November 6 1997
- "As one
that, through the haze of earthbound toil
- Deafened by
the cares which valour foil,
- Confined by
fate to bleak and wasted soil
- Upon which
every man forgets his name
- And no man
strives for honor, nor for fame
- But lives his
desperate days in idle shame
- And such a
one would yearn for Thassa's main,
- Through salty
lips, to breathe clean air again
- So joyful,
from the din of Earthly speech
- Men turn, and
see the stars, and feel the free
- Shrill wind
beyond the close of city-scape
- And from
their languid prisons seek escape
- To hear like
Thassa on a rocky shore
- The surge and
thunder of the words of Gor."
Tal,
Goreans. On this page I shall attempt to plumb the depths of the
twenty-five Gorean source books to answer the various questions
we all have regarding Gor according to its creator, John Norman.
By
writing this column I hope to explore the usage of various Gorean
and non-Gorean practices which give life and authenticity to our
channels and online interaction. In addition, I hope to learn
more about the source books and how the information therein might
best be applied to our virtual Gorean society.
GOR
according to Norman
I'll
start the ball rolling by exploring several terms and concepts of
dubious origin which have appeared in our Gorean channels, and
which have little or no relation to the source books themselves.
Here are a few of my own personal pet peeves, and the actual
quotes which I believe debunk them:
ROCK-SLURPERS
OF GOR
- "sweet
rocks": Okay, now where did this one come
from? I see it in channel all the time, in reference to
black wine and bazi tea. A slave will bring sweetener and
milk to add to the beverage, and will ask the Master or
Mistress "how many sweet rocks would you like?"
I have to assume by "sweet rocks" one is
referring to "sugar cubes." Cute. But how
accurate is this? The books tell us:
- "She
carried a tray, on which were various spoons and sugars.
She knelt, placing her tray upon the table. With a tiny
spoon, its tip no more than a tenth of a hort in
diameter, she placed four measures of white sugar, and
six of yellow, in the cup; with two stirring spoons, one
for the white sugar, another for the yellow, she stirred
the beverage after each measure."
- --p 89,
Tribesmen of Gor
- Like
the excerpt above, there are numerous references in the
books to the various forms and uses of sugar on Gor. In
addition, Tarl himself uses the word "lump" in
references to many things he sees or handles. Therefore
is it too great a leap of logic to assume that Tarl, and
Goreans in general, if they actually utilized sugar in
lump form, would call such an object "a lump of
sugar" or a "sugar lump"? In such a case a
serving slave would ask the Master or Mistress "how
many sugar lumps would you like in your beverage?"
Where precisely does the term "sweet rock"
enter the picture?
- This
is one of the most annoying assumptions people make: the
belief that Goreans are a bunch of primitive idiots.
"Gadzooks, Warriors! Yon magic rocks are sweet upon
thy tongue! 'Tis a miracle!" I put the "sweet
rock" mistake into the same category as the
"drinking reed" lunacy outlined below.
REED-SUCKERS
OF GOR
- "drinking
reed": Unlike the sweet rocks thing, I know
precisely where this one comes from, and was present when
it was first invented by a well-meaning but slightly
misinformed acquaintance of mine. Picture this: a
Freewoman enters a Gorean drinking establishment and
wishes to sip her drink without having to remove her
veils, or risk exposing her features. What she needs is a
straw. What she gets, however, is a hollow reed straight
from the nearest riverbank. Why is this, you ask? Why...
because everyone knows that Gor is far too primitive a
world for there to exist upon it such a modern item as a
straw.
- While
there are no references in the books to the use of
"straws" as a drinking implement, there are
several references to persons using hollow reeds to
breathe through when hiding in a body of water, as below:
- "The man
left tracks by the side of the pond, and then waded into
the chill water. He broke off a reed and then waded
deeper into the chill water..."
- --p 123,
Beasts of Gor
- And later:
- "I saw
the man take the tube of reed he had broken off and
thrust it in her mouth; then the knife he carried, hers,
lay across her throat; I saw her eyes, wild, in the
moonlight, and then he, another bit of reed in his mouth,
pulled her quietly under the surface."
- --p 125,
Beasts of Go
- The
question is, did the persons above use a reed because
Goreans don't have straws, or simply because they only
had a nearby reed to work with? The latter seems the
obvious explanation.
- Again
I feel that people are overestimating just how primitive
Gor is. The first book, Tarnsman of Gor, describes
portable laptop computer-style translation devices:
- "The
schedule that was forced upon me was meticulous and
grueling, and except for rest and feeding, alternating
between times of study and times of training, largely in
arms, but partly in the use of various devices as
common to the Goreans as adding machines and scales are
to us.... One of the most interesting was the
Translator, which could be set for various languages...If
I set the machine to say, Language A and spoke Gorean
into it, it would, after a fraction of a second, emit a
succession of noises, which was the translation of my
Gorean sentences into A...These translation machines are
a marvel of miniaturization, each of them, about the size
of a portable typewriter, being programmed for four
non-Gorean languages."
- --p 39,
Tarnsman of Gor
- [Tarl goes on to explain just
how many different characters, in each language, a
Translator can hold in its internal memory. In computer
terms, therefore, the device is roughly the equivalent of
a 286 laptop with rudimentary voice recognition and a 40
meg harddrive. Certainly primitive by modern Earth
standards, though suitably impressive to Tarl considering
the book in which it is described, Tarnsman of Gor, was
first published in 1967.]
- Also are described chemical
illumination globes:
- "Inside
the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being
lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs. These
bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of
Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without
replacement."
- --p 197,
Tarnsman of Gor
- Electro-chemical tarn goads:
- "He
entered my apartment, carrying a metal rod about two feet
long, with a leather loop attached. It had a switch on
the handle, which could be set for two positions, on and
off, like a simple torch.
- `What is it?'
I asked.
- `A Tarn
Goad,' he replied. He snapped the switch in the barrel to
the `on' position and struck the table. It showered
sparks in a sudden cascade of yellow light, but left the
table unmarked...it had been like a sudden, severe
electric charge..."
- --p.50,
Tarnsman of Gor
- ...and other thoroughly
modern inventions in use on Gor.
- Later
books describe the use of extensive aqueduct systems in
the major cities, which feed massive bathhouses and the
internal cisterns of buildings and cylinders. Obviously
Goreans know quite a bit about how to move liquids from
one place to another. Now just TRY to tell me that the
creation of such a technological marvel as a drinking
straw is beyond their science.
- In
the later books, strangely enough, the technological
level of Gor seems to actually go backwards, and there
are fewer mentions of such high-tech items as are
described in the earlier books. I feel that, under closer
examination, such can be explained by the fact that these
items seem only available to the richest Goreans in the
most civilized of cities, and that the later books often
deal with the characters interacting with lower-tech
social classes and cultures.
- It
is my opinion, however, that if a freeperson wishes to
use a straw to drink through, one would certainly be made
available. It might not be made of plastic, but it would
not be a piece of weed fished from the nearest pond,
either.
KARTA:
MYSTERY POSITION OR EARTH INVENTION?
- I
was recently asked by an online slave about the
slave-position known as "Karta" which has
recently appeared on several Gorean websites. Since I
could not remember reading anything in the books
regarding such a position, I did some research. First of
all, I located a description of the position on a
website, which listed it as:
- Karta: -
position of obeisance - Assume nadu position, thighs may
be spread or not, lean forward placing chest/breasts and
forehead against floor, reaching out with arms fully
extended, palms against floor. Ankles may be crossed or
uncrossed. (Shows utmost respect. Requests may be made
from this position.)
- Then
I set about trying to find it in the books themselves. I
read through every description of slave positions I could
find, and have as yet found no reference to it. If anyone
out there has the book title and page number where it can
be found, I'd appreciate it if you'd e-mail it over for
my records.
- And
while we are on the subject of slave positions, where
precisely in the books does it say that when a slave
kneels in nadu, she does so with her legs crossed? As
long as I can remember, slaves on Gorean IRC have been
doing it that way. I have personally never tried the
position myself (naturally) but I have been told by
slaves who have that it is excruciatingly painful to sit
back on one's heels for any extended length of time while
one's ankles are crossed. Not only that, but the crossing
of one's ankles would prevent the legs from being widely
spread, and it seems that rising from such a position
would be anything but graceful. I have been unable to
find anything in the books which supports the crossing of
the ankles in nadu. I have, however, found the following
description:
- "`Nadu!'
he snapped.
- She swiftly
turned, facing him, and dropped to her knees. She knelt
back on her heels, her back straight, her hands on her
thighs, her head up, her knees wide. It was the position
of the pleasure slave."
- --p.77,
Explorers of Gor
- Hmmm.
Nothing about crossed legs or ankles there. If I'm wrong,
someone please send me the book title and page number
where the reference can be found and I'll post it here.
USAGE
OF "THIRD PERSON" SPEECH BY SLAVES
- Lately
the debate has raged throughout various Gorean channels
whether or not there was a precedent to be found in the
source books regarding the practice of slaves referring
to themselves in the third-person, as in "this girl
wishes such-and-such, Master," or "this slave
would serve you, Master." Actually there are dozens
of references to this practice in the Gor books. It is
typically only strictly enforced when it seems necessary
to reinforce the slave's actual status AS slave in her
own eyes, and in the eyes of others, I have listed a few
such notable passages from the books below, to
demonstrate my point:
- "Does
Phyllis remember the lash?" asked Flaminius.
- The girl's
eyes widened with fear. "Yes," she said.
- "Then
say so," said Flaminius.
- I whispered
in Gorean to Ho-Tu, as though I could not understand what
was transpiring. "What is he doing with them?"
- Ho-Tu
shrugged. "He is teaching them they are
slaves," he said.
- "I
remember the lash," said Phyllis.
- "Phyllis
remembers the lash," corrected Flaminius.
- "I am
not a child!" she cried.
- "You are
a slave," said Flaminius.
- "No,"
she said "No!"
- "I
see," said Flaminius sadly, "it will be
necessary to beat you."
- "Phyllis
remembers the lash," said the girl numbly.
- "Excellent,"
said Flaminius. "Phyllis will be good. Phyllis will
eat her gruel. Phyllis will drink her water."
- She looked at
him with hatred.
- His eyes met
hers and they conquered. She dropped her head, turning it
to one side.
- "Phyllis
will be good," she said. "Phyllis will eat her
gruel. Phyllis will drink her water."
- "Excellent,"
commended Flaminius.
- --p.131,
Assassin of Gor
- "Buy
me," she whispered. "Buy me. You are rich! You
can buy me!"
- "Is that
how a slave begs?" I asked.
- "Buy
Tana!" she wept. "Buy Tana!"
- --p.61,
Hunters of Gor
- "What is
your name?" I asked.
- "Tafa,
if it pleases Master," she said. That is a common
slave name on Gor.
- "Do you
repent the error of your ways?" I asked.
- "Yes,
Master," she said.
- "Who
repents the error of her ways?" I asked.
- "Tafa
repents the error of her ways," she said.
- "Who is
sorry, who begs forgiveness?" I asked.
- "Tafa is
sorry! Tafa begs forgiveness!" she said.
- --p.123,
Magicians of Gor
- "Forgive
me, Masters!" she wept. "You are men! You are
men! A slave begs forgiveness!"
- --p.226,
Magicians of Gor
- In
addition, there are several other such passages which
immediately come to mind but which I don't wish to be
bothered with looking up and quoting here. The gist of
the matter is, that upon Gor the usage of third-person
speech among slaves is known and often enforced, usually
through a command such as "speak as a slave" or
"beg as a slave begs."
USAGE
OF "TAL" BY SLAVES
- Hmmm.
Although I have previously stated that the books do not
specifically state whether or not slaves may use the word
"Tal" as a greeting, I have recently done some
research which has turned up something of interest in
regards to that statement, and it seems I have been
previously mistaken about it. While I now suspect that
there is a specific reference in which Tarl explains that
the word "Tal" is exclusively reserved for the
usage of free persons only, I have yet to locate it. I
will continue to look for it, and when I find it I'll
post it here. In the meantime, I stumbled across this
slightly less specific reference which illustrates the
same point:
- "Tal,"
said Ute, greeting me as a free person.
- p 237,
Captive of Gor
- In
addition, all throughout the books free persons say
"Tal" and slaves say "greetings." I
have yet to find a reference of a slave saying
"Tal" to a free person without her being
immediately punished for it. While slaves can certainly
use the word amongst themselves, as in the example above,
if they get caught doing it by free persons they can
expect to catch hell for it.
RANDOM
QUOTES
- Below I have included a few
quotes which I thought helpful and enlightening for we
Goreans:
- "A
Gorean slave girl in the presence of a free man or woman
always kneels, unless excused from doing so...A Gorean
slave, incidentally, always addresses free men as
`Master,' and all free women as `Mistress.'"
- --p 73
Captive of Gor
- "In
every woman," said Ute, "there is a Free
Companion and a slave girl. The Free Companion seeks for
her companion, and the slave girl seeks for her
master."
- --p.83,
Captive of Gor
- "Sheera
knelt there. She did not sit cross-legged. She knelt as a
Gorean woman."
- --p 75,
Hunters of Gor
- "I have
never been in one of these places before," she
said..."I now understand why it is that free women
never enter Paga taverns."
- --Elizabeth
Cardwell, p.22, Assassin of Gor
- "When
one who is a slave strikes a free person the penalty is
not infrequently death by impalement, preceeded by
lengthy torture."
- --p 74,
Assassin of Gor
- "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?"
- --p.225,
Magician of Gor
- And the following, in which a
slave asks Tarl how she should react when her Master
turns out not to be to her liking:
- "But
what if he is weak?" she begged.
- "Continue
to serve him, in the fullness of your slavery, begging
him for the least of his kisses, the most casual of his
caresses...Even such small attentions, you will discover,
now that you have become sensitized to your slavery, will
be precious to you."
- "But
what if he is stupid?" she asked.
- "Beg him
to sell you, or give you away," I said, "that
you may, if only in being sold off on the block, come
into the collar of another, one capable of satisfying
what you are, a slave."
- "But
what if he will not sell me, or give me away?" she
said.
- "Then,"
said I angrily,"that is how it will be, for it is
you who wear the collar. He is the master. You are the
slave."
- ---p.233-234,
Magicians of Gor
- My
Quote for the Week:
- "Culture
decides what is truth, but truth, unfortunately, is
unaware of this. Cultures, mad and blind, can die upon
the rocks of truth. Why can truth not be the foundation
of culture, rather than its nemesis? Can one not build
upon the stone cliffs of reality rather than dash one's
head against them?"
- --Tarl Cabot,
p.11, Explorers of Gor
There
are doubtless many people out there who think this column is just
another nit-picky attempt to spoil their fun. That is not what it
is intended to be at all. Rather, it is simply another suitable
excuse for me to discuss the Gor books, which is a subject near
and dear to my heart, and maybe answer a few pertinent questions
about them. I personally don't care what anyone does in their own
channels; in fact, you can wear a purple bunny suit if it tickles
your fancy. But too often of late I hear complaints that Gorean
IRC is becoming "less and less Gorean." Therefore, by
looking to the books perhaps we can ascertain whether our
behavior and surroundings is typical to what would be found on
Gor.
- I wish you well!
- _Marcus_
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have any of the above, have questions regarding the source
books, or have a quote or brief passage from the books which you
would share here, feel free to e-mail me through the link below.
- This page brought to you by
- Courtesy of The Gorean Daily
Times
- (When you're bored with the
First and Second Knowledge, you're ready for the Third.)
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