Quotes of Relevance

Here is a general overview of what you will find on this page.

General Quotes for Torvaldsland

Free Men of Torvaldsland(Jarls)

Free Women of Torvaldsland

Slave Quotes

Spars on Torvaldsland

Caste of Gor

General Quotes For Torvaldsland

.... Torvaldsland, which is commonly taken to commence with the thinning of the trees northward.
Marauders

Upon reflection, however, it seemed to me not so strange that this should be so, in a bleak country, one in which many of the trees, too would be stunted and wind-twisted. In Torvaldsland, fine timber is at a premium. Too, what fine lumber there is, is often marked and hoarded for the use of shipwrights If a man of Torvaldsland must choose between his hall and his ship, it is the ship which, invariably, wins his choice.
Marauders

Its arable soil is thin and found in patches. The size of the average farm is very small. Travel between farms is often by sea, in small boats. Without the stream of Torvald it would probably be impossible to raise cereal crops in sufficient quantity to feed even its relatively sparse population. There is often not enough food under any conditions, particularly in northern Torvaldsland, and famine is not unknown. In such cases men feed on bark, and lichens and seaweed.
Marauders

The stream of Torvald is a current, as a broad river in the sea, pasangs wide, whose temperature is greater than that of the surrounding water. Without it, much of Torvaldsland, bleak as it is, would be only a frozen waste. Torvcliffs, inlets and mountains. Its arable soil is thin and found in patches. The size of the average farm is very small. Travel between farms is often by sea, in small boats. Without the stream of Torvald it would probably be impossible to raise cereal crops in sufficient quantity to feed even its relatively sparse population. There is often not enough food under any conditions, particularly in northern Torvaldsland, and famine is not unknown. In such cases men feed on bark, and lichens and seaweed. It is not strange that the young men of Torvaldsland often look to the sea, and beyond it, for their fortunes. The stream of Torvald is regarded by the men of Torvaldsland as a gift of Thor, bestowed upon Torvald, legendary founder and hero of the land, in exchange of a ring of gold.
Marauders

Most Gorean cities use the Spring Equinox as the date of the New Year. Turia, however, uses the Summer Solstice. The Spring Equinox, incidentally, is also used for the New Year by the Rune-Priests of the North, who keep the calendars of Torvaldsland. They number years from the time of Thor’s gift of the stream of Torvald to Torvald, legendary hero and founder of the northern fatherlands. In the calendars of the Rune-Priests the year was 1,006.
Marauders

His wiliest tricks, of course, I knew, he would seldom use saving them for games of greater import, or perhaps for players of Torvaldsland. Among them, even more than in the south, Kaissa is a passion. In the long winters of Torvaldsland, when the snow, the darkness, the ice and wintry winds are upon the land, when the frost breaks open the rocks, groaning, at night, when the serpents hide in their roofed sheds, many hours, under swinging soapstone lamps, burning the oil of sea sleen, are given to Kaissa. At such times, even the bond-maids, rolling and restless, naked, in the furs of their masters, their ankles chained to a nearby ring, must wait.
Marauders

Men of Torvaldsland

Svein Blue Tooth was the high jarl of Torvaldsland, in the sense that he was generally regarded as the most powerful. In his hall, it was said he fed a thousand men. Beyond this his heralds could carry the war arrow, it was said, to ten thousand farms. Ten ships he had at his own wharves, and, it was said, he could summon a hundred more "He is your Jarl?" I asked. "He was my Jarl," said Ivar Forkbeard.
Marauders

I rather admired Svein Blue Tooth. He was a man of his word. By his word he would stand, even though, as in the present case, any objective observer would have been forced to admit that his provocation to betray it, his temptation to betray it, must have been unusual in the extreme. In honor such a high jarl must set an example to the men of Torvaldsland. He had, nobly, if not cheerfully, set the example.
Marauders

At the thing, to which each free man must come, unless he works his farm alone and cannot leave it, each man must be present, for the inspection of his Jarl's officer, a helmet, shield and either sword or ax or spear, in good condition. Each man, generally, save he in the direct hire of the Jarl, is responsible for the existence and condition of his own equipment and weapons. A man in direct fee with the Jarl is, in effect, a mercenary; the Jarl himself, from his gold, and stores, where necessary or desirable, arms the man; this expense, of course, is seldom necessary in Torvaldsland; sometimes, however, a man may break a sword or lose an ax in battle, perhaps in the body of a foe, falling from a ship; in such a case the Jarl would make good the loss; he is not responsible for similar losses, however, among free farmers.
Marauders

We saw, too, many chieftains, and captains, and minor Jarls, in the crowd, each with his retinue. These high men were sumptuously garbed, richly cloaked and helmeted, often with great axes, inlaid with gold. Their cloaks were usually scarlet or purple, long and swirling, and held with golden clasps. They wore them, always, as is common in Torvaldsland, in such a way that the right arm, the sword arm, is free. Their men, too, often wore cloaks, and, about their arms, spiral rings of gold and silver, and, on their wrists, jewel-studded bands.
Marauders

Many of them were giants, huge men, inured to the cold, accustomed to war and the labor of the oar, raised from boyhood on steep, isolated farms near the sea, grown strong and hard on work, and meat and cereals. Such men, from boyhood, in harsh games had learned to run, to leap, to throw the spear, to wield the sword, to wield the axe, to stand against steel, even bloodied, unflinching. Such men, these, would be the hardest of the hard, for only the largest, the swiftest and finest might win for themselves a bench on the ship of a captain, and the man great enough to command such as they must be first and mightiest among them, for the men of Torvaldsland will obey no other, and that man had been Ivar Forkbeard.
Marauders

Women of Torvaldsland

The free woman was a tall woman, large. She wore a great cape of fur, of white sea-sleen, thrown back to reveal the whiteness of her arms.
Marauders

She wore two brooches, both carved of the horn of kailiauk, mounted in gold. At her waist she wore a jeweled scabbard, protruding from which I saw the ornamented, twisted blade of a Turian dagger; free women in Torvaldsland commonly carry a knife; at her belt, too, hung her scissors, and a ring of many keys, indicating that her hall contained many chests or doors;
Marauders

... her hair was worn high, wrapped about a comb, matching the brooches, of the horn of kailiauk; the fact that her hair was worn dressed indicated that she stood in companionship; the number of keys, together with the scissors, indicated that she was mistress of a great house.
Marauders

She was dressed in the full regalia of a free woman of the north. The clothes were not rich, but they were clean, and her best.
Marauders

She wore two brooches; and black shoes. The knife had been removed from the sheath at her belt; she stood straight, but her head was down, her eyes closed; about her neck, knotted, was a rope, it fastened to a stake in the ground near the dueling square. She was not otherwise secured.
Marauders

Slave Quotes

I nodded,. Enmeshed in legalities, negativities and socialized expectations, it was difficult to relate as biological human beings. But the slave girl, standing outside the protections of such devices, stands before her master as an exposed, raw human female, without rights, his to do with as he pleases. Similarly the master, owing the slave nothing, and knowing that she is completely his, his very property, may relate to her freely in the order of nature. In his treatment of her, he is untrammeled by either conscience or law, and this she knows, and loves, and accordingly hastens to obey and be pleasing. She knows that she is owned, and that he is her unqualified maaster. The order of nature and the obdurate and thematic equations of dominance and submission, denided through they might be, and even if hysterically repudiated, will continue to lurk in the microstructures of every cell in the human body. The master/slave relationship is the institutionalization of dominance and submission. It is, under the enhancements of civilization, the institutionalization of the primitive biological relationship of the human male and female, he the master, she the slave. How lonely is the woman who has not yet found her master.
Rogue

"He is Master and I am slave. He is owner and I am owned. He is to be pleased and I am to please. Why is this? Because he is Master and I am slave."
Explorers

"It is said, in a Gorean proverb, that a man, in his heart, desires freedom, and that a woman, in her belly, yearns for love. The collar, in its way, answers both needs. The man is most free, owning the slave. He may do what he wishes with her. The woman, on the other hand, being owned, is institutionally and helplessly subject, in her status as slave, to the submissions of love. "
Slave Girl

"Her face was extremely sensitive, and feminine. It was a face on which emotion could be easily read. Her lip was swift to tremble, her eyes swift to moisten, filling with bright tears. Her feelings were easily hurt, a valuable property in a slave girl. Too, she could not control her feelings, another excellent property in a slave girl. Her feelings, vulnerable, deep, exploitable, in her expressions and on her face, betrayed her, exposing her to men, and their amusement, as helplessly as her stripped beauty. They made her more easily controlled, more a slave. I had once seen her handwriting. It, too, was extremely feminine. I watched her dance. Too, in her belly, perhaps most important of all, burned slave fire. She would do quite well. She would bring a high price. Only a rich man, I speculated, would be able to afford her."
Tribesmen

"Slavery has many effects on a woman," he said, "It softens her, it enhances her beauty, it give her a profound sense of herself, it fulfills her, it increases, considerably, her sexual responsiveness, it increases a thousandfold her capacities to love, but one effect it does not have, it does not reduce her intelligence."
Witness

"Indeed, I suspected that there would always be more to learn about service and love, that such things were fathomless and limitless, and, thus, in a sense, the notion of being "fully trained," or knowing all there was to know, was in actuality less of a practical goal than a lovely ideal, one which might perhaps be approached ever more closely, but would never be, and perhaps should never be, fully attained. Let the girl revel in her growth, and not fear that one day there will be no more to learn, nowhere else to go. There are no summits on the heights of love."
Dancer

"Soon, most desire with all their being, in joy and gratitude, to make their masters happy. It is no wonder they are popular as slaves, and that some bring high prices. They soon find a fulfillment in love and service, and submission, which they would never have believed possible on Earth. Their place in society, as slave, is understood, accepted, and approved, even celebrated. They are prized, and relished. They become radiant, and zealous, and passionate, hot, devoted and dutiful. They set themselves to win the love of their master, and not unoften they succeed. Many then become the love slaves of love masters. They are kept as slaves, of course, for they are slaves; too, of course, as slaves, they are kept under perfect discipline. She, as other slaves, would not want it any other way. How could she, or any other slave, respect a master too weak to enforce discipline, too weak to get the whole slave from her? They are radiant. They are joyous in their collars."
Tribesman

Slave girls almost never escape. The major reason for this is the steel collar, which, obdurately encircling her neck, read, promptly identifies her master and his city. Almost no one, of course, would think of removing a collar from a girl, unless it would be to replace it with one of his own.
Slave Girl page 96

“What is the common purpose of a collar?” “The collar has four common purposes, Master,” she said. “First, it visibly designates me as a slave, as a brand might not, if it should be covered by clothing. Second, it impresses my slavery upon me. Thirdly, it identifies my master. Fourthly-fourthly-” “Fourthly?” he asked. “Fourthly,” she said, “it makes it easier to leash me.” He kicked her in the side. She winced. Her response had been slow.
Explorers page 80

An additional utility of the collar, though it did not count as one of its four common purposes, was that it made it easier to put the girl in various ties. For example, one can use it to tie her hands before her throat, or at the sides or back of her neck. One can use it with, say, rope or chain, to fasten girls together. One can tie her feet to her collar, and so on. If the feet are tied to the collar the knot is always in the front, so that the pressure will be against the back of the girl’s neck and not the front. The purpose of such a tie is to hold the slave, not choke her. Gorean men are not clumsy in their binding of women.
Explorers page 80

"These collars are normally measured individually to the girl as is most slave steel. The collar is regarded not simply as a designation of slavery and a means for identifing the girl's owner and his city but as an ornament as well. Accordingly the Gorean master is often extremely concerned that the fit of the graceful band will be neither too tight nor too loose. The collar is normally worn snugly, indeed so much so that if the snap of a slave lease is used the girl will normally suffer some discomfort."
Priest Kings page 158

These quotes directly reflect Torvaldsland collars

"I took it from these indications, she had learned her collar in the south; probably originally it had been a lock collar, snugly fitting, of steel; now, of course, it had been replaced with the riveted collar of black iron, with the projecting ring, so useful for running a chain through, or for padlocking, or linking on an anvil, with a chain. The southern collar, commonly, lacks such a ring."
Marauders page 166

"About her neck, riveted, was a collar of black iron, with a welded ring, to which a chain might be attached."
Marauders page 85

"'Look up at me,' said the smith. The slender, blond girl, tears in her eyes, looked up at him. He opened the hinged collar of black iron, about a half inch in height. He put it about her throat. It also contained a welded ring, suitable for the attachment of a chain. 'Put your head beside the anvil,' he said. He took her hair and threw it forward, and thrust her neck against the left side of the anvil. Over the anvil lay the joining ends of the two pieces of the collar. The inside of the collar was separated by a quarter of an inch from her neck. I saw the fine hairs on the back of her neck. On one part of the collar are two, small, flat, thick rings. On the other is a single such ring. These rings, when the wings of the collar are joined, are aligned, those on one wing on top and bottom, that on the other in the center. They fit closely together, one on top of the other. The holes in each, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, too, of course, are perfectly aligned. The smith, with his thumbs, forcibly, pushed a metal rivet through the three holes. The rivet fits snuggly. 'Do not move your head, Bond-maid,' said the smith. Then, with great blows of the iron hammer, he riveted the iron collar about her throat. A man then pulled her by the hair from the anvil and threw her to one side. She lay there weeping, a naked bond-maid, marked and collared."
Marauders page 87

"The girls were then motioned to the anvil. First Virginia and then Phyllis laid their heads and throats on the anvil, head turned to the side, their hands holding the anvil, and the smith, expertly, with his heavy hammer and a ringing of iron, curved the collar about their throats; a space of a quarter of an inch was left between the two ends of the collar; the ends matched perfectly; both Virginia and Phyllis stepped away from the anvil feeling the metal on their throats, both now collared slave girls."
Assassin pages 153 - 154

Attire for slaves

Her kirtle was of the finest wool of Ar, dyed scarlet, with black trimmings.
Marauders

She lifted the hem of her kirtle of scarlet wool about the ankles of her black shoes and turned away.
Marauders

"Go to the bond-maid circle," said Ivar Forkbeard, indicating the circle he had drawn in the dirt. The women cried out in misery. To enter the circle, if one is a female, is, by the laws of Torvaldsland, to declare oneself a bond-maid. A woman, of course, need not to enter the circle of her own free will. She may, for example, be thrown within it, naked and bound. Howsoever she enters the circle, voluntarily, or by force, free or secured, she emerges from it, by the laws of Torvaldsland, as a bond-maid."
Marauders

"Give Gorm back the scoop," said the Forkbeard, "and then carry water to my men." "Yes," she said. The Forkbeard looked at her. "Yes," she said "—my Jarl." To the bond-maid the meanest of the free men of the North is her jarl.
Marauders

"The bond-maids did not much care for their gruel, unsweetened, mud-like Sa-Tarna meal; with raw fish."
Marauders

"If the thrall had been nothing in Torvaldsland before, he was now less than nothing; his status was now, in effect, that of the southern, male work slave, found often in the quarries and mines, and, chained, on the great farms. He, a despised animal, must obey instantly and perfectly, or be subject to immediate slaughter."
Marauders

"Men in the fields wore short tunics of white wool; some carried hoes; their hair was close cropped; about their throats had been hammered bands of black iron, with a welded ring attached. They did not leave the fields; such a departure, without permission, might mean their death; they were thralls."
Marauders

I knew that slavegirl's were often left to impose their own order upon themselves, Master usually not interfering in such matters. The kennel rooms of slavegirl's could be jungles. Usually the strongest, largest girl, with her cohorts, dominated. Order tended to be imposed by physical means. The head girls, too, their dominance assured, often did not impose a further order among the lesser girls, leaving it to them to determine your own rankings. Squabbles among slavegirl's can be nasty. In them there is likely to be much screaming and rolling upon the tiles; vicious clawing, biting, with kicking and hair polling tend to figure in such feminine disputations; even more shameful perhaps is the fact that the other girls find such contests amusing and encourage the contestants. Sometimes a strong girl even orders to friends to fight, until one establishes a dominance over the other. "I have been beaten," is the when Bird submission phrase of the loser, clawed and frightened. "Command me, mistress," she then whispers. She must then serve the victor. If she objects the matter is again subjected to physical adjudication. In a closed set of kennels the order among the girls is usually meticulous and extremely precise.
Slavegirl

It was a cell alcove, off the large room, with a small, barred gate. It must be entered and left on the hands and knees. A girl, the, cannot rush from it; too, in leaving it, she is simple to leash. Perhaps most importantly she can enter or leave her "place" only with her head down and on her knees, this involving a tacit, mnemonic psychology, reminding her and impressing upon her that she is a slave. The cell itself was some eight feet deep and four feet wide and four feet high. I could, thus, not stand in the cell. Its furnishings were only if any, scarlet mattress and a crumpled slave blanket of rep-cloth.
Slavegirl

Another of the bond-maids was then freed to mix the bond-maid gruel, mixing fresh water with Sa-Tarna meal, and then stirring in the raw fish.
Marauders

Spars on Torvaldsland

...three shields are permitted to each combatant; when these are hacked to pieces or otherwise rendered useless, his shield bearer retires, and he must defend himself with his own weapon alone;
Marauders

swords not over a given length, too, are prescribed. The duel takes place, substantially, on a large, square cloak, ten feet on each side, which is pegged down on the turf;
Marauders

a price of three silver tarn disks is then paid to the victor by the loser; the winner commonly then performs a sacrifice; if the winner is rich, and the match of great importance, he may slay a bosk; if he is poor, or the match is not considered a great victory, his sacrifice may be less.
Marauders

Such duels, commonly, are held on wave-struck skerries in Thassa. Two men are left alone; later, at nightfall, a skiff returns, to pick up the survivor.
Marauders

The motivation of this custom, I gather, is to enable strong, powerful men to obtain land and attractive women; and to encourage those who possess such to keep themselves in fighting condition.
Marauders

"I am an outlaw," said Ivar. 'In a duel I killed Fin Broadbelt." "It was in a duel," I said. "Finn Broadbelt was the cousin of Jarl Svein Blue Tooth. "Ah," I said. Svein Blue Tooth was the high jarl of Torvaldsland, in the sense that he was generally regarded as the most powerful. In his hall, it was said he fed a thousand men. Beyond this his heralds could carry the war arrow, it was said, to ten thousand farms. Ten ships he had at his own wharves, and, it was said, he could summon a hundred more "He is your Jarl?" I asked. "He was my Jarl," said Ivar Forkbeard. "The wergild must be high," I speculated. The Forkbeard looked at me, and grinned. "It was set so high," said he, "out of the reach of custom and law, against the protests of the rune-priests and his own men, that none, in his belief, could pay it." "And thus," said I, "that your outlawry would remain in effect until you were apprehended or slain?" "He hoped to drive me from Torvaldsland," said Ivar. "He has not succeeded in doing so," I said. Ivar grinned. "He does not know where I am," said he. "If he did, a hundred ships might enter the inlet."
Marauders

Castes of Gor

I knew that Gorean caste lines, though largely following birth, were not inflexible, and that a man who did not care for his caste might be allowed to change caste, if approved by the High Council of his city, an approval usually contingent on his qualifications for the work of another caste and the willingness of the members of the new caste to accept him as a Caste Brother.
Priest Kings

Even men of a caste as low as that of the Tarn-Keepers were intolerably proud of their calling, for who else could raise and train those monstrous birds of prey?"
Outlaw

Here are some of the Caste you may find

Initiates Caste

"The religious conditioning of the men of Gor, based on superstition though it might be, was as powerful as a set of chains-more powerful than chains because they did not realize it existed. They feared the word, the curse, of this old man without weapons more than they would have feared the massed swords of a thousand foemen."
Tarnsman

Scribe Caste

“Were there not eleven strings dangling from the ceiling?” he asked. Msaliti quickly turned and looked. “I do not know,” he said. “Are there more now?” I had not taken my eyes from Shaba. “There were twelve” I said. “There are twelve now,” said Msaliti, counting. “Then there are the same number now as before,” said Shaba. “Yes,” I said, regarding him evenly. “I must commend you,” said Shaba. “You have powers of observation worthy of a scribe—or of a warrior.”
Explorers

Builders Caste

In Ar, for example, early in the day, a member of the Builders will go to the roof on which the Home Stone is kept and place the primitive symbol of his trade, a metal angle square, before the Stone, praying to the Priest-Kings for the prosperity of his caste in the coming year;
Tarnsman

Physicians Caste

"On the first day the Physician, a quiet man in the green garments of his Caste, examined me, thoroughly. The instruments he used, the tests he performed, the samples he required were not unlike those of Earth. Further, certain pieces of his instrumentation were clearly far from primitive. For example, there was a small machine with gauges and dials. In this he would place slides, containing drops of blood and urine, flecks of tissue, a strand of hair. with a stylus he would note readings on the machine, and on a small screen at the top of the machine, I saw, vastly enlarged, what reminded me of an image witnessed under a microscope."
Captive

Warriors Caste

"I had been so much a fool as to be sad. That is not the mood in which to enter battle, even the battle which one knows one cannot win, even the ultimate battle in which one knows is doomed to defeat. Do not be sad. Better to take the field with laughter, with a joke, with a light thought, with a buoyant thought, or to go forward with sternness, or in fury, or with hatred, or defiance, or calculation, but never with self pity, never with sadness. Never such things, never them!"
Vagabonds

Assassins Caste

Yet none would stand in the way of Kuurus for he wore on his forehead, small and fine, the sign of the black dagger. When he of the Caste of Assassins has been paid his gold and has received his charge he affixes on his forehead that sign, that he may enter whatever city he pleases, that none may interfere with his work.
Assassin

Baker's Caste

Downstairs the wooden screens that had separated the shop from the street had been splintered apart; the counter had been broken and the ovens ruined, their oval domes shattered, their iron doors twisted from their hinges; even the top stones on tile two grain mills had been thrown to the floor and broken.
Nomads

Charcoal Maker's Caste

Merchant Caste

My four commercial voyages had been among the exchange islands, or free islands, in Thassa, administered as free ports by members of the Merchants. There were several such islands. Three, which I encountereed frequently in my voyages, were Teletus, and, south of it, Tabor, named for the drum, which it resembles, and to the north, among the northern islands, Scagnar. Others were Farnacium, Hulneth and Asperiche. I did not go as far south as Anango or Ianda, or as far north as Hunjer or Skjern, west of Torvaldsland. These islands, with occasional free ports on the coast, north and south of the Gorean equator, such as Lydius and Helmutsport, and Schendi and Bazi, make possible the commerce between Cos and Tyros, and the mainland, and its cities, such as Ko-ro-ba, Thentis, Tor, Ar, Turia, and many others.
Raiders

Metal Worker's Caste

I looked about. It seemed a common, motley crowd for the house of Vart, where men came generally to buy cheap girls, sometimes in lots, at bargain prices. His establishment was located in a warehouse near the docks. I conjectured there were some two hundred buyers and onlookers present. I wore the tunic, and leather apron and cap, of the metal worker.
Explorers

Peasant

It stood like most Gorean villages at the hub of its wheel of fields, the fields, striplike, spanning out from it like spokes. Most Gorean peasants live in such villages, many of them palisaded, which they leave in the morning to tend their fields, to which they return at night after their day’s labors.
Mercenaries

Perfumer Caste

He tore away from his body, swiftly, the gown of the perfumers, that of white and yellow silk. I, too, cast aside the perfumer’s gown.
Marauders

Players Caste

Poets and Singers Caste

Pottery Caste

Saddle Maker's Caste

Slaver's Caste

"The Slavers, incidentally, are of the Merchant caste, though, in virtue of their merchandise and practices, their robes are different."
Assassin

Sleen Keeper's Caste

Tarn Keeper's Caste

Torturer's Clan

Woodsmen Caste

"I supposed Zosk the Woodsman was proud in the knowledge that he with his great broad-headed ax could fell a tree in one blow, and that perhaps not even a Ubar could do as much."
Outlaw

Vintner's

Caste

Caste Color-White with Green Leaves

" 'Game!' I heard, an answering cry, and a fat fellow, of the Caste of Vintners, puffing and bright eyed, wearing a white tunic with a representation in green cloth of leaves about the collar and down the sleeves of the garment, stepped forth from a doorway. Without speaking the Player sat down cross-legged at one side of the street, and placed the board in front of him. Opposite him sat the Vintner."
Assassin

There are many, many more Caste then mentioned here. If You do not see yours listed it does not mean necessarily it doesnt exist, as it is probably a sub-group of a more highly recognized Caste label. If this is the case simply wear the Caste color of the Caste label. If you do not see Your Caste listed, You may investigate the following link to see what major group it is associated with.
The Library of Gorean Knowledge