Quotes on Praetor

I passed the throne of the wharf praetor, he in his robes, with the two scribes, for the settling of disputes which might occur on the quays. Four guardsmen, too, were there.
They grinned at me as I walked past, and I smiled back at them. They were handsome guardsmen, and I was a slave girl.
But I must not annoy them, soliciting their patronage for the tavern, for they were on duty. I had been struck five times across the back of the legs, my wrists held, when I had made this mistake before. The praetor was a sour fellow.
Slave Girl of Gor Book 11 Page 339


"Where are odds made on the Kaissa matches?" I asked a small fellow, in the garb of the leather workers. He wore the colors of Tabor on his cap.
"I would ask you that," he said.
"Do you favor Scormus of Ar?" I inquired.
"Assuredly," he said.
I nodded. I decided it would be best to search for a merchant who was on the fair's staff, or find one of their booths or praetor stations, where such information might be found.
Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 46


We stood in the vicinity of the high desk of the wharf praetor.
"There seemed no reason to ring it earlier," said the man. "It was thought she would be soon picked up, by guardsmen, or the crew of the Palms of Schendi."
"She was to be shipped on that craft?" I asked.
"Yes," said the man. "I suppose now her feet must be cut off."
"Is it her first attempt to escape?" asked another man.
"I do not know," said another.
"Why is there this bother about an escaped slave," demanded a man, his clothing torn and blood at his ear. "I have been robbed! What are you doing about this?"
"Be patient," said the wharf praetor. "We know the pair. We have been searching for them for weeks." The praetor handed a sheet of paper to one of his guardsmen. People were gathered around. Another guardsman stopped ringing the alarm bar. It hung from a projection on a pole, the pole fixed upright on the roof of a nearby warehouse.
"Be on the watch for an escaped female slave," called the guardsman. "She is blond-haired and blue-eyed. She is barbarian. When last seen she was naked."
. . .
"Return the girl to the praetor's station on this pier," said the guardsman.
"What of those who robbed me!" cried the fellow with the torn clothing and the blood behind his ear.
. . .
"We shall send two guardsmen to investigate," said the praetor. "Thank you, Citizen, for this information."
"They will be gone now," said the man with the blood behind his ear.
"Perhaps not," I said.
The praetor dispatched a pair of guardsmen, who moved swiftly toward the Rim canal.
. . .
There seemed to be something going on now at the post of the wharf praetor, so I returned to that area.
"It is she!" said the fellow in the torn tunic with the blood behind his ear, pointing at the small, dark-haired girl. She stood before the high desk of the praetor, her wrists tied behind her back. Beside her, his hands, too, bound behind him, stood the fellow who had been her accomplice. They were fastened together by the neck, by a guardsman's neck strap.
. . .
"What do you have in your mouth, Girl?" asked the praetor.
One of the guardsmen opened her mouth, not gently, and retrieved the coin, a rather large one, a tarsk bit. Ten such coins make a copper tarsk. A hundred copper tarsks make a silver tarsk.
The praetor placed the coin on his desk, the surface of which was some seven feet high, below the low, solid wooden bar The height of the praetor's desk, he on the high stool behind it, permits him to see a goodly way up and down the wharves. Also, of course, one standing before the desk must look up to see the praetor, which, psychologically, tends to induce a feeling of fear for the power of the law. The wooden bar before the desk's front edge makes it impossible to see what evidence or papers the praetor has at his disposal as he considers your case. Thus, you do not know for certain how much he knows. Similarly, you cannot tell what he writes on your papers.
"Give me back my coin!" said the girl.
"Be silent," said a guardsman.
"She is the one who cooperated in the attack upon you?" asked the praetor, indicating the bound girl.
"Yes," said the man with blood behind his ear.
"No!" cried the girl. "I have never seen him before in my life!"
"I see," said the praetor. He apparently was not unfamiliar with the girl.
"Ha!" snorted the man who had accused her.
"How did you come to be helpless and tied beside the canal?" inquired the praetor.
The girl looked about, wildly. "We were set upon by brigands, robbed, and left tied," she said.
There was laughter.
"You must believe me," she said. "I am a free woman!"
"Examine the pouch of the man," said the praetor.
It was opened by a guardsman, who sifted his hands through coins.
The girl looked, startled, at the pouch. She had apparently not understood that it had contained as much as it did. Her small hands pulled futilely, angrily, at the binding fiber which restrained them.
"It seems that the fellow who robbed you," smiled the praetor, "neglected to take your pouch."
The bound man said nothing. He glared sullenly downward.
"He also left you a tarsk bit," said the praetor, to the girl.
"It was all I could save," she said, lamely.
There was more laughter.
"I was not robbed," said the bound man. "But I was unaccountably, from behind, struck down. I was then tied to this little she-urt. Her guilt is well known, I gather, on the wharves. Clearly enemies have intended to unjustly link me to her guilt."
"Turgus!" she cried.
"I have never seen her before in my life," he said.
"Turgus!" she cried. "No, Turgus!"
"Did you see me strike you?" asked the fellow who had been addressed as Turgus.
"No," said the fellow who had been struck. "No, I did not."
"It was not I," said the bound man. "Unbind me," said he then to the praetor. "Set me free, for I am innocent. It is clear I am the victim of a plot."
"He told me what to do!" she said. "He told me what to do!"
"Who are you, you little slut?" asked the bound man. "It is obvious," he said, to the praetor, "that this she-urt, whoever she is, wishes to implicate me in her guilt, that it will go easier on her."
"I assure you," smiled the praetor, "it will not go easier on her."
"My thanks, Officer," said the man.
The girl, crying out with rage, tried to kick at the man tied beside her. A guardsman struck her on the right thigh with the butt of his spear and she cried out in pain.
"If you should attempt to do that again, my dear," said the praetor, "your ankles will be tied, and you will hear the rest of the proceedings while lying on your belly before the tribunal."
"Yes, Officer," she said.
"What is your name?" asked the praetor of the girl.
"Sasi," she said.
"Lady Sasi?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, "I am free!"
There was laughter. She looked about, angrily, bound. I did not think she would need be worried much longer about her freedom.
"Usually," smiled the praetor, "a free woman wears more than binding fiber and a neck strap."
"My gown was taken, when I was tied," she said. "It was torn from me."
"Who took it," asked the praetor, "a casual male, curious to see your body?"
"A girl took it," she cried, angrily, "a blond girl. She was naked. Then she took my garment. Then I was naked! Find her, if you wish to be busy with matters of the law! I was the victim of theft! It was stolen from me, my garment! You should be hunting her, the little thief, not holding me here. I am an honest citizen!"
There was more laughter.
"May I be freed, my officer?" asked the bound man. "A mistake has been made."
The praetor turned to two guardsmen. "Go to where you found these two tied," he said. "I think our missing slave will be found in the garment of the she-urt."
Two guardsmen left immediately. I thought the praetor's conjecture was a sound one. On the other hand, obviously, the girl would not be likely to linger in the place where she had stolen the she-urt's brief, miserable rag. Still, perhaps her trail could be found in that area.
"I demand justice," said the girl.
"You will receive it, Lady Sasi," said the praetor.
She turned white.
"At least she will not have to be stripped for the iron," said a fellow near me, grinning.
The girl moaned.
The praetor then addressed himself to the fellow who had the dried blood caked behind his left ear. It was dried in his hair, too, on the left side of his head.
"Is this female, identified as the Lady Sasi, she who detained you, when you were attacked?" asked the praetor.
"It is she," he said.
"I never saw him before," she wept.
"It is she," he repeated.
"I only wanted to beg a tarsk bit," she said. "I did not know he was going to strike you."
"Why did you not warn him of the man's approach behind him?" asked the praetor.
"I didn't see the man approaching," she said, desperately.
"But you said you didn't know he was going to strike him," said the praetor. "Therefore, you must have seen him."
"Please let me go," she said.
"I was not seen to strike the man," said the fellow whom the girl had identified as Turgus. "I claim innocence. There is no evidence against me. Do what you will with the little slut. But set me free."
The girl put down her head, miserably. "Please let me go," she begged.
"I was robbed of a golden tarn," said the fellow with the blood at the side of his head.
"There is a golden tarn in the pouch," said a guardsman. "On the golden tarn taken from me," said the man,"I had scratched my initials, Ba-Ta Shu, Bem Shandar, and, on the reverse of the coin, the drum of Tabor."
The guardsman lifted the coin to the praetor. "It is so," said the praetor.
The bound man, suddenly, irrationally, struggled. He tried to throw off his bonds. The girl cried out in misery, jerked choking from her feet. Then two guardsmen held the fellow by the arms. "He is strong," said one of the guardsmen. The girl, gasping, regained her feet. Then she stood again neck-linked to him, beside him, his fellow prisoner.
"The coin was planted in my pouch," he said. "It is a plot!"
"You are an urt, Turgus," she said to him, "an urt!"
"It is you who are the she-urt!" he snarled.
"You have both been caught," said the praetor, beginning to fill out some papers. "We have been looking for you both for a long time."
"I am innocent," said the bound man.
"How do you refer to yourself?" asked the praetor. "Turgus," he said.
The praetor entered that name in the papers. He then signed the papers.
He looked down at Turgus. "How did you come to be tied?" he asked.
"Several men set upon me," he said. "I was struck from behind. I was subdued."
"It does not appear that you were struck from behind," smiled the praetor.
The face of Turgus was not a pretty sight, as I had dashed it into the stones, and had then struck the side of his head against the nearby wall.
"Is the binding fiber on their wrists from their original bonds, as you found them?" asked the praetor of one of the guardsmen.
"It is," he said.
"Examine the knots," said the praetor.
"They are capture knots," said the guardsman, smiling.
"You made a poor choice of one to detain, my friends," said the praetor.
They looked at one another, miserably. Their paths had crossed that of a warrior.
They now stood bound before the praetor.
"Turgus, of Port Kar," said the praetor, "in virtue of what we have here today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding upon you, you are sentenced to banishment. If you are found within the limits of the city after sunset this day you will be impaled."
The face of Turgus was impassive.
"Free him," he said.
Turgus was cut free, and turned about, moving through the crowd. He thrust men aside.
Suddenly he saw me. His face turned white, and he spun about, and fled.
I saw one of the black seamen, the one who had passed me on the north walkway of the Rim canal, when I had been descending toward the pier, looking at me, curiously.
The girl looked up at the praetor. The neck strap, now that Turgus was freed of it, looped gracefully up to her throat, held in the hand of a guardsman. Her small wrists were still bound behind her back.
She seemed very small and helpless before the high desk.
"Please let me go," she said. "I will be good."
"The Lady Sasi, of Port Kar," said the praetor, "in virtue of what we have here today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding upon her, must come under sentence."
"Please, my officer," she begged.
"I am now going to sentence you," he said.
"Please," she cried. "Sentence me only to a penal brothel!"
"The penal brothel is too good for you," said the praetor.
"Show me mercy," she begged.
"You will be shown no mercy," he said.
She looked up at him, with horror.
"You are sentenced to slavery," he said.
"No, no!" she screamed.
One of the guards cuffed her across the mouth, snapping her head back.
There were tears in her eyes and blood at her lip.
"Were you given permission to speak?" asked the praetor.
"No, no," she wept, stammering. "Forgive me - Master."
"Let her be taken to the nearest metal shop and branded," said the praetor. "Then let her be placed on sale outside the shop for five Ehn, to be sold to the first buyer for the cost of her branding. If she is not sold in five Ehn then take her to the public market shelves and chain her there, taking the best offer which equals or exceeds the cost of her branding."
The girl looked up at the praetor. The strap, in the hand of the guardsman, grew taut at her throat.
"This tarsk bit," said the praetor, lifting the coin which had been taken from her mouth earlier, "is now confiscated, and becomes the property of the port." This was appropriate. Slaves own nothing. It is, rather, they who are owned.
The girl, the new slave, was then dragged stumbling away from the tribunal.
. . .
The praetor was now conversing with the fellow, Bem Shandar, from Tabor. Papers were being filled in; these had to do with the claims Bem Shandar was making to recover his stolen money.
Explorers of Gor Book 13 Pages 50 - 59


"Are her thighs marked?" asked the praetor.
"No," said a guardsman. He had already made this determination.
The girl stood, her hands bound behind her, in the brief rag of the she-urt, before the tribunal of the praetor. The neck strap of a guardsman was on her throat.
"Is this your slave?" asked the praetor of Ulafi of Schendi.
"Yes," said he.
"How do I know she is a slave?" asked the praetor. "Her body, her movements, do not suggest that she is a slave. She seems too tight, too cold, too rigid, to he a slave."
"She was free, captured by Bejar, in his seizure of the Blossoms of Telnus," said Ulafi. "She is new to her condition."
"Is Bejar present?" asked the praetor.
"No," said a man. Bejar had left the port yesterday, to again try his luck upon gleaming Thassa, the sea.
"Her measurements, exactly, fit those of the slave," said a guardsman. He lifted the tape measure, marked in horts, which had been applied, but moments before, to the girl's body.
The praetor nodded. This was excellent evidence. The girl's height, ankles, wrists, throat, hips, waist and bust had been measured. She had even been thrown on a grain scale and weighed.
The praetor looked down at the girl. He pointed to her. "Kajira?" he asked. "Kajira?"
She shook her head vigorously. That much Gorean she at least understood. She denied being a slave girl.
The praetor made a small sign to one of the guardsmen.
"Leash!" said the fellow, suddenly, harshly, behind the girl, in Gorean.
She jumped, startled, and cried out, frightened, but she did not, as a reflex, lift her head, turning it to the left, nor did the muscles in her upper arms suddenly move as though thrusting her wrists behind her, to await the two snaps of the slave bracelets.
"Nadu!" snapped the guard. But the girl had not, involuntarily, begun to kneel.
"I have her slave papers here," said Ulafi, "delivered with her this morning by Vart's man."
He handed them to the praetor.
"She does not respond as a slave because she has not yet learned her slavery," said Ulafi. "She has not yet learned the collar and the whip."
The praetor examined the papers. In Ar slaves are often fingerprinted. The prints are contained in the papers.
"Does anyone know if this is Ulafi's slave?" asked the praetor.
I did not wish to speak, for I would, then, have revealed myself as having been at the sale. I preferred for this to be unknown.
The four she-urts, with which the blond-haired barbarian had fished for garbage in the canal, stood about.
"She should have been marked," said the praetor. "She should have been collared."
"I have a collar here," said Ulafi, lifting a steel slave collar. It was a shipping collar. It had five palms on it, and the sign of Schendi, the shackle and scimitar. The girl who wore it would be clearly identified as a portion of Ulafi's cargo.
"I wish to sail with the tide," said Ulafi "In less than half an Ahn it will be full."
"I am sorry," said the praetor.
"Has not Vart been sent for," asked Ulafi, "to confirm my words?"
"He has been sent for," said the praetor.
From some eighty or so yards away, from the tiny shop of a metal worker, I heard a girl scream. I knew the sound. A girl had been marked. She who had been the Lady Sasi, the little she-urt who had been the accomplice of Turgus of Port Kar, had been branded.
"I am afraid we must release this woman," said the praetor, looking down at the girl. "It is unfortunate, as she is attractive."
"Test her for slave heat," suggested a man.
"That is not appropriate," said the praetor, "if she is free."
"Make her squirm," said the man. "See if she is slave hot."
"No," said the praetor.
The praetor looked at the girl. He looked at Ulafi. "I am afraid I must order her release," he said.
"No!" said Ulafi.
"Wait," said a man. "It is Vart!"
The girl shrank back, miserably, her hands tied behind her back, the neck strap on her throat, before Vart, who had pushed through the crowd.
"Do you know this girl?" asked the praetor of Vart.
"Of course," said Vart. "She is a slave, sold last night to this captain." He indicated Ulafi of Schendi. "I got a silver tarsk for her."
The praetor nodded to a guardsman. He thrust the girl down to her knees. She was in the presence of free men. With the neck strap he pulled her head down and tied it down, fastening it to her ankles by means of the neck strap; the leather between her neck and ankles, which were flow crossed and bound, was short and taut. Her rag, the brown, torn tunic of the she-urt, stolen from she who had been Sasi, was then cut from her. She knelt bound then, and naked, in one of several Gorean submission positions.
"The slave is awarded to Ulafi of Schendi," ruled the praetor.
There were cheers from the men present, and Gorean applause, the striking of the left shoulder with the right hand.
"My thanks, Praetor," said Ulafi, receiving back the slave papers from the magistrate.
. . .
"Captain Ulafi," said the praetor.
"Yes, Praetor," said Ulafi.
"Have her marked before you leave port," he said.
"Yes, Praetor,' said Ulafi. He turned to his first officer.
Explorers of Gor Book 13 Pages 65 - 68


Ulafi pointed to the high desk of the praetor.
Explorers of Gor Book 13 Page 69


"Before the general alarm was permitted to sound in Port Kar, in the matter of apprising the wharves of the news of an escaped slave," said Ulafi, "we, naturally, conducted a search for her ourselves. We expected to pick her up without difficulty in a few minutes, you understand."
. . .
"We did not wish to annoy the praetor," said Ulafi.
Explorers of Gor Book 13 Page 84


I had not realized that Schendi was as large or busy a port as it was.
. . .
We passed the high desks of two wharf praetors.
. . .
Two men from the desk of the nearest wharf praetor, he handling wharves six through ten, a scribe and a physician, boarded the ship. The scribe carried a folder with him. He would check the papers of Ulafi, the registration of the ship, the arrangements for wharfage and the nature of the cargo. The physician would check the health of the crew and slaves.
Explorers of Gor Book 13 Pages 114 - 117


What did she do?" asked Peggy.
I then grew again bitter. "She sold a slave of mine," I said, "unknown to me, and without right."
"For a man," said Peggy, "such an offense is punishable by exile. For a woman, remanded to a praetor, the penalty is commonly that she herself will then wear the collar."
Rouge of Gor Book 15 Page 146


The merchant then looked at the thief. "I will have him taken to Port Cos," he said, "where there are praetors."
"Please, Master," said the thief, "do not deliver me to praetors!"
"Are you so fond of your hands?" asked the merchant. I noted that the thief's left ear had already been notched. That had doubtless been done elsewhere than in Victoria.
"Please, Master, have mercy on me," begged the thief.
Rouge of Gor Book 15 Page 155


These she-urts have their gangs and territories. I had little doubt but what they might set upon me and bind me, and turn me over to guardsmen, hoping for some small reward. I, being a slave, could hope for no mercy from them. They would hate and despise me. As low as they might be they were a thousand times higher than I. They were free women. Once or twice a year, particularly when there are complaints, or they are becoming nuisances, many of them will be rounded up and taken before a praetor. Their sentence is almost invariably slavery.
Kajira of Gor Book 19 Page 316


"It is a simple matter of bargaining in good faith," said Boots.
"Sleen!" she cried.
"Perhaps we could get a ruling on the matter from a praetor," suggested Boots.
"Sleen! Sleen!" she cried.
Players of Gor Book 20 Page 140


I had no intention of letting him out of my sight. Although I had no proof of the sort which might convince a praetor I was confident that it was Ephialtes of Torcadino who had stolen the letters.
Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Page 244


The dosage she had imbibed, assuming there might have been one in the drink, would doubtless have been one fit for a male. Accordingly, her own period of unconsciousness, given this possibility, might possibly last several Ahn, more than enough time to be carried to a cell in a praetor's holding area.
Mercenaries of Gor Book 21 Page 364


"I bought her properly," said my master.
"You have papers on her?" asked the man.
"No," said my master.
"You received stolen goods," said the man.
"Not to my knowledge," said my master.
"An investigation might nonetheless prove you have no legal hold on her."
"Are you a magistrate, or a praetor's agent?" inquired my master, narrowly.
"No," said the fellow.
My master relaxed, visibly.
"But I could always lodge a citizen's inquiry, and have the matter looked into," he said.
"What do you want?" asked my master.
"She is a hot slave, and is curvy, and beautiful," he said.
"So?" asked my master.
"Too, she dances well, and her ears are pierced," said the man.
"So?" inquired my master.
"What did you pay for her?" he asked.
"That is my business," said my master.
"Not much, I would suppose," said the man. "Stolen slaves seldom bring high prices, unless delivered to private dealers on contract, or to slavers, who know what to do with them, and where to sell them."
"She is mine," said my master. "I have held her in my collar for a sufficient time."
"I am prepared to accept that she is now yours," said the fellow. "For example, she seems clearly accommodated to your collar. The official recovery period is doubtless now passed."
"Then our conversation is at an end," said my master, angrily.
"Nonetheless it seems you might still count, officially, as a fellow who had received stolen goods," said the man.
"Not to my knowledge, if at all," said my master.
"Ignorance of the origin of the goods," said the man, "might indeed exonerate you from personal guilt in the matter."
My master shrugged.
"Still," said the man, "it might be of some interest to a praetor to hear you protest your innocence in the matter. He would be likely to be interested, too, in whom you bought the slave from, and such, and perhaps even where they obtained her."
Dancer of Gor Book 22 Pages 287 - 288


The "free" chain, on the other hand, consists usually, I had been told, of condemned criminals. Rather than bother with housing these fellows, many of whom are supposedly dangerous, putting them up at public expense, and so on, many cities, for a nominal fee, turn them over to a work master who accepts charge of them, theoretically for the duration of time remaining in their sentences. For example, if a fellow has been sentenced, say, to two years of hard labor by a praetor, he might be turned over, for a small fee, to the master of a work gang who will see to it, theoretically that he performs these two years of hard labor.
Dancer of Gor Book 22 Pages 304 - 305


Some may have been as innocent as those I had lured; others might have been murderers and brigands, suitably enchained for the expiation of sentences, their custody having been legally transferred to Ionicus, my master; at the payment of a prisoner's fee, by the writ of a praetor or, in more desperate cases, by the order of a quaestor.
Dancer of Gor Book 22 Page 332


"Then," said Aulus, "if you are recruiting one hundred and seventy-seven, and releasing five, from Brundisium, who may, or may not take service with you, then we are talking about less than seventy men."
"Sixty-eight, to be exact," said the fellow.
"Yes," said Aulus. "You have been very zealous in your recruiting, it seems. Can we not do a little better than that?"
"The one hundred and seventy-seven have already taken the campaign oath," he said.
"Then that is that," said Aulus. "What about the five from Brundisium."
"They are from Brundisium," he said.
"Of course," said Aulus.
"A silver tarsk apiece," skid the fellow.
"That seems high," said Aulus.
"It is an average praetor's price," he said. To be sure, some, serving shorter sentences, would presumably go for less, and some, more dangerous fellows, perhaps, serving longer sentences, might go for more. "Too," he said, "I expect you pay that much, or more, for the fellows you get from illicit suppliers."
Dancer of Gor Book 22 Page 356


Would she not now cringe before them, and be unable to meet their eyes, like a runaway slave, thence to be seized by them and remanded to a praetor?
. . .
Would they not simply take off her clothes and punish her, and then hand her over to a praetor, for her proper disposition?
Dancer of Gor Book 22 Pages 366 - 367


And who was making such inquiries? I thought that perhaps it might have been a praetor's agent, or agents, or perhaps fellows suspected of being such agents, that might have been making such inquiries in Argentum.
Dancer of Gor Book 22 Page 368


"But we were speaking of the former Lady Publia," I said. "She now knows herself a slave, having said the words. Too, she knows that she, a slave, can be freed only by a master. What will she make of these things? That, I take it, is your question?"
"Doubtless she would pretend she had never said the words," she said.
"That she would, in one way or another, attempt to conceal her true condition?"
"Yes," she said.
"Perhaps," I said. "But, of course, she would still, in her heart, know the truth, that she was a slave."
"Yes," she said.
"And that only a master could free her?"
"Yes," she said.
"Surely it might be difficult to live with such a hidden truth," I said. Perhaps it, irrepressible, insistent within her, might finally require some resolution. She must then take action. She might turn herself over to a praetor, hoping for mercy, as she had surrendered herself.
Renegades of Gor Book 23 Pages 274 - 275


In a moment or two, I stopped a few yards from a registration desk. There one of Ina's pursuers, I recognized him from earlier, was making inquiries of one of the five camp prefects, fellows under the camp praetor. The perfects are identified by five slash marks, alternately blue and yellow, the slavers' colors, on their left sleeve, the praetor himself by nine such stripes, and lesser officials by three. Turning about, apparently alerted by the prefect's notice, the fellow with one hand suddenly turned the prefect's desk to its side so that it stood walllike between us, and hurried behind it.
"Be gone!" he cried. "It is no longer a concern of yours! Be gone!"
I advanced on him and he turned and fled.
The prefect, not much pleased, looked after him. Then he turned to face me. "No," he said, "I know nothing about a runaway blond slave."
Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Pages 453 - 454


"Your ransom has been paid," I said. "The agreed-upon amounts have been lodged with the business council, the entire matter attested to by the commercial praetor. I saw the orders, and the seals."
Witness of Gor Book 26 Page 503


"Bring her forward," he said. He was, as I understood it, an officer in the business court, that under the jurisdiction of the commercial praetor, subject, ultimately, to the high council.
Witness of Gor Book 26 Page 507


To the left of the praetor's officer, to our right, as we faced him, below him, on the floor level, on a bench, behind a table, was a court's clerk.
"You are the Lady Constanzia, of the city of Besnit?" inquired the praetor's officer.
"I am," she said.
"You have been the object of ransom capture," said the praetor's officer.
"Yes your honor," she said.
He then addressed himself to the court's clerk. "There is no difficulty as to the matter of her identity?" he asked.
"No, your honor," said the clerk. "Her fingerprints tally with those taken shortly after her delivery to Treve by the abductors."
"Have the agents of the redemptor accepted her as the Lady Constanzia?" inquired the praetor's officer.
"They have, your honor," said the clerk.
"In virtue of interrogations and such?"
"Yes, your honor."
"There is the matter of the slipper."
"It is here," said the clerk. He produced a tiny, jeweled, muchly embroidered slipper. It might have cost more than many slaves.
The praetor's officer nodded to the clerk and carried the slipper to the Lady Constanzia, who took it in her hands, and looked upon it.
"Do you recognize it?" asked the praetor's officer.
"Yes, your honor," she said. "It is mine."
"It matches with that brought by the agent of the redemptor?" asked the praetor's officer.
"Yes, your honor," said the clerk. He then took it back from the Lady Constanzia and returned to his desk.
"The court of the commercial praetor of the high city of Treve," said the praetor's officer," accepts the prisoner as the Lady Constanzia of Besnit."
The clerk made a notation on his records.
"You are now within the custody of the court of the commercial praetor of Treve," said the officer.
"I understand, your honor," she said.
"There is also the matter of the necklace," said the praetor's officer.
The clerk then produced, holding it out, a large, impressive necklace, with many strands, containing many stones. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
"Do you recognize the necklace?" asked the praetor's officer.
"It seems to be that which I selected in the shop of the jeweler in Besnit, before my abduction," she said.
"It is," he said.
"Yes, your honor," she said.
"And was it not to obtain such a thing that you went to the jeweler's shop?"
"It was, your honor," she said.
"Were you not careless of your safety?" he asked.
"Yes, your honor," she said.
"It was not wise, was it?" he asked.
"No, your honor."
"And then you were captured?"
"Yes, your honor."
"Why did you enter the shop?" he asked.
"To obtain such a thing, or things," she said. "I wanted such things."
"But you were rich."
"I wanted more," she said.
"Such greed," he said, "is unbecoming in a free woman."
"Yes, your honor."
"It would be more appropriate," he said, "in a slave girl."
"Yes, your honor," she said.
"Destroy the necklace," said the praetor's officer to the clerk.
"Your honor!" cried the Lady Constanzia.
"It is paste," said the praetor's officer.
We watched as the clerk struck a fire-maker, one used to melt wax for seals, and set the flame to the necklace. The flames sped from paste stone to paste stone, and the whole was then dropped to the side, flickering and smoldering.
"Such things are seldom used in ransom captures," said the praetor's officer. "They are usually used in luring of free women by slavers."
We watched smoke curl upward from the necklace.
"It was kept on me until I came to this city, which I now learn, by your words, is Treve," she said. "I thought it a joke, that I should be made to wear it, that all might see me in it, and realize how it had been used in my abduction, and that I wore it, such a rich thing, but, captive, could not profit from it."
"The joke," said the praetor's officer, "was richer then you understood."
"Yes, your honor," she whispered.
"Do you know the identity of your redemptor?" asked the praetor's officer.
"Yes, your honor," she said. "They are my brothers."
"Do you recall," he asked, "when you were first in your house, and mistress of your enterprises, a certain matter of business, from more than three years ago, conducted with the house of William, in Harfax?"
"Your honor?" she asked.
"There was the cashing of letters of credit in Besnit, from the house of William, in Harfax, letters the House of William had drawn on the street of coins in Brundisium, to be used in the purchase of ingots in Esalinus, these to be melted down in Besnit and there, in Besnit, to be formed into the wares for which she is famous, thence to be sent to the house of William, for resale though the house of William to the shops of Harfax and elsewhere, even as far away as the Market of Semris, Corcyrus, Argentum, Torcadino, and Ar."
The Lady Constanzia put down her head.
"The gold was fairly purchased at competitive prices," said the praetor's officer. "And the wares were made under the supervision of your house, and according to your specifications. But the wares were mismarked. Their gold content was not that agreed upon. The wares were muchly debased from the original agreements. Your house made an excellent profit on the matter, retaining the extra gold for your own coffers. Testimony from a metal worker, one traveling from Besnit to Brundisium, one who had been engaged in the manufacture of the wares in Besnit, seeing such articles in Harfax, and noting them marked as they were, in a way he knew false, alerted the house of William. They had not hitherto conducted tests, as the reputation of your house, prior to your accession as mistress of its enterprises, had been faultless. The wares were recalled and remarked. Much did the reputation of the house of William suffer. In time the street of coins in Brundisium demand repayment of its loans. The house of William was in jeopardy. Only two years later did it manage to recoup its losses, and to rebuild its fortunes. You may suspect that much bad blood then existed between your house and that of William, in Harfax."
"Yes, your honor," she said.
"Do you know now," asked the praetor's officer, "who your redemptor is?"
"Surely," she said. "My brothers."
"No," he said.
"I do not understand," she said, puzzled.
"It was naturally intended that your brothers, your won house, should be your redemptor," said the praetor's officer. "Naturally it was with such a redemption in mind that you were abducted for ransom."
"They are not the redemptor?" she asked.
"Surely you were aware of delays in the matter of your ransom," said the praetor's officer.
"Yes, your honor," she said.
"Your brothers refused to pay," said the praetor's officer. "Indeed, from their point of view, why should they? They were now first in their house, and master of its fortunes. If you were to return they would be reduced, again, to second."
Lady Constanzia looked up at him.
"Their sense of honor seems to be equivalent to your own," he said. "They would seem to be the fit brothers of such a sister, and you the fit sister of such brothers."
"Why, then," she asked, "is my redemptor?"
"Kneel," said he, "prisoner."
The Lady Constanzia knelt in the center of the scarlet circle.
"Your redemptor," said he, "is the house of William, in Harfax."
She looked up at him, started.
"An oath, it seems, was sworn," said the praetor's officer. "This oath was sworn upon the honor of the house of William, in Harfax. It was in this oath sworn that you were to be brought to the house of William as a slave, and put naked and in chains at the feet of the master of the house. Your disposition will be in accord with the provisions of this oath."
She trembled, kneeling on the scarlet circle.
"Do you not wish to leap up, and try to escape?" asked the praetor's officer. "Do you not wish to protest, to cry out, to beg for mercy? Do you not wish to bemoan your fate, to tear your clothing?"
"No, your honor," she said.
"What have you to say?" he asked, puzzled.
"I will attempt to serve my master to the best of my abilities," she said.
"I can guarantee it," said the praetor's officer. Then he lifted certain papers on his desk. "It is to be done in this fashion," he said to the clerk. "She is to be stripped and branded, and put in a holding collar. She is also to be gagged, for her words, her please, her remonstrations or such, will be of no avail, nor will they be of interest to those of the house of William, in Harfax. Let them not then be disturbed by them. She is then to be placed in an outer robe of concealment, the outer robe only, but also hooded and veiled. Then, hands bound behind her, on a rope, at the tenth Ahn, she is to be brought to this place. Here she will be delivered into the hands not of an agent of the house of William but into the hands of one of that house itself, the youngest and least of that house, who has come to Treve for this purpose, to acquire her, to whom she is to be given as a slave."
Witness of Gor Book 26 Pages 508 - 512


I knelt to one side and back, in the shadows, inconspicuously by the wall, in the circular chamber of the court of the commercial praetor. Shafts of sunlight, like golden spears, fell through the high, narrow windows, illuminating the scarlet circle before the high desk.
I heard two of the time bars, far off, across the city, beginning to sound.
The pit master, two guards, and I, I heeling the second guard, had returned to the court but a few moments ago. The guards waited within the chamber, near the entrance.
The high desk stood untenanted before the scarlet circle. There was no need, now, for the presence of the praetor's officer. What business was now to be done could be handled by the clerk, and diverse minions, of the court.
. . .
The tenth sounding of the bar still lingered over the city when a side door in the chamber opened and the court's clerk, with a folder and papers, entered. He spread those upon the table, that which was, as we were situated, to the right of the currently unoccupied desk of the praetor's officer. He had the fellow who had
entered but shortly before conferred briefly over these papers. There wee, it seemed, two sets of such papers. They were, it seemed, in order. I did not doubt but what one set was papers of the court, stamped with the sign of the court, and certified with the signature of a praetor's officer, if not the praetor himself. On copies of these papers the fellow who had but recently entered scribbled his signature. He put one copy within his robes. The other set of papers, which had been examined, and in places compared with the first set, was different. It was left open now on the table. In its original form it had been folded and narrow, and tied with a ribbon. The ribbon was blue and yellow.
Witness of Gor Book 26 Pages 513 - 514


My knees were slightly spread, enough to show that I was a pleasure slave, but were closely enough placed to accord with the decorum of the praetor's court.
Witness of Gor Book 26 Page 516


"Her disposition will be decided by higher authority," said the officer. "I may ask for her myself. I think she will be lovely, curled in the furs at my feet."
"We shall see about that," said Tersius Major.
"It is not impossible that a praetor may speak for her, even a stratigos or a polemarkos."
Prize of Gor Book 27 Page 608

"Does the proscription list not mean death?" she asked.
"Strictly," I said, "it means apprehension, but it is true, that it is commonly a warrant for death, certainly for males, and often for women, free women."
"They wanted our blood," she said.
"At the time, in the rage of the crowd, I do not doubt it," I said. "But, now, you might rather be brought before a praetor, for the iron and the collar."
Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 269

Possession, particularly after a lengthy interval, is often regarded as decisive, by praetors, archons, magistrates, scribes of the law, and such. What is of most importance to the law is not so much that a particular individual owns a slave as that she is owned by someone, that she is absolutely and perfectly owned.
Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 452

In a couple of places on a platform, there was a harbor praetor, now indoors, in the warehouse, on his curule chair, as opposed to on the docks themselves, their usual station, who might clarify the Merchant Law, interpret it, adjudicate disputes, and make rulings.
Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 503

"It is the twentieth Ahn," I said.
"I think we must leave," she said.
That was very clear, as goods were being covered, lamps were being extinguished, the praetors had left their platforms, and attendants were marshalling folks out.
Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 549

Apparently he had realized she would be sold in this market on this day. I supposed that was not common knowledge. It seemed probable to me that this matter had been arranged, perhaps even with the collusion of a praetor, if not the Ubar himself.
Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 134

Praetors preside in the markets, dispensing justice,
Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 166

Normally, when there is doubt as to the status or condition of a woman she is given to free women, who may then, with respect to her modesty should she be free, examine her body, for a possible collar, or brand. This one, however, was simply disrobed, bound hand and foot, and put in a wagon, for delivery to a market praetor, who would see to her return to her master, or, that failing, to her lashing, fugitive branding, and resale.
Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 183

"Why do they think the sewers?" I asked.
"Where else?" she said. "Too, some thieves, some well known, in broad daylight, even within view of the praetor's platform, pushing aside a grating, rushed from a sewer, to be shortly apprehended by rings of spear-bearing guardsmen. Shortly were the thieves manacled and neck-chained."
Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 254

There were two market praetors in the market of Cestias. One was near the coin stalls, and Sul Market, the other, rather across the plaza, not far from the Paga and Ka-la-na Markets.
The coin stalls were, in effect, exchanges, as, in a market of the size of that of Cestias, in a city such as Ar, buyers and sellers from diverse cities might mingle and carry diverse currencies. As would be expected, the most common denominations in the market were those of Ar, her tarn disks, and her tarsks, of copper, and silver and gold. But coins of many cities circulated. Occasionally one encountered a disk from far-off Turia. Some prized coins were the silver tarns of Jad and, on the continent, the golden staters of Brundisium. Many of the transactions were conducted by means of scales. One often encounters, for example, clipped or shaved coins. The professional in shaving keeps the roundness of the subject coin as perfect as possible. Sometimes it is hard to tell, by eye, that a coin has been shaved. Clipped coins are easy to identify but then, of course, one must bring forth the scales, and, not unoften, as well, rough silver or gold, unminted, is presented, perhaps melted droplets, or pieces cut from silver or golden vessels and goblets, which items will also require judicious determinations. Negotiations and bargainings, over the scales, often grow heated. The advantage of courses, lies with the stallsman. Complaints may be lodged with either of the two praetors, who, interestingly, though magistrates of Ar, apparently strive to adjudicate matters to the best of their lights. Their efforts not only redound to the honor of Ar, but, too, one supposes, tend to preserve the value and integrity of the market, which, in the long view, is doubtless in the best interest of the city's commerce. To be sure, major transactions often take place near the walls, and outside them, in the wholesale markets.
Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Pages 273 - 274

I saw, some fifty or so paces to my left, the platform of one of the two market praetors. It bore a single curule chair. The platform is reached by a set of wooden steps. Sometimes an awning is stretched over the platform.
Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 283

I then became afraid, even though it was the middle of the night, that I might be apprehended in the market, in the morning, when guardsmen, at the praetor's signal, opened the market to the stallsmen, merchants, and dealers.
Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 286

Shortly after dawn the lantern on its pole at the edge of the market of Cestias would be extinguished, and, a bit later, the market pennon would be hoisted to the height of the pole above the lantern arm, after which, at the praetor's signal, guardsmen would open the market.
Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 295

Aside from raids, warfare, and such, the exchange of kajirae normally takes place in a civilized manner, with negotiation, and buying and selling, and such. But, occasionally, I knew exchanges took place by means of the negotiation of blades, particularly on the open road or in the fields, outside walls, beyond the jurisdiction of archons and praetors.
Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 469

http://www.thegoreancave.com/civil/praetor.php

Administration of the Laws of Gor

Goreans don’t really have a concept of nation or country as those on Earth do. Whereas men on Earth think of Cities as belonging to country, the crucial political entity on Gor is the City or Village itself. To the Gorean way of thinking all things converge on the City, or the center of the Hub. On Earth it is more outward look towards the imaginary boundaries of their countries.

"There is no Gorean expression for `country' in the precise sense of a nation. Men of Earth think of cities as being within countries. Men of Gor tend to think of cities and the lands controlled by them. The crucial political entity for Goreans tends to be the city or village, the place where people and power are. There can be, of course, leagues among cities and tangential territories. Men of Earth tend to think of territory in a manner that might be considered circumferential, whereas Goreans tend to think of it as a more radial sort of thing. Consider a circle with a point at its center. The man of Earth might conceive of the territory as bounded by the circumference; the man of Gor would be more likely to think of the territory as a function of the sweep of the radius which emanates from the central point. Geometrically, of course, these two conceptions are equivalent. Psychologically, however, they are not. The man of Earth looks to the periphery; the man of Gor looks to the center. The man of Earth thinks of territory as static, regardless of the waxing and wanings of the power that maintains it; the Gorean tends to think of territory as more dynamic, a realistic consequence of the geopolitical realities of power centers. Perhaps it would be better to say that the Gorean tends to think more in teens of sphere of influence than he does in terms of imaginary lines on maps which may not reflect current historical realities." Fighting Slave of Gor

Generally speaking, Gorean civil law is made by whatever ruling body holds power at one given time and applied mainly in primitive fashion, by various magistrates. Laws are generally particular to the City/area in which the Gorean resides. Laws in Port Kar, for instance can be very different from laws in Ko-ro-ba. A concept on Gor known as the “City State”.

'The city-state,' said my father, speaking to me late one afternoon, 'is the basic political division on Gor - hostile cities controlling what territory they can in their environs, surrounded by a no-man's land of open ground on every side.' 'How is leadership decided in these cities?' I asked. 'Rulers,' he said, 'are chosen from any High Caste.' " Tarnman of Gor

There does not seem very much room for doubt in this system as essentially, those trials the reader finds in the books are mostly a matter of sentencing since the accused has most often been caught in the act. There will, however, be mention of the law which was broken as well as what is known for that city/area to be the common penalty for this type of offense.

An advantage of this system is that wars tend to be very local. Only a few cities and their associated villages tend to be involved rather than the concept of World Wars that plagued Earth in the 20th century. Gorean warfare also tends to be conducted by trained men of their Castes (Warriors) rather than the arming of millions of “citizens” with slaughter of hundreds or thousands of people is not a concept Goreans are familiar with.

"One result of this attitude is that most wars, most armed altercations, tend to be very local. They tend to involve, usually, only a few cities and their associated villages and territories, rather than gigantic political entities such as nations. One result of this is that the number of people affected by warfare on Gor usually tends, statistically, to be quite limited. Also, it might be noted that most Gorean warfare is carried out largely by relatively small groups of professional soldiers, seldom more than a few thousand in the field at a given time, trained men, who have their own caste. Total warfare, with its arming of millions of men, and its broadcast slaughter of hundreds of populations, is Gorean neither in concept nor in practice. Goreans, often castigated for their cruelty, would find such monstrosities unthinkable." Fighting Slave of Gor

Of course, within the Gorean reality, the slave is not a citizen and hence not entitled to trial or defense per se. A great number of laws do pertain to what slaves may or may not do and failure to abide by the rules can be cause for punishment at the discretion of the free persons involved; these things do not require legal proceedings. It is also of note that a slave who participates in criminal activity by obeying the command of their master or another free person is almost invariably found to have done no wrong. Indeed, since the slave is to obey without question, she would be considered to have done the right thing no matter what the command is.

If the events found along Tarl Cabot's journey are a reflection of what is most common, one would have to conclude that criminals end up in collars and chains, be it the collar of a work chain or a pleasure garden. Men will more often be executed by whatever means is popular in the area or sent to work chains temporarily for more minor crimes, whereas women are more likely to be enslaved, especially if they are beautiful.

So how were Cities run, who ran them and therefore who would carry out the laws of those cities? John Norman seems to take many of his titles from Ancient Cultures, particularly Roman and Greek, of Earth. City rules, mostly magistrates of one type or another included: (Also see Rulers)

Aediles

An Aedile is usually part of a board of Magistrates that most often in charge of public buildings, streets, games and markets

"Two days ago, aediles had come to the camp to inspect the chains. They found none which contained illicit prisoners. No mention was made of the fact that a third of the chains was absent. The next day the auspices had been taken, and, seemingly, all had gone well. The chains in camp were already back at work. Preceding the time of taking the auspices, of course, and until they have been taken, things are very quiet." Dancer of Gor

Archon of Records

A Magistrate and an authoritative figure, the Archon of Records would be the keeper of records for the City

One of the two magistrates, he who was senior, Tolnar, of the second Octavii, an important gens but one independent of the well-known Octavii, sometimes spoken of simply as the Octavii, or sometimes as the first Octavii, deputy commissioner in the records office, much of which had been destroyed in a recent fire, was at the other portal. His colleague, Venlisius, a bright young man who was now, by adoption, a scion of the Toratti, was with him. Venlisius was in the same office. He was records officer, or archon of records, for the Metellan district, in which we were located. Both magistrates wore their robes, and fillets, of office." Magicians of Gor

City Council:

Most Gorean Cities have a City Council elected by members of the High Castes made up from members of the High Castes only. While City Council’s may be only comprised of High Castes, the Caste of Merchants supported by its often vast wealth have their influence as well.

The High Castes in a given city elect an administrator and council for stated terms …Tarnsman of Gor

"Whereas it is only the men of high caste who elect members to the Council of the City, the gold of merchants and the will of the general populace is seldom disregarded in their choices." Assassin of Gor

"In many cities only members of the high castes may belong to the city's high council. Most Gorean cites are governed by an executive, the Administrator, in conjunction with the high council." Slave Girl of Gor

"The Chamber of the Council is the room in which the elected representatives of the High Castes of Ko-ro-ba hold their meetings. Each city has such a chamber. It was in the widest of cylinders, and the ceiling was at least six times the height of the normal living level. The ceiling was lit as if by stars, and the walls were of five colors, applied laterally, beginning from the bottom - white, blue, yellow, green, and red, caste colors. Benches of stone, on which the members of the Council sat, rose in five monumental tiers about the walls, one tier for each of the High Castes. These tiers shared the color of that portion of the wall behind them, the caste colors. The tier nearest the floor, which denoted some preferential status, the white tier, was occupied by Initiates, Interpreters of the Will of Priest-Kings. In order, representatives of the Scribes, Builders, Physicians, and Warriors occupied the ascending tiers, blue, yellow, green, and red." Tarnman of Gor

Village Council

Villages are usually associated with a nearby City. Most often villages are populated by peasants and have their own Councils. Cities protect their villages as products and foods are produced their on which the Cities depend.

"There were the northern islands, of course, and they were numerous, but small, extending in an archipelago like a scimitar northeastward from Cos, which lay some four hundred pasangs west of Port Kar. But these islands were not united, and, indeed, the government of them was usually no more than a village council. They usually possessed no vessels more noteworthy than clinker-built skiffs and coasters." Raiders of Gor

City Administrator

From the elected City Council, an executive, the Administrator rules the City in conjunction with the High Council. While Council is made up of the High Castes, it is interesting to note that while the Warrior Caste may be considered to be the lowest of the High Castes, most often the Administrators and Ubars for a City are selected for this task.

"In the center of the amphitheater was a throne of office, and on this throne, in his robe of state - a plain brown garment, the humblest cloth in the hall - sat my father, Administrator of Ko-ro-ba, once Ubar, War Chieftain of the city. At his feet lay a helmet, shield, spear, and sword." "Tarnsman of Gor

"In many cities only members of the high castes may belong to the city's high council. Most Gorean cites are governed by an executive, the Administrator, in conjunction with the high council." Slave Girl of Gor

"The high castes are normally accounted five in number--the Warriors, the Builders, the Physicians, the Scribes, and the Initiates. The Initiates are sometimes thought of as the highest of the five high castes, and the Warriors as the least of the five high castes. In actual fact, the Warriors commonly produce the administrators and ubars for a city. It is not easy in a world such as this to deprive those who are skilled with weapons their share of authority. If it is not given to them, they will take it." Witness of Gor

Judges

Judges, as on Earth would be the ones to prescribe punishment. These are magistrates as well. On Gor, most often when a person is in a “trial” they have been caught “in the act” so the job of the judge is made easier than perhaps those of Earth.

"I saw first the girl, stumbling. She was already stripped. Her hands were tied behind her back. Something, pushing her from behind, had been fastened on her neck. Behind her came a flat-topped wagon, of some four feet in height. It was moved by eight tunicked, collared slave girls, two to each wheel, pushing at the wheels. It was guided by a man walking behind it, by means of a lever extending back, under the wagon, from the front axle. Flanking the wagon, on both sides, were the musicians, with their drums and flutes. Behind the wagon, in the white robes trimmed with gold and purple of merchant magistrates, came five men. I recognized them as judges." Hunters of Gor

Magistrates

Magistrates are the rulers in a typical City on Gor occupy most of the administrative positions. They are the Aediles, Archons, Judges, even Executioners.

"Both magistrates wore their robes, and fillets, of office. They also carried their wands of office, which, I suspect, from the look of them, and despite the weapons laws ofCos, contained concealed blades. I was pleased to hope that these fellows were such as to put the laws of Ar before the ordinances of Cos." Magicians of Gor

"Lying on the ground, bound hand and foot, still clad in the white robe, was Talena. The point of the sharpened impaling post lay near her. As the tarn had landed, her executioners, two burly, hooded magistrates, had scrambled to their feet and fled to safety. The Initiates themselves do not execute their victims, as the shedding of blood is forbidden by those beliefs they regard as sacred." Tarnsman of Gor

"One of the two magistrates, he who was senior, Tolnar, of the second Octavii, an important gens but one independent of the well-known Octavii, sometimes spoken of simply as the Octavii, or sometimes as the first Octavii, deputy commissioner in the records office, much of which had been destroyed in a recent fire, was at the other portal. His colleague, Venlisius, a bright young man who was now, by adoption, a scion of the Toratti, was with him. Venlisius was in the same office. He was records officer, or archon of records, for the Metellan district, in which we were located. Both magistrates wore their robes, and fillets, of office." Magicians of Gor

Merchants Administration

Although most ports and islands on Gor and ruled in a similar fashion to Cities, the Exchange islands are administered by the Caste of Merchants. Port Kar, is different again and is run by a board of four magistrates, known as the Port Consortium and they report directly to the Council of Captains.

"Also known as exchange islands, they are administered as Free Ports by the Merchants. Included are Teletus, Tabor, and Scagnar. Others were Farnacium, Hulneth and Asperiche. In the south are Anango and Landa, and in the far north, Hunger and Skjern, west of Torvaldsland. These islands, and free ports on the coast such as Lydius and Helmutsport, Schendi and Bazi make possible the commerce between Cos and Tyros and cities of the mainland." Raiders of Gor

"Most ports and islands on Thassa, of course, are not managed by the Merchants, but, commonly, by magistrates appointed by the city councils. In Port Kar, my city, the utilization of the facilities of the port is regulated by a board of four magistrates, the Port Consortium, which reports directly to the Council of Captains, which, since the downfall of the warring Ubars, is sovereign in the city." Hunters of Gor

Polemarkos

A Military Govenor put into place when one City has conquered another and in effect rules on behalf of the Ruler of the Conquering City. Temos had a Polemarkos in Prize of Gor when it was ruled by Cos. Myron ruled on behalf of Lurius of Jad, Ubar of Cos.

There is some pretense that the city is free, but in fact it is not. The true ruler is, I suppose, the military governor, Myron, polemarkos of Temos, commander of the occupational forces, or perhaps actually distant Lurius of Jad, Ubar of Cos. Prize of Gor

Praetors

The Praetor is a magistrate who is in charge of Prefects. He is indentified with nine strips on His sleeve, Prefects have five and lesser officials have three. Praetors, traditionally will be second on the City Council Hierarchy to the Administrator.

"In a moment or two, I stopped a few yards from a registration desk. There one of Ina's pursuers, I recognized him from earlier, was making inquiries of one of the five camp prefects, fellows under the camp praetor. The perfects are identified by five slash marks, alternately blue and yellow, the slavers' colors, on their left sleeve, the praetor himself by nine such stripes, and lesser officials by three. Turning about, apparently alerted by the prefect's notice, the fellow with one hand suddenly turned the prefect's desk to its side so that it stood wall-like between us, and hurried behind it." Vagabonds of Gor

Prefects

Prefects, as most City officials, are Magistrates. The would be in charge of very specific areas of the City, for example Public Games and would report to Praetors. Prefects tend to have five slashes or stripes on Their robes where Praetors will have nine. Lessor officials often have only three.

"I looked about, through the curtain, at the guests of the Lady Florence, other than the Lady Melpomene. The fellow from Venna, clad In white and gold, was Philebus, a bounty creditor. He was known to the merchants of several cities. Such men buy bills at discount and then set themselves to collect, as they can, their face value. They are tenacious in their trade. I did not know the business of the two men from Ar. They were Tenalion, and his man, Ronald. The fourth man was Brandon. He was from Vonda. He was a prefect in that city. His certifications on certain documents would be important. The two ladies, both of Vonda, were Leta and Perimene, both friends of the Ladies Florence and Melpomene. As free citizens of Vonda they could witness legal transactions." Fighting Slave of Gor

Quaestor

Quaestors are high ranking magistrates on Gor. Most often they are in charge of financial matters, banking for instance or other areas of Administration. The would rank higher than the Praetors.

"Some may have been as innocent as those I had lured; others might have been murderers and brigands, suitably enchained for the expiation of sentences, their custody having been legally transferred to Ionicus, my master, at the payment of a prisoner's fee, by the writ of a praetor or, in more desperate cases, by the order of a quaestor." Dancer of Gor

Tatrix

A Tatrix is a female ruler and as such is a rarity on Gor. Tharna being the City most famous for having a Tatrix.

“What is a Tatrix?” I asked. “A female ruler,” she said." Kajira of Gor

"In a Gorean city it was not difficult for a woman to travel in-cognito. By the robes of concealment this is made easy. I wore the robes of a woman of high, caste, today the yellow of the Builders. Drusus Rencius wore a nondescript tunic and a swirling maroon cape. The only weaponry he carried, that I could detect, was his sword. He might have been any mercenary or armed servant, in attendance on a lady. I was pleased to travel incognito in the city, in this fashion. Other- wise, had I gone abroad in the robes of the Tatrix, we would have been encumbered by guards and crowds; we would have had to travel in a palanquin; we would have been forced to tolerate the annunciatory drums and trumpets, and put up with all the noisy, ostentatious, dreary panoply of office. To be sure I sometimes found such accouterments stimulating and gratifying but I certainly did not want them every time I wished to put my foot outside the palace gate." Kajira of Gor

"The balance of mutual regard is always delicate and, statistically, it is improbable that it can long be maintained throughout an entire population. Accordingly, gradually exploiting, perhaps unconsciously, the opportunities afforded by the training of children and the affections of their men, the women of Tharna improved their position considerably over the generations, also adding to their social power the economic largesse of various funds and inheritances. Eventually, largely via the conditioning of the young and the control of education, those superiorities which the female naturally possesses came to be enlarged on at the expense of those possessed by the male. And just as in our own world it is possible to condition entire populations to believe what is, from the standpoint of another population, incomprehensible and absurd, so in Tharna both the men and the women came eventually to believe the myths or the distortions advantageous to female dominance. Thus it was, gradually and unnoticed, that the gynocracy of Tharna came to be established, and honored with the full weight of tradition and custom, those invisible bonds heavier than chains because they are not understood to exist." Outlaw of Gor

"In a city such as Tharna the men, taught to regard themselves as beasts, as inferior beings, seldom develop the full respect for themselves essential to true manhood. But even more strangely, the women of Tharna do not seem content under the gynocracy. Although they despise men and congratulate themselves on their more lofty status it seems to me that they, too, fail to respect themselves. Hating their men, they hate themselves." Outlaw of Gor

Ubar

In times of crisis, the City Council elects as War Chief, known as an Ubar. He rules without check and by His decree alone until, in His judgment, the crisis has passed.

"The High Castes in a given city elect an administrator and council for stated terms. In times of crisis, a war chief, or Ubar, is named, who rules without check and by decree until, in his judgment, the crisis is passed. "Normally the office is surrendered after the passing of the crisis. It is part of the Warrior’s Code." ...................Those who do not desire to surrender their power, are usually deserted by their men. The offending war chief is simply abandoned." Tarnsman of Gor

"To truly see a Ubar," I said, "to look into his heart can be a fearful thing." "Only one can sit upon the throne," said Msaliti. "That is a saying of the north," I said. "I know," said Msaliti. "But it is a saying that is also known east of Schendi." "Even east of Schendi," I smiled, "the throne is a lonely country." "He who sits upon the throne, it is said," said Msaliti, "is the most alone of men." I nodded. Perhaps it was just as well not to have looked too deeply into the eyes of Bila Huruma. It is not always desirable to look deeply into the eyes of a Ubar." Explorers of Gor

"I then, truly, for the first time looked into the eyes of Bila Huruma. He sat upon the high platform, above the others, solitary and isolated, the necklace of panther teeth about his neck, the lamps below him. I sensed, then, for a moment, what it must be to be a Ubar. It was then, in that instant, that I first truly saw him, as he was, and as he must be. I looked then on loneliness and decision, and power. The Ubar must contain within himself dark strengths. He must be capable of doing, as many men are not, what is necessary. Only one can sit upon the throne, as it is said. And, as it is said, he who sits upon the throne is the most alone of men. It is he who must be a stranger to all men, and to whom all men must be strangers. The throne indeed is a lonely country. Many men desire to live there but few, I think, could bear its burdens. Let us continue to think of our Ubars as men much like ourselves, only perhaps a bit wiser, or stronger, or more fortunate. That way we may continue to be comfortable with them, and, to some extent, feel ourselves their superior. But let us not look into their eyes too closely, for we might see there that which sets them apart from us. It is not always desirable to look deeply into the eyes of a Ubar." Explorers of Gor

Assignment 9: The specialty areas of a scribe

Go to the scrolls and find the specialty areas of what a scribe does- these would be things like

Legalist,

Accountant

Record Keepers

Teachers

Magestrates and Praetors

Historians

Geographers and Cartographers

and so forth.

Describe what each does as a function of society, and how they can and should overlap. Think about what common skills are needed to perfrom any role in the list.

Examine each from an external perspective and an internal one, where you describe the role from an objective view, but then look at each one with your heart, much as a slave does with her feelings of submission, and explain what about each area

Helpful Links: http://goreanreference.50megs.com/castes/castescribe.html

 

 

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Assignment:

Speciality Areas of a Scribe

Legalist

Scribes of Law - See also Magistrates & Praetors

Preparing important Companionship Contracts
The Lady Sabina, I learned from Eta, was pledged by her father, Kleomenes, a pretentious, but powerful, upstart merchant of Fortress of Saphronicus, to Thandar of Ti, of the Warriors, youngest of the five sons of Ebullius Gaius Cassius, of the Warriors, Administrator of Ti, this done in a Companion Contract, arranged by both Ebullius Gaius Cassius and Kleomenes, to which had now been set the seals of both Ti and Fortress of Saphronicus. The pledged companions, the Lady Sabina of Fortress of Saphronicus and Thandar of Ti, of the Four Cities of Saleria, of the Salerian Confederation, had, as yet, according to Eta, never laid eyes on one another, the matter of their match having been arranged between their respective fathers, as is not uncommon in Gorean custom. The match had been initiated at the behest of Kleomenes, who was interested in negotiating a commercial and political alliance with the Salerian Confederation. These alliances, of interest to the expanding Salerian Confederation, were not unwelcome. Such alliances, naturally, might presage the entrance of Fortress of Saphronicus into the Confederation, which was becoming a growing power in the north. It seemed not unlikely that the match would ultimately prove profitable and politically expedient for both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Salerian Confederation. In the match, there was much to gain by both parties. The Companion Contract, thus, had been duly negotiated, with the attention of scribes of the law from both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Confederation of Saleria.
Slave Girl

Certifying legal transfer of property.
"Here are the most choice of the female slaves of the House of Cernus," said Marlenus, expansively gesturing to the two or three hundred girls.
There was a cheer from the many partisans of Marlenus in the room.
"Pick your slave," said he.
With great cheers the men hurried to the girls, to pick one that pleased them.
There were shouts of pleasure, and screams, and protests, and cries and laughter, as the men clapped their hands on wenches who struck their fancy. When the men had taken their pick the girls were released from the common chain and the key, that which served to unlock collar, bracelets and anklet, was given to he who had chosen his prize. Scribes at nearby tables endorsed and updated papers of registration, that the ownership of the girls be legally transferred from the state to individual citizens.
Assassin

Certifying official documents as legal
I did not know the business of the two men from Ar. They were Tenalion, and his man, Ronald. 'The fourth man was Brandon. He was from Vonda. He was a prefect in that city. His certifications on certain documents would be important.
Fighting Slave

“Do you have a witnessed, certified document attesting to the alleged contents of your purse?” I asked. “Too, was the purse closed with an imprinted seal, its number corresponding to the registration number of the certification document?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Oh,” I said.
“Here,” he said. “I think you will find everything in order.”
I had forgotten the fellow was from Tabor.
“This document seems a bit old,” I said. “Doubtless it is no longer current, no longer an effective legal instrument. As you can see, it is dated two weeks ago. Where are you going?”
“To fetch guardsmen,” he said.
“It will do,” I said.
Mercenaries

ACCOUNTANT

Scribes as Accountants
Employed by wealthy and powerful men.
It was Caprus of Ar, Chief Accountant to the House of Cernus (a Slaver). He lived in the house and seldom went abroad in the streets.
Assassin

It was Luma, the chief scribe of my house, in her blue robe and sandals. Her hair was blond and straight, tied behind her head with a ribbon of blue wool, from the bounding Hurt, died in the blood of the Vosk sorp. She was a scrawny girl, not attractive, but with deep eyes, blue; and she was a superb scribe, in her accounting swift, incisive, accurate, brilliant;
Marauders

Managing the wealth of the employer
She had much increased my fortunes. Freed, she took payment, but not as much as her services, I knew, warranted. Few scribes, I expected, were so skilled in the supervision and management of complex affairs as this light, unattractive, brilliant girl. Other captains, other merchants, seeing the waxing of my fortunes, and understanding the commercial complexities involved, had offered this scribe considerable emoluments to join their service. She, however, had refused to do so. I expect she was pleased at the authority, and trust and freedom, which I had accorded her. Too, perhaps, she had grown fond of the house of Bosk.
"I do not wish to see the accounts," I told her.
"The Venna and Tela have arrived from Scagnar," she said, "with full cargoes of the fur of sea sleen. My information indicates that highest prices currently for such products are being paid in Asperiche."
"Very well," I said, "give the men time for their pleasure, eight days, and have the cargoes transferred to one of my round ships, whichever can be most swiftly fitted, and embark them for Asperiche, the Venna and Tela as convoy."
"Yes, Captain," said Luma.
"Go now," I said. "I do not wish to see the accounts."
Marauders

Chief Scribes in larger houses may have assistants
"When do you have to report to Caprus?" I asked.
"He is one of us," she said. "He holds me to no close schedule, and lets me leave the house when I wish. Yet I suppose I should report in upon occasion."
"Are there other assistants to him?" I asked.
"He manages several Scribes," she said, "but they do not work closely with him.
Assassin

Keeping an accounting of treasures and fortunes
"What of the treasures here," I asked, "and Susan, and the other slaves chained here?"
"Scribes from the treasure rooms will be along shortly," he said, "to gather in and account for the cloths and coins. The palace slave master will be along later, too, to release the girls and put them back about their more customary duties." I then began to precede Drusus Rencius to my quarters.
Kajira

RECORD KEEPERS

Scribes as Record Keepers
Keeping records of complaints & petitions made to a Leader
“Hail, Gnieus Lelius!” I heard.
Taurentians were about the regent, and, too, some scribes. Notes, it seemed, and names, were being taken. Doubtless a record of the claims, grievances, petitions, and such, was being kept.
Mercenaries

Recording decisions made by leaders
As I have mentioned, there were scribes on, or near, the dais with Talena. Lists were being kept, and referred to. One list, for example, had the names of the women upon it, in the order in which they ascended the platform. It was from this list that one of the scribes announced the names. Another list, presumably a duplicate list, was kept as a record of the results of Talena’s decisions.
Magicians

Recording the votes at a meeting of Captains in Port Kar
"I now ask the table scribe," said Samos, "to call the roll of Captains."
"Bejar," called the scribe.
"Bejar accepts the proposals of Samos," said a captain, a dark-skinned man with long, straight hair, who sat in the second row, some two chairs below me and to the right.
"Bosk," called the scribe.
"Bosk," I said, "abstains."
Samos, and many of the others, looked at me, quickly.
"Abstention," recorded the scribe."
Raiders

Keeping Official City Records & Documents
It was Caprus of Ar, Chief Accountant to the House of Cernus. He lived in the house and seldom went abroad in the streets. It was with this man that Vella had been placed, her registration, papers and purchase having been arranged. In the House of Cernus, after the sheet, bracelets, leash and collar had been removed, agents of House of Cernus had checked her fingerprints against those on the papers. She had then been examined thoroughly the by Physicians of the House of Cernus. Then, found acceptable, she had knelt while agents of the House signed the receipt of her delivery and endorsed her papers, retaining one set, giving one set to the seller's agent, for forwarding to the Cylinder of Documents.
Assassin

The demands of Cernus for repayment of moneys owed to him by the Hinrabians became increasingly persistent and unavoidable. Claiming need, he was implacable. The citizens of Ar, generally, found it distasteful that the private fortunes of the Hinrabians should be in such poor state.
Then, as I would have expected, within the month, there were rumors of speculation, and an accounting and investigation, theoretically to clear the name of the Hinrabian, was demanded by one of the High Council, a Physician whom I had seen upon occasion in the house. The Scribes of the Central Cylinder examined the records and, to their horror, discrepancies were revealed, in particular payments to members of the Hinrabian family for services it was not clear had ever been performed; most outstandingly there had been a considerable disbursement for the construction of four bastions and tarncots for the flying cavalry of Ar, her tarnsmen; the military men of Ar had waited patiently for these cylinders and were now outraged to discover that the moneys had actually been disbursed, and had apparently disappeared; the parties, presumably of the Builders, to which the disbursements had been made were found to be fictitious. Further, at this time, the Odds Merchants of the Stadium of Tarns made it known that the Administrator was heavily in debt, and they, not to be left out, demanded their dues.
Assassin

TEACHERS

Scribes as Teachers
Tutoring the sons of rich men
; an intent, preoccupied scribe lean and clad in the scribe's blue, with a scroll, perhaps come north for high fees to tutor the sons of rich men;
Hunters

Teaching Tarl to read gorean
With annoyance, Torm poked through one of the enormous piles of scrolls and at last, on his hands and knees, fished out one skimpy scroll, set it in the reading device - a metal frame with rollers at the top and bottom - and, pushing a button, spun the scroll to its opening mark, a single sign.
'Al-Ka!' said Torm, pointing one long, authoritative finger at the sign. 'Al-Ka,' he said.
Tarnsman

In the next few weeks I found myself immersed in intensive activity, interspersed with carefully calculated rest and feeding periods. At first only Torm and my father were my teachers,...
Tarnsman

Teaching others to read
She had been taught to read by another girl, also free, of the Scribes, a thin, brilliant girl, whose name was Luma, who handled much of the intricate business of the great house.
Captive

Teaching a Warrior history, geography, caste system and protocol
'You must learn,' Torm had said matter-of-factly, 'the history and legends of Gor, its geography and economics, its social structures and customs, such as the caste system and clan groups, the right of placing the Home Stone, the Places of Sanctuary, when quarter is and is not permitted in war, and so on.'
And I learned these things, or as much as I could in the time I was given. Occasionally Torm would cry out in horror as I made a mistake, incomprehension and disbelief written on his features, and he would then sadly take up a large scroll, containing the work of an author of whom he disapproved , and strike me smartly on the head with it. One way or another, he was determined that I should profit by his instruction.
Tarnsman

HISTORIANS

Historians
As rumor has it, Clearchus was a famous brigand of some two centuries ago who decided to legitimize and regularize his brigandage. He proclaimed his area of operations a ubarate, proclaimed himself its ubar, and then proceeded to impose taxes and levy tolls. Interestingly enough, in time, several cities accorded this ubarate diplomatic recognition, generally in return for concessions on the taxes and tolls. Finally a large force of mercenaries, in the hire of the merchant caste, in a campaign that lasted several months, put an end to the spurious reign of Clearchus, driving him from the forest and scattering his men. It is generally conceded, however, that had Clearchus had more men he might have turned out to be the founder of a state.
It is not altogether clear what happened to Clearchus but some historians identify him with Clearchus of Turia, an immigrant, with followers, to Turia, now chiefly remembered as a patron of the arts and philanthropist. The woods of Clearchus, incidentally, to this day, remain a haunt of brigands.
Players

Military Historians
“So is Dietrich of Tarnburg, of the high city of Tarnburg, some two hundred pasangs to the north and west of Hochburg, both substantially mountain fortresses, both in the more southern and civilized ranges of the Voltai, was well-known to the warriors of Gor. His name was almost a legend. It was he who had won the day on the fields of both Piedmont and Cardonicus, who had led the Forty Days’ March, relieving the siege of Talmont, who had effected the crossing of the Issus in 10,122 C.A., in the night evacuation of Keibel Hill, when I had been in Torvaldsland, and who had been the victor in the battles of Rovere, Kargash, Edgington, Teveh Pass, Gordon Heights, and the Plains of Sanchez. His campaigns were studied in all the war schools of the high cities. I knew him from scrolls I had studied years ago in Ko-ro-ba, and from volumes in my library in Port Kar, such as the commentaries of Minicius and the anonymous analyses of “The Diaries,” sometimes attributed to the military historian, Carl Commenius, of Argentum, rumored to have once been a mercenary himself.
Mercenaries

Accordingly, because of this commonality of the Home Stone, love of their city, the sharing of citizenship, and such, there is generally a harmonious set of economic compromises obtaining the labor force, in general. Happily, most of these compromises are unquestioned matters of cultural tradition. They are taken for granted, usually, by all the citizens, and their remote origins, sometimes doubtless the outcome of internecine strife, of class war, of street fighting and riots, of bloody, house-to-house determinations in the past, and such, are seldom investigated, save perhaps by historians, scribes of the past, some seeking, it seems, to know the truth, for its own sake, others seemingly seeking lessons in the rich labyrinths of history, in previous human experience, what is to be emulated, and what is to be avoided.
Dancer

GEOGRAPHERS AND CARTOGRAPHERS

Scribes as Geographers and Cartographers

Exploring and mapping unknown territory
“Surely Shaba will have others of his caste with him, geographers of the scribes,” I said.
Explorers

The men with him, I suspected, or most of them, were members of his own caste, geographers of the scribes, perhaps, but men inured to hardships, perhaps men who had been with him in his explorations of Ushindi and Ngao, men he trusted and upon whom he could count in desperate situations, caste brothers.
Explorers

“Look there,” said Shaba, indicating a table to one side, on which there lay a cylindrical leather case, with a leather cap, and four notebooks, heavy and bound with leather.
“I see,” I said.
“There is a map case there,” he said, “and my notebooks. I have, in my journey, charted the Ua, and in the notebooks I have recorded my observations. Those things, though you, of the warriors, may not understand this, are priceless.”
“Your records would doubtless be of value, to geographers,” I said.
“They are,” said Shaba, “of inestimable value to all civilized men.”
“Perhaps,” I said.
“The maps, those records,” said Shaba, “open up a new world. Think not only in terms of crass profit, my friend, of the bounties there to hunters and trappers, to traders and settlers, to planters and physicians, but to all men who wish to understand, who wish to know, who wish to unveil hidden secrets and penetrate hitherto unsolved mysteries. In these maps and records, for those who can understand them, lie the first glimpses of new and vast countries. In these maps, and in these notes and drawings, there are treasures and wonders.”
Explorers

I thought of Bila Huruma, and the loneliness of the Ubar. I thought of Shaba, and his voyages of exploration, the circumnavigation of Lake Ushindi, the discovery and circumnavigation of Lake Ngao, and the discovery and exploration of the Ua, even to the discovery of its source in the placid waters of that vast lake he had called Lake Bila Huruma. But by the wish of Bila Huruma I had changed its name to Lake Shaba. He was surely one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the explorers of Gor. I did not think his name would be forgotten.
“I am grateful,” had said Ramani of Anango, who had once been the teacher of Shaba. I had delivered to him, and to two others of his caste, the maps and notebooks of Shaba. Ramani and his fellows had wept. I had then left them, returning to my lodgings. Copies would be made of the maps and notebooks. They would then be distributed by caste brothers throughout the cities of civilized Gor. The first copies that were made by anyone had already, however, been made, by the scribes of Bila Huruma in Ushindi.
Explorers

MAGESTRATES AND PRAETORS
Magistrates & Praetors - The Caste of Scribes - Law

Named Magistrates
Tolmar - Magicians (Deputy Commissioner in Records Office)
Venlisius - Magicians (Records Officer)
In the back room I tracked these matters by means of one of the observation portals. One of the two magistrates, he who was senior, Tolmar, of the second Octavii, an important gens but one independent of the well-known Octavii, sometimes spoken of simply as the Octavii, or sometimes as the first Octavii, deputy commissioner in the records office, much of which had been destroyed in a recent fire, was at the other portal. His colleague, Venlisius, a bright young man who was now, by adoption, a scion of the Toratti, was with him. Venlisius was in the same office. He was records officer, or archon of records, for the Metallan district, in which we were located. Both magistrates wore their robes, and fillets, of office. They also carried their wands of office, which, I suspect, from the look of them, and despite the weapons laws of Cos, contained concealed blades.
Magicians

Law is a function of Scribes
Many castes, incidentally, have branches and divisions. Lawyers and Scholars, for example, and Record Keepers, Teachers, Clerks, Historians and Accountants are all Scribes.
Assassin

The Companion Contract, thus, had been duly negotiated, with the attention of scribes of the law from both Fortress of Saphronicus and the Confederation of Saleria.
Slave Girl

The fellow who had said this wore the blue of the scribes. He may even have been a scribe of the law.
Mercenaries

“Are you a legal slave, my child?” asked one of the counselors, a scribe of the law.
Magicians

Magistrates
High magistrates, powerful in a city, it seems were likely wealthy
Similarly, if it seems understandable that, say, a high magistrate, a general, a Ubar, or such, might enjoy sitting in his pleasure gardens and inspecting his women, having them before him naked, or clothed according to his preferences, it is just as understandable that a less rich or well-fixed person might, similarly, on a more modest level, enjoy the sight of his girl, or girls, indeed, the fewer he has, perhaps the more he will relish the one, or ones, he had.
Dancer

Investigating crimes
In Ibn Saran's hand was his scimitar, unsheathed. I moved in the chains. They carried no light, but the moonlight, streaming through the barred window into the cell, permitted us to regard one another.
"It seems," I said, "I am not to reach the brine pits of Klima."
I observed the scimitar. I did not think they would slay me in the cell. This would seem, to the magistrates of Nine Wells, inexplicable, an accident demanding the most rigorous and exacting inquiry.
Tribesmen

Checking slaves for brands on rounds through city
If a magistrate should chance upon them in some alley he will commonly say, "Thigh," to them, and they will turn the girl, so that he may see if she is branded or not. If she is branded, he will commonly continue on his rounds.
Guardsman

May check actresses to encure they are slaves
!” On Gor, as I have perhaps mentioned, most of the actresses are slaves. In serious drama or more sophisticated comedy, when women are permitted roles within it, the female roles usually being played by men, and the females are slaves, their collars are sometimes removed. Before this is done, however, usually a steel bracelet or anklet, locked, which they cannot remove, is placed on them. In this way, they continue, helplessly, to wear some token of bondage. This facilitates, in any possible dispute or uncertainty as to their status or condition, a clear determination in the matter, by anyone, of course, but in particular by guardsmen or magistrates, or otherwise duly authorized authorities.
Players

Taking complaints from citizens
“With your permission, Lady Telitsia?” inquired Boots, addressing himself politely to the haughty, rigid, proud, vain, heavily veiled, blue-clad free female standing in the front row below the stage.
“You may continue,” she said.
“But you may find what ensues offensive,” Boots warned her.
“Doubtless I will,” she said. “And have no fear, I shall include it in my complaint to the proper magistrates.”
Players

"The drink she gave me," said Arn, smiling, "was well drugged. I awakened at dawn, with a great headache. My purse was gone."
"Times are hard," said Rim.
"I complained to a magistrate," said Arn, laughing, "but, unfortunately, there was on present who well recalled me, one with whom I had had prior dealings."
Hunters

Managing the traffic of certain Port cities
The representative of the Merchants, to whom I reported my business, and to whom I paid wharfage, asked no questions. He did not even demand the proof of registration of the Tesephone of Tabor. The Merchants, who control Lydius, under merchant law, for it is a free port, like Helmutsport, and Schendi and Bazi, are more interested in having their port heavily trafficked than strictly policed. Indeed, at the wharves I had even seen two green ships. Green is the color common to pirates. I supposed, did they pay their wharfage and declare some sort of business, the captains of those ships were as little interrogated as i. The governance of Lydius, under the merchants, incidentally, is identical to that of the exchange islands, or free islands, in Thassa. Three with which I was familiar, from various voyages, were Tabor, Teletus and, to the north, offshore from Torvaldsland, Scagnar. Of these, to be honest, and to give the merchants their due, I will admit that Tabor and Teletus are rather strictly controlled. It is said, however, by some of the merchants there, that this manner of caution and restriction, has to some extent diminished their position in the spheres of trade. Be that as it may, Lydius, though not what you would call an open port, was indulgent, and permissive. Most ports and islands on Thassa, of course, are not managed by the Merchants, but, commonly, by magistrates appointed by the city councils. In Port Kar, my city, the utilization of the facilities of the port is regulated by a board of four magistrates, the Port Consortium, which reports directly to the Council of Captains, which, since the downfall of the warring Ubars, is sovereign in the city. I suppose the magistrate, who, with his papers, met us at the dock, did not believe my story. He was smiling, when he wrote down my putative business. He had looked at my men. They did not appear to be merchant rowers. They looked much like what they were, men of Port Kar. Hunters
Sentencing and enslaving Free Women who bare their legs
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

Would investigate the use of lure girls for innocent men to be used in a work chain
That particular chain, I had heard, was employed in the north, currently digging siege trenches for the Cosians who had invested Torcadino. The fellow whom they had bound, of course, and the others in whose capture I had been implicated, were not, as far as I knew, criminals. My master, Tyrrhenius, spoke of his work as "recruitment." He was "recruiting" for the chains of work masters. To be sure, he must do this work surreptitiously. It would be quite unfortunate for him, I gathered, if he were to be discovered to have been involved in such work. Judges, magistrates, and such, would not be likely to look indulgently on these activities.
Dancer

Sentencing
“Do you have anything to say before I pass such sentence upon you?”
“No,” she said.
“I sentence you to slavery,” he said, uttering the sentence.
She trembled, sentenced.
“It only remains now,” said Aemilianus, “for the sentence to be carried out. If you wish I, in the office of magistrate, shall carry it out. On the other hand, if you wish, you may yourself carry out the sentence.”
“I?” she said.
“Yes,” he said.
“You would have me proclaim myself slave?” she asked.
“Or I shall do it,” he said. “In the end, it does not matter.”
Renegades

Investigating and arresting for fraud
Some Gorean dice are sold in sealed boxes, bearing the city’s imprint. These, supposedly, have been each cast six hundred times, with results approximating the ideal mathematical probabilities. Also, it might be mentioned that dice are sometimes tampered with, or specially prepared, to favor certain numbers. These, I suppose, using the Earth term, might be spoken of as “loaded.” My friend, the actor, magician, impresario and whatnot, Boots Tarsk-Bit, once narrowly escaped an impalement in Besnit on the charge of using false dice. He was, however, it seems, framed. At any rate the charges were dismissed when a pair of identical false dice turned up in the pouch of the arresting magistrate, the original pair having, interestingly, at about the same time, vanished. (In this case it appears the magistrate was crooked himself
Magicians

Investigating and sentencing thieves
Some free girls, without family, keep themselves, as best they can, in certain port cities. That her ear had been notched indicated that, by a magistrate, she had been found thief. Ear notching is the first penalty for a convicted thief in most Gorean cities, whether male or female. The second offense, by a male, is punished with removal of the left hand, the third offense by the removal of the right. The penalty for a woman, for her second offense, if she is convicted, is to be reduced to slavery.
Hunters

Executioners
Lying on the ground, bound hand and foot, still clad in the white robe, was Talena. The point of the sharpened impaling post lay near her. As the tarn had landed, her executioners, two burly, hooded magistrates, had scrambled to their feet and fled to safety.
Tarnsman

Certain magistrates, likely well versed in Merchant Law, were Merchant Magistrates, of the Merchant Caste

Behind the wagon, in the white robes, trimmed with gold and purple, of merchant magistrates, came five men. I recognized them as judges.
Hunters

Praetor
The desk of a wharf praetor
The praetor placed the coin on his desk, the surface of which was some seven feet high, below the low, solid wooden bar The height of the praetor’s desk, he on the high stool behind it, permits him to see a goodly way up and down the wharves. Also, of course, one standing before the desk must look up to see the praetor, which, psychologically, tends to induce a feeling of fear for the power of the law. The wooden bar before the desk’s front edge makes it impossible to see what evidence or papers the praetor has at his disposal as he considers your case. Thus, you do not know for certain how much he knows. Similarly, you cannot tell what he writes on your papers.
Explorers

Wharf Praetor - settling disuputes on the docks
I walked in the morning, an Ahn before noon, on the wharves of Telnus. I could see the great gates of the harbor some two pasangs across the water. The harbor was filled with many craft. I avoided the tar on the planks of the wharf. Beneath the planking of the wharves, here and there, I could see water, and small boats tied at pilings. Men came and went, going to and from ships, and disembarking and embarking cargo. I passed the throne of the wharf praetor, he in his robes, with the two scribes, for the settling of disputes which might occur on the quays. Four guardsmen, too, were there.
Slave Girl

Issued or at least enforced warrants
“Return the girl to the praetor’s station on this pier,” said the guardsman.
“What of those who robbed me!” cried the fellow with the torn clothing and the blood behind his ear.
“You are not the first,” said the praetor, looking down at him from the high desk. “They stand under a general warrant.”
Explorers

Questioning, investigating, and sentencing
“I am innocent,” said the bound man.
“How do you refer to yourself?” asked the praetor.
“Turgus,” he said.
The praetor entered that name in the papers. He then signed the papers.
He looked down at Turgus. “How did you come to be tied?” he asked.
“Several men set upon me,” he said. “I was struck from behind. I was subdued.”
“It does not appear that you were struck from behind,” smiled the praetor.
The face of Turgus was not a pretty sight, as I had dashed it into the stones, and had then struck the side of his head against the nearby wall.
“Is the binding fiber on their wrists from their original bonds, as you found them?” asked the praetor of one of the guardsmen.
“It is,” he said.
“Examine the knots,” said the praetor.
“They are capture knots,” said the guardsman, smiling.
“You made a poor choice of one to detain, my friends,” said the praetor.
They looked at one another, miserably. Their paths had crossed that of a warrior.
They now stood bound before the praetor.
“Turgus, of Port Kar,” said the praetor, “in virtue of what we have here today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding upon you, you are sentenced to banishment. If you are found within the limits of the city after sunset this day you will be impaled.”
The face of Turgus was impassive.
“Free him,” he said.
Turgus was cut free, and turned about, moving through the crowd. He thrust men aside.
Explorers

Again, passing sentence of punishment
“The Lady Sasi, of Port Kar,” said the praetor, “in virtue of what we have here today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding upon her, must come under sentence.”
“Please, my officer,” she begged.
“I am now going to sentence you,” he said.
“Please,” she cried, “Sentence me only to a penal brothel!”
“The penal brothel is too good for you,” said the praetor.
“Show me mercy,” she begged.
“You will be shown no mercy,” he said.
She looked up at him, with horror.
“You are sentenced to slavery,” he said.
Explorers

Had cells for holding prisoners
“I hate you,” she sobbed. She threw a wild look at the fellow slumped over the nearby table. He was still unconscious. She was clearly frightened. The dosage she had imbibed, assuming there might have been one in the drink, would doubtless have been one fit for a male. Accordingly, her own period of unconsciousness, given this possibility, might possibly last several Ahn, more than enough time to be carried to a cell in a praetor’s holding area.
Mercenaries

Sentencing male criminals to work chains
The "free " chain, on the other hand, consists usually, I had been told, of condemned criminals. Rather than bother with housing these fellows, many of whom are supposedly dangerous, putting them up at public expense, and so on, many cities, for a nominal fee, turn them (pg. 305) over to a work master who accepts charge of them, theoretically for the duration of time remaining in their sentences. For example, if a fellow has been sentenced, say, to two years of hard labor by a praetor, he might be turned over, for a small fee, to the master of a work gang who will see to it, theatrically, that he performs these two years of hard labor.
Dancer

Some of them were not even men I had trapped, but only men who knew what I had done. Some may have been as innocent as those I had lured, others might have been murderers and brigands, suitably enchained for the expiation of sentences, their custody having been legally transferred to Ionicus, my master, at the payment of a prisoner’s fee, by the writ of a praetor or, in more desperate cases, by the order of a quaestor.
Dancer

Collecting payment for each prisoner sentenced and turned over to a work chain
"They are from Brundisium," he said.
"Of course," said Aulus.
"A silver tarsk apiece," said the fellow.
"That seems high," said Aulus.
"It is an average praetor’s price," he said. To be sure, some serving shorter sentences, would presumably go for less, and some, more dangerous fellows, perhaps, serving longer sentences, might go for more. "Too," he said, "I expect you pay to much, or more, for the fellows you get from illicit suppliers."
Dancer

OTHER TASKS

Other tasks performed by Scribes
Working as "printers" to prepare signs (in this case in the employ of Cernus, a Slaver)
Elsewhere in the room there were some free men, Scribes I gathered though they were stripped to the waist, who were inking, using a silk-screen process, large sheets of layered, glued rag paper. One of them held the sheet up inspecting it, and I saw that it was a bill, which might be pasted against a public building, or on the public boards near the markets. It advertised a sale. Other such sheets, hanging on wires, proclaimed games and tarn races. The common thread in these various matters was that the House of Cernus was involved, either in presenting the sale or in sponsoring the races or games.
Assassin

Heading Committees
"Several committees were formed, usually headed by scribes but reporting to the council, to undertake various studies pertaining to the city, particularly of a military and commercial nature. One of these studies was to be a census of ships and captains, the results of which were to be private to the council. Other studies, the results of which would be kept similarly private to the council, dealt with the city defenses, and her stores of wood, grain, salt, stone and tharlarion oil. Also considered, though nothing was determined that night, were matters of taxation, the unification and revision of the codes of the five Ubars, the establishment of council courts, replacing those of the Ubars, and the acquistion of a sizable number of men-at-arms, who would be directly responsible to the council itself, in effect, a small council police or army. Such a body of men, it might be noted, though restricted in numbers and limited in jurisdiction, already existed in the arsenal."
Raiders

Checking ship registration, proper arrangements for the wharf and cargo in Port cities
Two men from the desk of the nearest wharf praetor, he handling wharves six through ten, a scribe and a physician, boarded the ship. The scribe carried a folder with him. He would check the papers of Ulafi, the registration of the ship, the arrangements for wharfage and the nature of the cargo.
Explorers

Studying astronomical measurements for adjustment of official clocks.
Chronometers exist on Gor, but they are rare and valuable. Marcus and I did not have any, of intent, at the time, among our belongs. They would not have seemed to fit in well with our guise as auxiliary guardsmen. 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 marking the passage of time. typical among them are marked, or calibrated, candles, sun dials, sand glasses, clepsydras and oil clocks.
Magicians

Certifying blood lines of mated slaves
Such breedings commonly take place with the slaves hooded, and under the supervision of the master, or masters. In this way the occurrence of the breeding act can be confirmed and authenticated. Sometimes a member of the caste of scribes is also present, to provide certification on behalf of the city. Usually, however, in cities which encourage this sort of registration it is sufficient to bring the papers for stamping to the proper office within forty Ahn. Such rigor, however, is usually involved only in the breeding of expensive, pedigreed slaves. Most slave breeding is at the discretion of the privae master or masters involved. Slaves from the same household incidentally, are seldom mated. This practice is intended to reduce the likelihood of intimate emotional relationships among slaves. Furthermore, make and female slaves are usually kept separate, female slaves commonly performing light labors in housholds and male slaves working in the fields or on the grounds.
Blood Brothers

Interrogating captives for confessions
"I gestured for the two slaves at the rack windlass to again rotate the heavy wooden wheels, moving the heavy wooden pawl another notch in the beam ratchet. Again there was a creak of wood and the sound of the pawl, locking, dropping into its new notch. The thing fastened on the rack threw back its head on the cords, screaming only with his eyes. Another notch and the bones of its arms and legs would be torn from their sockets.
"What have you learned?" I asked the scribe, who stood with his tablet and stylus beside the rack.
"It is the same as the others," he said. "They were hired by the men of Henrius Sevarius, some to slay captains, smoe to fire the wharves and arsenal." The scribe looked up at me. "Tonight," he said, "Sevarius was to be Ubar of Port Kar, and each was to have a stone of gold."
...
"Then Samos addressed himself to the Scribe near the rack. He gestured toward the other racks. "Take down these men," he said, "and keep them chained. We may wish to question them further tomorrow."
Raiders

Keeping tally on raids of the captives taken by each Warrior
"Near the oar pole to which I had been bound, some yards from what had been the circle of the dance, a number of rencers, stripped, men and women, lay bound hand and foot. They would later be carried, or forced to walk, to the barges. From time to time a warrior would add further booty to this catch, dragging or throwing his capture rudely among the others. These rencers were guarded by two warriors with drawn swords. A scribe stood by with a tally sheet, marking the number of captures by each warrior."
Raiders

Interests and research of Scribes
Suggesting changes to the gorean alphabet
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

Proposing reform to a single chronology
The fellow, incidentally, had given the year of the aforementioned battle as 10,127 C.A. It was natural that he, of Ar’s Station, would give the date in the chronology of Ar. Different cities, perhaps in their vanity, or perhaps simply in accord with their own traditions, often have their own chronologies, based on Administrator Lists, and such. A result of this is that there is little uniformity in Gorean chronology. The same year, in the chronology of Port Kar, if it is of interest, would have been Year 8 of the Sovereignty of the Council of Captains. The reform of chronology is proposed by a small party from among the castes of scribes almost ever year at the Fair of En’Kara, near the Sardar, but their proposals, sensible as they might seem, are seldom greeted with either interest or enthusiasm, even by the scribes. Perhaps that is because the reconciliation and coordination of chronologies, like the diction and convolutions of the law, are regarded as scribal prerogatives.
Renegades

Proclaiming proper pronunciation and grammar for standard gorean language
Also, some of the dialects of Gorean itself are aimost unintelligible. On the other hand, Gorean, in its varieties, serves as the lingua franca of civilized Gor. There are few Goreans who cannot speak it, though with some it is almost a second language. Gorean tends to be rendered more uniform through the minglings and transactions of the great fairs. Too, at certain of these fairs, the caste of scribes, accepted as the arbiters of such matters, stipulate that certain pronounciations and grammatical, formations, and such are to be preferred over others. The Fairs, in their diverse ways, tend to standardize the language, which might otherwise disintegrate into regional variations which, over centuries, might become mutually unintelligible linguistic modalities, in effect and practice, unfortunately, separate languages. The Fairs, and, I think, the will of Priest-Kings, prevents this.
Beasts

Studying the language
"In Gorean, " said Bosk, "the most frequently occurring letter is Eta. We might then begin by supposing that the combination of blue and red signifies an Eta."
"I see," said Samos
"The next most frequently occurring letters in Gorean," said Bosk, "are Tau, Al-Ka, Omnioin and Nu. Following these in frequency of occurrence are Ar, Ina, Shu and Homan, and so on."
""How is this known?" asked Samos.
"it is based upon letter counts," said Bosk, "over thousands of words in varieties of manuscripts."
"These matters have been determined by scribes?" asked Samos.
"Yes," said Bosk.
"Why should they be interested in such things?"
"Such studies were conducted originally, at least publicly, as opposed to the presumed secret studies of cryptographers, in connection with the Sardar Fairs," said Bosk, "at meetings of Scribes concerned to standardize and simplify the cursive alphabet. Also, it was thought to have consequences for improved pedagogy, in teaching children to first recognize the most commonly occurring letter."
"I was taught the alphabet beginning with Al-Ka," smiled Samos.
"As was I," said Bosk, "perhaps we should first have been taught Eta."
"That is not tradition!" said Samos.
"True," admitted Bosk, "And these immovative scribes have had little success with their proposed reforms. Yet, from their labors, various interesting facts have emerged. For example, we have learned not only the offer of frequency of occurrence of letters but, as would be expected, rough percentages of occurrence as well. Eta, for expected, occurs two hundred times more frequently in the language than Altron. Over forty percent of the language consists of the first five letters I mentioned, Eta, Tau, Al-Ka, Onion and Nu."
Slave Girl

 

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