Gorean questions & answers – 2
You ask me these questions, either by contacting me privately in Second Life, or by writing to me from the blog. Once I’ve got ten questions on subjects I haven’t covered, or haven’t covered much, I gather them together and answer them.
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1- Can a Torvaldsland man become a physician?
The exact question concerned the idea that a Torvi healer could, or could not, practice in a Gorean region as a physician. And this is not possible: Gorean caste laws are precise and implacable on this subject, and the physician caste will never let such a crime go unpunished. The only solution is to renounce his Torvi culture and become a Gorean citizen, swearing fealty to the Priest-Kings on a home stone, then doing everything in his power to be adopted by a family of the physician caste, and recognized as competent enough to practice. The same applies to all non-Gorean peoples, all forms of barbarians, including nomads of the plains, red savages, Pani, and so on. All peoples who do not recognize Gor’s caste system and the divine authority of the Priest-Kings are more or less barbarians, and therefore excluded from the professions and social classes of the Goreans.
2- Are goreans sadists?
This is a subject that comes up often, with vehement opinions both for and against. So, while my personal opinion is clearly: yes, but this needs to be qualified. In Gorean culture, sadistic acts such as branding a human, whipping or humiliating a kajira for fun, or even dragging her into an abusive situation that results in her death to entertain an audience, are considered acceptable to Goreans. That said, true sadists and psychopathic personalities are rare on Gor. While on Earth, between 7 and 10% of humans have such tendencies, and around 1% may actually indulge in sadistic behavior, on Gor, the number is much smaller. Some cruel and sadistic behavior (for us) will be commonplace and totally accepted by society, but cases of individuals indulging in gratuitous sadistic violence are very rare, say 0.1%. Why is that? Because these people don’t live long on Gor, and some sort of selective pressure has largely reduced them from the Gorean gene pool.
Yeah, in short, players who want to let off steam by playing violent, sadistic characters, just because you think it’s fun and the Gor setting seems to lend itself to it, know that you’re not Gorean at all, and that hiding behind the BtB is a shameful absurdity.
3- Can an Earth woman be emancipated?
Then yes! But, even more than the often vain hope a kajira would have of one day being emancipated, this hope is very slim. It will take years, and an immense amount of luck, for this to happen, because the earthling will have to prove, on the one hand, that she has talents that would be wasted if she remained enslaved, and on the other, that she has fully integrated herself into Gorean culture and accepted it without question. These are already two very difficult conditions to meet, but on top of that, the earthling has to be adopted by a Gorean family, and in this case, the best way is to be freed by her owner to become his companion. But this will always be complicated. It may take years, during which the earthling has been conditioned as a Gorean kajira… will she have the strength to remain a free woman after that? Nothing is less certain. So, to conclude: yes, and it happens. But it’s a very rare occurrence!
4- Can I play a child in Gor?
No! Gor role-playing sims are generally adult sims, with sex and other adult themes, and the Second Life EULA is very clear: this is strictly forbidden, under pain of severe penalties, both for players and for sim owners. So simply forget about playing a childish avatar!
5- What are the limits to exotic kajirae?
I’d say imagination and credibility in Gor’s world. Just about anything is possible, but based on the properties of humans, mammals and the objectives of the Goreans in their genetic selections. I once disapproved of an exotic kajira character whose exoticism was that she was bigger and stronger than most of the men of Gor. In the macho mindset of Gor’s world, this has no credible justification. The same goes for another character whose skin secreted a powerful aphrodisiac. Nature never created this kind of compound in mammals (whereas poisons and exotic perfumes did), so, without even considering the complicated gameplay side, I said it didn’t have enough credibility. But, do you want to make a blue-skinned elf? I’m sure a breeder will have tried! If there’s a clientele for an exotic trait, there’s a market to be had! This is what rules out certain mental or psychological exoticisms: if they can’t immediately appeal to the average customer, they’re useless. And the average Gorean customer is mostly interested in apparent exotic traits, i.e. physical traits… or immediate, obvious utility (like a night-viewing kajira). Oh yes, and one last point: exotic kajirae, through genetic cross-breeding, often have health or development problems. Yes, there’s a price to pay for creating an exotic character!
6- What is the maximum age of a gorean?
That’s a very good question! Most goreans, whether of the peasant caste or the lowest caste, will never be able to afford the longevity serum, so their lifespan is around 70 years, with an average mortality of 35-40 years. In Gorean cities, however, it’s a different matter: the Longevity Serum is said to enable people to live up to 300 years. It seems that some individuals could live to be 400, even 600 years old. But there are no proven cases in the novels, so personally, I think the barrier of 300 years maximum is fine, with an average mortality of around 80 years.
7- What’s the climate like on Gor?
This is a complicated subject, especially as we only know one continent and only partially, so I’ve made a graph to illustrate the climates on the map of Gor, below!
8- What is the population of Gor?
Here again, I can only talk about what’s described in the novels, and estimate the population rates Norman mentions here and there. And if you compare this to the population rates of ancient times with similar socio-cultural and technological levels (roughly speaking, ancient Rome and 13th-century France), you get a total of around 500 million people, the majority of whom are concentrated between the jungles of Schendi and the Great North Forest.
9- Can you put Cyberpunk in Gor?
No… and yes. Gor’s science fiction, which is to be found extensively in the first three novels, and later in the more recent ones, is very much inspired by the pulp science fiction of the 1930s, and therefore far from the cyberpunk that Norman knew nothing about: the genre was not invented until 15 years after Gor’s first novel. So it’s a retro-futuristic sci-fi technology, with here and there some incredible and practically magical abilities, but based on techniques that Goreans can’t understand. That said, between the Cyborg Mul clones of the Priest-Kings, the neural implants they have placed in their disciples and agents, and some very advanced bioengineering technologies, there’s plenty of room for Cyberpunk in Gor. The trick is to have enough imagination, to remain credible with the Gor universe, and, of course, to do this with players who are also ready to explore the science-fiction facets of Gor! (I talk about it here, if you’re interested: https: //www.psychee.org/gorpedia/the-world-of-gor/ )
10- Is Gor sexist?
As much as its author, who in many ways would be called an incel these days. Let’s say I’d only call him a masculinist, which is already too much for me. But Gor’s Second Life universe isn’t John Norman’s universe! It’s an interpretation, exploited by thousands of participants who bring to it what they want, what they’ve understood of this universe, what they like and dislike. It’s an adaptation, and any adaptation is a betrayal. And here, it’s for the better. While Gor’s universe is clearly sexist, and even a little misogynistic, the players who play in Gor’s world are rarely sexist, and don’t really appreciate this kind of mentality. So, while a female character will have to struggle with this mentality, the player who plays the character will be able to count on the understanding, patience, kindness and open-mindedness of other players, who are not sexist at all! So be careful: you’re going to come across some real assholes. There really are some. But real assholes can be found anywhere, and in the end, they’re no more virulent or numerous than elsewhere, and it’s easy to see that, on a sim, they never last very long once their mentality is out in the open.
