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#Post#: 75--------------------------------------------------
Entertainment, Games and Holidays
DIR By: Jinxed
Date: December 23, 2021, 10:23 pm
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Goreans are fun loving people. They embrace life and spend
plenty of time engaged in various forms of entertainment.
Entertainment follows caste lines in many cases. Castes are
commonly segregated in some areas, though many times only by Low
and High Caste. Some forms of entertainment are also cultural in
nature. This scroll shall describe many forms of Gorean
entertainment, from games of death to simple children's games.
Arena Contests: Numerous cities have arenas that are very
similar to the arenas of ancient Rome. In Ar, they have their
Stadium of Blades. In these arenas, all forms of combat games
are enacted. The types of games are limited on my your
imagination. Many of these contests of arms are to the death.
They most often involve criminals and poor mercenaries. Red
Caste Warriors rarely participate in such games. Prizes of gold
and/or amnesty are offered to participants. Men fight with
various weapons in various types of matches. Men may fight in
iron hoods, unable to see. Many men battle with cestae or hook
knives. The cestae may bear spikes or blades. Slave girls may
fight each other, sometimes with steel claws attached to their
fingers. Beasts are also common in arena battles. They might
fight each other, men or even armed slave girls. The battles do
not have to be fair, only entertaining. Slave girls commonly
fight only for amusement as they are not specially trained for
the arenas. There are large training schools though warriors and
beasts. An arena may even be flooded for sea battles, the water
filled with marine predators.
In Tharna, prior to the revolution depicted in Outlaw of Gor,
they held games called the Amusements of Tharna. They were
gladiatorial games. The men of Tharna had to attend the
Amusements at least four times a year or take part in them. One
game they played was the Contest of Oxen, where men were yoked
and chained together in teams of four. Each team was chained to
a block of granite weighing about a ton. The teams would race
towing the blocks. One man would sit on the block as the driver
and wield a whip. The yokes were made of silver from the mines.
In another game, the Battle of Oxen, the men wore yokes fitted
with steel horns about eighteen inches long. They then had to
fight each other to the death using the horns to gore each
other.
Some combat games are less formal such as the stable bouts.
Essentially these are slave fights that are little more than
bloody brawls. They are mostly watched by the low castes. Your
hands are wrapped in leather so as to not break your hands. You
can kick your foe but no holds to the death are permitted. You
will fight with occasional rest periods that help make the fight
last longer. Combatants are divided by weight class and there is
always much shouting and betting at these events.
Tarn Racing: Numerous Goreans prefer tarn racing to gladitorial
combats. In Ar, fans wear faction patches in varied colors such
as blue, orange, green, red, gold, yellow and silver. These
patches are sewn on the left shoulder. Women of High Castes wear
silk patches while women of Low Castes have crudely stitched,
dyed rep-cloth patches. The average racing fan of Ar will
usually stay to the last race on a day of racing.
A typical tarn racing track is a large, open padded ring
suspended over a net. The tarns start out on perches and must
finish on the same perch. The track is one pasang long. The two
sides would be about 1700' long and the measure at the corners
under 150' wide. The track is like a narrow, aerial rectangle
with rounded ends. The course is determined by twelve rings hung
on chains from great supporting towers. Six rings are
rectangular and six are round. The large rectangular rings are
three on a side and the smaller round ones are set at the
corners of the dividing wall. The tarns must pass through all of
the rings. Other types of tracks exist as well.
Tarn racing is a special skill. There are training schools to
teach the needed skills. Special racing tarns are also used
rather than war or draft tarns. These tarns are smaller, lighter
and sleeker than other types of tarns. It is so light that two
men could lift one. Its wings are broader and shorter,
permitting a swifter take off and a capacity for extremely
abrupt turns and shifts in flight. It cannot carry a great
weight and lacks the stamina of other tarns.
Tharlarion Racing: Select breeds of tharlarions are used in
races like tarn racing. The city of Venna is famed for its
tharlarion races. Little information is given in the books
concerning these races but they are likely similar to horse
racing though probably much more violent. As in tarn racing, the
racers may likely be able to attack each other. This would make
the racing similar to chariot racing of ancient Rome.
Hunting: Hunting is a popular pastime on Gor. Men travel to the
northern forests, the mountains of the Voltai, the jungles near
Schendi and other areas to seek game. Gor teems with wildlife
and there is little scarcity of game save in relatively
populated areas. Even free women, especially in cities near the
northern forests, have been known to engage in hunting. Hunting
is often done with spear and bow. Traps are sometimes used and
Goreans will never leave a trap set that they do not intend to
return to. Each animal has its specific methods by which it is
commonly hunted. Some hunters wear a camouflage outfit of green,
mottled and striped irregularly with black. Others wear hunting
leathers.
In the Voltai range, larl hunters use the Gorean spear. They
proceed in single file as they travel. When a larl is
encountered, the first man in line is supposed to cast his spear
and then drop to the ground, covering himself with his shield so
the next person can throw his spear. The person in the last
position must stand his ground if the larl is not dead by then
and face it with his sword alone so the others can escape. The
First Spear is usually the best spearsman and Last the worst.
Larls are extremely dangerous predators.
Palestrae: Each city usually has a number of palestrae,
gymnasiums. It is here where men of various castes can exercise,
work out and engage in contests of various sorts. Sometimes
different palestrae compete against each other. They develop
rivalries and try to out best each other. Some games they engage
in include hurling the stone, hurling the thonged javelin both
for distance and accuracy, races of various sorts, jumping, and
wrestling. Many of these games are similar to games that the
ancient Greeks performed in their Olympics. There are also meets
and local championships. Teams may be put into age brackets. You
can win awards such as fillets of wool of the hurt dyed
different colors, like Earth ribbons. Champions might even
receive crowns woven of the leaves of a Tur tree.
Baths: These are important social centers on Gor. Some are
private but most are public areas. For a fee, they are available
to all free persons. They are segregated by gender, even if only
by time of day, though this does not preclude slaves of the
opposite sex. Male slaves usually clean the baths. Weapons are
usually not admitted into the baths. Most Goreans share tubs.
The baths may also have scented pools, massage rooms, steam
rooms, exercise yards, recreational gardens, art galleries,
strolling lanes, arcades of merchant, physician courts, reading
rooms, music rooms and more. They are more than simple bath
houses.
Commonly, the baths are large, shallow round tubs of clay and
covered with porcelain. They are mounted on open-bricked
platforms, each platform about a yard high. There are fires
under the bricked platforms to keep them warm or hot. A tub is
about seven feet wide and eighteen inches deep. The more complex
and fancy baths are heated by vents and pipes from subterranean
furnaces.
There are numerous ways that the baths are used but there is a
common way. The first tub is used for a time, soaking and maybe
sponging. Then you emerge to apply oils to your body. The oils
are rubbed well into the skin and then removed by strigil. There
are various forms of strigil though they are usually metal and
almost always of a narrow spatulate form. One then takes a
second tub that consists of clean water to remove the dirt and
oils. You can do all this yourself or have it done by one of the
bath girls.
Bath girls are slaves at the public and private baths. They wear
a chain and plate collar. The plate gives their name and cost.
They wear towels with nothing beneath them. While swimming, many
wrap a long broad strap of glazed leather about their heads like
a turban. The bath girls are there for the pleasure of men.
Sometimes the girls will pretend to swim away from the men and
try to escape but are easily caught by the men. This is done on
purpose as most girls could easily avoid the men if they wished.
They become excellent swimmers.
The Capacian Baths in Ar are considered the finest on Gor. The
girls there cost from one copper tarsk disk up to a silver
tarsk. They have many different pools, differing in shape, size,
decor, temperature and scent of the water. They include such as
the Pool of Blue Flowers, Pool of the Tropics, Pool of Ar's
Glories, pool of the Northern Forests, and the Pool of the
Splendor of the Hinrabians. The Turian baths also come highly
recommended.
#Post#: 76--------------------------------------------------
Re: Entertainment, Games and Holidays
DIR By: Jinxed
Date: December 23, 2021, 10:24 pm
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Paga Tavern: A paga tavern is a combination bar, restaurant and
brothel. Paga taverns exist primarily for the pleasure of men,
but such pleasures range widely. Men go there to relax or be
sociable. They often play Kaissa there. Some taverns even have
special tables with a Kaissa board inlaid on the table. They may
wish to watch slave dances. It is also a place where men can
learn a lot about a city and hear the latest news. A new visitor
to a city can learn much at a paga tavern about his new
surroundings. A paga tavern is much more than just a place where
men go to fur kajirae. Many patrons may never make use of a
kajirae in that manner.
A tavern commonly has a number of low tables of various sizes. A
man can remain by himself at a small table or party with his
friends at a large one. Men sit cross-legged on the floor at
these tables. There may be a sandpit in the paga tavern for
slave dancing or battles by the men. There is an area of
curtained pleasure alcoves where men and slaves retire for sex.
There is often a kitchen area, commonly separated from the main
area by swinging doors or a beaded curtain. These are easy to
negotiate by a girl carrying something. Curtains are used more
often than the swinging doors.
The men are served by the paga kajirae, slaves who are a
combination waitress and prostitute. For the price of a cup of
paga, a man is also entitled to the use of one of the servers.
He may take a girl to one of the pleasure alcoves for sex. He
may keep that girl for as long as he desires or until the tavern
closes at dawn. For each cup he purchases, a customer may have a
different slave.
The pleasure alcoves are often small and their entrances may be
circular, about twenty-four inches in diameter. They are
commonly stacked in levels and reached by narrow ladders fixed
into the walls. A typical alcove has curved walls, and is about
four feet high and five feet wide. It is lit by a small lamp set
in a niche in the wall. It is lined with red silk and floored
with love furs and cushions. The furs are usually about six to
eight inches deep. An alcove will usually contain chains, rope
and a whip. You may also request any special equipment you may
desire such as hook bracelets. Some taverns may have different
types of alcoves but most are fairly similar.
Free women are not permitted in most paga taverns though they
are permitted entrance in a few. In some taverns, even families
are permitted entrance. In such taverns, efforts are made to
promote modesty and decorum. Men in these places try to restrain
themselves so as to not offend the free women. Most free women
though would rather not attend such establishments. They do not
wish to see their men fawning over such lascivious kajirae.
Girl Catch: This is a popular game played in a variety of ways
on Gor. It can be informal or very formal. In the basic game, a
slave girl is hooded and belled. She is then let loose for
hooded men to seek and capture. It is forbidden for the girl to
stand still for a certain interval, commonly a few Ihn. She is
under the control of a referee who uses a switch to encourage
her to move and to mark her position. Slaves try to hone their
evasive skills in this game and some girls get quite skilled at
it. In another form of the game, it requires one hundred men and
one hundred women. The object is to capture as many women as
possible and place them into your Girl Pit while protecting your
own women. In these large games, free women often play.
Games: Goreans enjoy a wide assortment of games. Many games
encourage the development of desirable traits in young boys such
as courage, discipline and honor. Other games encourage audacity
and leadership and still others teach them about the nature of
women and slaves. These games encourage them to manhood and
mastery. They also play many games of guessing. For example,
they play a cups and pebble game, similar to the "shell game" of
Earth. Three cups are used and a pebble is hidden under one of
them. The cups are mixed up and you must guess which has the
pebble. A good sleight-of-hand expert can ensure you never win.
Dice, cards and game boards are prevalent. Cat's cradle is a
popular game in the north, especially in the villages and in
Torvaldsland. Even panther girls enjoy it. In cat's cradle, you
try to create intricate patterns with string.
Dice games: There are numerous forms of dice games played on
Gor. Many games are commonly played with from one to five dice.
The knucklebones of a verr are usually used to create dice. They
then have their marks painted on them. This is done to try to
make sure that they are fair. Scooping out numbers on the side
may not be fair as the amounts scooped out may not be equal so
the dice will not roll fairly. Some though do try to scoop out
equal amounts. Some cities make these type of dice and sell them
in sealed boxes. The dice have supposedly been cast 600 times
and their results were close to mathematical probability. Loaded
dice are used by some unscrupulous people.
Each number on a die is called by the name of an animal though
not all of these names were given in the books. "Larl" is the
maximum high on the die rolled, basically a six. An "urt" is the
lowest value, a one. A "verr" would equal a roll of a four. A
"sleen" exists but it is not stated what value it represents.
There are two unknown animal designations as well.
Kaissa: This is probably the favorite board game on Gor. The
word "kaissa" is the general Gorean word for "game." But, when
used without qualification, it means only one game, Gorean
chess. It is played similar to Earth chess, the object being to
capture one's opponent's Home Stone. Almost all civilized
Goreans, of whatever caste, play Kaissa. There are many clubs
and competitions. Most libraries have many scrolls on strategy
and techniques. Education Scroll #20, Kaissa, goes into much
more detail on this game.
Zar: This is a board game common in the Tahari. It bears some
similarities to the Earth game of checkers. Zar uses a Kaissa
board but the pieces are placed only on the intersections of the
lines. Each player has nine pieces, of equal value, which are
originally placed on the intersections of the board's edge
closest to the player. The corners are not used in placement.
The pieces are commonly pebbles, sticks or bits of verr dung.
Pieces move one intersection at a time unless jumping. One may
jump an opponent's pieces or one's own. A jump must be made to
an unoccupied point. Multiple jumps are permitted. The object of
the game is to effect a complete exchange of the original
placements. The first person to do so wins.
Stones: This is also known as guess stones. It is a guessing
game where a certain number of stones are held in the hand,
usually two to five, and you must guess the number. You get a
point for a correct guess and you can then try again. If you
guess wrong, your opponent gets a turn. The game ends when one
person reaches a set number of points, usually fifty. There are
many variations of this game. It may also be done by guessing
even or odd number of stones. Any small objects may be used such
as stones, beads or even gems. There are even intricately carved
and painted game boxes containing carefully wrought "stones" for
the affluent enthusiast. The game is not simply an idle past
time. There are numerous psychological subtleties and strategies
involved. Tournaments are held and certain people are known as
champions at the game. Entire estates have been known to change
hands over a game. Goreans enjoy gambling in all games.
Entertaining: Goreans are very sociable people and enjoy giving
dinners and having parties. At such parties, it is an honor to
sit above the bowls of red and yellow salt. At some fancy
banquets, slaves may change their costume, jewelry and even
chains to match the courses of each meal.
Library: Most cities have a large public library containing
thousands of scrolls. The scrolls are carefully organized and
catalogued. These libraries are open to men and women of all
castes. Even slaves are sometimes given permission to enter a
library. Many literate Goreans will spend time in these
buildings learning a variety of topics. Most libraries are
constructed to be beautiful, comfortable and functional.
Art: Art is taken seriously on Gor. It is considered an
enhancement to civic life. Goreans love beauty and their songs
and art are paeans to that glory. Many artists do not sign or
identify their works. They feel that the art, its power, its
beauty, is important, not the creator. Many artists seem to
regard themselves as little more than vessels or instruments,
the tools, by which the world, with its values and meanings,
expresses itself and rejoices. The artist tends not so much to
be proud of his work as to be grateful to it, that it consented
to speak through him. The focus of the artist tends to be on the
work of art itself, not on himself as the artist.
Pace of life: Gorean life in a city is not fast-paced like the
cities of Earth. People might close their shops and flock to the
high bridges to watch a beautiful sky. Goreans do not like to be
pressed in their tasks. Two ahn for lunch is not uncommon.
Though the average working day is ten Ahn, the amount of time at
actual work is much less. Stopping an ahn early is not uncommon.
Public gardens: Most cities have a number of well-cultivated
public gardens. They commonly have many winding and secluded
paths. They are usually always in bloom. The gardens often have
benches to sit and relax. They cater to the Gorean love of
beauty and nature. They often a quiet, relaxing area.
Restaurant: There is no precise Gorean expression for a
restaurant. There are public dining halls, paga taverns and
cafes but no specific restaurant.
Shopping: Haggling is the rule in the markets on Gor. There are
no fixed prices. There are few stores of a general nature. Their
place is taken by bazaars and markets. Most people must go to a
variety of specialty stores. Many items are sold close to where
they are made. Most shops do not have windows. They usually are
open to the street or have counters open to the street. At
night, they are shuttered or barred. Expensive stores may have a
narrow door commonly leading to an inside court with awnings at
its sides under which goods are displayed. Free women often
enjoy spending their time perusing the wares in the local
markets.
Music: Music is popular on Gor but there are some major
differences from music on Earth. There is no written music on
Gor. Melodies are passed down to children or students. Much of
Gorean music is very melodious and sensuous. On Gor, there are
also a number of musical instruments both familiar and strange
to Earth. There are no bowed instruments on Gor. Of the other
instruments, czehar musicians have the most prestige. Prestige
is then ranked by flutes, kalika, drums and then the
miscellaneous instruments. There are both single and double
flutes. Flute music is very important in theater. The name of
the flute player usually appears on theatrical advertisements
immediately after the major performers. The flute player is
often on stage and accompanies performers about, pointing up
speeches, supplying background music and such.
Musician's and Singer's Caste: "A handful of bread for a song"
is a common invitation extended to caste members. They do not
live well but never starve. "No musician can be a stranger" thus
by custom, they are freely permitted within almost any city.
Also by custom, they are not supposed to be enslaved for it is
thought that he who makes music must like the tarn and Vosk gull
be free. They are thought to be a happy caste, loved by many.
Poets Caste: Poets are considered craftsmen who make strong
sayings. They are seldom deterred by illiteracy. Some great
poets have been so among the Tuchuks and Torvaldslanders. Poetry
is rarely written down. Instead, it is memorized and sung about
the fires. Like Musicians, they may travel freely and are rarely
enslaved. The role of the Poet is to celebrate battles and
histories, singing of heroes and cities, singing of love and
joy. They remind people of loneliness and death, lest they
should forget they are men.
Theater: Theater is very popular and consists of major forms and
minor forms. Major forms include sophisticated comedies and
serious dramas. Minor forms include low comedy, burlesque, mime,
farce and story dance. In major forms, most roles are masked.
Women are not allowed on stage so their parts are played by men.
Women's voices are thought not to carry as well as men. But due
to the superb acoustics of most theaters, this is likely more an
issue of tradition and jealousy. Many masks also have built in
amplifiers. Women do though play in minor forms. These women are
usually slaves. Masks are not worn in most minor forms. In
farces, players may or may not be masked, depending on the
roles.
In minor forms, there are certain stock characters known to most
audiences. These include such as the Comic Father (with a Turian
accent), the Pedant (usually a scribe), Timid Captain, Young
Lovers, Golden Courtesan, Desirable Heiress (soft accents of
Venna), Pompous Merchant, Wily Peasant, Saucy Maidens (Bina and
Brigella), Chino (the servant of the Comic Father or Merchant),
and Lecchio (the servant of the Pedant).
There are many theatrical conventions where the audience
suspends their disbelief or makes assumptions. Carrying a tarn
goad and moving a certain way implies riding a tarn. A kaiila
crop or goad and specific movement implies riding a kaiila. A
branch can stand for a forest, a bit of wall for a city.
Standing on a box or table may be a mountain or battlements.
Sprinkled confetti may be snow. A walk about a stage may be a
long journey. Some crossed poles and a silken hanging can
indicate a throne room or tent of a general. A black cloak means
a character is invisible. A banner carried behind a general can
indicate a thousand men.
Most theater seating is on a first come, first serve basis,
except for certain privileged sections. Audience participation
is common in the lower forms of Gorean theater. It is actually
welcomed and encouraged. The audience may even throw fruit and
things at the actors. Fights have broken out in the audience
between those who approve of the play and those who do not. The
Theater of Pentilicus Tallux is a great theater in Ar. It lends
itself to large-scale productions. It can easily handle one
thousand actors. Given the strength of its stage, even
tharlarion and wagons can be used on it.
Game of Favors: One game played during Carnival time is Favors.
In the basic version, free women are given ten light scarves.
Each group of scarves is unique to the woman. The free women
then pass out the scarves that grant kisses to the recipient.
The first girl who dispenses all of her favors and returns to
the starting point wins. This gives free women a valid way to
flirt during this specific time.
Holidays: Gorean cities celebrate numerous holidays and they
vary from city to city. Other holidays are celebrated in
numerous cities but the date of the holiday may vary. Some
holidays are religious ones, others are simply excuses for
festivities. The birthday of the Ubar/Administrator is often a
city wide holiday.
#Post#: 77--------------------------------------------------
Re: Entertainment, Games and Holidays
DIR By: Jinxed
Date: December 23, 2021, 10:27 pm
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Games with quotes
Kaissa (The Game)
"Game! Game!" I heard, and quickly shook my head, driving away
the memories of Ar, and of the girl once known, always loved.
The word actually cried was "Kaissa," which is Gorean for
"Game." It is a general term, but when used without
qualification, it stands for only one game. The man who called
out wore a robe of checkered red and yellow squares, and the
game board, of similar squares, with ten ranks and ten files,
giving a hundred squares, hung over his back; slung over his
left shoulder, as a warrior wears a sword, was a leather bag
containing the pieces, twenty to a side, red and yellow,
representing Spearmen, Tarnsmen, the Riders of the High
Tharlarion, and so on. The object of the game is the capture of
the opponent's Home Stone. Capturings of individual pieces and
continuations take place much as in chess. The affinities of
this game with chess are, I am confident, more than incidental.
I recalled that men from many periods and cultures of Earth had
been brought, from time to time, to Gor, our Counter-Earth. With
them they would have brought their customs, their skills, their
habits, their games, which, in time, would presumably have
undergone considerable modification. I have suspected that
chess, with its fascinating history and development, as played
on Earth, may actually have derived from a common ancestor with
the Gorean game, both of them perhaps tracing their lineage to
some long-forgotten game, perhaps the draughts of Egypt or some
primitive board game of India. It might be mentioned that the
game, as I shall speak of it, for in Gorean it has no other
designation, is extremely popular on Gor, and even children find
among their playthings the pieces of the game; there are
numerous clubs and competitions among various castes and
cylinders; careful records of important games are kept and
studied; lists of competitions and tournaments and their winners
are filed in the Cylinder of Documents; there is even in most
Gorean libraries a section containing an incredible number of
scrolls pertaining to the techniques, tactics and strategy of
the game. Almost all civilized Goreans, of whatever caste, play.
It is not unusual to find even children of twelve or fourteen
years who play with a depth and sophistication, a subtlety and a
brilliance, that might be the envy of the chess masters of
Earth."
"Assassin of Gor" page 26/7
"But this man now approaching was not an amateur, nor an
enthusiast. He was a man who would be respected by all the
castes in Ar; he was a man who would be recognized, most likely,
not only by every urchin wild in the streets of the city but by
the Ubar as well; he was a Player, a professional, one who
earned his living through the game.
The Players are not a caste, nor a clan, but they tend to be a
group apart, living their own lives. They are made up of men
from various castes who often have little in common but the
game, but that is more than enough. They are men who commonly
have an extraordinary aptitude for the game but beyond this men
who have become drunk on it, men lost in the subtle, abstract
liquors of variation, pattern and victory, men who live for the
game, who want it and need it as other men might want gold, or
others power and women, or others the rolled, narcotic strings
of toxic kanda.
There are competitions of Players, with purses provided by
amateur organizations, and sometimes by the city itself, and
these purses are, upon occasion, enough to enrich a man, but
most Players earn a miserable living by hawking their wares, a
contest with a master, in the street. The odds are usually one
to forty, one copper tarn disk against a forty-piece, sometimes
against an eight-piece, and sometimes the amateur who would play
the master insists on further limitations, such as the option to
three consecutive moves at a point in the game of his choice, or
that the master must remove from the board, before the game
begins, his two tarnsmen, or his Riders of the High Tharlarion.
Further, in order to gain Players, the master, if wise,
occasionally loses a game, which is expensive at the normal
odds; and the game must be lost subtly, that the amateur must
believe he has won. I had once known a Warrior in Ko-ro-ba, a
dull, watery-eyed fellow, who boasted of having beaten Quintus
of Tor in a Paga Tavern in Thentis. Those who play the game for
money have a hard lot, for the market is a buyer's market, and
commonly men will play with them only on terms much to their
satisfaction. I myself, when Centius of Cos was in Ko-ro-ba,
might have played him on the bridge near the Cylinder of
Warriors for only a pair of copper tarn disks. It seemed sad to
me, that I, who knew so little of the game, could have so
cheaply purchased the privilege of sitting across the board from
such a master. It seemed to me that men should pay a tarn disk
of gold just to be permitted to watch such a master play, but
such were not the economic realities of the game."
"Assassin of Gor" page 27/8
"In spite of having the respect, even to some degree the
adulation, of almost all Goreans, the Players lived poorly. On
the Street of Coins they found it difficult even to arrange
loans. They were not popular with innkeepers, who would not
shelter them unless paid in advance. Many were the nights a
master would be found rolled in robes in a Paga tavern, where,
for a bit of tarsk meat and a pot of paga, and an evening's free
play with customers, he would be permitted to sleep. Many of the
Players dreamed of the day they might be nominated for
inter-city competitions at the Fairs of the Sardar, for a victor
in the Sardar Fairs earns enough to keep himself, and well, for
years, which he then would devote to the deeper study of the
game. There is also some money for the masters in the annotation
of games, printed on large boards near the Central Cylinder, in
the preparation or editing of scrolls on the game, and in the
providing of instruction for those who would improve their
skills. On the whole, however, the Players live extremely
poorly. Further, there is a harsh competition among themselves,
for positions in certain streets and on certain bridges. The
most favorable locations for play are, of course, the higher
bridges in the vicinity of the richer cylinders, the most
expensive Paga taverns, and so on. These positions, or
territories, are allotted by the outcome of games among the
Players themselves. In Ar, the high bridge near the Central
Cylinder, housing the palace of the Ubar and the meeting place
of the city's High Council, was held, and had been for four
years, by the young and brilliant, fiery Scormus of Ar."
"Assassin of Gor" page 28/9
""Game!" I heard, an answering cry, and a fat fellow, of the
Caste of Vintners, puffing and bright eyed, wearing a white
tunic with a representation in green cloth of leaves about the
collar and down the sleeves of the garment, stepped forth from a
doorway.
Without speaking the Player sat down cross-legged at one side of
the street, and placed the board in front of him. Opposite him
sat the Vintner.
"Set the pieces," said the Player.
I was surprised, and looked more closely, as the Vintner took
the wallet filled with game pieces from the man's shoulder and
began, with his stubby fingers, to quickly arrange the
pieces.(...)
The most startling thing to me about the man was not that he was
older than one commonly sees in the streets of a Gorean city,
but rather that he was clearly blind. The eyes were not pleasant
to look upon, for they seemed empty of iris and pupil, and were
simply ovoid glazes of massed scar tissue, ridged and irregular.
Even the sockets of the eyes were ringed with white tissue. I
knew then how the man had been blinded. A hot iron had been
pressed into each of his eyes, probably long ago. In the center
of his forehead, there was a large brand, the capital initial of
the Gorean word for slave, in block script. But I knew that he
was not a slave, for it is not permitted that Players be slave.
That a slave should play is regarded as an insult to free men,
and an insult to the game. Further, no free man would care to be
beaten by a slave. I gathered, from the blinding and the mark on
his forehead, that the man had once offended a slaver, a man of
power in the city."
"Assassin of Gor" page 29/31
“I looked to one side. There, lost to the bustle in the tavern,
oblivious to the music, sat two men across a board of one
hundred red and yellow squares, playing Kaissa, the game. One
was a Player, a master who makes his living, though commonly
poorly, from the game, playing for a cup of paga perhaps and the
right to sleep in the tavern. The other, sitting cross-legged
with him, was the broad-shouldered blond giant from Torvaldsland
whom I had seen earlier. (...)
Kaissa is popular in Torvaldsland, as well as elsewhere on Gor.
In the halls, it is often played far into the night, by fires,
by the northern giants. Sometimes disputes which otherwise might
be settled only by ax or sword, are willingly surrendered to a
game of Kaissa, if only for the joy of engaging in the game.”
"Hunters of Gor" page 47
"I studied the board before me.
It was set on a square chest. It was a board made for play at
sea, and such boards are common with the men of Torvaldsland. In
the center of each square was a tiny peg. The pieces,
correspondingly, are drilled to match the pegs, and fit over
them. This keeps them steady in the movements at sea. The board
was of red and yellow squares. The Kaissa of the men of
Torvaldsland is quite similar to that of the south, though
certain of the pieces differ. There is, for example, not a Ubar
but a Jarl, as the most powerful piece. Moreover, there is no
Ubara. Instead, there is a piece called the Jarl’s Woman, which
is quite powerful, more so than the southern Ubara. Instead of
Tarnsmen, there are two pieces called the Axes. The board has no
Initiates, but there are corresponding pieces called
Rune-Priests. Similarly there are no Scribes, but a piece, which
moves identically, called the Singer. I thought that Andreas of
Tor, a friend, of the caste of Singers, might have been pleased
to learn that his caste was represented, and honored, on the
boards of the north. The Spearmen moved identically with the
southern Spearmen. It did not take me much time to adapt to the
Kaissa of Torvaldsland, for it is quite similar to the Kaissa of
the south. On the other hand, feeling my way on the board, I had
lost the first two games to the Forkbeard. Interestingly, he had
been eager to familiarize me with the game, and was abundant in
his explanations and advice. Clearly, he wished me to play him
at my full efficiency, without handicap, as soon as possible. I
had beaten him the third game, and he had then, delighted,
ceased in his explanations and advice and, together, the board
between us, each in our way a war rior, we had played Kaissa.
The Forkbeard’s game was much more varied, and tactical, than
was that of, say, Marlenus of Ar, much more devious, and it was
far removed from the careful, conservative, positional play of a
man such as Mintar, of the caste of Merchants. The Forkbeard
made great use of diversions and feints, and double strategies,
in which an attack is double edged, being in effect two attacks,
an open one and a concealed one, either of which, depending on a
misplay by the opponent, may be forced through, the concealed
attack requiring usually only an extra move to make it
effective, a move which, ideally, threatened or pinned an
opponent’s piece, giving him the option of surrendering it or
facing a devastating attack, he then a move behind. In the
beginning I had played Forkbeard positionally, learning his
game. When I felt I knew him better, I played him more openly.
His wiliest tricks, of course I knew, he would seldom use saving
them for games of greater import, or perhaps for players of
Torvaldsland. Among them, even more than in the south, Kaissa is
a passion. In the long winters of Torvaldsland, when the snow,
the darkness, the ice and wintry winds are upon the land, when
the frost breaks open the rocks, groaning, at night, when the
serpents hide in their roofed sheds, many hours, under swinging
soapstone lamps, burning the oil of sea sleen, are given to
Kaissa. At such times, even the bond-maids, rolling and
restless, naked, in the furs of their masters, their ankles
chained to a nearby ring, must wait.
"It is your move," said Forkbeard.
"I have moved," I told him. "I have thrown the Ax to Jarl six."
"Ah!" laughed the Forkbeard. He then sat down and looked again
at the board. He could not now, with impunity, place his Jarl at
Ax four.(...)
Forkbeard put his First Singer to his own Ax four, threatening
my Ax. I covered my piece with my own First Singer, moving it to
my own Ax five. He exchanged, taking my Ax at Jarl six, and I
his First Singer with my First Singer. I now had a Singer on a
central square, but he had freed his Ax four, on which he might
now situate the Jarl for an attack on the Jarl’s Woman’s Ax’s
file.
The tempo, at this point, was mine. He had played to open
position; I had played to direct position.
The Ax is a valuable piece, of course, but particularly in the
early and middle game, when the board is more crowded; in the
end game when the board is freer, it seems to me the Singer is
often of greater power, because of the greater number of squares
it can control. Scholars weight the pieces equally, at three
points in adjudications, but I would weight the Ax four points
in the early and middle game, and the Singer two, and reverse
these weights in the end game. Both pieces are, however, quite
valuable. And I am fond of the Ax.
"You should not have surrendered your Ax," said Forkbeard.
"In not doing so," I said. "I would have lost the tempo, and
position. Too, the Ax is regarded as less valuable in the end
game."
"You play the Ax well," said Forkbeard. "What is true for many
men may not be true for you. The weapons you use best perhaps
you should retain."
I thought on what he had said. Kaissa is not played by
mechanical puppets, but, deeply and subtly, by men,
idiosyncratic men, with individual strengths and weaknesses. I
recalled I had, many times, late in the game, regretted the
surrender of the Ax, or its equivalent in the south, the
Tarnsman, when I had simply, as I thought rationally, moved in
accordance with what were reputed to be the principles of sound
strategy. I knew, of course, that game context was a decisive
matter in such considerations but only now, playing Forkbeard,
did I suspect that there was another context involved, that of
the inclinations, capacities and dispositions of the individual
player. Too, it seemed to me that the Ax, or Tarnsman, might be
a valuable piece in the end game, where it is seldom found.
People would be less used to defending against it in the end
game; its capacity to surprise, and to be used unexpectedly,
might be genuinely profitable at such a time in the game. I felt
a surge of power.
"Your Hall is taken," said the Forkbeard. His Jarl had moved
decisively. The taking of the Hall, in the Kaissa of the North,
is equivalent to the capture of the Home Stone in the south.
"You should not have surrendered your Ax," said the Forkbeard.
"It seems not," I said. The end game had not even been reached.
The Hall had been taken in the middle game. I would think more
carefully before I would surrender the Ax in the future."
"Marauders of Gor" pages 56/63
“I regarded the board. He positioned his Home Stone. It was,
looking at the tiny counter at the edge of the board, his tenth
move. Most Kaissa boards do not have this counter. It consisted
often small cylindrical wooden beads strung on a wire. The Home
Stone must be placed by the tenth move. He had placed it at his
now-vacated Ubar’s Initiate One. In this position, as at the
Ubara’s Initiate One, it is subject to only three lines of
attack. Other legitimate placements subject it to five lines of
attack. He was also fond of placing the Home Stone late, usually
on the ninth or tenth move. In this way, his decision could take
into consideration his opponent’s early play, his opening, or
response to an opening, or development.
I myself, whose Home Stone was already placed, preferred a much
earlier and more central placement of the Home Stone. I did not
wish to be forced to sacrifice a move for Home Stone placement
in a situation that might, for all I knew, not turn out to be to
my liking, a situation in which the obligatory placement might
even cost me a tempo. Similarly, although a somewhat more
central location of the Home Stone exposes it to more lines of
attack, it also increases its mobility, and thereby its
capacities to evade attack. These considerations are
controversial in the theory of Kaissa. Much depends on the
physiology of the individual player.
Incidentally, there are many versions of Kaissa played on Gor.
In some of these versions, the names of the pieces differ, and,
in some, even more alarmingly, their nature and power. The caste
of Players, to its credit, has been attempting to standardize
Kaissa for years.”
"Players of Gor" pages 7/8
#Post#: 78--------------------------------------------------
Re: Entertainment, Games and Holidays
DIR By: Jinxed
Date: December 23, 2021, 10:34 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Games with quotes continued
Zar (Tahari)
"The board is marked like a Kaissa board, but the pieces - 9 per
player, and called 'pebbles' - are placed at the intersections
of the lines. Movement is somewhat like that of checkers, but
without capturing of pieces. The object of the game is to effect
a complete exchange of the original placement of the pieces"
Tribesmen of Gor"
Cards
"Dice and cards and game boards and drinking goblets scattered
to the rocky floors of the guard chambers as Whip Slaves and
guardsmen looked up to find at their throats the blades of
desperate and condemned men, now drunk with the taste of freedom
and determined to free their fellows."
"Outlaw of Gor" page 167
Dice
"I passed a few fellows playing dice. There are many forms of
dice games on Gor, usually played with anywhere from a single
die to five dice. The major difference, I think, between the
dice of Earth and those of Gor is that the Gorean dice usually
have their numbers, or letters, or whatever pictures or devices
are used, painted on their surfaces. It is difficult to
manufacture a pair of dice, of course, in which the "numbers,"
tow, three and so on, are represented by scooped out
indentations. For example, the "one" side of a die is likely to
have less scooped-out material missing than the "six" side of a
die. Thus the "one" side is slightly heavier and, in normal
play, should tend to land face down more often than, say the
'six" side, this bringing up the opposite side, the "six" side
in Earth dice, somewhat more frequently. To be sure, the
differences in weight are slight and, given the forces on the
dice, the differential is not dramatic. And, of course, this
differential can be compensated for in a sophisticated die by
trying to deduct equal amounts of material from all surfaces,
for example, an amount from the "one" side which will equal the
amount of the "six" side, and, indeed, on the various sides. At
any rate, in the Gorean dice, as mentioned, the numbers or
letters, of pictures or whatever devices are used, are usually
pained on the dice. Some gamesmen, even so, attempt to expend
the same amount of paint on all surfaces. To be sure, some
Gorean dice I have seen to use the "scooped-out" approach to
marking the dice. And these, almost invariably, like the more
sophisticated Earth dice, try to even out the material removed
from each of the surfaces. Some Gorean dice are sold in sealed
boxes, bearing the city's imprint. These, supposedly, have been
each cast six hundred times, with results approximating the
ideal mathematical probabilities. Also, it might be mentioned
that dice are sometimes tampered with, or specially prepared, to
favor certain numbers. These, I suppose, using the Earth term,
might be spoken of as "loaded." My friend, the actor, magician,
impresario and whatnot, Boots Tarsk-Bit, once narrowly escaped
an impalement in Besnit on the charge of using false dice. He
was, however, it seems, framed. At any rate the charges were
dismissed when a pair of identical false dice turned up in the
pouch of the arresting magistrate, the original pair having,
interestingly, at about the same time, vanished."
"Magicians of Gor" page 59
"A number of men crowded between the tables then and some dice,
inked knucklebones of the verr, were soon rattling in a metal
goblet. Sura knelt before the table of Cernus, her head down.
One of her guards snapped a slave leash on her collar. The leash
key was on a tiny loop of wire. The guard twisted this wire
about the red-enameled steel of her collar. Behind her the men
began crying out, watching the tumbling of the knucklebones on
the stones of the floor. I understood to some extent what was
taking place. It was merely another of the turnabouts of
Kajuralia, but in it was perhaps more; Sura's pride and her
position in the House, though she was slave, had been resented
by many of the men and staff; perhaps even Cernus felt she had
overstepped herself; surely he seemed pleased that she would now
be humbled, now used as a common Red Silk Girl."
"Assassin of Gor, page 248
"“Larls, larls!” called a fellow. “I win!” “Alas,” moaned the
other. “I have only verr.” “Larls” would be maximum highs, say,
double highs, if two dice were being used, triple highs if three
dice were in play, and so on. The chances of obtaining a “larl”
with one throw of one die is one in six, of obtaining “larls”
with two dice, one in thirty-six, of obtaining “larls” with
three dice, one in two hundred and sixteen, and so on. Triple
“larls” is a rare throw, obviously. The fellow had double
“larls.” Other types of throws are “urts,” “sleen,” “verr,” and
such. The lowest value on a singe die is the “urt.” The chances
of obtaining, say, three “urts” is very slim, like that of
obtaining three “larls” one in two hundred and sixteen. “Verr”
is not a bad throw but it was not good enough to beat “larls.”
If two dice are in play a “verr” and a “larl” would be
equivalent on a numerical scale of ten points, or, similarly, if
the dice are numbered, as these were, one would simply count
points, though, of course, if, say, two sixes were thrown, that
would count as “larls.”"
"Magicians of Gor" page 60
Cat´s craddle
"Hunters of Gor" page 115
"Others faced one another, kneeling, and, with string and their
fingers, played an ntricate cat's-cradle game. Others played
"Stones," where one player guesses the number of stones held in
the other's hand. I tried the cat's-cradle game but I could not
play it, I always became confused, trying to copy the intricate
patterns. How beautifully they would suddenly, in all their
complexity, appear. The other girls laughed at my clumsiness.
The northern girls, incidentally, were very skilled at this
game. They could beat us all."
"Captive of Gor" page 107
Push the bean
“I stopped for a moment to watch an amusing race. Several slave
girls are aligned, on all fours, poised, their heads down. Then,
carefully, a line of beans, one to a girl, is placed before
them. She must then, on all fours, push the bean before her,
touching it only with her nose. The finish line was a few yards
away. “Go!” I heard. The crowd cheered on its favorites. On this
sport, as well as on several others, small bets were placed.
Sometimes a new slave, one who has recently been a haughty,
arrogant free woman, is used in such a race. Such things, aside
from their amusing, and fitting, aspects, are thought to be
useful in accommodating her to her new reality, that of the
female slave. In them she learns something more of the range of
activities that may be required of her.”
"Magicians of Gor" page 38/9
Bones
"Imnak and I sat across from one another, both cross-legged. He
dropped a tiny bone to the fur mat between us. Each player, in
turn, drops a bone, one of several in his supply. The bone Imnak
had dropeed was carved in the shape of a small tabuk. Each of
the bones is carved to resemble an animal, such as an arctic
gant, a northern bosk, a larl, a tabuk or sleen, and so on. The
bone which remains upright is the winner. If both bones do not
remain upright there is no winner on that throw. Similarly, if
both bones should remain upright, they are dropped again. A bone
which does not remain upright, if its opposing bone does remain
upright, is placed in the stock of him whose bone remained
upright. The game is finished when one of the two players is
cleaned out of bones."
"Beasts of Gor" page 184/5
Stones
"Others played "Stones," where one player guesses the number of
stones held in the other's hand."
"Captive of Gor" page 107
"At "Stones," however, I was genuinely pleased with myself. It
has two players, who take alternate turns. Each player has the
same number of "Stones," usually two to five per player. The
"Stones" are usually pebbles or beads, but in the cities one can
buy small polished, carved boxes containing ten "stones," the
quality of which might vary from polished ovoid stones, with
swirling patterns, to gems worth the ransom of a merchant's
daughter. The object of the game is simple, to guess the number
of stones held in the other's hand or hands. One point is scored
for a correct guess, and the game is usually set for a
predetermined number of paired guesses, usually fifty. Usually
your opponent tries to outwit you, by either changing the number
of stones held in his hand or, perhaps, keeping it the same. I
was quite successful at this game, and I could beat most of the
girls. I could even beat Inge, who was of the scribes."
"Captive of Gor" page 107
Bat and Ball
"Perhaps the most serious incident of the contests had occurred
in one of the games of bat and ball; in this contest there are
two men on each side, and the object is to keep the ball out of
the hands of the other team; no one man may hold the ball for
more than the referee's count of twenty; he may, however, throw
it into the air, provided it is thrown over his head, and catch
it again himself; the ball may be thrown to a partner, or struck
to him with the bat; the bat, of course, drives the ball with
incredible force; the bats are of heavy wood, rather broad, and
the ball, about two inches in diameter, is also of wood, and
extremely hard; this is something like a game of "keep away"
with two men in the middle. I was pleased that I was not
involved in the play. Shortly after the first "knock off", in
which the ball is served to the enemy, Gorm, who was Ivar's
partner, was struck cold with the ball, it driven from the
opponent's bat; this, I gathered, is a common trick; it is very
difficult to intercept or protect oneself from a ball struck at
one with great speed from a short distance; it looked quite bad
for Ivar at this point, until one of his opponents, fortunately,
broke his leg, it coming into violent contact with Ivar's bat.
This contest was called a draw. Ivar then asked me to be his
partner. I declined. "It is all right," said Ivar, "even the
bravest of men may decline a contest of bat-and-ball." I acceded
to his judgment. There are various forms of ball game enjoyed by
the men of Torvaldsland; some use bats, or paddles; in the
winter, one such game, quite popular, is played, men running and
slipping about, on ice; whether there is any remote connection
between this game and ice hockey, I do not know; it is, however,
ancient in Torvaldsland; Torvald himself, in the sagas, is said
to have been skilled at it. Ivar Forkbeard, or Thorgeir of Ax
Glacier, as we might call him, had won, all told, counting the
swimming talmit, six talmits."
"Marauders of Gor" page 140/1
Soccer (Red Hunters)
"You spoiled her kick," said a man to me, in Gorean. "I am
sorry," I said. The girl, with the other youths, had been
playing a soccerlike game with the leather ball, with goals
drawn in the turf. I had not realized, until too late, that I
had been traversing the field of play."
"Beasts of Gor" page 19
Rope
"“Help us, Tarl,” said Akko, whom I had met earlier in the day.
“He is a big fellow,” said a man.
“Yes,” said another.
I followed Akko and his friends to a place where two teams of
men waited, a heavy, braided rope of twisted sleen-hide
stretched between them.
They put me at the end of the rope. Soon, to the enthusiastic
shouts of observers, we began the contest. Four times the rope
grew taut, and four times our team won. I was much
congratulated, and slapped on the back."
"Beasts of Gor" page 198
Racing and others
"I raced Inge to the end of the compound and back, and beat her.
Some of the girls began to play tag, and games. Even some of the
northern girls joined with us. We had a cloth ball, stuffed with
rags, and, laughing, we threw this about. Some of the girls sat
in circles, telling stories. Others faced one another, kneeling,
and, with string and their fingers, played an intricate cat's
cradle game. Others played "Stones," where one player guesses
the number of stones held in the other's hand."
"Captive of Gor" page 107
Girl Catch or Slave Catch
"Make way! Make way!" laughed the brawny young fellow. He had a
naked girl over his shoulder, bound hand and foot. He had won
her in Girl Catch, in a contest to decide a trade dispute
between two small cities, Ven and Rarn, the former a river port
on the Vosk, the second noted for its copper mining, lying
southeast of Tharna. In the contest a hundred young men of each
city, and a hundred young women, the most beautiful in each
city, participate. The object of the game is to secure the women
of the enemy. Weapons are not permitted. The contest takes place
in an area outside the perimeters of the great fair, for in it
slaves are made."
"Beasts of Gor" page 41
"Both the young men and women wear tunics in this sport. The
tunics of the young women are cut briefly, to better reveal
their charms. The young man wears binding fiber about his left
wrist, with which to secure prizes. The young women, who are
free, if the rules permit, as they sometimes do not, commonly
wear masks, that their modesty be less grievously compromised by
the brevity of their costume. Should the girl be caught,
however, her mask is removed. The tunics of the girls are not
removed, however, except those of the girls of the losing city,
when the match has ended and the winner decided. The win is
determined when the young men of one city, or those left on the
field, have secured the full hundred of the women of the
“enemy.” A woman once bound and thrown to the girl pit,
incidentally, may not be fetched forth by the young men of her
city, except at the end of the match, and on the condition that
they have proved victorious. The captured women of the
victorious city at the conclusion of the contest are of course
released; they are robed and honored; the girls of the losing
city, of course, are simply stripped and made slaves. This may
seem a cruel sport but some regard it as superior to a war;
surely it is cleaner and there is less loss of life; this method
of settling disputes, incidentally, is not used if it is felt
that honor is somehow involved in the disagreement."
"Beasts of Gor" page 42
"The game of Girl Catch is played variously upon Gor; it can be
played as informally and simply as it was in the camp of my
captor, for the pleasure of his men, or it can be a fairly
serious business, closely supervised and regulated in a
sophisticated manner, as it is by merchant administrators in the
rings outside the perimeters of the Sardar Fairs, where the
young men of various cities compete. In one form there a hundred
young men and a hundred young women of one city, the women
selected for their beauty, enter the ring in competition with a
hundred young men and a hundred young women of another city,
similarly selected. In this form no hoods are worn. The object
of the male is to protect his own women and secure those of the
enemy. A girl is caught, stripped, bound hand and foot, and
carried to the Girl Pit of the capturing city, into which she is
thrown. If she cannot free herself, she is counted as a catch.
Her own men may not enter the Girl Pit of the capturing city to
free her. Sometimes this game is played with the winning side
determined by its catches within a time limit, sometimes, in
more brutal versions, by the first city which secures the
hundred women of its enemy. A male is disqualified from further
participation in the contest if he is forced from the ring.
Women from the victorious city who may have been captured are,
of course, upon the victory of their city, freed. Women from the
conquered city, on the other hand, are not; they are kept; they
are turned over to the young males of the capturing city; in the
game in which the first hundred captures decides victory this
means there is a girl for each participating young man, usually
one he himself brought bound to the Girl Pit. Accordingly,
particularly in the early phases of the game, the young males
often devote their acquisitive attentions to those young women
of the enemy city who are the most attractive to them
personally, to those they would most enjoy taking home with them
at the end of the day. This sport of Girl Catch, interestingly,
when matters of honor are not thought to be involved, has been
used upon occasion by cities to settle boundary disputes and
avert wars."
"Slave Girl of Gor" page 54
"He cried out a word, which I would later learn meant "Quarry."
It is the signal that the game has begun, that the girl is now
available, that she is now at large for capture. At the same
time that he had cried out this word he had swung the switch and
struck Eta a swift, stinging blow below the small of the back,
making her cry out, identifying her original position and, with
a jangle of bells, starting her into motion. The men wheeled
toward the sound. Eta stopped, frozen. She was crouched over,
her hands tied behind her back. Whether the slender, supple
disciplinary device would be used often in the game depends much
on the skill of the girl player. She must, following the rules,
move at least once in every five Ihn, which is a little less
than five seconds. If she does not move within five Ihn, perhaps
being frightened, or having miscounted, the referee, with the
switch, swiftly and exactly identifies her position for the
contestants."
"Slave Girl of Gor" page 55
“In one place, hearing a gangling of bells, I went over to a
large open circle of fellows to watch a game of “girl catch.”
There are many ways in which this game, or sort of game, is
played. In this one, which was not untypical, a female slave,
within an enclosure, her hands bound behind her back, and
hooded, is belled, usually with common slave bells at the
collar, wrists and ankles and a larger bell, a guide bell, with
it’s particular note, at her left hip. Some fellows then, also
hooded, or blindfolded, enter the enclosure, to catch her.
Neither the quarry nor the hunters can see the other. The girl
is forbidden to remain still for more than a certain interval,
usually a few Ihn. She is under the control of a referee. His
switch can encourage her to move, and simultaneously, of course,
mark her position. She is hooded in order that she may not
determine into whose power she comes. When she is caught that
game, or one of its rounds, is concluded. The victor’s prize, of
course, is the use of the slave.”
"Magicians of Gor" page 40
"I smiled. I now had an excellent idea what had happened to the
lovely, light-haired slave we had seen earlier on a lower
landing, she whose tunic was opened and whose hair had been in
such disorder. She had been “Captured” earlier. “It is an
excellent game,” said the proprietor. “It helps them to become
men.” Many Gorean games, incidentally, have features which
encourage the development of properties regarded as desirable in
a Gorean youth, such as courage, discipline, and honor.
Similarly, some of the games tend to encourage the development
of audacity and leadership. Others, like the one referred to by
the proprietor, encourage the young man to see the female in
terms of her most basic and radical meaning, in the terms of her
deepest and true nature, that nature which is most biologically
fundamental to her, that nature which is that of the inestimable
prize, that of the most desirable prey, the most luscious
quarry, that of she who is to be captured and mastered,
absolutely, she to whose owning and domination all of nature
inclines, and without which the ancient sexual equations of
humanity cannot be resolved. Such games, in short, thus,
encourage the lad, almost from infancy on, to reality and
nature, to manhood and mastery."
"Mercenaries of Gor" page 278/9
#Post#: 79--------------------------------------------------
Re: Entertainment, Games and Holidays
DIR By: Jinxed
Date: December 23, 2021, 10:35 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Games with quotes continued
Greased wineskin
"I saw some fellows gathered about a filled, greased wineskin.
There was much laughter. I went over to watch. He who manages to
balance on it for a given time, usually an Ehn, wins both the
skin and its contents. One pays a tarsk bit for the chance to
compete. It is extremely difficult, incidentally, to balance on
such an object, not only because of the slickness of the skin,
heavily coated with grease, but even more so because if its
rotundity and unpredictable movements, the wine surging within
in. “Aii!” cried a fellow flailing about and then spilling from
its surface. There was much laughter. “Who is next?” called the
owner of the skin. This sort of thing is a sport common at
peasant festivals, incidentally, thought there, of course,
usually far from a city, within the circle of the palisade, the
competition is free, the skin and wine being donated by one
fellow or another, usually as his gift to the festival to which
all in one way or another contribute, for example, by the
donations of produce, meat or firewood. At such festivals there
are often various games, and contests and prizes. Archery is
popular with the peasants and combats with the great staff.
Sometimes there is a choice of donated prizes for the victors.
For example, a bolt of red cloth, a tethered verr or a slave.
More than one urban girl, formerly a perfumed slave, sold into
the countryside, who held herself above peasants, despising them
for their supposed filth and stink, had found herself, kneeling
and muchly roped, among such a set of prizes. And, to her
chagrin, she is likely to find that she is not the first
chosen."
"Magicians of Gor" page 36
Pick up
"The slave, for example, and this is commonly included in her
training, seldom bends over to retrieve a fallen object. Rather
she flexes her knees, lowering the body beautifully, and
retrieves the object from a graceful and humble crouch.
Sometimes, to be sure, commonly in serving at the parties of
young men, certain objects, sometimes as part of a game, objects
with prearranged significances among the young men, are thrown
to the floor, and she must pick them up in a less graceful
fashion. Whichever object she first touches determines to whose
lusty abuse she must then submit. This game is sometimes played
several times in the evening."
"Mercenaries of Gor" page 207/8
Run and hide
"The girls of Clitus Vitellius, I among them, stood at the line
scratched in the dirt within the peasant village of Tabuk’s
Ford, some four hundred pasangs to the nortn, and slightly to
the west of Ar, some twenty pasangs off the Vosk road to the
west.
The young lads of the peasantry eyed us with pleasure. We were
all vital, lithe beauties, and, most excitingly, slaves. It was
not everyday that such girls, the girls of a warrior, would be
run for their pleasure. Our bondage meant that we must, once
captured, be marvels for them.
There was discussion of the rules of the hunt. Too, bets were
being taken. Some of the young men came to the line, to look us
over at closer hand. (...)
I looked over at Slave Beads. She was crying. Her head was in
her hands. Two peasant lads, one standing, one crouching, were,
by hand and eye, appraising her flesh. They did this with the
same attention and innocence that they would have brought to the
examination of any other domestic animal.
The boys then moved on to me. I closed my eyes. They were not
gentle. I was examined with less respect, being a slave, than
would have been accorded to a bosk heifer. (...)
“Prepare to run, Slaves!” called a peasant. (...)
“When the torch is lowered,” called a peasant, lifting up a
torch, lit from the fire, “you will run.” “Yes, Master,” we said
to him. “The torch will then be placed in the earth,” he said.
“when it is fixed in the soil, you will have two hundred beats
of a slave girl’s heart.” (...)
”You will then be sought.” Said the peasant.(...)
I conjectured that we would have a lead on our pursuers of some
three minutes. (...)
“Run!” cried the man with the torch.
I, and the other girls, sped, scattering, from the dirt line.
Some fifty yeards from the line, in the darkness, between the
straw huts. on their pilings, I stopped, and, wild, gasping, in
the Ta-Teera, looked back.
Already the torch had been fixed in the ground. The slave girl
who wore the rope of Turnus on her throat as a collarleaned back
against the man of my Master. Her head was back on his shoulder.
Her eyes were closed. His hand was tight on her body, counting
the beats of her heart. He was calling the count, but I could
not hear him.
I looked wildly about, and then ran through the huts, down the
long corridors between them. Then my hands were pressed against
the smooth logs of the palisade sorrounding the village. I
pressed my body ans cheek against the wood. I stepped back and,
hands on the wood, looked up. The pointes tops of the palings
were eight feet over my head. I turned about, my back to the
logs, and looked back down the narrow dirt street. I could see
the fire in the village's clearing, its light on the faces of
the men about it. I saw the boys getting to their feet, eagerly.
“There is no place to hide!” wept Slave Beads, who was near me.
“We are slaves,” I snapped at her. “We are meant to be caught.”
I saw some of the boys spitting on their hands and wiping them
on their thighs. This would improve their grip. The flesh of a
girl would be less likely to slip from their hands.
More than one of them I knew wanted me. Bets had been taken on
who would bring me as his slave, for the night to the ring drawn
about the torch, as they had, too, on the other girls. A big
red-haired fellow and a smaller dark-haired fellow had bet on
which of them would take Slave Beads."
"Slave Girl of Gor" pages 152/161
Games of Love War
"Be patient, Tarl Cabot," said Kamchak, beside me on his kaiila.
"In the spring there will be the games of Love War and I will go
to Turia, and you may then, if you wish, accompany me."
"Nomads of Gor" page 55/6
"The stakes, flat-topped, each about six and half feet high and
about seven or eight inches in diameter, stand in two long lines
facing one another in pairs. The two lines are separated by
about fifty feet and each in a line is separated from the stake
on its left and right by about ten yards. The two lines of
stakes extended for more than four pasangs across the prairie."
"In the space between the two lines of stakes, for each pair of
facing stakes, there was a circle of roughly eight yards in
diameter. This circle, the grass having been removed, was sanded
and raked."
"Nomads of Gor" page 112/3
"The institution of Love War is an ancient one among the Turians
and the Wagon Peoples. (...)
The games of the Love War are celebrated every spring."
"Nomads of Gor" page 115
"The theoretical justification of the games of the Love War,
from the Turian point of view, is that they provide an excellent
arena in which to demonstrate the fierceness and prowess of
Turian warriors, thus perhaps intimidating or, at the very
least, encouraging the often overbold warriors of the Wagon
Peoples to be wary of Turian steel."
"Nomads of Gor" page 116
"I once asked Kamchak if the Wagon Peoples had a justification
for the games of Love War.
"Yes," he had said. And he had then pointed to Dina and
Tenchika, clad kajir, who were at that time busy in the wagon.
"That is the justification," said Kamchak. And he had then
laughed and pounded his knee."
"Nomads of Gor" page 116
"As I knew, not just any girl, any more than just any warrior,
could participate in the games of the Love War. Only the most
beautiful were eligible, and only the most beautiful of these
could be chosen."
"Nomads of Gor" page 117
Running for the Lance
"As soon as Kamchak had agreed to Albrecht's proposal the
children and several of the slave girls immediately began to
rush toward the wagons, delightedly crying 'Wager! Wager!' Soon,
to my dismay, a large number of Tuchuks, male and female, and
their male or female slaves, began to gather near the worn lane
on the turf. The terms of the wager were soon well known. In the
crowd, as well as Tuchuks and those of the Tuchuks, there were
some Kassars, a Paravaci or two, even one of the Kataii. The
slave girls in the crowd seemed particularly excited. I could
hear bets being taken." "Nomads of Gor" page 60 "A black lance
was fixed in the prairie about four hundred yards away. A rider
beside it, on a kaiila, marked its place. It was not expected,
of course, that any of the girls would reach the lance. If one
did, of course, the rider would decree her safe. In the run the
important thing was time, the dispatch and the skill with which
the thing was accomplished. Tuchuk girls, Elizabeth and Tuka,
would run for the Kassars; the two Kassar girls would run for
Kamchak and myself; naturally each slave does her best for her
master, attempting to evade his competitor. The time in these
matters is reckoned by the heartbeat of a standing kaiila.
Already one had been brought. Near the animal, on the turf, a
long bosk whip was laid in a circle, having a diameter of
somewhere between eight and ten feet. The girl begins her run
from the circle. The object of the rider is to effect her
capture, secure her and return her, in as little time as
possible, to the circle of the whip. Already a grizzled Tuchuk
had his hand, palm flat, on the silken side of the standing
kaiila." "Nomads of Gor" page 70
Lance and tospit
"Save for armed combat, lance and tospit with the living wand is
the most dangerous of the sports of the Wagon Peoples. In this
sport, as might be expected, one's own slave must stand for one.
It is essentially the same sport as lancing the tospit from the
wand, save that the fruit is held in the mouth of a girl, who is
slain should she move or in any way withdraw from the lance.
Needless to say many a slave girl has been injured in this cruel
sport."
"Nomads of Gor" page 79
"This is the most difficult of the lance sports. The thrust must
be made with exquisite lightness, the lance loose in the hand,
the hand not in the retaining thong, but allowing the lance to
slip back, then when clear, moving it to the left and,
hopefully, past the living wand. If well done, this is a
delicate and beautiful stroke. If clumsily done the girl will be
scarred, or perhaps slain."
"Nomads of Gor" page 80
Game of Favors
A free woman, in swirling robes of concealment, veiled, appeared
before me. "Accept my favor, please!" she laughed.
She held forth the scarf, teasingly, coquettishly. "Please,
handsome fellow!" she wheedled. "Please, please" she said.
"Please!"
"Very well," I smiled.
She came quite close to me.
"Herewith," she said, "I, though a free woman, gladly and
willingly, and of my own free will, dare to grant you my favor!"
She then thrust the light scarf through an eyelet on the collar
of my robes and drew it halfway through. In this fashion it
would not be likely to be dislodged.
"Thank you, kind sir, handsome sir!" she laughed. She then sped
away, laughing.
She had had only two favors left at her belt, I had noted.
Normally in this game the woman begins with ten. the first to
dispense her ten favors and return to the starting point wins. I
looked after her, grinning. It would have been churlish, I
thought, to have refused the favor. Too, she had begged so
prettily. This type of boldness, of course, in one that a woman
would be likely to resort to only in the time of carnival. the
granting of such favors probably has a complex history. Its
origin may even trace back to Earth. this is suggested by the
fact that, traditionally, the favor, or the symbolic token of
the favor, is a handkerchief or scarf. sometimes a lady's
champion, as I understand it, might have borne such a favor,
fastened perhaps to a helmet or thrust in a gauntlet.
It is not difficult, however, aside from such possible
historical antecedents, and the popular, superficial
interpretations of such a custom, in one time or another, to
speculate on the depth meaning of such favors. One must
understand, first, that they are given by free women and of
their own free will. Secondly, one must think of favors in the
sense that one might speak of a free woman granting, or selling,
her favors to a male. To be sure, this understanding, as obvious
and straightforward as it is, if brought to the clear light of
consciousness, is likely to come as a revelatory and somewhat
scandalous shock to the female. It is one of those cases in
which a thing she has long striven to hide from herself is
suddenly, perhaps to her consternations and dismay, made
incontrovertibly clear to her. In support of the interpretation
are such considerations as the fact that theses favors, in these
games, are bestowed by females on males, that, generally, at
lest, strong, handsome males seem to be the preferred recipients
of such favors, that there is competition among the females in
the distribution of these favors, and that she who first has her
"favors" accepted therein accounts herself as somewhat superior
to her less successful sisters, at least in this respect, and
that the whole game, for these free women, is charged with an
exciting, permissive aura of delicious naughtiness, this being
indexed undoubtedly to the sexual stimulations involved,
stimulations which, generally, are thought to be beneath the
dignity of lofty free woman.
In short, the game of favors permits free women, in a socially
acceptable context, by symbolic transformation, to assuage their
sexual needs to at least some small extent, and, in some cases,
if they wish to make advances to interesting males. there is not
full satisfaction of female sexuality, of course, outside of the
context of male dominance."
"Players of Gor" page 44/5
#Post#: 80--------------------------------------------------
Re: Entertainment, Games and Holidays
DIR By: Jinxed
Date: December 23, 2021, 10:36 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Holidays
Gorean New Year: On the day of the Vernal equinox (March 21),
many northern Gorean cities, including Ar, celebrate the Gorean
New Year. Typically upon this day a celebration takes place,
doors are painted green, and a city-wide festival is held,
lasting for two full Gorean hands (ten days). Every fourth year
the New Year is celebrated on the extra day which occurs between
the Waiting Hand and the day of the equinox.
Sardar Fairs: The Gorean equivalent of the World's Fair on
Earth, these are four huge trade fairs which are held quarterly
in the shadow of the Sardar Mountain Range. Each young person of
Gor is expected to make a pilgrimage to the foot of the Sardar
Mountains before he or she reaches their 25th birthday. They
typically last ten full days (plus at least that long for set up
and break down) and are scheduled to coincide with the solstices
and equinoxes.
The fair of En'Kara occurs in the spring and is the first fair
of the Sardar cycle. The Fairs are governed primarily by
Merchant Law. It is also a crime against the Priest-Kings to
bloody one's weapon at the fairs. The prohibition against
violence does not extend to slaves. In addition, no one may be
enslaved at the fair though slaves can be purchased.
The various Castes use the fairs to exchange information with
each other. Usually, each caste holds its own convention to
meet. The Fairs are common ground to settle territorial and
commercial disputes. Political negotiation and intrigue are
secretly rampant. The commercial facilities are the finest on
Gor save for those of Ar. Loans are negotiated but usually at
usurious rates. Various contests are held such as wrestling,
racing, feats of strength, and skill with bow and spear.
Choruses and poets compete in theaters. Almost anything is
available for purchase.
Therefore, the four annual Fairs are:
The Fair of En'Kara (March 21st-March 30th)
The Fair of En`Var (June 19th-June 28th)
The Fair of Se`Kara (September 22nd-October 1st)
The Fair of Se`Var (December 21st-December 30th)
The Planting Feast of Sa-Tarna: A complex feast celebrated by
most Gorean cities early during the growing season, and believed
by many to ensure a plentiful harvest for the year ahead.
Numerous rituals are performed during the three days of the
feast (April 16th-18th) by members of the caste of Initiates,
and members of each of the five high castes perform their own
part of the ceremony during that three-day period. Most of these
rituals consist of sacrifices or prayers to the Priest Kings
conducted in the presence of the city Home Stone. On the final
eve of the feast, the Home Stone is placed beneath the sky,
typically atop the tallest cylinder in the city, and sprinkled
with sa-tarna grain and ka-la-na wine by a dignitary of the
city, often the Administrator, Ubar, or a member of the ruling
family.
The Return to Turia: The last day of the Second Hand of En'Kara
(March 30th) is traditionally the day which marks the beginning
of The Season of Little Grass for the Wagon Peoples, and shortly
thereafter they begin the long trek from their winter pastures
back to Turia.
Games of Love War: The Wagon Peoples compete against the
Warriors of Turia on the Plain of Stakes during the Second
Passage Hand (May 15th-19th) in mid-spring, participating in
various challenges and ceremonial-combats in order to exchange
freewoman for slaves.
Taking fo the Omens: Every tenth year, dating from 10,119 CA
(1969 AD), is considered by the Wagon Peoples to be an "Omen
Year." Therefore, in 10,129 CA (1979 AD) and in 10,139 CA (1989
AD), the Wagon Peoples halted their annual trek past Turia and
various Omens were divined by their haruspexes regarding the
future of the tribes and the safety of the bosk. This ceremony
typically occurs in late spring, sometime during the month of
Camerius. The next such Omen Year will be 10,149 CA (1999 AD).
Turian New Year: The peoples of Turia and certain other southern
regions officially celebrate their own new year on the day of
the Summer Solstice (June 21st). A ten day period of revelry
follows, similar to the New Year celebrations in northern
cities.
Kajuralia: "The Festival of Slaves", it is held in most Gorean
cities (except Port Kar, where it is not celebrated at all) on
the last day of the Twelfth Passage Hand (March 15th). In Ar, it
is celebrated on the last day of the fifth month (August 12th),
the day which precedes the Love Feast. Upon this day, slaves may
take liberties which are otherwise not permitted them during the
year, including the drinking of wine and liquor, the freedom to
roam at will (provided of course they do not attempt to escape
from their owners permanently), the freedom to choose their own
sexual partners and to couch with slaves of the opposite sex
whom they find attractive, temporary suspension of all work and
duties, and even the opportunity to play (minor) tricks and
practical jokes upon freepersons. After the twentieth ahn,
however, they are expected to be back in their respective
kennels and slave quarters to resume the services required by
their imbonded status; slaves who "go renegade" during Kajuralia
are typically punished severely if recaptured, and are often
executed for such an offense.
Love feast: Five day celebration within Ar, held during the
Fifth Passage Hand (August 13th-17th). It is a time wherein many
slaves are sold; the fourth day of the Love Feast (August 16th)
is typically considered the climax of the festival in regard to
the sale of slaves. The fifth day (August 17th) is normally
reserved for great contests and spectacles in the Stadium of
Blades, grand races in the Stadium of Tarns, great Kaissa
championships and general celebratory feasting.
The Passing of Turia: The herds of the Wagon peoples
traditionally pass closest to the city of Turia on or around the
Second Hand of Se`Kara (September 22nd-26th).
Festival of the 25th of Se'kara: An annual Festival held in Port
Kar to celebrate their great naval victory over the combined
fleets of Cos and Tyros (October 11th).
The Thing: An annual celebration held in Torvaldsland, during
which all of the shieldmen of the various Great Jarls travel to
the Hall of their particular leader, submit their weaponry for
inspection, and formally repledge their oaths of loyalty. The
Thing usually occupies a span of from three to five days, and
occurs sometime during the middle of the ninth Gorean month
(mid-November), varying according to such factors as weather and
the current political situation.
The Wintering: The nomadic herds of the Wagon peoples typically
occupy their winter pastures during the period from the middle
of the ninth Gorean month (late November) through the Second
Hand of En'Kara (late March).
New Year: Wagon Peoples: The day of the Winter Solstice
(December 21st) is celebrated by the Wagon Peoples as the first
day of the new year, and marks the beginning of The Season of
Snows. In addition, the women of the Wagon Peoples keep a
calendar of their own, based upon the phases of the largest of
the three Gorean moons. It consists of fifteen separate
divisions, each named after one of the fifteen different kinds
of bosk, for instance: "The Moon of the Brown Bosk", "The Moon
of the Spotted Bosk", etc.
Carnivals: Held in many southern cities, notably Port Kar,
during the five days of the Twelfth Passage Hand (March
11th-15th). During this celebration it is often customary to
garb oneself in outlandish costumes or masks and attend various
masquerade fetes and feasts.
The Waiting Hand: This is a five day period (March 16th-20th)
during which doors are painted white, little food is eaten,
little is drunk and there is no singing or public rejoicing in
the city. Walls and doors are adorned with sprigs and branches
from the brak bush to ward off ill-luck in the coming year. On
the day of the Vernal equinox, the Ubar or Administrator of the
city performs a ritual "greeting of the sun," after which doors
are repainted and the brak foliage is removed, beginning a ten
day period of general revelry.
Feast of Fools: This is a Festival celebrated in some Gorean
cities on the last day of the Third Hand of the eighth Gorean
month (October 31st). It is similar in many respects to the
southern Festival known as Carnival, except it lasts only for
the period of one night. Also known as the "Festival of the
Cities of Dust," in homage to the spirits of the deceased who
died during the last year..
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