor, but that language I have called Gorean, in its various dialects, is the lingua franca of the planet. It is spoken most everywhere, except in remote areas. One of these remote areas, of course, is the equatorial interior.
{Explorers of Gor ~ 100}
Salutations
“Tal,” I said to the man, lifting my arm in the common Gorean greeting.
{Outlaw of Gor ~ 70}
In the halls we passed many individuals, who would normally, in Gorean fashion, lift the right hand, palm inward, saying “Tal,” which greeting, in turn, we returned.
{Assassin of Gor ~ 392}
“Tal, Kajirae!” cried one of the men, waving.
{Captive of Gor ~ 87}
Greetings, Ute,” said I, smiling. “Tal, El-in-or,” smiled Ute.
{Captive of Gor ~ 245}
“Greetings Captain,” said Thurnock.
{Hunters of Gor ~ 62}
“The Forkbeard greets you!” shouted Ivar. I blinked. The hall was light. I had not understood it to be so large. At the tables, lifting ale and knives to the Forkbeard were more than a thousand men.
{Mauraders of Gor ~ 194}
“Tal Master,” they said to me.
“Tal Slave Girls,” I said to them.
{Tribesmen of Gor ~ 345}
“Greetings,” said the captain to him.
“Greetings,” said Hurtha. Hurtha was a friendly Alar.
{Mercenaries of Gor ~ 444}
“Greetings Citizen,” said the first of my master’s men.
“Greetings,” said the fellow, before whom I knelt.
{Dancer of Gor ~ 309}
“Hail, Teibar!” called another.
From the latter manner of greeting, I gathered this Teibar might be excellent with the staff, or sword. Such greetings are usually reserved for recognized experts, or champions, at one thing or another. For example, a skilled Kaissa player is sometimes greeted in such a manner. I studied Teibar. I would have suspected his expertise to be with the sword.
{Magicians of Gor ~ 52}
“Then I wish you prosperity,” I laughed, “and will be on my way.”
{Outlaw of Gor ~ 29}
The Gorean phrase of farewell came silently to my lips. “I wish you well.”
{Outlaw of Gor ~ 170}
Gestures
Applause
There was Gorean applause in the room, the striking of the right palm on the left shoulder.
{Rogue of Gor ~ 13}
Applause of Warriors
There was some polite striking of the left shoulder with the right hand in the room, which is a common Gorean applause, though not of the warriors, who clash weapons.
{Raiders of Gor ~ 177}
Blowing a kiss
I blew her a kiss in the Gorean fashion, kissing and gesturing, my fingers at the right side of my mouth, almost vertical, then, with the kiss, brushing gently toward her.
{Marauders of Gor ~ 134}
Salute of a Warrior
Murmillius lifted his blade to me. It was the salute of a Warrior. A Warrior, I thought to myself, he is of the Warriors. I returned the salute.
{Assassin of Gor ~ 349}
Speaking in Third Person
“Who betrayed Ute?” she demanded. I shook my head. Ute's fists were excruciating in my hair.
“Who?” she demanded. I could not speak, so terrified I was. She shook my head viciously.
“Who?” she demanded. “I did,” I cried. “I did!” “Speak as a slave!” demanded Ute.
“El-in-or betrayed Ute!” I cried. “El-in-or betrayed Ute!”
“Worthless slave,” I heard a voice behind me say. I turned, as well as I could, and saw, to my dismay, Rask of Treve. I closed my eyes, sobbing.
{Captive of Gor ~ 287}
Writing
Gorean, I might note, is somewhat similar, and though I speak Gorean fluently,
I find it very difficult to write, largely because of the even-numbered lines which, from my point of view, must be written backwards. Torm, my friend of the Caste of Scribes, never forgave me this and to this day, if he lives, he undoubtedly considers me partly illiterate. As he said, I would never make a Scribe.
“It is simple,” he said. “You just write it forward but in the other direction.”
{Priest Kings of Gor ~ 100}
Archaic Gorean
Initiates do not eat meat, or beans. They are trained in the mysteries of mathematics. They converse among themselves in Archaic Gorean, which is no longer spoken among the people. Their services, too, are conducted in this language. Portions of the services, however, are translated into contemporary Gorean.
{Marauders of Gor ~ 26}
On the other hand, I suspect that they fear too broad a dissemination of the Caste knowledge. Physicians, interestingly, perhaps for a similar reason, tend to keep records in archaic Gorean, which is incomprehensible to most Goreans.
{Magicians of Gor ~ }
Inability to Read
Occasionally heralds, or criers, would pass by, calling out news or announcements. Many on this world, you see, cannot read. Thus the importance of the heralds, the criers, and such. Many things are advertised, too, in such a way, by calling out bargains, the fruits in season, the markets, the cost of cloth, and such. Too, one may hear men, or often boys, for it costs less to hire them, calling out the pleasures of various taverns, and the delights that may be found in within.
{Witness of Gor ~ 37}
This is your first reading and comprehension assignment. Following a little
Validation quiz that will be an “oral” exam of sorts, we will then dealve into the following ten topical assignements::
Assignment 1: The Gorean Alphabet and Writing in Gorean Style and Method
Assignment 2: The Castes, Colors and Caste Laws of Gor
Assignment 3: First and Second Knowledge
Assignment 4: The values and tendencies of scribes
Assignment 5: Sub Castes of the High Castes
Assignment 6: Lower Castes and their roles in Gorean Society
Assignment 7: Gorean Languages other than Kassar
Assignment 8: Tools of the scribe- what they are and how used
Assignment 9:The specialty areas of a scribe
Assignment 10: Research- discerning what you need to know versus what you can find when needed.
A list of url’s will be provided for most lessons to make your research easier.
Each of these assignments will have written work to do, as well as a small oral quiz before moving on to the next lesson.
Please remember that this specialty education is a privilege and is not meant to take away from your first duties as a kajira or from your red-silk training. Those are your priority concerns. You have as much time as you need to complete this training. Do not rush it please.
Welcome to the path to becoming a scribe-slave.
Assignment 2: The Castes, Colors and Caste Laws of Gor
This assignment deals with knowledge of Castes. As a scribe you will need to know a great deal about how Castes function, their codes (or laws) and a certain amount about what they acutally do.
A: List the number (order) and names of the High Castes, along with their colors.
B: List a few (8) of the lower Castes and their colors.
C: Explain what Caste Codes are.
D: For at least 3 of the High Castes, Please give a list of their codes.
E: What is the purpose of Caste and how does one usually become part of a Caste?
F: Where does the Caste of Assassins fit in the Hierarchy of Castes and in Society?
Helful Study Links
http://www.gorean-shores.com/gorhome/caste.html
Assignment 3: First and Second Knowledge
Gor has what is known as First and Second Knowledge. Please write an Essay on this subject. Please touch on the significance and need for these different levels of knowledge in the populace, the tenets of each type of knowledge and the level to which each “knowledge” is guarded if at all. Is there a “third” knowledge and what is it if it exists? . Don’t just say yes or no, but explain the logic and research points that make you think one way or the other. Wordiness won’t help your evaluation in this. Succinct, clear and to the point counts more than 1000 words.
Also explain within the essay the concepts behind much of the myths of Gor and how they relate to similar myths of Earth. This is important in terms of connecting Earth and Gor with the second knowledge.
Helpful Study Links
http://members.aol.com/UbarLuther/Scroll33.html
Learn from this as well, scribe to be- UbarLuther is perhaps the best reference and analysis site regarding Gor that you will find. It is urged that you study his essays, which are many and quite deep in delving into the Goran way of life.
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Assignment 4: The values and tendencies of scribes
This is where you will learn and research what attributes or characteristics of the scribe are most noteworthy. These are partly a matter of Caste Code as well as parts of general human nature and behavior that attracts people to wanting to become a scribe. Examples of, but not limited to these characteristics or tendencies are “love of learning”, “detailed in their approach to things”, etc. There are no right or wrong answers in the context of this assignment and no fixed number of attributes to be listed. This is a thought exercise and is based on helping you read and analyze not only what a scribe is about, but how you yourself relate to these tenets.
With that in mind, research, cite and give your opinion in an essay, as to what the values of a scribe are, should be, and how they resonate with you.
This is an exercise geared toward self-fulfillment, and as such you are on your own for starting links;
Assignment 5: Sub Castes of the High Castes
While you know by now the High Castes’ names and purpose, along with much of their practices, it’s important to know how the taxonomy of professions works withing a caste. These professions are in effect, sub castes- an example being that Warriors have different functions in their overall profession- and as such you have Tarnsmen who while Warrriors are distinctly different than an Archer/Bowman would be, both in terms of skills, but also in terms of societal value. Choose three High Castes and give at least 4 examples of a subcaste within, explaining why that would be the right categorization along with an short dissertation on the value of that subcaste to society as a whole and its value within the Caste itself. Contrast this with the distinctiveness and narrow definitions of lower castes.
This exercise will help you to understand how Free society on Gor is arranged, and something of the hierarchical nature of professions and contribution to community and global life on Gor.
Helpful Links to start off : http://members.aol.com/UbarLuther/Scroll32.html
Assignment 6: Lower Castes and their roles in Gorean Society
This assignment is again, a research based essay on how Lower Castes function in society. Study the lower castes. Think about how society benefits (or possibly not) from several of these many castes. Contrast and compare at least five or six of them. Consider if any of the lower castes should perhaps be a sub-caste of a High Caste, rather than distinct. Explain why you think there is (or not) an equal amount of pride in being a member of the low caste free, as there is to being High Caste. Why do you think (or not) that there should be a binary division of Castes into high and low? Ist his a real value to Gorean society or is it a form of discrimination. These are your thoughts and not a text exercise. Learning the ways of a scribe are as much wisdon as it is practice, and one should always build toward a feeling of using learning and experience to make themselves knowledgable. Additionally, place yourself as a kajira in this higheracrchy- how does a slave’s role play out in terms of doing many of these tasks that Free of a caste can and do perform? How do you, as a soon to be scribe slave fit in terms of the “Three Pillars of Gor”? Again this is a self-awareness and personal growth opportunity.
Helpful Links to start off: http://www.geocities.com/mistieas/thecastes.html
Also- keep this reference for later- it will help here, and be of great benefit later on. It is an essay from UbarLuther- highly philosophical but will I think, help you compose yourself in thinking through many of the following assignments and ensure your own self-awareness as a scribe-slave in the future - http://www.geocities.com/delphius2002/id140.htm
Assignment 7: Gorean Languages other than Kassar
Beleive it or not, there are other languages on Gor besides Kassar. Even if very similar, there are distinction of speech and unique words that are regional and are reflective of customs. Research the following and provide insight where you can:
Barbaric (not Barbarian as that is commonly used to refer to Earth languages and the people of earth who arrive on Gor) languages of Gor- their names and regions they come from. Give some examples of the common words found there that are different from the Kassar..
Initiates use Archaic or Ancient Gorean extensively. Tell why you think a language that should be extinct by now is still in use by them. What is their purpose in keeping such a dead language surviving.
Dialect Differences- an example, contrast words and phrases from Torvaldsland with that of the Wagon People of the Tahari. Use this as a means to develop your own awareness of how the values and symbology of a region contribute to language.
It is important for a scribe-slave to know and recognize some of these distinctions, because in creating and reading documents, you may be dealing with far flung areas and cultures in your work. Clarity and protocol are necessities in dealing with peoples outside your own culture.
Helpful Links to Start:
http://members.aol.com/UbarLuther/Scroll45.html
Assignment 8: Tools of the scribe- what they are and how used
Here’s a little break from the thought invoking efforts of the last few assignments. Please list all that you can find of what you think comprises the “tools” of the scribe- instruments, materials, along with the accoutrements your reseach makes you think would be necessary, and how they are used. You will find lists of such things.out there, but I suggest before you simply grab any old list, that you think about it, compose your own and then hit the search engine to validate yourself and to get a good start on putting your mind into the task. You’ll find you learn more once you’ve comprised your own list, and then compare it to others- remembering things because you’ll say “oh why didn’t I think of that before”.
So this is a simpler task, but one that can be used to train you to open your mind, first to your own thoughts and then to others. It is the way of a scribe to think for themselves and then alter their opinion, rather than stick to a rigid unalterable list of dogmatic rules.
Assignment 9:The specialty areas of a scribe
Go to the scrolls and find the specialty areas of what a scribe does- these would be things like
Legalist,
Accountant
Record Keepers
Teachers
Magestrates and Praetors
Historians
Geographers and Cartographers
and so forth.
Describe what each does as a function of society, and how they can and should overlap. Think about what common skills are needed to perfrom any role in the list.
Examine each from an external perspective and an internal one, where you describe the role from an objective view, but then look at each one with your heart, much as a slave does with her feelings of submission, and explain what about each area
Helpful Links: http://goreanreference.50megs.com/castes/castescribe.html
Assignment 10: Research- discerning what you need to know versus what you can find when needed
This is important and is an assignment that will go on forever as a scribe-slave. Read the books as much as you can. It is not necessary to learn everything that can be asked of you from them. What is important is to know where to look for answers in the books.
One thing you do need to know however is a variety of laws of Gor. The distinction between laws that are of the homestone and those of Merchant law on Gor for example.
Desribe Merchant Law, and state some of those laws it covers. How is Merchant law determined in contrast wth city law? Why is Merchant law important as a bond between cities?
State some laws that are unique to Freewomen and their behavior within society.
What are capture laws? How do they work within the framework of laws regarding FreeWomen and slaves? How do capture laws and rites work in terms of slavers, raiders, and pirates?
List several significant crimes on Gor that are capital offenses.
Find out how severity of crimes differs from place to place on Gor. For example, what is done to a thief in Port Kar versus what is done to punish a convicted thief in Ar?
You are nearly done with your studies to be certified as a scribe-slave or working apprentice to the caste . All that remains after this assignment is :
An ad-hoc oral examination will be given that will meander around all the topics you’ve studied. You may be asked to speak at some length on a process, or topic that has been covered in your studies. You may be asked a “What would you do if?” kind of question. Don’t be nervous. Scribes and scribe-slaves are almost always a breath away from being asked a detailed, opinionated, educated or wild-rask question that needs to be addressed in a scholarly and composed manner. Your demeanor counts as much as your outright knowledge, and your thinking process counts the most of all.
Good luck!
10 - Research What You Need to Know Versus What You Find When Need
THE LAWS
1. "There is a saying on Gor that the laws of a city extend no further than its walls." (Outlaw of Gor, p.50) This is one of the most basic principles of Gorean law yet it is more a generality than an absolute. For the most part, once you step outside the walls of a city, their city laws will no longer apply and the city will not protect you. But, there are exceptions to this rule. First, many cities claim do sovereignty over the lands surrounding their city. They may try to enforce their will upon the surrounding terrain. Tarn, tharlarion or infantry patrols often monitor the tenuous borders of a city's claimed territory and either question, detain or kill non-citizens trying to enter their lands. That is only as effective as the strength of the city's military forces. Second, there are certain locations located outside a city over which a city exercises full legal control, such as a banner keep. A banner keep is a Merchant Keep owned by a specific city, and governed by that city's laws. Third, Merchant Law exists, that set of common laws that binds many of the cities of Gor. Merchant Law extends past city walls, protecting commerce.
2. To make a claim as to unowned land outside of a city, you must place a yellow stake of claimancy into the ground during the morning. You must then wait by that stake and protect that land until sunset. At that time then, the land becomes yours and you may lay your Home Stone there.
3. The theft of a Home Stone may be one of the most heinous crimes that exists on Gor. This should not be surprising considering the Gorean beliefs concerning the importance of the Home Stone. Theft of such is commonly punished by extreme torture followed by death in boiling oil. Despite this, the theft of a enemy's Home Stone is also considered the greatest of glories, showing that the thief is favored by the Priest-Kings.
4. A person might be slain for not standing when speaking of his own Home Stone. It is unknown whether this is by law, Caste Code or simply custom. There is no description of the circumstances when this may be applicable either.
5. Only members of the High Castes may be elected to the High Council of a city. Each of the five High Castes votes for their own representatives on the High Council.
6. Only members of the High Castes may vote to elect a city's Administrator or to appoint a Ubar. Low Castes do not possess any voting rights.
7. There is a question as to whether free women may be members of the High Council and whether free women of the High Castes are permitted to vote. This is likely an issue decided on a city by city basis. There is some confusion because of a statement that seems to imply women are not permitted to vote. "Whereas it is only the men of high caste who elect members to the Council of the City,…" (Assassin of Gor, p.16) It is unclear whether "men" in this context refers solely to the male gender or whether it is used in a more generic sense to indicate all within the High Castes. But, as women are permitted to occupy the highest political position in a city, that of ruler, then it makes little sense why they couldn't occupy a lesser political position, such as being on a High Council or why they could not vote.
8. It is illegal to take a map of a city out of that city. It is also illegal for a non-citizen to make their own map of a city. As many city streets do not possess set names, it can be difficult for visitors to find their way around in a city. This can be an added defense mechanism, preventing invading armies from easily moving through a city toward intended targets.
9. In the high cities of Gor, the length of each Ahn during a day are all of the same duration. In other cities, they divide a day into ten Ahn during the daytime and ten at nighttime. Thus, the length of each Ahn will vary by season though the day is the same length. Thus in summer, daytime Ahn are longer than nighttime Ahn.
10. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right, and thus you must actively apply for it as well as continue to earn it throughout your life. "Citizenship, or its retention, on other than a nominal basis, in some cities, is contingent on such things as attending public ceremonies, such as an official semi-annual taking of auspices, and participating in numerous public assemblies, some of which are called on short notice." (Dancer of Gor, p.302-303)
11. "Citizenship in most Gorean communities is not something accrued in virtue of the accident of birth but earned in virtue of intent and application." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.394) Upon reaching your intellectual majority, you must perform the citizenship ceremony. The specifics of the ceremony will vary from city to city. In some cities, there may be a requirement that other citizens, non-blood relations, must vouch for you. In other places, you might be questioned by a committee of citizens to determine your worthiness for citizenship. The oath of allegiance may involve the touching or kissing of the Home Stone, the swearing of oaths, and maybe even the sharing of bread, fire and salt. A laurel wreath and mantle of citizenship may then be conferred upon the new citizen.
12. The nonperformance of the citizenship ceremony, within one year of reaching your intellectual majority, is punishable by expulsion from the city. This applies only to those individuals born within the city or born to citizens of the city. "The rationale seems to be that the community has a right to expect allegiance from its members." (Vagabonds of Gor, p.303)
13. Though reference is made to the age of intellectual majority, no specific age is ever provided. From circumstantial evidence in the books, the highest probability seems to be that it is fifteen years old.
14. You can renounce your existing citizenship and acquire citizenship in another city. Obviously, you must be accepted by this other city as a citizen, meeting all prerequisites that are in place.
15. One of the benefits of citizenship is that it provides some protection against foreign creditors. It is unknown whether this area is covered by Merchant Law or not.
16. The oath of disownment is a part of the Warrior Caste Codes as well as the rites of a city. In this irreversible ceremony, a family member is disowned. That family member loses all connection to their family, as well as losing their Caste. It appears that this oath is taken according to the Warrior Caste Codes by swearing upon the hilt of your sword. It is unknown how it is done according to city rites. The Ubar of a city took the oath on the medallion of his city. A common citizen would obviously need to use something else for such an oath.
17. Every citizen must journey, at least once, to the Sardar Mountains before they are twenty-five years old. The Initiate Caste monitors who goes and who does not. The Initiates also teach that misfortunes will strike a city if their youth try to avoid this sacred obligation. Sometimes the Initiate Caste will ask a person to make the journey at a specific time. In some cities and islands, such as Teletus, your family will receive a gold tarn disk if you make the journey when the Initiates request it.
18. "A man who refused to practice his livelihood or strove to alter status without the consent of the Council of High Castes was, by definition, an outlaw and subject to impalement." (Tarnsman of Gor, p.46) Outlaws lose all connection to their Home Stone and Caste, a terrible fate for a Gorean. They must live in the wilderness, struggling to survive. Few Goreans envy the fate of an outlaw.
19. Each city determines which Castes and subcastes will be legally recognized. They will also determine which Caste will be recognized as High Castes. For example, there may be cities where the Merchants Caste, normally a Low Caste, is legally recognized as a High Caste.
20. There is a crime of "attempting to deceive with respect to caste." This encompasses such actions as engaging in business under false pretenses and claiming explicitly to be of a caste other than your own. Such deceptions most often occur when people pretend to be Physicians. This crime does not apply to all actions that are part of a Caste's primary focus. For example, anyone, and not just a member of the Slaver's Caste, can legally sell a slave. But, that same person cannot claim to be a member of the Slaver's Caste if he is not.
21. It is legally permissible to change one's Caste though most Goreans would not willingly change their Caste, being proud of their Caste no matter how low it might be. In a Free Companionship, the woman can take the Caste of the man though the man cannot do the same. Otherwise to change caste, the High Council of the city must approve the change, based on your qualifications for the new caste and the willingness of the new caste to accept you.
22. Women in the Physician's Caste cannot engage in the full practice of medicine until they have first bore two children. In many cities, at age fifteen, women of the Physician's Caste will place two bracelets on their left wrist. One is then removed for each child that she bears. When both bracelets are removed, she can then engage in the full practice of medicine.
23. It is a capital offense for a locksmith, usually a member of the Metal Workers, to make an unauthorized copy of a key.
24. A Free Companionship, the Gorean form of marriage, lasts for a single year. If it is not renewed by the twentieth Ahn of the anniversary date, it will automatically dissolve.
25. A Free Companionship will dissolve earlier than one year if one of the parties is either enslaved or dies. The books do not state if the contract can be legally dissolved prior to the year end if the parties so agree. It seems likely most Goreans would simply wait out the year.
26. A woman does not change her name in a Free Companionship.
27. The "gens" name is the clan name (derived from an ancient Roman term). The gens can only pass through the male line. Females can keep their gens in a Free Companionship, if it is part of their contract, but they can never pass on the gens.
28. A person may have only one Free Companion at a time. In the equatorial jungles, men may possess multiple companions. For example, Bila Huruma possessed over two hundred companions.
29. Port Kar does not recognize the institution of Free Companionship. Free women in that city are simply known as the women of their men.
30. Many cities have at least one Sun Gate, a primary gate that is only open from dawn to dusk. Once dusk arrives, the gate is closed and it is very unlikely that it will be opened during the night. Most cities will have a special night gate that allows citizens to enter and leave the city at night.
31. Anyone who enters a city without permission is punishable by impalement. "Pikes on the walls of Gorean cities are often surmounted with the remains of unwelcome guests." (Outlaw of Gor, p.49)
32. All outlaws are forbidden entrance into the city and subject to impalement. Panther girls and talunas are considered outlaws.
33. Assassins, when bearing the mark of the black dagger on their forehead, are permitted entrance into a city without interference.
34. Members of the Castes of Players, Poets, Musicians and Singers may freely enter any city.
35. Heralds, bearing a gold slash on the left temple of their helmet or headgear, are immune from interference by any within a city. This is a form of diplomatic immunity.
36. Ambassadors possess the same diplomatic immunity as heralds.
37. Patents, which cover inventions, and copyrights, which cover written materials, are available in a city but their power extends only as far as the city wall. Merchant Law has been unsuccessful in introducing such on a more global scale. Thus, many craftsmen and manufacturers keep their formulas and plans in cipher to protect them from theft and unauthorized copying.
38. Forgery of an official city seal on mercantile products is illegal. This is to help protect the integrity of official city products.
39. Each city commonly holds a Merchant's Foot and Stone and these are available for the city's Merchants to verify their own personal measuring devices. Any Merchant found to be using a deceptive Foot or Stone will be punished.
40. For legal and commercial purposes, certain letters have been standardized. These would include those representing weights and measures, as well as the "kef."
41. Instruments of debt can be transferred, usually for some discounted amount, and the transferee can then attempt to collect on the face value of the instruments. Bounty creditors often avail themselves of this opportunity.
42. Shaving, clipping, cutting or slicing off metal from any coin is considered to be theft and fraud. This debases the value of the coin.
43. Crests, signs and family emblems can be registered and their use will be legally restricted.
44. Robes of concealment and veils may or may not be required by law for free women. In some cities, such as Ar and Ar's Station, it is only custom while in others it is actual law. In some cities, an unveiled free woman is susceptible to being taken into custody by guardsmen, then to be veiled, by force if necessary. Repeated offenses can even lead to enslavement. Even where it is only custom, it is strongly recommended that all free women wear robes and veils in public.
45. In cities where robes and veils for free women are not legally mandatory, there are other pertinent laws restricting how much bare skin a free woman may show. If too much skin is shown, then the woman is subject to possible enslavement. "If you would be stripped as a slave, then be a slave, it is said." (Dancer of Gor, p.157)
46. Face stripping a free woman, forcefully removing her veils against her will, is a serious crime.
47. In some cities, it is a crime to bring pleasure silk in contact with the flesh of a free woman. It is considered to be too exciting and sensuous.
48. Free women are rarely, if ever, permitted to play Kaissa. It also does not appear that women may belong to the Caste of Players.
49. Weapons are not prohibited from being carried into an Initiate's temple.
50. Non-Initiates may not enter the sanctuary area of an Initiate's temple unless they have received the chrism of temporary permission. This is considered to be an inferior annointing and of temporary efficacy.
51. Insulae, tenements, may be constructed no higher in a city than a certain height. That height restriction will vary from city to city.
52. By law, the central waste vat in all insulae must remain covered at all times.
53. Any person apprehended wearing or possessing a tunic that is lined with a different color, which could be turned inside out to alter one's identity, is subject to possible impalement.
54. Dar-Kosis is a dreaded and highly contagious disease without a cure. Dar?kosis is considered to be a holy and it is considered heresy to shed their blood though they can be stoned. It is also considered heresy to try to seek a cure for this disease. It is unknown if this has been enacted as a law in any Gorean city.
55. "Those who contract the disease are regarded by law as dead." (Assassin of Gor, p.266) Thus, a person who contracts Dar-Kosis will lose all of their possessions, which shall then pass either by will or by the intestate laws.
56. Thievery is illegal and harshly punished. In most cities, a first offense is punished by an ear notching. Penalties for subsequent offenses will vary by city and gender. In most cities, a free women found guilty of a second offense is enslaved. If a free man is found guilty of a second offense, he often will lose one of his hands. For a third offense, a man might lose his other hand, or in some jurisdictions, his other hand and both feet.
57. There is a Caste of Thieves in Port Kar, the only one of its type on Gor. Thievery is still illegal in Port Kar, though the penalties are different. It is legal to slay a male thief, or enslave a female thief, if the thief is caught within one Ahn of the theft. Once an Ahn has passed though, then the thief must be handed over to the Arsenal police for a hearing or trial. If then found guilty, a male thief will be sentenced to hard labor in the Arsenal or on the wharves for a period ranging from one week to one year. A female thief would be sentenced to serve in a penal brothel for a period ranging from one week to one year.
58. There is a method of dispute resolution called the "rite of knives." Unfortunately, there is little information on its application. It is essentially a fight to the death and is used in place of a trial. The fight may be just with daggers. As it is called a rite, it may not have any true legal effect but may instead be an ancient custom. This might even be a part of the Warrior Code. We do know though that a freed Panther Girl asked to participate in this rite against another woman. Tarl Cabot granted her request. Thus, this rite apparently may include female participation.
59. Adoption is legally practiced on Gor.
60. Forest fires are considered to be terrible disasters and the penalty for anyone who starts such a fire is to be burnt alive.
61. It is illegal to smuggle the beans used to make black wine out of the territory of Thentis. These beans are only grown within the territory of Thentis.
62. It is the right of all people, free and slave, to receive the Stabilization Serums, the Gorean life extension treatment. This may be one of the only rights that a slave possesses. It is unknown whether a slave owner could deny the Serums to his own slave, though there would seem to be little reason for such a denial.
Slavery Issues
63. By law, the Slaver's Caste is a subcaste of the Merchant's Caste. The Slaver Caste though often prefers to consider themselves a separate Caste. It is unknown whether this determination is part of Merchant Law or not.
64. Any person, male or female, is subject to potential enslavement. Though women are more likely to be enslaved, men can still be enslaved through capture or legal process. Women are about ten times more likely to be enslaved than men.
65. There are two basic legal statuses on Gor: free and slave. Unless you are legally owned, then you are considered technically free, even if you are a prisoner, captive or outlaw. As a free person, you possess legal rights that slaves do not possess.
66. According to Merchant Law, a person is considered to be a prisoner and not a slave, as long as they have not been branded, collared or performed a gesture of submission.
67. Legally, slaves are considered property, on the same level as domestic animals. Their owner may do anything they wish to them without repercussion. An owner can even mutilate or kill his own slave with impunity. Their power over their own slave is absolute.
68. Slaves may not own anything. Even though they may use goods, they do not own them. Such items remain the property of the slave's owner. No matter what gifts a slave may receive, they cannot own such gifts. Those gifts too would belong to the slave's owner.
69. A slave does not even own their own name. Their owner can change their name at will, and as often as they desire. "Indeed, from the Gorean's point of view, one of the most fearful things about slavery is that one loses one's name. That name which he has had from birth, by which he has called himself and knows himself, that name which is so much a part of his own conception of himself, of his own true and most intimate identity, is suddenly gone." (Outlaw of Gor, p.197)
70. No Player, Musician, Poet or Singer Caste member may be enslaved within a city's limits. This does not mean they are immune from prosecution from violating city law. They can still be arrested, imprisoned, tortured and executed. They are simply immune from enslavement. "There is a saying to the effect that he who makes music must, like the tarn and the Vosk gull, be free." (Kajira of Gor, p.298)
71. The institution of the capture of women is honored by most cities, provided the women captured belong to an enemy. The subject of "capture rights" pertains to all forms of property, including slaves. Active possession is regarded as crucial by the law. Thus, theft and capture will confer certain rights over the property.
72. A slave must fully serve anyone who possesses her, even a thief or captor. If the slave attempts to run away from her thief or captor, she will be deemed to be a runaway. Free women are permitted to escape from a captor as long as they have not yet been enslaved. The point of this law is to maintain slaves in a state of bondage while also encouraging men to be bold. "The average man of this world would no more think of stealing a slave within his own city, or a host city, one which has extended the courtesy of its walls, than he would of any other act of illicit and dishonorable brigandage." (Witness of Gor, p.497)
73. If a lost, stolen or runaway slave is taken by another person, the original owner has only one week to regain his property before legal title passes to the new owner. The slave remains the property of the original owner only for that one week if he does not regain possession. This likely refers to a Gorean week, which is only five days long.
74. A person who is found to possess a stolen slave might not be convicted or any crime if they are truly ignorant of fact that the slave was stolen.
75. If a captured free woman submits to her captor, she will become his slave. "It had been within the context of his capture rights that she had, as a free woman, of her own free will, pronounced upon herself a formula of enslavement. Automatically then, in virtue of the context, she became his. The law is clear on this. The matter is more subtle when the woman is not within a context of capture rights." (Players of Gor, p.21)
76. A free woman who submits to a particular man, when there is no capture involved, may or may not become a slave. This will be dependent upon city law. "The matter is more subtle when the woman is not within a context of capture rights. Here the matter differs from city to city. In some cities, a woman may not, with legal recognition, submit herself to a specific man as a slave, for in those cities that is interpreted as placing at least a temporary qualification on the condition of slavery which condition, once entered into, all cities agree, is absolute. In such cities, then, the woman makes herself a slave, unconditionally. It is then up to the man in question whether or not he will accept her as his slave. In this matter he will do as he pleases. In any event, she is by then a slave, and only that." (Players of Gor, p.21)
77. "In other cities, and in most cities, on the other hand, a free woman, may, with legal tolerance, submit herself as a slave to a specific man. If he refuses her, she is then still free. If he accepts her, she is then, categorically, a slave, and he may do with her as he pleases, even selling her or giving her away, or slaying her, if he wishes." (Players of Gor, p.21)
78. In some cities, a free woman who kneels before a man or addresses him as Master effects legal imbondment on herself. Such actions are considered to be gestures of submission.
79. A free woman can sell herself into slavery. But, once the sale is complete, the woman cannot then revoke it.
80. "Any free woman who couches with another's slave, or readies herself to couch with another's slave, becomes herself a slave, and the slave of the slave's master." (Magicians of Gor, p.7) This is known as the "couching law" and exists in Ar, though it may have been adopted by other cities as well. There are clearly though some cities, like Vonda, that do not have such a law because reference is made to free women freely lending their male slaves to a female guest. The couching law does not prevent a woman from having sex with a slave she owns. It is important to note that a violation can occur even though actual sex never occurs. Simply preparing to have sex is sufficient. "By such an act, the couching with, or readying herself to couch with, a slave, as though she might be a girl of the slave's master, thrown to the slave, she shows herself as no more than a slave, and in this act, in law, becomes a slave." (Magicians of Gor, p.303); . Special seduction slaves are used by some slave owners to trap free women. Milo, from Magicians of Gor, is a prime example of a seduction slave. His owner, Appanius, used Milo to entrap numerous free women. Tarl Cabot would also use Milo to entrap Talena and enslave her.
81. If a father cannot pay his debts, his daughter will become a slave of the state. She will then be put up for sale at a public auction. The proceeds of her sale will be used to equitably satisfy her father's creditors.
82. A free woman who cannot pay her own debts will be enslaved. Under the redemption laws, a person can pay the woman's debts and thus claim ownership of her. That owner could free the woman if he so desired, or keep her as a slave. If no one redeems a female debtor within a certain time period, not specified in the books, she will then be sold to Slavers.
83. There is no law that states a man may enslave a free woman of his Home Stone because she has insulted or disrespected him.
84. Free women may be legally enslaved if they engage in "conduct indicating suitability for the collar." "The principle he had alluded to pertains to conduct in a free woman which is taken as sufficient to warrant her reduction to slavery. The most common application of this principle occurs in areas such as fraud and theft. Other applications may occur, for example, in cases of indigency and vagrancy. Prostitution, rare on Gor because of female slaves, is another case. The women are taken, enslaved, cleaned up and controlled. Indulgence in sensuous dance is another case. Sensuous dance is almost always performed by slaves on Gor. A free woman who performs such dancing publicly is almost begging for the collar. In some cities the sentence of bondage is mandatory for such a woman." (Renegades of Gor, p.372). Other actions can qualify as well. "In many cities, such actions, attempting to spy on masters and slaves, disguising oneself as a slave, garbing oneself as a slave, even in the supposed secrey of one's own compartments, lingering about slave shelves and markets, even exhibiting an interest in, or fascination with, bondage, can result in a reduction to bondage. The theory is apparently that such actions and interests are those of a slave, and that the female who exhibits them should, accordingly, be imbonded." (Magicians of Gor, p.50) Even wearing slave beads could be a reason for enslavement. This principle only deals with actions and not thoughts. "Conduct indicating suitability for the collar, of course, can be interpreted in various ways, and more broadly and narrowly. It is almost always understood, of course, fortunately for women, and as I suppose the phrase itself makes clear, in the special legal sense of the phrase, as having to do with overt behavior rather than psychological predispositions and such." (Renegades of Gor, p.372)
85. It is illegal for a person on their own to collar a free woman for "conduct indicating suitability for the collar." Free women who may have violated this legal principle must be brought before a magistrate or judge for a legal determination as to whether there has been a violation sufficient to warrant a reduction to slavery.
86. Earth girls do not have a Home Stone so there are no legalities that prevent their capture and enslavement.
87. A free woman may do a form of limited self-contracting where she legally becomes a slave for a specific time period, commonly ranging from one night to one year. She cannot end this contract earlier than the specified time period. Once the contract takes effect, she becomes a slave with no legal powers at all. This curious contractual arrangement is not described in great detail. It raises numerous legal dilemmas that can only be speculated about. The books do not state that the contract covers any contigencies or limits the slavery in any way. The woman becomes an actual slave. That would seem to mean she could be freely killed. What would happen is she was sold? Does the contract prevent that? Would the time period still apply if she was sold? What would happen if she was stolen? This passage seems to raise far more questions than it answers.
88. "And yet it was not a strange thing, particularly not on Gor, where bravery is highly esteemed and to save a female's life is in effect to win title to it, for it is the option of a Gorean male to enslave any woman whose life he has saved, a right which is seldom denied even by the citizens of the girl's city or her family. Indeed, there have been cases in which a girl's brothers have had her clad as a slave, bound in slave bracelets, and handed over to her rescuer, in order that the honor of the family and her city not be besmirched." (Priest-Kings of Gor, p.161) It is unknown whether this is codified in city law or whether it simply exists as custom.
89. "The collar, by Gorean law, cancelled the past." When a person is enslaved, they begin a new life as a slave and may not be held accountable for any crimes that occurred while they were free.
90. The property of a person who is enslaved will be transferred to the nearest male relative or the nearest relative if no male exists, or to the city, or a guardian. Even if the slave is later freed, their property cannot ever be recovered.
91. A child, born of a slave, becomes a slave and belongs to the mother's owner. The key to this law is the status of the mother at the time of birth, not conception.
92. By the law of Tharna, a person conceived by a free person on another free person is a free person, even if later carried and borne by a slave. Thus, slaves would often be temporarily freed for the purpose of conception and then reenslaved afterwards.
93. By recommendation of Merchant Law, there are three standard marking places for brands, on the left thigh, right thigh, and lower left abdomen. Slaves though may be branded on any part of their body.
94. It is illegal to sell a slave, without the owner's permission, that is not your own. The penalty varies according to the gender of the seller. If the seller is a man, the penalty is exile, and if the seller is a woman, the penalty is enslavement.
95. It is illegal to offer an unbranded slave in a public sale.
96. It is illegal to sell a slave as auburn haired if she is truly not so.
97. It is a felony to forge or falsify pedigree papers on any slave. Such papers might include information on brand type, a number of different measurements, types of training received; a place for sales endorsements for when a girl changes hands and a remark section for miscellaneous information.
98. A certification of a slave girl's heat may be given in certain cities. Her degree of heat will be listed on the sale documents. It is done in few cities though because of the potential for fraud on the part of the buyer. A buyer might use a girl for a month and then seek a refund based on the guarantee of her level of heat.
99. A slave, on threat of torture and impalement, must endure whatever abuse a free person cares to inflict on her. This is stated to apply within Ar and on Gor in general.
100. Any free person may discipline an insolent or errant slave, even one who is in the least bit displeasing. If the slave is killed or injured, the free person need only pay compensation to the master and only if the master requests such compensation. This does not give you the right to injure or kill someone else's slave. It simply states the penalty for such a violation. "One did not have the right, for example, to kill or maim the slave of another, any more than any other domestic animal which might belong to someone else. In this sense the slave is accorded some protection from free persons who do not own her in virtue of certain general considerations of property law." (Magicians of Gor, p.330)
101. If a slave strikes a free person, the penalty is commonly death by impalement, preceded by lengthy torture.
102. It is a capital offense for a slave to wield any weapon. The definition of what constitutes a weapon is unclear. It does appear that slaves may use razors and knifes for certain domestic duties. Though that may be permissible, if the slave attempted to use those items as weapons, then they would be guilty of this offense.
103. It is a capital offense for a slave to claim caste.
104. It is a capital offense for a female slave to wear the garment of a free woman.
105. It is illegal for a slave to wear veils.
106. A male slave may be slain for touching either a free woman or a female slave without permission.
107. If a slave fails to kneel in the presence of a free person, it can be a capital offense, especially if the slave intentionally fails to do so. In that case, the slave may be tortured to death.
108. Slaves may not touch or handle money. This is not applicable in all cities. For example, in Ar, at least one prominent slave, Milo, was given spending money.
109. In any legal proceedings, the testimony of slaves may be taken by torture. This is solely in the discretion of the courts.
110. For a slave to runaway from her owner is a serious offense. For the first offense, the penalty is commonly a severe beating. But she is only allowed that single mistake. The penalty for a second offense is usually hamstringing. That will makes her useless, but it is considered a good object lesson for other slaves.
111. Slaves are not permitted outside a city's gates unless accompanied by a free person.
112. Slaves are not permitted on the city streets after nightfall.
113. Slaves are not allowed in temples. It is felt that they would defile it.
114. It is illegal for slaves to play Kaissa. It is considered an insult to free men, not only for a slave to play but even to touch the pieces. A slave might have their hands cut off or be killed for touching Kaissa pieces without permission.
115. The crime of false yielding is a capital offense. It is considered to be easy to detect, through infallible physiological signs.
116. Female slaves must wear a visible token of their slavery within the city limits. Male slaves are usually exempt from this law because it is thought that it would not be beneficial for male slaves to understand their true numbers. There are worries of slave revolt.
117. Slaves are not allowed to build anything. That right is reserved for free people only. Port Kar though is an exception as it was the only city built by slaves.
118. It is illegal for slaves to touch or handle legal documents.
119. Slaves may not teach free people. By teaching someone, they are placed in your debt and nothing can be owed to a slave.
120. A slave may not laugh at a free woman and may be whipped for such an action.
121. The unauthorized rape of slave girls, without the permission of her master, is officially frowned on, and even illegal in some cities, but it is often ignored. Such actions are not uncommon in peasant villages. Sometimes such actions are even encouraged. Such encouragement may be done to pacify the natural aggressions of male youths, aggressions that might otherwise result in destructive behavior. It may also be a means to encourage manhood as well as to protect free women from their attentions. Slave owners who are truly worried about such unauthorized slave rape should keep their slaves inside or put them in iron belts.
122. Slaves are not permitted to sit in chairs and might be whipped or slain for doing so.
123. Freed slaves require explicit papers of manumission or they may be enslaved again without repercussion. Slaves who have been branded or had theirs ears pierced and later freed should definitely keep their papers handy at all times.
Miscellaneous Items
124. In Tharna, prior to its revolution, any non-citizen who remained in the city for more than ten Ahn would be enslaved. No warning of this law was given to those who entered the city and ignorance of the law was not a defense.
125. In Tharna, after its revolution, any free women entering the city, who are non-citizens, must temporarily don slave collars, slave tunics and leashes while she remains within the city.
126. In the city of Port Kar, if you defeat a man in fair combat, and then permit him the death of blood and the sea, then all of his properties became yours. Essentially, you permit the victim to see Thassa before he dies. This is how Tarl acquired his initial fortune when he arrived in Port Kar.
127. Port Kar owns several preserves in the northern forests so that they can claim its timber. They punish anyone who engages in illegal cutting or pasturage.
128. In the port city of Schendi, they sometimes use a "scimitar of discipline" to sever a slave's feet that have been locked in an ankle rack. It is unknown whether the scimitar is used only on slaves or not.
129. Within the city of Tor, they are very strict against thievery. For a first offense, a male thief will have his right hand severed while a female thief will be enslaved.
130. In the Tahari region, the destruction of a water source is a terrible offense, probably the most heinous crime in that area.
131. In Torvaldsland, if you kill someone, you may be assessed a wergild, a price that must be paid in compensation for the death. The amount of a wergild is generally set by the victim's family.
132. In Torvaldsland, there is an ordeal to determine whether someone is telling the truth. A man must hold two red hot, metal bars and carry them a distance of twenty feet. The book does not explain though what will determine whether he is honest or not. Is it merely being able to accomplish this task? Or are the hands examined to see if the person is burnt or not, with a burn indicating dishonesty? That was how honesty was determined in some places in the Earth's history.
133. In the equatorial regions, under the hegemony of Bila Huruma, areas of Lake Ushindi are used for punishing some criminals. In those areas where many tharlarion are known to exist, there have been placed high poles in the water. These poles do not have any platforms. Criminals are placed on these poles, to cling to them for a period of time. Obviously, if they cannot hold on, they will fall to the tharlarion.
BEING UNVIELD IS NOT A CRIME
Veils not required by law, they are a matter of custom and modesty.
The veil, it might be noted, is not legally imperative for a free woman; it is rather a matter of modesty and custom. Some low-class, uncompanioned, free girls do not wear veils. Similarly certain bold free women neglect the veil. Neglect of the veil is not a crime in Gorean cities, though in some it is deemed a brazen and scandalous omission.
Slave Girl
BEWARE OF SNUBBING THE CUSTOM
In many areas it is a socially serious matter for a FW to be unveiled.
May be taken into custody by guardsmen, veiled and forced home.
Repeated offenses usually result in enslavement.
"It must be understood, of course, to fully appreciate what was going on, that the public exposure of the features of a freewoman, particularly one of high caste, or with some pretense to position or status, is a socially serious matter in many Gorean localities. Indeed, in some cities an unveiled free woman is susceptible to being taken into custody by guardsmen, then to be veiled, by force if necessary, and publicly conducted back to her home. Indeed, in some cities she is marched back to her home stripped, except for the face veil which has been put on her. In these cases a crowd usually follows, to see to what home it is that she is to be returned. Repeated offenses in such a city usually result in the enslavement of the female. Such serious measures, of course, are seldom required to protect such familiar Gorean proprieties. Custom, by itself, normally suffices."
Players
WHAT A VIELED FREE WOMAN MAY DO TO AN UNVIELED FREE WOMAN
Other FW scorn an unveiled FW.
May make her kneel, as a slave, before attending her in a market.
Is spoken of as a slave, a slut
An unveiled woman, for example, may find other women turning away from her in a market, perhaps with expressions of disgust. Indeed, she may not even be waited upon, or dealt with, in a market by a free woman unless she first kneels. It would not be unusual for her, in a crowded place, to overhear remarks, perhaps whispers or sneers, of which she is the obvious object, such as "Shameless slut," "brazen baggage," "As immodest as a slave," "I wonder who her master is," and "Put a collar on her!" And if she should attempt to confront or challenge her assailants, she will merely find such remarks repeated articulately and clearly to her face."
Players
"In Ar's Station," he said, "as in Ar, robes of concealment, precisely, are not legally obligatory for free women, no more than the veil. Such things are more a matter of custom. On the other hand, as you know, there are statutes prescribing certain standards of decorum for free women. For example, they may not appear naked in the streets, as may slaves. Indeed, a free woman who appears in public in violation of these standards of decorum, for example, with her arms or legs too much bared, may be made a slave."
Renegades
FREE WOMAN BARING LEGS
Horrified to even think of baring their legs.
Such scandal could ruin a reputation.
In some cities, a woman with bared legs is taken to magistrates and sentenced to slavery.
Contrariwise, almost no free woman would bare her legs. They would not dare to do so. They would be horrified even to think of it. The scandal of such an act could ruin a reputation. It is said on Gor, any woman who bares her legs is a slave. Indeed, in some cities a free woman who might be found with bare legs is taken in hand by magistrates, tried and sentenced to bondage. After the judge’s decision has been enacted, its effect carried out upon her, reducing her to the status of goods, sometimes publicly, that she may be suitably disgraced, sometimes privately, by a contract slaver, that the sensitivities of free women in the city not be offended, she is hooded and transported, stripped and chained, freshly branded and collared, a property female, slave cargo, to a distant market where, once sold, she will begin her life anew, fearfully, as a purchased girl, tremulously as the helpless and lowly slave she now is.
Mercenaries
THIEVES IN GOR
The caste of thieves was important in Port Kar, and even honored. It represented a skill which in the city was held in high repute. Indeed, so jealous of their prerogatives were the caste of thieves that they often hunted thieves who did not belong to their caste, and slew them, throwing their bodies to the urts in the canals. Indeed, there was less thievery in Port Kar than there might have been were there no caste of thieves in the city. They protected, jealously, their own territories from amateur competition. Ear notching and mutiliation, common punishments on Gor for thieves, were not found in Port Kar. The caste was too powerful. On the other hand, it was regarded as permissible to slay a thief or take a female thief slave if the culprit could be apprehended within an Ahn of the theft. After an Ahn the thief, if apprehended and a caste member, was to be remanded to the police of the arsenal. If found guilty in the court of the arsenal, the male thief would be sentenced, for a week to a year, to hard labour in the arsenal or the wharves: the female thief would be sentenced to service, for a week to a year,in a straw -strewn cell in one of Port Kars penal brothels.
PUNISHMENTS
Punishments on Gor
On thieves:
His right ear had been notched,....... Such notching, I knew, is usually done to the ears of thieves; a second offense is normally punished by the loss of the right hand; a third offense is normally punished by the removal of the left hand and both feet. There are few thieves, incidentally, on Gor. I have heard, though there is a Caste of Thieves in Port Kar, a strong caste which naturally protects its members from such indignities as ear notching.
Nomads of GOR, pg 85
A traitor:
It is to bad... I would have preferred to stake him out in the path of the bosk.
Nomads of GOR, pg 321
Harold and I had been fastened in a Turian slave bar, a metal bar with a collar at each end and, behind the collar, manacles which fasten the prisoner's hands behind his neck.
Nomads of GOR, pg. 193
bastinado:
a punishment not otherwise described, however the earth translation is a beating, especially with a stick or cudgel. The beating may be specifically to the soles of the feet.
Book 25: Magicians of Gor, page 445
A master takes no interest in the squabbles of slaves, it being beneath him. He of course would not approved had one of the girls been maimed, blinded or disfigured.
Nomads of Gor, pg 138
pulling her toward a sleen cage mounted low on a cart near the wagon, into which, still braceleted, he thrust her, then closing the door, locking it.
Nomads of GOR, pg 169
You cannot punish me!" she cried.
"You are not my masters!"
"Any free person can punish an errant slave girl," I said.
"Surely you do not think that her behavior fails to be subject to supervision and correction as soon as she is out of her Master's sight?"
Magician of Gor, pg 225
For Running away:
Cut off her feet, and her nose and ears, and blind her in one eye---then release her to live as she can among the wagons.
Nomads of Gor, pg 167
The punishment of a runaway slave is often grievous, sometimes culminating in death.
Nomads of Gor, pg 169
Other Disciplines/Punishments
One poor girl slept naked.....About her neck was a thick metal collar to which a heavy iron chain had been fastened; the chain itself was attached to a large iron ring placed in the floor. I supposed she was being disciplined.
Nomads of Gor, pg 219
"`What do you think should be her punishment ?' asked Callimachus of me. `If she is guilty,' I said, `whatever you wish, as she is a slave.' This was in full accord with Gorean law. Indeed, anything, for whatever reason, or without a reason, may be done to a slave."
Guardsman of Gor, pg 115
"Discipline?" breathed the girl.
"Yes," said Mira, "the slave girl is subject to discipline and punishment. She is owned, like a sleen or tarsk is owned. She is owned,literally owned. You must understand that in its full sense. Accordingly, anything may be done with her that the master wishes. She may even be slain, if the master wishes."
"Then the slave girl is totally helpless," said the girl. "she is totally at the mercy of the master."
"Yes," said Mira.
Blood Brothers of GOR, pg 296
in this punishment the girl, clothe or unclothed, is bound tightly to an oar, hands behind her, her head down, toward the blade. When the oar lifts from the water she gasps for breath, only in another moment to be submerged again. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar. When food is low, it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. The least pleasing girl is always used. This practice, of course encourages bond-maids the vie vigorously to please their masters. An Ahn on the oar is usually more than sufficient to make the coldest and proudest of females an obedient, eager-to-please bond-maid.
Marauders of Gor, pg 66
In this discipline the female is forbidden human speech. She is also forbidden human posture, in the sense that she is not allowed to rise to her feet. Her locomotion, unless commanded to roll, or put under similar commands, suitable for a pet, will be on all fours. Her food will be thrown to her, or put in pans on the ground. In either case, she must feed without the use of her hands. She may also, of course, be fed by hand, but, again, will not be permitted to touch the food with her hands. She may be taught tricks. Sometimes these are taught as functions of arbitrary sounds, so that she must learn them as any animal might, without the benefit of an earlier understanding of the word used. If she is slow to learn, of course, she is punished, as would be any other animal. When used, too, it will commonly be in the modality of the she-quadrupled. This discipline is often used as a punishment, but it may figure in the training of a new girl. It helps her to understand what she now is, an animal totally subject to her master.
pp 215-216 Mercenaries of Gor
1. "There is a saying on Gor that the laws of a city extend no further than its walls." (Outlaw of Gor, p.50) This is one of the most basic principles of Gorean law yet it is more a generality than an absolute. For the most part, once you step outside the walls of a city, their city laws will no longer apply and the city will not protect you. But, there are exceptions to this rule. First, many cities claim do sovereignty over the lands surrounding their city. They may try to enforce their will upon the surrounding terrain. Tarn, tharlarion or infantry patrols often monitor the tenuous borders of a city's claimed territory and either question, detain or kill non-citizens trying to enter their lands. That is only as effective as the strength of the city's military forces. Second, there are certain locations located outside a city over which a city exercises full legal control, such as a banner keep. A banner keep is a Merchant Keep owned by a specific city, and governed by that city's laws. Third, Merchant Law exists, that set of common laws that binds many of the cities of Gor. Merchant Law extends past city walls, protecting commerce.
2. To make a claim as to unowned land outside of a city, you must place a yellow stake of claimancy into the ground during the morning. You must then wait by that stake and protect that land until sunset. At that time then, the land becomes yours and you may lay your Home Stone there.
3. The theft of a Home Stone may be one of the most heinous crimes that exists on Gor. This should not be surprising considering the Gorean beliefs concerning the importance of the Home Stone. Theft of such is commonly punished by extreme torture followed by death in boiling oil. Despite this, the theft of a enemy's Home Stone is also considered the greatest of glories, showing that the thief is favored by the Priest-Kings.
4. A person might be slain for not standing when speaking of his own Home Stone. It is unknown whether this is by law, Caste Code or simply custom. There is no description of the circumstances when this may be applicable either.
5. Only members of the High Castes may be elected to the High Council of a city. Each of the five High Castes votes for their own representatives on the High Council.
6. Only members of the High Castes may vote to elect a city's Administrator or to appoint a Ubar. Low Castes do not possess any voting rights.
7. There is a question as to whether free women may be members of the High Council and whether free women of the High Castes are permitted to vote. This is likely an issue decided on a city by city basis. There is some confusion because of a statement that seems to imply women are not permitted to vote. "Whereas it is only the men of high caste who elect members to the Council of the City,…" (Assassin of Gor, p.16) It is unclear whether "men" in this context refers solely to the male gender or whether it is used in a more generic sense to indicate all within the High Castes. But, as women are permitted to occupy the highest political position in a city, that of ruler, then it makes little sense why they couldn't occupy a lesser political position, such as being on a High Council or why they could not vote.
8. It is illegal to take a map of a city out of that city. It is also illegal for a non-citizen to make their own map of a city. As many city streets do not possess set names, it can be difficult for visitors to find their way around in a city. This can be an added defense mechanism, preventing invading armies from easily moving through a city toward intended targets.
9. In the high cities of Gor, the length of each Ahn during a day are all of the same duration. In other cities, they divide a day into ten Ahn during the daytime and ten at nighttime. Thus, the length of each Ahn will vary by season though the day is the same length. Thus in summer, daytime Ahn are longer than nighttime Ahn.
10. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right, and thus you must actively apply for it as well as continue to earn it throughout your life. "Citizenship, or its retention, on other than a nominal basis, in some cities, is contingent on such things as attending public ceremonies, such as an official semi-annual taking of auspices, and participating in numerous public assemblies, some of which are called on short notice." (Dancer of Gor, p.302-303)
11. "Citizenship in most Gorean communities is not something accrued in virtue of the accident of birth but earned in virtue of intent and application." (Slave Girl of Gor, p.394) Upon reaching your intellectual majority, you must perform the citizenship ceremony. The specifics of the ceremony will vary from city to city. In some cities, there may be a requirement that other citizens, non-blood relations, must vouch for you. In other places, you might be questioned by a committee of citizens to determine your worthiness for citizenship. The oath of allegiance may involve the touching or kissing of the Home Stone, the swearing of oaths, and maybe even the sharing of bread, fire and salt. A laurel wreath and mantle of citizenship may then be conferred upon the new citizen.
12. The nonperformance of the citizenship ceremony, within one year of reaching your intellectual majority, is punishable by expulsion from the city. This applies only to those individuals born within the city or born to citizens of the city. "The rationale seems to be that the community has a right to expect allegiance from its members." (Vagabonds of Gor, p.303)
13. Though reference is made to the age of intellectual majority, no specific age is ever provided. From circumstantial evidence in the books, the highest probability seems to be that it is fifteen years old.
14. You can renounce your existing citizenship and acquire citizenship in another city. Obviously, you must be accepted by this other city as a citizen, meeting all prerequisites that are in place.
15. One of the benefits of citizenship is that it provides some protection against foreign creditors. It is unknown whether this area is covered by Merchant Law or not.
16. The oath of disownment is a part of the Warrior Caste Codes as well as the rites of a city. In this irreversible ceremony, a family member is disowned. That family member loses all connection to their family, as well as losing their Caste. It appears that this oath is taken according to the Warrior Caste Codes by swearing upon the hilt of your sword. It is unknown how it is done according to city rites. The Ubar of a city took the oath on the medallion of his city. A common citizen would obviously need to use something else for such an oath.
17. Every citizen must journey, at least once, to the Sardar Mountains before they are twenty-five years old. The Initiate Caste monitors who goes and who does not. The Initiates also teach that misfortunes will strike a city if their youth try to avoid this sacred obligation. Sometimes the Initiate Caste will ask a person to make the journey at a specific time. In some cities and islands, such as Teletus, your family will receive a gold tarn disk if you make the journey when the Initiates request it.
18. "A man who refused to practice his livelihood or strove to alter status without the consent of the Council of High Castes was, by definition, an outlaw and subject to impalement." (Tarnsman of Gor, p.46) Outlaws lose all connection to their Home Stone and Caste, a terrible fate for a Gorean. They must live in the wilderness, struggling to survive. Few Goreans envy the fate of an outlaw.
19. Each city determines which Castes and subcastes will be legally recognized. They will also determine which Caste will be recognized as High Castes. For example, there may be cities where the Merchants Caste, normally a Low Caste, is legally recognized as a High Caste.
20. There is a crime of "attempting to deceive with respect to caste." This encompasses such actions as engaging in business under false pretenses and claiming explicitly to be of a caste other than your own. Such deceptions most often occur when people pretend to be Physicians. This crime does not apply to all actions that are part of a Caste's primary focus. For example, anyone, and not just a member of the Slaver's Caste, can legally sell a slave. But, that same person cannot claim to be a member of the Slaver's Caste if he is not.
21. It is legally permissible to change one's Caste though most Goreans would not willingly change their Caste, being proud of their Caste no matter how low it might be. In a Free Companionship, the woman can take the Caste of the man though the man cannot do the same. Otherwise to change caste, the High Council of the city must approve the change, based on your qualifications for the new caste and the willingness of the new caste to accept you.
22. Women in the Physician's Caste cannot engage in the full practice of medicine until they have first bore two children. In many cities, at age fifteen, women of the Physician's Caste will place two bracelets on their left wrist. One is then removed for each child that she bears. When both bracelets are removed, she can then engage in the full practice of medicine.
23. It is a capital offense for a locksmith, usually a member of the Metal Workers, to make an unauthorized copy of a key.
24. A Free Companionship, the Gorean form of marriage, lasts for a single year. If it is not renewed by the twentieth Ahn of the anniversary date, it will automatically dissolve.
25. A Free Companionship will dissolve earlier than one year if one of the parties is either enslaved or dies. The books do not state if the contract can be legally dissolved prior to the year end if the parties so agree. It seems likely most Goreans would simply wait out the year.
26. A woman does not change her name in a Free Companionship.
27. The "gens" name is the clan name (derived from an ancient Roman term). The gens can only pass through the male line. Females can keep their gens in a Free Companionship, if it is part of their contract, but they can never pass on the gens.
28. A person may have only one Free Companion at a time. In the equatorial jungles, men may possess multiple companions. For example, Bila Huruma possessed over two hundred companions.
29. Port Kar does not recognize the institution of Free Companionship. Free women in that city are simply known as the women of their men.
30. Many cities have at least one Sun Gate, a primary gate that is only open from dawn to dusk. Once dusk arrives, the gate is closed and it is very unlikely that it will be opened during the night. Most cities will have a special night gate that allows citizens to enter and leave the city at night.
31. Anyone who enters a city without permission is punishable by impalement. "Pikes on the walls of Gorean cities are often surmounted with the remains of unwelcome guests." (Outlaw of Gor, p.49)
32. All outlaws are forbidden entrance into the city and subject to impalement. Panther girls and talunas are considered outlaws.
33. Assassins, when bearing the mark of the black dagger on their forehead, are permitted entrance into a city without interference.
34. Members of the Castes of Players, Poets, Musicians and Singers may freely enter any city.
35. Heralds, bearing a gold slash on the left temple of their helmet or headgear, are immune from interference by any within a city. This is a form of diplomatic immunity.
36. Ambassadors possess the same diplomatic immunity as heralds.
37. Patents, which cover inventions, and copyrights, which cover written materials, are available in a city but their power extends only as far as the city wall. Merchant Law has been unsuccessful in introducing such on a more global scale. Thus, many craftsmen and manufacturers keep their formulas and plans in cipher to protect them from theft and unauthorized copying.
38. Forgery of an official city seal on mercantile products is illegal. This is to help protect the integrity of official city products.
39. Each city commonly holds a Merchant's Foot and Stone and these are available for the city's Merchants to verify their own personal measuring devices. Any Merchant found to be using a deceptive Foot or Stone will be punished.
40. For legal and commercial purposes, certain letters have been standardized. These would include those representing weights and measures, as well as the "kef."
41. Instruments of debt can be transferred, usually for some discounted amount, and the transferee can then attempt to collect on the face value of the instruments. Bounty creditors often avail themselves of this opportunity.
42. Shaving, clipping, cutting or slicing off metal from any coin is considered to be theft and fraud. This debases the value of the coin.
43. Crests, signs and family emblems can be registered and their use will be legally restricted.
44. Robes of concealment and veils may or may not be required by law for free women. In some cities, such as Ar and Ar's Station, it is only custom while in others it is actual law. In some cities, an unveiled free woman is susceptible to being taken into custody by guardsmen, then to be veiled, by force if necessary. Repeated offenses can even lead to enslavement. Even where it is only custom, it is strongly recommended that all free women wear robes and veils in public.
45. In cities where robes and veils for free women are not legally mandatory, there are other pertinent laws restricting how much bare skin a free woman may show. If too much skin is shown, then the woman is subject to possible enslavement. "If you would be stripped as a slave, then be a slave, it is said." (Dancer of Gor, p.157)
46. Face stripping a free woman, forcefully removing her veils against her will, is a serious crime.
47. In some cities, it is a crime to bring pleasure silk in contact with the flesh of a free woman. It is considered to be too exciting and sensuous.
48. Free women are rarely, if ever, permitted to play Kaissa. It also does not appear that women may belong to the Caste of Players.
49. Weapons are not prohibited from being carried into an Initiate's temple.
50. Non-Initiates may not enter the sanctuary area of an Initiate's temple unless they have received the chrism of temporary permission. This is considered to be an inferior annointing and of temporary efficacy.
51. Insulae, tenements, may be constructed no higher in a city than a certain height. That height restriction will vary from city to city.
52. By law, the central waste vat in all insulae must remain covered at all times.
53. Any person apprehended wearing or possessing a tunic that is lined with a different color, which could be turned inside out to alter one's identity, is subject to possible impalement.
54. Dar-Kosis is a dreaded and highly contagious disease without a cure. Dar?kosis is considered to be a holy and it is considered heresy to shed their blood though they can be stoned. It is also considered heresy to try to seek a cure for this disease. It is unknown if this has been enacted as a law in any Gorean city.
55. "Those who contract the disease are regarded by law as dead." (Assassin of Gor, p.266) Thus, a person who contracts Dar-Kosis will lose all of their possessions, which shall then pass either by will or by the intestate laws.
56. Thievery is illegal and harshly punished. In most cities, a first offense is punished by an ear notching. Penalties for subsequent offenses will vary by city and gender. In most cities, a free women found guilty of a second offense is enslaved. If a free man is found guilty of a second offense, he often will lose one of his hands. For a third offense, a man might lose his other hand, or in some jurisdictions, his other hand and both feet.
57. There is a Caste of Thieves in Port Kar, the only one of its type on Gor. Thievery is still illegal in Port Kar, though the penalties are different. It is legal to slay a male thief, or enslave a female thief, if the thief is caught within one Ahn of the theft. Once an Ahn has passed though, then the thief must be handed over to the Arsenal police for a hearing or trial. If then found guilty, a male thief will be sentenced to hard labor in the Arsenal or on the wharves for a period ranging from one week to one year. A female thief would be sentenced to serve in a penal brothel for a period ranging from one week to one year.
58. There is a method of dispute resolution called the "rite of knives." Unfortunately, there is little information on its application. It is essentially a fight to the death and is used in place of a trial. The fight may be just with daggers. As it is called a rite, it may not have any true legal effect but may instead be an ancient custom. This might even be a part of the Warrior Code. We do know though that a freed Panther Girl asked to participate in this rite against another woman. Tarl Cabot granted her request. Thus, this rite apparently may include female participation.
59. Adoption is legally practiced on Gor.
60. Forest fires are considered to be terrible disasters and the penalty for anyone who starts such a fire is to be burnt alive.
61. It is illegal to smuggle the beans used to make black wine out of the territory of Thentis. These beans are only grown within the territory of Thentis.
62. It is the right of all people, free and slave, to receive the Stabilization Serums, the Gorean life extension treatment. This may be one of the only rights that a slave possesses. It is unknown whether a slave owner could deny the Serums to his own slave, though there would seem to be little reason for such a denial.
Slavery Issues
63. By law, the Slaver's Caste is a subcaste of the Merchant's Caste. The Slaver Caste though often prefers to consider themselves a separate Caste. It is unknown whether this determination is part of Merchant Law or not.
64. Any person, male or female, is subject to potential enslavement. Though women are more likely to be enslaved, men can still be enslaved through capture or legal process. Women are about ten times more likely to be enslaved than men.
65. There are two basic legal statuses on Gor: free and slave. Unless you are legally owned, then you are considered technically free, even if you are a prisoner, captive or outlaw. As a free person, you possess legal rights that slaves do not possess.
66. According to Merchant Law, a person is considered to be a prisoner and not a slave, as long as they have not been branded, collared or performed a gesture of submission.
67. Legally, slaves are considered property, on the same level as domestic animals. Their owner may do anything they wish to them without repercussion. An owner can even mutilate or kill his own slave with impunity. Their power over their own slave is absolute.
68. Slaves may not own anything. Even though they may use goods, they do not own them. Such items remain the property of the slave's owner. No matter what gifts a slave may receive, they cannot own such gifts. Those gifts too would belong to the slave's owner.
69. A slave does not even own their own name. Their owner can change their name at will, and as often as they desire. "Indeed, from the Gorean's point of view, one of the most fearful things about slavery is that one loses one's name. That name which he has had from birth, by which he has called himself and knows himself, that name which is so much a part of his own conception of himself, of his own true and most intimate identity, is suddenly gone." (Outlaw of Gor, p.197)
70. No Player, Musician, Poet or Singer Caste member may be enslaved within a city's limits. This does not mean they are immune from prosecution from violating city law. They can still be arrested, imprisoned, tortured and executed. They are simply immune from enslavement. "There is a saying to the effect that he who makes music must, like the tarn and the Vosk gull, be free." (Kajira of Gor, p.298)
71. The institution of the capture of women is honored by most cities, provided the women captured belong to an enemy. The subject of "capture rights" pertains to all forms of property, including slaves. Active possession is regarded as crucial by the law. Thus, theft and capture will confer certain rights over the property.
72. A slave must fully serve anyone who possesses her, even a thief or captor. If the slave attempts to run away from her thief or captor, she will be deemed to be a runaway. Free women are permitted to escape from a captor as long as they have not yet been enslaved. The point of this law is to maintain slaves in a state of bondage while also encouraging men to be bold. "The average man of this world would no more think of stealing a slave within his own city, or a host city, one which has extended the courtesy of its walls, than he would of any other act of illicit and dishonorable brigandage." (Witness of Gor, p.497)
73. If a lost, stolen or runaway slave is taken by another person, the original owner has only one week to regain his property before legal title passes to the new owner. The slave remains the property of the original owner only for that one week if he does not regain possession. This likely refers to a Gorean week, which is only five days long.
74. A person who is found to possess a stolen slave might not be convicted or any crime if they are truly ignorant of fact that the slave was stolen.
75. If a captured free woman submits to her captor, she will become his slave. "It had been within the context of his capture rights that she had, as a free woman, of her own free will, pronounced upon herself a formula of enslavement. Automatically then, in virtue of the context, she became his. The law is clear on this. The matter is more subtle when the woman is not within a context of capture rights." (Players of Gor, p.21)
76. A free woman who submits to a particular man, when there is no capture involved, may or may not become a slave. This will be dependent upon city law. "The matter is more subtle when the woman is not within a context of capture rights. Here the matter differs from city to city. In some cities, a woman may not, with legal recognition, submit herself to a specific man as a slave, for in those cities that is interpreted as placing at least a temporary qualification on the condition of slavery which condition, once entered into, all cities agree, is absolute. In such cities, then, the woman makes herself a slave, unconditionally. It is then up to the man in question whether or not he will accept her as his slave. In this matter he will do as he pleases. In any event, she is by then a slave, and only that." (Players of Gor, p.21)
77. "In other cities, and in most cities, on the other hand, a free woman, may, with legal tolerance, submit herself as a slave to a specific man. If he refuses her, she is then still free. If he accepts her, she is then, categorically, a slave, and he may do with her as he pleases, even selling her or giving her away, or slaying her, if he wishes." (Players of Gor, p.21)
78. In some cities, a free woman who kneels before a man or addresses him as Master effects legal imbondment on herself. Such actions are considered to be gestures of submission.
79. A free woman can sell herself into slavery. But, once the sale is complete, the woman cannot then revoke it.
80. "Any free woman who couches with another's slave, or readies herself to couch with another's slave, becomes herself a slave, and the slave of the slave's master." (Magicians of Gor, p.7) This is known as the "couching law" and exists in Ar, though it may have been adopted by other cities as well. There are clearly though some cities, like Vonda, that do not have such a law because reference is made to free women freely lending their male slaves to a female guest. The couching law does not prevent a woman from having sex with a slave she owns. It is important to note that a violation can occur even though actual sex never occurs. Simply preparing to have sex is sufficient. "By such an act, the couching with, or readying herself to couch with, a slave, as though she might be a girl of the slave's master, thrown to the slave, she shows herself as no more than a slave, and in this act, in law, becomes a slave." (Magicians of Gor, p.303); . Special seduction slaves are used by some slave owners to trap free women. Milo, from Magicians of Gor, is a prime example of a seduction slave. His owner, Appanius, used Milo to entrap numerous free women. Tarl Cabot would also use Milo to entrap Talena and enslave her.
81. If a father cannot pay his debts, his daughter will become a slave of the state. She will then be put up for sale at a public auction. The proceeds of her sale will be used to equitably satisfy her father's creditors.
82. A free woman who cannot pay her own debts will be enslaved. Under the redemption laws, a person can pay the woman's debts and thus claim ownership of her. That owner could free the woman if he so desired, or keep her as a slave. If no one redeems a female debtor within a certain time period, not specified in the books, she will then be sold to Slavers.
83. There is no law that states a man may enslave a free woman of his Home Stone because she has insulted or disrespected him.
84. Free women may be legally enslaved if they engage in "conduct indicating suitability for the collar." "The principle he had alluded to pertains to conduct in a free woman which is taken as sufficient to warrant her reduction to slavery. The most common application of this principle occurs in areas such as fraud and theft. Other applications may occur, for example, in cases of indigency and vagrancy. Prostitution, rare on Gor because of female slaves, is another case. The women are taken, enslaved, cleaned up and controlled. Indulgence in sensuous dance is another case. Sensuous dance is almost always performed by slaves on Gor. A free woman who performs such dancing publicly is almost begging for the collar. In some cities the sentence of bondage is mandatory for such a woman." (Renegades of Gor, p.372). Other actions can qualify as well. "In many cities, such actions, attempting to spy on masters and slaves, disguising oneself as a slave, garbing oneself as a slave, even in the supposed secrey of one's own compartments, lingering about slave shelves and markets, even exhibiting an interest in, or fascination with, bondage, can result in a reduction to bondage. The theory is apparently that such actions and interests are those of a slave, and that the female who exhibits them should, accordingly, be imbonded." (Magicians of Gor, p.50) Even wearing slave beads could be a reason for enslavement. This principle only deals with actions and not thoughts. "Conduct indicating suitability for the collar, of course, can be interpreted in various ways, and more broadly and narrowly. It is almost always understood, of course, fortunately for women, and as I suppose the phrase itself makes clear, in the special legal sense of the phrase, as having to do with overt behavior rather than psychological predispositions and such." (Renegades of Gor, p.372)
85. It is illegal for a person on their own to collar a free woman for "conduct indicating suitability for the collar." Free women who may have violated this legal principle must be brought before a magistrate or judge for a legal determination as to whether there has been a violation sufficient to warrant a reduction to slavery.
86. Earth girls do not have a Home Stone so there are no legalities that prevent their capture and enslavement.
87. A free woman may do a form of limited self-contracting where she legally becomes a slave for a specific time period, commonly ranging from one night to one year. She cannot end this contract earlier than the specified time period. Once the contract takes effect, she becomes a slave with no legal powers at all. This curious contractual arrangement is not described in great detail. It raises numerous legal dilemmas that can only be speculated about. The books do not state that the contract covers any contigencies or limits the slavery in any way. The woman becomes an actual slave. That would seem to mean she could be freely killed. What would happen is she was sold? Does the contract prevent that? Would the time period still apply if she was sold? What would happen if she was stolen? This passage seems to raise far more questions than it answers.
88. "And yet it was not a strange thing, particularly not on Gor, where bravery is highly esteemed and to save a female's life is in effect to win title to it, for it is the option of a Gorean male to enslave any woman whose life he has saved, a right which is seldom denied even by the citizens of the girl's city or her family. Indeed, there have been cases in which a girl's brothers have had her clad as a slave, bound in slave bracelets, and handed over to her rescuer, in order that the honor of the family and her city not be besmirched." (Priest-Kings of Gor, p.161) It is unknown whether this is codified in city law or whether it simply exists as custom.
89. "The collar, by Gorean law, cancelled the past." When a person is enslaved, they begin a new life as a slave and may not be held accountable for any crimes that occurred while they were free.
90. The property of a person who is enslaved will be transferred to the nearest male relative or the nearest relative if no male exists, or to the city, or a guardian. Even if the slave is later freed, their property cannot ever be recovered.
91. A child, born of a slave, becomes a slave and belongs to the mother's owner. The key to this law is the status of the mother at the time of birth, not conception.
92. By the law of Tharna, a person conceived by a free person on another free person is a free person, even if later carried and borne by a slave. Thus, slaves would often be temporarily freed for the purpose of conception and then reenslaved afterwards.
93. By recommendation of Merchant Law, there are three standard marking places for brands, on the left thigh, right thigh, and lower left abdomen. Slaves though may be branded on any part of their body.
94. It is illegal to sell a slave, without the owner's permission, that is not your own. The penalty varies according to the gender of the seller. If the seller is a man, the penalty is exile, and if the seller is a woman, the penalty is enslavement.
95. It is illegal to offer an unbranded slave in a public sale.
96. It is illegal to sell a slave as auburn haired if she is truly not so.
97. It is a felony to forge or falsify pedigree papers on any slave. Such papers might include information on brand type, a number of different measurements, types of training received; a place for sales endorsements for when a girl changes hands and a remark section for miscellaneous information.
98. A certification of a slave girl's heat may be given in certain cities. Her degree of heat will be listed on the sale documents. It is done in few cities though because of the potential for fraud on the part of the buyer. A buyer might use a girl for a month and then seek a refund based on the guarantee of her level of heat.
99. A slave, on threat of torture and impalement, must endure whatever abuse a free person cares to inflict on her. This is stated to apply within Ar and on Gor in general.
100. Any free person may discipline an insolent or errant slave, even one who is in the least bit displeasing. If the slave is killed or injured, the free person need only pay compensation to the master and only if the master requests such compensation. This does not give you the right to injure or kill someone else's slave. It simply states the penalty for such a violation. "One did not have the right, for example, to kill or maim the slave of another, any more than any other domestic animal which might belong to someone else. In this sense the slave is accorded some protection from free persons who do not own her in virtue of certain general considerations of property law." (Magicians of Gor, p.330)
101. If a slave strikes a free person, the penalty is commonly death by impalement, preceded by lengthy torture.
102. It is a capital offense for a slave to wield any weapon. The definition of what constitutes a weapon is unclear. It does appear that slaves may use razors and knifes for certain domestic duties. Though that may be permissible, if the slave attempted to use those items as weapons, then they would be guilty of this offense.
103. It is a capital offense for a slave to claim caste.
104. It is a capital offense for a female slave to wear the garment of a free woman.
105. It is illegal for a slave to wear veils.
106. A male slave may be slain for touching either a free woman or a female slave without permission.
107. If a slave fails to kneel in the presence of a free person, it can be a capital offense, especially if the slave intentionally fails to do so. In that case, the slave may be tortured to death.
108. Slaves may not touch or handle money. This is not applicable in all cities. For example, in Ar, at least one prominent slave, Milo, was given spending money.
109. In any legal proceedings, the testimony of slaves may be taken by torture. This is solely in the discretion of the courts.
110. For a slave to runaway from her owner is a serious offense. For the first offense, the penalty is commonly a severe beating. But she is only allowed that single mistake. The penalty for a second offense is usually hamstringing. That will makes her useless, but it is considered a good object lesson for other slaves.
111. Slaves are not permitted outside a city's gates unless accompanied by a free person.
112. Slaves are not permitted on the city streets after nightfall.
113. Slaves are not allowed in temples. It is felt that they would defile it.
114. It is illegal for slaves to play Kaissa. It is considered an insult to free men, not only for a slave to play but even to touch the pieces. A slave might have their hands cut off or be killed for touching Kaissa pieces without permission.
115. The crime of false yielding is a capital offense. It is considered to be easy to detect, through infallible physiological signs.
116. Female slaves must wear a visible token of their slavery within the city limits. Male slaves are usually exempt from this law because it is thought that it would not be beneficial for male slaves to understand their true numbers. There are worries of slave revolt.
117. Slaves are not allowed to build anything. That right is reserved for free people only. Port Kar though is an exception as it was the only city built by slaves.
118. It is illegal for slaves to touch or handle legal documents.
119. Slaves may not teach free people. By teaching someone, they are placed in your debt and nothing can be owed to a slave.
120. A slave may not laugh at a free woman and may be whipped for such an action.
121. The unauthorized rape of slave girls, without the permission of her master, is officially frowned on, and even illegal in some cities, but it is often ignored. Such actions are not uncommon in peasant villages. Sometimes such actions are even encouraged. Such encouragement may be done to pacify the natural aggressions of male youths, aggressions that might otherwise result in destructive behavior. It may also be a means to encourage manhood as well as to protect free women from their attentions. Slave owners who are truly worried about such unauthorized slave rape should keep their slaves inside or put them in iron belts.
122. Slaves are not permitted to sit in chairs and might be whipped or slain for doing so.
123. Freed slaves require explicit papers of manumission or they may be enslaved again without repercussion. Slaves who have been branded or had theirs ears pierced and later freed should definitely keep their papers handy at all times.
Miscellaneous Items
124. In Tharna, prior to its revolution, any non-citizen who remained in the city for more than ten Ahn would be enslaved. No warning of this law was given to those who entered the city and ignorance of the law was not a defense.
125. In Tharna, after its revolution, any free women entering the city, who are non-citizens, must temporarily don slave collars, slave tunics and leashes while she remains within the city.
126. In the city of Port Kar, if you defeat a man in fair combat, and then permit him the death of blood and the sea, then all of his properties became yours. Essentially, you permit the victim to see Thassa before he dies. This is how Tarl acquired his initial fortune when he arrived in Port Kar.
127. Port Kar owns several preserves in the northern forests so that they can claim its timber. They punish anyone who engages in illegal cutting or pasturage.
128. In the port city of Schendi, they sometimes use a "scimitar of discipline" to sever a slave's feet that have been locked in an ankle rack. It is unknown whether the scimitar is used only on slaves or not.
129. Within the city of Tor, they are very strict against thievery. For a first offense, a male thief will have his right hand severed while a female thief will be enslaved.
130. In the Tahari region, the destruction of a water source is a terrible offense, probably the most heinous crime in that area.
131. In Torvaldsland, if you kill someone, you may be assessed a wergild, a price that must be paid in compensation for the death. The amount of a wergild is generally set by the victim's family.
132. In Torvaldsland, there is an ordeal to determine whether someone is telling the truth. A man must hold two red hot, metal bars and carry them a distance of twenty feet. The book does not explain though what will determine whether he is honest or not. Is it merely being able to accomplish this task? Or are the hands examined to see if the person is burnt or not, with a burn indicating dishonesty? That was how honesty was determined in some places in the Earth's history.
133. In the equatorial regions, under the hegemony of Bila Huruma, areas of Lake Ushindi are used for punishing some criminals. In those areas where many tharlarion are known to exist, there have been placed high poles in the water. These poles do not have any platforms. Criminals are placed on these poles, to cling to them for a period of time. Obviously, if they cannot hold on, they will fall to the tharlarion.
BEING UNVIELD IS NOT A CRIME
Veils not required by law, they are a matter of custom and modesty.
The veil, it might be noted, is not legally imperative for a free woman; it is rather a matter of modesty and custom. Some low-class, uncompanioned, free girls do not wear veils. Similarly certain bold free women neglect the veil. Neglect of the veil is not a crime in Gorean cities, though in some it is deemed a brazen and scandalous omission.
Slave Girl
BEWARE OF SNUBBING THE CUSTOM
In many areas it is a socially serious matter for a FW to be unveiled.
May be taken into custody by guardsmen, veiled and forced home.
Repeated offenses usually result in enslavement.
"It must be understood, of course, to fully appreciate what was going on, that the public exposure of the features of a freewoman, particularly one of high caste, or with some pretense to position or status, is a socially serious matter in many Gorean localities. Indeed, in some cities an unveiled free woman is susceptible to being taken into custody by guardsmen, then to be veiled, by force if necessary, and publicly conducted back to her home. Indeed, in some cities she is marched back to her home stripped, except for the face veil which has been put on her. In these cases a crowd usually follows, to see to what home it is that she is to be returned. Repeated offenses in such a city usually result in the enslavement of the female. Such serious measures, of course, are seldom required to protect such familiar Gorean proprieties. Custom, by itself, normally suffices."
Players
WHAT A VIELED FREE WOMAN MAY DO TO AN UNVIELED FREE WOMAN
Other FW scorn an unveiled FW.
May make her kneel, as a slave, before attending her in a market.
Is spoken of as a slave, a slut
An unveiled woman, for example, may find other women turning away from her in a market, perhaps with expressions of disgust. Indeed, she may not even be waited upon, or dealt with, in a market by a free woman unless she first kneels. It would not be unusual for her, in a crowded place, to overhear remarks, perhaps whispers or sneers, of which she is the obvious object, such as "Shameless slut," "brazen baggage," "As immodest as a slave," "I wonder who her master is," and "Put a collar on her!" And if she should attempt to confront or challenge her assailants, she will merely find such remarks repeated articulately and clearly to her face."
Players
"In Ar's Station," he said, "as in Ar, robes of concealment, precisely, are not legally obligatory for free women, no more than the veil. Such things are more a matter of custom. On the other hand, as you know, there are statutes prescribing certain standards of decorum for free women. For example, they may not appear naked in the streets, as may slaves. Indeed, a free woman who appears in public in violation of these standards of decorum, for example, with her arms or legs too much bared, may be made a slave."
Renegades
FREE WOMAN BARING LEGS
Horrified to even think of baring their legs.
Such scandal could ruin a reputation.
In some cities, a woman with bared legs is taken to magistrates and sentenced to slavery.
Contrariwise, almost no free woman would bare her legs. They would not dare to do so. They would be horrified even to think of it. The scandal of such an act could ruin a reputation. It is said on Gor, any woman who bares her legs is a slave. Indeed, in some cities a free woman who might be found with bare legs is taken in hand by magistrates, tried and sentenced to bondage. After the judge’s decision has been enacted, its effect carried out upon her, reducing her to the status of goods, sometimes publicly, that she may be suitably disgraced, sometimes privately, by a contract slaver, that the sensitivities of free women in the city not be offended, she is hooded and transported, stripped and chained, freshly branded and collared, a property female, slave cargo, to a distant market where, once sold, she will begin her life anew, fearfully, as a purchased girl, tremulously as the helpless and lowly slave she now is.
Mercenaries
THIEVES IN GOR
The caste of thieves was important in Port Kar, and even honored. It represented a skill which in the city was held in high repute. Indeed, so jealous of their prerogatives were the caste of thieves that they often hunted thieves who did not belong to their caste, and slew them, throwing their bodies to the urts in the canals. Indeed, there was less thievery in Port Kar than there might have been were there no caste of thieves in the city. They protected, jealously, their own territories from amateur competition. Ear notching and mutiliation, common punishments on Gor for thieves, were not found in Port Kar. The caste was too powerful. On the other hand, it was regarded as permissible to slay a thief or take a female thief slave if the culprit could be apprehended within an Ahn of the theft. After an Ahn the thief, if apprehended and a caste member, was to be remanded to the police of the arsenal. If found guilty in the court of the arsenal, the male thief would be sentenced, for a week to a year, to hard labour in the arsenal or the wharves: the female thief would be sentenced to service, for a week to a year,in a straw -strewn cell in one of Port Kars penal brothels.
PUNISHMENTS
Punishments on Gor
On thieves:
His right ear had been notched,....... Such notching, I knew, is usually done to the ears of thieves; a second offense is normally punished by the loss of the right hand; a third offense is normally punished by the removal of the left hand and both feet. There are few thieves, incidentally, on Gor. I have heard, though there is a Caste of Thieves in Port Kar, a strong caste which naturally protects its members from such indignities as ear notching.
Nomads of GOR, pg 85
A traitor:
It is to bad... I would have preferred to stake him out in the path of the bosk.
Nomads of GOR, pg 321
Harold and I had been fastened in a Turian slave bar, a metal bar with a collar at each end and, behind the collar, manacles which fasten the prisoner's hands behind his neck.
Nomads of GOR, pg. 193
bastinado:
a punishment not otherwise described, however the earth translation is a beating, especially with a stick or cudgel. The beating may be specifically to the soles of the feet.
Book 25: Magicians of Gor, page 445
A master takes no interest in the squabbles of slaves, it being beneath him. He of course would not approved had one of the girls been maimed, blinded or disfigured.
Nomads of Gor, pg 138
pulling her toward a sleen cage mounted low on a cart near the wagon, into which, still braceleted, he thrust her, then closing the door, locking it.
Nomads of GOR, pg 169
You cannot punish me!" she cried.
"You are not my masters!"
"Any free person can punish an errant slave girl," I said.
"Surely you do not think that her behavior fails to be subject to supervision and correction as soon as she is out of her Master's sight?"
Magician of Gor, pg 225
For Running away:
Cut off her feet, and her nose and ears, and blind her in one eye---then release her to live as she can among the wagons.
Nomads of Gor, pg 167
The punishment of a runaway slave is often grievous, sometimes culminating in death.
Nomads of Gor, pg 169
Other Disciplines/Punishments
One poor girl slept naked.....About her neck was a thick metal collar to which a heavy iron chain had been fastened; the chain itself was attached to a large iron ring placed in the floor. I supposed she was being disciplined.
Nomads of Gor, pg 219
"`What do you think should be her punishment ?' asked Callimachus of me. `If she is guilty,' I said, `whatever you wish, as she is a slave.' This was in full accord with Gorean law. Indeed, anything, for whatever reason, or without a reason, may be done to a slave."
Guardsman of Gor, pg 115
"Discipline?" breathed the girl.
"Yes," said Mira, "the slave girl is subject to discipline and punishment. She is owned, like a sleen or tarsk is owned. She is owned,literally owned. You must understand that in its full sense. Accordingly, anything may be done with her that the master wishes. She may even be slain, if the master wishes."
"Then the slave girl is totally helpless," said the girl. "she is totally at the mercy of the master."
"Yes," said Mira.
Blood Brothers of GOR, pg 296
in this punishment the girl, clothe or unclothed, is bound tightly to an oar, hands behind her, her head down, toward the blade. When the oar lifts from the water she gasps for breath, only in another moment to be submerged again. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar. When food is low, it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. The least pleasing girl is always used. This practice, of course encourages bond-maids the vie vigorously to please their masters. An Ahn on the oar is usually more than sufficient to make the coldest and proudest of females an obedient, eager-to-please bond-maid.
Marauders of Gor, pg 66
In this discipline the female is forbidden human speech. She is also forbidden human posture, in the sense that she is not allowed to rise to her feet. Her locomotion, unless commanded to roll, or put under similar commands, suitable for a pet, will be on all fours. Her food will be thrown to her, or put in pans on the ground. In either case, she must feed without the use of her hands. She may also, of course, be fed by hand, but, again, will not be permitted to touch the food with her hands. She may be taught tricks. Sometimes these are taught as functions of arbitrary sounds, so that she must learn them as any animal might, without the benefit of an earlier understanding of the word used. If she is slow to learn, of course, she is punished, as would be any other animal. When used, too, it will commonly be in the modality of the she-quadrupled. This discipline is often used as a punishment, but it may figure in the training of a new girl. It helps her to understand what she now is, an animal totally subject to her master.
pp 215-216 Mercenaries of Gor
9 - Speciality Areas of a Scribe
Legalist
Scribes of Law - See also Magistrates & Praetors
Preparing important Companionship Contracts
The Lady Sabina, I learned from Eta, was pledged by her father, Kleomenes, a pretentious, but powerful, upstart merchant of Fortress of Saphronicus, to Thandar of Ti, of the Warriors, youngest of the five sons of Ebullius Gaius Cassius, of the Warriors, Administrator of Ti, this done in a Companion Contract, arranged by both Ebullius Gaius Cassius and Kleomenes, to which had now been set the seals of both Ti and Fortress of Saphronicus. The pledged companions, the Lady Sabina of Fortress of Saphronicus and Thandar of Ti, of the Four Cities of Saleria, of the Salerian Confederation, had, as yet, according to Eta, never laid eyes on one another, the matter of their match having been arranged between their respective fathers, as is not uncommon in Gorean custom. The match had been initiated at the behest of Kleomenes, who was interested in negotiating a commercial and political alliance with the Salerian Confederation. These alliances, of interest to the expanding Salerian Confederation, were not unwelcome. Such alliances, naturally, might presage the entrance of Fortress of Saphronicus into the Confederation, which was becoming a growing power in the north. It seemed not unlikely that the match would ultimately prove profitable and politically expedient for both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Salerian Confederation. In the match, there was much to gain by both parties. The Companion Contract, thus, had been duly negotiated, with the attention of scribes of the law from both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Confederation of Saleria.
Slave Girl
Certifying legal transfer of property.
"Here are the most choice of the female slaves of the House of Cernus," said Marlenus, expansively gesturing to the two or three hundred girls.
There was a cheer from the many partisans of Marlenus in the room.
"Pick your slave," said he.
With great cheers the men hurried to the girls, to pick one that pleased them.
There were shouts of pleasure, and screams, and protests, and cries and laughter, as the men clapped their hands on wenches who struck their fancy. When the men had taken their pick the girls were released from the common chain and the key, that which served to unlock collar, bracelets and anklet, was given to he who had chosen his prize. Scribes at nearby tables endorsed and updated papers of registration, that the ownership of the girls be legally transferred from the state to individual citizens.
Assassin
Certifying official documents as legal
I did not know the business of the two men from Ar. They were Tenalion, and his man, Ronald. 'The fourth man was Brandon. He was from Vonda. He was a prefect in that city. His certifications on certain documents would be important.
Fighting Slave
“Do you have a witnessed, certified document attesting to the alleged contents of your purse?” I asked. “Too, was the purse closed with an imprinted seal, its number corresponding to the registration number of the certification document?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Oh,” I said.
“Here,” he said. “I think you will find everything in order.”
I had forgotten the fellow was from Tabor.
“This document seems a bit old,” I said. “Doubtless it is no longer current, no longer an effective legal instrument. As you can see, it is dated two weeks ago. Where are you going?”
“To fetch guardsmen,” he said.
“It will do,” I said.
Mercenaries
ACCOUNTANT
Scribes as Accountants
Employed by wealthy and powerful men.
It was Caprus of Ar, Chief Accountant to the House of Cernus (a Slaver). He lived in the house and seldom went abroad in the streets.
Assassin
It was Luma, the chief scribe of my house, in her blue robe and sandals. Her hair was blond and straight, tied behind her head with a ribbon of blue wool, from the bounding Hurt, died in the blood of the Vosk sorp. She was a scrawny girl, not attractive, but with deep eyes, blue; and she was a superb scribe, in her accounting swift, incisive, accurate, brilliant;
Marauders
Managing the wealth of the employer
She had much increased my fortunes. Freed, she took payment, but not as much as her services, I knew, warranted. Few scribes, I expected, were so skilled in the supervision and management of complex affairs as this light, unattractive, brilliant girl. Other captains, other merchants, seeing the waxing of my fortunes, and understanding the commercial complexities involved, had offered this scribe considerable emoluments to join their service. She, however, had refused to do so. I expect she was pleased at the authority, and trust and freedom, which I had accorded her. Too, perhaps, she had grown fond of the house of Bosk.
"I do not wish to see the accounts," I told her.
"The Venna and Tela have arrived from Scagnar," she said, "with full cargoes of the fur of sea sleen. My information indicates that highest prices currently for such products are being paid in Asperiche."
"Very well," I said, "give the men time for their pleasure, eight days, and have the cargoes transferred to one of my round ships, whichever can be most swiftly fitted, and embark them for Asperiche, the Venna and Tela as convoy."
"Yes, Captain," said Luma.
"Go now," I said. "I do not wish to see the accounts."
Marauders
Chief Scribes in larger houses may have assistants
"When do you have to report to Caprus?" I asked.
"He is one of us," she said. "He holds me to no close schedule, and lets me leave the house when I wish. Yet I suppose I should report in upon occasion."
"Are there other assistants to him?" I asked.
"He manages several Scribes," she said, "but they do not work closely with him.
Assassin
Keeping an accounting of treasures and fortunes
"What of the treasures here," I asked, "and Susan, and the other slaves chained here?"
"Scribes from the treasure rooms will be along shortly," he said, "to gather in and account for the cloths and coins. The palace slave master will be along later, too, to release the girls and put them back about their more customary duties." I then began to precede Drusus Rencius to my quarters.
Kajira
RECORD KEEPERS
Scribes as Record Keepers
Keeping records of complaints & petitions made to a Leader
“Hail, Gnieus Lelius!” I heard.
Taurentians were about the regent, and, too, some scribes. Notes, it seemed, and names, were being taken. Doubtless a record of the claims, grievances, petitions, and such, was being kept.
Mercenaries
Recording decisions made by leaders
As I have mentioned, there were scribes on, or near, the dais with Talena. Lists were being kept, and referred to. One list, for example, had the names of the women upon it, in the order in which they ascended the platform. It was from this list that one of the scribes announced the names. Another list, presumably a duplicate list, was kept as a record of the results of Talena’s decisions.
Magicians
Recording the votes at a meeting of Captains in Port Kar
"I now ask the table scribe," said Samos, "to call the roll of Captains."
"Bejar," called the scribe.
"Bejar accepts the proposals of Samos," said a captain, a dark-skinned man with long, straight hair, who sat in the second row, some two chairs below me and to the right.
"Bosk," called the scribe.
"Bosk," I said, "abstains."
Samos, and many of the others, looked at me, quickly.
"Abstention," recorded the scribe."
Raiders
Keeping Official City Records & Documents
It was Caprus of Ar, Chief Accountant to the House of Cernus. He lived in the house and seldom went abroad in the streets. It was with this man that Vella had been placed, her registration, papers and purchase having been arranged. In the House of Cernus, after the sheet, bracelets, leash and collar had been removed, agents of House of Cernus had checked her fingerprints against those on the papers. She had then been examined thoroughly the by Physicians of the House of Cernus. Then, found acceptable, she had knelt while agents of the House signed the receipt of her delivery and endorsed her papers, retaining one set, giving one set to the seller's agent, for forwarding to the Cylinder of Documents.
Assassin
The demands of Cernus for repayment of moneys owed to him by the Hinrabians became increasingly persistent and unavoidable. Claiming need, he was implacable. The citizens of Ar, generally, found it distasteful that the private fortunes of the Hinrabians should be in such poor state.
Then, as I would have expected, within the month, there were rumors of speculation, and an accounting and investigation, theoretically to clear the name of the Hinrabian, was demanded by one of the High Council, a Physician whom I had seen upon occasion in the house. The Scribes of the Central Cylinder examined the records and, to their horror, discrepancies were revealed, in particular payments to members of the Hinrabian family for services it was not clear had ever been performed; most outstandingly there had been a considerable disbursement for the construction of four bastions and tarncots for the flying cavalry of Ar, her tarnsmen; the military men of Ar had waited patiently for these cylinders and were now outraged to discover that the moneys had actually been disbursed, and had apparently disappeared; the parties, presumably of the Builders, to which the disbursements had been made were found to be fictitious. Further, at this time, the Odds Merchants of the Stadium of Tarns made it known that the Administrator was heavily in debt, and they, not to be left out, demanded their dues.
Assassin
TEACHERS
Scribes as Teachers
Tutoring the sons of rich men
; an intent, preoccupied scribe lean and clad in the scribe's blue, with a scroll, perhaps come north for high fees to tutor the sons of rich men;
Hunters
Teaching Tarl to read gorean
With annoyance, Torm poked through one of the enormous piles of scrolls and at last, on his hands and knees, fished out one skimpy scroll, set it in the reading device - a metal frame with rollers at the top and bottom - and, pushing a button, spun the scroll to its opening mark, a single sign.
'Al-Ka!' said Torm, pointing one long, authoritative finger at the sign. 'Al-Ka,' he said.
Tarnsman
In the next few weeks I found myself immersed in intensive activity, interspersed with carefully calculated rest and feeding periods. At first only Torm and my father were my teachers,...
Tarnsman
Teaching others to read
She had been taught to read by another girl, also free, of the Scribes, a thin, brilliant girl, whose name was Luma, who handled much of the intricate business of the great house.
Captive
Teaching a Warrior history, geography, caste system and protocol
'You must learn,' Torm had said matter-of-factly, 'the history and legends of Gor, its geography and economics, its social structures and customs, such as the caste system and clan groups, the right of placing the Home Stone, the Places of Sanctuary, when quarter is and is not permitted in war, and so on.'
And I learned these things, or as much as I could in the time I was given. Occasionally Torm would cry out in horror as I made a mistake, incomprehension and disbelief written on his features, and he would then sadly take up a large scroll, containing the work of an author of whom he disapproved , and strike me smartly on the head with it. One way or another, he was determined that I should profit by his instruction.
Tarnsman
HISTORIANS
Historians
As rumor has it, Clearchus was a famous brigand of some two centuries ago who decided to legitimize and regularize his brigandage. He proclaimed his area of operations a ubarate, proclaimed himself its ubar, and then proceeded to impose taxes and levy tolls. Interestingly enough, in time, several cities accorded this ubarate diplomatic recognition, generally in return for concessions on the taxes and tolls. Finally a large force of mercenaries, in the hire of the merchant caste, in a campaign that lasted several months, put an end to the spurious reign of Clearchus, driving him from the forest and scattering his men. It is generally conceded, however, that had Clearchus had more men he might have turned out to be the founder of a state.
It is not altogether clear what happened to Clearchus but some historians identify him with Clearchus of Turia, an immigrant, with followers, to Turia, now chiefly remembered as a patron of the arts and philanthropist. The woods of Clearchus, incidentally, to this day, remain a haunt of brigands.
Players
Military Historians
“So is Dietrich of Tarnburg, of the high city of Tarnburg, some two hundred pasangs to the north and west of Hochburg, both substantially mountain fortresses, both in the more southern and civilized ranges of the Voltai, was well-known to the warriors of Gor. His name was almost a legend. It was he who had won the day on the fields of both Piedmont and Cardonicus, who had led the Forty Days’ March, relieving the siege of Talmont, who had effected the crossing of the Issus in 10,122 C.A., in the night evacuation of Keibel Hill, when I had been in Torvaldsland, and who had been the victor in the battles of Rovere, Kargash, Edgington, Teveh Pass, Gordon Heights, and the Plains of Sanchez. His campaigns were studied in all the war schools of the high cities. I knew him from scrolls I had studied years ago in Ko-ro-ba, and from volumes in my library in Port Kar, such as the commentaries of Minicius and the anonymous analyses of “The Diaries,” sometimes attributed to the military historian, Carl Commenius, of Argentum, rumored to have once been a mercenary himself.
Mercenaries
Accordingly, because of this commonality of the Home Stone, love of their city, the sharing of citizenship, and such, there is generally a harmonious set of economic compromises obtaining the labor force, in general. Happily, most of these compromises are unquestioned matters of cultural tradition. They are taken for granted, usually, by all the citizens, and their remote origins, sometimes doubtless the outcome of internecine strife, of class war, of street fighting and riots, of bloody, house-to-house determinations in the past, and such, are seldom investigated, save perhaps by historians, scribes of the past, some seeking, it seems, to know the truth, for its own sake, others seemingly seeking lessons in the rich labyrinths of history, in previous human experience, what is to be emulated, and what is to be avoided.
Dancer
GEOGRAPHERS AND CARTOGRAPHERS
Scribes as Geographers and Cartographers
Exploring and mapping unknown territory
“Surely Shaba will have others of his caste with him, geographers of the scribes,” I said.
Explorers
The men with him, I suspected, or most of them, were members of his own caste, geographers of the scribes, perhaps, but men inured to hardships, perhaps men who had been with him in his explorations of Ushindi and Ngao, men he trusted and upon whom he could count in desperate situations, caste brothers.
Explorers
“Look there,” said Shaba, indicating a table to one side, on which there lay a cylindrical leather case, with a leather cap, and four notebooks, heavy and bound with leather.
“I see,” I said.
“There is a map case there,” he said, “and my notebooks. I have, in my journey, charted the Ua, and in the notebooks I have recorded my observations. Those things, though you, of the warriors, may not understand this, are priceless.”
“Your records would doubtless be of value, to geographers,” I said.
“They are,” said Shaba, “of inestimable value to all civilized men.”
“Perhaps,” I said.
“The maps, those records,” said Shaba, “open up a new world. Think not only in terms of crass profit, my friend, of the bounties there to hunters and trappers, to traders and settlers, to planters and physicians, but to all men who wish to understand, who wish to know, who wish to unveil hidden secrets and penetrate hitherto unsolved mysteries. In these maps and records, for those who can understand them, lie the first glimpses of new and vast countries. In these maps, and in these notes and drawings, there are treasures and wonders.”
Explorers
I thought of Bila Huruma, and the loneliness of the Ubar. I thought of Shaba, and his voyages of exploration, the circumnavigation of Lake Ushindi, the discovery and circumnavigation of Lake Ngao, and the discovery and exploration of the Ua, even to the discovery of its source in the placid waters of that vast lake he had called Lake Bila Huruma. But by the wish of Bila Huruma I had changed its name to Lake Shaba. He was surely one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the explorers of Gor. I did not think his name would be forgotten.
“I am grateful,” had said Ramani of Anango, who had once been the teacher of Shaba. I had delivered to him, and to two others of his caste, the maps and notebooks of Shaba. Ramani and his fellows had wept. I had then left them, returning to my lodgings. Copies would be made of the maps and notebooks. They would then be distributed by caste brothers throughout the cities of civilized Gor. The first copies that were made by anyone had already, however, been made, by the scribes of Bila Huruma in Ushindi.
Explorers
MAGESTRATES AND PRAETORS
Magistrates & Praetors - The Caste of Scribes - Law
Named Magistrates
Tolmar - Magicians (Deputy Commissioner in Records Office)
Venlisius - Magicians (Records Officer)
In the back room I tracked these matters by means of one of the observation portals. One of the two magistrates, he who was senior, Tolmar, of the second Octavii, an important gens but one independent of the well-known Octavii, sometimes spoken of simply as the Octavii, or sometimes as the first Octavii, deputy commissioner in the records office, much of which had been destroyed in a recent fire, was at the other portal. His colleague, Venlisius, a bright young man who was now, by adoption, a scion of the Toratti, was with him. Venlisius was in the same office. He was records officer, or archon of records, for the Metallan district, in which we were located. Both magistrates wore their robes, and fillets, of office. They also carried their wands of office, which, I suspect, from the look of them, and despite the weapons laws of Cos, contained concealed blades.
Magicians
Law is a function of Scribes
Many castes, incidentally, have branches and divisions. Lawyers and Scholars, for example, and Record Keepers, Teachers, Clerks, Historians and Accountants are all Scribes.
Assassin
The Companion Contract, thus, had been duly negotiated, with the attention of scribes of the law from both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Confederation of Saleria.
Slave Girl
The fellow who had said this wore the blue of the scribes. He may even have been a scribe of the law.
Mercenaries
“Are you a legal slave, my child?” asked one of the counselors, a scribe of the law.
Magicians
Magistrates
High magistrates, powerful in a city, it seems were likely wealthy
Similarly, if it seems understandable that, say, a high magistrate, a general, a Ubar, or such, might enjoy sitting in his pleasure gardens and inspecting his women, having them before him naked, or clothed according to his preferences, it is just as understandable that a less rich or well-fixed person might, similarly, on a more modest level, enjoy the sight of his girl, or girls, indeed, the fewer he has, perhaps the more he will relish the one, or ones, he had.
Dancer
Investigating crimes
In Ibn Saran's hand was his scimitar, unsheathed. I moved in the chains. They carried no light, but the moonlight, streaming through the barred window into the cell, permitted us to regard one another.
"It seems," I said, "I am not to reach the brine pits of Klima."
I observed the scimitar. I did not think they would slay me in the cell. This would seem, to the magistrates of Nine Wells, inexplicable, an accident demanding the most rigorous and exacting inquiry.
Tribesmen
Checking slaves for brands on rounds through city
If a magistrate should chance upon them in some alley he will commonly say, "Thigh," to them, and they will turn the girl, so that he may see if she is branded or not. If she is branded, he will commonly continue on his rounds.
Guardsman
May check actresses to encure they are slaves
!” On Gor, as I have perhaps mentioned, most of the actresses are slaves. In serious drama or more sophisticated comedy, when women are permitted roles within it, the female roles usually being played by men, and the females are slaves, their collars are sometimes removed. Before this is done, however, usually a steel bracelet or anklet, locked, which they cannot remove, is placed on them. In this way, they continue, helplessly, to wear some token of bondage. This facilitates, in any possible dispute or uncertainty as to their status or condition, a clear determination in the matter, by anyone, of course, but in particular by guardsmen or magistrates, or otherwise duly authorized authorities.
Players
Taking complaints from citizens
“With your permission, Lady Telitsia?” inquired Boots, addressing himself politely to the haughty, rigid, proud, vain, heavily veiled, blue-clad free female standing in the front row below the stage.
“You may continue,” she said.
“But you may find what ensues offensive,” Boots warned her.
“Doubtless I will,” she said. “And have no fear, I shall include it in my complaint to the proper magistrates.”
Players
"The drink she gave me," said Arn, smiling, "was well drugged. I awakened at dawn, with a great headache. My purse was gone."
"Times are hard," said Rim.
"I complained to a magistrate," said Arn, laughing, "but, unfortunately, there was on present who well recalled me, one with whom I had had prior dealings."
Hunters
Managing the traffic of certain Port cities
The representative of the Merchants, to whom I reported my business, and to whom I paid wharfage, asked no questions. He did not even demand the proof of registration of the Tesephone of Tabor. The Merchants, who control Lydius, under merchant law, for it is a free port, like Helmutsport, and Schendi and Bazi, are more interested in having their port heavily trafficked than strictly policed. Indeed, at the wharves I had even seen two green ships. Green is the color common to pirates. I supposed, did they pay their wharfage and declare some sort of business, the captains of those ships were as little interrogated as i. The governance of Lydius, under the merchants, incidentally, is identical to that of the exchange islands, or free islands, in Thassa. Three with which I was familiar, from various voyages, were Tabor, Teletus and, to the north, offshore from Torvaldsland, Scagnar. Of these, to be honest, and to give the merchants their due, I will admit that Tabor and Teletus are rather strictly controlled. It is said, however, by some of the merchants there, that this manner of caution and restriction, has to some extent diminished their position in the spheres of trade. Be that as it may, Lydius, though not what you would call an open port, was indulgent, and permissive. Most ports and islands on Thassa, of course, are not managed by the Merchants, but, commonly, by magistrates appointed by the city councils. In Port Kar, my city, the utilization of the facilities of the port is regulated by a board of four magistrates, the Port Consortium, which reports directly to the Council of Captains, which, since the downfall of the warring Ubars, is sovereign in the city. I suppose the magistrate, who, with his papers, met us at the dock, did not believe my story. He was smiling, when he wrote down my putative business. He had looked at my men. They did not appear to be merchant rowers. They looked much like what they were, men of Port Kar. Hunters
Sentencing and enslaving Free Women who bare their legs
Contrariwise, almost no free woman would bare her legs. They would not dare to do so. They would be horrified even to think of it. The scandal of such an act could ruin a reputation. It is said on Gor, any woman who bares her legs is a slave. Indeed, in some cities a free woman who might be found with bare legs is taken in hand by magistrates, tried and sentenced to bondage. After the judge’s decision has been enacted, its effect carried out upon her, reducing her to the status of goods, sometimes publicly, that she may be suitably disgraced, sometimes privately, by a contract slaver, that the sensitivities of free women in the city not be offended, she is hooded and transported, stripped and chained, freshly branded and collared, a property female, slave cargo, to a distant market where, once sold, she will begin her life anew, fearfully, as a purchased girl, tremulously as the helpless and lowly slave she now is.
Mercenaries
Would investigate the use of lure girls for innocent men to be used in a work chain
That particular chain, I had heard, was employed in the north, currently digging siege trenches for the Cosians who had invested Torcadino. The fellow whom they had bound, of course, and the others in whose capture I had been implicated, were not, as far as I knew, criminals. My master, Tyrrhenius, spoke of his work as "recruitment." He was "recruiting" for the chains of work masters. To be sure, he must do this work surreptitiously. It would be quite unfortunate for him, I gathered, if he were to be discovered to have been involved in such work. Judges, magistrates, and such, would not be likely to look indulgently on these activities.
Dancer
Sentencing
“Do you have anything to say before I pass such sentence upon you?”
“No,” she said.
“I sentence you to slavery,” he said, uttering the sentence.
She trembled, sentenced.
“It only remains now,” said Aemilianus, “for the sentence to be carried out. If you wish I, in the office of magistrate, shall carry it out. On the other hand, if you wish, you may yourself carry out the sentence.”
“I?” she said.
“Yes,” he said.
“You would have me proclaim myself slave?” she asked.
“Or I shall do it,” he said. “In the end, it does not matter.”
Renegades
Investigating and arresting for fraud
Some Gorean dice are sold in sealed boxes, bearing the city’s imprint. These, supposedly, have been each cast six hundred times, with results approximating the ideal mathematical probabilities. Also, it might be mentioned that dice are sometimes tampered with, or specially prepared, to favor certain numbers. These, I suppose, using the Earth term, might be spoken of as “loaded.” My friend, the actor, magician, impresario and whatnot, Boots Tarsk-Bit, once narrowly escaped an impalement in Besnit on the charge of using false dice. He was, however, it seems, framed. At any rate the charges were dismissed when a pair of identical false dice turned up in the pouch of the arresting magistrate, the original pair having, interestingly, at about the same time, vanished. (In this case it appears the magistrate was crooked himself
Magicians
Investigating and sentencing thieves
Some free girls, without family, keep themselves, as best they can, in certain port cities. That her ear had been notched indicated that, by a magistrate, she had been found thief. Ear notching is the first penalty for a convicted thief in most Gorean cities, whether male or female. The second offense, by a male, is punished with removal of the left hand, the third offense by the removal of the right. The penalty for a woman, for her second offense, if she is convicted, is to be reduced to slavery.
Hunters
Executioners
Lying on the ground, bound hand and foot, still clad in the white robe, was Talena. The point of the sharpened impaling post lay near her. As the tarn had landed, her executioners, two burly, hooded magistrates, had scrambled to their feet and fled to safety.
Tarnsman
Certain magistrates, likely well versed in Merchant Law, were Merchant Magistrates, of the Merchant Caste
Behind the wagon, in the white robes, trimmed with gold and purple, of merchant magistrates, came five men. I recognized them as judges.
Hunters
Praetor
The desk of a wharf praetor
The praetor placed the coin on his desk, the surface of which was some seven feet high, below the low, solid wooden bar The height of the praetor’s desk, he on the high stool behind it, permits him to see a goodly way up and down the wharves. Also, of course, one standing before the desk must look up to see the praetor, which, psychologically, tends to induce a feeling of fear for the power of the law. The wooden bar before the desk’s front edge makes it impossible to see what evidence or papers the praetor has at his disposal as he considers your case. Thus, you do not know for certain how much he knows. Similarly, you cannot tell what he writes on your papers.
Explorers
Wharf Praetor - settling disuputes on the docks
I walked in the morning, an Ahn before noon, on the wharves of Telnus. I could see the great gates of the harbor some two pasangs across the water. The harbor was filled with many craft. I avoided the tar on the planks of the wharf. Beneath the planking of the wharves, here and there, I could see water, and small boats tied at pilings. Men came and went, going to and from ships, and disembarking and embarking cargo. I passed the throne of the wharf praetor, he in his robes, with the two scribes, for the settling of disputes which might occur on the quays. Four guardsmen, too, were there.
Slave Girl
Issued or at least enforced warrants
“Return the girl to the praetor’s station on this pier,” said the guardsman.
“What of those who robbed me!” cried the fellow with the torn clothing and the blood behind his ear.
“You are not the first,” said the praetor, looking down at him from the high desk. “They stand under a general warrant.”
Explorers
Questioning, investigating, and sentencing
“I am innocent,” said the bound man.
“How do you refer to yourself?” asked the praetor.
“Turgus,” he said.
The praetor entered that name in the papers. He then signed the papers.
He looked down at Turgus. “How did you come to be tied?” he asked.
“Several men set upon me,” he said. “I was struck from behind. I was subdued.”
“It does not appear that you were struck from behind,” smiled the praetor.
The face of Turgus was not a pretty sight, as I had dashed it into the stones, and had then struck the side of his head against the nearby wall.
“Is the binding fiber on their wrists from their original bonds, as you found them?” asked the praetor of one of the guardsmen.
“It is,” he said.
“Examine the knots,” said the praetor.
“They are capture knots,” said the guardsman, smiling.
“You made a poor choice of one to detain, my friends,” said the praetor.
They looked at one another, miserably. Their paths had crossed that of a warrior.
They now stood bound before the praetor.
“Turgus, of Port Kar,” said the praetor, “in virtue of what we have here today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding upon you, you are sentenced to banishment. If you are found within the limits of the city after sunset this day you will be impaled.”
The face of Turgus was impassive.
“Free him,” he said.
Turgus was cut free, and turned about, moving through the crowd. He thrust men aside.
Explorers
Again, passing sentence of punishment
“The Lady Sasi, of Port Kar,” said the praetor, “in virtue of what we have here today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding upon her, must come under sentence.”
“Please, my officer,” she begged.
“I am now going to sentence you,” he said.
“Please,” she cried, “Sentence me only to a penal brothel!”
“The penal brothel is too good for you,” said the praetor.
“Show me mercy,” she begged.
“You will be shown no mercy,” he said.
She looked up at him, with horror.
“You are sentenced to slavery,” he said.
Explorers
Had cells for holding prisoners
“I hate you,” she sobbed. She threw a wild look at the fellow slumped over the nearby table. He was still unconscious. She was clearly frightened. The dosage she had imbibed, assuming there might have been one in the drink, would doubtless have been one fit for a male. Accordingly, her own period of unconsciousness, given this possibility, might possibly last several Ahn, more than enough time to be carried to a cell in a praetor’s holding area.
Mercenaries
Sentencing male criminals to work chains
The "free " chain, on the other hand, consists usually, I had been told, of condemned criminals. Rather than bother with housing these fellows, many of whom are supposedly dangerous, putting them up at public expense, and so on, many cities, for a nominal fee, turn them (pg. 305) over to a work master who accepts charge of them, theoretically for the duration of time remaining in their sentences. For example, if a fellow has been sentenced, say, to two years of hard labor by a praetor, he might be turned over, for a small fee, to the master of a work gang who will see to it, theatrically, that he performs these two years of hard labor.
Dancer
Some of them were not even men I had trapped, but only men who knew what I had done. Some may have been as innocent as those I had lured, others might have been murderers and brigands, suitably enchained for the expiation of sentences, their custody having been legally transferred to Ionicus, my master, at the payment of a prisoner’s fee, by the writ of a praetor or, in more desperate cases, by the order of a quaestor.
Dancer
Collecting payment for each prisoner sentenced and turned over to a work chain
"They are from Brundisium," he said.
"Of course," said Aulus.
"A silver tarsk apiece," said the fellow.
"That seems high," said Aulus.
"It is an average praetor’s price," he said. To be sure, some serving shorter sentences, would presumably go for less, and some, more dangerous fellows, perhaps, serving longer sentences, might go for more. "Too," he said, "I expect you pay to much, or more, for the fellows you get from illicit suppliers."
Dancer
OTHER TASKS
Other tasks performed by Scribes
Working as "printers" to prepare signs (in this case in the employ of Cernus, a Slaver)
Elsewhere in the room there were some free men, Scribes I gathered though they were stripped to the waist, who were inking, using a silk-screen process, large sheets of layered, glued rag paper. One of them held the sheet up inspecting it, and I saw that it was a bill, which might be pasted against a public building, or on the public boards near the markets. It advertised a sale. Other such sheets, hanging on wires, proclaimed games and tarn races. The common thread in these various matters was that the House of Cernus was involved, either in presenting the sale or in sponsoring the races or games.
Assassin
Heading Committees
"Several committees were formed, usually headed by scribes but reporting to the council, to undertake various studies pertaining to the city, particularly of a military and commercial nature. One of these studies was to be a census of ships and captains, the results of which were to be private to the council. Other studies, the results of which would be kept similarly private to the council, dealt with the city defenses, and her stores of wood, grain, salt, stone and tharlarion oil. Also considered, though nothing was determined that night, were matters of taxation, the unification and revision of the codes of the five Ubars, the establishment of council courts, replacing those of the Ubars, and the acquistion of a sizable number of men-at-arms, who would be directly responsible to the council itself, in effect, a small council police or army. Such a body of men, it might be noted, though restricted in numbers and limited in jurisdiction, already existed in the arsenal."
Raiders
Checking ship registration, proper arrangements for the wharf and cargo in Port cities
Two men from the desk of the nearest wharf praetor, he handling wharves six through ten, a scribe and a physician, boarded the ship. The scribe carried a folder with him. He would check the papers of Ulafi, the registration of the ship, the arrangements for wharfage and the nature of the cargo.
Explorers
Studying astronomical measurements for adjustment of official clocks.
Chronometers exist on Gor, but they are rare and valuable. Marcus and I did not have any, of intent, at the time, among our belongs. They would not have seemed to fit in well with our guise as auxiliary guardsmen. In many cities, of course, including Ar, time tends to be kept publicly. Official clocks are adjusted, of course, according to the announcements of scribes, in virtue of various astronomical measurements, having to do with the movements of the sun and stars. The calendar, and adjustments in it, are also the results of their researches, promulgated by civil authorities. The average Gorean has a variety of simple devices at his disposal for marking the passage of time. typical among them are marked, or calibrated, candles, sun dials, sand glasses, clepsydras and oil clocks.
Magicians
Certifying blood lines of mated slaves
Such breedings commonly take place with the slaves hooded, and under the supervision of the master, or masters. In this way the occurrence of the breeding act can be confirmed and authenticated. Sometimes a member of the caste of scribes is also present, to provide certification on behalf of the city. Usually, however, in cities which encourage this sort of registration it is sufficient to bring the papers for stamping to the proper office within forty Ahn. Such rigor, however, is usually involved only in the breeding of expensive, pedigreed slaves. Most slave breeding is at the discretion of the privae master or masters involved. Slaves from the same household incidentally, are seldom mated. This practice is intended to reduce the likelihood of intimate emotional relationships among slaves. Furthermore, make and female slaves are usually kept separate, female slaves commonly performing light labors in housholds and male slaves working in the fields or on the grounds.
Blood Brothers
Interrogating captives for confessions
"I gestured for the two slaves at the rack windlass to again rotate the heavy wooden wheels, moving the heavy wooden pawl another notch in the beam ratchet. Again there was a creak of wood and the sound of the pawl, locking, dropping into its new notch. The thing fastened on the rack threw back its head on the cords, screaming only with his eyes. Another notch and the bones of its arms and legs would be torn from their sockets.
"What have you learned?" I asked the scribe, who stood with his tablet and stylus beside the rack.
"It is the same as the others," he said. "They were hired by the men of Henrius Sevarius, some to slay captains, smoe to fire the wharves and arsenal." The scribe looked up at me. "Tonight," he said, "Sevarius was to be Ubar of Port Kar, and each was to have a stone of gold."
...
"Then Samos addressed himself to the Scribe near the rack. He gestured toward the other racks. "Take down these men," he said, "and keep them chained. We may wish to question them further tomorrow."
Raiders
Keeping tally on raids of the captives taken by each Warrior
"Near the oar pole to which I had been bound, some yards from what had been the circle of the dance, a number of rencers, stripped, men and women, lay bound hand and foot. They would later be carried, or forced to walk, to the barges. From time to time a warrior would add further booty to this catch, dragging or throwing his capture rudely among the others. These rencers were guarded by two warriors with drawn swords. A scribe stood by with a tally sheet, marking the number of captures by each warrior."
Raiders
Interests and research of Scribes
Suggesting changes to the gorean alphabet
Many Gorean letters have a variety of pronunciations, depending on their linguistic context. Certain scribes have recommended adding to the Gorean alphabet new letters, to independently represent some of these sounds which, now, require alternative pronunciations, context-dependent, of given letters. Their recommendations, it seems, are unlikely to be incorporated into formal Gorean.
Explorers
Proposing reform to a single chronology
The fellow, incidentally, had given the year of the aforementioned battle as 10,127 C.A. It was natural that he, of Ar’s Station, would give the date in the chronology of Ar. Different cities, perhaps in their vanity, or perhaps simply in accord with their own traditions, often have their own chronologies, based on Administrator Lists, and such. A result of this is that there is little uniformity in Gorean chronology. The same year, in the chronology of Port Kar, if it is of interest, would have been Year 8 of the Sovereignty of the Council of Captains. The reform of chronology is proposed by a small party from among the castes of scribes almost ever year at the Fair of En’Kara, near the Sardar, but their proposals, sensible as they might seem, are seldom greeted with either interest or enthusiasm, even by the scribes. Perhaps that is because the reconciliation and coordination of chronologies, like the diction and convolutions of the law, are regarded as scribal prerogatives.
Renegades
Proclaiming proper pronunciation and grammar for standard gorean language
Also, some of the dialects of Gorean itself are aimost unintelligible. On the other hand, Gorean, in its varieties, serves as the lingua franca of civilized Gor. There are few Goreans who cannot speak it, though with some it is almost a second language. Gorean tends to be rendered more uniform through the minglings and transactions of the great fairs. Too, at certain of these fairs, the caste of scribes, accepted as the arbiters of such matters, stipulate that certain pronounciations and grammatical, formations, and such are to be preferred over others. The Fairs, in their diverse ways, tend to standardize the language, which might otherwise disintegrate into regional variations which, over centuries, might become mutually unintelligible linguistic modalities, in effect and practice, unfortunately, separate languages. The Fairs, and, I think, the will of Priest-Kings, prevents this.
Beasts
Studying the language
"In Gorean, " said Bosk, "the most frequently occurring letter is Eta. We might then begin by supposing that the combination of blue and red signifies an Eta."
"I see," said Samos
"The next most frequently occurring letters in Gorean," said Bosk, "are Tau, Al-Ka, Omnioin and Nu. Following these in frequency of occurrence are Ar, Ina, Shu and Homan, and so on."
""How is this known?" asked Samos.
"it is based upon letter counts," said Bosk, "over thousands of words in varieties of manuscripts."
"These matters have been determined by scribes?" asked Samos.
"Yes," said Bosk.
"Why should they be interested in such things?"
"Such studies were conducted originally, at least publicly, as opposed to the presumed secret studies of cryptographers, in connection with the Sardar Fairs," said Bosk, "at meetings of Scribes concerned to standardize and simplify the cursive alphabet. Also, it was thought to have consequences for improved pedagogy, in teaching children to first recognize the most commonly occurring letter."
"I was taught the alphabet beginning with Al-Ka," smiled Samos.
"As was I," said Bosk, "perhaps we should first have been taught Eta."
"That is not tradition!" said Samos.
"True," admitted Bosk, "And these immovative scribes have had little success with their proposed reforms. Yet, from their labors, various interesting facts have emerged. For example, we have learned not only the offer of frequency of occurrence of letters but, as would be expected, rough percentages of occurrence as well. Eta, for expected, occurs two hundred times more frequently in the language than Altron. Over forty percent of the language consists of the first five letters I mentioned, Eta, Tau, Al-Ka, Onion and Nu."
Slave Girl
Scribes of Law - See also Magistrates & Praetors
Preparing important Companionship Contracts
The Lady Sabina, I learned from Eta, was pledged by her father, Kleomenes, a pretentious, but powerful, upstart merchant of Fortress of Saphronicus, to Thandar of Ti, of the Warriors, youngest of the five sons of Ebullius Gaius Cassius, of the Warriors, Administrator of Ti, this done in a Companion Contract, arranged by both Ebullius Gaius Cassius and Kleomenes, to which had now been set the seals of both Ti and Fortress of Saphronicus. The pledged companions, the Lady Sabina of Fortress of Saphronicus and Thandar of Ti, of the Four Cities of Saleria, of the Salerian Confederation, had, as yet, according to Eta, never laid eyes on one another, the matter of their match having been arranged between their respective fathers, as is not uncommon in Gorean custom. The match had been initiated at the behest of Kleomenes, who was interested in negotiating a commercial and political alliance with the Salerian Confederation. These alliances, of interest to the expanding Salerian Confederation, were not unwelcome. Such alliances, naturally, might presage the entrance of Fortress of Saphronicus into the Confederation, which was becoming a growing power in the north. It seemed not unlikely that the match would ultimately prove profitable and politically expedient for both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Salerian Confederation. In the match, there was much to gain by both parties. The Companion Contract, thus, had been duly negotiated, with the attention of scribes of the law from both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Confederation of Saleria.
Slave Girl
Certifying legal transfer of property.
"Here are the most choice of the female slaves of the House of Cernus," said Marlenus, expansively gesturing to the two or three hundred girls.
There was a cheer from the many partisans of Marlenus in the room.
"Pick your slave," said he.
With great cheers the men hurried to the girls, to pick one that pleased them.
There were shouts of pleasure, and screams, and protests, and cries and laughter, as the men clapped their hands on wenches who struck their fancy. When the men had taken their pick the girls were released from the common chain and the key, that which served to unlock collar, bracelets and anklet, was given to he who had chosen his prize. Scribes at nearby tables endorsed and updated papers of registration, that the ownership of the girls be legally transferred from the state to individual citizens.
Assassin
Certifying official documents as legal
I did not know the business of the two men from Ar. They were Tenalion, and his man, Ronald. 'The fourth man was Brandon. He was from Vonda. He was a prefect in that city. His certifications on certain documents would be important.
Fighting Slave
“Do you have a witnessed, certified document attesting to the alleged contents of your purse?” I asked. “Too, was the purse closed with an imprinted seal, its number corresponding to the registration number of the certification document?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Oh,” I said.
“Here,” he said. “I think you will find everything in order.”
I had forgotten the fellow was from Tabor.
“This document seems a bit old,” I said. “Doubtless it is no longer current, no longer an effective legal instrument. As you can see, it is dated two weeks ago. Where are you going?”
“To fetch guardsmen,” he said.
“It will do,” I said.
Mercenaries
ACCOUNTANT
Scribes as Accountants
Employed by wealthy and powerful men.
It was Caprus of Ar, Chief Accountant to the House of Cernus (a Slaver). He lived in the house and seldom went abroad in the streets.
Assassin
It was Luma, the chief scribe of my house, in her blue robe and sandals. Her hair was blond and straight, tied behind her head with a ribbon of blue wool, from the bounding Hurt, died in the blood of the Vosk sorp. She was a scrawny girl, not attractive, but with deep eyes, blue; and she was a superb scribe, in her accounting swift, incisive, accurate, brilliant;
Marauders
Managing the wealth of the employer
She had much increased my fortunes. Freed, she took payment, but not as much as her services, I knew, warranted. Few scribes, I expected, were so skilled in the supervision and management of complex affairs as this light, unattractive, brilliant girl. Other captains, other merchants, seeing the waxing of my fortunes, and understanding the commercial complexities involved, had offered this scribe considerable emoluments to join their service. She, however, had refused to do so. I expect she was pleased at the authority, and trust and freedom, which I had accorded her. Too, perhaps, she had grown fond of the house of Bosk.
"I do not wish to see the accounts," I told her.
"The Venna and Tela have arrived from Scagnar," she said, "with full cargoes of the fur of sea sleen. My information indicates that highest prices currently for such products are being paid in Asperiche."
"Very well," I said, "give the men time for their pleasure, eight days, and have the cargoes transferred to one of my round ships, whichever can be most swiftly fitted, and embark them for Asperiche, the Venna and Tela as convoy."
"Yes, Captain," said Luma.
"Go now," I said. "I do not wish to see the accounts."
Marauders
Chief Scribes in larger houses may have assistants
"When do you have to report to Caprus?" I asked.
"He is one of us," she said. "He holds me to no close schedule, and lets me leave the house when I wish. Yet I suppose I should report in upon occasion."
"Are there other assistants to him?" I asked.
"He manages several Scribes," she said, "but they do not work closely with him.
Assassin
Keeping an accounting of treasures and fortunes
"What of the treasures here," I asked, "and Susan, and the other slaves chained here?"
"Scribes from the treasure rooms will be along shortly," he said, "to gather in and account for the cloths and coins. The palace slave master will be along later, too, to release the girls and put them back about their more customary duties." I then began to precede Drusus Rencius to my quarters.
Kajira
RECORD KEEPERS
Scribes as Record Keepers
Keeping records of complaints & petitions made to a Leader
“Hail, Gnieus Lelius!” I heard.
Taurentians were about the regent, and, too, some scribes. Notes, it seemed, and names, were being taken. Doubtless a record of the claims, grievances, petitions, and such, was being kept.
Mercenaries
Recording decisions made by leaders
As I have mentioned, there were scribes on, or near, the dais with Talena. Lists were being kept, and referred to. One list, for example, had the names of the women upon it, in the order in which they ascended the platform. It was from this list that one of the scribes announced the names. Another list, presumably a duplicate list, was kept as a record of the results of Talena’s decisions.
Magicians
Recording the votes at a meeting of Captains in Port Kar
"I now ask the table scribe," said Samos, "to call the roll of Captains."
"Bejar," called the scribe.
"Bejar accepts the proposals of Samos," said a captain, a dark-skinned man with long, straight hair, who sat in the second row, some two chairs below me and to the right.
"Bosk," called the scribe.
"Bosk," I said, "abstains."
Samos, and many of the others, looked at me, quickly.
"Abstention," recorded the scribe."
Raiders
Keeping Official City Records & Documents
It was Caprus of Ar, Chief Accountant to the House of Cernus. He lived in the house and seldom went abroad in the streets. It was with this man that Vella had been placed, her registration, papers and purchase having been arranged. In the House of Cernus, after the sheet, bracelets, leash and collar had been removed, agents of House of Cernus had checked her fingerprints against those on the papers. She had then been examined thoroughly the by Physicians of the House of Cernus. Then, found acceptable, she had knelt while agents of the House signed the receipt of her delivery and endorsed her papers, retaining one set, giving one set to the seller's agent, for forwarding to the Cylinder of Documents.
Assassin
The demands of Cernus for repayment of moneys owed to him by the Hinrabians became increasingly persistent and unavoidable. Claiming need, he was implacable. The citizens of Ar, generally, found it distasteful that the private fortunes of the Hinrabians should be in such poor state.
Then, as I would have expected, within the month, there were rumors of speculation, and an accounting and investigation, theoretically to clear the name of the Hinrabian, was demanded by one of the High Council, a Physician whom I had seen upon occasion in the house. The Scribes of the Central Cylinder examined the records and, to their horror, discrepancies were revealed, in particular payments to members of the Hinrabian family for services it was not clear had ever been performed; most outstandingly there had been a considerable disbursement for the construction of four bastions and tarncots for the flying cavalry of Ar, her tarnsmen; the military men of Ar had waited patiently for these cylinders and were now outraged to discover that the moneys had actually been disbursed, and had apparently disappeared; the parties, presumably of the Builders, to which the disbursements had been made were found to be fictitious. Further, at this time, the Odds Merchants of the Stadium of Tarns made it known that the Administrator was heavily in debt, and they, not to be left out, demanded their dues.
Assassin
TEACHERS
Scribes as Teachers
Tutoring the sons of rich men
; an intent, preoccupied scribe lean and clad in the scribe's blue, with a scroll, perhaps come north for high fees to tutor the sons of rich men;
Hunters
Teaching Tarl to read gorean
With annoyance, Torm poked through one of the enormous piles of scrolls and at last, on his hands and knees, fished out one skimpy scroll, set it in the reading device - a metal frame with rollers at the top and bottom - and, pushing a button, spun the scroll to its opening mark, a single sign.
'Al-Ka!' said Torm, pointing one long, authoritative finger at the sign. 'Al-Ka,' he said.
Tarnsman
In the next few weeks I found myself immersed in intensive activity, interspersed with carefully calculated rest and feeding periods. At first only Torm and my father were my teachers,...
Tarnsman
Teaching others to read
She had been taught to read by another girl, also free, of the Scribes, a thin, brilliant girl, whose name was Luma, who handled much of the intricate business of the great house.
Captive
Teaching a Warrior history, geography, caste system and protocol
'You must learn,' Torm had said matter-of-factly, 'the history and legends of Gor, its geography and economics, its social structures and customs, such as the caste system and clan groups, the right of placing the Home Stone, the Places of Sanctuary, when quarter is and is not permitted in war, and so on.'
And I learned these things, or as much as I could in the time I was given. Occasionally Torm would cry out in horror as I made a mistake, incomprehension and disbelief written on his features, and he would then sadly take up a large scroll, containing the work of an author of whom he disapproved , and strike me smartly on the head with it. One way or another, he was determined that I should profit by his instruction.
Tarnsman
HISTORIANS
Historians
As rumor has it, Clearchus was a famous brigand of some two centuries ago who decided to legitimize and regularize his brigandage. He proclaimed his area of operations a ubarate, proclaimed himself its ubar, and then proceeded to impose taxes and levy tolls. Interestingly enough, in time, several cities accorded this ubarate diplomatic recognition, generally in return for concessions on the taxes and tolls. Finally a large force of mercenaries, in the hire of the merchant caste, in a campaign that lasted several months, put an end to the spurious reign of Clearchus, driving him from the forest and scattering his men. It is generally conceded, however, that had Clearchus had more men he might have turned out to be the founder of a state.
It is not altogether clear what happened to Clearchus but some historians identify him with Clearchus of Turia, an immigrant, with followers, to Turia, now chiefly remembered as a patron of the arts and philanthropist. The woods of Clearchus, incidentally, to this day, remain a haunt of brigands.
Players
Military Historians
“So is Dietrich of Tarnburg, of the high city of Tarnburg, some two hundred pasangs to the north and west of Hochburg, both substantially mountain fortresses, both in the more southern and civilized ranges of the Voltai, was well-known to the warriors of Gor. His name was almost a legend. It was he who had won the day on the fields of both Piedmont and Cardonicus, who had led the Forty Days’ March, relieving the siege of Talmont, who had effected the crossing of the Issus in 10,122 C.A., in the night evacuation of Keibel Hill, when I had been in Torvaldsland, and who had been the victor in the battles of Rovere, Kargash, Edgington, Teveh Pass, Gordon Heights, and the Plains of Sanchez. His campaigns were studied in all the war schools of the high cities. I knew him from scrolls I had studied years ago in Ko-ro-ba, and from volumes in my library in Port Kar, such as the commentaries of Minicius and the anonymous analyses of “The Diaries,” sometimes attributed to the military historian, Carl Commenius, of Argentum, rumored to have once been a mercenary himself.
Mercenaries
Accordingly, because of this commonality of the Home Stone, love of their city, the sharing of citizenship, and such, there is generally a harmonious set of economic compromises obtaining the labor force, in general. Happily, most of these compromises are unquestioned matters of cultural tradition. They are taken for granted, usually, by all the citizens, and their remote origins, sometimes doubtless the outcome of internecine strife, of class war, of street fighting and riots, of bloody, house-to-house determinations in the past, and such, are seldom investigated, save perhaps by historians, scribes of the past, some seeking, it seems, to know the truth, for its own sake, others seemingly seeking lessons in the rich labyrinths of history, in previous human experience, what is to be emulated, and what is to be avoided.
Dancer
GEOGRAPHERS AND CARTOGRAPHERS
Scribes as Geographers and Cartographers
Exploring and mapping unknown territory
“Surely Shaba will have others of his caste with him, geographers of the scribes,” I said.
Explorers
The men with him, I suspected, or most of them, were members of his own caste, geographers of the scribes, perhaps, but men inured to hardships, perhaps men who had been with him in his explorations of Ushindi and Ngao, men he trusted and upon whom he could count in desperate situations, caste brothers.
Explorers
“Look there,” said Shaba, indicating a table to one side, on which there lay a cylindrical leather case, with a leather cap, and four notebooks, heavy and bound with leather.
“I see,” I said.
“There is a map case there,” he said, “and my notebooks. I have, in my journey, charted the Ua, and in the notebooks I have recorded my observations. Those things, though you, of the warriors, may not understand this, are priceless.”
“Your records would doubtless be of value, to geographers,” I said.
“They are,” said Shaba, “of inestimable value to all civilized men.”
“Perhaps,” I said.
“The maps, those records,” said Shaba, “open up a new world. Think not only in terms of crass profit, my friend, of the bounties there to hunters and trappers, to traders and settlers, to planters and physicians, but to all men who wish to understand, who wish to know, who wish to unveil hidden secrets and penetrate hitherto unsolved mysteries. In these maps and records, for those who can understand them, lie the first glimpses of new and vast countries. In these maps, and in these notes and drawings, there are treasures and wonders.”
Explorers
I thought of Bila Huruma, and the loneliness of the Ubar. I thought of Shaba, and his voyages of exploration, the circumnavigation of Lake Ushindi, the discovery and circumnavigation of Lake Ngao, and the discovery and exploration of the Ua, even to the discovery of its source in the placid waters of that vast lake he had called Lake Bila Huruma. But by the wish of Bila Huruma I had changed its name to Lake Shaba. He was surely one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the explorers of Gor. I did not think his name would be forgotten.
“I am grateful,” had said Ramani of Anango, who had once been the teacher of Shaba. I had delivered to him, and to two others of his caste, the maps and notebooks of Shaba. Ramani and his fellows had wept. I had then left them, returning to my lodgings. Copies would be made of the maps and notebooks. They would then be distributed by caste brothers throughout the cities of civilized Gor. The first copies that were made by anyone had already, however, been made, by the scribes of Bila Huruma in Ushindi.
Explorers
MAGESTRATES AND PRAETORS
Magistrates & Praetors - The Caste of Scribes - Law
Named Magistrates
Tolmar - Magicians (Deputy Commissioner in Records Office)
Venlisius - Magicians (Records Officer)
In the back room I tracked these matters by means of one of the observation portals. One of the two magistrates, he who was senior, Tolmar, of the second Octavii, an important gens but one independent of the well-known Octavii, sometimes spoken of simply as the Octavii, or sometimes as the first Octavii, deputy commissioner in the records office, much of which had been destroyed in a recent fire, was at the other portal. His colleague, Venlisius, a bright young man who was now, by adoption, a scion of the Toratti, was with him. Venlisius was in the same office. He was records officer, or archon of records, for the Metallan district, in which we were located. Both magistrates wore their robes, and fillets, of office. They also carried their wands of office, which, I suspect, from the look of them, and despite the weapons laws of Cos, contained concealed blades.
Magicians
Law is a function of Scribes
Many castes, incidentally, have branches and divisions. Lawyers and Scholars, for example, and Record Keepers, Teachers, Clerks, Historians and Accountants are all Scribes.
Assassin
The Companion Contract, thus, had been duly negotiated, with the attention of scribes of the law from both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Confederation of Saleria.
Slave Girl
The fellow who had said this wore the blue of the scribes. He may even have been a scribe of the law.
Mercenaries
“Are you a legal slave, my child?” asked one of the counselors, a scribe of the law.
Magicians
Magistrates
High magistrates, powerful in a city, it seems were likely wealthy
Similarly, if it seems understandable that, say, a high magistrate, a general, a Ubar, or such, might enjoy sitting in his pleasure gardens and inspecting his women, having them before him naked, or clothed according to his preferences, it is just as understandable that a less rich or well-fixed person might, similarly, on a more modest level, enjoy the sight of his girl, or girls, indeed, the fewer he has, perhaps the more he will relish the one, or ones, he had.
Dancer
Investigating crimes
In Ibn Saran's hand was his scimitar, unsheathed. I moved in the chains. They carried no light, but the moonlight, streaming through the barred window into the cell, permitted us to regard one another.
"It seems," I said, "I am not to reach the brine pits of Klima."
I observed the scimitar. I did not think they would slay me in the cell. This would seem, to the magistrates of Nine Wells, inexplicable, an accident demanding the most rigorous and exacting inquiry.
Tribesmen
Checking slaves for brands on rounds through city
If a magistrate should chance upon them in some alley he will commonly say, "Thigh," to them, and they will turn the girl, so that he may see if she is branded or not. If she is branded, he will commonly continue on his rounds.
Guardsman
May check actresses to encure they are slaves
!” On Gor, as I have perhaps mentioned, most of the actresses are slaves. In serious drama or more sophisticated comedy, when women are permitted roles within it, the female roles usually being played by men, and the females are slaves, their collars are sometimes removed. Before this is done, however, usually a steel bracelet or anklet, locked, which they cannot remove, is placed on them. In this way, they continue, helplessly, to wear some token of bondage. This facilitates, in any possible dispute or uncertainty as to their status or condition, a clear determination in the matter, by anyone, of course, but in particular by guardsmen or magistrates, or otherwise duly authorized authorities.
Players
Taking complaints from citizens
“With your permission, Lady Telitsia?” inquired Boots, addressing himself politely to the haughty, rigid, proud, vain, heavily veiled, blue-clad free female standing in the front row below the stage.
“You may continue,” she said.
“But you may find what ensues offensive,” Boots warned her.
“Doubtless I will,” she said. “And have no fear, I shall include it in my complaint to the proper magistrates.”
Players
"The drink she gave me," said Arn, smiling, "was well drugged. I awakened at dawn, with a great headache. My purse was gone."
"Times are hard," said Rim.
"I complained to a magistrate," said Arn, laughing, "but, unfortunately, there was on present who well recalled me, one with whom I had had prior dealings."
Hunters
Managing the traffic of certain Port cities
The representative of the Merchants, to whom I reported my business, and to whom I paid wharfage, asked no questions. He did not even demand the proof of registration of the Tesephone of Tabor. The Merchants, who control Lydius, under merchant law, for it is a free port, like Helmutsport, and Schendi and Bazi, are more interested in having their port heavily trafficked than strictly policed. Indeed, at the wharves I had even seen two green ships. Green is the color common to pirates. I supposed, did they pay their wharfage and declare some sort of business, the captains of those ships were as little interrogated as i. The governance of Lydius, under the merchants, incidentally, is identical to that of the exchange islands, or free islands, in Thassa. Three with which I was familiar, from various voyages, were Tabor, Teletus and, to the north, offshore from Torvaldsland, Scagnar. Of these, to be honest, and to give the merchants their due, I will admit that Tabor and Teletus are rather strictly controlled. It is said, however, by some of the merchants there, that this manner of caution and restriction, has to some extent diminished their position in the spheres of trade. Be that as it may, Lydius, though not what you would call an open port, was indulgent, and permissive. Most ports and islands on Thassa, of course, are not managed by the Merchants, but, commonly, by magistrates appointed by the city councils. In Port Kar, my city, the utilization of the facilities of the port is regulated by a board of four magistrates, the Port Consortium, which reports directly to the Council of Captains, which, since the downfall of the warring Ubars, is sovereign in the city. I suppose the magistrate, who, with his papers, met us at the dock, did not believe my story. He was smiling, when he wrote down my putative business. He had looked at my men. They did not appear to be merchant rowers. They looked much like what they were, men of Port Kar. Hunters
Sentencing and enslaving Free Women who bare their legs
Contrariwise, almost no free woman would bare her legs. They would not dare to do so. They would be horrified even to think of it. The scandal of such an act could ruin a reputation. It is said on Gor, any woman who bares her legs is a slave. Indeed, in some cities a free woman who might be found with bare legs is taken in hand by magistrates, tried and sentenced to bondage. After the judge’s decision has been enacted, its effect carried out upon her, reducing her to the status of goods, sometimes publicly, that she may be suitably disgraced, sometimes privately, by a contract slaver, that the sensitivities of free women in the city not be offended, she is hooded and transported, stripped and chained, freshly branded and collared, a property female, slave cargo, to a distant market where, once sold, she will begin her life anew, fearfully, as a purchased girl, tremulously as the helpless and lowly slave she now is.
Mercenaries
Would investigate the use of lure girls for innocent men to be used in a work chain
That particular chain, I had heard, was employed in the north, currently digging siege trenches for the Cosians who had invested Torcadino. The fellow whom they had bound, of course, and the others in whose capture I had been implicated, were not, as far as I knew, criminals. My master, Tyrrhenius, spoke of his work as "recruitment." He was "recruiting" for the chains of work masters. To be sure, he must do this work surreptitiously. It would be quite unfortunate for him, I gathered, if he were to be discovered to have been involved in such work. Judges, magistrates, and such, would not be likely to look indulgently on these activities.
Dancer
Sentencing
“Do you have anything to say before I pass such sentence upon you?”
“No,” she said.
“I sentence you to slavery,” he said, uttering the sentence.
She trembled, sentenced.
“It only remains now,” said Aemilianus, “for the sentence to be carried out. If you wish I, in the office of magistrate, shall carry it out. On the other hand, if you wish, you may yourself carry out the sentence.”
“I?” she said.
“Yes,” he said.
“You would have me proclaim myself slave?” she asked.
“Or I shall do it,” he said. “In the end, it does not matter.”
Renegades
Investigating and arresting for fraud
Some Gorean dice are sold in sealed boxes, bearing the city’s imprint. These, supposedly, have been each cast six hundred times, with results approximating the ideal mathematical probabilities. Also, it might be mentioned that dice are sometimes tampered with, or specially prepared, to favor certain numbers. These, I suppose, using the Earth term, might be spoken of as “loaded.” My friend, the actor, magician, impresario and whatnot, Boots Tarsk-Bit, once narrowly escaped an impalement in Besnit on the charge of using false dice. He was, however, it seems, framed. At any rate the charges were dismissed when a pair of identical false dice turned up in the pouch of the arresting magistrate, the original pair having, interestingly, at about the same time, vanished. (In this case it appears the magistrate was crooked himself
Magicians
Investigating and sentencing thieves
Some free girls, without family, keep themselves, as best they can, in certain port cities. That her ear had been notched indicated that, by a magistrate, she had been found thief. Ear notching is the first penalty for a convicted thief in most Gorean cities, whether male or female. The second offense, by a male, is punished with removal of the left hand, the third offense by the removal of the right. The penalty for a woman, for her second offense, if she is convicted, is to be reduced to slavery.
Hunters
Executioners
Lying on the ground, bound hand and foot, still clad in the white robe, was Talena. The point of the sharpened impaling post lay near her. As the tarn had landed, her executioners, two burly, hooded magistrates, had scrambled to their feet and fled to safety.
Tarnsman
Certain magistrates, likely well versed in Merchant Law, were Merchant Magistrates, of the Merchant Caste
Behind the wagon, in the white robes, trimmed with gold and purple, of merchant magistrates, came five men. I recognized them as judges.
Hunters
Praetor
The desk of a wharf praetor
The praetor placed the coin on his desk, the surface of which was some seven feet high, below the low, solid wooden bar The height of the praetor’s desk, he on the high stool behind it, permits him to see a goodly way up and down the wharves. Also, of course, one standing before the desk must look up to see the praetor, which, psychologically, tends to induce a feeling of fear for the power of the law. The wooden bar before the desk’s front edge makes it impossible to see what evidence or papers the praetor has at his disposal as he considers your case. Thus, you do not know for certain how much he knows. Similarly, you cannot tell what he writes on your papers.
Explorers
Wharf Praetor - settling disuputes on the docks
I walked in the morning, an Ahn before noon, on the wharves of Telnus. I could see the great gates of the harbor some two pasangs across the water. The harbor was filled with many craft. I avoided the tar on the planks of the wharf. Beneath the planking of the wharves, here and there, I could see water, and small boats tied at pilings. Men came and went, going to and from ships, and disembarking and embarking cargo. I passed the throne of the wharf praetor, he in his robes, with the two scribes, for the settling of disputes which might occur on the quays. Four guardsmen, too, were there.
Slave Girl
Issued or at least enforced warrants
“Return the girl to the praetor’s station on this pier,” said the guardsman.
“What of those who robbed me!” cried the fellow with the torn clothing and the blood behind his ear.
“You are not the first,” said the praetor, looking down at him from the high desk. “They stand under a general warrant.”
Explorers
Questioning, investigating, and sentencing
“I am innocent,” said the bound man.
“How do you refer to yourself?” asked the praetor.
“Turgus,” he said.
The praetor entered that name in the papers. He then signed the papers.
He looked down at Turgus. “How did you come to be tied?” he asked.
“Several men set upon me,” he said. “I was struck from behind. I was subdued.”
“It does not appear that you were struck from behind,” smiled the praetor.
The face of Turgus was not a pretty sight, as I had dashed it into the stones, and had then struck the side of his head against the nearby wall.
“Is the binding fiber on their wrists from their original bonds, as you found them?” asked the praetor of one of the guardsmen.
“It is,” he said.
“Examine the knots,” said the praetor.
“They are capture knots,” said the guardsman, smiling.
“You made a poor choice of one to detain, my friends,” said the praetor.
They looked at one another, miserably. Their paths had crossed that of a warrior.
They now stood bound before the praetor.
“Turgus, of Port Kar,” said the praetor, “in virtue of what we have here today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding upon you, you are sentenced to banishment. If you are found within the limits of the city after sunset this day you will be impaled.”
The face of Turgus was impassive.
“Free him,” he said.
Turgus was cut free, and turned about, moving through the crowd. He thrust men aside.
Explorers
Again, passing sentence of punishment
“The Lady Sasi, of Port Kar,” said the praetor, “in virtue of what we have here today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding upon her, must come under sentence.”
“Please, my officer,” she begged.
“I am now going to sentence you,” he said.
“Please,” she cried, “Sentence me only to a penal brothel!”
“The penal brothel is too good for you,” said the praetor.
“Show me mercy,” she begged.
“You will be shown no mercy,” he said.
She looked up at him, with horror.
“You are sentenced to slavery,” he said.
Explorers
Had cells for holding prisoners
“I hate you,” she sobbed. She threw a wild look at the fellow slumped over the nearby table. He was still unconscious. She was clearly frightened. The dosage she had imbibed, assuming there might have been one in the drink, would doubtless have been one fit for a male. Accordingly, her own period of unconsciousness, given this possibility, might possibly last several Ahn, more than enough time to be carried to a cell in a praetor’s holding area.
Mercenaries
Sentencing male criminals to work chains
The "free " chain, on the other hand, consists usually, I had been told, of condemned criminals. Rather than bother with housing these fellows, many of whom are supposedly dangerous, putting them up at public expense, and so on, many cities, for a nominal fee, turn them (pg. 305) over to a work master who accepts charge of them, theoretically for the duration of time remaining in their sentences. For example, if a fellow has been sentenced, say, to two years of hard labor by a praetor, he might be turned over, for a small fee, to the master of a work gang who will see to it, theatrically, that he performs these two years of hard labor.
Dancer
Some of them were not even men I had trapped, but only men who knew what I had done. Some may have been as innocent as those I had lured, others might have been murderers and brigands, suitably enchained for the expiation of sentences, their custody having been legally transferred to Ionicus, my master, at the payment of a prisoner’s fee, by the writ of a praetor or, in more desperate cases, by the order of a quaestor.
Dancer
Collecting payment for each prisoner sentenced and turned over to a work chain
"They are from Brundisium," he said.
"Of course," said Aulus.
"A silver tarsk apiece," said the fellow.
"That seems high," said Aulus.
"It is an average praetor’s price," he said. To be sure, some serving shorter sentences, would presumably go for less, and some, more dangerous fellows, perhaps, serving longer sentences, might go for more. "Too," he said, "I expect you pay to much, or more, for the fellows you get from illicit suppliers."
Dancer
OTHER TASKS
Other tasks performed by Scribes
Working as "printers" to prepare signs (in this case in the employ of Cernus, a Slaver)
Elsewhere in the room there were some free men, Scribes I gathered though they were stripped to the waist, who were inking, using a silk-screen process, large sheets of layered, glued rag paper. One of them held the sheet up inspecting it, and I saw that it was a bill, which might be pasted against a public building, or on the public boards near the markets. It advertised a sale. Other such sheets, hanging on wires, proclaimed games and tarn races. The common thread in these various matters was that the House of Cernus was involved, either in presenting the sale or in sponsoring the races or games.
Assassin
Heading Committees
"Several committees were formed, usually headed by scribes but reporting to the council, to undertake various studies pertaining to the city, particularly of a military and commercial nature. One of these studies was to be a census of ships and captains, the results of which were to be private to the council. Other studies, the results of which would be kept similarly private to the council, dealt with the city defenses, and her stores of wood, grain, salt, stone and tharlarion oil. Also considered, though nothing was determined that night, were matters of taxation, the unification and revision of the codes of the five Ubars, the establishment of council courts, replacing those of the Ubars, and the acquistion of a sizable number of men-at-arms, who would be directly responsible to the council itself, in effect, a small council police or army. Such a body of men, it might be noted, though restricted in numbers and limited in jurisdiction, already existed in the arsenal."
Raiders
Checking ship registration, proper arrangements for the wharf and cargo in Port cities
Two men from the desk of the nearest wharf praetor, he handling wharves six through ten, a scribe and a physician, boarded the ship. The scribe carried a folder with him. He would check the papers of Ulafi, the registration of the ship, the arrangements for wharfage and the nature of the cargo.
Explorers
Studying astronomical measurements for adjustment of official clocks.
Chronometers exist on Gor, but they are rare and valuable. Marcus and I did not have any, of intent, at the time, among our belongs. They would not have seemed to fit in well with our guise as auxiliary guardsmen. In many cities, of course, including Ar, time tends to be kept publicly. Official clocks are adjusted, of course, according to the announcements of scribes, in virtue of various astronomical measurements, having to do with the movements of the sun and stars. The calendar, and adjustments in it, are also the results of their researches, promulgated by civil authorities. The average Gorean has a variety of simple devices at his disposal for marking the passage of time. typical among them are marked, or calibrated, candles, sun dials, sand glasses, clepsydras and oil clocks.
Magicians
Certifying blood lines of mated slaves
Such breedings commonly take place with the slaves hooded, and under the supervision of the master, or masters. In this way the occurrence of the breeding act can be confirmed and authenticated. Sometimes a member of the caste of scribes is also present, to provide certification on behalf of the city. Usually, however, in cities which encourage this sort of registration it is sufficient to bring the papers for stamping to the proper office within forty Ahn. Such rigor, however, is usually involved only in the breeding of expensive, pedigreed slaves. Most slave breeding is at the discretion of the privae master or masters involved. Slaves from the same household incidentally, are seldom mated. This practice is intended to reduce the likelihood of intimate emotional relationships among slaves. Furthermore, make and female slaves are usually kept separate, female slaves commonly performing light labors in housholds and male slaves working in the fields or on the grounds.
Blood Brothers
Interrogating captives for confessions
"I gestured for the two slaves at the rack windlass to again rotate the heavy wooden wheels, moving the heavy wooden pawl another notch in the beam ratchet. Again there was a creak of wood and the sound of the pawl, locking, dropping into its new notch. The thing fastened on the rack threw back its head on the cords, screaming only with his eyes. Another notch and the bones of its arms and legs would be torn from their sockets.
"What have you learned?" I asked the scribe, who stood with his tablet and stylus beside the rack.
"It is the same as the others," he said. "They were hired by the men of Henrius Sevarius, some to slay captains, smoe to fire the wharves and arsenal." The scribe looked up at me. "Tonight," he said, "Sevarius was to be Ubar of Port Kar, and each was to have a stone of gold."
...
"Then Samos addressed himself to the Scribe near the rack. He gestured toward the other racks. "Take down these men," he said, "and keep them chained. We may wish to question them further tomorrow."
Raiders
Keeping tally on raids of the captives taken by each Warrior
"Near the oar pole to which I had been bound, some yards from what had been the circle of the dance, a number of rencers, stripped, men and women, lay bound hand and foot. They would later be carried, or forced to walk, to the barges. From time to time a warrior would add further booty to this catch, dragging or throwing his capture rudely among the others. These rencers were guarded by two warriors with drawn swords. A scribe stood by with a tally sheet, marking the number of captures by each warrior."
Raiders
Interests and research of Scribes
Suggesting changes to the gorean alphabet
Many Gorean letters have a variety of pronunciations, depending on their linguistic context. Certain scribes have recommended adding to the Gorean alphabet new letters, to independently represent some of these sounds which, now, require alternative pronunciations, context-dependent, of given letters. Their recommendations, it seems, are unlikely to be incorporated into formal Gorean.
Explorers
Proposing reform to a single chronology
The fellow, incidentally, had given the year of the aforementioned battle as 10,127 C.A. It was natural that he, of Ar’s Station, would give the date in the chronology of Ar. Different cities, perhaps in their vanity, or perhaps simply in accord with their own traditions, often have their own chronologies, based on Administrator Lists, and such. A result of this is that there is little uniformity in Gorean chronology. The same year, in the chronology of Port Kar, if it is of interest, would have been Year 8 of the Sovereignty of the Council of Captains. The reform of chronology is proposed by a small party from among the castes of scribes almost ever year at the Fair of En’Kara, near the Sardar, but their proposals, sensible as they might seem, are seldom greeted with either interest or enthusiasm, even by the scribes. Perhaps that is because the reconciliation and coordination of chronologies, like the diction and convolutions of the law, are regarded as scribal prerogatives.
Renegades
Proclaiming proper pronunciation and grammar for standard gorean language
Also, some of the dialects of Gorean itself are aimost unintelligible. On the other hand, Gorean, in its varieties, serves as the lingua franca of civilized Gor. There are few Goreans who cannot speak it, though with some it is almost a second language. Gorean tends to be rendered more uniform through the minglings and transactions of the great fairs. Too, at certain of these fairs, the caste of scribes, accepted as the arbiters of such matters, stipulate that certain pronounciations and grammatical, formations, and such are to be preferred over others. The Fairs, in their diverse ways, tend to standardize the language, which might otherwise disintegrate into regional variations which, over centuries, might become mutually unintelligible linguistic modalities, in effect and practice, unfortunately, separate languages. The Fairs, and, I think, the will of Priest-Kings, prevents this.
Beasts
Studying the language
"In Gorean, " said Bosk, "the most frequently occurring letter is Eta. We might then begin by supposing that the combination of blue and red signifies an Eta."
"I see," said Samos
"The next most frequently occurring letters in Gorean," said Bosk, "are Tau, Al-Ka, Omnioin and Nu. Following these in frequency of occurrence are Ar, Ina, Shu and Homan, and so on."
""How is this known?" asked Samos.
"it is based upon letter counts," said Bosk, "over thousands of words in varieties of manuscripts."
"These matters have been determined by scribes?" asked Samos.
"Yes," said Bosk.
"Why should they be interested in such things?"
"Such studies were conducted originally, at least publicly, as opposed to the presumed secret studies of cryptographers, in connection with the Sardar Fairs," said Bosk, "at meetings of Scribes concerned to standardize and simplify the cursive alphabet. Also, it was thought to have consequences for improved pedagogy, in teaching children to first recognize the most commonly occurring letter."
"I was taught the alphabet beginning with Al-Ka," smiled Samos.
"As was I," said Bosk, "perhaps we should first have been taught Eta."
"That is not tradition!" said Samos.
"True," admitted Bosk, "And these immovative scribes have had little success with their proposed reforms. Yet, from their labors, various interesting facts have emerged. For example, we have learned not only the offer of frequency of occurrence of letters but, as would be expected, rough percentages of occurrence as well. Eta, for expected, occurs two hundred times more frequently in the language than Altron. Over forty percent of the language consists of the first five letters I mentioned, Eta, Tau, Al-Ka, Onion and Nu."
Slave Girl
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