Social Structure and Gorean Governance

Read all not just what apply to you. Reading part will only mean you have missed something important. Goreans would have learned all of this from birth.

Social Structure

Scribe's Note: This document is intended to describe the kind of behavior that is acceptable and polite within a city.As such, failure to comply with these customs and social norms is not punishable under the law, but rather by the censure of one's fellow citizens.Customs and social norms are essentially part of the social contract, the things everyone subscribes to in order to achieve community and stave off anarchy.The Rule of Law, as necessary as it is, cannot cover every situation, so much of what binds the community together must come from the individuals within it. Customs are simply the "unwritten laws" of the city, carrying penalties that are often far subtler but no less harsh than the civil laws enforced by the caste of magistrates.In life, they are instilled from birth. Presumably, none of us can claim to have been born and raised on Gor; thus, they are submitted here, cities unwritten laws in written form.

Wherever possible, I have chosen to apply the social norms ascribed to Ko-ro-ba, as that city's customs and traditions are described most often and used to contrast with those of other cities in many of the narratives in the books of John Norman.Every item contained herein is supported by a quote from the books which identifies it as the way of things in Ko-ro-ba, or as a common Gorean practice.

ALL FREE

1. The Home Stone is so central to Gorean life that the planet's name, Gor, means "Home Stone".In a Gorean's view, a city's buildings may be destroyed, its people scattered, but while the city's Home Stone exists, the city itself still exists.
2. Free persons rise to their feet when speaking of their city's Home Stone.
3. Free persons are attentive to the thoughts and feelings of one another, especially if they share a Home Stone.
4. Goreans are typically suspicious of those who claim a Home Stone other than their own.
5. Caste forms the structure upon which a cities society is built. There are three categories of person who have no caste: Priest-King, slave, and outlaw.
6. A free person's ethics are based on the Codes of their Caste. The Codes of each Caste form the basis of honor.
7. Free persons of low caste commonly have a true name known only to their closest relatives, and a use name, by which most people address them.
8. Companionship with a person who has no caste, family, or position is considered a gross and incomparable mistake.
9. Those of lower castes are typically illiterate. Warriors, whether it is true or not, will often claim to be illiterate.

FREE MEN

1. A Gorean free man values freedom, his own and that of others, above all things, save for honor.
2. Free men pay attention to free women when they speak. It is their due.They are, after all, free.
3. Free men of Gor commonly stand when a free woman enters the room.
4. Free men will find it easy to ignore insolence in a free woman, simply because she is free.
5. One treats a free woman with deference, honor, and respect. By contrast, one treats a slave with condescension and authority.
6. A free man, walking with a woman, permits her to walk beside him or before him.It is the slave who follows him at his heel.
7. In the temperate climate of the city, a free man wears either a tunic or robes, depending on his station and the level of physical activity he expects.He will wear either sandals or boots, again depending on the activities he expects to be involved in.His clothing will bear the insignia of his Home Stone and of his caste.In a city, the colors of a man's attire will also be primarily those of his caste.He will take pride in all these things, even if his clothes are torn and dirty.

FREE WOMEN

1. Free women may address a free man by his name.Doing so marks her as free.
2. The free women of a city do not willingly travel outside the walls of their city with fewer than two warriors in attendance.
3. Within city walls, free women may move about the city unaccompanied without first obtaining permission from a male family member.
4. When seated, free women kneel with their knees together, and their wrists before them, uncrossed.Crossed wrists can be interpreted as an indication of submission.
5. Free women of high caste do not perform menial tasks.
6. A free woman may sell herself into slavery, and even negotiate the terms of it.Once she is in a collar, her new Master may change the terms as he sees fit.
7. A free woman is considered to be free, and will always be treated as one, until she has been branded a slave.
8. Free women command attention when they speak.It is their due.Yes, this is noted twice.It is that important.
9. A free woman does not change her name as a result of Free Companionship.
10. Free Women do not use cosmetics, nor do they wear earrings.They will also not wear any jewelry or adornment that encircles their throat.
11. A free woman may often make a man angry with impunity, but not always.A wise free woman will not make a habit of it.
12. Free women keep their hair long and, at least in public, wear it up.Wearing the hair down is a sensual thing, which, as with all things sensual, will be avoided by modest free women.
13. Free women commonly wear veils in a city.To go without is considered immodest.
14. Free women of a city dress modestly, wearing robes or gowns which conceal their entire form from shoulder to foot.They will typically choose to wear multi-colored robes or gowns, though the central colors will usually be those of their caste.On her feet, she will wear sandals, slippers, low-heeled boots, or platform shoes designed to help keep the hem of her clothing out of the mud.
15. In a city, free women will typically turn away from an immodest woman and refuse to speak to her. Free men may, if they choose, strip the immodest woman and force a veil upon her, then march her to her home or to the docks and aboard the next departing vessel if she does not live inside the city walls. This is never done to one of your own city for she is your sister, mother, daughter, or that of your best friend. If this treatment must be repeated, the men may also turn her over to the magistrates, and she will likely be enslaved, in accordance with a cities civil law.
16. No free woman would dare to bare her legs, shoulders, or wrists.Likewise, a free woman will commonly conceal her throat, since it is natural for a Gorean male to look at her bared throat and think, "collar".
17. A free woman walks proudly beside a free man, or before him. She will be protective of this right, and should she ever find herself in a collar, she will acutely feel the loss of it.
18. A free woman is considered justified if she chooses to be aloof, unapproachable, vain, petty, selfish, supercilious, or arrogant.She may also choose to be proud, haughty, insolent, and outspoken.She may treat males with contempt and ridicule.She may certainly be deceitful.She is, after all, free.
19. High caste women typically regard vulgar language and gestures as being incompatible with the dignity of their caste.Low caste women generally do not constrain themselves in this way.

SLAVES

1. Slaves are not permitted to touch legal documents.This includes slave papers.
2. The purpose of a the collar is to identify a slave's owner. The slave, when commanded to identify her owner, will present her collar.
3. Slaves in a city will be branded.City slaves will be branded with the kef.
4. Kajirae will kneel in nadu, unless in the presence of free women or when her doing so might distract men from important tasks or discussions.She will then kneel in the position of the tower slave.
5. Slaves do not teach classes which might be attended by the free, or instruct free persons.
6. Slaves are not permitted either dignity or frigidity. Those things are reserved for free women.
7. A slave does not lie.
8. (more to add here)

Women's Health Class

by Zenith Sorbet, physician

This week's session is on women's care and as usual it is an informal discussion based type class so you can stop and interrupt me at anytime with questions or comments.

I'm sure you know that many people in SL go through pregnancies and deliveries. Obviously, our avatars representatives can't just go out and get pregnant from sex in the usual way. So for those of you out there busy trying and trying the way Mother Nature designed real humans and getting absolutely nowhere, let me give you a hint. Just as sex requires a lot of roleplay and imagination, and few special attachments, so too, does pregnancy. So I will begin with a few of the common questions I get.

1) Who decides if someone gets pregnant?
Bluntly, only the potential mother can decide. There are simply no accidental pregnancies in SL Gor because pregnancy has to be role played. So your patient makes a decision to get pregnant. It is always nice if they come to see you before hand for a prenatal check up. At that point you can help them by asking a few important questions. Most important of these is likely has the father consented to this. As in real life an unplanned role play pregnancy, sprung on an unsuspecting father can be disasterous for a relationship.

2) How long does pregnancy last?
There is a general standard of six weeks real life time.

This comes from a specific card widely distributed by the various Green Caste group. This card states the following. "On Earth, a normal pregnancy is approximately 40 weeks, give or take a solid month. However, babies can be born healthy much sooner than this, given recent developments in neonatal medicine. Knowing that medicine on Gor is even more advanced than our own, and allowing for the exceptionally good health of the Gorean Free Woman, and the effects of the stabilization serums on prenatal development, in addition to the altered gravity and multiple lunar cycles of Gor, it is estimated that a successful Gorean pregnancy, at full term, might run about the length of a successful premature delivery on Earth. Coincidentally, since there are only 5 days in the Gorean week, or hand, this works out to be about 40 hands gestation time" From Gorean Childbirthing by Jenna Harley.

Many of the By the Book Purists argue that we should really be role playing a pregnancy for nine weeks. I tend to agree but there is a problem with that. Most pregnancy supplies that are available to be purchased work an assumption of six weeks real time role playing. However this is role play. So your patient can role the pregnancy much faster or much longer as they wish. So you could potentially in role play announce you are pregnant, change your shape and deliver a baby in five minutes if you role play it correctly. Or you could be pregnant all the time.

So your patient arrives and wish to be diagnosed as pregnant. I have a pregnancy test I use in role play that is very effective. I will rezz you can both try it. It is made by Hulapop Mahoney. Now touch it.

Pregnancy Test: The results are negative, Student #1 is not pregnant.
Student #1: phew
Pregnancy Test: The results are negative, Student #2 is not pregnant.

You saw how you get a private menu asking you if you want the answer to be positive negative or random. So your patient is now confirmed as pregnant.

3) How do I change my shape?
The cheapest way is to change shape by going to appearance, shape torso belly size. Also as the breasts and hips also enlarge in pregnancy and broaden I recommend adjusting those as well. Many of the freebie stores and Green Caste of Gor and Physician's Caste of Gor have free pregnancy shapes. I have included a set in my supplies box. I find the pregnancy shapes alone are not that good at representing a pregnancy. That package contains a full set of shape changes and landmarks to various stores which sell pregnany supplies. Most recently we have a Gorean specific one. In addition a woman can add a prim belly. The disadvantage to the prim belly is then clothing doesn't fit whereas with the shapes, most clothing will continue to fit, except possibly for prim skirt adjustments. So I warn new mothers of this.

In addition, there are many stores in SL that have supplies for role playing pregnancy. Some can be very expensive and some are very cheap. It pays to shop around. It also pays to compare features. I have included landmarks to some stores I have found. I am not recommending anyone go and purchase these items just that these are places to go look.

4) Should your patient purchase a scripted talking pregnancy?
I will put on the one I have which is the least obnoxious one.  In a word NO! Strongly discourage these. They are expensive, they are annoying, and they interrrupt role play.

Let me give the worst example.
I had a woman who had hers set to talk every couple of minutes and in the middle a raid her belly said "Mommy sits down to eat a cracker because she is hungry." Pregnant bellies don't talk in real life so why should role pay ones? These things can be so obnoxious and annoying some sims including Vonda ban them.

I also get a lot of questions about prim babies. There are free prim babies readily available and many that can be purchased, I will demonstrate with the one I happen to like. The package I've given you also has some free prim babies. There is no need to purchase a prim baby. You can role play everything.

sh2 Birthing Cuddle Baby v1.5: (c)2008 sh2 Creations, All Rights Reserved. Use is governed by our Terms of Service (http://www.sh2creations.com/heavensent/legal/TOS/).

This is heaven sent birthing baby. It is about 600L if I recall correctly. It is naked and I use it in delivery. It's adjustable and you can change hair, skin tone whatever ...and it cries the newborn cry when you touch it. I prefer to have mothers contact me in advance of their delivery so I can set the newborn correctly. I once pulled out my baby and it was black with dark brown skin and the parents were both fair blue eyed blonds and the father got a bit upset. I rp'd the baby looked dark from birthing fluid and changed everything.

They also have a cuddle baby. It has clothes on. I tell the mother we can use my naked baby for birthing and then switch to theirs to save some lindens. The only thing with this one is finding Gorean appropriate clothing. For example this outfit with little airplanes is not Gorean appropriate. It is a very good product. Maybe if enough people ask they will make a Gorean baby

The other thing to warn mothers about is depending on where their clothing is attached they may find that their skirt comes off when they pick up the baby. Most women who rp pregnancy kind of know what to expect, morning sickness, dizzy spells crazy cravings. They have either been pregnant themselves already or a close family friend has. Some don't know and want the whole scoop. So I have to describe to them about what to expect. An easy way to do this is while you are talking to the mother type into your browser common pregnancy symptoms and then you have it all clearly laid out. First month expect this, second month expect that... etc. The pregnancy issue is the really common one. You rarely get other strictly female issues.Gorean women are all very healthy. They have young strong bodies due to the stabilization serum.

There is no mention of them menstruating either so I think the slave wine suppresses menstruation. Free woman have access to a version of so called "slave wine" but it supposedly has no bitter flavor. I have no idea if that is true to the books or not. (Note: it is true) It simply doesn't come up. It makes sense that Free Women would take advantage of the effects of slave wine. So you will not get women coming in with dysmenorhea.

The only other female issue specifically mentioned in the book is frigidity. Do you know the recommended cure? The recommended treatment is to learn to dance like a slave girl. You will get collared for that if you do it public. I tell women You don't do it in public. I also say You probably don't even do it for your Free Companion in case it gets him thinking about collaring you. The recommendation of learning slave dancing is in the books and it supposedly teaches a Free Woman to discover her sexuality and learn how to enjoy sex. In the books women are all really slaves, just some have collars and some don't. Free Woman are referred to as women who haven't yet been collared. And Free Women are only Free because Men wish them to be so.

Now I read a neat analysis about the populations in Gor and the estimate I saw was 60% of women are free. I suspect because Free Women seem to be the ones who do the most nonmenial labor.

So I guess that is all I planned to cover today.