Torvaldsland Studies Week 4 The Slaves of Torvaldsland 3/2/26 BilliAnn Bravin

"Torvaldsland Studies."  Week 4 The Slaves of Torvaldsland 3/2/26 BilliAnn Bravin

[15:01:09] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Welcome to today's Gorean Campus Torvaldsland Studies class on the "Slaves of Torvaldsland." Let's get some preliminaries out of the way first and then we can get started.

[15:01:28] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): If you wish to make a statement or comment during a lesson or ask or answer a question, we ask that you simply type @ in your local chat box and I will get to you in the order that I see your posts. If for some reason I miss you, please feel free to post again.

[15:01:59] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): I do prefer, if at all possible, that you hold questions to the end to make sure that we can move along in a timely fashion and not get lost or off on a tangent--though the latter can sometimes be fun or enlightening. But if you're really lost or I'm going too fast for you or you feel something vital is missing, do feel free to pop in with a question, and I'll do my best to cover it before we get too far along. Or to slow down if I'm moving too swiftly. :) (Though if I go *too* slowly, we may go overtime some . . . so do be warned! :) )      Thanks!

[15:02:52] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): As you almost surely know by now, unless you're new to Campus as a whole or my classes in particular, I'm Lady BilliAnn. As I'm always quick to point out, should you fail to include the "Lady" part in addressing me, it's not a problem, as all our classes here at Gorean Campus are OOC (out of character) as opposed to IC (in character). That's something we always need to keep in mind to avoid any confusion when it comes to what and how we cover things in our classes here on Campus. At my home sim of 1888, which sadly closed down two years ago last month, I held the title of "Lady." And in my Gorean RP I portray Lady Anja Steinnsdottir, Skald of Torvaldsland. So I'm covered on that, both OOC and IC. :)

[15:03:46] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): If you've been in any of my classes before, you are likely familiar with my own background as a teacher and a Gorean, so I'm going to dispense again today with the bio info I sometimes give, other than to note that I've been a teacher of Gorean studies--with a focus on Torvaldsland--for almost 10 years now. And less than one month shy of having been in SL Gor for 11 years this month. So not someone who stumbled in off the street looking for a free horn of mead. :) If by chance anyone here is new today and would like more information on that, just IM me after class and I'll be happy to fill you in. :) And if you don't, I won't be at all offended--promise!

[15:04:54] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Today's class is the fourth in a series of loosely related Torvaldsland Studies classes I'll be teaching in the upcoming weeks. This one is on the "Slaves of Torvaldsland," which I assume you're aware of or you probably wouldn't be here. :) IUnless you wandered in off the street looking for that free horn of mead . . .) It was originally class 3 of a series of "Introduction to Torvaldsland" classes that I've taught in the past here on Campus. However, the original class, ran way over an hour, even after I frantically skipped a few sections, so I've taken a scalpel to it and cut out any and all extraneous information (mainly because I cover those parts in another class, which gives you a fuller picture). In any event, tonight we turn our attention on the slaves of Torvaldsland, and the nature of slavery in general in that far region to the north.

[15:05:50] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Now I should probably qualify this to state that today's class mainly focuses on the bond-maids of Torvaldsland--the North's equivalent to the Kajirae of the South. Male slaves do, of course, exist in Torvaldsland, known as thralls. That particular term comes from Viking history in which all slaves, male or female, were known as thralls. (And there is a passage in Chapter 13 of "Marauders of Gor" where a female slave is also referred to as a "female thrall"--though they are more commonly known as bond-maids, or often just "bonds" here in SL Torvaldsland.) I'll cover what I can on thralls, but there's not as much in "Marauders" as you find about bonds. And you usually find more bonds than thralls in SL Torvaldsland as a rule.

[15:06:31] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Now as to slavery in Torvaldsland, as we get into the topic, we find that it's very much like slavery in the rest of Gor, though with some of the details being different. This is an institution that the Torvaldslanders seem to have mostly adopted from the rest of Gor, while maintaining remnants of their Viking roots, at least in the terms and some practices. As I already said. female slaves in Torvaldsland are known as bond-maids, or just bonds, and male slaves are known as thralls, the Viking term for all slaves in Viking times--or of the Norse, if you want to be technical. :)

[15:07:04] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Now, as for the term "bond-maid" and its origins, it took me a while when I first got curious about it to ferret out some information. Which wasn't easy. One reference I found was from a book about the early fathers of the Christian church, in a reference to the patriarch Abraham:

"And here follow the times of Abraham’s sons, the one by Hagar the bond maid, the other by Sarah the free woman . . ."

("Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers": Series I, Volume II, City of God, Book XVI, Chapter 25.)

[15:07:55] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): That seemed to indicate that "bond-maid" was a term used for slaves as far back as biblical times. At least in that particular translation. But this wasn't a Viking reference, so I kept searching till I found another in the Viking Tyrfing Cycle, a collection of poems about a magic sword. It referred to a Viking woman, Hervor who, "Rather than take on sewing or be raised as a bond-maid like other girls, Hervor proved to be as strong as the boys and learned archery, swordsmanship, and horse riding." This reference to being raised a bond-maid, "like other girls," seemed perhaps to indicate it may have been a more general term for Viking women, rather than a term indicating a slave. Though it could simply have been a case of lumping together different possibilities for Viking women, one of them becoming a slave, or bond-maid.

[15:08:36] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): On the other hand, I also discovered an Old Icelandic rune, Nauð, that's translated as "Constraint = grief of the bond-maid and state of oppression and toilsome work." The Norse had a very similar rune with almost the same meaning. All right, that sounds more like a slave. I checked Wikipedia for an entry for "Bondmaid" or "Bond-Maid" and was redirected to an article on "Serfdom." But I couldn't find any actual information about bond-maids in that article at all. There was an article stub for a novel called "The Bondmaid," but it took place in 1950s Singapore, though again it indicated that the term refers to one sold into servitude.

[15:09:13] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Considering how meticulous John Norman is in most of his work, I think we can safely assume that he didn't just make up "bond-maid" from thin air. :) In any event, female slaves in Torvaldsland are bond-maids and not kajirae. In fact, Northern bond-maids look down on kajirae as "silk slaves," little better than ornaments for their masters. We'll get to that shortly.

[15:09:54] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): We actually meet some Torvaldsland slaves even before we get to Torvaldsland proper in "Marauders" in the case of the 19 women of Kassau that Ivar Forkbeard captured. We also see one of the practices involved around the enslavement of women in the North that's different from that of the south. "Marauders" Chapter 3 describes how Ivar Forkbeard and his men assaulted and looted the Temple of the High Initiate at Kassau. During their plundering of the Temple, Forkbeard did something that some people might think odd, especially since the Temple was at the time burning down around them . . .

[15:10:16] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "He then drew with the handle of his ax a circle, some twenty feet in diameter, in the dirt floor . . . .

 "It was a bond-maid circle.

 "Females," he cried, gesturing with the great ax toward the wall opposite the doors, "swiftly! To the wall! Stand with your backs against it!"

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:11:25] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Forkbeard then went on to examine the line of women, taking from them jewelery, bracelets, necklaces, rings, purses--anything of value. He also examined them for their physical appeal. One girl that Tarl Cabot had spotted earlier was among these, and he noted . . ."She was large breasted. The men of Torvaldsland are fond of such women." ("MoG," Ch. 3.) Forkbeard freed some of the women in the line, sending them back to lie beneath the axes of his men. As Cabot commented, "This left nineteen girls at the wall. I admired the taste of Forkbeard. They were beauties. My choices would have been the same." ("MoG," Ch. 3.) Ivar then removed any strings or combs holding up the women's hair so that their hair fell loose behind their backs. Then . . .

[15:12:24] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Go to the bond-maid circle," said Ivar Forkbeard, indicating the circle he had drawn in the dirt.

 "The women cried out in misery. To enter the circle, if one is a female, is, by the laws of Torvaldsland, to declare oneself a bond-maid. A woman, of course, need not to enter the circle of her own free will. She may, for example, be thrown within it, naked and bound. Howsoever she enters the circle, voluntarily, or by force, free or secured, she emerges from it, by the laws of Torvaldsland, as a bond-maid."

("Marauders of Gor." Chapter 3.)

[15:13:30] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): All but two of the women fled to the circle and huddled in it. One of the other two bargained with Forkbeard, saying her father, who was administrator, would pay a random for her. Her father backed it up and a deal was struck that she would remain outside of the bond-maid circle and her father would deliver a ransom five nights from then on the Skerry of Einar by the Torvaldsmark rune-stone. "Go to the bond-maid circle," said Ivar Forkbeard to the large girl, "but do not enter it." ("MoG," Ch.3.) The other girl was not so lucky, as her father was poorer. "Go to the circle and enter it," said Ivar Forkbeard to the girl." ("MoG," Ch. 3.) She refused, claiming she chose death instead. Until the Forkbeard raised his great ax above her head after telling her to kneel . . .

[15:14:10] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Suddenly she cried out and thrust her head to his boot. 

 "She held his ankle.

 "Have mercy on a bond-maid!" she wept.

 "Ivar Forkbeard laughed and reached down and pulled her up by the arm, his great fist closed about her arm within the white woolen blouse, and thrust her stumbling well within the circle."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:15:08] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So we see here how women are enslaved as bond-maids for servitude in Torvaldsland: via the bond-maid circle. Note that this was something that Ivar Forkbeard created on the spot. Later, after the father of the as-yet free girl tried to cheat the Forkbeard with shaved coins--or at least that was what Ivar claimed, though he also claimed that he'd had no intention of setting the woman free--he again drew a bond-maid circle and forced her into it. Now sometimes, in some Northern sims, you'll see a standing bond-maid circle on the ground, formed by rocks or something. You never see this in "Marauders." That doesn't mean it may not have happened, as this passage actually isn't in a Torvaldsland village or hold. But the practice described in the book seems to be to draw up one when needed, as the Forkbeard does later in the dirt of the floor of his Long Hall.

[15:15:47] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Based on what Cabot relates about how a woman is enslaved via the bond-maid circle, it doesn't sound like something that's left sitting around for some hapless free woman to accidentally stumble into and--voila!--she becomes a bond-maid. The idea seems to be that it's an intentional act: The woman enters the circle of her own accord (or through coercion, as happened here) or she's forcibly thrown into the circle by a man, most likely stripped and bound.

[15:16:40] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So 18 out of 19 captive women were now bond-maids. What then?

"Bond-maids," ordered Ivar Forkbeard harshly, strip"!

 "Crying out the girls removed their garments. I saw that the weeping, slender blond-hair girl was incredibly beautiful. Her legs and belly, and breasts, were marvelous. And her face, too, was beautiful, sensitive and intelligent. I envied the Forkbeard his catch.

 "Fetter them," said Ivar Forkbeard."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:18:26] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So the new bond-maids were made to strip naked and then were to be bound and coffled:

"Two of the men of Torvaldsland had, from their left shoulder to their right hip, that their right arms be less impeded, a chain formed of slave bracelets; each pair of bracelets locked at each end about one of the bracelets of another pair, the whole thus forming a circle. . . . These bracelets were of the sort used to hold women in the north. They are less ornate and finely tooled than those available in the south. But they are satisfactory for their purpose.They consist of curved, hinged bands of black iron, three quarters of an inch in width and a quarter inch in thickness. On one of each of the two curved pieces constituting a bracelet there is a welded ring; the two welded rings are joined by a single link, about an inch in width counting both sides, each of which is about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and three inches long. . . .

[15:19:01] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Coffle the females," said Forkbeard.

 " With a long length of binding fiber the nineteen girls were swiftly fastened throat to throat.

 "Aelgifu, clothed, led the coffle. She was free. The others were only bond-maids."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:20:03] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Imagine the shock of these women. In a matter of Ehn, they've gone from free women of Kassau to slaves--bond-maids--of Torvaldsland. Forkbeard's men, though, were starting to worry that they couldn't haul all of their loot out of the Temple and back to their waiting serpent ship. The response? "Utilize the bond-maids," said the Forkbeard, angrily. . . . Soon, they, too, were heavily burdened. Several staggered under the weight of the riches they bore." ("MoG," Ch.3.) And of course, Ivar Forkbeard, seeing how his new slaves were holding up to their newest burden, felt his heart fill with mercy. Right? Well, not quite . . .

[15:20:46] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "In the north, my pretty maids," Ivar assured them, " the burdens you carry will be more prosaic, bundles of wood for the fires, buckets of water for the hall, baskets of dung for the fields."

 "They looked at him with horror understanding then what the nature of their life would be.

 "And at night, of course, they would serve the feasts of their masters, carrying and filling their great horns, and delighting them with the softness of their bodies in the furs."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:21:46] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): From there, we see these new bond-maids taken to the ship of Ivar Forkbeard and his men. And soon, the 18 slaves--and the one girl yet to become a bond-maild--are on their way to Torvaldsland with the Forkbeard, his men, and one Tarl Cabot. Once aboard, how are the new slaves treated?

"Between the benches, amidships, among piles of loot, their wrists fettered behind them, sat the naked bond-maids, and Aelgifu, in her torn, black velvet. They were still in throat coffle. Their ankles had been crossed, and lashed tightly with binding fiber. Aelgifu's shoes, I noted, had been removed, and her woolen hose; this was done that her ankles and feet, bared now like those of the bond-maids, might be as securely tied. No Gorean puts binding fiber over shoes or hose."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:22:54] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Not exactly a cruise on a luxury ship. :) "Behind us, amidships, we heard the weeping of women, fettered bond-maids being carried north to serve harsh masters." ("MoG," Ch. 3.) So we've seen a little of how women are made into bond-maids of Torvaldsland and some of the hardships they face in their initial enslavement. But it only gets worse from here! As to food, "Like the bond-maids, she had been fed only on cold Sa-Tarna porridge and scraps of dried parsit fish." ("MoG," Ch. 4.) This is in reference to the as yet to be enslaved Aelgifu. How were the new slaves being treated otherwise?

[15:23:37] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Somewhat behind us, between the benches, in the shade of the awning, among other riches taken in the sack of the temple of Kassau, were the bond-maids. They, loot, too, knelt, or sat or laid, among golden plates, and candlesticks and golden hangings. Their ankles were no longer bound; their wrists, now, those of most of them, were fettered before their bodies; about their necks, now, however, they wore not simple binding fiber; it had been replaced the first evening out of Kassau; they wore now, knotted about their throats, a coffle rope of the north, about a half inch in thickness, of braided leather, cored with wire.

[15:24:14] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "At night they slept with their hands fettered behind them. Some of the girls slept, some curled on the golden hangings of the temple; some sat or knelt, heads down; of the girls, four of them, though still held in the coffle, were no longer fettered. They knelt, with soft cloths and polishes, cleaning and rubbing to a high shine, which must please the Forkbeard, the golden trove of the looted temple of Kassau."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 4.)

[15:25:00] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Another bond gets an even more glamorous job! "A bailing scoop was thrust into her hands. It has four sides. It is made of wood. It is about six inches in width. There is a diagonally set board in its bottom, and the back and two sides are straight. It has a straight, but rounded handle, carved smaller at the two ends, one where it adjoins the scoop, the other in back of the grip." . . . "The girl went to the opened planking and fell to her knees beside it, the wooden scoop in her hands." ("MoG," Ch. 4.) So another task for bond-maids--bailing out the ship when it collects too much water.

[15:25:50] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): When she's finished bailing, the hapless slave is ordered to carry water to the Forkbeard's men. "She had performed her first task for her master, the Forkbeard, drying, as it is said, the belly of his serpent. It had been the first of her labors, set to her by her master in her bondage." ("MoG," Ch. 4.) Her response? "Yes," she said "--my Jarl." To the bond-maid the meanest of the free men of the North is her jarl." ("MoG," Ch. 4.) No defiance here. Not if she knows what's good for her.

[15:26:25] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Another of the bond-maids was then freed to mix the bond-maid gruel, mixing fresh water with Sa-Tarna meal, and then stirring in the raw fish. . . . The bond-maids did not much care for their gruel, unsweetened, mudlike Sa-Tarna meal, with raw fish." ("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 4.)

[15:27:02] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): And yet, if they didn't eat, a worse fate awaited them:

You will eat it," said the Forkbeard, "or you will be stripped and put to the oar." . . ."In this punishment, the girl, clothed or unclothed, is bound tightly on an oar, hands behind her, her head down, toward the blade. When the oar lifts from the water she gasps for breath, only in another moment to be submerged again. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however, some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar.

[15:27:46] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "When food is low it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. The least pleasing girl is always used. This practice, of course, encourages bondmaids to vie vigorously to please their masters. An Ahn on the oar is usually more than sufficient to make the coldest and proudest of females an obedient, eager-to-please bondmaid."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 4.)

[15:28:26] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Anyone ready to sign up as a bond-maid yet . . .? :) But there are other punishments a bond-maid might face that, perhaps, might seem less onerous . . . 

"It is regarded as second only to the five-lash Gorean slave whip, used also in the south, and what among the men of Torvaldsland is called the whip of the furs, in which the master, with his body, incontrovertibly teaches the girl her slavery."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 4.)

[15:29:41] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): One of the new bond-maids discovered another way a slave could be used at sea by the men of Torvaldsland when they encountered the serpent ship of Thorgard of Scagnar, an enemy of the Forkbeard:

"Swing to face her amidships," laughed the Forkbeard. Let them see what riches we carry !"

 "The blond, slender girl's wrists were now fettered before her body, and a rope attached to the fetters. It was thrown over the spar. Her hands were jerked over her head. Then, by her fettered wrists, she moaning, her naked body twisting against the mast, foot by foot, she was drawn to five feet below the spar. She dangled there, in pain, her body that of a stripped bond-maid, exquisite, tempting, squirming, a taunt to the blood of the men of Thorgard of Scagnar. "That will encourage them to row their best," said Ivar Forkbeard.

 "Then the other bond-maids, seventeen of them, were thrust to the rail, and, steadied by the hands of rowers, stood upon it, wrists fettered behind them, in coffle."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 5.)

[15:30:25] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Eventually, Thorgard's ship is left behind and life goes back to normal for the new bond-maids about the Forkbeard's serpent. After that, Forkbeard deals with the ransom he'd been promised. And somehow he ends up not only with the ransom--but Aeigifu as his newest bond-maid!

[15:31:21] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): All right--so far, we've seen how women of Kassau start to learn their servitude at the hands of the men of Torvaldsland. But as the Hilda, the Forkbeard's ship, arrives back at his hold, we'll also see how bond-maids act after having been in bondage for a while. And yet, the ordeal of the new bonds isn't quite over . . . far from it . . .

"Put her," said Forkbeard, indicating the slender, blond girl, "at the prow."

 "She was quickly removed from the coffle and unfettered. Gorm put a rope on her neck and pulled her to the prow. She was held by another crewman; he fastened her at the prow. Her back was bent over it. Her wrists and ankles drawn back, were tied at its sides. She was roped to it, too, at the belly and throat."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:32:20] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So on top of everything else, the poor girl has to serve as a figurehead on the prowl of Forkbeard's serpent ship, put on display with the rest of the loot from Kassau. But as the ship approaches the dock at Forkbeard's landfall, we get our first glimpse of a bond-maid who's already in the Forkbeard's service:

"In the distance, above the acres, I could see mountains, snow capped. A flock of verr, herded by a maid with a stick, turned, bleating on the sloping hillside. She shaded her eyes. She was blond; she was barefoot; she wore an ankle-length white kirtle, of white wool, sleeveless, split to her belly. About her neck I could see a dark ring."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:32:57] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): The first bond-maid we see is herding verr with a stick. She's blond, barefoot, and dressed in a long, white wool kirtle, sleeveless and split down to her belly. A collar of Torvaldsland is also visible around her neck. Let me point out here that "Marauders" takes place in the warmer months of the year in Torvaldsland--Cabot says it's early in the year, and that would put it well past the Spring equinox, so the weather is not the cold bitterness of a Torvaldsland winter. That's why you see the bond-maid barefoot, in a sleeveless, split kirtle. If the story had taken place in the colder months, you'd likely be seeing even the bonds dressed more warmly.

[15:33:31] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): When the men of Forkbeard's hold see the bond-maid on the prowl, and then the other 18 are pushed forward, the men cry out in pleasure. But things aren't going to be too pleasurable for the new bonds just yet:

 "Heat the irons!" called the Forkbeard.

 "They are hot!" laughed a brawny man, in leather apron, standing on the dock.

 "The girls shuddered. They would be branded.

 "Bring the anvil to the branding log!" said the Forkbeard.

 "They knew then they would wear collars."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:34:20] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): But that's not all . . . (Or as they say in advertising, "Wait--there's more!")

"Gorm then stood beside Ivar Forkbeard. He carried, on a strap over his shoulder, a tall, dark vessel, filled with liquid. The men on the shore laughed. Attached to the vessel, by a light chain, was a golden cup. It had two handles. From a spout on the vessel, grinning, Gorm filled the golden cup. The liquid swirling in the cup was black.

 "Drink," said Ivar Forkbeard, thrusting the cup into the hands of the slender, blond girl . . . "It is too bitter," she wept.

 "She felt the knife of the Forkbeard at her belly. "Drink," said he.

[15:35:03] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "She threw back her head and drank down the foul brew. She began to cough and weep. The coffle rope was untied from her throat. "Send her to the branding log," said the Forkbeard. He thrust the girl down the gangplank, into the arms of the waiting men, who hurried her from the dock. One by one, the prizes of Ivar Forkbeard, even the rich, proud Aelgifu, were forced to down the slave wine. Then they were, one by one, freed from the coffle, and hurried to the branding log."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:36:04] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): We'll get back to the new bond-maids in a moment. First, we get a more close up view of Ivar Forkbeard's existing bond-maids. And we see at once how different their attitudes are from their newly enslaved sisters:

"A bond-maid thrust through the crowd. "Does my Jarl not remember Gunnhild?" she asked. She whimpered, and slipped to his side, holding him, lifting her lips to kiss him on the throat, beneath the beard. About her neck, riveted, was a collar of black iron, with a welded ring, to which a chain might be attached. "What of Pouting Lips?" said another girl, kneeling before him, lifting her eyes to his. Sometimes bond-maids are given descriptive names. The girl had full, sensuous lips, she was blond; she also smelled of verr; it had doubtless been she whom I had seen on the slope herding verr.

[15:36:48] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Pouting Lips has been in agony awaiting the return of her Jarl," she whimpered. The Forkbeard shook her head with his great hand. "What of Olga?" whined another wench, sweet and strapping, black-haired; "Do not forget Pretty Ankles, my Jarl," said another wench, a delicious little thing, perhaps not more than sixteen. She thrust her lips greedily to the back of his left hand, biting at the hair there."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:37:51] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Hmmmmm . . . now that doesn't sound like the miserable, newly enslaved bonds we've met so far, does it? They seem a bit more . . . content with their lot in life. And when they're told to begone, as Forkbeard has "fresher meat to chew," here are the reactions:

"Gunnhild, angrily, with two hands, jerked her kirtle to her waist, and stood straight, proudly before the Forkbeard, her breasts, which were marvelous, thrust forward. How magnificent she seemed, the heavy black iron at her throat riveted. "None of them can please you," she said, "as well as Gunnhild!"

 "He seized her in his arms and raped her lips with a kiss, his hand at her body, then threw her from him to the boards of the dock.

 "Prepare a feastl" he said. "Let a feast be prepared!"

 "Yes, my Jarl!" she cried , and leaped to her feet, running toward the palisade. "Yes, my Jarl!" cried the other girls, hurrying behind her, to begin the preparations for the feast."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:38:30] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Yes, these bond-maids sound unusually happy--even lusty--and content in their bondage! See how quickly Gunnhild got over her disappointment and lept up to prepare a feast for her jarl, her master! This is something you see again and again in "Marauders." Once they accept their new lives, the bond-maids are full of life and joy! They're eager to please their jarls. Of course, the kajirae of the South also want to please their masters, but seem almost restrained and shy in comparison. :)

[15:38:57] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): These slaves don't humbly kneel before their jarls, not speaking until spoken to. They brazenly solicit their Jarl's attention. They're exuberant! Even one who does kneel isn't shy about wanting her jarl's attention. This is what you need to keep in mind should you ever decide to RP a bond-maid in Torvaldsland. Shyness is not an option! :)

[15:39:24] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): You might also note the name of one of the bonds--Pouting Lips. This might sound like an odd name for a slave, but as Cabot points out, it's a common practice in Torvaldsland to give slaves a descriptive name. Others have more regular names. We soon see, however, that the hapless Aeigifu is renamed as . . . Pudding!

[15:40:22] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Let's go back to the new bonds to see how they're branded and collared. This is a long passage, so I'm going to break it up some.

". . . I accompanied the Forkbeard to a place behind, and to one side, of a forge shed. There was a great log there, from a fallen tree. The bark had been removed from the log. It was something in the neighborhood of a yard in thickness. Against the log, kneeling, one behind the other, their right shoulders in contact with it, knelt the new bond-maids, and Aelgifu. Some men stood about, as well, and the brawny fellow, the smith. Nearby, on a large, flat stone, to keep it from sinking into the ground, was the anvil. A few feet away, glowing with heat, stood two canister braziers. In these, among the white coals, were irons. Air, by means of a small bellows, pumped by a thrall boy, in white wool, collared, hair cropped, was forced through a tube in the bottom of each. The air above the canisters shook with heat." . . .

[15:41:18] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "She first," said the Forkbeard, indicating the slender, blond girl.

 She, moaning, was seized by a fellow and thrown on her belly over the peeled log. Two men held her upper arms; two others her upper legs. A fifth man, with a heavy, leather glove, drew forth one of the irons from the fire; the air about its tip shuddered with heat.

 "Please, my Jarl," she cried, "do not mark your girI!"

[15:42:14] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "At a sign from the Forkbeard, the iron was pressed deeply into her flesh, and held there, smoking for five Ihn. It was only when it was pulled away that she screamed. Her eyes had been shut, her teeth gritted. She had tried not to scream. She had dared to pit her will against the iron. But, when the iron had been pulled back, from deep within her flesh, smoking, she, her pride gone, her will shattered, had screamed with pain, long and miserably, revealing herself as only another branded girl. She, by the arm, was dragged from the log. She threw back her head, tears streaming down her face, and again screamed in pain. She looked down at her body. She was marked for identification. A hand on her arm, she was thrust, sobbing, to the anvil, beside which she was thrust to her knees."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:43:12] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Not a pleasant process it sounds like. All too often, when we're RPing, we forget about some of the grittier aspects of Gor, especially what it really entails to be branded. But it's something to keep in mind if you ever do RP the process. It's not . . . "Ouch, that stung! Okay, now back to what I was doing . . ." It's painful--the hot iron is held to the girl's flesh for five Ihn! Then pulled away with the girl in abject pain, a will-breaking experience. And next she's to be collared! But first a description of the brand of Torvaldsland. In the North, they don't use the standard Kef brand or Dina brand or any of the others, such as those of the Wagon People. The Torvadslanders have their own brand for their bond-maids.

[15:44:09] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "The brand used by Forkbeard is not uncommon in the north, though there is less uniformity in Torvaldsland on these matters than in the south, where the merchant caste, with its recommendations for standardization, is more powerful. All over Gor, of course, the slave girl is a familiar commodity. The brand used by the Forkbeard, found rather frequently in the north, consisted of a half circle, with, at its right tip, adjoining it, a steep, diagonal line. The half circle is about an inch and a quarter in width, and the diagonal line about an inch and a quarter in height. The brand is, like many, symbolic. In the north, the bond-maid is sometimes referred to as a woman whose belly lies beneath the sword."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:45:01] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So the Torvaldsland brand, as described here, is a good icon for depicting the woman as one whose belly lies beneath the sword! All right, after being branded, a horrific experience in itself, the new bond finds herself collared. 

"The slender, blond girl, tears in her eyes, looked up at him.

 "He opened the hinged collar of black iron, about a half inch in height. He put it about her throat. It also contained a welded ring, suitable for the attachment of a chain.

 "Put your head beside the anvil," he said.

 "He took her hair and threw it forward, and thrust her neck against the left side of the anvil. Over the anvil lay the joining ends of the two pieces of the collar. The inside of the collar was separated by a quarter of an inch from her neck. I saw the fine hairs on the back of her neck.

[15:46:03] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "On one part of the collar are two, small, flat, thick rings. On the other is a single such ring. These rings, when the wings of the collar are joined, are aligned, those on one wing on top and bottom, that on the other in the center. They fit closely together, one on top of the other. The holes in each, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, too, of course, are perfectly aligned. The smith, with his thumb, forcibly, pushed a metal rivet through the three holes. The rivet fits snugly.

 "Do not move your head, Bond-maid," said the smith.

 "Then, with great blows of the iron hammer, he riveted the iron collar about her throat. A man then pulled her by the hair from the anvil and threw her to one side. She lay there weeping, a naked bondmaid, marked and collared."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:46:40] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): The thick iron collar of the North--not something that anyone might call fancy by any means. But the final accoutrement to complete the Northern bond-maid's slavery! And then . . .

"Hurry, bond-maids!" cried Ivar Forkbeard. "Hurry, lazy girls! There is a feast to be prepared!"

 "The bond-maids, Thyri and Aelgifu among them, fled, like a frightened herd of tabuk, across the short, turflike green grass, to the gate of the palisade, to be put to work."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:47:39] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "The two bond-maids, stripped, too, like the others, for the feast, Pretty Ankles and Pouting Lips, struggled down the length of the smoky, dark hall, a spitted, roasted tarsk on their shoulders. They were slapped by the men, hurrying them along. They laughed with pleasure. Their shoulders were protected from the heat of the metal spit by rolls of leather. . . . I heard men laughing. Too, from the darkness behind me, and more than forty feet away, on the raised level, I heard the screams of a raped bond-maid. She was one of the new girls. I had seen her being dragged by the hair to the raised platform. Her screams were screams of pleasure."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:48:38] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "[Forkbeard] threw me a piece of meat. He cut two small pieces, and thrust them in the mouths of Pudding and Gunnhild. They ate obediently, his pets." ("MoG," Ch. 6.) Pudding, formerly the proud Aeigifu, seems to be getting with the program. :) "The bond-maid, Olga, laughing and kicking, thrown helplessly over the shoulder of an oarsman, was carried past." ("MoG," Ch. 6.) And . . .

[15:49:15] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "I saw several of the bond-maids in the arms of Ivar's men. Among them, too, some trying to resist, were the new girls. One, who had irritated an oarsman, her hands held, was beaten, crying out, with his belt. Released, she began to kiss him, weeping, trying to please him. Men laughed. Another of the new girls was thrown over one of the benches; she lay on her back; her head was down, her dark hair, long, wild, was in the dirt and reeds, strewn on the floor of the hall; her head twisted from side to side; her eyes were closed. her lips were parted; I saw her teeth. 

 "Do not stop, my Jarl," she begged. "Your bond-maid begs you not to stop!"

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:50:00] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So we're seeing a pretty rapid change of attitude, even among the new bonds. And especially with Aeigifu/Pudding . . .

" I looked to the Forkbeard. He had one arm about the full, naked waist of the daughter of the administrator of Kassau, Pudding, and the other about the waist of marvelously breasted, collared Gunnhild. "Taste your Pudding, my Jarl," begged Pudding. He kissed her. "Gunnhild! Gunnhild!" protested Gunnhild. Her hand was inside his furred shirt. He turned and thrust his mouth upon hers.

 "Let Pudding please you," wept Pudding. "Let Gunnhild please you!" cried Gunnhild. "I will please you better," said Pudding "I will please you better!" cried Gunnhild. Ivar Forkbeard stood up; both bond-maids looked up at him, touching him "Run to the furs," said Ivar Forkbeard, "both of youl''

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:50:50] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): What a turnaround! Even Hilda the Haughty, daughter of Thorgard of Skagnar, becomes a willing, lustful bond-maid after Ivar Forkbeard enslaves her later in the book, though he does have to spend a bit more effort breaking her than the girls of Kassau. But I think you get the idea. :) I'll share a couple more passages on bond-maids before we do briefly discuss the thralls of Torvaldsland. This one takes place much later, when the Forkbeard visits the Thing-Fair with his men and bonds.So we're seeing a pretty rapid change of attitude, even among the new bonds. And especially with Aeigifu/Pudding . . .

" I looked to the Forkbeard. He had one arm about the full, naked waist of the daughter of the administrator of Kassau, Pudding, and the other about the waist of marvelously breasted, collared Gunnhild. "Taste your Pudding, my Jarl," begged Pudding. He kissed her. "Gunnhild! Gunnhild!" protested Gunnhild. Her hand was inside his furred shirt. He turned and thrust his mouth upon hers.

 "Let Pudding please you," wept Pudding. "Let Gunnhild please you!" cried Gunnhild. "I will please you better," said Pudding "I will please you better!" cried Gunnhild. Ivar Forkbeard stood up; both bond-maids looked up at him, touching him "Run to the furs," said Ivar Forkbeard, "both of youl''

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:50:50] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): What a turnaround! Even Hilda the Haughty, daughter of Thorgard of Skagnar, becomes a willing, lustful bond-maid after Ivar Forkbeard enslaves her later in the book, though he does have to spend a bit more effort breaking her than the girls of Kassau. But I think you get the idea. :) I'll share a couple more passages on bond-maids before we do briefly discuss the thralls of Torvaldsland. This one takes place much later, when the Forkbeard visits the Thing-Fair with his men and bonds.

[15:51:20] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "The Forkbeard had bought with him, too, some bond-maids. They followed us. Their eyes were bright; their steps were eager; they had been long isolated on the farm; rural slave girls, the Forkbeard's wenches, they were fantastically stimulated to see the crowds; they looked upon the thing-fields with pleasure and excitement; even had they been permitted, some of them, to look upon certain of the contests.

[15:52:11] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "It is said that such pleasures improve a female slave. . . . to better display his pets, and excite the envy of others, the Forkbeard had had his girls drop their kirtles low upon their hips, and hitch them high, that their beauty might be well exhibited, from their collars to some inches below their navels, and, too, that the turns of their calves and ankles might be similarly displayed; I would have thought that they might have groaned with humiliation and attempted to hide themselves among us, but, instead, even Pudding and Thyri, they walked as proud, shameless bond-maid; the exposure of the females navel, on Gor, is known as the "slave belly"; only female slaves expose their navels . . ."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 10.)

[15:52:49] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So here we see a bit more of the attitude of the bond-maid, even when taken from their isolated farms and put in a position where they're on display. They remain proud and shameless in their beauty and their bondage--even with their "slave bellies" in full view of all onlookers! So how do Northern bonds compare to Southern kajirae, according to Tarl Cabot?

" . . . the southern girl is, I expect, worked less hard then the northern girl, who is commonly kept isolated on the farm . . . northern girls, for example, are seldom trained in the detailed, intricate sensuous arts of the female slave . . .

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 10.)

[15:53:47] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): And we quickly find there's no love lost between the slaves of the South and those of the North:

"The silk girl was heeling her master, a captain of Torvaldsland. She wore, indeed, a brief tunic of the south, of golden silk. She wore a collar of gold, and, hanging in her ears, were loops of gold.

 "High-farm girls!" she whispered, as she passed the bond-maids of Ivar Forkbeard. In the south the southern slave girl commonly regards her northern counterparts as bumpkins, dolts from the high farms on the slopes of the mountains of Torvaldsland; she thinks of them as doing little but swilling tarsk and dunging fields; she regards them as, essentially, nothing more than a form of bosk cow, used to work, to give simple pleasure to rude men, and to breed thralls.

[15:54:16] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Cold fish!" cried out Pudding. "Stick!" cried out Pouting Lips.

 "The silk girl, passing them, did not appear to hear them. "Pierced-ear girl!" screamed Pouting lips.

 The silk girl turned, stricken. She put her hands to her ears. There were sudden tears in her eyes. Then weeping, she turned away, her head in her hands, and fled after her master.

 "The bond-maids of Ivar Forkbeard laughed delightedly"

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 10.)

[15:54:41] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Well, there usually isn't such animosity between kajirae and bond-maids in SL Gor--and that's maybe a good thing. Though if you're either one and want to RP to the hilt, BtB, it's something you might want to consider. :)

[15:55:28] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Before I close, as I said, I'll briefly describe the thralls of Torvaldsland. It must be brief, as not much is said about them, most likely due to the low regard in which the free of Torvaldsland hold them. We first see Northern thralls when the Forkbeard and his men, plus Cabot, arrive back at Forkbeard's hold:

"Men in the fields wore short tunics of white wool; some carried hoes; their hair was close cropped; about their throats had been hammered bands of black iron, with a welded ring attached. They did not leave the fields; such a departure, without permission, might mean their death; they were thralls."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:56:22] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Here we see how the thralls are dressed--short white woolen tunics, close cropped hair, the iron collar of Torvaldsland. And we find out what would happen to them should they shirk their duties without permission--a quick death! We saw earlier that it was a thrall who pumped the bellows to heat up the branding irons. A little later in Chapter 6 we meet one thrall, named Tarsk, who was once a lad of Kassau and had been turned down when he'd voiced his affections for the blond Thyri, now a simple bond-maid. He's rather taunting in his greeting to the new bond, telling her, among other things what could happen to her should she misbehave for her jarls:

"Sometimes," said he, "to discipline a bond-maid, she is hurled naked among the thralls." He smiled. "Do not fear. Should this be done to you I, in my turn, shall use you well bond-maid. Quite well."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:56:22] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Here we see how the thralls are dressed--short white woolen tunics, close cropped hair, the iron collar of Torvaldsland. And we find out what would happen to them should they shirk their duties without permission--a quick death! We saw earlier that it was a thrall who pumped the bellows to heat up the branding irons. A little later in Chapter 6 we meet one thrall, named Tarsk, who was once a lad of Kassau and had been turned down when he'd voiced his affections for the blond Thyri, now a simple bond-maid. He's rather taunting in his greeting to the new bond, telling her, among other things what could happen to her should she misbehave for her jarls:

"Sometimes," said he, "to discipline a bond-maid, she is hurled naked among the thralls." He smiled. "Do not fear. Should this be done to you I, in my turn, shall use you well bond-maid. Quite well."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:57:41] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "The Kurii not unoften fed on men, and men, of course, in consequence, attempted to hunt and slay, when they could, the beasts. Usually, however, because of the power and ferocity of the beasts, men would hunt them only to the borders of their own districts, particularly if only the loss of a bosk or thrall was involved." ("MoG," Ch 6.) "Male thralls are chained for the night in the bosk sheds. Bondmaids are kept in the hall, for the pleasure of the free men."("MoG," Ch. 6.)

[15:58:38] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "We saw thralls, too, in the crowd . . . there might have been decided . . . that thralls should no longer be sacrificed; this was not defended, however, on grounds of the advance of civilization, or such, but rather on the grounds that thralls, like urts and tiny six-toed tharlarion, were not objects worthy of sacrifice . . . ("MoG," Ch. 10.)

That last passage refers to how, at one point, thralls were sacrificed to the gods of Torvaldsland--until they were determined too lowly even to be fitting for such a purpose. As the following expands upon . . .

[15:59:24] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): " . . . the status of the thrall, correspondingly, however, such as it was, declined; he was now regarded as much in the same category with the urts that one clubs in the Sa-Tarna sheds, or are pursued by small pet sleen, kept there for that purpose, or with the tiny, six-toed rock tharlarion of southern Torvaldsland, favored for their legs and tails, which are speared by children. If the thrall had been nothing in Torvaldsland before, he was now less than nothing; his status was now, in effect, that of the southern, male work slave, found often in the quarries and mines, and, chained, on the great farms. He, a despised animal, must obey instantly and perfectly, or be subject to immediate slaughter. "

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 10.)

[15:59:49] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So . . . after hearing that, who would want to be a Torvaldsland thrall? Anyone? I doubt it. Tarsk had been brought along to the Thing-Fair, but only to carry heavy crates of sleen fur or chests of bog iron that Forkbeard purchased. So not a happy lot in life, being a thrall in the North.

[16:00:17] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): And with that, I conclude tonight's class on the slaves of Torvaldsland. Hopefully, you've learned a little about the lusty bond-maids and just a bit on the lowly thralls of the North. Next time, I'll begin a series of classes to cover some basic information about the free of Tovaldsland, starting with the free men of the North. If you have any questions or comments about tonight's lesson, please feel free to ask now.

[16:01:20] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): All right, if there are no questions, we'll go ahead and conclude for today. And please, if you can, support Gorean Campus as you are able. I hope to see you again next week as well as in the coming weeks as we continue to study the land to the North and turn our attention to the free of Torvaldsland! I wish you all well!

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[14:52] jorja (jorjasweet) makes a face.."frogs?

[14:52] zCS: Hi Kati, please join the Discord to find out updates and support to the zCS combat system. https://discord.gg/xefa7yWJ8p 

[14:52] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin) entered chat range (18.34 m).

[14:53] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): True. :) Hope it's been a good week for everyone, too. We've had a rollar coaster on weather, got so warm I had to turn on the fan. Chilly again yesterday and today. Up and down . . .

[14:53] jorja (jorjasweet): Greetings Mistress

[14:53] [Ginger Line] Jarl's woman throne v2: Hi Kati Evans! Touch me to change and/or adjust pose.

[14:53] Duncan Willis: Kind of a earth thing I suppose.  Whatever earth is.

[14:53] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Tal!

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[14:53] shanni (shannondoa) is offline.

[14:53] kaeli (kaeli.margulis) Greetings Master and Mistress

[14:53] 卡雅 Kaya 卡雅 (naylasantory) saudações Lady 

[14:53] NaylaSantory Resident: (=>en) /me greetings Lady

[14:54] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): :)

[14:54] kaeli (kaeli.margulis) Greetings Mistress

[14:54] 卡雅 Kaya 卡雅 (naylasantory) o tempo aqui no Brasil  está assim também *BilliAnn *

[14:54] NaylaSantory Resident: (=>en) /me the weather here in Brazil is like that too *BilliAnn *

[14:54] Duncan Willis leans forward waving to Lady Kati "Tal"

[14:54] Cougar (cougar.ireman): Welcome back kaeli the Bold

[14:55] kaeli (kaeli.margulis): was getting the spam ready to send out

[14:56] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): I'm going to take a quick RL break here and then we can start. :) So brb!

[14:56] kaeli (kaeli.margulis): yes Mistress Master K is on the way

[14:56] Duncan Willis: Not mix with gruel? Don't let all that spam go to waste.

[14:56] Legion Dryden (theforeignlegion) is online.

[14:56] kaeli (kaeli.margulis): mix it with mac n cheese

[14:57] Duncan Willis: mmmm

[14:57] Duncan Willis: The meal of champions.

[14:57] jorja (jorjasweet): mmmm if its homemade

[15:00] LJ (liquidj.voom) is online.

[15:00] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Back. And I don't see anyone rushing to get here on the miinimap, so let's get underway, shall we? :)

[15:01] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Welcome to today's Gorean Campus Torvaldsland Studies class on the "Slaves of Torvaldsland." Let's get some preliminaries out of the way first and then we can get started.

[15:01] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): If you wish to make a statement or comment during a lesson or ask or answer a question, we ask that you simply type @ in your local chat box and I will get to you in the order that I see your posts. If for some reason I miss you, please feel free to post again.

[15:01] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): I do prefer, if at all possible, that you hold questions to the end to make sure that we can move along in a timely fashion and not get lost or off on a tangent--though the latter can sometimes be fun or enlightening. But if you're really lost or I'm going too fast for you or you feel something vital is missing, do feel free to pop in with a question, and I'll do my best to cover it before we get too far along. Or to slow down if I'm moving too swiftly. :) (Though if I go *too* slowly, we may go overtime some . . . so do be warned! :) )

Thanks!

[15:02] Koardan entered chat range (18.58 m).

[15:02] jorja (jorjasweet): Tal Master

[15:02] Koardan: Tal all!

[15:02] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): As you almost surely know by now, unless you're new to Campus as a whole or my classes in particular, I'm Lady BilliAnn. As I'm always quick to point out, should you fail to include the "Lady" part in addressing me, it's not a problem, as all our classes here at Gorean Campus are OOC (out of character) as opposed to IC (in character). That's something we always need to keep in mind to avoid any confusion when it comes to what and how we cover things in our classes here on Campus. At my home sim of 1888, which sadly closed down two years ago last month, I held the title of "Lady." And in my Gorean RP I portray Lady Anja Steinnsdottir, Skald of Torvaldsland. So I'm covered on that, both OOC and IC. :)

[15:03] 卡雅 Kaya 卡雅 (naylasantory) tal Koardan 

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[15:03] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): If you've been in any of my classes before, you are likely familiar with my own background as a teacher and a Gorean, so I'm going to dispense again today with the bio info I sometimes give, other than to note that I've been a teacher of Gorean studies--with a focus on Torvaldsland--for almost 10 years now. And less than one month shy of having been in SL Gor for 11 years this month. So not someone who stumbled in off the street looking for a free horn of mead. :) If by chance anyone here is new today and would like more information on that, just IM me after class and I'll be happy to fill you in. :) And if you don't, I won't be at all offended--promise!

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[15:04] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Today's class is the fourth in a series of loosely related Torvaldsland Studies classes I'll be teaching in the upcoming weeks. This one is on the "Slaves of Torvaldsland," which I assume you're aware of or you probably wouldn't be here. :) IUnless you wandered in off the street looking for that free horn of mead . . .) It was originally class 3 of a series of "Introduction to Torvaldsland" classes that I've taught in the past here on Campus. However, the original class, ran way over an hour, even after I frantically skipped a few sections, so I've taken a scalpel to it and cut out any and all extraneous information (mainly because I cover those parts in another class, which gives you a fuller picture). In any event, tonight we turn our attention on the slaves of Torvaldsland, and the nature of slavery in general in that far region to the north.

[15:05] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Now I should probably qualify this to state that today's class mainly focuses on the bond-maids of Torvaldsland--the North's equivalent to the Kajirae of the South. Male slaves do, of course, exist in Torvaldsland, known as thralls. That particular term comes from Viking history in which all slaves, male or female, were known as thralls. (And there is a passage in Chapter 13 of "Marauders of Gor" where a female slave is also referred to as a "female thrall"--though they are more commonly known as bond-maids, or often just "bonds" here in SL Torvaldsland.) I'll cover what I can on thralls, but there's not as much in "Marauders" as you find about bonds. And you usually find more bonds than thralls in SL Torvaldsland as a rule.

[15:06] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Now as to slavery in Torvaldsland, as we get into the topic, we find that it's very much like slavery in the rest of Gor, though with some of the details being different. This is an institution that the Torvaldslanders seem to have mostly adopted from the rest of Gor, while maintaining remnants of their Viking roots, at least in the terms and some practices. As I already said. female slaves in Torvaldsland are known as bond-maids, or just bonds, and male slaves are known as thralls, the Viking term for all slaves in Viking times--or of the Norse, if you want to be technical. :)

[15:07] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Now, as for the term "bond-maid" and its origins, it took me a while when I first got curious about it to ferret out some information. Which wasn't easy. One reference I found was from a book about the early fathers of the Christian church, in a reference to the patriarch Abraham:

"And here follow the times of Abraham’s sons, the one by Hagar the bond maid, the other by Sarah the free woman . . ."

("Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers": Series I, Volume II, City of God, Book XVI, Chapter 25.)

[15:07] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): That seemed to indicate that "bond-maid" was a term used for slaves as far back as biblical times. At least in that particular translation. But this wasn't a Viking reference, so I kept searching till I found another in the Viking Tyrfing Cycle, a collection of poems about a magic sword. It referred to a Viking woman, Hervor who, "Rather than take on sewing or be raised as a bond-maid like other girls, Hervor proved to be as strong as the boys and learned archery, swordsmanship, and horse riding." This reference to being raised a bond-maid, "like other girls," seemed perhaps to indicate it may have been a more general term for Viking women, rather than a term indicating a slave. Though it could simply have been a case of lumping together different possibilities for Viking women, one of them becoming a slave, or bond-maid.

[15:08] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): On the other hand, I also discovered an Old Icelandic rune, Nauð, that's translated as "Constraint = grief of the bond-maid and state of oppression and toilsome work." The Norse had a very similar rune with almost the same meaning. All right, that sounds more like a slave. I checked Wikipedia for an entry for "Bondmaid" or "Bond-Maid" and was redirected to an article on "Serfdom." But I couldn't find any actual information about bond-maids in that article at all. There was an article stub for a novel called "The Bondmaid," but it took place in 1950s Singapore, though again it indicated that the term refers to one sold into servitude.

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[15:09] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Considering how meticulous John Norman is in most of his work, I think we can safely assume that he didn't just make up "bond-maid" from thin air. :) In any event, female slaves in Torvaldsland are bond-maids and not kajirae. In fact, Northern bond-maids look down on kajirae as "silk slaves," little better than ornaments for their masters. We'll get to that shortly.

[15:09] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): We actually meet some Torvaldsland slaves even before we get to Torvaldsland proper in "Marauders" in the case of the 19 women of Kassau that Ivar Forkbeard captured. We also see one of the practices involved around the enslavement of women in the North that's different from that of the south. "Marauders" Chapter 3 describes how Ivar Forkbeard and his men assaulted and looted the Temple of the High Initiate at Kassau. During their plundering of the Temple, Forkbeard did something that some people might think odd, especially since the Temple was at the time burning down around them . . .

[15:10] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "He then drew with the handle of his ax a circle, some twenty feet in diameter, in the dirt floor . . . .

 "It was a bond-maid circle.

 "Females," he cried, gesturing with the great ax toward the wall opposite the doors, "swiftly! To the wall! Stand with your backs against it!"

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

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[15:11] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Forkbeard then went on to examine the line of women, taking from them jewelery, bracelets, necklaces, rings, purses--anything of value. He also examined them for their physical appeal. One girl that Tarl Cabot had spotted earlier was among these, and he noted . . ."She was large breasted. The men of Torvaldsland are fond of such women." ("MoG," Ch. 3.) Forkbeard freed some of the women in the line, sending them back to lie beneath the axes of his men. As Cabot commented, "This left nineteen girls at the wall. I admired the taste of Forkbeard. They were beauties. My choices would have been the same." ("MoG," Ch. 3.) Ivar then removed any strings or combs holding up the women's hair so that their hair fell loose behind their backs. Then . . .

[15:12] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Go to the bond-maid circle," said Ivar Forkbeard, indicating the circle he had drawn in the dirt.

 "The women cried out in misery. To enter the circle, if one is a female, is, by the laws of Torvaldsland, to declare oneself a bond-maid. A woman, of course, need not to enter the circle of her own free will. She may, for example, be thrown within it, naked and bound. Howsoever she enters the circle, voluntarily, or by force, free or secured, she emerges from it, by the laws of Torvaldsland, as a bond-maid."

("Marauders of Gor." Chapter 3.)

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[15:13] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): All but two of the women fled to the circle and huddled in it. One of the other two bargained with Forkbeard, saying her father, who was administrator, would pay a random for her. Her father backed it up and a deal was struck that she would remain outside of the bond-maid circle and her father would deliver a ransom five nights from then on the Skerry of Einar by the Torvaldsmark rune-stone. "Go to the bond-maid circle," said Ivar Forkbeard to the large girl, "but do not enter it." ("MoG," Ch.3.) The other girl was not so lucky, as her father was poorer. "Go to the circle and enter it," said Ivar Forkbeard to the girl." ("MoG," Ch. 3.) She refused, claiming she chose death instead. Until the Forkbeard raised his great ax above her head after telling her to kneel . . .

[15:14] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Suddenly she cried out and thrust her head to his boot. 

 "She held his ankle.

 "Have mercy on a bond-maid!" she wept.

 "Ivar Forkbeard laughed and reached down and pulled her up by the arm, his great fist closed about her arm within the white woolen blouse, and thrust her stumbling well within the circle."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:15] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So we see here how women are enslaved as bond-maids for servitude in Torvaldsland: via the bond-maid circle. Note that this was something that Ivar Forkbeard created on the spot. Later, after the father of the as-yet free girl tried to cheat the Forkbeard with shaved coins--or at least that was what Ivar claimed, though he also claimed that he'd had no intention of setting the woman free--he again drew a bond-maid circle and forced her into it. Now sometimes, in some Northern sims, you'll see a standing bond-maid circle on the ground, formed by rocks or something. You never see this in "Marauders." That doesn't mean it may not have happened, as this passage actually isn't in a Torvaldsland village or hold. But the practice described in the book seems to be to draw up one when needed, as the Forkbeard does later in the dirt of the floor of his Long Hall.

[15:15] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Based on what Cabot relates about how a woman is enslaved via the bond-maid circle, it doesn't sound like something that's left sitting around for some hapless free woman to accidentally stumble into and--voila!--she becomes a bond-maid. The idea seems to be that it's an intentional act: The woman enters the circle of her own accord (or through coercion, as happened here) or she's forcibly thrown into the circle by a man, most likely stripped and bound.

[15:16] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So 18 out of 19 captive women were now bond-maids. What then?

"Bond-maids," ordered Ivar Forkbeard harshly, strip"!

 "Crying out the girls removed their garments. I saw that the weeping, slender blond-hair girl was incredibly beautiful. Her legs and belly, and breasts, were marvelous. And her face, too, was beautiful, sensitive and intelligent. I envied the Forkbeard his catch.

 "Fetter them," said Ivar Forkbeard."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:18] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So the new bond-maids were made to strip naked and then were to be bound and coffled:

"Two of the men of Torvaldsland had, from their left shoulder to their right hip, that their right arms be less impeded, a chain formed of slave bracelets; each pair of bracelets locked at each end about one of the bracelets of another pair, the whole thus forming a circle. . . . These bracelets were of the sort used to hold women in the north. They are less ornate and finely tooled than those available in the south. But they are satisfactory for their purpose.They consist of curved, hinged bands of black iron, three quarters of an inch in width and a quarter inch in thickness. On one of each of the two curved pieces constituting a bracelet there is a welded ring; the two welded rings are joined by a single link, about an inch in width counting both sides, each of which is about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and three inches long. . . .

[15:19] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Coffle the females," said Forkbeard.

 " With a long length of binding fiber the nineteen girls were swiftly fastened throat to throat.

 "Aelgifu, clothed, led the coffle. She was free. The others were only bond-maids."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:20] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Imagine the shock of these women. In a matter of Ehn, they've gone from free women of Kassau to slaves--bond-maids--of Torvaldsland. Forkbeard's men, though, were starting to worry that they couldn't haul all of their loot out of the Temple and back to their waiting serpent ship. The response? "Utilize the bond-maids," said the Forkbeard, angrily. . . . Soon, they, too, were heavily burdened. Several staggered under the weight of the riches they bore." ("MoG," Ch.3.) And of course, Ivar Forkbeard, seeing how his new slaves were holding up to their newest burden, felt his heart fill with mercy. Right? Well, not quite . . .

[15:20] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "In the north, my pretty maids," Ivar assured them, " the burdens you carry will be more prosaic, bundles of wood for the fires, buckets of water for the hall, baskets of dung for the fields."

 "They looked at him with horror understanding then what the nature of their life would be.

 "And at night, of course, they would serve the feasts of their masters, carrying and filling their great horns, and delighting them with the softness of their bodies in the furs."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:21] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): From there, we see these new bond-maids taken to the ship of Ivar Forkbeard and his men. And soon, the 18 slaves--and the one girl yet to become a bond-maild--are on their way to Torvaldsland with the Forkbeard, his men, and one Tarl Cabot. Once aboard, how are the new slaves treated?

"Between the benches, amidships, among piles of loot, their wrists fettered behind them, sat the naked bond-maids, and Aelgifu, in her torn, black velvet. They were still in throat coffle. Their ankles had been crossed, and lashed tightly with binding fiber. Aelgifu's shoes, I noted, had been removed, and her woolen hose; this was done that her ankles and feet, bared now like those of the bond-maids, might be as securely tied. No Gorean puts binding fiber over shoes or hose."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 3.)

[15:22] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Not exactly a cruise on a luxury ship. :) "Behind us, amidships, we heard the weeping of women, fettered bond-maids being carried north to serve harsh masters." ("MoG," Ch. 3.) So we've seen a little of how women are made into bond-maids of Torvaldsland and some of the hardships they face in their initial enslavement. But it only gets worse from here! As to food, "Like the bond-maids, she had been fed only on cold Sa-Tarna porridge and scraps of dried parsit fish." ("MoG," Ch. 4.) This is in reference to the as yet to be enslaved Aelgifu. How were the new slaves being treated otherwise?

[15:23] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Somewhat behind us, between the benches, in the shade of the awning, among other riches taken in the sack of the temple of Kassau, were the bond-maids. They, loot, too, knelt, or sat or laid, among golden plates, and candlesticks and golden hangings. Their ankles were no longer bound; their wrists, now, those of most of them, were fettered before their bodies; about their necks, now, however, they wore not simple binding fiber; it had been replaced the first evening out of Kassau; they wore now, knotted about their throats, a coffle rope of the north, about a half inch in thickness, of braided leather, cored with wire.

[15:24] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "At night they slept with their hands fettered behind them. Some of the girls slept, some curled on the golden hangings of the temple; some sat or knelt, heads down; of the girls, four of them, though still held in the coffle, were no longer fettered. They knelt, with soft cloths and polishes, cleaning and rubbing to a high shine, which must please the Forkbeard, the golden trove of the looted temple of Kassau."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 4.)

[15:24] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Another bond gets an even more glamorous job! "A bailing scoop was thrust into her hands. It has four sides. It is made of wood. It is about six inches in width. There is a diagonally set board in its bottom, and the back and two sides are straight. It has a straight, but rounded handle, carved smaller at the two ends, one where it adjoins the scoop, the other in back of the grip." . . . "The girl went to the opened planking and fell to her knees beside it, the wooden scoop in her hands." ("MoG," Ch. 4.) So another task for bond-maids--bailing out the ship when it collects too much water.

[15:25] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): When she's finished bailing, the hapless slave is ordered to carry water to the Forkbeard's men. "She had performed her first task for her master, the Forkbeard, drying, as it is said, the belly of his serpent. It had been the first of her labors, set to her by her master in her bondage." ("MoG," Ch. 4.) Her response? "Yes," she said "--my Jarl." To the bond-maid the meanest of the free men of the North is her jarl." ("MoG," Ch. 4.) No defiance here. Not if she knows what's good for her.

[15:26] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Another of the bond-maids was then freed to mix the bond-maid gruel, mixing fresh water with Sa-Tarna meal, and then stirring in the raw fish. . . . The bond-maids did not much care for their gruel, unsweetened, mudlike Sa-Tarna meal, with raw fish." ("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 4.)

[15:27] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): And yet, if they didn't eat, a worse fate awaited them:

You will eat it," said the Forkbeard, "or you will be stripped and put to the oar." . . ."In this punishment, the girl, clothed or unclothed, is bound tightly on an oar, hands behind her, her head down, toward the blade. When the oar lifts from the water she gasps for breath, only in another moment to be submerged again. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however, some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar.

[15:27] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "When food is low it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. The least pleasing girl is always used. This practice, of course, encourages bondmaids to vie vigorously to please their masters. An Ahn on the oar is usually more than sufficient to make the coldest and proudest of females an obedient, eager-to-please bondmaid."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 4.)

[15:28] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Anyone ready to sign up as a bond-maid yet . . .? :) But there are other punishments a bond-maid might face that, perhaps, might seem less onerous . . . 

"It is regarded as second only to the five-lash Gorean slave whip, used also in the south, and what among the men of Torvaldsland is called the whip of the furs, in which the master, with his body, incontrovertibly teaches the girl her slavery."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 4.)

[15:29] dina talender (xandradyson) is online.

[15:29] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): One of the new bond-maids discovered another way a slave could be used at sea by the men of Torvaldsland when they encountered the serpent ship of Thorgard of Scagnar, an enemy of the Forkbeard:

"Swing to face her amidships," laughed the Forkbeard. Let them see what riches we carry !"

 "The blond, slender girl's wrists were now fettered before her body, and a rope attached to the fetters. It was thrown over the spar. Her hands were jerked over her head. Then, by her fettered wrists, she moaning, her naked body twisting against the mast, foot by foot, she was drawn to five feet below the spar. She dangled there, in pain, her body that of a stripped bond-maid, exquisite, tempting, squirming, a taunt to the blood of the men of Thorgard of Scagnar. "That will encourage them to row their best," said Ivar Forkbeard.

 "Then the other bond-maids, seventeen of them, were thrust to the rail, and, steadied by the hands of rowers, stood upon it, wrists fettered behind them, in coffle."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 5.)

[15:30] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Eventually, Thorgard's ship is left behind and life goes back to normal for the new bond-maids about the Forkbeard's serpent. After that, Forkbeard deals with the ransom he'd been promised. And somehow he ends up not only with the ransom--but Aeigifu as his newest bond-maid!

[15:31] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): All right--so far, we've seen how women of Kassau start to learn their servitude at the hands of the men of Torvaldsland. But as the Hilda, the Forkbeard's ship, arrives back at his hold, we'll also see how bond-maids act after having been in bondage for a while. And yet, the ordeal of the new bonds isn't quite over . . . far from it . . .

"Put her," said Forkbeard, indicating the slender, blond girl, "at the prow."

 "She was quickly removed from the coffle and unfettered. Gorm put a rope on her neck and pulled her to the prow. She was held by another crewman; he fastened her at the prow. Her back was bent over it. Her wrists and ankles drawn back, were tied at its sides. She was roped to it, too, at the belly and throat."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

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[15:32] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So on top of everything else, the poor girl has to serve as a figurehead on the prowl of Forkbeard's serpent ship, put on display with the rest of the loot from Kassau. But as the ship approaches the dock at Forkbeard's landfall, we get our first glimpse of a bond-maid who's already in the Forkbeard's service:

"In the distance, above the acres, I could see mountains, snow capped. A flock of verr, herded by a maid with a stick, turned, bleating on the sloping hillside. She shaded her eyes. She was blond; she was barefoot; she wore an ankle-length white kirtle, of white wool, sleeveless, split to her belly. About her neck I could see a dark ring."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:32] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): The first bond-maid we see is herding verr with a stick. She's blond, barefoot, and dressed in a long, white wool kirtle, sleeveless and split down to her belly. A collar of Torvaldsland is also visible around her neck. Let me point out here that "Marauders" takes place in the warmer months of the year in Torvaldsland--Cabot says it's early in the year, and that would put it well past the Spring equinox, so the weather is not the cold bitterness of a Torvaldsland winter. That's why you see the bond-maid barefoot, in a sleeveless, split kirtle. If the story had taken place in the colder months, you'd likely be seeing even the bonds dressed more warmly.

[15:33] Magnus Ravenwood is online.

[15:33] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): When the men of Forkbeard's hold see the bond-maid on the prowl, and then the other 18 are pushed forward, the men cry out in pleasure. But things aren't going to be too pleasurable for the new bonds just yet:

 "Heat the irons!" called the Forkbeard.

 "They are hot!" laughed a brawny man, in leather apron, standing on the dock.

 "The girls shuddered. They would be branded.

 "Bring the anvil to the branding log!" said the Forkbeard.

 "They knew then they would wear collars."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:34] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): But that's not all . . . (Or as they say in advertising, "Wait--there's more!")

"Gorm then stood beside Ivar Forkbeard. He carried, on a strap over his shoulder, a tall, dark vessel, filled with liquid. The men on the shore laughed. Attached to the vessel, by a light chain, was a golden cup. It had two handles. From a spout on the vessel, grinning, Gorm filled the golden cup. The liquid swirling in the cup was black.

 "Drink," said Ivar Forkbeard, thrusting the cup into the hands of the slender, blond girl . . . "It is too bitter," she wept.

 "She felt the knife of the Forkbeard at her belly. "Drink," said he.

[15:35] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "She threw back her head and drank down the foul brew. She began to cough and weep. The coffle rope was untied from her throat. "Send her to the branding log," said the Forkbeard. He thrust the girl down the gangplank, into the arms of the waiting men, who hurried her from the dock. One by one, the prizes of Ivar Forkbeard, even the rich, proud Aelgifu, were forced to down the slave wine. Then they were, one by one, freed from the coffle, and hurried to the branding log."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

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[15:35] Aria Whitesong (kellybanks24) is online.

[15:36] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): We'll get back to the new bond-maids in a moment. First, we get a more close up view of Ivar Forkbeard's existing bond-maids. And we see at once how different their attitudes are from their newly enslaved sisters:

"A bond-maid thrust through the crowd. "Does my Jarl not remember Gunnhild?" she asked. She whimpered, and slipped to his side, holding him, lifting her lips to kiss him on the throat, beneath the beard. About her neck, riveted, was a collar of black iron, with a welded ring, to which a chain might be attached. "What of Pouting Lips?" said another girl, kneeling before him, lifting her eyes to his. Sometimes bond-maids are given descriptive names. The girl had full, sensuous lips, she was blond; she also smelled of verr; it had doubtless been she whom I had seen on the slope herding verr.

[15:36] Relia Wulfloard (jaime.michalski) is offline.

[15:36] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Pouting Lips has been in agony awaiting the return of her Jarl," she whimpered. The Forkbeard shook her head with his great hand. "What of Olga?" whined another wench, sweet and strapping, black-haired; "Do not forget Pretty Ankles, my Jarl," said another wench, a delicious little thing, perhaps not more than sixteen. She thrust her lips greedily to the back of his left hand, biting at the hair there."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:37] Torben (orionbound) is offline.

[15:37] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Hmmmmm . . . now that doesn't sound like the miserable, newly enslaved bonds we've met so far, does it? They seem a bit more . . . content with their lot in life. And when they're told to begone, as Forkbeard has "fresher meat to chew," here are the reactions:

"Gunnhild, angrily, with two hands, jerked her kirtle to her waist, and stood straight, proudly before the Forkbeard, her breasts, which were marvelous, thrust forward. How magnificent she seemed, the heavy black iron at her throat riveted. "None of them can please you," she said, "as well as Gunnhild!"

 "He seized her in his arms and raped her lips with a kiss, his hand at her body, then threw her from him to the boards of the dock.

 "Prepare a feastl" he said. "Let a feast be prepared!"

 "Yes, my Jarl!" she cried , and leaped to her feet, running toward the palisade. "Yes, my Jarl!" cried the other girls, hurrying behind her, to begin the preparations for the feast."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:38] Torben (orionbound) is online.

[15:38] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Yes, these bond-maids sound unusually happy--even lusty--and content in their bondage! See how quickly Gunnhild got over her disappointment and lept up to prepare a feast for her jarl, her master! This is something you see again and again in "Marauders." Once they accept their new lives, the bond-maids are full of life and joy! They're eager to please their jarls. Of course, the kajirae of the South also want to please their masters, but seem almost restrained and shy in comparison. :)

[15:38] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): These slaves don't humbly kneel before their jarls, not speaking until spoken to. They brazenly solicit their Jarl's attention. They're exuberant! Even one who does kneel isn't shy about wanting her jarl's attention. This is what you need to keep in mind should you ever decide to RP a bond-maid in Torvaldsland. Shyness is not an option! :)

[15:39] N̶e̶m̶e̶s̶i̶s̶ (theanemesis) is online.

[15:39] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): You might also note the name of one of the bonds--Pouting Lips. This might sound like an odd name for a slave, but as Cabot points out, it's a common practice in Torvaldsland to give slaves a descriptive name. Others have more regular names. We soon see, however, that the hapless Aeigifu is renamed as . . . Pudding!

[15:40] Pandora (pandoraopenbox) is offline.

[15:40] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Let's go back to the new bonds to see how they're branded and collared. This is a long passage, so I'm going to break it up some.

". . . I accompanied the Forkbeard to a place behind, and to one side, of a forge shed. There was a great log there, from a fallen tree. The bark had been removed from the log. It was something in the neighborhood of a yard in thickness. Against the log, kneeling, one behind the other, their right shoulders in contact with it, knelt the new bond-maids, and Aelgifu. Some men stood about, as well, and the brawny fellow, the smith. Nearby, on a large, flat stone, to keep it from sinking into the ground, was the anvil. A few feet away, glowing with heat, stood two canister braziers. In these, among the white coals, were irons. Air, by means of a small bellows, pumped by a thrall boy, in white wool, collared, hair cropped, was forced through a tube in the bottom of each. The air above the canisters shook with heat." . . .

[15:40] Odette Atheria is online.

[15:41] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "She first," said the Forkbeard, indicating the slender, blond girl.

 She, moaning, was seized by a fellow and thrown on her belly over the peeled log. Two men held her upper arms; two others her upper legs. A fifth man, with a heavy, leather glove, drew forth one of the irons from the fire; the air about its tip shuddered with heat.

 "Please, my Jarl," she cried, "do not mark your girI!"

[15:42] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "At a sign from the Forkbeard, the iron was pressed deeply into her flesh, and held there, smoking for five Ihn. It was only when it was pulled away that she screamed. Her eyes had been shut, her teeth gritted. She had tried not to scream. She had dared to pit her will against the iron. But, when the iron had been pulled back, from deep within her flesh, smoking, she, her pride gone, her will shattered, had screamed with pain, long and miserably, revealing herself as only another branded girl. She, by the arm, was dragged from the log. She threw back her head, tears streaming down her face, and again screamed in pain. She looked down at her body. She was marked for identification. A hand on her arm, she was thrust, sobbing, to the anvil, beside which she was thrust to her knees."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:42] Elphie Kiriko Kira (elphaba.jinxing) is offline.

[15:43] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Not a pleasant process it sounds like. All too often, when we're RPing, we forget about some of the grittier aspects of Gor, especially what it really entails to be branded. But it's something to keep in mind if you ever do RP the process. It's not . . . "Ouch, that stung! Okay, now back to what I was doing . . ." It's painful--the hot iron is held to the girl's flesh for five Ihn! Then pulled away with the girl in abject pain, a will-breaking experience. And next she's to be collared! But first a description of the brand of Torvaldsland. In the North, they don't use the standard Kef brand or Dina brand or any of the others, such as those of the Wagon People. The Torvadslanders have their own brand for their bond-maids.

[15:44] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "The brand used by Forkbeard is not uncommon in the north, though there is less uniformity in Torvaldsland on these matters than in the south, where the merchant caste, with its recommendations for standardization, is more powerful. All over Gor, of course, the slave girl is a familiar commodity. The brand used by the Forkbeard, found rather frequently in the north, consisted of a half circle, with, at its right tip, adjoining it, a steep, diagonal line. The half circle is about an inch and a quarter in width, and the diagonal line about an inch and a quarter in height. The brand is, like many, symbolic. In the north, the bond-maid is sometimes referred to as a woman whose belly lies beneath the sword."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:45] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So the Torvaldsland brand, as described here, is a good icon for depicting the woman as one whose belly lies beneath the sword! All right, after being branded, a horrific experience in itself, the new bond finds herself collared. 

"The slender, blond girl, tears in her eyes, looked up at him.

 "He opened the hinged collar of black iron, about a half inch in height. He put it about her throat. It also contained a welded ring, suitable for the attachment of a chain.

 "Put your head beside the anvil," he said.

 "He took her hair and threw it forward, and thrust her neck against the left side of the anvil. Over the anvil lay the joining ends of the two pieces of the collar. The inside of the collar was separated by a quarter of an inch from her neck. I saw the fine hairs on the back of her neck.

[15:46] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "On one part of the collar are two, small, flat, thick rings. On the other is a single such ring. These rings, when the wings of the collar are joined, are aligned, those on one wing on top and bottom, that on the other in the center. They fit closely together, one on top of the other. The holes in each, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, too, of course, are perfectly aligned. The smith, with his thumb, forcibly, pushed a metal rivet through the three holes. The rivet fits snugly.

 "Do not move your head, Bond-maid," said the smith.

 "Then, with great blows of the iron hammer, he riveted the iron collar about her throat. A man then pulled her by the hair from the anvil and threw her to one side. She lay there weeping, a naked bondmaid, marked and collared."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:46] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): The thick iron collar of the North--not something that anyone might call fancy by any means. But the final accoutrement to complete the Northern bond-maid's slavery! And then . . .

"Hurry, bond-maids!" cried Ivar Forkbeard. "Hurry, lazy girls! There is a feast to be prepared!"

 "The bond-maids, Thyri and Aelgifu among them, fled, like a frightened herd of tabuk, across the short, turflike green grass, to the gate of the palisade, to be put to work."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:47] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "The two bond-maids, stripped, too, like the others, for the feast, Pretty Ankles and Pouting Lips, struggled down the length of the smoky, dark hall, a spitted, roasted tarsk on their shoulders. They were slapped by the men, hurrying them along. They laughed with pleasure. Their shoulders were protected from the heat of the metal spit by rolls of leather. . . . I heard men laughing. Too, from the darkness behind me, and more than forty feet away, on the raised level, I heard the screams of a raped bond-maid. She was one of the new girls. I had seen her being dragged by the hair to the raised platform. Her screams were screams of pleasure."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:48] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "[Forkbeard] threw me a piece of meat. He cut two small pieces, and thrust them in the mouths of Pudding and Gunnhild. They ate obediently, his pets." ("MoG," Ch. 6.) Pudding, formerly the proud Aeigifu, seems to be getting with the program. :) "The bond-maid, Olga, laughing and kicking, thrown helplessly over the shoulder of an oarsman, was carried past." ("MoG," Ch. 6.) And . . .

[15:49] Razor (razor.teardrop) is offline.

[15:49] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "I saw several of the bond-maids in the arms of Ivar's men. Among them, too, some trying to resist, were the new girls. One, who had irritated an oarsman, her hands held, was beaten, crying out, with his belt. Released, she began to kiss him, weeping, trying to please him. Men laughed. Another of the new girls was thrown over one of the benches; she lay on her back; her head was down, her dark hair, long, wild, was in the dirt and reeds, strewn on the floor of the hall; her head twisted from side to side; her eyes were closed. her lips were parted; I saw her teeth. 

 "Do not stop, my Jarl," she begged. "Your bond-maid begs you not to stop!"

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:49] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So we're seeing a pretty rapid change of attitude, even among the new bonds. And especially with Aeigifu/Pudding . . .

" I looked to the Forkbeard. He had one arm about the full, naked waist of the daughter of the administrator of Kassau, Pudding, and the other about the waist of marvelously breasted, collared Gunnhild. "Taste your Pudding, my Jarl," begged Pudding. He kissed her. "Gunnhild! Gunnhild!" protested Gunnhild. Her hand was inside his furred shirt. He turned and thrust his mouth upon hers.

 "Let Pudding please you," wept Pudding. "Let Gunnhild please you!" cried Gunnhild. "I will please you better," said Pudding "I will please you better!" cried Gunnhild. Ivar Forkbeard stood up; both bond-maids looked up at him, touching him "Run to the furs," said Ivar Forkbeard, "both of youl''

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:50] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): What a turnaround! Even Hilda the Haughty, daughter of Thorgard of Skagnar, becomes a willing, lustful bond-maid after Ivar Forkbeard enslaves her later in the book, though he does have to spend a bit more effort breaking her than the girls of Kassau. But I think you get the idea. :) I'll share a couple more passages on bond-maids before we do briefly discuss the thralls of Torvaldsland. This one takes place much later, when the Forkbeard visits the Thing-Fair with his men and bonds.

[15:51] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "The Forkbeard had bought with him, too, some bond-maids. They followed us. Their eyes were bright; their steps were eager; they had been long isolated on the farm; rural slave girls, the Forkbeard's wenches, they were fantastically stimulated to see the crowds; they looked upon the thing-fields with pleasure and excitement; even had they been permitted, some of them, to look upon certain of the contests.

[15:52] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "It is said that such pleasures improve a female slave. . . . to better display his pets, and excite the envy of others, the Forkbeard had had his girls drop their kirtles low upon their hips, and hitch them high, that their beauty might be well exhibited, from their collars to some inches below their navels, and, too, that the turns of their calves and ankles might be similarly displayed; I would have thought that they might have groaned with humiliation and attempted to hide themselves among us, but, instead, even Pudding and Thyri, they walked as proud, shameless bond-maid; the exposure of the females navel, on Gor, is known as the "slave belly"; only female slaves expose their navels . . ."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 10.)

[15:52] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So here we see a bit more of the attitude of the bond-maid, even when taken from their isolated farms and put in a position where they're on display. They remain proud and shameless in their beauty and their bondage--even with their "slave bellies" in full view of all onlookers! So how do Northern bonds compare to Southern kajirae, according to Tarl Cabot?

" . . . the southern girl is, I expect, worked less hard then the northern girl, who is commonly kept isolated on the farm . . . northern girls, for example, are seldom trained in the detailed, intricate sensuous arts of the female slave . . .

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 10.)

[15:52] N̶e̶m̶e̶s̶i̶s̶ (theanemesis) is offline.

[15:53] Jasmine Bernard-Carver (jasminelayla) is offline.

[15:53] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): And we quickly find there's no love lost between the slaves of the South and those of the North:

"The silk girl was heeling her master, a captain of Torvaldsland. She wore, indeed, a brief tunic of the south, of golden silk. She wore a collar of gold, and, hanging in her ears, were loops of gold.

 "High-farm girls!" she whispered, as she passed the bond-maids of Ivar Forkbeard. In the south the southern slave girl commonly regards her northern counterparts as bumpkins, dolts from the high farms on the slopes of the mountains of Torvaldsland; she thinks of them as doing little but swilling tarsk and dunging fields; she regards them as, essentially, nothing more than a form of bosk cow, used to work, to give simple pleasure to rude men, and to breed thralls.

[15:54] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "Cold fish!" cried out Pudding. "Stick!" cried out Pouting Lips.

 "The silk girl, passing them, did not appear to hear them. "Pierced-ear girl!" screamed Pouting lips.

 The silk girl turned, stricken. She put her hands to her ears. There were sudden tears in her eyes. Then weeping, she turned away, her head in her hands, and fled after her master.

 "The bond-maids of Ivar Forkbeard laughed delightedly"

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 10.)

[15:54] duir (juda.hecht) is offline.

[15:54] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Well, there usually isn't such animosity between kajirae and bond-maids in SL Gor--and that's maybe a good thing. Though if you're either one and want to RP to the hilt, BtB, it's something you might want to consider. :)

[15:54] Sphere Proto is offline.

[15:55] Jasmine Bernard-Carver (jasminelayla) is online.

[15:55] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Before I close, as I said, I'll briefly describe the thralls of Torvaldsland. It must be brief, as not much is said about them, most likely due to the low regard in which the free of Torvaldsland hold them. We first see Northern thralls when the Forkbeard and his men, plus Cabot, arrive back at Forkbeard's hold:

"Men in the fields wore short tunics of white wool; some carried hoes; their hair was close cropped; about their throats had been hammered bands of black iron, with a welded ring attached. They did not leave the fields; such a departure, without permission, might mean their death; they were thralls."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:56] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Here we see how the thralls are dressed--short white woolen tunics, close cropped hair, the iron collar of Torvaldsland. And we find out what would happen to them should they shirk their duties without permission--a quick death! We saw earlier that it was a thrall who pumped the bellows to heat up the branding irons. A little later in Chapter 6 we meet one thrall, named Tarsk, who was once a lad of Kassau and had been turned down when he'd voiced his affections for the blond Thyri, now a simple bond-maid. He's rather taunting in his greeting to the new bond, telling her, among other things what could happen to her should she misbehave for her jarls:

"Sometimes," said he, "to discipline a bond-maid, she is hurled naked among the thralls." He smiled. "Do not fear. Should this be done to you I, in my turn, shall use you well bond-maid. Quite well."

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 6.)

[15:57] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Later, Tarsk, escapes being put to death for touching the girl, instead being whipped out of courtesy for Tarl Cabot's assessment of his infraction. In the end, Tarsk does redeem himself, fighting alongside the free men of Torvaldsland against the Kurii, though for picking up a weapon, he bows his head to be executed. Instead, the Forkbeard gives the young man his freedom--and the gift of Thyri as his slave! So he didn't end up doing too badly for himself. Though this was an exception to the rule as to how thralls were treated in Torvaldsland:

[15:57] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "The Kurii not unoften fed on men, and men, of course, in consequence, attempted to hunt and slay, when they could, the beasts. Usually, however, because of the power and ferocity of the beasts, men would hunt them only to the borders of their own districts, particularly if only the loss of a bosk or thrall was involved." ("MoG," Ch 6.) "Male thralls are chained for the night in the bosk sheds. Bondmaids are kept in the hall, for the pleasure of the free men."("MoG," Ch. 6.)

[15:58] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): "We saw thralls, too, in the crowd . . . there might have been decided . . . that thralls should no longer be sacrificed; this was not defended, however, on grounds of the advance of civilization, or such, but rather on the grounds that thralls, like urts and tiny six-toed tharlarion, were not objects worthy of sacrifice . . . ("MoG," Ch. 10.)

That last passage refers to how, at one point, thralls were sacrificed to the gods of Torvaldsland--until they were determined too lowly even to be fitting for such a purpose. As the following expands upon . . .

[15:58] Nicholas Sylvanus (nicholas.crisp) is online.

[15:59] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): " . . . the status of the thrall, correspondingly, however, such as it was, declined; he was now regarded as much in the same category with the urts that one clubs in the Sa-Tarna sheds, or are pursued by small pet sleen, kept there for that purpose, or with the tiny, six-toed rock tharlarion of southern Torvaldsland, favored for their legs and tails, which are speared by children. If the thrall had been nothing in Torvaldsland before, he was now less than nothing; his status was now, in effect, that of the southern, male work slave, found often in the quarries and mines, and, chained, on the great farms. He, a despised animal, must obey instantly and perfectly, or be subject to immediate slaughter. "

("Marauders of Gor," Chapter 10.)

[15:59] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): So . . . after hearing that, who would want to be a Torvaldsland thrall? Anyone? I doubt it. Tarsk had been brought along to the Thing-Fair, but only to carry heavy crates of sleen fur or chests of bog iron that Forkbeard purchased. So not a happy lot in life, being a thrall in the North.

[16:00] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): And with that, I conclude tonight's class on the slaves of Torvaldsland. Hopefully, you've learned a little about the lusty bond-maids and just a bit on the lowly thralls of the North. Next time, I'll begin a series of classes to cover some basic information about the free of Tovaldsland, starting with the free men of the North. If you have any questions or comments about tonight's lesson, please feel free to ask now.

[16:00] Gorean Campus - Teacher Tip Jar: Thanks for the tip!

[16:00] Gorean Campus - Teacher Tip Jar: Thanks for the tip!

[16:01] Koardan: @THANK YOU!  - for another great class, and series. TY GC and Staff, and brothers and sisters in learning! #

[16:01] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Most welcome!

[16:01] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): All right, if there are no questions, we'll go ahead and conclude for today. And please, if you can, support Gorean Campus as you are able. I hope to see you again next week as well as in the coming weeks as we continue to study the land to the North and turn our attention to the free of Torvaldsland! I wish you all well!

[16:01] Duncan Willis: Thank you Lady BilliAnn.  Excellent class.

[16:01] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Very welcome!

[16:01] 卡雅 Kaya 卡雅 (naylasantory) obrigada Lady como sempre suas aulas são cheias de aprendizados 

[16:01] NaylaSantory Resident: (=>en) / thank you Lady, as always your classes are full of learning

[16:02] Nyxara Moonchild: Thank you very much for all the work you did to put this together. Awesome information!

[16:02] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Ran right up to the wire, but much better than when the class ran almost half an hour extra. :)

[16:02] Koardan: Excellent

[16:02] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): You're most welcome!

[16:02] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Everyone please have a wonderful rest of the evening and a great week coming up! Odin's blessings upon you all!

[16:02] jorja (jorjasweet): Thank You. That was interesting and being a Bondmaid has some attractive angles to it

[16:02] Huntsy Silverpath (huntsman.hinterland) is online.

[16:03] Koardan: Odin's blessings!

[16:03] jorja (jorjasweet): I wish you well Masters.

[16:03] jorja (jorjasweet): Jar;

[16:03] jorja (jorjasweet): Jarl

[16:03] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Yes, bond-maids do seem to develop a joy for their lives. :)

[16:03] jorja (jorjasweet): hard work never hurt anyone..winks

[16:03] Gorean Campus - Teacher Tip Jar: Thanks for the tip!

[16:03] jorja (jorjasweet): I wish you well Mistress's

[16:04] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): As always, if you think of any questions later, feel free to IM me and I'll do my best to answer them. :)

[16:04] Second Life: Kaeli Margulis gave you <Torvald Studies Pt 4> ~ <3/2/26> ~ <BilliAnn Bravin>.

[16:04] Duncan Willis looks at his schedule scroll "I am off to Port Alfred." frowning "Hopefully returning in time for tavern entertainment to make up for the journey."

[16:04] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): Well wishes!

[16:04] Koardan: Safe travels Duncan

[16:05] kaeli (kaeli.margulis) she wishes you well Master

[16:05] Gorean Campus - Teacher Tip Jar whispers: Logging out BilliAnn Bravin.

[16:05] Duncan Willis: I wish all well.  Great seeing you this afternoon Koardan.

[16:05] 卡雅 Kaya 卡雅 (naylasantory) as bençãos de Odin para todos * fiquem seguros* 

[16:05] NaylaSantory Resident: (=>en) /me Odin's blessings to all *stay safe*

[16:05] BilliAnn Bravin-Ireman (billiann.bravin): :) Off with my companion. We have some work to do.

[16:06] Verek (vedek.ireto) is online.