Gorean Cheat Sheet - Barbarians of Gor (2024)

We have created as brief a list of important information about Gorean role-play as is possible to do with a fiction that spans more then 30 books. It is not everything you need to know, and many experienced Goreans will disagree with the priority placed on one thing over another, but it should get you started.

For those who are new to Gor and have perhaps read a book or two and are overjoyed to discover this and excited to become involved, we are delighted to have you. And as much as I would like to avoid spoiling your discover of this fiction via role-play, I have to provide you with some cautions.

• No RP community ever consistantly or reliably recreates the fiction with you as the main character. We may try, we make hope, we may even attempt to force it, but if you want to be Gimli at the battle for Helm's Deep and get to tell Aragon to "toss me", you ARE going to be disappointed. Manage your expections, especially if the Gorean fiction has tapped into some emotional need you were not prepared for.

• Be smart and maintain your privacy. Any fiction that is highly sexualize will attract creeps. Don't share your picture, don't give out your number. It's no one's business what your real life gender, marital status or sexual orientation is.

• Try to see the trees while hunting for the forest. Don't overlook the small pleasures, social interactions, and community experience while chasing some larger goal. It is best if its always about the journey.

• Hello and Hi are not used. Tal is appropriate for all characters. Greetings is also acceptable, and in Torvaldsland you will see people say Ho!, usually accompanied by the raising of a hand. Hail is also used in Torvaldsland.

Overall Behavior

While some of the more barbaric cultures in Gor are rough spoken, in general a certain level of archaic speech and formality works best for those who are new to Gor; this includes men, woman and slaves.

• Slaves should call all men either master or Jarl in Torvaldsland.
• Free women commonly use lady for other free women and sir for free men.
• Free men do not have a regular honorific for other men unless that man is of rank, but may call free women lady or woman, and slaves are typically called beast, girl, wench and slu*t.

Some exceptions

• The leader of a Torvaldsland village or clan is called Jarl or even "my Jarl" by anyone who is a member of that town/clan/village.
• The war leader of a southern city is the Ubar. (We may have clans that do not have an Ubar, but I doubt it at the moment. Will update if necessary.)

Relationships between the people

In Gor, sh*t rolls down hill. And while many role-players do not enjoy being mean to other characters, it IS by the book.

• Free men generally ignore free women until they do something wrong. Marriages are for convenience and rarely for love. Free men generally prefer the company of other men or their slaves.

• Free women are jealous of slaves and will generally ignore them at best or torment them at worse. The prettier and better dressed the slave is, the more likely they will earn the ire of a free woman.

• Female Slaves are also jealous and competitive with each other and are known to get into fights with other slaves. And they typically are down right brutal to male slaves.

• Male Slaves are at the very bottom of the social dung pile.

• And Panther Girls below them as they are not even an accepted part of Gorean society.

Note

It is considered ungorean for a free man to interfere when a Free Women torments a slave, or when other slaves torment them. However, a free woman should be very careful just how far she goes lest a free man think she is expressing her desired to be enslaved by her jealous actions.

A free man who sticks his nose into the business of women may find himself teased for being unmanly and too worried about the concerns of women.

Gorean roleplay is broken out into Free Men, Free Women, and Slaves (both male and female). Panther Girls who are also free, but outcasts are considered to be a fourth category.

Slaves

There are dozens of different types of slaves, not all are pleasure slaves. However the most common terms you will hear are:

• Kajira - Word for female slave everywhere but in Torvaldsland.
• Kajirus- Word for male slave everywhere but in Torvaldsland.
• Bondmaid - Female slave in Torvaldsland
• Thrall - Male slave in Torvaldsland.

Please note that there are no silk colors for bondmaids; white, yellow and red silk is not a thing in Torvaldsland or in other parts of Gor such as the Alar, the Red Hunters, etc.

Panther Girls/Taluna

aka Forest Girls

In the Gorean books Panther Girls are woman (both free and slave) who live in the forest away from the influence of men and are considered outlaws because of the strict caste system of central Gor.

In Second Life Gor the relationship between BtB Role-players and Panther Girls is complicated and probably not worth going into for those of you who have never actually experienced it.

Feel free to read up on them here: https://lunacaleengpanthers.wordpress.com/about-gor-and-panther-girls/

In our setting

I do not know how the relationship between traditional Gorean settlements and Panther Girls will develop. I suspect it will vary from clan to clan.

However, given the way in which our setting is established, it is very plausible that women may have arrived on this land with no one to protect them. They would either die or survive. This could be going on for years or even perhaps they were born in this land and know little of the mainland. While the mainland camps are traditionally comprised of women feeling a companion or master those in World's End may simply forced into this life by the circ*mstances of their surroundings. Eventually, they may choose to join a traditional settlement again as a free woman or slave, or negotiate a trade relationships in exchange for protection -- for a small settlement, a tribe of Panther Girls may be a valuable resource.

A warning to prospective Panther Girls

At first glance playing a panther girl might seem like an ideal option; you get to have weapons, you can wear your hair down, you don't have to be completely covered, and no man controls you.

Stop

If you are new to gor and think this is tailor made for your free thinking feminist ways where you can dress sexy and fight on equal footing with men, you need to read what I am about to tell you.

• Panther Girls are OUTCASTS. Not in a fun off doing their own thing, but as in outside of law and homestone. They have absolutely no rights under any legal system or code of honor.
• Gorean Male RPers are WEIRD about panthers. Some are addicted to them like hobby fisher men who want to catch, (f*ck), and release. Some hate them and wish they were not in the books at all and will use any fictional excuse to avoid them or force them not to RP anywhere near them.
• A panther girl who wants to RP with others needs to consider the following options: Disguising themselves as free women, receiving the protection of a powerful man/clan/city, sticking to the outskirts of a settlement and being prepared to bolt, and most importantly ...

Do not RP as being a mouthy bitch. Nothing will enrage a Gorean Male faster, and they will seek to kill not collar. You do have more freedoms, but in some ways you have less. There are pros and cons to this role just as there are to being a Free Women and a Slave.

NOT ALL OF THE (available) CLOTHING IS APPROPRIATE - even if available.

• High heels, corsets and shorts are not a thing. (Evil Cabinet Harlot)
• Sexy free woman clothing is not a thing. Nor are pants.
• Anything that would look better on a drow ... is NOT a thing. (Some of the Evil Cabinet Noctorian.)
• Platemail Armor is really pushing the Gorean aesthetic. (Medurian, Blackgrail & Darkguard)

Keep it simple and low key

Tunics (roman and medieval), leather armors, furs, skins, medieval silk dresses, trousers and pirate shirts, are fine.

Appearance Quirks

There are some random appearance quirks that those new to Gor might want to be aware of.

• Short hair isn't really a fashion style option. Having short hair is generally assumed to mean that you are a slave and were punished by having your hair cut. We can assume this punishment might also be applied to FW but I can't remember any specific examples.
• Earrings are a southern slave thing and FW do not have their ears pierced and (northern) bond-girls mock southern slaves as being pierced ear girls.
• Free women do not wear make up, chokers, earrings or nail polish, but normal necklaces such as pendants and bracelets are acceptable.

While Gor is generally considered to be an ERP fiction it bears little actual resemblence to other ERP communities which are sex, slave, capture, and/or kink focused. If your primary role-play experience is in communities like this you are in for a bit of a shock. While every community everywhere is different, I will do my very best to draw some reasonable comparisons.

• While any role-player in a Gorean setting may have a wide range of personal and private kinks, the Gorean fiction is surprisingly kink free by comparison. With the exception of rape, which I'll get to in a moment, the predominent Gorean kink is dominance & submission, i.e. power exchange.
• The Gorean fiction does not detail any of the following kinks; blood play, sadomasochism, anal sex, lactation, breeding, age play, Autoplushophilia, Urophilia, Female-led relationships, or Mummification.
• However the following kinks are present; bondage, Exhibitionism, Humiliation, Financial domination, org*sm control, Impact play, bondage/caging, Praise kink, Degradation kink.

 "Perhaps it should only be added that the Gorean Master, though strict, is seldom cruel. The girl knows, if she pleases him, her lot will be an easy one. She will almost never encountered sadism or wanton cruelty, for the psychological environment that tends to breed these diseases is largely absent from Gor. This does not mean that she will not expect to be beaten if she disobeys, or fails to please her Master."Outlaw of Gor

Consensual nonconsent

In fact the entire premise of playing in Gor is based around the concept of consensual nonconsent. And this is where the concept of Gorean rape comes into play. Rape in the Gorean books is almost never depicted as violent. The fiction simply presents the gorean female (and earth female) as wanting nothing more then to be overwelmed by a dominent man.

 "I love it when you are strong with me," said Peggy. She lay beside me, on her elbow, the chain dangling from her collar. "You are a woman," I said. "I despise weak men," she said. "I respect only men who will treat me as a woman, and do with me what they please. I know I am a woman. I want to be treated as one. How can I take my place in the order of nature if men will not treat me as they wish? That is what I want, to be treated, even with insolence, as men wish. Only then can I know them as my master, and yield to them in my fullness."Rogue of Gor

What does this mean to you as a role-player?

It means that by playing here you are consenting to the KINKS listed above as being in fiction and have a right to refuse kinks not in the gorean fiction.

However, please note that I am very clearly specifiying kinks, because Gor is a violent world where everyone may be subject to violence, up to and including potential (Moderator Authorized) perma-death, torture, or mutilation. But these are not casual actions and our server has rules and guidelines around character negating like this, and will always allow the player the right to fade to black on any topic.

Further, slaves can be punished in the following ways: whipping, being caged/bound/chained, having their name taken from them, ordered to speak in 3rd person, left out in the elements, have their hair cut. And of course slaves are branded.

The whip on Gor, incidentally, though it is much in evidence, is seldom used. That it will be used, and promptly, if the occasion arises, is perhaps, paradoxically perhaps, why it seldom needs to be used. Most girls avoid feeling it, at least generally, by striving to be excellent slaves. To be sure, every female slave will have felt it, upon occasion. It is then common that they try to make certain that these occasions are quite infrequent. To be sure, some women do not fully understand they are owned, until they are whipped.Vagabonds of Gor 

Full Disclosure

Beyond the kink, the Gorean's have a very long and creative list of ways to punnish and kill either other. Browse the list linked here to understand what is part of the fiction: https://www.angelfire.com/zine2/gorean/tools.html

Counter Earth

Gor is a planet that circles the sun in our solar system directly opposite to Earth. Gor has a different gravity, three moons, and plants and animals unfound on Earth. It is not a clone of Earth. The book series is set in modern day Earth.

Caste

The bulk of Gorean society is divided by caste with the highest of castes being the initiates (priests), warriors, physicians, scribes, builders. Everyone else is low caste and comprises dozens of different professional and craftsman castes.

Non Caste

The "barbarian" people of Gor which include Torvaldsland typically do not have castes. Instead, they are grouped into free men, free women, slaves and sometimes a priest class (Rune Priest in Torvaldsland).

Note

"Barbarian people" is not a gorean term its just one used to describe the people of Gor who are less structured then central Gor. Do not confuse it with the word barbarian which is used in the books to refer to someone from earth.

Armor and Weapons

On Gor, almost all armor is prohibited by the Priest Kings, as is mass communication and a few other laws. The armor worn by the natives of this continent are *obviously* not restricted to the same degree as chain mail, scale mail and even some platemail IS mechanically available. It will be a fictional learning curve for recent arrivals.

Most of the weapons are the same, however the best weapons on the mainland are steel, none of the "better metals" available on this continent, such as hardened steel and star metal, would be known.

Gorean Animals

On the server the plants and animals we experience are similar to Earth animals and it is acceptable to call them by their in game name in role-play. But understand as characters who were born on Gor the names would be unfamiliar to us. SO, even if you don't know the names of the Gorean animals you can refer to the wild life with a certain hesitancy. Such as "Is that a .. go-at?" *frowns learning the new word*.

However, you may hear other's refer to plants/animals by their Gorean name. Just go ahead and look it up on google. For those of you who like to be prepared you are most likely to hear the following terms; verr (sheep/goat), bosk (Cow/Bison), fevret (weasel/ferret), sa-tarna (grain like wheat), sul (potato), Kur or Kurii (sentient alien that looks sorta like a werewolf), tarsk (boar), tarn (giant ridable hawk), tabuk (antelope with a single horn), larl (giant cat), kaiila (weird carnivorous horse thing).

• https://www.angelfire.com/ky3/bakah/animalsplants.html

Medicine, Gor

Medicine on Gor is surprisingly advanced for the setting, especially in the bigger cities. Most of that medicine is available on this island. However there does seem to be some rather advanced herbalism and alchemistry; it is probably very unfamiliar to most main land physicians, but should be easy enough to learn. (Torvaldsland and other barbarian tribe "healers" would pick it up just as fast.) <Read Me>

Magic and Religion

For some the fact that these two topics are intertwined maybe confusing, yet this article is probably the best overview of both topics, so I have combined them to keep our lessons here brief. In general, slaves and woman are accorded very little access to or role within religion.

http://www.moonproductions.com/Fantasy/Gor/religiousbeliefs.html

There are four "religions" on Gor:

• Sun Worshipers - Very rare and very little information available.
• Odin and Thor - the gods of Torvaldsland. There are other "gods" in the creation myth but we are never given their names.
• Sky Worship - Unique among the Wagon People

And of course:

• The Priest Kings - Worshiped by everyone else.

Magic

Magic becomes a wholly new issue in Conan Exiles were magic is part of the world and mechanics. It is generally safe to assume that the average Gorean is superstitious and believes in magic. In a world where magic is not just a theory, and not just parlor tricks, the Gorean response to magic is likely to be significant among all but the central high castes.

High Caste Goreans (see above) are far less likely to believe in magic or religion. <Read More>

First and Second Knowledge

https://greathof.wixsite.com/hofsl/1st-2nd-3rd-knowledges

Low Caste Goreans and those of Barbarian cultures are more likely to know only First Knowledge, while high caste Goreans are taught Second Knowledge. I am trying to avoid burying you all in quotes, but this one really does explain it completely.

I was also instructed in the Double Knowledge - that is, I was instructed in what the people, on the whole, believed, and then I was instructed in what the intellectuals were expected to know. Sometimes there was a surprising discrepancy between the two. For example, the population as a whole, the castes below the High Castes, were encouraged to believe that their world was a broad, flat disk. Perhaps this was to discourage them from exploration or to develop in them a habit of relying on commonsense prejudices something of a social control device.On the other hand, the High Castes, specifically the Warriors, Builders, Scribes, Initiates, and Physicians, were told the truth in such matters, perhaps because it was thought they would eventually determine it for themselves, from observations such as the shadow of their planet on one or another of Gor's three small moons during eclipses, the phenomenon of sighting the tops of distant objects first, and the fact that certain stars could not be seen from certain geographical positions; if the planet had been flat, precisely the same set of stars would have been observable from every position on its surface.I wondered, however, if the Second Knowledge, that of the intellectuals, might not be as carefully tailored to preclude inquiry on their level as the First Knowledge apparently was to preclude inquiry on the level of the Lower Castes. I would guess that there is a Third Knowledge, that reserved to the Priest-Kings.