What is Gor?
~soft smiles~ Okies my favorite birdy has asked me to write up a lil thingy on the Gorean lifestyle and toss out some info about it. First of all, let me correct my silly lil slave self, it is not really a lifestyle. Not in r/t anyways but there are some who make it their lifestyle. What Gor basically is, is an online Realm, opposite our own realm. It is roleplaying online and there are a number of websites and chatrooms devoted to the Gorean lifestyle. There are a number of characters you can be on Gor so i wil try to give a lil information on them. The qoute below is from on of my favorite sites it is the easiest way i know of to explain Gor.
What does it mean to be Gorean?
There are many answers to these questions, some simple and some complex. The answers are very important to anyone who truly desires to role-play by the books or understand the Gor of the novels. If you do not wish to follow the books closely or care about their contents, then the answers are largely irrelevant to you.
Simply, Gor is a fictitious planet that is in the same orbit as Earth, but on the opposite side of the Sun. It is a barbaric world, ruled by steel and concerned with honor. It is a male dominated world where slavery is an ancient and universally accepted institution. There are restrictions on many forms of technology but in a few limited areas their technology far surpasses Earth technology. For example, Gor has found a cure for aging. This cure would be priceless on Earth. Many aspects of Gorean culture were inspired by Earth cultures such as ancient Greece and Rome, the Vikings, Mongols and Inuit. The world of Gor is depicted in a series of twenty-five best-selling books written by John Norman.
Ok so now that that is out of the way *lol*
Although there are a lot of different *characters* on Gor all of these characters fall under two main categories... Free Men/Free Women... and slaves. If you decide you are going to learn about Gor let me tell you now it is not easy. It is nothing like Earth or anything you know of Earth it is a completely different world with different laws, different creatures, different everything basically. Whether you are going to choose to be a Free or a slave rest assured you will have your work cut out for you. When i first went to Gor i went as a slave but as an observer. All the months i have been there and all the things i have learned i can still say i am still learning and probably always will be. On Gor no one is *just* what they are. They are always learning, improving, developing, blossoming. Now lemme shush and explain what Free's and slaves are.
Free Men/Free Women
This is pretty self explanatory some people would think but if you know about Gor in any way you know it's not self explanatory at all. Free Men/Free Women are Masters and Mistresses... because they are Free. Although... like i mentioned... no one is ever *just* what they are. There are tons of professions and Castes ( i will explain Castes in a moment) that you can be as a Free Man/Woman. Healer, Builder, Rarius ( Warrior ), Scribe, Traveller, Trader, Physician, Mapmaker believe me the list goes on.
Castes
Gorean society has a firmly established Caste System. Almost all Free Persons belong to a Caste. Each caste has its own Code to govern the conduct of its members. Slaves and outlaws are outside of the caste system. Slaves are considered property and have no status in the caste system. A man who refuses to practice his livelihood or strives to alter status without consent of the Council of High Castes is by definition an outlaw. Outlaws belong to no city and usually live hidden away.
There are also some peoples who do not fall into these areas but are still outside the caste system. There are some people who have lost caste or been deprived of caste for various reasons. Some are born outside of the caste system. A few occupations are not traditionally associated with a caste, like gardening, domestic service and herding. There are also cultures and peoples on Gor without any caste system. But these peoples are traditionally considered barbarians and not a part of civilized Gor. These include such cultures as the Wagon Peoples, Torvaldslanders, Red Savages and the Tribesmen of the Tahari.
Castes are divided into High Castes and Low Castes. There are only five High Castes and include Initiates, Scribes, Builders, Physicians and Warriors. The Lower Castes includes all the other established castes. These includes such castes as assassins, bakers, bleachers, carriers of wood (woodsmen), charcoal makers, cloth worker, cosmeticians, dyers, goat-keepers, growers of rence, leather workers, metal workers, musicians, peasants, poets, potters, saddle makers, singers, smiths, tarn keepers, vintners, and weavers. There are many more castes and some subcastes.
Slaves
Slaves are almost as complex as frees even though they are still slaves. Depending on what Homestone you make your Home and where you go there are all sorts of different slaves. On Gor i am a red silk and believe me it was not easy to get there. There is a lot to learn and a lot to remember. There are all sorts of silks, white training, white, yellow, red, some places have black and grey (kettle slaves.. they only study and do chores). There are also purple but these silks are only for Priest Kings and they are not really silks.
It can be easily seen that slave training is deeply psychological. It attempts to instill in a woman that she is only a slave whose duty is to please men. This indoctrination is the framework for all further training. Without it, a kajira would not be happy or dutiful. Slaves must learn more than the actions of a slave. They must learn how to be a slave in their minds and hearts. To the Goreans, a girl is simply releasing her true inner nature. It is less an education that a simple acceptance of a girl's place within nature.
Goreans prefer a wide variety of kajirae. They find beauty in many different forms though some generalizations can be made. Many men prefer rounded bellies on slaves as they feel that firm, flat bellies are too much like young men. They also prefer normal-sized, lovely breasted, sweetly thighed girls with broad hips. The typical model on Earth would not fare well on Gor. They would be too tall and too thin. Goreans also realize that many women, after a year or two as a slave, increase considerably in beauty. Thus, an ordinary looking woman can transform into a vision.
Goreans commonly like spirited girls who fight the collar but eventually submit. They relish the challenge of breaking such women. Goreans also value intelligent and imaginative slaves. Most Goreans enjoying talking to their slaves so they want a responsive partner. The common ideal slave is highly intelligent, beautiful, imaginative, strong willed, and proud. But, the most fundamental property prized in women is their need for love and their capacity for love.
Alright now i think i have rambled long enough so i am going to close this off with some of my favorits Gorean qoutes ( these are directly from the books of John Norman btw ) and some of my best links where you can find a ton of information on Gor.
"`The life of a female slave,' he said, `is a life wholly given over to love. It is not a compromised life. It is not one of those lives which is part this, and part that. It is a total way of life, a total life... There are no bargains made with her, no arrangements.'"
---Mercenaries of Gor, page 435
Slave girls are unlike and beyond all other women. Earth with its frigid, competitive, frustrated females, trying to be men, has not even prepared one for the understanding that such fantastic, owned beauties could exist. What wonders does the collar work upon a woman! How it transforms her! The Goreans say that no woman it s a true woman until she has submitted as a slave, and that no man has experienced his full sexuality until he has thrown her to the foot of his couch. Looking upon the girls I wondered it were not a madness that any woman is let out of the collar, Are they not all truly, the property of men. Should they not all, truly, be owned by men? pg 64-65
"I think it is true," I said, "that it is generally the most beautiful and desirable women who are the slaves, but I will tell you something you may find of interest."
"What is that?" she asked.
"Slavery itself," I said, "often makes a woman more beautiful and desirable. It removes tensions. It removes inhibitions. It makes women happy. It is hard, I think, sometimes, for a woman who is happy not to be beautiful. Sometimes Goreans ask, is she a slave because she is beautiful, or beautiful because she is a slave?" Pg 246-247 Beasts of GOR
Now for some links....
This page has a whole bunch of really good information on everything from Frees to slaves to Gorean language: http://members.aol.com/UbarLuther/
This is a pretty good site as well: http://www.oocities.org/tasira_2000/
This is one of the best sites for kajira i have come across: http://www.li.net/~swtangel/slave16.htm
This is a great site for info it covers Castes and Weapons and codes and everything in between: http://www.oocities.org/Paris/Jardin/7597/TG/
The Gorean Voice.. and online e-zine for Gor: http://www.pantheus.com/TGV/archive8/TGVA.html
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