Gorean questions & answers – 1
I’m often asked questions about certain topics in the world of Gor, and I try to answer them as best I can with what I know from my knowledge of the novels. So I thought it would be a good idea to compile these questions and answers into one article. There will be others. I think I’ll wait until I’ve had ten or so interesting questions before publishing them here. So here are the first ten!
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1- Can a woman ride a kaiila?
There’s no reason why a woman can’t ride a kaiila. It even happens in the novels, where a slave tries to reach the man she loves, jumping on the back of a kailla without obviously having any trouble riding it and without it shocking anyone (they’re rather shocked that the slave calls the man she loves by his name, and not by maitre). But this is a kaiila from the Tahari desert, domesticated and omnivorous, not a kaiila from the plains of the Red Savages, wild, vicious and carnivorous. Having said that, even the desert kaiila is a rather dangerous mount, which you shouldn’t ride unless you know these animals well.
2- Should a free woman cover her hair?
A complicated subject. On the one hand, the cover-up dresses Norman describes are very similar to the burqas we know, on the other hand, he cheerfully contradicts himself by describing light togas, long tunics, and rustic dresses split with pants. And he talks of free women tying their hair up in buns or letting it down, to be seen by men, who adore hair. Historically, hiding one’s hair was not a sign of humility, but a practical act: washing one’s hair clean was hard work, hair was often greasy and hiding one’s hair prevented it from getting dirty too quickly, but also meant that hair wasn’t strewn everywhere while working.
3- What is a High Slave?
So, no, it’s not an onlinism at all, unlike “black silks”, but a luxury slave belonging to a high-ranking personality, often of high caste. Easily recognizable by her refined, rich attire and jewelry, a high slave is particularly trained and educated in the most sophisticated pleasures and services, as well as in dance and the arts (literature, music, dance, etc.). High slaves are described as early as Slave Gorl of Gor, and then in almost all the novels; we learn from Guardsmen of Gor, among others, that they are the most coveted slaves.
4- Can a free woman hunt?
Yes! The bow is described as a sport recommended to free women to maintain their health and fitness, and hunting small game with a bow is therefore widespread among free women. And then there’s a practical reason: in the countryside, among farmers, adding a little meat to your soup is important. If it’s easier to hunt leem with a snare trap, it’s better to master the bow, the bolas, the net throwing to catch tabuks or birds, for example.
5- How would you sum up the mentality of the people of Gor?
Is it a challenge? But I have a very good interpretation, which I should one day develop as an article in its own right! So I’ll sum it up with a quote from a friend, explained during a roleplay scene: “Goreans are predators who have given themselves codes to justify their predation, and laws so that they don’t kill each other to the last man. For a gorean, everything is either prey or a rival; a gorean doesn’t think otherwise. He either fights, flees or submits.”
6- Does a kajiru kneel in nadu?
No, never! Male slaves always stand upright and never kneel, unless ordered to do so, which is unusual and not at all traditional. And he’ll never do it with his thighs open. This position is for a kajira to expose her intimacy to men, and a kajiru is not there for that, even if it’s a kajiru of pleasure!
7- Is there a social class of warriors among the Torvis?
No, because all free Torvis males are warriors. Warrior is not a social class, but a function, added to the torvi’s profession. Fisherman, farmer, craftsman, chief, fisherman, etc… All torvi men train for combat and know how to fight. A torvi may be recognized as a great warrior, feared and renowned, but unless he’s a mercenary, he must have a trade. Even Torvi pirates only do this in addition to another trade.
8- Do the Völvas exist in Gor?
Völvas (or valas or welas) are, in the Scandinavian translation, elderly women who have broken with traditional family ties, often accompanied by other women acolytes, and considered witches, intermediaries between the gods and natural forces, capable of coming to the aid of village men and women, their word being listened to, and they are even paid for their advice. In Gor’s novels about the torvis, we never hear of them, only priests of the runes. That said, völvas are one of the oldest forms of magical wisdom in Scandinavian civilizations, and I don’t see why it should be shocking that they exist in Gor’s world.
9- Are all the physician on Gor better than those on Earth?
Absolutely not! While the medicine of Gor’s physician caste is highly advanced, and manages to be more effective than Earth’s on certain points, the fact is that the average level of physician obeys more or less the same principles as Earth’s. Getting treatment in Switzerland, a country with a particularly developed and advanced healthcare network, is not the same as getting treatment in the United States, where you have to be rich to get truly effective care. And it’s better to see an American doctor than one from Pakistan or deep in Russia. In the world of Gor, this is exacerbated: the best physician in the hospitals of the big city-states are really very good (and better than their Terran counterparts), but they only concern a small minority of Gor’s doctors. The majority of Goreans outside the big cities have to make do with village doctors, or even bonesetters, who lack resources as much as skills.
10- does a kajira always have slave fire?
No, far from it. If the Gor paradigm described by Norman is that the men and women of Gor are very sensitive to their sexual urges, and that it doesn’t take much for these urges to dominate them, it’s not that simple. Most kajirae have a shitty life! Chained to a workshop, or in a tavern corner, at a crossroads with a coin box, in a stable, a kitchen, a cellar, or spending their day in the fields under lashings for big landowners, not forgetting the poor kajirae spending their lives in small cages in the holds of ships for the comfort of sailors, these slaves will never have devotion or slave fire. On the other hand, a well-trained pleasure slave, or one who escapes his fate for a better one, will quickly develop as much slave fire, as devotion, once in a more stimulating and secure environment. So, almost all pet and pleasure slaves have it, more or less, yes.
