SHOPPING

[13:47] Rᴇᴀᴅ Tɪᴛʟᴇ Fᴏʀ Cʜᴀʀ Nᴀᴍᴇ - F (ivy.amethyst): (Saved Tue Aug 05 16:47:30 2025)Build pieces: Icaland, Zimberlab, Morphe Inc

Furniture: Lorien, Lore, Laminak, Moonsha, Contraption, Rig!, Angelicus, Louvre by Marie, Apple Fall, DRD, Sacrilege, Sigil, Minimal (sometimes the beds are low prim), also Icaland, Tia, Ratzkatz, Petrichor, Old World

Plants: Hisa, Cube Republic, Konoha, Botanical, Love, TM Creations, Landscaping by Felix

Rugs: ChatGPT and put the picture on a prim, don't buy those

Murals/paintings: Same as rugs

Eel - Death

She shall tread the narrow board of the high platform of execution, thence to plunge into the deep pool of death eels far below."

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 244

"You have heard of the projected fate of Sumomo," I said.

"It is merciful under the circumstances," he said. "The plunge to the pool of death eels."

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 251

"Perhaps others, too, might do so," I said. "When is she to make the acquaintance of the eels?"

"There are hundreds, half starved," said Haruki. "One can almost walk upon them."

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 255

From where I was, in the stands, I could see both the platform of execution, far above and to my left, and the wide surface, some ten paces in width, of the deep stone-encased pool of death eels.

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 257

All attention seemed focused on the platform, even that of the attendant who had served to agitate the restless denizens of the pool. Indeed, the waters of the pool still stirred, and more than once I saw the glistening back of an eel break the surface, and then snap away with a spattering of water.

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Pages 269 - 270

I suspected the eels well anticipated, by now, perhaps from the past, perhaps from a variety of cues, sounds, movements, and reflections, if not from the two token feedings earlier administered, designed to do little more than sharpen the ravenous blades of hunger, that food was in the offing. I suspected they had been starved for days, to ready them for this moment. Similarly, it is not unusual for trainers and keepers in Ar and Turia to withhold food from arena animals, that the torments of hunger might be sorely exacerbated, so cruelly heightened that the released animal will forgo the caution and probity of its ways in the wild to indiscriminately rush upon and attack, and attempt to feed upon, whatever falls within its desperate ken.

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Pages 271 - 272

"Yes," I said. "He is Tajima an officer in the cavalry. With daring, and sustaining great risk, he fled with Sumomo, the shogun's daughter, rescuing her but a moment before she would have plunged into the pool of death eels."

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 292

"Sumomo," I said, "was to be fed to death eels."

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 387

 

Eel - Black

I was interested in the fauna of the river and the rain forest. I recalled, sunning themselves on exposed roots near the river, tiny fish. They were bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with tiny fiipperlike lateral fins. They had both lungs and gills. Their capacity to leave the water, in certain small streams, during dry seasons, enables them to seek other streams, still flowing, or pools. This property also, of course, makes it possible for them to elude marine predators and, on the land, to return to the water in case of danger. Normally they remain quite close to the water. Sometimes they even sun themselves on the backs of resting or napping tharlarion. Should the tharlarion submerge the tiny fish often submerges with it, staying close to it, but away from its jaws. Its proximity to the tharlarion affords it, interestingly, an effective protection against most of its natural predators, in particular the black eel, which will not approach the sinuous reptiles. Similarly the tiny fish can thrive on the scraps from the ravaging jaws of the feeding tharlarion. They will even drive one another away from their local tharlarion, fighting in contests of intraspecific aggression, over the plated territory of the monster's back. The remora fish and the shark have what seem to be, in some respects, a similar relationship. These tiny fish, incidentally, are called gints.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 299 - 300

Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive.

Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 428

Eel

"How long have you been slave?"

He looked at me, puzzled. "Six years," he said.

"What were you before?" I asked.

"An eel fisher," he said.

"What city?"

"The Isle of Cos," he said.

. . .

I looked out, over the marsh. Then I again regarded the eel fisher, who was first oar.

"Were you a good fisherman?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "I was."

Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 84

A man walked by carrying a long pole, from which dangled dozens of the eels of Cos.

Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 343

A pirate running for the ship missed the bow rail and fell into the water. He began to thrash and scream in the water, attacked by eels. I looked down, into the water. Below me the water was swarming with eels. The blood from my back, I realized, running down the blade and dripping into the water, had attracted them.

. . .

"Well done," I cried. "Well done!" I was elated. I could scarcely feel my pain, or the burns of the ropes. I was only dimly conscious of the wetness of my back. Then something wet and heavy, slithering, leapt upward out of the water, and splashed back. My leg felt stinging. It had not been able to fasten its jaws on me.

I looked downward. Two or more heads, tapering, menacing, solid, were emerged from the water, looking up at me, Then, streaking from under the water, suddenly breaking its surface, another body, some four feet in length, about eight or ten pounds in weight, leapt upward. I felt the jaws snap and scratch against the shearing blade. Then it fell twisting back in the water. It was the blood which excited them. I strove again, then, to escape, pulling against the bonds, trying to abrade them against the back of the blade.

I was now, suddenly, alarmed. My struggles had done nothing more than to lower me a few inches on the blade. I now feared I might be within reach of the leaping eels. I tried to inch upward on the blade. Pressing my legs and arms against the blade I could move upward to my original position, but no further, because of the ropes on my ankles, catching on the bottom side of the blade fixture, and it was extremely difficult and painful to hold myself that high on the blade.

I was sweating, and terrified. Then the flagship of Policrates, responding to another impact, lurched to starboard, and, terrified, I slipped back down the blade. My feet, bound back, on each side of the blade, were little more than a foot from the water. Again, frenzied, in terror, I tried to struggle. But, to my dismay, I was again held perfectly. I could not even begin to free myself. I was absolutely helpless. I had been bound by Gorean men.

I felt another stinging bite at my leg, where another of the heavy, leaping eels tried to feed. Again I inched my way painfully, by my thighs and forearms, higher on the blade. If we could get to free water I did not think the eels would pursue us far from the wharves and shore.

Then suddenly I realized I might have but moments before the ship managed to free itself and back into the river. Suddenly I allowed myself to slide down the blade. "Are you hungry, little friends?" I inquired. "Can you smell sweat and fear? Does blood make you mad? Leap, little brothers. Render me service." I looked down at several of the heavy, tapering heads projecting from the water, at the eyes like filmed stones. "Taste blood," I encouraged them. I thrust back against the blade. I tried to abrade my ankles against the steel.

I knew that the fastening of those jaws, in a fair bite, could gouge ounces of flesh from a man's body. Too I knew that the eel seldom takes its food out of the water, that such strikes, in all probability, had not been selected for. Accordingly, the only inward compensation for the refraction differential would presumably have to be learned by trial and error. More than one of the beasts had already struck the blade and not my body. But, too, they might not understand that the blood source was my body; they might understand, rather, only the point at which blood was entering the water.

The waters beneath me now fairly churned with activity. The ship moved backward a yard. "Help me swiftly, little friends," I begged. "Time grows short!" A large eel suddenly broke the surface tearing at the side of my abraded leg. I felt the teeth scratching and sliding along my leg, its head twisted to the side. Then it was back in the water. "Good, good," I called. "Nearly, nearly. Try again, big fellow!"

I watched the water, giving it time to swirl and circle, and then again, aligning itself, leap toward me. My left ankle, cut deliberately on the back of the blade, oozed blood, soaking the knotted ropes that held it. With the small amount of play given to me by the ropes on that ankle I must manage as best I can. Then, almost too quickly to be fully aware of it, I saw the returning shape erupting from the water. I thrust, as I could, my ankle towards it. Then I screamed in pain. The weight, thrashing and tearing, must have been some fifteen or twenty pounds. It was some seven feet in length. I threw my head back, crying out. My left ankle was clasped in the clenched jaws, with those teeth like nails. I feared I might lose my foot but the heavy ropes, doubled and twisted, and knotted, like fibrous shielding, muchly protecting me, served me well, keeping the teeth in large measure from fastening in my flesh.

The beast, suddenly, perhaps puzzled by the impeding cordage, shifted its grip. It began to tear then at the ropes. Its mouth must have been filled with blood-soaked, wirelike strands of rope. The blood doubtless stimulated it to continue its work. Its tail thrashed in the water. It twisted, and swallowed, dangling and thrashing. Then, its mouth filled with rope, pulled loose, it fell back into the water. Again I struggled. Again I was held. I struggled yet again, and this time heard the parting of fibers, ripping loose. I twisted against the blade, my ankles free, and, by the ropes on my wrists, swung myself up and behind the blade, getting my right leg over the upper part of the blade fixture.

"Ho!" cried a voice, angry, above me and to my right. I saw the spear blade draw back to thrust. I clung to the blade, crouching on the flat blade mount. Ropes were on my wrists, but my hands were separated by, say, a foot of rope, as I had been bound on the blade. When the spear struck toward me, I seized it, behind the blade, at the shaft rivets, and jerked it toward me. The fellow, unable in the moment to release the weapon, was dragged over the rail. He struck against the blade and, screaming, half cut open, slid into the water. The spear shaft was twisted from my grasp. The water churned beneath the blade. Bubbles exploded to the surface. It seemed scarlet. "Feed, little friends," I told them. "Feed well, and be thanked."

Guardsman of Gor     Book 16     Pages 129 - 133

There is commonly little danger of eels near Victoria, save near the shadows and shallows of the wharves themselves.

Guardsman of Gor     Book 16     Page 135

"He might have me thrown to the eels in his pool!" she said.

Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 324

Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive.

Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 428

Perhaps, even, the container might have been slowly filled with mud or sand, or with fast-growing poisonous molds, or with dark water, in which swam the tiny, razor-teethed eels kept in large pools at the palatial villas of some Gorean oligarchs, both as a delicacy, and as a standing admonition to slaves, to which swift, snakelike, voracious creatures they may be thrown.

Kur of Gor     Book 28     Pages 43 - 44

"We have an eel pool in a nearby garden," said Peisistratus. "By now the eels are doubtless hungry."

. . .

"Prepare," said Peisistratus, to his men, "to take her to the eel pool."

. . .

"There is a haunch of tarsk in the kitchen," said Peisistratus. "Let the eels be fed."

Kur of Gor     Book 28     Pages 295 - 297

Torn between her lingering pretenses of freedom and her slave needs, she had been found insufficiently pleasing by her masters, and was to be cast to eels in a pool in a Pleasure Cylinder, associated with a Steel World.

Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 554

"We will attend to the body," said Genserich.

"What is left of it," said a man.

"Leave it for urts," said Aeson, "or cast it into the river, for eels, for river sleen." The river sleen is a small animal, seldom more than two or three feet in length, including the tail. Few weigh more than two or three stone. It is not to be confused with the common sleen, or the aquatic sleen, the sea sleen, which are large animals.

Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 427

The exception here, of course, was Nezumi, who, if recognized, might have been remanded to Yamada's executioners for the eel death, or worse.

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 431

I recalled the eel pool in the stadium, or theater, of Lord Yamada. I did not doubt but what some similar arrangement, or worse, would be at the disposal of Lord Temmu.

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 627

"She is a barbarian. She is cheap. Who would want her for anything, save as sleen feed, or to cast her to eels in some garden pool?"

Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 106

"Regard the slave," I said to my agent. "See the small feet, the slim ankles, the sweet thighs, the delightful, well-formed, fundament, the slender waist, the joys of her figure, the soft shoulders, and the graceful, metal-encircled neck. Surely, you can think of some use for this exquisite object other than feeding it to sleen or eels."

Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 107

 

Cuttlefish

That scent, I knew, a distillation of a hundred flowers, nurtured like a priceless wine, was a secret guarded by the perfumers of Ar. It contained as well the separated oil of the Thentis needle tree; an extract from the glands of the Cartius river urt; and a preparation formed from a disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long Whale, the result of the inadequate digestion of cuttlefish. Fortunately, too, this calculus is sometimes found free in the sea, expelled with feces. It took more than a year to distill, age, blend and bond the ingredients.

Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 114

Crayfish

These, in turn, become food for various flatworms and numerous tiny segmented creatures, such as isopods, which, in turn, serve as food for small, blind, white crayfish, lelts and salamanders.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 249

Crab

Many were the savory odors which emerged from behind the screen, from sauces, stews, and soups, rich with shoots, herbs, nuts, spices, vegetables, and peppers, even tarsk and vulo, as well as parsit, crabs, and grunt, emanating from pots brought in from the central kitchens, which served the long tables, outside, the barracks messes, the larger halls, and the smaller halls, such as that of the Three Moons.

Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 428

One could smell fish. The early boats had come in. Grunt and parsit were strung between poles. Crabs were sold from baskets.

Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 68

Clam

"We have eleven varieties of rice here," said the shogun, "variously prepared, in stews, pastes, and cakes, and variously seasoned, with a dozen sauces and herbs. Too, consider the gifts of the sea and shore, from four of my fishing villages, clams, oysters, grunt, bag fish, song fish, shark, eels, octopus, wing fish, parsit, squid."

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 208

Carp

To my right, some two or three feet under the water, I saw the sudden, rolling yellowish flash of the slatted belly of a water tharlarion, turning as it made its swift strike, probably a Vosk carp or marsh turtle.

Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 1

Calculus

That scent, I knew, a distillation of a hundred flowers, nurtured like a priceless wine, was a secret guarded by the perfumers of Ar. It contained as well the separated oil of the Thentis needle tree; an extract from the glands of the Cartius river urt; and a preparation formed from a disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long Whale, the result of the inadequate digestion of cuttlefish. Fortunately, too, this calculus is sometimes found free in the sea, expelled with feces. It took more than a year to distill, age, blend and bond the ingredients.

Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 114

Bag Fish

"We have eleven varieties of rice here," said the shogun, "variously prepared, in stews, pastes, and cakes, and variously seasoned, with a dozen sauces and herbs. Too, consider the gifts of the sea and shore, from four of my fishing villages, clams, oysters, grunt, bag fish, song fish, shark, eels, octopus, wing fish, parsit, squid."

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 208

Aquatic Life of Gor

 Bint

A fanged, carnivorous, freshwater marsh eel which inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi.

Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa.

Explorers of Gor, page 267

Cosian Wingfish

Also known as songfish due to its whistling mating song; a tiny blue salt-water fish with 4 poisonous spines on its dorsal fin, found in the waters off the island of Cos. Its liver is considered a delicacy in Turia.

Near her, one night, lying off her shore, silently, I heard the mating whistles of the tiny, lovely Cosian wingfish. This is a small, delicate fish; it has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin, which are poisonous. It is called the wingfish because it can, on its stiff pectoral fins, for short distances, glide through the air, usually in an attempt to flee small sea tharlarion, who are immune to the poison of the spines. It is also called a songfish, because, in their courtship rituals, males and females thrust their heads from the water, uttering a kind of whistle. Their livers are regarded as a delicacy.

Raiders of Gor, page 139

Dock Eel

A black freshwater eel 4 feet long, weighing 8-10 lbs. Carnivorous and aggressive, they inhabit the shallow waters around the dock and wharves of river ports.

I looked downward. Two or more heads, tapering, menacing, solid, were emerged from the water, looking up at me. Then, striking from under the water, suddenly breaking its surface, another body, some four feet in length, about eight or ten pounds in weight, leapt upward. I felt the jaws snap and scratch against the shearing blade. Then it fell twisting back in the water. It was the blood which excited them.

Guardsman of Gor, page 130

Eel

A voracious animal which can maim or kill a slave in moments. Some varieties are edible. Varieties include river eel, black eel, and spotted eel.

Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive.

Magicians of Gor, page 428

Gint

A tiny freshwater fish which inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi. It has bulbous eyes and flipper-like fins and is amphibious, having both lungs and gills. It is capable of walking on its pectoral fins and is often found in the company of tharlarion, feeding off the scraps of their kills.

I recalled, sunning themselves on the exposed roots near the river, tiny fish. They were bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with tiny flipperlike lateral fins. They had both lungs and gills. Their capacity to leave the water, in certain small streams, during dry seasons, enables them to seek other streams, still flowing, or pools. This property also, of course, makes it possible for them to elude marine predators and, on the land, to return to the water in case of danger. Normally they remain quite close to the water. Sometimes they even sun themselves on the backs of resting or napping tharlarion. Should the tharlarion submerge the tiny fish often submerges with it, staying close to it, but away from its jaws. Its proximity to the tharlarion affords it, interestingly, an effective protection against most of its natural predators, in particular the black eel, which will not approach the sinuous reptiles. Similarly the tiny fish can thrive on the scraps from the ravaging jaws of the feeding tharlarion. They will even drive one another away from their local tharlarion, fighting in contests of intraspecific aggression, over the plated territory of the monster's back. The remora fish and the shark have what seem to be, in some respects, a similar relationship. These tiny fish, incidentally, are called gints.

Explorers of Gor, page 299

Gint, giant

A large cousin of the gint found in western Gor similar in appearance but with a 4-spined dorsal fin. It is also amphibious and capable of walking on its pectoral fins.

The creature which had surfaced near us, perhaps ten feet in length, and a thousand pounds in weight, was scaled and had large, bulging eyes. It had gills, but it, too, gulped air, as it had regarded us. It was similar to the tiny lung fish I had seen earlier on the river, those little creatures clinging to the half-submerged roots of shore trees, and, as often as not, sunning themselves on the backs of tharlarion, those tiny fish called gints. Its pectoral fins were large and fleshy.

Explorers of Gor, page 384

Grunt

A large, carnivorous, salt-water fish which inhabits Thassa. It is often attracted by the blood of a wounded creature.

Book 9, page 59

Grunt, Blue

A small voracious carnivorous freshwater fish related to the Thassa grunt; like its larger cousin it is attracted by blood.

Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa. The blue grunt is particularly dangerous during the daylight hours preceding its mating periods, when it schools. Its mating periods are synchronized with the phases of Gor's major moon, the full moon reflecting on the surface of the water somehow triggering the mating instinct. During the daylight hours preceding such a moon, as the restless grunts school, they will tear anything edible to pieces which crosses their path.

Explorers of Gor, page 267

Grunt, Great Speckled

A fish inhabiting the Thassa and caught as food for sailors.

I saw a great speckled grunt, four-gilled.

Slave Girl of Gor, page 360

Grunt, White

A large game fish that haunts the plankton beds in the Polar North to feed on parsit fish. Its eggs are considered a rare delicacy.

Before each guest there were tiny slices of tospit and larma, small pastries, and, in a tiny golden cup, with a small golden spoon, the clustered, black, tiny eggs of the white grunt.

Fighting Slave of Gor, page 276

Lelt

A small (5-7 inches) blind fish with fernlike filaments at either side of the head which are its sensory organs; white with long fins it swims slowly and is the main food of the salt shark; inhabits the brine pits such as those at Klima in the Tahari.

Lelts are often attracted to the salt rafts, largely by the vibrations in the water, picked up by their abnormally developed lateral-line protrusions, and their fernlike craneal vibration receptos, from the cones and poles. Too, though they are blind, I think either the light, or the heat, perhaps, from our lamps, draws them. The tiny, eyeless heads will thrust from the water, and the fernlike filaments at the side of the head will open and lift, orienting themselves to one or the other of the lamps. The lelt is commonly five to seven inches in length. It is white, and long-finned. It swims slowly and smoothly, its fins moving the water very little, which apparently contributes to its own concealment in a blind environment and makes it easier to detect the vibrations of its prey, any of several varieties of tiny segmented creatures, predominantly isopods. The brain of the lelt is interesting, containing an unusually developed odor-perception center and two vibration-reception centers. Its organ of balance, or hidden "ear," is also unusually large, and is connected with an unusually large balance center in its brain. Its visual center, on the other hand, is stunted and undeveloped, a remnant, a vague genetic memory of an organ long discarded in its evolution.

Tribesmen of Gor, page 247

Marine Saurian

There are two types of marine saurian. One type being harmless with a long neck and rows of sharp teeth. Its feeds on garbage and small fish. The other type is a fish-like predator with long, toothed snouts that are silent and aggressive; sailors fear them as they do the long-bodied sharks.

I had seen, yesterday, the long neck of a marine saurian lift from the waters of gleaming Thassa. It had a small head, and rows of small teeth. Its appendages ere like broad paddles. Then it had lowered its head and disappeared. Such beasts, in spite of their frightening appearance, are apparently harmless to men. They can take only bits of garbage and small fish. Certain related species thrive on crustaceans found among aquatic flora. Further, such beasts are rare. Some sailors, reportedly, have never seen one. Far more common, and dangerous, are certain fishlike marine saurians, with long, toothed snouts; they are silent and aggressive, and sailors fear them as they do the long-bodied sharks.

Slave Girl of Gor, page 360

Oysters

Presumably the same as earthen oysters they are found in the delta of the Vosk.

Other girls had prepared the repast, which, for the war camp, was sumptuous indeed, containing even oysters from the delta of the Vosk, a portion of the plunder of a tarn caravan of Ar, such delicacies having been intended for the very table of Marlenus, the Ubar of that great city itself.

Captive of Gor, page 301

Parsit fish

A silvery fish having brown stripes, the follow the 'parsit current' in the polar basin. In Torvaldsland, it is smoked and dried, stored in barrels, and used in trade to the south.

Book 12, page 38

River shark

A narrow, black, vicious, carnivorous fish with a triangular dorsal fin that inhabits the rivers of Gor.

Something, with a twist of its great spine, had suddenly darted from the waters under the pier and entered the current of the Laurius. I saw the flash of a triangular, black dorsal fin.

I screamed.

Lana looked out, pointing after it. "A river shark," she cried, excitedly.

Captive of Gor, page 79

Salt Shark

A long-bodied (12' or more) carnivorous fish having gills situated under the jaw, several rows of triangular teeth, a sickle-like tail and a sail-like dorsal fin. It inhabits brine pits such as those of the Tahari.

"Look!" I cried. This time it was close, surfacing not ten feet from the raft. We saw the broad, blunt head, eyeless, white. Then it submerged, with a twist of the long spine and tail.

The steerman was white. "It is the Old One," he said. On the whitish back, near the high dorsal fin, there was a long scar. Part of the dorsal fin itself was rent, and scarred. These were lance marks.

"He has come back," said one of the men.

The waters were still.

At the top of the food chain in the pits, a descendant, dark-adapted, of the terrors of the ancient seas, stood the long-bodied nine-gilled salt shark.

Tribesmen of Gor, page 251

Shark, Marsh

Long bodied, nine-gilled inhabitant of the rence island areas of the marsh, they are almost eel-like.

Beyond them would be the almost eel-like, long-bodied, nine-gilled Gorean marsh sharks.

Raiders of Gor, page 58

Sorp

A shellfish, common especially in the Vosk river, it is similar to an oyster and also produces pearls.

"They are probably false stones," I said, "amber droplets, the pearls of the Vosk sorp, the polished shell of the Tamber lam, glass colored and cut in Ar for trade with ignorant southern peoples."

Book 4, page 20

Whale, Baleen

Bluish-white spotted whale with a blunt fin, hunted by the Red Hunters.

Book 12, page 265 and 334

Whale, Hunjer

Toothed whale hunted by the Red Hunters.

Book 12, page 36

Whale, Karl

Four-fluked baleen whale hunted by the Red Hunters.

Book 12, page 36 

02 - Aquatic Life of Gor

 Bint

A fanged, carnivorous, freshwater marsh eel which inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi.

Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa.

Explorers of Gor, page 267

Cosian Wingfish

Also known as songfish due to its whistling mating song; a tiny blue salt-water fish with 4 poisonous spines on its dorsal fin, found in the waters off the island of Cos. Its liver is considered a delicacy in Turia.

Near her, one night, lying off her shore, silently, I heard the mating whistles of the tiny, lovely Cosian wingfish. This is a small, delicate fish; it has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin, which are poisonous. It is called the wingfish because it can, on its stiff pectoral fins, for short distances, glide through the air, usually in an attempt to flee small sea tharlarion, who are immune to the poison of the spines. It is also called a songfish, because, in their courtship rituals, males and females thrust their heads from the water, uttering a kind of whistle. Their livers are regarded as a delicacy.

Raiders of Gor, page 139

Dock Eel

A black freshwater eel 4 feet long, weighing 8-10 lbs. Carnivorous and aggressive, they inhabit the shallow waters around the dock and wharves of river ports.

I looked downward. Two or more heads, tapering, menacing, solid, were emerged from the water, looking up at me. Then, striking from under the water, suddenly breaking its surface, another body, some four feet in length, about eight or ten pounds in weight, leapt upward. I felt the jaws snap and scratch against the shearing blade. Then it fell twisting back in the water. It was the blood which excited them.

Guardsman of Gor, page 130

Eel

A voracious animal which can maim or kill a slave in moments. Some varieties are edible. Varieties include river eel, black eel, and spotted eel.

Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive.

Magicians of Gor, page 428

Gint

A tiny freshwater fish which inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi. It has bulbous eyes and flipper-like fins and is amphibious, having both lungs and gills. It is capable of walking on its pectoral fins and is often found in the company of tharlarion, feeding off the scraps of their kills.

I recalled, sunning themselves on the exposed roots near the river, tiny fish. They were bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with tiny flipperlike lateral fins. They had both lungs and gills. Their capacity to leave the water, in certain small streams, during dry seasons, enables them to seek other streams, still flowing, or pools. This property also, of course, makes it possible for them to elude marine predators and, on the land, to return to the water in case of danger. Normally they remain quite close to the water. Sometimes they even sun themselves on the backs of resting or napping tharlarion. Should the tharlarion submerge the tiny fish often submerges with it, staying close to it, but away from its jaws. Its proximity to the tharlarion affords it, interestingly, an effective protection against most of its natural predators, in particular the black eel, which will not approach the sinuous reptiles. Similarly the tiny fish can thrive on the scraps from the ravaging jaws of the feeding tharlarion. They will even drive one another away from their local tharlarion, fighting in contests of intraspecific aggression, over the plated territory of the monster's back. The remora fish and the shark have what seem to be, in some respects, a similar relationship. These tiny fish, incidentally, are called gints.

Explorers of Gor, page 299

Gint, giant

A large cousin of the gint found in western Gor similar in appearance but with a 4-spined dorsal fin. It is also amphibious and capable of walking on its pectoral fins.

The creature which had surfaced near us, perhaps ten feet in length, and a thousand pounds in weight, was scaled and had large, bulging eyes. It had gills, but it, too, gulped air, as it had regarded us. It was similar to the tiny lung fish I had seen earlier on the river, those little creatures clinging to the half-submerged roots of shore trees, and, as often as not, sunning themselves on the backs of tharlarion, those tiny fish called gints. Its pectoral fins were large and fleshy.

Explorers of Gor, page 384

Grunt

A large, carnivorous, salt-water fish which inhabits Thassa. It is often attracted by the blood of a wounded creature.

Book 9, page 59

Grunt, Blue

A small voracious carnivorous freshwater fish related to the Thassa grunt; like its larger cousin it is attracted by blood.

Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa. The blue grunt is particularly dangerous during the daylight hours preceding its mating periods, when it schools. Its mating periods are synchronized with the phases of Gor's major moon, the full moon reflecting on the surface of the water somehow triggering the mating instinct. During the daylight hours preceding such a moon, as the restless grunts school, they will tear anything edible to pieces which crosses their path.

Explorers of Gor, page 267

Grunt, Great Speckled

A fish inhabiting the Thassa and caught as food for sailors.

I saw a great speckled grunt, four-gilled.

Slave Girl of Gor, page 360

Grunt, White

A large game fish that haunts the plankton beds in the Polar North to feed on parsit fish. Its eggs are considered a rare delicacy.

Before each guest there were tiny slices of tospit and larma, small pastries, and, in a tiny golden cup, with a small golden spoon, the clustered, black, tiny eggs of the white grunt.

Fighting Slave of Gor, page 276

Lelt

A small (5-7 inches) blind fish with fernlike filaments at either side of the head which are its sensory organs; white with long fins it swims slowly and is the main food of the salt shark; inhabits the brine pits such as those at Klima in the Tahari.

Lelts are often attracted to the salt rafts, largely by the vibrations in the water, picked up by their abnormally developed lateral-line protrusions, and their fernlike craneal vibration receptos, from the cones and poles. Too, though they are blind, I think either the light, or the heat, perhaps, from our lamps, draws them. The tiny, eyeless heads will thrust from the water, and the fernlike filaments at the side of the head will open and lift, orienting themselves to one or the other of the lamps. The lelt is commonly five to seven inches in length. It is white, and long-finned. It swims slowly and smoothly, its fins moving the water very little, which apparently contributes to its own concealment in a blind environment and makes it easier to detect the vibrations of its prey, any of several varieties of tiny segmented creatures, predominantly isopods. The brain of the lelt is interesting, containing an unusually developed odor-perception center and two vibration-reception centers. Its organ of balance, or hidden "ear," is also unusually large, and is connected with an unusually large balance center in its brain. Its visual center, on the other hand, is stunted and undeveloped, a remnant, a vague genetic memory of an organ long discarded in its evolution.

Tribesmen of Gor, page 247

Marine Saurian

There are two types of marine saurian. One type being harmless with a long neck and rows of sharp teeth. Its feeds on garbage and small fish. The other type is a fish-like predator with long, toothed snouts that are silent and aggressive; sailors fear them as they do the long-bodied sharks.

I had seen, yesterday, the long neck of a marine saurian lift from the waters of gleaming Thassa. It had a small head, and rows of small teeth. Its appendages ere like broad paddles. Then it had lowered its head and disappeared. Such beasts, in spite of their frightening appearance, are apparently harmless to men. They can take only bits of garbage and small fish. Certain related species thrive on crustaceans found among aquatic flora. Further, such beasts are rare. Some sailors, reportedly, have never seen one. Far more common, and dangerous, are certain fishlike marine saurians, with long, toothed snouts; they are silent and aggressive, and sailors fear them as they do the long-bodied sharks.

Slave Girl of Gor, page 360

Oysters

Presumably the same as earthen oysters they are found in the delta of the Vosk.

Other girls had prepared the repast, which, for the war camp, was sumptuous indeed, containing even oysters from the delta of the Vosk, a portion of the plunder of a tarn caravan of Ar, such delicacies having been intended for the very table of Marlenus, the Ubar of that great city itself.

Captive of Gor, page 301

Parsit fish

A silvery fish having brown stripes, the follow the 'parsit current' in the polar basin. In Torvaldsland, it is smoked and dried, stored in barrels, and used in trade to the south.

Book 12, page 38

River shark

A narrow, black, vicious, carnivorous fish with a triangular dorsal fin that inhabits the rivers of Gor.

Something, with a twist of its great spine, had suddenly darted from the waters under the pier and entered the current of the Laurius. I saw the flash of a triangular, black dorsal fin.

I screamed.

Lana looked out, pointing after it. "A river shark," she cried, excitedly.

Captive of Gor, page 79

Salt Shark

A long-bodied (12' or more) carnivorous fish having gills situated under the jaw, several rows of triangular teeth, a sickle-like tail and a sail-like dorsal fin. It inhabits brine pits such as those of the Tahari.

"Look!" I cried. This time it was close, surfacing not ten feet from the raft. We saw the broad, blunt head, eyeless, white. Then it submerged, with a twist of the long spine and tail.

The steerman was white. "It is the Old One," he said. On the whitish back, near the high dorsal fin, there was a long scar. Part of the dorsal fin itself was rent, and scarred. These were lance marks.

"He has come back," said one of the men.

The waters were still.

At the top of the food chain in the pits, a descendant, dark-adapted, of the terrors of the ancient seas, stood the long-bodied nine-gilled salt shark.

Tribesmen of Gor, page 251

Shark, Marsh

Long bodied, nine-gilled inhabitant of the rence island areas of the marsh, they are almost eel-like.

Beyond them would be the almost eel-like, long-bodied, nine-gilled Gorean marsh sharks.

Raiders of Gor, page 58

Sorp

A shellfish, common especially in the Vosk river, it is similar to an oyster and also produces pearls.

"They are probably false stones," I said, "amber droplets, the pearls of the Vosk sorp, the polished shell of the Tamber lam, glass colored and cut in Ar for trade with ignorant southern peoples."

Book 4, page 20

Whale, Baleen

Bluish-white spotted whale with a blunt fin, hunted by the Red Hunters.

Book 12, page 265 and 334

Whale, Hunjer

Toothed whale hunted by the Red Hunters.

Book 12, page 36

Whale, Karl

Four-fluked baleen whale hunted by the Red Hunters.

Book 12, page 36 

Marine life of Gor

Bint

A fanged, carnivorous, freshwater marsh eel which inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi. 

Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa. 

Explorers of Gor, page 267 

Cosian Wingfish

Also known as songfish due to its whistling mating song; a tiny blue salt-water fish with 4 poisonous spines on its dorsal fin, found in the waters off the island of Cos. Its liver is considered a delicacy in Turia. 

Near her, one night, lying off her shore, silently, I heard the mating whistles of the tiny, lovely Cosian wingfish. This is a small, delicate fish; it has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin, which are poisonous. It is called the wingfish because it can, on its stiff pectoral fins, for short distances, glide through the air, usually in an attempt to flee small sea tharlarion, who are immune to the poison of the spines. It is also called a songfish, because, in their courtship rituals, males and females thrust their heads from the water, uttering a kind of whistle. Their livers are regarded as a delicacy. 

Raiders of Gor, page 139 

Dock Eel 

A black freshwater eel 4 feet long, weighing 8-10 lbs. Carnivorous and aggressive, they inhabit the shallow waters around the dock and wharves of river ports. 

I looked downward. Two or more heads, tapering, menacing, solid, were emerged from the water, looking up at me. Then, striking from under the water, suddenly breaking its surface, another body, some four feet in length, about eight or ten pounds in weight, leapt upward. I felt the jaws snap and scratch against the shearing blade. Then it fell twisting back in the water. It was the blood which excited them. 

Guardsman of Gor, page 130 

Eel

A voracious animal which can maim or kill a slave in moments. Some varieties are edible. Varieties include river eel, black eel, and spotted eel. 

Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive. 

Magicians of Gor, page 428 

Gint 

A tiny freshwater fish which inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi. It has bulbous eyes and flipper-like fins and is amphibious, having both lungs and gills. It is capable of walking on its pectoral fins and is often found in the company of tharlarion, feeding off the scraps of their kills. 

I recalled, sunning themselves on the exposed roots near the river, tiny fish. They were bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with tiny flipperlike lateral fins. They had both lungs and gills. Their capacity to leave the water, in certain small streams, during dry seasons, enables them to seek other streams, still flowing, or pools. This property also, of course, makes it possible for them to elude marine predators and, on the land, to return to the water in case of danger. Normally they remain quite close to the water. Sometimes they even sun themselves on the backs of resting or napping tharlarion. Should the tharlarion submerge the tiny fish often submerges with it, staying close to it, but away from its jaws. Its proximity to the tharlarion affords it, interestingly, an effective protection against most of its natural predators, in particular the black eel, which will not approach the sinuous reptiles. Similarly the tiny fish can thrive on the scraps from the ravaging jaws of the feeding tharlarion. They will even drive one another away from their local tharlarion, fighting in contests of intraspecific aggression, over the plated territory of the monster's back. The remora fish and the shark have what seem to be, in some respects, a similar relationship. These tiny fish, incidentally, are called gints. 

Explorers of Gor, page 299 

Gint, giant

A large cousin of the gint found in western Gor similar in appearance but with a 4-spined dorsal fin. It is also amphibious and capable of walking on its pectoral fins. 

The creature which had surfaced near us, perhaps ten feet in length, and a thousand pounds in weight, was scaled and had large, bulging eyes. It had gills, but it, too, gulped air, as it had regarded us. It was similar to the tiny lung fish I had seen earlier on the river, those little creatures clinging to the half-submerged roots of shore trees, and, as often as not, sunning themselves on the backs of tharlarion, those tiny fish called gints. Its pectoral fins were large and fleshy. 

Explorers of Gor, page 384 

Grunt

A large, carnivorous, salt-water fish which inhabits Thassa. It is often attracted by the blood of a wounded creature. 

Book 9, page 59 

Grunt, Blue 

A small voracious carnivorous freshwater fish related to the Thassa grunt; like its larger cousin it is attracted by blood. 

Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa. The blue grunt is particularly dangerous during the daylight hours preceding its mating periods, when it schools. Its mating periods are synchronized with the phases of Gor's major moon, the full moon reflecting on the surface of the water somehow triggering the mating instinct. During the daylight hours preceding such a moon, as the restless grunts school, they will tear anything edible to pieces which crosses their path. 

Explorers of Gor, page 267 

Grunt, Great Speckled

A fish inhabiting the Thassa and caught as food for sailors. 

I saw a great speckled grunt, four-gilled. 

Slave Girl of Gor, page 360 

Grunt, White 

A large game fish that haunts the plankton beds in the Polar North to feed on parsit fish. Its eggs are considered a rare delicacy. 

Before each guest there were tiny slices of tospit and larma, small pastries, and, in a tiny golden cup, with a small golden spoon, the clustered, black, tiny eggs of the white grunt. 

Fighting Slave of Gor, page 276 

Lelt 

A small (5-7 inches) blind fish with fernlike filaments at either side of the head which are its sensory organs; white with long fins it swims slowly and is the main food of the salt shark; inhabits the brine pits such as those at Klima in the Tahari. 

Lelts are often attracted to the salt rafts, largely by the vibrations in the water, picked up by their abnormally developed lateral-line protrusions, and their fernlike craneal vibration receptos, from the cones and poles. Too, though they are blind, I think either the light, or the heat, perhaps, from our lamps, draws them. The tiny, eyeless heads will thrust from the water, and the fernlike filaments at the side of the head will open and lift, orienting themselves to one or the other of the lamps. The lelt is commonly five to seven inches in length. It is white, and long-finned. It swims slowly and smoothly, its fins moving the water very little, which apparently contributes to its own concealment in a blind environment and makes it easier to detect the vibrations of its prey, any of several varieties of tiny segmented creatures, predominantly isopods. The brain of the lelt is interesting, containing an unusually developed odor-perception center and two vibration-reception centers. Its organ of balance, or hidden "ear," is also unusually large, and is connected with an unusually large balance center in its brain. Its visual center, on the other hand, is stunted and undeveloped, a remnant, a vague genetic memory of an organ long discarded in its evolution. 

Tribesmen of Gor, page 247 

Marine Saurian

There are two types of marine saurian. One type being harmless with a long neck and rows of sharp teeth. Its feeds on garbage and small fish. The other type is a fish-like predator with long, toothed snouts that are silent and aggressive; sailors fear them as they do the long-bodied sharks. 

I had seen, yesterday, the long neck of a marine saurian lift from the waters of gleaming Thassa. It had a small head, and rows of small teeth. Its appendages ere like broad paddles. Then it had lowered its head and disappeared. Such beasts, in spite of their frightening appearance, are apparently harmless to men. They can take only bits of garbage and small fish. Certain related species thrive on crustaceans found among aquatic flora. Further, such beasts are rare. Some sailors, reportedly, have never seen one. Far more common, and dangerous, are certain fishlike marine saurians, with long, toothed snouts; they are silent and aggressive, and sailors fear them as they do the long-bodied sharks. 

Slave Girl of Gor, page 360 

Oysters 

Presumably the same as earthen oysters they are found in the delta of the Vosk. 

Other girls had prepared the repast, which, for the war camp, was sumptuous indeed, containing even oysters from the delta of the Vosk, a portion of the plunder of a tarn caravan of Ar, such delicacies having been intended for the very table of Marlenus, the Ubar of that great city itself. 

Captive of Gor, page 301 

Parsit fish 

A silvery fish having brown stripes, the follow the 'parsit current' in the polar basin. In Torvaldsland, it is smoked and dried, stored in barrels, and used in trade to the south. 

Book 12, page 38 

River shark 

A narrow, black, vicious, carnivorous fish with a triangular dorsal fin that inhabits the rivers of Gor. 

Something, with a twist of its great spine, had suddenly darted from the waters under the pier and entered the current of the Laurius. I saw the flash of a triangular, black dorsal fin. 

I screamed. 

Lana looked out, pointing after it. "A river shark," she cried, excitedly. 

Captive of Gor, page 79 

Salt Shark 

A long-bodied (12' or more) carnivorous fish having gills situated under the jaw, several rows of triangular teeth, a sickle-like tail and a sail-like dorsal fin. It inhabits brine pits such as those of the Tahari. 

"Look!" I cried. This time it was close, surfacing not ten feet from the raft. We saw the broad, blunt head, eyeless, white. Then it submerged, with a twist of the long spine and tail. 

The steerman was white. "It is the Old One," he said. On the whitish back, near the high dorsal fin, there was a long scar. Part of the dorsal fin itself was rent, and scarred. These were lance marks. 

"He has come back," said one of the men. 

The waters were still. 

At the top of the food chain in the pits, a descendant, dark-adapted, of the terrors of the ancient seas, stood the long-bodied nine-gilled salt shark. 

Tribesmen of Gor, page 251 

Shark, Marsh

Long bodied, nine-gilled inhabitant of the rence island areas of the marsh, they are almost eel-like. 

Beyond them would be the almost eel-like, long-bodied, nine-gilled Gorean marsh sharks. 

Raiders of Gor, page 58 

Sorp

A shellfish, common especially in the Vosk river, it is similar to an oyster and also produces pearls. 

"They are probably false stones," I said, "amber droplets, the pearls of the Vosk sorp, the polished shell of the Tamber lam, glass colored and cut in Ar for trade with ignorant southern peoples." 

Book 4, page 20 

Whale, Baleen 

Bluish-white spotted whale with a blunt fin, hunted by the Red Hunters. 

Book 12, page 265 and 334 

Whale, Hunjer 

Toothed whale hunted by the Red Hunters. 

Book 12, page 36 

Whale, Karl 

Four-fluked baleen whale hunted by the Red Hunters. 

Book 12, page 36 

0.The Urt People

 The Urt People, from Players of Gor, chapters 12 and 13.

The evening of my second day in this captivity, which was the fourth following my capture, the representative of the urt people had been thrust in with me. I did not much welcome his company. He was, however, familiar with the routines of the prison. 

The urt people learn quickly. They are rational. Some people keep them as pets. I think they are, or at one time were, a form of human being. Probably long ago, as some forms of urts became commensals with human beings, so, too, some humans may have become commensals, traveling companions, sharers at the same table, so to speak, with the migratory urt packs. 

"What do they call you here?" I asked.

"Nim, Nim," it said.

"I cam called Bosk," I said. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I do not owe this to you," I said. "It is mine." 

The creature shrank back a bit, frightened. 

"But I might give it to you," I said. 

It looked at me. 

I broke off a piece of the pit fruit and handed it to him. He ate it quickly, watching me. 

"Come here," I said. "Up here." I indicated the surface of the table. 

He leapt up to the surface of the table, squatting there. 

I broke off another bit of the hard fruit and handed it to him. "What is your name?" I asked. 

He uttered a kind of hissing squeal. I supposed that might be his name. The urt people, as I understood it, commonly communicate among themselves in the pack by means of such signals. How complicated or sophisticated those signals might be I did not know. They did tend to resemble the natural noises of urts. In this I supposed they tended to make their presence among the urts less obvious to outside observers and perhaps, too, less obvious, or obtrusive, to the urts themselves. Too, however, I knew the urt people could, and did upon occasion, as in their rare contacts with civilized folk, communicate in a type of Gorean, many of the words evidencing obvious linguistic corruptions for others, interestingly, apparently closely resembling archaic Gorean, a language not spoken popularly on Gor, except by members of the caste of Initiates, for hundreds of years. I had little difficulty, however, in understanding him. He seemed an intelligent creature, and his Gorean was doubtless quite different from the common trade Gorean of the urt people. It had doubtless been much refined and improved in the prison. The urt people learn quickly. They are rational. Some people keep them as pets. I think they are, or at one time were, a form of human being. Probably long ago, as some forms of urts became commensals with human beings, so, too, some humans may have become commensals, traveling companions, sharers at the same table, so to speak, with the migratory urt packs. 

"What do they call you here?" I asked. 

"Nim, Nim," it said. 

"I cam called Bosk," I said. 

Players of Gor page 268 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure these are your people?" I asked, curious about the matter. Urts looked much alike from my point of view. To be sure, I supposed one could come to distinguish them individually after a time. 

"yes," said Nim Nim proudly. "There is," and he made a whistling sound, "and there is," and there again he made a piping, hissing, whistling noise, pointing out two urts. "and there is," he said, adding in another noise, "our leader!" he had indicated a large, dark-furred, broken-tusked urt, a gigantic creature for this type of animal, with small eyes and a silvered snout. I did not doubt that Nim Nim knew what he was talking about. This was surely his pack. There could be no doubt about it. 

"The people tear Bosk to pieces!" called Nim Nim. "The people do not hurt Nim Nim! Nim Nim is of the people. Nim Nim safe!" 

I looked back at the crest of the hill. The sleen had not yet been released. "Nim Nim tricked pretty Bosk!" he said. "Nim Nim smart! Nim Nim free now! Nim Nim safe!" 

I wondered how it was that the urt people could travel with the urt packs. I knew that even strange urts were often torn to pieces when they attempted to approach a new pack. How, then, could the urt people, who were obviously human, or something like human, run with impunity with them? It made no sense. But there must be an explanation, a reason, I thought, some sort of empirical, scientific explanation or reason. Perhaps something had been selected for, somehow, in the recognition and acceptance dispositions of the urt people and the packs. I saw the leader of the pack, he identified as that by Nim Nim, looking at me. I doubted that it could see me too well. Urts tend to be myopic. He had his nose lifted toward me. I saw it twitching and sniffing. Suddenly the hair rose on the back of my neck. "Do not enter the pack!" I called out to Nim Nim. "Don?t!" 

"Pretty Bosk want to hurt Nim Nim!" he cried. He moved toward the pack. "Don?t go into the pack!" I cried out to him. "I am staying here! I am not approaching! I will not hurt you! Do not enter the pack!" 

Players of Gor page 278 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clearly, as I now understood, the recognition and acceptance disposition of the pack was connected with smell. There must be, in effect, a pack odor. If something had this it would be accepted. If it lacked it, it would not be accepted. Indeed, the lack of the pack odor apparently triggered the attack response. the hideous squeal which was so terrifying, so shrill and piercing, which had such an effect on the other animals, was presumably something like a stranger-in-our-midst signal, a stranger-recognition 

Players of Gor Page 280 

Urt Soldiers: a warrior society of the Yellow Knife tribe of Red Savages. Book 17: Savages of Gor, page 314 

Topics to be filed in a scirbe hall

 Submissions

Guardianships

Adoptions

Legal Wardship

Protections

Dissolution Petition

Companionships

Dissolutions

Caste Change 

Name Change

Caste Registrations

Banishments

Citizenships

Captures

Bill of Sale

Abandonment

Runaways

Seizures 

Fighting Permits

Trauma/Treatments

City Kennels Ownership

Slave Registration

Slave Exams

Free Exams

Manumissions

Expulsions

Business Registrations

Lease

Employment: caste registration

Accounting 

Alliances

Trade Agreements

Diplomatic Initiatives 

Safe Passages

Correspondence

Misc Caste Records

Tax Forms/Quarter Bills

Incident Reports

Complaints

Magistrate Reports

Warrior Investigations

Court Orders

Civil Orders

Defense/Prosecution

Merchant Magistrates Reports

Summons

Warrents

Types of building

 Builders of Roads

SEE Gorean Roads between cities. 

The road, like most Gorean roads, was built like a wall in the earth and was intended to last a hundred generations. The Gorean, having little idea of progress in our sense, takes great care in his building and workmanship. What he builds he expects men to use until the storms of time have worn it to dust. Yet this road, for all the loving craft of the Caste of Builders which had been lavished upon it, was only an unpretentious, subsidiary road, hardly wide enough for two carts to pass. Indeed, even the main roads to Ko-ro- ba were a far cry from the great highways that led to and from a metropolis like Ar. 

Outlaw

Materials used for building roads

This was not the only breach in the walls, of course, but it was that which was nearest to our lodgings. Here some hundreds, at least, were laboring. Others, of course, on the other side of the wall, would be gathering up tumbled stone, loading it and removing it from the area. The walls of Ar, in effect, had become a quarry. This would, I suppose, depress the market for stone in various cities, perhaps even as far away as Venna. There were many uses for such stone, but most had to do with materials for building, paving and fill. Much of the stone would be pounded into gravel by prisoners and slaves far from the city. This gravel was used mainly for bedding primary roads and paving secondary roads. There were, at present, nineteen such breaches about the city. These breaches, multiplying the avenues of possible assault on the city, were not randomly located. They were set at tactically optimum sites for such assaults and distributed in such a manner as to require the maximum dispersal of defensive forces. The pursued objective, of course, (pg. 118) was to multiply and join breaches, until the razing of the walls of Ar was complete. 

Magicians

Streets of Ar made of stone with large flat stepping stones for crossing street in rain

I was barefooted and not used to so walking the stone streets of Ar. Hooded, it was further difficult to pick my way. Particularly was I angered by the occasional large, flat blocks of stone placed across the streets, low enough to permit a wagon to pass over them, and separated by enough distance to allow the passage of a wagon's wheels, but surely a threat to a tethered fool, shackled and hooded, led on a chain behind a wagon. The purpose of the blocks, which are used where the streets are curbed, is to provide stepping stones for crossing the street when there have been heavy rains.

Assassin

Types of Buildings, Materials, & Architecture

Flat narrow bricks common in southern Gorean architechture

There, some fifty yards away, kneeling, huddled together against the brick wall of a public building, the wall composed of the flat, narrow bricks common in southern Gorean architecture, was a group of some one hundred to one hundred and fifty females.

Mercenaries

Glazing substance for the outside of cylinders

The marvelous glazing substances of the Caste of Builders, long prohibited as frivolous and expensive, began to appear on the walls of the cylinders, even on the walls of the city itself. 

Outlaw

Blocks of colored stone to pave streets

Graveled streets are now being paved with blocks of colored stone set in patterns to delight the eye. 

Outlaw - Taking place in Tharna

Marble floor on the Seminium

Within the entrance to the Semnium was a marble-floored, lofty hall. Passageways and stairways led variously from this broad vestibule. 

Mercenaries

Mosaics on walls of Seminium

The walls were adorned with mosaics, scenes generally of civic life, prominent among them were scenes of public gatherings, conferences and processions. One depicted the laying of the first stone in Torcadinos walls, an act which presumably would have taken place more than seven hundred years ago, when, according to the legends, the first wall, only a dozen feet high, was built to encircle and protect a great, sprawling encampment at the joining of trade routes.

Mercenaries

Steel and iron girders used in building of towers

Although we had come up several flights, we were probably not more than seventy or eighty feet Gorean from the street level. Without girders, frame steel and timber iron, as the Goreans say wrought in the iron shops, such as are used in the towers, physics, even indexed to the Gorean gravity, is quick to impose its inexorable limits on heights. Such buildings tend to be vulnerable to structural stresses, and are sometimes weakened by slight movements of the earth. Sometimes walls give way; sometimes entire floors collapse.

Mercenaries

What the job entailed

Builders had to work within local ordinances regarding various structures

There, in one wall, was a long crack. The floor creaked, too, in places, as one trod upon it. I trusted this was merely from the disrepair and age of the boards. Insulae are seldom maintained well. They are cheap to build, and easily replaced. Their structure is primarily wood and brick. There are ordinances governing how high they may be built. 

Mercenaries 

Sharing techniques with other members of the caste

Further, members of castes such as the Physicians and Builders use the fairs for the dissemination of information and techniques among Caste Brothers, as is prescribed in their codes in spite of the fact that their respective cities may be hostile. 

Priest Kings

Similarly men of such castes as the Physicians and Builders make use of the fairs to disseminate and exchange information pertaining to their respective crafts.

Outlaw

Building roads

Do you know where lies the old in of Ragnar, on the old west road? he asked. Yes, she said. It is now abandoned, is it not? It is not now in use, he said, though it is occasionally reopened when there is an overflow of folks from Torvaldsland, come for the fair. Some two years ago the merchants and builders had opened the road of Cyprianus, named for the engineer in charge of the project, which led to the fairs rather from the southwest. This had considerably reduced the traffic on the road of Clearchus, now to its north, which had approached the fairs in such a way as to favor the traffic from the northwest, with the result that several of the establishments on the road of Clearchus had been abandoned or relocated. One advantage of the more southern route is that it passes through less rough terrain, terrain which provides less cover for highwaymen. In particular, it does not pass, for several pasangs, though the woods of Clearchus. 

Players

Known Accomplishments of Builders

Developed Slave Goad with Caste of Physicians

On the other side of the belt, there hung a slave goad, rather like the tarn goad, except that it is designed to be used as an instrument for the control of human beings rather than tarns. It was, like the tarn goad, developed jointly by the Caste of Physicians and that of the Builders, the Physicians contributing knowledge of the pain fibers of human beings, the networks of nerve endings, and the Builders contributing certain principles and techniques developed in the construction and manufacture of energy bulbs. Unlike the tarn goad which has a simple on-off switch in the handle, the slave goad works with both a switch and a dial, and the intensity of the charge administered can be varied from an infliction which is only distinctly unpleasant to one which is instantly lethal. 

Assassin 

Builder Quotes

 "On the other hand, the High Castes, specifically the Warriors, Builders, Scribes, Initiates, and Physicians...." Tarnsman of Gor, page 41

"In Ar, for example, early in the day, a member of the Builders will go to the roof on which the Home Stone is kept and place the primitive symbol of his trade, a metal angle square, before the Stone, praying to the Priest-Kings for the prosperity of his caste in the coming year; later in the day a Warrior will, similarly, place his arms before the Stone, to be followed by other representatives of each caste. Most significantly, while these members of the High Castes perform their portions of the ritual, the Guards of the Home Stone temporarily withdraw to the interior of the cylinder, leaving the celebrant, it is said, alone with the Priest-Kings." 

Book 1, Tarnsman of Gor, page 68 

"Inside the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement." 

Book 1, Tarnsman of Gor, page 197 

"The road, like most Gorean roads, was built like a wall in the earth and was intended to last a hundred generations. The Gorean, having little idea of progress in our sense, takes great care in his building and workmanship. What he builds he expects men to use until the storms of time have worn it to dust. Yet this road, for all the loving craft of the Caste of Builders which had been lavished upon it, was only an unpretentious, subsidiary road, hardly wide enough for two carts to pass. Indeed, even the main roads to Ko-ro-ba were a far cry from the great highways that led to and from a metropolis like Ar." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, page 25 

"...Similarly men of such castes as the Physicians and Builders make use of the fairs to disseminate and exchange information pertaining to their respective crafts." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, pages 47 - 48 

"In the streets of Tharna shortly after the end of the revolt the caste colors of Gor began to appear openly in the garments of the citizens. The marvelous glazing substances of the Caste of Builders, long prohibited as frivolous and expensive, began to appear on the walls of the cylinders, even on the walls of the city itself. Graveled streets are now being paved with blocks of colored stone set in patterns to delight the eye. The wood of the great gate has been polished and its brass burnished. New paint blazes upon the bridges." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, pages 247 - 248 

"It is little wonder that the cities of Gor support and welcome the fairs. Sometimes they provide a common ground on which territorial and commercial dispute may be amicably resolved without loss of honour, plenipotentiaries of warring cities having apparently met by accident among the silken pavilions. 

Further, members of castes such as the Physicians and Builders use the fairs for the dissemination of information and techniques among Caste Brothers, as is prescribed in their codes in spite of the fact that their respective cities may be hostile. And as might be expected members of the Caste of Scribes gather here to enter into dispute and examine and trade manuscripts." 

Book 3, Priest-Kings of Gor, page 9 

"The man from the Caste of Builders then sat cross-legged on the ground and took from the pouch slung at his waist a tiny, cylindrical Gorean fire-maker, a small silverish tube commonly used for igniting cooking fires. He unscrewed the cap and I could see the tip of the implement, as it was exposed to the air, begin to glow a fiery red....screwing the fire-maker shut, replaced it in his pouch." 

Book 3, Priest-Kings of Gor, page 138 

"It might be mentioned, for those unaware of the fact, that the Caste of Merchants is not considered one of the traditional five High Castes of Gor the Initiates, Scribes, Physicians, Builders and Warriors. Most commonly, and doubtless unfortunately, it is only members of the five high castes who occupy positions on the High Councils of the cities. Nonetheless, as might be expected, the gold of merchants, in most cities, exercises its not imponderable influence, not always in so vulgar a form as bribery and gratuities, but more often in the delicate matters of extending or refusing to extend credit in connection with the projects, desires or needs of the High Councils." 

Book 4, Nomads of Gor, page 84 

"The walls were crowded, and I supposed many upon them used the long glasses of the Caste of Builders to observe the field of the stakes." 

Book 4, Nomads of Gor, page 113 

"Of special interest to me was the fact that this room, primitive though it might be, was lit by what, in Gorean, is called an energy bulb, an invention of the Builders. I could see neither cords nor battery cases. Yet the room was filled with a soft, gentle white light, which the physician could regulate by rotating the base of the bulb." 

Book 7, Captive of Gor, pages 93 - 94 

The builders

 ~Builders~

In authenticated gold, naturally, added Chino.

Authenticated gold? asked Petrucchio.

Of course, said Chino. If you have not had the coins authenticated, my friend, Lecchio, here is certified by the caste of Builders to perform the relevant tests. &&&..Players of Gor, page 297

Inside the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs, spaced in pairs every hundred yards or so. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement&.Tarnsman of Gor, page 197

I had not realized how vast was the city, said one of the men.

It is large, said another fellow.

There is the Central Cylinder! said a man, pointing.

The high, uprearing walls of the city, some hundred feet or more in height, the sun bright upon them, stretched into the distance. They were now white&..It was hard to look at them, for the glare upon them. We could see the great gate, too, and the main road leading to it, the Viktel Aria&.Within the gamut of those gleaming walls, so lofty and mighty, rose thousands of buildings, and a veritable forest of ascent towers, of diverse heights and colors. Many of these towers, I knew, were joined by traceries of soaring bridges, set at different levels.

I do not think I have ever seen anything so beautiful, said a man.

We were looking upon what was doubtless the greatest city of known Gor...Mercenaries of Gor, page 255 & 256 

The Roads ~~~The Buildings

 

** The Roads **

The road, like most Gorean roads, was built like a wall in the earth and was intended to last a hundred generations. The Gorean, having little idea of progress in our sense, takes great care in his building and workmanship. What he builds he expects men to use until the storms of time have worn it to dust. Yet this road, for all the loving craft of the Caste of Builders which had been lavished upon it, was only an unpretentious, subsidiary road, hardly wide enough for two carts to pass. Indeed, even the main roads to Ko-ro-ba were a far cry from the great highways that led to and from a metropolis like Ar .....&.Outlaw of Gor, page 25 

Neither of these roads, incidentally, are great roads, in the sense of being mounted in the earth several feet deep, built of stone like a sunken wall, the sort of roads which are often intended to last a thousand years, the sort of roads which, typically, are found in the vicinity of large cities or are intended to be military roads, speeding directly to traditionally disputed territories or linking strategic points. These roads are both secondary roads, so to speak, generally graveled and rutted; occasionally they are paved with such materials as logs and plated stone; they can be almost impassable in rainy weather and in dry, warm weather, they are often dusty. Tertiary roads, so to speak, are often little more than unfrequented, twisting trails. There is often talk of improving the secondary roads, and sometimes something is done, but generally little is accomplished. The major consideration, of course, is money. Too, many roads, for great portions of their length are not clearly within the jurisdiction of given states &&&.Players of Gor, page 100 and 101 

 

 

 

 

Gorean Caste - Builder Quotes

 "On the other hand, the High Castes, specifically the Warriors, Builders, Scribes, Initiates, and Physicians...." Tarnsman of Gor, page 41

"In Ar, for example, early in the day, a member of the Builders will go to the roof on which the Home Stone is kept and place the primitive symbol of his trade, a metal angle square, before the Stone, praying to the Priest-Kings for the prosperity of his caste in the coming year; later in the day a Warrior will, similarly, place his arms before the Stone, to be followed by other representatives of each caste. Most significantly, while these members of the High Castes perform their portions of the ritual, the Guards of the Home Stone temporarily withdraw to the interior of the cylinder, leaving the celebrant, it is said, alone with the Priest-Kings." 

Book 1, Tarnsman of Gor, page 68 

"Inside the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement." 

Book 1, Tarnsman of Gor, page 197 

"The road, like most Gorean roads, was built like a wall in the earth and was intended to last a hundred generations. The Gorean, having little idea of progress in our sense, takes great care in his building and workmanship. What he builds he expects men to use until the storms of time have worn it to dust. Yet this road, for all the loving craft of the Caste of Builders which had been lavished upon it, was only an unpretentious, subsidiary road, hardly wide enough for two carts to pass. Indeed, even the main roads to Ko-ro-ba were a far cry from the great highways that led to and from a metropolis like Ar." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, page 25 

"...Similarly men of such castes as the Physicians and Builders make use of the fairs to disseminate and exchange information pertaining to their respective crafts." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, pages 47 - 48 

"In the streets of Tharna shortly after the end of the revolt the caste colors of Gor began to appear openly in the garments of the citizens. The marvelous glazing substances of the Caste of Builders, long prohibited as frivolous and expensive, began to appear on the walls of the cylinders, even on the walls of the city itself. Graveled streets are now being paved with blocks of colored stone set in patterns to delight the eye. The wood of the great gate has been polished and its brass burnished. New paint blazes upon the bridges." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, pages 247 - 248 

"It is little wonder that the cities of Gor support and welcome the fairs. Sometimes they provide a common ground on which territorial and commercial dispute may be amicably resolved without loss of honour, plenipotentiaries of warring cities having apparently met by accident among the silken pavillions. 

Further, members of castes such as the Physicians and Builders use the fairs for the dissemination of information and techniques among Caste Brothers, as is prescribed in their codes in spite of the fact that their respective cities may be hostile. And as might be expected members of the Caste of Scribes gather here to enter into dispute and examine and trade manuscripts." 

Book 3, Priest-Kings of Gor, page 9 

"The man from the Caste of Builders then sat cross-legged on the ground and took from the pouch slung at his waist a tiny, cylindrical Gorean fire-maker, a small silverish tube commonly used for igniting cooking fires. He unscrewed the cap and I could see the tip of the implement, as it was exposed to the air, begin to glow a fiery red....screwing the fire-maker shut, replaced it in his pouch." 

Book 3, Priest-Kings of Gor, page 138 

"It might be mentioned, for those unaware of the fact, that the Caste of Merchants is not considered one of the traditional five High Castes of Gor the Initiates, Scribes, Physicians, Builders and Warriors. Most commonly, and doubtless unfortunately, it is only members of the five high castes who occupy positions on the High Councils of the cities. Nonetheless, as might be expected, the gold of merchants, in most cities, exercises its not imponderable influence, not always in so vulgar a form as bribery and gratuities, but more often in the delicate matters of extending or refusing to extend credit in connection with the projects, desires or needs of the High Councils." 

Book 4, Nomads of Gor, page 84 

"The walls were crowded, and I supposed many upon them used the long glasses of the Caste of Builders to observe the field of the stakes." 

Book 4, Nomads of Gor, page 113 

"Of special interest to me was the fact that this room, primitive though it might be, was lit by what, in Gorean, is called an energy bulb, an invention of the Builders. I could see neither cords nor battery cases. Yet the room was filled with a soft, gentle white light, which the physician could regulate by rotating the base of the bulb." 

Book 7, Captive of Gor, pages 93 - 94 

The Caste of Builders

 The Caste of Builders

 

Builders Caste - (Third of the High Castes), the caste which includes architects, draftsmen, stonemasonsand many others, which concern themselves with the creations of the physical and engineering marvels of Gor. Also among the caste of Builders are the inventors and technicians who develop such works.   

Caste Color: Yellow. 

"On the other hand, the High Castes, specifically the Warriors, Builders, Scribes, Initiates, and Physicians...." 

~ Tarnsman of Gor, p. 41 ~

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Third of the High Castes

Includes Architects, Draftsmen, Stone Masons and other such People. 

"In Ar, for example, early in the day, a member of the Builders will go to the roof on which the Home Stone is kept and place the primitive symbol of his trade, a metal angle square, before the Stone, praying to the Priest-Kings for the prosperity of his caste in the coming year; later in the day a Warrior will, similarly, place his arms before the Stone, to be followed by other representatives of each caste. Most significantly, while these members of the High Castes perform their portions of the ritual, the Guards of the Home Stone temporarily withdraw to the interior of the cylinder, leaving the celebrant, it is said, alone with the Priest-Kings." 

Book 1, Tarnsman of Gor, page 68 

"Inside the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement." 

Book 1, Tarnsman of Gor, page 197 

"The road, like most Gorean roads, was built like a wall in the earth and was intended to last a hundred generations. The Gorean, having little idea of progress in our sense, takes great care in his building and workmanship. What he builds he expects men to use until the storms of time have worn it to dust. Yet this road, for all the loving craft of the Caste of Builders which had been lavished upon it, was only an unpretentious, subsidiary road, hardly wide enough for two carts to pass. Indeed, even the main roads to Ko-ro-ba were a far cry from the great highways that led to and from a metropolis like Ar." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, page 25 

"...Similarly men of such castes as the Physicians and Builders make use of the fairs to disseminate and exchange information pertaining to their respective crafts." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, pages 47 - 48 

"In the streets of Tharna shortly after the end of the revolt the caste colors of Gor began to appear openly in the garments of the citizens. The marvelous glazing substances of the Caste of Builders, long prohibited as frivolous and expensive, began to appear on the walls of the cylinders, even on the walls of the city itself. Graveled streets are now being paved with blocks of colored stone set in patterns to delight the eye. The wood of the great gate has been polished and its brass burnished. New paint blazes upon the bridges." 

Book 2, Outlaw of Gor, pages 247 - 248 

"It is little wonder that the cities of Gor support and welcome the fairs. Sometimes they provide a common ground on which territorial and commercial dispute may be amicably resolved without loss of honour, plenipotentiaries of warring cities having apparently met by accident among the silken pavillions. 

Further, members of castes such as the Physicians and Builders use the fairs for the dissemination of information and techniques among Caste Brothers, as is prescribed in their codes in spite of the fact that their respective cities may be hostile. And as might be expected members of the Caste of Scribes gather here to enter into dispute and examine and trade manuscripts." 

Book 3, Priest-Kings of Gor, page 9 

"The man from the Caste of Builders then sat cross-legged on the ground and took from the pouch slung at his waist a tiny, cylindrical Gorean fire-maker, a small silverish tube commonly used for igniting cooking fires. He unscrewed the cap and I could see the tip of the implement, as it was exposed to the air, begin to glow a fiery red....screwing the fire-maker shut, replaced it in his pouch." 

Book 3, Priest-Kings of Gor, page 138 

"It might be mentioned, for those unaware of the fact, that the Caste of Merchants is not considered one of the traditional five High Castes of Gor the Initiates, Scribes, Physicians, Builders and Warriors. Most commonly, and doubtless unfortunately, it is only members of the five high castes who occupy positions on the High Councils of the cities. Nonetheless, as might be expected, the gold of merchants, in most cities, exercises its not imponderable influence, not always in so vulgar a form as bribery and gratuities, but more often in the delicate matters of extending or refusing to extend credit in connection with the projects, desires or needs of the High Councils." 

Book 4, Nomads of Gor, page 84 

"The walls were crowded, and I supposed many upon them used the long glasses of the Caste of Builders to observe the field of the stakes." 

Book 4, Nomads of Gor, page 113 

"Of special interest to me was the fact that this room, primitive though it might be, was lit by what, in Gorean, is called an energy bulb, an invention of the Builders. I could see neither cords nor battery cases. Yet the room was filled with a soft, gentle white light, which the physician could regulate by rotating the base of the bulb." 

Book 7, Captive of Gor, pages 93 - 94 

Builders Caste Information

 Builder's Caste:  

This is one of the High Castes of Gor and third in line of importance.  Their caste color is yellow and their symbol is a metal angle square.  This caste includes such subcastes as Architects, Draftsmen, Stonemasons and others.  In general, they are the builders and inventors of Gor.  The Glass of the Builders, a telescope, is one of their inventions.  They also created the energy bulb, a special type of light bulb, over a century ago.  With help from the Physician's Caste, they also developed the slave goad.  In general, only free men are allowed to build on Gor.  Only the city of Port Kar was constructed by slaves.  The Builder's Caste can also verify the authenticity of gold.  Though this is an important Caste, little is told about it in the books. 

Ship Builders:   Shipwrights may form their own Caste though it seems logical that they could be a subcaste of the Builder's Caste.  Other craftsmen that contribute to the building of a ship, such as sail-makers, rope-makers, pulley-makers, oar-makers, sawyers, and carpenters are all not their own Caste or subcaste.  In Port Kar, they basically form guilds and not Castes.  This may apply to other port cities as well though that is not a given. 

............................................................................................................................................................................................................

The third High Caste is the Builders. Their Caste Color is Yellow. The Builders are the engineers, physicists, and physical scientists of Gor. They developed the Energy Bulbs, co-developed the Slave and Tarn Goads with the Physicians, and have developed the telescope, which is referred to as the "glass of the Builders." They are also highly proficient civil engineers: the cities of Gor have good waste management, aqueducts, and impressively large buildings.

............................................................................................................................................................................................................

CASTE OF BUILDERS: ~ Yellow ~ Included in this caste are architects, draftsmen, stonemasons, engineers, and other professions which are concerned with the physical creations and engineering works of Gor. Inventors and technicians who develop these types of physical creations are also included in this caste.

THE CASTE OF BUILDERS

 THE CASTE OF BUILDERS

--------------------------

One of the five High Castes of Gor and accorded the third highest status (above Physicians and Warriors, but below Scribes and Initiates). 

The caste colour is yellow and the caste symbol is the angle square.

 This caste includes such subcastes as Architects, Draftsmen, Stonemasons and others.  In general, they are the builders and inventors of Gor.  The Glass of the Builders, a telescope, is one of their inventions.  They also created the energy bulb, a special type of light bulb, over a century ago.  With help from the Physician's Caste, they also developed the slave goad.  In general, only free men are allowed to build on Gor.  Only the city of Port Kar was constructed by slaves.  The Builder's Caste can also verify the authenticity of gold.  Though this is an important Caste, little is told about it in the books. 

This caste and its many sub-castes concern themselves with the acquisition and preparation of sa-tassna, all forms of edible Gorean meat. In conjunction with the caste of Bakers, this caste and its many sub castes are responsible for maintaining the majority of the Gorean industries involved with food service.

>>

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, the ascending tiers, blue, yellow, green, and red, were occupied by representatives of the Scribes, Builders, Physicians, and Warriors. ..... I was pleased to note that my own caste, that of the Warriors, was accorded the least status; if I had had my will, the warriors would not have been a High Caste. On the other hand, I objected to the Initiates being in the place of honour, as it seemed to me that they, even more than the Warriors, were nonproductive members of society.

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

>>In Ar, for example, early in the day, a member of the Builders will go to the roof on which the Home Stone is kept and place the primitive symbol of his trade, a metal angle square, before the Stone, praying to the Priest-Kings for the prosperity of his caste in the coming year;

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

DUTIES OF THE BUILDERS CASTE

----------------------------------

1.)The builders caste are responsible for the design and construction of buildings, walls, palaces, fortifications, roads and other such public works....

>>

"As you might have surmised," said Misk, "your city is being rebuilt. Those of Ko-ro-ba have come from the corners of Gor, each singing, each bearing a stone to add to the walls. For many months, while you labored in our service in the Lands of the Wagon Peoples, thousands upon thousands of those of Ko-ro-ba have returned to the city. Builders and others, all who were free, have worked upon the walls and towers. Ko-ro-ba rises again."

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

.....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.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

The road, like most Gorean roads, was built like a wall in the earth and was intended to last a hundred generations. The Gorean, having little idea of progress in our sense, takes great care in his building and workmanship. What he builds he expects men to use until the storms of time have worn it to dust. Yet this road, for all the loving craft of the Caste of Builders which had been lavished upon it, was only an unpretentious, subsidiary road, hardly wide enough for two carts to pass.

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

>>

Some two years ago the merchants and builders had opened the road of Cyprianus, named for the engineer in charge of the project, which led to the fairs rather from the southwest.

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

  

2.) The builders also produce building materials......

>>

In the streets of Tharna shortly after the end of the revolt the caste colours of Gor began to appear openly in the garments of the citizens. The marvelous glazing substances of the Caste of Builders, long prohibited as frivolous and expensive, began to appear on the walls of the cylinders, even on the walls of the city itself.

OUTLAW OF GOR

<<

>>

The new Administrator of Ar was a man named Minus Tentius Hinrabius, an unimportant man except for being of the Hinrabian family, prominent among the Builders, having the major holdings in the vast, walled Hinrabian kilns, where much of Ar's brick is produced.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

3.) The Caste of Builders are responsible for the assaying (authentication) and certification of assayers, of gold......

>>

"You have, of course, been paid in advance for your troubles?" asked Chino. 

"Of course," said Petrucchio.

"In authenticated gold, naturally," added Chino.

"Authenticated gold?" asked Petrucchio.

"Of course," said Chino. "If you have not had the coins authenticated, my friend, Lecchio, here, is certified by the caste of Builders to perform the relevant tests......

"Let us see your other coins," said Lecchio.

"Sir!" cried Rowena.

"That we may see if they be genuine," he said, menacingly.

"I assure you that they are," said Rowena.

"Let them be examined," said Lecchio, "that a determination in the matter may be made."

"He is certified by the Builders," Chino reminded them."

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

4.) It should be noted that the builders caste are also the inventors of Gor who bring forth and introduce new technologies (although sometimes as a result of co-operation with other castes). Examples of builders' technological innovations are listed below......

4.1) The “slave goad” and the “tarn goad”......

>>

On the other side of the belt, there hung a slave goad, rather like the tarn goad, except that it is designed to be used as an instrument for the control of human beings rather than tarns. It was, like the tarn goad, developed jointly by the Caste of Physicians and that of the Builders, the Physicians contributing knowledge of the pain fibers of human beings, the networks of nerve endings, and the Builders contributing certain principles and techniques developed in the construction and manufacture of energy bulbs.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

4.2) “Energy bulb” lighting.......

>>

Inside, the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs, spaced in pairs every hundred yards or so. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement.

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

4.3) A “Forbidden weapon”......

>>

On a green field somewhere, I had no idea where, a man in the garments of the Caste of Builders, emerged from what was apparently an underground cave.  He looked furtively about himself as though he feared he might be observed.  Then, satisfied that he was alone, he returned to the cave and emerged once more carrying what resembled a hollow pipe. From a hole in the top of this pipe there protruded what resembled the wick of a lamp.

The man from the Caste of Builders then sat cross-legged on the ground and took from the pouch slung at his waist a tiny, cylindrical Gorean fire-maker, a small silverish tube commonly used for igniting cooking fires.  He unscrewed the cap and I could see the tip of the implement, as it was

exposed to the air, begin to glow a fiery red.  He touched the fire-maker to the wicklike projection in the hollow tube and, screwing the fire-maker shut, replaced it in his pouch. The wick burned slowly downward toward the hole in the pipe. When it was almost there the man stood up and holding the

pipe in both hands trained it at a nearby rock.  There was a sudden flash of fire and a crack of sound from the hollow tube as some projectile hurtled through it and shattered against the rock.  The face of the rock was blackened and some stone chipped from its surface.  The quarrel of a crossbow would have done more damage.

"Forbidden weapon," said Sarm.

PRIEST-KINGS OF GOR

<<

4.4) The “glass of the builders”......

>>

The walls were crowded, and I supposed many upon them used the long glasses of the Caste of Builders to observe the field of the stakes.

NOMADS OF GOR

<<

>>

"How are they?" asked Chino.

"So far, they seem good," Lecchio muttered, "but many forgeries pass the first test." He then drew from his pack a glass of the Builders, used for identifying distant objects. "Oh, oh," he muttered, darkly.

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

>>

I snapped open the glass of the builders. From both the north and the south,

like distant black slivers knifing through the cold waters of Thassa, masts down, came the fleets of the fifth wave.

RAIDERS OF GOR

<<

4.5) The one way mirror......

>>

 Ho-Tu turned into a side corridor and we found ourselves, to my surprise, looking through a huge rectangle of glass, some twelve feet high and perhaps fifteen feet wide; it was one of a dozen such panels I could see in the corridor.

 Beyond the glass I looked into what seemed to be a Pleasure Garden, ...... Then I stepped back for I noted, coming along one of the curving walks, two lovely girls, ......

 "Do not fear," said Ho-Tu. "They cannot see you."

 I studied the glass that separated us. The two girls strolled near the glass and one of them, lifting her hands behind her head, studied her reflection gravely in the mirror, retying the band of silk which confined her hair.

 "On their side of the glass," said Ho-Tu, "it seems a mirror."

 I looked suitably impressed, though of course, from Earth, I was familiar with the principles of such things.

 "It is an invention of the Builders," said Ho-Tu. "It is common in slave houses, where one may wish to observe without being observed."

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

SOURCE OF LABOUR FOR CONSTRUCTION WORKS

-----------------------------------------------------

>>

Goreans generally do not employ slaves for such labors as road construction, siege works, raising walls, and so on. Similarly they generally would not use them for the construction of temples and public buildings. Most such work is generally done by the free labor of a given community, though this "free labor" may, upon occasion, particularly in emergencies, be "levied," the laborers then contributing their labor as a form of special tax, or, if you like, "conscripted" or "drafted," rather as if for military service. Usually, of course, the free labor is paid, and with more than provisions and shelter, either from public or private funds.

DANCER OF GOR

<<

>>

The men of Port Kar had not chosen to build towers. It is the only city on Gor I know of which was built not by free men, but by slaves, under the lash of masters. Commonly, on Gor, slaves are not permitted to build, that being regarded as a privilege to be reserved for free men.

RAIDERS OF GOR

<<

SPECIAL TOOLS OF THE TRADE

---------------------------------

1.) Surveying chords......

>>

The streets were laid out geometrically. This is usually done by engineers, with surveying cords.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

2.) The angle square......

>>In Ar, for example, early in the day, a member of the Builders will go to the roof on which the Home Stone is kept and place the primitive symbol of his trade, a metal angle square, before the Stone, praying to the Priest-Kings for the prosperity of his caste in the coming year;

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

EXCHANGE OF IDEAS

----------------------

>>

Four times a year, correlated with the solstices and equinoxes, there are fairs held in the plains below the mountains, presided over by committees of Initiates, fairs in which men of many cities mingle without bloodshed, times of truce, times of contests and games, of bargaining and marketing...... Similarly men of such castes as the Physicians and Builders make use of the fairs to disseminate and exchange information pertaining to their respective crafts.

OUTLAW OF GOR

<<

>>

Further, members of castes such as the Physicians and Builders use the fairs for the dissemination of information and techniques among Caste Brothers, as is prescribed in their codes in spite of the fact that their respective cities may be hostile.

PRIEST-KINGS OF GOR

<<

WOMEN IN THE CASTE OF BUILDERS

--------------------------------------

>>

For example, a woman in the Metalworkers does not, commonly, work at the forge, nor is a woman of the Builders likely to be found supervising the construction of fortifications. Caste membership, for Goreans, is generally a simple matter of birth; it is not connected necessarily with the performance of certain skills, nor the attainment of a given level of proficiency in such skills.

FIGHTING SLAVE OF GOR

<<

STYLE OF DRESS

------------------

>>

A Builder, whose robes were stained with thrown fruit, hastily strode by. "You had better be indoors," said he, "on Kajuralia."

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

In a Gorean city it was not difficult for a woman to travel incognito. 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.

KAJIRA OF GOR

<<

STYLE OF SPEECH

-------------------

>>

My Chamber Slave's accent had been pure High Caste Gorean though I could not place the city. Probably her caste had been that of the Builders or Physicians, for had her people been Scribes I would have expected a greater subtlety of inflections, the use of less common grammatical cases;....

.....So, I thought to myself, I had placed her accent rather well, either Builders or Physicians, and had I thought carefully enough about it, I might have recognised her accent as being a bit too refined for the Builders.

PRIEST KINGS OF GOR

<<

BUILDERS' KNOTS

-------------------

>>

I then illustrated, she cooperating, several other common knots, among them the Karian ancho knot, the Pin hitch, the double Pin hitch, the Builder's bend and the Builder's overhand.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

ARCHITECTURE AND NOTEABLE WORKS OF THE BUILDERS CASTE

--------------------------------------------------------------------

1.) On the general architecture of Gor......

>>

Indeed, good taste and aesthetic sense, abundantly and amply displayed, harmoniously manifested, in such areas as language, architecture, dress, culture and customs, seem innately Gorean. It is a civilization informed by beauty, from the tanning and cut of a workman's sandal to the glazings intermixed and fused, sensitive to light and shadow, and the time of day, which characterize the lofty towers of her beautiful cities.

SLAVE GIRL OF GOR

<<

>>

"Hold!" cried a guardsman, one of two, at this post on one of the long, arching, graceful, railess, narrow bridges interlaced among the towers of Brundisium. Such bridges are a feature of many Gorean cities. They are easy to defend and serve to link various towers at various levels, towers which in a time of attack or siege may serve on given levels or in isolation, if the defenders choose to block or destroy the bridges, as independent keeps, each an almost impregnable, well-stocked fortress in its own right.In Brundisium there were eleven such towers.

 In many of the high cites there are many more. In Ar, for example, there are hundreds. Other than in their military significance, of course, such bridges tend to be quite beautiful and, functionally, serve to divide the cities into a number of convenient levels. Many Gorean cities, in effect, are tiered cities. Gorean urban architecture, in the high cities, tends to be not so much a matter of flat, spreading, concentric horizontal rings, as in many cities, as a matter of towers and tiered levels, linked by soaring, ascendant traceries.

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

>>

Yards, and gardens and courts, if they exist, are generally within the house, not outside it. This is very general in Gorean architecture.

EXPLORERS OF GOR

<<

>>

There, some fifty yards away, kneeling, huddled together against the brick wall of a public building, the wall composed of the flat, narrow bricks common in southern Gorean architecture, was a group of some one hundred to one hundred and fifty females.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

>>

Most doors giving entry into a compartment, or set of compartments, on Gor do, however, have locks, generally hand-crafted, highly ornate locks, usually set in the center of the door and controlling a long bolt.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

He was a tall man, rather heavy, with bland soft features, but his voice was very deep and would have been quite impressive in one of the temples of the Initiates, constructed to maximize the acoustical effects of such a voice.

PRIEST KINGS OF GOR

<<

>>

The atrium in the house of records, I had learned, was open to the sky, which opening, as in many public and private Gorean buildings in the south, serves to admit light. The displuviate atrium is open in such a way as to shed rainwater outwards, keeping most of it from the flooring of the atrium below. This would also facilitate the use of the rope and iron. The alternative atrium, if unroofed, of course, is impluviate, so constructed as to guide rainwater into an awaiting pool below.

MAGICIANS OF GOR

<<

2.) The Pharos of Port Cos......

>>

We looked at the tall, cylindrical structure which lay on a promontory, at the southwesternmost point of the harbor. It was perhaps one hundred and fifty feet high. It tapered upward, and was perhaps some twenty feet in diameter at the top. It was yellow and red, in horizontal sections, the colors of the Builders and Warriors, the Builders the caste that had supervised its construction and the Warriors the caste that maintained its facilities. It was as much a keep as a landmark. At night, in virtue of fires and mirrors, it served as a beacon.

RENEGADES OF GOR

<<

3.) The city of Tor......

>>

The buildings of Tor are of mud brick, covered with colored, often flaking, plasters......

The buildings in Tor are seldom more than four stories high, which is about as high as one may build safely with beams and mud brick. Because of the irregular topography of Tor, however, which is a hilly, rocky area, like most of the Tahari terrain, many of the buildings, built on shelves and rises, seemed considerably higher. These buildings, on the outside smooth and bleak, save for occasional narrow windows, high, not wide enough to admit a body, abut directly on the streets, making the streets like deep, walled alleys. In the center of the street is a gutter. It seldom rains in Tor, but the gutter serves to collect waste, which is often thrown into it, through open doors, by slaves. Within these walls, however, so pressing upon the street, I knew there were often gardens, walled, well-watered, beautiful, and cool, dark rooms, shielded from the heat and sun, many with superb appointments. Tor was, as Gorean cities went, rich, trading city......

The architecture of Tor, in concentric circles, broken by numerous, narrow, crooked streets, was a function of the radius from its wells.

TRIBESMEN OF GOR

<<

4.) The city of Port Kar......

(Note that Port Kar was built by slaves. However the slaves only provided the brute force labour and where directed and supervised by their Masters. One has to assume those masters were of the Builders Caste)

>>

In Port Kar, incidentally, there are none of the towers often encountered in the northern cities of Gor. The men of Port Kar had not chosen to build towers. It is the only city on Gor I know of which was built not by free men, but by slaves, under the lash of masters. Commonly, on Gor, slaves are not permitted to build, that being regarded as a privilege to be reserved for free men.

RAIDERS OF GOR

<< 

>>

Fire has always been regarded as the great hazard to the arsenal. Accordingly many of her warehouses, shops and foundries are built of stone, with slated or tinned roofs. Wooden structures, such as her numerous sheds and roofed storage areas tend to be separated from one another.

RAIDERS OF GOR

<< 

>>

Here and there small lamps, set in niches, high in stone walls, or lanterns, hung on iron projections, shed small pools of light on the sides of buildings and illuminated, too, in their secondary ambience, the stones of the sloping walkway on which I trod, one of many leading down to the wharves......

I passed iron doors, narrow, in the walls. These doors usually had a tiny observation panel in them, which could be slid back. The walls were sheer. They were generally windowless until some fifteen feet above the ground. Yards, and gardens and courts, if they exist, are generally within the house, not outside it. This is very general in Gorean architecture. But there were few gardens or courts in Port Kar. It was a crowded city, built up from the marshes themselves, in the Vosk’s delta, and space was scarce and precious.

There were pilings along the walkway, to which, here and there, small boats were moored. The walkway itself varied from some five feet to a yard in width.

EXPLORERS OF GOR

<<

5.) The city of Ar......

>> I had seen Ar at various times before. Such a sight I was accustomed to. It would not move me, as it might others, the first time to look upon it.

"Incredible!" said a man.

"Marvelous!" whispered another.

...... I saw then, in the distance, some four or five pasangs away, the gleaming walls of glorious Ar.

"I had not realized how vast was the city," said one of the men.

"It is large," said another fellow.

"There is the Central Cylinder!' said a man, pointing.

The high, uprearing walls of the city, some hundred feet or more in height, the sun bright upon them, stretched into the distance. They were now white. That had been done, apparently, since the time of Cernus, the usurper, and the restoration of Marlenus, ubar of ubars. It was hard to look at them, for the glare upon them. We could see the great gate, too, and the main road leading to it, the Viktel Aria...... Within the gamut of those gleaming walls, so lofty and mighty, rose thousands of buildings, and a veritable forest of ascendant towers, of diverse heights and colors. Many of these towers, I knew, were joined by traceries of soaring bridges, set at different levels......

"I do not think I have ever seen anything so beautiful," said a man.

We were looking upon what was doubtless the greatest city of known Gor.

"I did not know it was like that," said another man.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

>>

We began the long journey through the halls of Ar's great Central Cylinder, almost a city in itself. At times we walked up swirling gradients, at times stairs, swirling and broad, leading higher and higher into the cylinder; sometimes we walked through marble-floored passageways, in which, through narrow windows, designed to be too small for a body to pass, but large enough for use as crossbow ports, I could see the blue sky of Ar's bright morning; ...... then we would be walking deeper within the cylinder, down broad, carpeted, tapestried halls, set with energy lamps, seldom found in the homes of private citizens, emitting a soft, glowing light; many of the doors had locks on them, the vast ornate locks in the center of the door, so common in the northern cities; some others were secured only by signature knots, presumably the doors to the compartments of unimportant retainers or members of the staff, in many cases perhaps the doors to the compartments of mere slaves.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

There, in one wall, was a long crack. The floor creaked, too, in places, as one trod upon it. I trusted this was merely from the disrepair and age of the boards. Insulae are seldom maintained well. They are cheap to build, and easily replaced. Their structure is primarily wood and brick. There are ordinances governing how high they may be built. Although we had come up several flights, we were probably not more than seventy or eighty feet Gorean from the street level. Without girders, frame steel and timber iron, as the Goreans say wrought in the iron shops, such as are used in the towers, physics, even indexed to the Gorean gravity, is quick to impose its inexorable limits on heights. Such buildings tend to be vulnerable to structural stresses, and are sometimes weakened by slight movements of the earth. Sometimes walls give way; sometimes entire floors collapse.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

6.) The roads......

>>

The village of Tabuk's Ford lay some four hundred pasangs generally north and slightly west. The Vosk road was the road used many years ago by the horde of Pa-Kur, in its approach to the city of Ar. We had travelled the Vosk road after crossing the Vosk on barges. It is wide, and built like a great wall, sunk in the earth. It is marked with pasang stones. It is, I suppose, given its nature, a military road leading to the north, broad enough to accommodate war tharlarion, treading abreast, and the passage, two or three, side by side, of thousands of supply wagons and siege engines, without unduly, for more than several pasangs, extending and exposing the lines of the march. Such roads permit the swift movement of thousands of men, useful either in the defense of borders, the meeting of armies, or in the expansions of imperialism, the conquests of the weak.

SLAVE GIRL OF GOR

<<

>>

In the old days the road of Clearchus was often referred to as the "west road." This designation became less useful after the recent opening of the road of Cyprianus. It is not unusual, now, to refer to the road of Clearchus as the "old west road" and that of Cyprianus as the "new west road." Neither of these roads, incidentally, are "great roads," in the sense of being mounted in the earth several feet deep, built of stone like a sunken wall, the sort of roads which are often intended to last a thousand years, the sort of roads which, typically, are found in the vicinity of large cities or are intended to be military roads, speeding directly to traditionally disputed territories or linking strategic points. These roads are both secondary roads, so to speak, generally graveled and rutted; occasionally they are paved with such materials as logs and plated stone; they can be almost impassable in rainy weather and in dry, warm weather, they are often dusty. Tertiary roads, so to speak, are often little more than unfrequented twisting trails. There is often talk of improving the secondary roads, and sometimes something is done, but generally little is accomplished. The major consideration, of course, is money. Too, many roads, for great portions of their length are not clearly within the jurisdiction of given states.

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

>>

Some were even street wagons, and not road wagons, the latter generally of heavier construction, built for use outside the city where roads may be little more than irregular paths, uneven, steep, rugged and treacherous. Some Goreans cities, for example, perhaps as a military measure, in effect isolate themselves by the refusal to allocate funds for good roads. Indeed, they often go further by neglecting the upkeep of even those tracks that exist. It can be next to impossible to reach such cities in the spring, because of the rains. Besnit is an example.

MAGICIANS OF GOR

<<

7.) The city of Laura......

>>

The warehouses seemed constructed of smoothed, heavy timbers, stained and varnished. Most appeared reddish. Almost all had roofs had wooden shingles, painted black. Many were ornamented, particularly above the great double doors, with carvings, and woodwork, painted in many colors. Through the great doors I could see large central areas, and various floors, reached by more ramps.

CAPTIVE OF GOR

<<

8.) The town of Kassau and the Torvaldsland region......

>>

Kassau is a town of wood, and the temple is the greatest building in the town, It towers far above the squalid huts, and stabler homes of merchants, which crowd about it. Too, the town is surrounded by a wall, with two gates, one large, facing the inlet, leading in from Thassa, the other small, leading to the forest behind the town. The wall is of sharpened logs, and is defended by a catwalk.

MARAUDERS OF GOR

<<

>>

"Your hall," said I to the Forkbeard, "is scarcely what had expected."

I had learned, much to my instruction, that my conception of the northern halls left much to be desired. Indeed the true hall, lofty, high-beamed, built of logs and boards, with its benches and high-seat pillars, its carvings and hangings, its long fires, its suspended kettles, was actually quite rare, and, generally, only the richest of the Jarls possessed such. The hall of Ivar Forkbeard, I learned, to my surprise, was of a type much more common. Upon reflection, however, it seemed to me not so strange that this should be so, in a bleak country, one in which many of the trees, too would be stunted and wind-twisted. In Torvaldsland, fine tlmber is at a premium. Too, what fine lumber there is, is often marked and hoarded for the use of shipwrights If a man of Torvaldsland must choose between his hall and his ship, it is the ship which, invariably, wins his choice.

MARAUDERS OF GOR

<<

>>

Though the hall of Ivar Forkbeard was built only of turf and stone....

MARAUDERS OF GOR

<<

9.) The Inn at Ar's Station......

>>

The inn itself, aside from certain ancillary buildings, was built of heavy logs, and in two parts, or structures, with a common, peaked roof, and an open space, covered from above by the roof, between the two parts. Each part, or structure, contained perhaps three or four floors, possibly joined by ladders. It was about a hundred feet between the door in the interior gateway, where I stood, and, to the right, the covered way between the separate parts of the inn. The flooring of the court was formed largely, leveled and carved, from the natural stone of the plateau.

RENEGADES OF GOR

<<

10.) The Torcodino Semnium......

>>

Within the entrance to the Semnium was a marble-floored, lofty hall. Passageways and stairways led variously from this broad vestibule. The walls were adorned with mosaics, scenes generally of civic life, prominent among them were scenes of public gatherings, conferences and processions. One depicted the laying of the first stone in Torcodino's walls, an act which presumably would have taken place more than seven hundred years ago, when, according to the legends, the first wall, only a dozen feet high, was built to encircle and protect a great, sprawling encampment at the joining of trade routes.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

11.) The aqueducts of Torcodino......

>>

"These are the aqueducts of Torcodino!" said Mincon.

"I see them," I said. The natural wells of Torcodino, originally sufficing for a small population, had, more than a century ago, proved inadequate to furnish sufficient water for an expanding city. Two aqueducts now brought fresh water to Torcodino from more than a hundred pasangs away, one from the Issus, a northwestwardly flowing tributary to the Vosk and the other from springs in the Hills of Eteocles, southwest of Corcyrus. The remote termini of both aqueducts themselves are usually patrolled and, of course, engineers and workmen attend regularly to their inspection and repair. These aqueducts are marvellous constructions, actually, having a pitch of as little as a hort for every pasang.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

12.) The village of Tabuk's Ford......

>>

My master, with his lieutenants, sat cross-legged in the large, thatched hut of Thurnus. It was high, and conical, and floored with rough planks, set some six or seven feet on poles above the ground, that it might be drier and protected from common insects and vermin. The entrance was reached by a flight of rough, narrow steps. The entrances to many of the huts in the village, similarly constructed, were reached by ladders. Thurnus was caste leader. In the center of the hut was a large flat, circular piece of metal, on which, on legs, might sit braziers or the small, flattish cooking stoves, using pressed, hardened wood, common in the villages north and west of Ar. About the walls were the belongings of the house, in coffers and bales. Elsewhere about the village were storage huts and animal pens. Mats covered the rough planks. From the walls hung vessels and leathers. A smoke hole in the top of the hut permitted the escape of fumes. The hut, probably because of its construction, was not smoky. Also, though it was windowless and had but one door, it was not, at this time of day, dark. Through the straw of its roof and sides there was a considerable, delicate filtering of sunlight. The hut in the summer is light and airy. The frame of such a hut is constructed of Ka-la-na and Tem wood. The roof is re-thatched and the walls rewoven every third or fourth year. In the winters, which are not harsh at this latitude, such huts are covered on the outside with painted canvas or, among the richer peasants, with ornamented, painted bosk hides, protected and glossed with oil.

SLAVE GIRL OF GOR

<< 

cylinder

the primary architectural form of buildings in major Gorean cities; they are of varying heights and colors, flat-topped and cylindrical, connected by narrow, colorful bridges that arch between them.

Tarnsman of Gor, page 23

Pillar of Exchanges

about one hundred pasangs northwest of Tharna lonely white column of solid marble 400 feet in height and 100 feet in diameter. The solid pillar offers an almost ideal place for the exchange of prisoners.

Outlaw of Gor page, 141

NOTEABLE MEMBERS OF THE CASTE OF BUILDERS

-----------------------------------------------------

1.) The Lady Rena of Lydius......

>>

The woman sat regally on the curule chair, wrapped in resplendent, many-colored silks. Her raiment might have cost more than any three or four of us together were worth. She was, moreover, veiled........

“Lift you head, Child,” said a woman’s voice. 

I did so. She was no older than I, I am sure, but she addressed me as a child.......

How steadily she regarded me, over her veil, her eyes amused. How beautiful she seemed. How splendid and fine! I could no longer meet her eyes.

“You may lower your head, Girl,” she said, not unkindly.......

“Who was she?” asked the grizzled, one-eyed guard.

“The Lady Rena of Lydius,” said Targo, “of the Builders.”.....

CAPTIVE OF GOR

<<

>>

The new girl had been Rena of Lydius, of the Builders, one of the five high castes of Gor. She still lay, secured, in the wagon. I expected Targo would keep her hooded and gagged in Laura, for it was possible she might be known there.

CAPTIVE OF GOR

<<

2.) Ina the slave......

>>

"It is the garment of a free woman," I had said.

"It is a lower-caste garment!" she said. "I am of high caste!" Ina was, I had learned, of the Builders, one of the five high castes on Gor, the others being the Initiates, Physicians, Scribes and Warriors.

VAGABONDS OF GOR

<<

3.) Lady Filomela of Ar......

>>

“But I was of high caste!” said Filomela.

“What was your caste?” I asked.

“The Builders!” she said.

“But you are not now of the Builders, or of any other caste, are you?” I asked.

“No,” she said.

“What are you?”

“A slave,” she said.

MAGICIANS OF GOR

<<

4.) The members of the Hinrabius family (Tentius Hinrabius, Administrator of Ar and his daughter,  Claudia)......

>>

The new Administrator of Ar was a man named Minus Tentius Hinrabius, an unimportant man except for being of the Hinrabian family, prominent among the Builders, having the major holdings in the vast, walled Hinrabian kilns, where much of Ar's brick is produced.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>Nela, like most of the others at the baths, could talk of little but the startling disappearance, and presumed abduction, of Claudia Tentia Hinrabia, the proud, spoiled daughter of the Administrator of the City.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

5.) Cyprianus the engineer......

>>

Some two years ago the merchants and builders had opened the road of Cyprianus, named for the engineer in charge of the project, which led to the fairs rather from the southwest.

                   ==================================

This scroll compiled by the hand of Spyder Kamm, Scribe of Port Olni, 2008-09-09