From time to time we find ourselves speaking of such matters as Gorean Home Stones. We discuss the topic of Home Stones because a rock, perhaps even a simple stone, is the foundation upon which we have chosen to build our lives. Within the traditions and customs we manifest both on and offline, we find something that can make us more, never less; that which would form something greater than the individual. We seek, we search, and if we happen upon a place wherein rests a Home Stone, we can find that which will enrich our lives.
Not every man, of course, will accept bounty, particularly on a woman. Callias, of Jad, was a warrior, an oarsman, at one time an officer. Bounty hunters are commonly low warriors, men without Home Stones, brigands, assassins, villains, thieves, reprobates, the recklessly impecunious, gamblers, the dishonored. Mariners of Gor
A Gorean Home Stone which is shared with other Goreans is something difficult to explain in mere words. Such a Stone, because it signifies so much, cannot be well talked about, but is perhaps is better felt than spoken of. It is the foundation upon which rests the wall. The Stone is the foundation; the Codes, the wall. And over it all the roof, which is to me the men who shield and cover the Home Stone.
"`Gor,' he said, `is the name of this world. In all the languages of this planet, the word means Home Stone.' He paused, noting my lack of comprehension. `Home Stone,' he repeated. `Simply that.'
`In peasant villages on this world,' he continued, `each hut was originally built around a flat stone which was placed in the center of the circular dwelling. It was carved with the family sign and was called the Home Stone. It was, so to speak, a symbol of sovereignty, or territory, and each peasant, his own hut, was a sovereign.'
`Later,' said my father, `Home Stones were used for villages, and later still for cities. The Home Stone of a village was always placed in the market; in a city, on the top of the highest tower. The Home Stone came naturally, in time, to acquire a mystique, and something of the same hot, sweet emotions as our native peoples of Earth feel toward their flags became invested in it.'
My father had risen to his feet and had begun to pace the
room, and his eyes seemed strangely alive. In time I would come to understand
more of what he felt. Indeed, there is a saying on Gor, a saying whose origin
is lost in the past of this strange planet, that one who speaks of Home Stones
should stand, for matters of honor are here involved, and honor is respected in
the barbaric codes of Gor.
`These stones,' said my father, `are various, of different colors, shapes, and sizes, and many of them are intricately carved. Some of the largest cities have small, rather insignificant Home Stones, but of incredible antiquity, dating back to the time when the city was a village or only a mounted pride of warriors with no settled abode.'
My father paused at the narrow window in the circular room and looked out onto the hills beyond and fell silent.
At last he spoke again.
`Where a man sets his Home Stone, he claims, by law, that land for himself. Good land is protected only by the swords of the strongest owners in the vicinity.'
`Swords?' I asked.
`Yes,' said my father, as if there were nothing incredible in this admission. He smiled. `You have much to learn of Gor,' he said. `Yet there is a hierarchy of Home Stones, one might say, and two soldiers who would cut one another down with their steel blades for an acre of fertile ground would fight side by side to the death for the Home Stone of their village or of the city within whose ambit their village lies.'" Tarnsman of Gor
One does not choose a Home Stone; if one has one, it has chosen him. Those who are of a Home Stone consider wisely those who would swear the oath and allegiance to a Home Stone. No one may claim "I am of this place," or "I am of that place," within which rests a Gorean Home Stone. For in reality, until one is allowed to utter oaths of loyalty to the Common Home Stone, shared by other Gorean men, they are guests, not citizens. In the Gorean tradition, men establish a Home Stone, and in so doing, decide who earns the privilege to share that Home Stone. Of course a slave, have no rights to anything does not belong to a Home Stone.
"Gor is dangerous, Lady!" said Cabot. "You are attractive, and you have no city, no village, no Home Stone. You might end up in the markets."
"In the markets?" she said.
"Being sold," he said. Kur of Gor
As you are a free woman," I said, "even though one of Earth, I have treated you with some circumspection. In the codes such matters are gray, for it is commonly supposed that a Home Stone would be shared. If you were a slave, of course, whether of Earth or not, the matter would not even come up. Swordsmen of Gor
The sharing of a Home Stone becomes a matter of the utmost importance to Goreans. It is never taken lightly, nor without deep and thoughtful deliberations.
"Sell them out of the city," said the officer. Women wept.
"Do you wish a record of this, Captain?" asked the fellow in the blue tunic, he with the scribe's box, on its straps, slung at his left side.
"No," said the captain. "Keep no record of this. They have shamed the city, and the Home Stone. Let them go their way. Let them not be remembered. Let it be, in the records of the city, as though they had never been." Witness of Gor
They were to be sold out of the city, I recalled. They would find themselves then at the mercy of strangers. Gone would be their privileged status, that of the free woman. Gone would be the protection of the law, of guardsmen, of the shared Home Stone. Witness of Gor
The meaning behind the term "Home Stone" is explained in great detail, and with deep reflection, by John Norman in several places within the Gor series. Why is it that so many fail to grasp that meaning? Is it so difficult a concept to understand? Perhaps so; perhaps it is not a concept which words alone can accurately convey. How might a man, one who dwells upon Earth, come to grips with the impact of choosing a Home Stone for himself? How can he begin to understand the importance of such a choice? You see, were we born Gorean on a planet far away, we would each possess a certain understanding regarding the prominence in our lives of family, city, and caste, and upon reaching maturity, we might claim the honor of citizenship. But we are not upon that fictional planet, nor will we ever be. So we must define our own traditions, our own codes, and yes, even our own Home Stones.
"Callias fought with us, and well," said Cabot, indicating me.
"Of course," said Lord Nishida. "He has, as I recall, what you speak of as a Home Stone."
"Yes," said Cabot, "he has a Home Stone." Mariners of Gor
What does a Home Stone symbolize? To me, the concept of a shared Home Stone has taken hold deep within us, and has come to symbolize a commitment to one other and to what we hold dear. We have forged a community of people who hold something other than ourselves to be of value. Something which has previously been spoken of only in a series of books is has become for us a lifelong commitment to uphold certain values, and through our individual actions, to create for ourselves a part of our reality which is worth more than the most precious of diamonds. A rock, one chosen by two men, which now belongs to and means so much to others.
Probably the easiest way to describe a Home Stone for a person of Earth is like a country flag ... we pledge alleigance ... fight for it ... die for it ... defend it with all our honor and might.
To some men, a rock is simply a rock... but to others, it is, or can be, a Home Stone, and can come to encompass a deeper, more emotional meaning. To hold such a Home Stone in your hands, to swear allegiance to it; to look upon it, and with total conviction swear your loyalty, your love, and your life to all that it symbolizes, can be one of the finest, and most defining, moments in a man's life. Ask those who have done so. Yet they may in fact be unable to explain how it effected and changed them, , for words are often not enough to express the meaning of such a seemingly simple action.
Perhaps the words you read below will explain the concept of such a thing, and will touch your emotions:
The officer had proposed, as clearly as one might, that the city be abandoned to the flames, and to the ravaging seamen of Cos and Tyros.
Port Kar had no Home Stone.
`How many of you think,' I asked, `that Port Kar has no Home Stone?'
The men looked at one another, puzzled. All knew, of course, that she had no Home Stone.
There was silence.
Then, after a time, Tab said, `I think that she might have one.'
`But,' said I, `she does not yet have one.'
`No,' said Tab.
`I,' said one of the men, `wonder what it would be like to live in a city where there was a Home Stone.'
`How does a city obtain a Home Stone?' I asked.
`Men decide that she shall have one,' said Tab.
`Yes,' I said, `that is how it is that a city obtains a Home Stone.'
The men looked at one another.
`Send the slave boy Fish before me,' I said.
The men looked at one another, not understanding, but went to fetch the boy...
The boy, white-faced, alarmed, was shoved into my presence.
`Go outside,' I told him, `and find a rock, and bring to me.'
He looked at me.
`Hurry!' I said.
He turned about and ran from the room.
We waited quietly, not speaking, until he had returned. He held in his hand a sizable rock, somewhat bigger than my fist. It was a common rock, not very large, and gray and heavy, granular in texture.
I took the rock.
`A knife,' I said.
I was handed a knife.
I cut in the rock the initials, in block Gorean script, of Port Kar.
Then I held out in my hand the rock.
I held it up so that the men could see.
`What have I here?' I asked.
Tab said it, and quietly, `The Home Stone of Port Kar.'
`Now,' said I, facing the man who had told me there was but one choice, that of flight, `shall we fly?'
He looked at the simple rock, wonderingly. `I have never had a Home Stone before,' he said.
`Shall we fly?' I asked.
`Not if we have a Home Stone,' he said.
I held up the rock. `Do we have a Home Stone?' I asked the men.
`I will accept it as my Home Stone,' said the slave boy, Fish. None of the men laughed. The first to accept the Home Stone of Port Kar was only a boy, and a slave. But he had spoken as a Ubar.
`And I!' cried Thurnock, in his great, booming voice.
`And I!' said Clitus.
`And I!' said Tab.
`And I!' cried the men in the room. And, suddenly the room was filled with cheers and more than a hundred weapons left their sheaths and saluted the Home Stone of Port Kar: I saw weathered seamen weep and cry out brandishing their swords. There was joy in that room then such as I had never before seen it. And there was a belonging, and a victory, and a meaningfulness, and cries, and the clashing of weapons, and tears and, in that instant love." Raiders of Gor
`These stones,' said my father, `are various, of different colors, shapes, and sizes, and many of them are intricately carved. Some of the largest cities have small, rather insignificant Home Stones, but of incredible antiquity, dating back to the time when the city was a village or only a mounted pride of warriors with no settled abode.'
My father paused at the narrow window in the circular room and looked out onto the hills beyond and fell silent.
At last he spoke again.
`Where a man sets his Home Stone, he claims, by law, that land for himself. Good land is protected only by the swords of the strongest owners in the vicinity.'
`Swords?' I asked.
`Yes,' said my father, as if there were nothing incredible in this admission. He smiled. `You have much to learn of Gor,' he said. `Yet there is a hierarchy of Home Stones, one might say, and two soldiers who would cut one another down with their steel blades for an acre of fertile ground would fight side by side to the death for the Home Stone of their village or of the city within whose ambit their village lies.'" Tarnsman of Gor
One does not choose a Home Stone; if one has one, it has chosen him. Those who are of a Home Stone consider wisely those who would swear the oath and allegiance to a Home Stone. No one may claim "I am of this place," or "I am of that place," within which rests a Gorean Home Stone. For in reality, until one is allowed to utter oaths of loyalty to the Common Home Stone, shared by other Gorean men, they are guests, not citizens. In the Gorean tradition, men establish a Home Stone, and in so doing, decide who earns the privilege to share that Home Stone. Of course a slave, have no rights to anything does not belong to a Home Stone.
"Gor is dangerous, Lady!" said Cabot. "You are attractive, and you have no city, no village, no Home Stone. You might end up in the markets."
"In the markets?" she said.
"Being sold," he said. Kur of Gor
As you are a free woman," I said, "even though one of Earth, I have treated you with some circumspection. In the codes such matters are gray, for it is commonly supposed that a Home Stone would be shared. If you were a slave, of course, whether of Earth or not, the matter would not even come up. Swordsmen of Gor
The sharing of a Home Stone becomes a matter of the utmost importance to Goreans. It is never taken lightly, nor without deep and thoughtful deliberations.
"Sell them out of the city," said the officer. Women wept.
"Do you wish a record of this, Captain?" asked the fellow in the blue tunic, he with the scribe's box, on its straps, slung at his left side.
"No," said the captain. "Keep no record of this. They have shamed the city, and the Home Stone. Let them go their way. Let them not be remembered. Let it be, in the records of the city, as though they had never been." Witness of Gor
They were to be sold out of the city, I recalled. They would find themselves then at the mercy of strangers. Gone would be their privileged status, that of the free woman. Gone would be the protection of the law, of guardsmen, of the shared Home Stone. Witness of Gor
The meaning behind the term "Home Stone" is explained in great detail, and with deep reflection, by John Norman in several places within the Gor series. Why is it that so many fail to grasp that meaning? Is it so difficult a concept to understand? Perhaps so; perhaps it is not a concept which words alone can accurately convey. How might a man, one who dwells upon Earth, come to grips with the impact of choosing a Home Stone for himself? How can he begin to understand the importance of such a choice? You see, were we born Gorean on a planet far away, we would each possess a certain understanding regarding the prominence in our lives of family, city, and caste, and upon reaching maturity, we might claim the honor of citizenship. But we are not upon that fictional planet, nor will we ever be. So we must define our own traditions, our own codes, and yes, even our own Home Stones.
"Callias fought with us, and well," said Cabot, indicating me.
"Of course," said Lord Nishida. "He has, as I recall, what you speak of as a Home Stone."
"Yes," said Cabot, "he has a Home Stone." Mariners of Gor
What does a Home Stone symbolize? To me, the concept of a shared Home Stone has taken hold deep within us, and has come to symbolize a commitment to one other and to what we hold dear. We have forged a community of people who hold something other than ourselves to be of value. Something which has previously been spoken of only in a series of books is has become for us a lifelong commitment to uphold certain values, and through our individual actions, to create for ourselves a part of our reality which is worth more than the most precious of diamonds. A rock, one chosen by two men, which now belongs to and means so much to others.
Probably the easiest way to describe a Home Stone for a person of Earth is like a country flag ... we pledge alleigance ... fight for it ... die for it ... defend it with all our honor and might.
To some men, a rock is simply a rock... but to others, it is, or can be, a Home Stone, and can come to encompass a deeper, more emotional meaning. To hold such a Home Stone in your hands, to swear allegiance to it; to look upon it, and with total conviction swear your loyalty, your love, and your life to all that it symbolizes, can be one of the finest, and most defining, moments in a man's life. Ask those who have done so. Yet they may in fact be unable to explain how it effected and changed them, , for words are often not enough to express the meaning of such a seemingly simple action.
Perhaps the words you read below will explain the concept of such a thing, and will touch your emotions:
The officer had proposed, as clearly as one might, that the city be abandoned to the flames, and to the ravaging seamen of Cos and Tyros.
Port Kar had no Home Stone.
`How many of you think,' I asked, `that Port Kar has no Home Stone?'
The men looked at one another, puzzled. All knew, of course, that she had no Home Stone.
There was silence.
Then, after a time, Tab said, `I think that she might have one.'
`But,' said I, `she does not yet have one.'
`No,' said Tab.
`I,' said one of the men, `wonder what it would be like to live in a city where there was a Home Stone.'
`How does a city obtain a Home Stone?' I asked.
`Men decide that she shall have one,' said Tab.
`Yes,' I said, `that is how it is that a city obtains a Home Stone.'
The men looked at one another.
`Send the slave boy Fish before me,' I said.
The men looked at one another, not understanding, but went to fetch the boy...
The boy, white-faced, alarmed, was shoved into my presence.
`Go outside,' I told him, `and find a rock, and bring to me.'
He looked at me.
`Hurry!' I said.
He turned about and ran from the room.
We waited quietly, not speaking, until he had returned. He held in his hand a sizable rock, somewhat bigger than my fist. It was a common rock, not very large, and gray and heavy, granular in texture.
I took the rock.
`A knife,' I said.
I was handed a knife.
I cut in the rock the initials, in block Gorean script, of Port Kar.
Then I held out in my hand the rock.
I held it up so that the men could see.
`What have I here?' I asked.
Tab said it, and quietly, `The Home Stone of Port Kar.'
`Now,' said I, facing the man who had told me there was but one choice, that of flight, `shall we fly?'
He looked at the simple rock, wonderingly. `I have never had a Home Stone before,' he said.
`Shall we fly?' I asked.
`Not if we have a Home Stone,' he said.
I held up the rock. `Do we have a Home Stone?' I asked the men.
`I will accept it as my Home Stone,' said the slave boy, Fish. None of the men laughed. The first to accept the Home Stone of Port Kar was only a boy, and a slave. But he had spoken as a Ubar.
`And I!' cried Thurnock, in his great, booming voice.
`And I!' said Clitus.
`And I!' said Tab.
`And I!' cried the men in the room. And, suddenly the room was filled with cheers and more than a hundred weapons left their sheaths and saluted the Home Stone of Port Kar: I saw weathered seamen weep and cry out brandishing their swords. There was joy in that room then such as I had never before seen it. And there was a belonging, and a victory, and a meaningfulness, and cries, and the clashing of weapons, and tears and, in that instant love." Raiders of Gor
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