DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
- Nyah Coultrain- Merchant Of Gor
HTML https://merchantofgor.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Scarrer
*****************************************************
#Post#: 367--------------------------------------------------
Scars
By: Nyah691 Date: July 1, 2017, 5:19 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]I was looking on the faces of four men, warriors of the
Wagon Peoples. On the face of each there were, almost like
corded chevrons, brightly colored scars. the vivid coloring and
intensity of these scars, their prominence, reminded me of the
hideous markings on the faces of mandrills; But these
disfigurements, as I soon recognized, were cultural, not
congenital, and bespoke not of natural innocence of the work of
genes but of glories, and status, the arrogance the prides, of
their bearers. The scars had been worked into the faces, with
needles and knives and pigments and the dung of bosk over the
period of days and nights. Men had died in the fixing of such
scars. Most scars were set in pairs, moving diagonally down from
the side of the head toward the nose and chin. The man facing me
had seven such scars ceremonially worked into the tissue of his
countenance, the highest being red, the next yellow, the next
blue, the fourth black, then two yellow then black again. The
faces of the men I saw were all scarred differently, but each
was scarred. The effect of the scars, ugly, startling, terrible,
perhaps in part calculated to terrify enemies, had even prompted
me, for a wild moment, to conjecture that what I faced on the
plains of Turia were not men, but perhaps aliens of some sort,
brought to Gor long ago from remote worlds to serve some now
discarded or forgotten purpose of the Priest Kings; but now I
knew better; now I could see them as men; as now more
significantly, I recalled what I had heard whispered of once
before, in a tavern of Ar, the terrible Scar Codes of the Wagon
Peoples, for each of the hideous marks on the face of these men
had meaning, a significance that could be read by the Paravaci,
the Kassars, the Kataii, the Tuchuks, as clearly as you or I
might read a sign in a window or a sentence in a book. At that
time I could read only the top scar, the red, bright, fierce
cordlike scar that was the Courage Scar. It is always the
highest scar on the face. Indeed, without that scar, no other
scar can be granted. The wagon peoples value courage above all
else. Nomads of Gor, 15-16.
"When I have time," said Harold, "I will call one from the clan
of Scarrers and have the scar affixed. It will make me look even
more handsome."
I smiled.
"Perhaps you would like me to call him for you as well?"
inquired Harold.
"No," I said.
"It might take attention away from your hair," he mentioned.
"No, thank you," I said.
"All right," said Harold, "it is well known you are only a,
Koroban, and not a Tuchuk." But then he added, soldierly.
"But you wear the Courage Scar for what you did not all men who
wear the Courage Scar do so visibly."
I did not speak. Nomads of Gor, 274.
"Without the Courage Scar one may not, among the Tuchuks, pay
court to a free woman, own a wagon, or own more than five bosk
and three kaiila. The Courage Scar thus has its social and
economic, as well as its martial, import." Nomads of Gor, 113.
"To a Tuchuk," said Harold, "success is courage - that is the
important thing- courage itself - even if all else fails - that
is success." Nomads of Gor, 273.
A young man, blondish-haired with blue eyes, unscarred, bumped
against the girl's stirrup in the press of the crowd. She struck
him twice with the leather quirt in her hand, sharply,
viciously. I could see blood on the side of his neck, where it
joins the shoulder.
"Slave!" she hissed.
He looked up angrily. "I am not a slave," he said. "I am
Tuchuk."
"Turian slave!" she laughed scornfully. "Beneath your furs you
wear, I wager, the Kes!"
"I am Tuchuk," he responded, looking angrily away.
Kamchak had told me of the young man. Among the wagons he was
nothing. He did what work he could, helping with the bosk, for a
piece of meat from a cooking pot.... He did not have his own
wagon or his own bosk. He did not even own a kaiila. He had
armed himself with castoff weapons, with which he practiced in
solitude. None of those, however, who led raids on enemy
caravans or sorties against the city and its outlying fields, or
retaliated upon their neighbors in the delicate matters of bask
stealing, would accept him in their parties. He had, to their
satisfaction, demonstrated his prowess with weapons, but they
would laugh at him. "You do not even own a kaiila," they would
say. "You do not even wear the Courage Scar." I supposed that
the young man would never be likely to wear the scar, without
which, among the stern, cruel Tuchuks, he would be the
continuous object of scorn, ridicule and contempt. Nomads of
Gor, 67-68.
"You are a coward!" cried Kamras. I wondered if Kamras knew the
meaning of the word which he had dared to address to one who
wore the Courage Scar of the Wagon Peoples. Nomads of Gor, 102.
"It should be worth the Courage Scar," said Harold from above,
"don't you think so?"
"What?" I asked.
"Stealing a wench from the House of Saphrar and returning on a
stolen tarn."
"Undoubtedly," I grumbled. I found myself wondering if the
Tuchuks had an Idiocy Scar. If so, I might have nominated the
young man hoisting himself up the rope above me as a candidate
for the distinction. Nomads of Gor, 191.
"And while you are remembering things," remarked Harold, "you
might recollect that we two together won the Courage Scar in
Turia."
"No," I said, "I will not forget that either." Nomads of Gor ,
340[/center]
#Post#: 369--------------------------------------------------
Re: Scars
By: Nyah691 Date: August 1, 2017, 10:44 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
•
Tuchuks. There are any number of ways that you may demonstrate
your courage so that you may stand among the men of Tuchuk with
the well deserved Courage Scar. Courage can manifest itself in
all areas of ones life, be it in the heat of battle against an
enemy, in the defense of the camp, the daring and dangerous
capture of a slave that you desire, or even against a beast out
on the plains or amongst the camp [center]itself during a
disaster or emergency. Courage shall find its way to reveal
itself in all Tuchuk men, because if it does not then they were
never really Tuchuk warriors.
•
•
can be earned multiple times and each representation of a black
scar upon your flesh shall represent another level of your skill
and mastery of the weapons of the plains. For the first spar you
will be required to win at least one spar with weapons of the
plains as well as compete with the others at least once. Those
weapons are the leather cavalry shield, quiva, lance, bola & the
small plains axe. It is important for men of the Tuchuks to find
a weapon that is comfortable for them to be able to make use in
battle when the need arises upon the plains.
•
•
demonstrated the ability to consistently win with any and all of
the weapons of the plains people. It is not about accumulating a
certain number of wins with each of the weapons, it is about
demonstrating that at any given time you will be capable of
being dangerous with any of the weapons against any opponents.
You have achieved a level of mastery of the plains weapons that
those around you recognize your skill enough for the word to
spread to the first wagon. Your experience in mounted combat and
capture will also have been proven out in the wilds of the
plains, entering into the consideration of the use of the bow
and bola from kaiila back.
•
•
commander. If there is a single yellow scar, then that man is a
commander of an Or, which is made up of 10 Tuchuk warriors. If
there is a second yellow scar, it is a representative of being
an Orlu, or commander of 100. If there is a third yellow scar
present, it is the representation of the Oralu, or Commander of
1,000. Obtaining the yellow scars is not a trivial task, for it
requires great demonstration of combat prowess, quick and
critical thinking, leadership and calm headedness with the
ability see the bigger picture in the heat of battle.
•
•
being a long standing and contributing member of the Tuchuk
camp. You have went above and beyond the call of duty to
demonstrate your ability to display loyalty and honor for the
camp. You have often demonstrated your willingness to put the
needs of the camp and others of the Tuchuks well ahead of your
own through sacrifice and hard work. [/center]
*****************************************************