Assignment 10: Research- discerning what you need to know versus what you can find when needed

This is important and is an assignment that will go on forever as a scribe-slave. Read the books as much as you can. It is not necessary to learn everything that can be asked of you from them. What is important is to know where to look for answers in the books.

One thing you do need to know however is a variety of laws of Gor. The distinction between laws that are of the homestone and those of Merchant law on Gor for example.

Desribe Merchant Law, and state some of those laws it covers. How is Merchant law determined in contrast wth city law? Why is Merchant law important as a bond between cities?

State some laws that are unique to Freewomen and their behavior within society.

What are capture laws? How do they work within the framework of laws regarding FreeWomen and slaves? How do capture laws and rites work in terms of slavers, raiders, and pirates?

List several significant crimes on Gor that are capital offenses.

Find out how severity of crimes differs from place to place on Gor. For example, what is done to a thief in Port Kar versus what is done to punish a convicted thief in Ar?

You are nearly done with your studies to be certified as a scribe-slave or working apprentice to the caste . All that remains after this assignment is :

An ad-hoc oral examination will be given that will meander around all the topics you’ve studied. You may be asked to speak at some length on a process, or topic that has been covered in your studies. You may be asked a “What would you do if?” kind of question. Don’t be nervous. Scribes and scribe-slaves are almost always a breath away from being asked a detailed, opinionated, educated or wild-rask question that needs to be addressed in a scholarly and composed manner. Your demeanor counts as much as your outright knowledge, and your thinking process counts the most of all.

Good luck!

 

 

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Assignment:

Research What You Need to Know Versus What You Find When Need

BEING UNVIELD IS NOT A CRIME

Veils not required by law, they are a matter of custom and modesty.
The veil, it might be noted, is not legally imperative for a free woman; it is rather a matter of modesty and custom. Some low-class, uncompanioned, free girls do not wear veils. Similarly certain bold free women neglect the veil. Neglect of the veil is not a crime in Gorean cities, though in some it is deemed a brazen and scandalous omission.
Slave Girl

BEWARE OF SNUBBING THE CUSTOM
In many areas it is a socially serious matter for a FW to be unveiled.
May be taken into custody by guardsmen, veiled and forced home.
Repeated offenses usually result in enslavement.
"It must be understood, of course, to fully appreciate what was going on, that the public exposure of the features of a freewoman, particularly one of high caste, or with some pretense to position or status, is a socially serious matter in many Gorean localities. Indeed, in some cities an unveiled free woman is susceptible to being taken into custody by guardsmen, then to be veiled, by force if necessary, and publicly conducted back to her home. Indeed, in some cities she is marched back to her home stripped, except for the face veil which has been put on her. In these cases a crowd usually follows, to see to what home it is that she is to be returned. Repeated offenses in such a city usually result in the enslavement of the female. Such serious measures, of course, are seldom required to protect such familiar Gorean proprieties. Custom, by itself, normally suffices."
Players

WHAT A VIELED FREE WOMAN MAY DO TO AN UNVIELED FREE WOMAN

Other FW scorn an unveiled FW.
May make her kneel, as a slave, before attending her in a market.
Is spoken of as a slave, a slut
An unveiled woman, for example, may find other women turning away from her in a market, perhaps with expressions of disgust. Indeed, she may not even be waited upon, or dealt with, in a market by a free woman unless she first kneels. It would not be unusual for her, in a crowded place, to overhear remarks, perhaps whispers or sneers, of which she is the obvious object, such as "Shameless slut," "brazen baggage," "As immodest as a slave," "I wonder who her master is," and "Put a collar on her!" And if she should attempt to confront or challenge her assailants, she will merely find such remarks repeated articulately and clearly to her face."
Players
"In Ar's Station," he said, "as in Ar, robes of concealment, precisely, are not legally obligatory for free women, no more than the veil. Such things are more a matter of custom. On the other hand, as you know, there are statutes prescribing certain standards of decorum for free women. For example, they may not appear naked in the streets, as may slaves. Indeed, a free woman who appears in public in violation of these standards of decorum, for example, with her arms or legs too much bared, may be made a slave."
Renegades

FREE WOMAN BARING LEGS
Horrified to even think of baring their legs.
Such scandal could ruin a reputation.
In some cities, a woman with bared legs is taken to magistrates and sentenced to slavery.
Contrariwise, almost no free woman would bare her legs. They would not dare to do so. They would be horrified even to think of it. The scandal of such an act could ruin a reputation. It is said on Gor, any woman who bares her legs is a slave. Indeed, in some cities a free woman who might be found with bare legs is taken in hand by magistrates, tried and sentenced to bondage. After the judge’s decision has been enacted, its effect carried out upon her, reducing her to the status of goods, sometimes publicly, that she may be suitably disgraced, sometimes privately, by a contract slaver, that the sensitivities of free women in the city not be offended, she is hooded and transported, stripped and chained, freshly branded and collared, a property female, slave cargo, to a distant market where, once sold, she will begin her life anew, fearfully, as a purchased girl, tremulously as the helpless and lowly slave she now is.
Mercenaries

THIEVES IN GOR
The caste of thieves was important in Port Kar, and even honored. It represented a skill which in the city was held in high repute. Indeed, so jealous of their prerogatives were the caste of thieves that they often hunted thieves who did not belong to their caste, and slew them, throwing their bodies to the urts in the canals. Indeed, there was less thievery in Port Kar than there might have been were there no caste of thieves in the city. They protected, jealously, their own territories from amateur competition. Ear notching and mutiliation, common punishments on Gor for thieves, were not found in Port Kar. The caste was too powerful. On the other hand, it was regarded as permissible to slay a thief or take a female thief slave if the culprit could be apprehended within an Ahn of the theft. After an Ahn the thief, if apprehended and a caste member, was to be remanded to the police of the arsenal. If found guilty in the court of the arsenal, the male thief would be sentenced, for a week to a year, to hard labour in the arsenal or the wharves: the female thief would be sentenced to service, for a week to a year,in a straw -strewn cell in one of Port Kars penal brothels.

PUNISHMENTS

Punishments on Gor

On thieves:
His right ear had been notched,....... Such notching, I knew, is usually done to the ears of thieves; a second offense is normally punished by the loss of the right hand; a third offense is normally punished by the removal of the left hand and both feet. There are few thieves, incidentally, on Gor. I have heard, though there is a Caste of Thieves in Port Kar, a strong caste which naturally protects its members from such indignities as ear notching.
Nomads of GOR, pg 85

A traitor:
It is to bad... I would have preferred to stake him out in the path of the bosk.
Nomads of GOR, pg 321

Harold and I had been fastened in a Turian slave bar, a metal bar with a collar at each end and, behind the collar, manacles which fasten the prisoner's hands behind his neck.
Nomads of GOR, pg. 193

bastinado / foor whiping:
a punishment not otherwise described, however the earth translation is a beating, especially with a stick or cudgel. The beating may be specifically to the soles of the feet.
Book 25: Magicians of Gor, page 445

A master takes no interest in the squabbles of slaves, it being beneath him. He of course would not approved had one of the girls been maimed, blinded or disfigured.
Nomads of Gor, pg 138

pulling her toward a sleen cage mounted low on a cart near the wagon, into which, still braceleted, he thrust her, then closing the door, locking it.
Nomads of GOR, pg 169

You cannot punish me!" she cried.
"You are not my masters!"
"Any free person can punish an errant slave girl," I said.
"Surely you do not think that her behavior fails to be subject to supervision and correction as soon as she is out of her Master's sight?"
Magician of Gor, pg 225

For Running away:
Cut off her feet, and her nose and ears, and blind her in one eye---then release her to live as she can among the wagons.
Nomads of Gor, pg 167

The punishment of a runaway slave is often grievous, sometimes culminating in death.
Nomads of Gor, pg 169

Other Disciplines/Punishments
One poor girl slept naked.....About her neck was a thick metal collar to which a heavy iron chain had been fastened; the chain itself was attached to a large iron ring placed in the floor. I supposed she was being disciplined.
Nomads of Gor, pg 219

"`What do you think should be her punishment ?' asked Callimachus of me. `If she is guilty,' I said, `whatever you wish, as she is a slave.' This was in full accord with Gorean law. Indeed, anything, for whatever reason, or without a reason, may be done to a slave."
Guardsman of Gor, pg 115

"Discipline?" breathed the girl.
"Yes," said Mira, "the slave girl is subject to discipline and punishment. She is owned, like a sleen or tarsk is owned. She is owned,literally owned. You must understand that in its full sense. Accordingly, anything may be done with her that the master wishes. She may even be slain, if the master wishes."
"Then the slave girl is totally helpless," said the girl. "she is totally at the mercy of the master."
"Yes," said Mira.
Blood Brothers of GOR, pg 296

...in this punishment the girl, clothe or unclothed, is bound tightly to an oar, hands behind her, her head down, toward the blade. When the oar lifts from the water she gasps for breath, only in another moment to be submerged again. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar. When food is low, it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. The least pleasing girl is always used. This practice, of course encourages bond-maids the vie vigorously to please their masters. An Ahn on the oar is usually more than sufficient to make the coldest and proudest of females an obedient, eager-to-please bond-maid.
Marauders of Gor, pg 66

In this discipline the female is forbidden human speech. She is also forbidden human posture, in the sense that she is not allowed to rise to her feet. Her locomotion, unless commanded to roll, or put under similar commands, suitable for a pet, will be on all fours. Her food will be thrown to her, or put in pans on the ground. In either case, she must feed without the use of her hands. She may also, of course, be fed by hand, but, again, will not be permitted to touch the food with her hands. She may be taught tricks. Sometimes these are taught as functions of arbitrary sounds, so that she must learn them as any animal might, without the benefit of an earlier understanding of the word used. If she is slow to learn, of course, she is punished, as would be any other animal. When used, too, it will commonly be in the modality of the she-quadrupled. This discipline is often used as a punishment, but it may figure in the training of a new girl. It helps her to understand what she now is, an animal totally subject to her master.
pp 215-216 Mercenaries of Gor