The branding rack is shaped like an X containing snap-bracelets or manacles at the ends of the X for binding. A removable vise-like clamp with spinning twist handles attaches the slave at the left leg, holding the thigh motionless. Usually a slave is asked to take the brand to the fires, waiting until it is white hot, then offers it to the Master. The Master replies with "you will soon be branded, girl." Finally, He holds the brand above the girl's left thigh and says, "you are now to be branded, slave girl." After pressing the brand firmly into her skin for five full ihns, He quickly pulls it away, examining the mark closely, ensuring it was clean and deep enough for an excellent brand. Generally the slave is allowed to scream symbolizing the final act as a free person. After the branding, another slave dabs healing salves onto the mark, reducing infection and speeding healing.

QUOTE: "'I have not begun to punish you,' I told her. She looked at me with fear, and wonder. I tied her small garment, which I picked up from the floor, about her neck, and her hands behind her back. I strode through the halls, she, stumbling, running, following me. Outside, I untied her, and then retied her, belly up, head down, over the saddle of a kaiila, and took her to the nearby kasbah, which had once been that of Tharna. There I took her down to the forth level, the lowest level, and, throwing the tiny garment into the cell, whence it would be retrieved later, I took her to the branding chamber, threw her into the device, and locked it on her thigh. Hassan was there and the iron was already hot. It was the same iron with which he had, the night before, marked the proud Tarna. It had been cleaned, with a solvent. One iron, properly cared for, can mark thousands of women. 'No, Master,' she said, 'please!' 'Do you wish to mark her?' asked Hassan. 'Yes,' I said. I would place the mark on her left thigh, above that of the four-bosk horns. It would be the common Gorean female slave mark, fitting for a low girl, such as she, one who had not been fully pleasing. I held up the iron, white hot, for the girl's inspection. 'You will soon be branded, Girl,' I told her. 'Don't brand me!' she cried. 'Please don't brand me!' She wept. Hassan regarded her with interest. 'We are now ready,' I told her. She looked at me, then at the glowing, white-hot marking surface of the iron. She watched it with horror, as it approached her. I held it poised at her thigh. 'Don't!' she cried, 'Don't!' 'You are now to be branded, Slave Girl,' I told her. 'No,' she screamed. Then I branded her. For five long Ihn I held the iron, pressing it in. I watched it sink in her thigh, smoking and crackling and hissing. It was a larger brand than that of the four-bosk horns; I made sure it marked her more deeply. We three, Hassan, I and the girl, smelled the marked, burned slave flesh of her. Then, swiftly, cleanly, I withdrew it. Her head was back. She was screaming and weeping. 'A perfect brand,' said Hassan, looking on. 'Perfect!' I was pleased. Such a brand would be envied by other girls. It would improve the sleek little animal's value." Tribesmen of Gor page 358.

"Oh, no!" I cried, "No, no, no, no!" My captor had gone to the brazier and, with the leather glove, and another, too, with two hands, withdrawn the white hot iron. I felt the heat of it, even feet away. "No!" I screamed. "No!" Two men, large men, strong, held my left thigh immobile. I looked into the eyes of my captor. "Please, no! I wept. "Please, no!" Then, head down, helpless, held, I was branded a Gorean slave girl. The marking, I suppose, took only a few seconds. That is doubtless true. Objectively I grant you the truth of that. Yet a girl who has been marked finds this obvious truth difficult to accept psychologically. Perhaps I may be granted that those seconds, seems very long seconds. For an hour it seemed I felt the iron. It touched me firmly, kissing me, then claiming me. I screamed, and screamed. I was alone with the pain, the agony, the degradation, the relentless, hissing object, so hurting me, the men. Mercifully they let me scream. It is common to let a girl scream, a Gorean kindness, while she is being marked with a white-hot iron. Afterwards, however, once the iron is pulled out of her body, and she is fully marked, Gorean males are less likely to accord her such consideration for her feelings. They are less likely, then to be so indulgent with her. This makes sense. Afterwards, she is only a branded girl. It begins swiftly, almost before you can feel it. I felt the iron touch me almost instantaneously, crackling, flash through me outer skin and then, firmly, to my horror, enter and lodge itself fixedly in my though. It was literally in my body, inflexibly, burning. The pain then began to register on my consciousness. I began screaming. I could not believe what was being done to me, or how much it hurt. Not only could I feel the iron, but I could hear it, hissing and searing in the precise, beautiful wound it was relentlessly burning in my thigh. There was an odor of burning flesh, mine. I smelled burning, as of a kind of meat. It was my own body being marked. I could not move my thigh. I threw back my head and screamed. I felt the iron tight in my body, then to my horror, pressing in even more deeply. The marking surface of the iron, then lay hissing, literally submerged, in my flesh. I could not move my thigh in the least. I threw my head from side to side, screaming. The marking surface of the iron is some quarter of an inch in depth. It was within my flesh, lodged there, submerged, hissing and burning. Taking its time, not hurrying, it marked me, cleanly and deeply. Then, swiftly, cleanly, it withdrew. I smelled burned meat, my own, the men released my thigh. I began to choke and sob. Men regarded the mark. My captor was commended on his work. I gathered I had been well marked." Slave Girl of Gor pages 57-8.

• City
  
  QUOTE: "'May I see your brand?' I asked. I was curious. 'Of course,' said Ena, and she stood up and, extending her left leg, drew her long, lovely white garment to her hip, revealing her limb. I gasped. Incised deeply, precisely, in that slim, lovely, now-bared thigh was a startling mark, beautiful, insolent, dramatically marking that beautiful thigh as that which it now could only be, that of a female slave. 'It is beautiful,' I whispered. 'Can you read? she asked. 'No,' I said. She regarded the brand. 'It is the first letter, in cursive script,' she said, 'of the name of the city of Treve.'" Captive of Gor page 277.
  
  
• Dina~~shaped as the dina flower; small, short-stemmed flower resembling a rose~~
  
  QUOTE: "I have seen the design at the tip of the iron. It was a small flower, stylized; it was circular, about an inch an half in diameter; it was not unlike a small rose; it was incredibly lovely and delicate." Slave Girl of Gor page 52.
  
  "my own brand was the "dina"; the dina is a small lovely, multiply pedaled flower, short-stemmed, and blooming in a turf of green leaves, usually on the slopes of hills, in the northern temperate zones of Gor; it is and exotic, alien flower; it is also spoken of, in the north, where it grows most frequently, as the slave flower; it was burned into my flesh" Slave Girl of Gor page 61
  
  
• Kajira~~cursive letter in Gorean script of the letter kef; usually an inch and a half high, half an inch wide; floral with one or two staffs, upturned frond-like curls joined where they touch the staff on the right; resembles letter "K"; also referred to as staff and fronds brand~~
  
  QUOTE: "Her brand, however, was not precisely the same as mine. It was more slender, more vertical, more like a stem with floral, cursive loops, about an inch and half in height, and a half inch in width; it was, I would later learn, the initial letter in cursive script of the Gorean expression 'Kajira'" Slave Girl of Gor page 61.
  
  
• Kajirus~~block letter in Gorean script the letter kef; an inch and a half high and an inch wide~~
  
  QUOTE: "The brand itself, in the case of girls, is a rather graceful mark, being the initial letter of the Gorean expression for slave in cursive script. If a male is branded, the same initial is used, but rendered in a block letter." Outlaw of Gor page 187.
  
  
• Kan-lara~~Gorean word for slave brand~~
  
  "Eta smiled. She pointed to her brand. "Kan-lara," she said. She pointed to my brand. "Kan-lara Dina," she said. I repeated these words." Slave Girl of Gor page 80
  
  
• Kassar~~used on both slaves and bosk, is a stylized representation of a bola, three circles joined at the center by lines~~
  
  QUOTE: "The standard of the Kassars is that of a scarlet, three-weighted bola, which hangs from a lance; the symbolic representation of a bola, three circles joined at the center by lines, is used to mark their bosk and slaves." Nomads of Gor page 106.
  
  
• Kataii~~yellow bow, facing to the left~~
  
  QUOTE: "The standard of the Kataii is a yellow bow, bound across a black lance; their brand is also that of a bow, facing to the left." Nomads of Gor page 106.
  
  
• Knife~~rather like a tattoo, an appropriate design is cut into the thigh of a slave and a colored powder is rubbed into it; used in the jungle of Schendi~~
  
  "From the box he then took a small, curved knife and a tiny, cylindrical leather flask. I gritted my teeth, but made no sound. With the small knife he gashed my left thigh, making upon it a small, strange design. He then took a powder, orange in color, from the flask and rubbed it into the wound." Explorers of Gor page 330
  
  
• Kurii~~shape of the chain and claw signifying slavery and subjection with the compass of the Kur yoke; found in the lairs of Kurii agents on Earth~~
  
  QUOTE: "Incidentally, there are many brands on Gor. Two that almost never occur on Gor, by the way, are those of the moon and collar, and of the chain and claw. The first of these commonly occurs in certain of the Gorean enclaves on Earth, which serve as headquarters for agents of the Priest-Kings; the second tends to occur in the lairs of the Kurii agents on Earth; the first brand consists of a locked collar and, ascending diagonally above it, extending to the right, three quarter moons; this brand indicates the girl is subject to Gorean discipline; the chain-and-claw brand signifies, of course, slavery and subjection with the compass of the Kur yoke." Explorers of Gor page 12.
  
  
• Paravaci~~stylized representation of a bosk head: a semi-circle resting on an inverted isosceles triangle~~
  
  QUOTE: "The Paravaci standard is a large banner of jewels beaded on golden wires, forming the head and horns of a bosk its value is incalculable; the Paravaci brand is a symbolic representation of a bosk head, a semicircle resting on an inverted isosceles triangle." Nomads of Gor page 106.
  
  
• Passage~~more commonly worn by merchants; small and applied to forearm; grants safe entry to certain areas; stigma attached with such a brand is that the one who wears it approaches the Wagon People as a slave; if the offering of the person of wearing the brand, be it the song of a singer or merchandise from a merchant, is rejected than the bearer is slain out of hand~~
  
  "The street lined by throngs of Tuchuks and slaves. Among them, too, were soothsayers and haruspexes, and singers and musicians, and, here and there, small peddlers and merchants, of various cities, for such are occasionally permitted by the Tuchuks, who crave their wares, to approach the wagons. Each of these, I was later to learn, wore on his forearm a tiny brand, in the form of spreading bosk horns, which guaranteed his passage, at certain seasons, across the plains of the Wagon Peoples. The difficulty, of course, is in first obtaining the brand. If, in the case of a singer, the song is rejected, or in the case of a merchant, his merchandise is rejected, he is slain out of hand. This acceptance brand, of course, carries with it a certain stain of ignominy, suggesting that those who approach the wagon do as slaves." Nomads of Gor page 34.
  
  
• Penalty~~small 1/4 inch brands that mark a convicted liar, thief, traitor etc~~
  
  QUOTE: ""If a girl is already branded,' I said, casually, but frightened, 'she would not be again branded, would she?' 'Commonly not,' said Eta. 'Though sometimes, for some reason, the mark of Treve is pressed into her flesh.' She looked at me. 'Sometimes, too' she said,' a girl may be branded as punishment, and to warm others against her.' I looked at her, puzzled. 'Penalty brands,' she said. 'They are tiny, but clearly visible. There are various such brands. There is one for lying and another for stealing.'" Captive of Gor page 277.
  
  "Four men held me, naked, near the brazier. I could feel the heat blazing from the cannister. The sky was very blue, the clouds were white. 'Please, no!' I wept. I saw Rask, with a heave glove, draw forth one of the irons from the fire. It reminated in a tiny letter, not more that a quarter of an inch high. The letter was white hot. 'This is a penalty brand,' he said. 'It marks you as a liar.' 'Please, Master!' I wept. I no longer have patience with you,' he said. 'Be marked as what you are.' I screamed uncontrollably as he pressed in the iron, holding it firmly into my leg. Then, after some two to four Ihn, he removed it. I could not stop screaming with pain. I smelled the odor of burned flesh, my own. I began to whimper. I could not breathe. I gasped for breath. Still the men held me. 'This penalty brand,' said Rask of Treve, lifting another iron from the brazier, again with a tiny letter at its glowing termination, 'marks you also as what you are, as a thief.' 'Please, no, Master!' I wept. I could not move a muscle of my left leg. It might as well have been locked in a vise. It must wait for the iron. I screamed again, uncontrollably. I had been branded as a thief. 'This third iron,' said Rask of Treve, 'is, too, a penalty iron. I mark you with this not for myself, but for Ute.' Through raging tears I saw, white hot, the tiny letter. 'It marks you as a traitress,' said Rask of Treve. He looked at me, with fury. 'Be marked as a traitress,' he said. Then he pressed the third iron into my flesh. As it entered my flesh, biting and searing, I saw Ute watching, her face betraying no emotion. I screamed, and wept, and screamed. Still the men did not release me. Rask of Treve lifted the last iron from the fire. It was much larger, the letter at its termination some one and a half inches high. It, too, was white hot. I knew the brand. I had seen it on Ena's thigh. It was the mark of Treve. Rask of Treve decided that my flesh should bear that mark. 'No, Master, please!' I begged him. 'Yes, Worthless Slave,' he said, 'you will wear in your flesh the mark of the city of Treve.' 'Please,' I begged. 'When men ask you,' said he, 'who it was that marked you as a liar and a thief, and traitress, point to this brand, and say, I was marked by one of Treve, who was displeased with me.'" Captive of Gor page 310
  
  
• Priest Kings~shape of the moons and a collar; consists of a locked collar and, ascending diagonally above it, extending to the right, 3 quarter moons; indicates girl is subject to Gorean discipline; occurs in certain of the Gorean enclaves of Earth, headquarters for agents of the PKs~~
  
  QUOTE: "Incidentally, there are many brands on Gor. Two that almost never occur on Gor, by the way, are those of the moon and collar, and of the chain and claw. The first of these commonly occurs in certain of the Gorean enclaves on Earth, which serve as headquarters for agents of the Priest-Kings; the second tends to occur in the lairs of the Kurii agents on Earth; the first brand consists of a locked collar and, ascending diagonally above it, extending to the right, three quarter moons; this brand indicates the girl is subject to Gorean discipline; the chain-and-claw brand signifies, of course, slavery and subjection with the compass of the Kur yoke." Explorers of Gor page 12.
  
  
• Taharic
  
  QUOTE: "With a heavy glove, Hassan pulled an iron from the brazier. 'What do you think of this brand?' he asked. It was the Taharic slave mark. 'It is beautiful,' I said. 'But let us assure ourselves that this will be a common slave, one fit to sell north.' 'A good idea,' said Hassan. He returned the one iron to the brazier and reached for another. It glowed red. It was a fine iron, clean and precise. At it's tip, bright red, was the common Kajira slave mark of Gor." Tribesmen of Gor page 337.
  
  
• Thieves~~tiny 1/4 inch three-pronged brand worn on the cheek of those of the Caste of Thieves, who are found only in Port Kar~~
  
  "The thief's scar in Port Kar is a tiny, three-pronged brand, burned into the face over the right cheekbone. It marks the members of the Cast of Thieves in Port Kar. That is the only city in which, as far as I know, there is a recognized caste for thieves." Mercenaries of Gor page 39
  
  
• Torvaldsland~~described as a half circle about an inch and a quarter in width, adjoined at it's right tip by a steep, diagonal line an inch and a quarter in height~~
  
  The brand used by Forkbread is not uncommon in the north, though there is less uniformity in Torvaldsland on these matters than in the south, where the merchant caste, with its recommendations for standardization is more powerful. All over gor, of course, the slave girl is a familiar commodity. The brand used by the Forkbread, found rather frequently in the north, consisted of a half circle, with, at its right tip, adjoining it, a steep diagonal line. The half circle is about an inch and a quarter in width, and the diagonal line about an inch and a quarter in height. The brand is, is like many, symbolic. In the north, the bond-maid is sometimes referred to as a woman whose belly lies beneath the sword." Marauders of Gor page 87
  
  
• Treve~~brand marking those of Treve; first letter, in cursive script, of the name of the city of Treve~~
  
  "I have never seen a brand of Treve," I said. "It is rare," said Ena, proudly. "May I see your brand?" I asked. I was curious. "Of course," said Ena, and she stood up and, extending her left leg, drew her long, lovely white garment to her hip, revealing her limb. I gasped. Incised deeply, precisely, in that slim, lovely, now-bared thigh was a startling mark, beautiful, insolent, dramatically marking that beautiful thigh as that which it now could only be, that of a female slave. "It is beautiful," I whispered. Ena pulled away the clasp at the left shoulder of her garment, dropping it to her ankles. She was incredibly beautiful. "Can you read?" she asked. "No," I said. She regarded the brand. "It is the first letter, in cursive script," she said, "of the name of the city of Treve." Captive of Gor page 277
  
  
• Tuchuks~~bosk are branded with the same brand though it is much larger; a second time (other than the one quoted below) exists as a tiny brand with spreading bosk horns, wore on the forearm...guarantees passage for a merchant or singer across the Plains.. those wearing, regardless if Free, act as slave when approaching the wagons of the Tuchuk~~
  
  QUOTE: "I supposed that on the morrow Kamchak would call for the Tuchuk Iron Master, to brand what he called his little barbarian; the brand of the Tuchuk slave, incidentally, is not the same as that used in the cities, which for girls is the first letter of the expression Kajira in cursive script, but the sign of the four bosk horns, that of the Tuchuk standard, the brand of the four bosk horns, set in a manner to somewhat resemble the letter H, is only about an inch high; the common Gorean brand, on the other hand, is usually an inch an a half to two inches high; the brand of the four bosk horns, of course, is also used to mark the bosk of the Tuchuks, but there, of course, it is much larger, forming roughly a six-inch square..." Nomads of Gor page 62.
  
  

This page was last modified on the 31st of January 2002