The World Of Gor

I define myself as a gorean. So what is Gor? That is a highly complex question, far more so than it sounds. Put simply, Gor is a fictional world that was created and detailed in a series of 26 novels, by an American professor named John Lange, who wrote them under the pseudonym of John Norman. The novels themselves vary greatly in tone, length and subject matter, and to be honest the stories leave a lot to be desired. Norman clearly fancies himself as a writer in the same vein as Edgar Rice Burroughs (author of Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars). He isn't in the same league though, and while he might have started writing the Gor novels with an aim to emulate the John Carter stories, he ended up writing something entirely different.

Gor itself is another planet in our solar system, slightly smaller than Earth (and with a little less gravity) and with three moons. It is in the same orbit as Earth, only always on the other side of the sun to our world. In every language on the planet, the word Gor simply means Homestone. Their name for the sun (which we call Sol), is Tor-Tu-Gor, or Light On The Homestone. The Gor of the novels is entirely based on one continent of this world, with the people living there oblivious even to the existence of any other large landmasses, which I presume there must be. Indeed, not even the whole of the continent is known, the eastern regions bordered by the massive Voltai Mountains, and beyond them simply a vast grassy wilderness known as the Barrens. To the west lies Thassa, the great ocean, and while there are some island nations detailed, none are really that far out into Thassa, and like medieval europeans before Columbus, the people are scared to sail beyond the worlds end.

Gor is ruled by the enigmatic Priest-Kings, the closest analogy the world has to Gods. They are not seen, and only rarely heard from, yet every Gorean fears them and pays homage to them. They live in the Sardar Mountains in the north of the continent. Ask a gorean what a priest-king is and most would say that they likely are little different to humans, just larger, more powerful, grander and worthy of respect. They are in fact giant golden ants, highly evolved and super intelligent. Only a bare few goreans, trusted servants, are aware of this fact. They have ruled Gor for eons, even moving the planet through various solar systems until reaching ours, collecting many creatures along the way that comprise much of Gor's sometimes bizarre flora and fauna.

These "Voyages of Acquisition" also brought humans to Gor, a species that the Priest-Kings find fascinating. As a result, many of the cultues and races of Earths antiquity are represented (albeit renamed) on Gor. We have the mighty cities of Ar (Rome) and Cos (Carthage). There are Vikings (Torvaldslanders), Inuits/Eskimos (Red Hunters), Amerindians (Red Savages), even Amazons (Panther girls in the northern forests, Talunas in the southern jungles). Too, there are many cultures that have developed on the world, unique to there, the great tribes of the southern Wagon Peoples having little in common with any culture of Earth save perhaps the Romany Gypsies of Eastern Europe in olden days, and the pirate reavers of squalid Port Kar likewise without any real earth comparison. Were goreans from the main continent ever to venture to another continent on their world, I do not doubt that they would likely find cultures comarable to the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans and Orientals of Earth.

Gor is also a primitive world by the standards of ours (the novels are set in a time period concurrent to Earth's 20th/21st centuries), with most technology and societal practices not having evolved beyond the level of Earth's Iron Age (cultures such as the Romans). Much technology is limited by the edicts of the Priest-Kings, they not wishing mankind to develop to a point where their own existence becomes threatened, having seen how Earth has turned out, a world choked with pollution and industry, where laws are passed and enforced even against simple biological fact. In other ways though, Gor is more advanced than Earth, most obviously in the field of medicine where the gorean physicians have developed both a 100% effective contraceptive in the form of a latent poison made from the Sip Root that is drunk by women. It remains effective until a releaser is drunk to neutralise its effects. Also they have developed the stabilisation serums, a set of injections that are a cure for ageing, many goreans living for centuries in perfect health. Disease is almost unknown.

Gorean society is caste based, with five High Castes (the Warriors, Builders, Initiates, Scribes and Physicians) and many lesser castes, though no-one ever considers their caste to be below anyone elses. And while some might look down on other castes, none deny that every caste is important. The Warrior after all knows that without the Metalworker and Leatherworker to make his armour and weapons, he is of little use. The Scribe needs the paper made from plants picked by the Rencer. And everyone needs the food grown by the Peasants.

The lowest strata of gorean society are the slaves. Slavery is a culturally accepted part of life in every society on the planet. Too, it is universal in how slaves are kept. Slaves have no rights in gorean society, not to food, water, shelter, clothing, a name, or even life, they are legally at the same status as animals. The vast majority of slaves are female, male slaves almost exclusively being used for heavy labour in mines, quarries, rowing warships etc. Slavegirls (or Kajira to use the gorean term) fill a great variety of roles. Slaves are kept in a collar, a locked circle of steel about their neck, inscribed wth their owners details. They are also branded, the most common place for this being high on the left thigh, just below the hip. Brands vary by the society which marks the girl, but the most common is the Kef which looks like a stylised letter K (the first letter of the word Kajira). They own nothing, and are entirely the property of whoevers collar they wear, who can do as they please with them.

Gor has some creatures that are similar to those of Earth such as: Tarsks (Boar), Bosk (Bison), and Vulo (Chickens)and many that are unique, such as: Tarns (huge birds of prey, like the Roc from Earth's legends. These are trained, saddled and used as mounts), Sleen (six legged reptiles that are kept much like dogs are on Earth), Urts (six legged rodents) and Kaiila (large cats, kinda like lions, that are used as riding beasts). There are also several varieties of Tharlarion (Dinosaurs) that have been domesticated, most notably the Draft Tharlarion (Brontosaurus) used to pull huge wagons and barges, and High Tharlarion (a large species of Velociraptor,that are used as cavalry mounts).

That is a brief overview of the world itself, and I will write more to explain various aspects of the world, backed up with quotes from the books to illustrate points, as my words do not do Gor justice, only John Norman's can do that.