Post by sweetlarma on Feb 18, 2008 12:09:12 GMT -5
HIGH INITIATES
The Goreans generally, though there are exceptions, particularly the Caste of Initiates, do not believe in immortality. Accordingly, to be of a city is, in a sense, to have been a part of something less perishable than oneself, something divine in the sense of undying, Of course, as every Gorean knows, cities too are mortal, for cities can be destroyed as well as men. And this perhaps makes them love their cities the more, for they know that their city, like themselves, is subject to mortal termination. (Outlaw of Gor, page 22)
Four times a year, correlated with the solstices and equinoxes, there are fairs held in the plains below the mountains, presided over by committees of Initiates, fairs in which men of many cities mingle without bloodshed, times of truce, times of contests and games, of bargaining and marketing. (Outlaw of Gor, page 47)
The High Initiate had risen to his feet and accepted a goblet from another Initiate, probably containing minced flavored ices, for the day was warm. Free women, here and there, were delicately putting tidbits beneath their veils. Some even lifted their veils somewhat to drink of the flavored ices. Some low-caste free women drank through their veils, and there were yellow and purple stains on the rep-cloth.
(Assassins of Gor, page 141)
Merchants also, in effect, arrange and administer the four great fairs that take place each year near the Sardar Mountains. I say "in effect" because the fairs are nominally under the direction of a committee of the Caste of Initiates, which, however, largely contents itself with its ceremonies and sacrifices, and is only too happy to delegate the complex management of those vast, commercial phenomena, the Sardar Fairs, to members of the lowly, much despised Caste of Merchants, without which, incidentally, the fairs most likely could not exist, certainly not at any rate in their current form. (Nomads of Gor, page 85)
And the men in that crowd were of all castes, and even of castes as low as the Peasants, the Saddle-Makers, the Weavers, the Goat-Keepers, the Poets and the Merchants, but none of them groveled as did the Initiates; how strange, I thought (the Initiates claimed to be most like Priest-Kings, even to be formed in their image, and yet I knew that a Priest-King would never grovel; it seemed the Initiates, in their efforts to be like gods, behaved like slaves."
(Priest Kings of Gor, page 294)
SCRIBES
It took not much time to purchase a small bundle of supplies to take into the Sardar, nor was it difficult to find a scribe to whom I might entrust the history of the events at Tharna. I did not ask his name or he mine. I knew his caste, and he knew mine, and it was enough. He could not read the manuscript as it was written in English, a language as foreign to him as Gorean would be to most of you, but yet he would treasure the manuscript and guard it as though it were a most precious possession, for he was a scribe and it is the way of scribes to love the written word and keep it from harm, and if he could not read the manuscript what did it matter-perhaps someone could someday, and then the words which had kept their secret for so long would at least enkindle the mystery of communication and what had been written would be heard and understood.
(Priest-Kings of Gor, page 15)
"...an intent, preoccupied scribe, lean and clad in the scribe's blue."
(Hunters of Gor, page 41)
"Many castes, incidentally, have branches and divisions. Lawyers and Scholars, for example, and Record Keepers, Teachers, Clerks, Historians and Accountants are all Scribes." (Assassin of Gor, page 208)
In many cities, of course, including Ar, time tends to be kept publicly. Official clocks are adjusted, of course, according to the announcements of scribes, in virtue of various astronomical measurements, having to do with the movements of the sun and stars. The calendar, and adjustments in it, are also the results of their researches, promulgated by civil authorities. The average Gorean has a variety of simple devices at his disposal for making the passage of time. Typical among them are marked or calibrated, candles, and dials, sand glasses, clepsydras and oil clocks. (Magicians of Gor, page 358)
Many Gorean letters have a variety of pronunciations, depending on their linguistic context. Certain Scribes have recommended adding to the Gorean alphabet new letters, to independently represent some of these sounds which, now, require alternative pronunciations, context- dependent, of given letters. Their recommendations, it seems, are unlikely to be incorporated into formal Gorean. (Explorers of Gor, page 9)
BUILDERS
"Inside the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement." (Tarnsman of Gor, page 197)
The women of a given caste, it should be noted, often do not engage in caste work. For example, a woman in the Metalworkers does not, commonly, work at the forge, nor is a woman of the Builders likely to be found supervising the construction of fortifications. (Fighting Slave of Gor, page 209)
PHYSICIANS
"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...I could see neither cords nor battery cases. Yet the room was filled with a soft, gentle white light, which the physician could regulate by rotating the base of the bulb. 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 the small screen at the top of the machine, I saw, vastly enlarged, what reminded me of an image witnessed under a microscope."
(Captive of Gor, page 93)
The Player was a rather old man, extremely unusual on Gor, where the stabilization serums were developed centuries ago by the Caste of Physicians in Ko-ro-ba and Ar, and transmitted to the physicians of other cities at several of the Sardar Fairs. Age, on Gor, interestingly, was regarded, and still is, by the caste of Physicians as a disease, not an inevitable natural phenomenon. (Assassins of Gor, page 30)
The fairs, too, however, have many other functions. For example, they serve as a scene of caste conventions, and as loci for the sharing of discoveries and research. It is here, for example, that Physicians, and Builders and Artisans may meet and exchange ideas and techniques. It is here that Merchant Law is drafted and stabilized. it is here that songs are performed, and song dramas. Poets and Musicians, and jugglers and magicians, vie for the attention of the crowds. Here one finds peddlers and great merchants. (Beasts of Gor, page 44)
WARRIORS
"I am of the caste of Warriors, and it is in our codes that the only death fit for a man is that in battle, but I can no longer believe that this is true, for the man I met once on the road to Ko-ro-ba died well, and taught me that all wisdom and truth does not lie in my own codes."
(Priest Kings of Gor, page 14)
"It is not the scarlet, not the steel, not the helm which makes a warrior."
(Beasts of Gor, page 340)
"You have drawn a weapon against me," I said.
"You are of the warriors?" said the fellow. He wavered. He, too, knew the codes.
"Yes," I said.
"And he?" asked the fellow.
"He, too," I said.
"You are not in scarlet," he said.
"True," I said. Did he think that the color of a fellow's garment was what made him a warrior? Surely he must realize that one not of the warriors might affect the scarlet, and that one who wore the grimed gray of a peasant, one barefoot, and armed only with the great staff, might be of the scarlet caste. It is not the uniform which makes the warrior, the soldier." (Magicians of Gor, page 129)
The Goreans generally, though there are exceptions, particularly the Caste of Initiates, do not believe in immortality. Accordingly, to be of a city is, in a sense, to have been a part of something less perishable than oneself, something divine in the sense of undying, Of course, as every Gorean knows, cities too are mortal, for cities can be destroyed as well as men. And this perhaps makes them love their cities the more, for they know that their city, like themselves, is subject to mortal termination. (Outlaw of Gor, page 22)
Four times a year, correlated with the solstices and equinoxes, there are fairs held in the plains below the mountains, presided over by committees of Initiates, fairs in which men of many cities mingle without bloodshed, times of truce, times of contests and games, of bargaining and marketing. (Outlaw of Gor, page 47)
The High Initiate had risen to his feet and accepted a goblet from another Initiate, probably containing minced flavored ices, for the day was warm. Free women, here and there, were delicately putting tidbits beneath their veils. Some even lifted their veils somewhat to drink of the flavored ices. Some low-caste free women drank through their veils, and there were yellow and purple stains on the rep-cloth.
(Assassins of Gor, page 141)
Merchants also, in effect, arrange and administer the four great fairs that take place each year near the Sardar Mountains. I say "in effect" because the fairs are nominally under the direction of a committee of the Caste of Initiates, which, however, largely contents itself with its ceremonies and sacrifices, and is only too happy to delegate the complex management of those vast, commercial phenomena, the Sardar Fairs, to members of the lowly, much despised Caste of Merchants, without which, incidentally, the fairs most likely could not exist, certainly not at any rate in their current form. (Nomads of Gor, page 85)
And the men in that crowd were of all castes, and even of castes as low as the Peasants, the Saddle-Makers, the Weavers, the Goat-Keepers, the Poets and the Merchants, but none of them groveled as did the Initiates; how strange, I thought (the Initiates claimed to be most like Priest-Kings, even to be formed in their image, and yet I knew that a Priest-King would never grovel; it seemed the Initiates, in their efforts to be like gods, behaved like slaves."
(Priest Kings of Gor, page 294)
SCRIBES
It took not much time to purchase a small bundle of supplies to take into the Sardar, nor was it difficult to find a scribe to whom I might entrust the history of the events at Tharna. I did not ask his name or he mine. I knew his caste, and he knew mine, and it was enough. He could not read the manuscript as it was written in English, a language as foreign to him as Gorean would be to most of you, but yet he would treasure the manuscript and guard it as though it were a most precious possession, for he was a scribe and it is the way of scribes to love the written word and keep it from harm, and if he could not read the manuscript what did it matter-perhaps someone could someday, and then the words which had kept their secret for so long would at least enkindle the mystery of communication and what had been written would be heard and understood.
(Priest-Kings of Gor, page 15)
"...an intent, preoccupied scribe, lean and clad in the scribe's blue."
(Hunters of Gor, page 41)
"Many castes, incidentally, have branches and divisions. Lawyers and Scholars, for example, and Record Keepers, Teachers, Clerks, Historians and Accountants are all Scribes." (Assassin of Gor, page 208)
In many cities, of course, including Ar, time tends to be kept publicly. Official clocks are adjusted, of course, according to the announcements of scribes, in virtue of various astronomical measurements, having to do with the movements of the sun and stars. The calendar, and adjustments in it, are also the results of their researches, promulgated by civil authorities. The average Gorean has a variety of simple devices at his disposal for making the passage of time. Typical among them are marked or calibrated, candles, and dials, sand glasses, clepsydras and oil clocks. (Magicians of Gor, page 358)
Many Gorean letters have a variety of pronunciations, depending on their linguistic context. Certain Scribes have recommended adding to the Gorean alphabet new letters, to independently represent some of these sounds which, now, require alternative pronunciations, context- dependent, of given letters. Their recommendations, it seems, are unlikely to be incorporated into formal Gorean. (Explorers of Gor, page 9)
BUILDERS
"Inside the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement." (Tarnsman of Gor, page 197)
The women of a given caste, it should be noted, often do not engage in caste work. For example, a woman in the Metalworkers does not, commonly, work at the forge, nor is a woman of the Builders likely to be found supervising the construction of fortifications. (Fighting Slave of Gor, page 209)
PHYSICIANS
"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...I could see neither cords nor battery cases. Yet the room was filled with a soft, gentle white light, which the physician could regulate by rotating the base of the bulb. 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 the small screen at the top of the machine, I saw, vastly enlarged, what reminded me of an image witnessed under a microscope."
(Captive of Gor, page 93)
The Player was a rather old man, extremely unusual on Gor, where the stabilization serums were developed centuries ago by the Caste of Physicians in Ko-ro-ba and Ar, and transmitted to the physicians of other cities at several of the Sardar Fairs. Age, on Gor, interestingly, was regarded, and still is, by the caste of Physicians as a disease, not an inevitable natural phenomenon. (Assassins of Gor, page 30)
The fairs, too, however, have many other functions. For example, they serve as a scene of caste conventions, and as loci for the sharing of discoveries and research. It is here, for example, that Physicians, and Builders and Artisans may meet and exchange ideas and techniques. It is here that Merchant Law is drafted and stabilized. it is here that songs are performed, and song dramas. Poets and Musicians, and jugglers and magicians, vie for the attention of the crowds. Here one finds peddlers and great merchants. (Beasts of Gor, page 44)
WARRIORS
"I am of the caste of Warriors, and it is in our codes that the only death fit for a man is that in battle, but I can no longer believe that this is true, for the man I met once on the road to Ko-ro-ba died well, and taught me that all wisdom and truth does not lie in my own codes."
(Priest Kings of Gor, page 14)
"It is not the scarlet, not the steel, not the helm which makes a warrior."
(Beasts of Gor, page 340)
"You have drawn a weapon against me," I said.
"You are of the warriors?" said the fellow. He wavered. He, too, knew the codes.
"Yes," I said.
"And he?" asked the fellow.
"He, too," I said.
"You are not in scarlet," he said.
"True," I said. Did he think that the color of a fellow's garment was what made him a warrior? Surely he must realize that one not of the warriors might affect the scarlet, and that one who wore the grimed gray of a peasant, one barefoot, and armed only with the great staff, might be of the scarlet caste. It is not the uniform which makes the warrior, the soldier." (Magicians of Gor, page 129)