Politics
“Why has this sentence been rescinded?” I asked.
“A shift in political power has taken place in the Cliffs,” he said. “Now, too, once again, it seems my services are desired.” (Blood Brothers of Gor)
If we could acquire once, more, of course, the Tahari ring, the fourth ring, which had been brought to Gor by a Kur faction intent upon preserving the planet from destruction…. But the faction that would have been willing to destroy one world to obtain another was, we speculated, no longer in the ascendancy on the steel worlds. Half-Ear, a war general of the Kurii, whom I had met in the north, had not been of that faction. Kurii now, it seemed reasonably clear, were again intent upon the possibilities of invasion. They sensed the weakness of Priest-Kings. Why now should they think of destroying a world which, like a ripe fruit, seemed to hang almost within their grasp (Explorers of Gor)
Ship Kurii, still, then, did not know the extent to which the power of Priest-Kings remained crippled. This was the major advantage which we now held. Kurii, cautious, like sharks, did not wish to commit their full attack until assured of its success. Had they known the weakness of the Sardar, and the time required to restore the power source, regenerating itself now at inexorable concentration rates determined by natural law, they would have surely launched their fleets. Most, we conjectured, they feared a ruse, a display of pretended weakness that would lure an attack, then to be decimated. Moreover, I knew there were factions among Kurii. Doubtless they had individuals who were bolder, and those who were more cautious. The failure of the Torvaldsland probe might have had great impact in their councils. Perhaps a new party had come to power among them. Perhaps now, a new strategy, a new plan, was afoot. (Tribesmen of Gor)
I sensed there might be different parties among them, creatures so meanacing, so fierce, so aggressive, so proud, so imperialistic, so uncompromising, factional and belligerent. After the failure of the major probe in Torvaldsland, it seemed not unlikely a given party or tribe might have fallen from power. I did not think it would be desirable, among Kurii, to be among a party which had fallen from power. It seemed clear to me then that a new force had come to power among the enemies of the Sardar, one willing, if necessary, to sacrifice one world to gain another. (Tribesmen of Gor)
The political ascendancy of the party which had been willing to destroy Gor, to secure the Earth, had, with the failure of their project, doubtless been brief. That a Kur had been sent to foil them was doubtless significant. (Tribesmen of Gor)
“We were not always simple farmers,” said the Kur. It opened its mouth, that horrid orifice, lined with its double rows of white, heavy, curved fangs. “No,” it said, “once we were hunters, and our bodies still bear, as reminders, the stains of our cruel past.” It dropped its head. “We are by these,” it said, and then it lifted its right paw, suddenly exposing the claws, “and these, reminded that we must be resolute in our attempts to overcome a sometimes recalcitrant nature.” Then it regarded the assembly. “But you must not hold our past against us. What is important is the present. What is important is not what we were, but what we are, what we are striving to become. We now wish only to be simple farmers, tilling the soil and leading lives of rustic tranquility.”
The men of Torvaldsland looked at one another.
“How many of you have gathered?” asked Svein Blue Tooth again.
“As many,” said the Kur, “as the stones on the beaches, as many as the needles on the needle trees.”
“What do you want?” he asked.
The Kur turned to the assembly. “It is our wish to traverse your country in a march southward.”
“It would be madness,” said the Forkbeard to me, “to permit large numbers of Kurii into our lands.”
“We seek empty lands to the south, to farm,” said the Kur. “we will take only as much of your land as the width of our march, and for only as long as it takes to pass.
“Your request seems reasonable,” said Svein Blue Tooth. “We shall deliberate.” (Marauders of Gor)
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