Unsurprisingly, as we read through John Norman’s 36 novels, we realize that he wrote almost nothing about medicine, and even less about the medical profession. It was a subject that only interested him when it crossed paths with his stories of female slaves and virile warriors. Don’t cry over your misfortune if you wanted to play the role of a physician—that’s the case for most of the upper castes, with the exception of scribes and warriors!

That said, he wrote enough to make it fairly easy to develop the subject and describe it without betraying the spirit of Gor, which is what we will do here.

Warning: I am sticking primarily to the basics of the technical means and knowledge on the subject described in the novels. These may not reflect your experience in Second Life. Some players embody physicians with talents and resources similar to those of the best general practitioners in our contemporary world, while others play characters who are quasi-charlatans straight out of Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, including bloodletting. This is not a matter of judging whether an interpretation is good or bad; I am simply describing and interpreting what Norman has described. Personally, I am not shocked that some physicians use contemporary or even science fiction medical techniques, as long as it is done in a credible and consistent manner, because this is a reality on Gor. I mention credibility and consistency because, let’s not forget, priest-kings and super-technologies such as computers and wave communication, not to mention anything that could be turned into a technological weapon, do not mix well. And the Initiates, who stick their noses everywhere, will quickly burn all this equipment and the physicians who use it if they discover it!

1- The level of medical knowledge

Before talking a little about the castes, let’s take a quick look at what Gorian medicine is generally capable of. As mentioned above, Gorian medicine is not very detailed: we don’t have many excerpts on surgery or operating techniques, and we don’t really know what the Gorians are capable of in terms of emergency medicine, resuscitation, etc.

But one thing is certain: in many respects, Gorian medicine is more primitive than that of Earth, but it produces far superior results. It excels particularly in the fields of pharmacology and disease prevention, even seeming somewhat miraculous. However, it is slightly less effective in the fields of surgery, internal medicine, and, in general, in-depth knowledge of biology. In short, a Gorian suffering from internal bleeding, cancer, or an autoimmune disease is often doomed, and there is little that can be done to save them. Fortunately, Gor’s preventive medicine makes this type of risk very low (with the exception of internal bleeding, which is a matter of bad luck).

The main source of the remarkable success of Gor’s medicine lies in its strange machines. These are mainly blood analysis machines, genetic sequencers, centrifuges, refrigerators (and even cryogenics), stethoscopes, blood pressure monitors, and microscopes (and even X-ray scanners). Syringes, cannulas, IVs, scalpels, forceps—all emergency and surgical instruments—are commonplace in the equipment of a good physicians, if they can afford them. It is the Builders caste, particularly its engineers and precision mechanics and electricians, who manufacture them for them, in collaboration with the academies of the Physicians caste.

Physicians, in general, have no idea how the most advanced machines work; they only know what they can do. And this equipment is extremely valuable, as it is often irreplaceable. Among the most powerful analytical devices, Norman mentions those capable of analyzing the chemical composition of hair, urine, or human tissue. This makes it easy to detect profound biological changes: whether a person has taken the longevity serum or not, whether it has worked or not, whether the person is pregnant, poisoned, or infected with a known disease, etc., and even their blood type.

Yes, it’s downright fantastic, but it’s science fiction in the world of Gor. And I haven’t even mentioned advanced genetics yet… An advanced medical laboratory on Gor looks much more like a sterile laboratory from the 1970s than a Renaissance alchemist’s laboratory.

Of course, these electromechanical and electronic machines, which completely defy the scientific knowledge of the average Gorian, are worth a fortune. That’s why they’re only found in medical academies in large cities, where physicians share them. The small country physician, if he has a stethoscope and a dusty blood pressure monitor, is already well equipped. And finally, we’re talking here about civilized places with a high cultural level, where there is a caste of physicians! Among the Torvis, there are no real physicians, only herbalists, healers, and bone setters. The same is true in the jungles of Schendi and among the nomads of the Turia plains. That doesn’t mean their care is bad, but don’t expect miracles!

A physician, with their knowledge, equipment, expertise… In short, they are VERY rare in the world of Gor. That is why they are so respected, valued, and cherished, as we will see later.

As we have said, Gor’s pharmacopoeia is much more robust than that of Earth. It’s not that Gorean chemists are better, it’s simply that the world around them is full of active substances and medicinal remedies. A good herbalist can cure most simple ailments on Gor with just a few infusions and poultices. A physician, on the other hand, can be much more effective against most diseases: Goreans know how to synthesize drugs in much the same way as we do in the 21st century, albeit to a limited extent.

And of course, not to mention impressive substances such as slave wine, fertility wine, vaccines against epidemic diseases and most STDs, there is the stabilizing serum, which gives youth and long life… so long that some old Goreans are five to six hundred years old. But we’ll come back to that later.

2- The Physician caste

While the physician caste is not the most prestigious in terms of precedence (it is only superior to the warrior caste and inferior to all others), in terms of renown and recognition among all Gorans, it is as prestigious, if not more so, than the builder caste.

Note: yes, if you’re wondering, the caste of initiates is highly respected, even superstitiously so, but just as feared, especially since it often remains mysterious. The caste of scribes is known for being particularly haughty, closed, and jealous of its knowledge and rank, a kind of pedantic aristocracy that never mixes with the people. The warrior caste is admired and respected, but also feared and even hated by the people, as it is this caste that commits the most bloody and unjust acts (in fact, the rarii do not protect the people very much). As for the other upper castes, they distrust the warrior caste like the plague and try to muzzle it as much as possible. This leaves two castes close to the common people (who represent nearly 90% of the Gorian population): the builders… and the physicians!

The color of the physician caste is green, and on Gor Second Life, it is adorned with the symbol of the caduceus, which never appears in the novels. As this color is associated with a number of privileges, which we will come back to later, physicians tend to display their color on their tunics, especially when traveling, so that they can be recognized from afar.

The medical caste is highly organized: each large city has its own medical academy, a central location where the caste manages its affairs and passes on its knowledge. The academy occupies at least one entire cylinder, often in a large area, with hospices and all the equipment and infrastructure necessary to accommodate and care for patients, train students, and teach classes. There are also many smaller private practices, where several physicians and students work together, sharing their resources. It is a wealthy caste, it must be acknowledged, but one that puts its fortune at the service of the well-being of all, and in the end, the physicians themselves are rarely wealthy.

The two bracelets of women

A striking feature of the medical caste is that, in the upper castes, it has by far the largest number of female practitioners. The other castes cannot compete with this and consider their women to be like all other Gorean women: at home, raising children and doing housework. This is not the case for physicians, who train their wives to practice like men and assume the same role, including responsibilities and power.

This is why physicians have a custom that exists only among them: at the age of fifteen, a female member of the caste receives two bracelets, one on each wrist. They are only removed, one from each wrist, if she has children. As long as she wears these bracelets, she cannot be considered a full physician: before becoming one, she must assume her social role as a mother; only then can she obtain the status of full physician, with the same rank as any male physician in the caste.

Another point: the caste of physicians, along with that of builders, is the one that meets most often and exchanges the most between cities, even in times of war (which is a good thing, given that most Gorian cities spend their time at war). Symposiums are held several times a year at large trade fairs, where physicians come to exchange knowledge, innovations, and research, thereby constantly improving medicine and its effectiveness. And it doesn’t matter if two physicians are from enemy cities: their duty to heal and help cure takes precedence over their loyalty to the Mother Stone.

We do not enslave physicians!

Finally, the medical caste generally enjoys a kind of informal safe conduct, pretty much everywhere. It is neither a law nor a sacred tradition, but simply a custom, respected because of the importance of their social role: on the one hand, everyone avoids attacking or killing a physician. And for the same reason, because they are simply too valuable, too important to everyone, and their talent requires years and years of training, a physician is never enslaved on a whim or out of envy. Even as punishment for a crime, people think twice and prefer, if possible, to impose other penalties. This is truly the only high caste to enjoy this informal privilege! Even the Builders caste, which is very close to the people, cannot claim these advantages in the general customs of the Goreans.

Physicians have their own specialties: in fact, with the exception of dentists (although, if necessary, physicians can also intervene, simply because it is not a specialty), practically everything that exists today can exist as a medical specialty. Among the most sought-after are nutritionists (especially for the breeding of luxury slaves), obstetricians (for childbirth), pharmacists (for obvious reasons), emergency surgeons (for battlefield injuries), pediatricians (for children and babies), and, last but not least, epidemiologists (because epidemics are common!).

3- Stabilizing serum, a miracle cure

It will be difficult for me to discuss all the remedies and methods of care used by Goreans because, as I mentioned earlier, Norman does not dwell on them much. I plan to write an article that will compile everything I know, drawn from books or invented, about medicines and medical remedies. But before that, I’d like to explain something that changes everything about Gorean health: stabilization serum.

Note: Norman is an ignorant moron… Well, it’s been a while since I said that. He has always claimed in his novels that the excellent health of the Goreans is due to their simple lifestyle in the midst of nature and all that, and their diet without any excesses. The hundreds of millions, if not billions, of human beings who have lived simply in the midst of nature and died of disease, poisoning, and starvation throughout the history of the world will laugh ironically. If a large proportion of Gorans enjoy good health—and this must be put into perspective—it is because Gorese medicine works miracles, the first of which is the stabilizing serum.

The pinnacle of Gorese medicine is this remedy, which comes in the form of an injection and, quite simply, prolongs youth and life.

According to some versions, the preservation serum is a direct gift from the priest-kings that has existed for around 1,000 years and can only be obtained by physicists via suppliers from the caste of Initiates, OR it is a remedy created about 500 years ago by the physicians of Ar and Ko-Ro-Ba, whose formula is available to any physician who requests it and has the necessary chemical skills to compose it. The version in the novel is… well, actually, it depends on the book, so I’ll give both versions, although I prefer the one that is the result of the Physicians’ human creation. But you know what? We’re not far from an error, or a paradox. Which raises the question: why is a character like Matthew Cabot over 600 years old, when Norman specifies that no one lives past the age of 150 to 200 and the serum has only been around for 500 years?

This also raises the question of serum supply, but this last point is secondary: the serum is available to all physicians for their patients, including slaves. In theory, it is considered a gift to all Gorans, whoever they may be: every human being living on Gor is entitled to it, and it is even one of the few rights slaves have. The inhabitants of Gor consider old age to be a disease, a plague like any other, which they have managed to counter in part thanks to the serum. Although expensive to manufacture, the stabilizing serum is one of the medical services that a city provides to its citizens and slaves. It is available like any other medicine, you just have to ask for it… but you also have to pay for it, and it is expensive, unaffordable for most Gorans, i.e. the common people, who rarely see more than one or two silver coins in their lifetime.

The serum therefore remains an expensive luxury! Basically, there is a huge difference between everyone being entitled to it and everyone having access to it, which clearly means that 10%, maybe 15% of the population of Gor will benefit from it, i.e. the richest and their slaves, basically. The majority of the population—peasants, laborers, small craftsmen, fishermen, villagers, etc.—will never see the serum. These people do what everyone else does: they are exhausted at 35, old at 50, venerable or buried at 70.

And yes, I can hear your indignation from here, because everyone on Gor SL has, or could have, access to the stabilizing serum. But Gor SL is not the world of Gor, and you are not playing mere inhabitants of that world. The concepts are different, and that’s part of the game. But yes, coming across lots of shriveled 70-year-olds and a few rare young and beautiful 100-year-old women is one of the paradigms of the world of Gor. You, the low- or high-caste Gorean who can afford the serum, may see your friends, even your family, grow old and die while you remain young and alive for a century or two. Ultimately, it’s a privilege reserved for the rich. I can imagine a generous and wealthy physician producing a few doses and distributing them for free, but since the stabilization serum is expensive and complicated to manufacture, he couldn’t vaccinate his entire community against aging, far from it.

Notes: How much does it cost? You’re going to laugh, but I haven’t seen any mention of the price of the serum. I think we can set it at a few silver coins, between 5 and 15 on the ZcS base 100 system. In the world of Gor, that would be around one to three silver coins. That’s nothing for a wealthy man… but remember that the lower classes of society (i.e., 90% of Gor’s population) never see that much money more than once or twice in their lives.

The stabilization serum is a series of injections described as taking place over four consecutive days, in the lower back, above the hip. Given the nature of the product, it is likely that the injection is simply made into the kidneys. The mutagenic effect of the serum is felt immediately, and not necessarily in a very pleasant way: by the time the recipient’s biology and genes are altered, they will be ill for the duration of the injections, usually about a week. The effects are highly varied and can include fever, nausea, feverish states, and even more violent reactions. And, in rare cases, the serum simply does not work, or can kill the patient instantly.

What does this mean in practical terms? The serum significantly improves wound healing and, last but not least, prolongs life. More specifically, it significantly slows down the aging process, even stopping it completely, and some versions, which are even more expensive and rarer, can reverse it! In other words, even very old people, say two hundred years old, some Gorans retain the physique of a 25-year-old. It depends on the quality of the serum and its effectiveness. Others, at the same age, will look well into their forties, with the first signs of old age catching up with them. In the end, death resurfaces, on average after 300 years. But it can last much longer: 400, even 500 years for the rare lucky ones who have not died of other causes in the meantime. The fact that it can exceed 600 years… Let’s just say that, as this is based on a contradiction in the novels, I am tempted to say: don’t worry about it. But do what you want: many players consider that the stabilizing serum makes you immortal, I don’t, but it’s just a matter of interpretation.

4- Common medical services

In addition to the obvious services of receiving injured or sick patients for treatment and monitoring their regular patients to ensure their good health, physicians are very active on other fronts and offer a number of services in the world of Gor, which we will briefly discuss here:

– Health services for slaves:

This is actually a fairly broad field. On the one hand, newly enslaved slaves or those about to be sold are always brought before physicians for a health check and to complete the information on their ownership papers. The aim is to establish a pedigree that identifies the slave by their distinguishing features and ensures medical follow-up in terms of hygiene and vaccinations. On the other hand, physicians were called upon to go to ports and caravanserais on the outskirts of cities to monitor slave convoys, just as others, often merchants, monitored perishable goods. The physicians, for their part, ensured that the slaves were free of disease, decided on prophylactic treatments and quarantines, and even demanded that slaves showing obvious signs of contamination be isolated or destroyed for safety reasons. Finally, at an auction, the organizer ensures that a physician is present to examine the health of each slave on site before the sale. Sometimes wealthy customers even call on the services of a physician to obtain an opinion before purchasing. And in this field, given the caste of physicians, it is not at all surprising that the physician is a woman.

-Slave breeding and genetic selection:

I told you we’d talk about this! Because yes, there are physicians who specialize in selecting human bloodlines, crossing specimens to guarantee the appearance or reinforcement of a particular trait, thus creating a line of selected slaves. Yes, just as we have been crossbreeding and hybridizing animal and plant species for a very long time, long before anyone knew what DNA was or even the principles of heredity.

In fact, while Earthlings only really understood this in the 20th century, the physicians of Gor were way ahead of the game! Centuries ahead, even: through experimentation and trial and error, they understood and learned how to manipulate hereditary factors and apply them to the human species. They also understood the principles of epigenetics, i.e., the importance of external factors (living conditions, environment) on heredity and gene transmission. They thus created lines of breeding slaves with effectively selected traits, from the most useful to the most exotic, lines that sometimes span centuries and centuries.

In other words, the physicians of Gor, if they could, got their hands on Earth’s genetic technology and DNA sequencers, or obtained them even before they were invented on Earth, and are secretly using and abusing them!

– Private services for free women:

While no physician would ever (in theory) consider performing an abortion—not even on a slave, even if her master requested it—because children are considered sacred on Gor, contraception is not a taboo subject, and some physicians therefore meet with their patients so that they can drink slave wine and thus avoid becoming pregnant. A lecture on the role of fertile women is guaranteed! But a physician will not usually refuse this service. More often than not, women prefer to talk to other women, who are more understanding. Physicians also treat free women’s problems with libido and frigidity with complete discretion. While most of them are content to give primitive advice such as “learn a slave dance,” some—again, mostly women—will be more attentive to a problem that mainly affects free women who are the companions of high-caste and wealthy men, for whom their companion is… nothing more than a breeding machine. For pleasure, they have their slaves. Finally, among the services offered is artificial insemination: clearly reserved for free women and left unresolved in the novels, it is only mentioned as a reality and an existing medical service, but this technology clearly requires very advanced knowledge of reproductive microbiology.

Quote, about a pregnant woman of high caste:

“I had never been in a man’s arms before,” she said, “because men in Tharna are not allowed to touch women.”

She saw my confusion.

“The medical caste,” she said, “under the direction of the High Council of Tharna, knows how to deal with such matters.”

The outlaws of Gor

– The management of slave brands and tattoos:

We will discuss elsewhere this common but moderately effective custom of employing kajirae as forced messengers, tattooing the secret message on their skulls and then letting their hair grow to conceal it until the day the message must be delivered. There are other customs directly related to brands and tattoos, such as invisible tattoos… which allow writing on a slave’s skin without it being visible, as long as no reagent is applied to the tattooed area to reveal the message. Some people use this method to mark a slave in a personal, temporary or permanent way, without having to alter their beauty with a visible tattoo. This practice is legally recognized and carried out by physicians of the medical caste. Norman talks about it in Slave-Girl of Gor:

Quote:

The physician passed a clear liquid over my arm. Suddenly, to my surprise and his amusement, a short sentence appeared, written in fine, bright red letters, as if by magic. It was inside my elbow.

I knew what the sentence meant, because my mistress, Lady Elicia d’Ar, had told me. It was a simple phrase. It said, “She is the one.” It had been painted on my arm with a small brush and another clear liquid. I had seen the moisture inside my arm, where it bends, inside the elbow, and then it had dried and disappeared. I wasn’t even sure the writing had remained. But now, under the action of the reagent, the writing appeared, fine and clear. Then, a few moments later, the physician poured the liquid from another bottle onto a red cloth pad and, as if by magic, erased the writing. The invisible stain was gone. The original reagent was then reused to verify the erasure. There was no reaction.

The chemical mark that identified me to Lady Elicia’s agents, my mistress, had disappeared. The physician then used the second liquid to clean my arm again, removing the residue from the second application of the reagent.

Slave of Gor

In addition to these various services, secret tattoos in the hair, marks visible only with reagents, either with invisible indelible ink or with invisible tattoos that react to appropriate reagents, physicians of the medical caste never remove a slave mark, with a few exceptions. On the one hand, because in most cases the necessary surgical intervention would cause more damage than anything else and leave a deep and unsightly scar; on the other hand, because it is illegal! Of course, a freed slave can undoubtedly request this service in complete discretion; of course, an owner dissatisfied with his slave’s mark can request that it be removed. But in all cases, physicians must be particularly careful in their actions. For the legal penalty for this type of crime can be slavery!

Note: there are regenerative balms, created from stabilizing serum, which some physicians know how to synthesize. They can really erase a scar, more or less quickly, but their price is prohibitive and they are very rare. I think it’s something that can easily be bought for half a gold tarn.

– Dietetics:

A quick word on this rather interesting point: Gorian physicians attach great importance to dietetics. This is essentially about ensuring a perfect diet and good performance for expensive slaves whom their masters do not want to see grow fat or weak. Pleasure kajirae are subject to a strictly controlled diet that prohibits any excess, regardless of whether they like it or not. But since dietetics has proven its effectiveness in terms of competence, it is an important part of the services offered by physicians to free people with health problems. And Gorian diets are clearly very effective in helping people get back on their feet. This is part of preventive medicine, and it is very common for a Gorian to follow these diets, have their slaves follow them, and have these diets monitored by physicians.

– Disease control and vaccination:

We don’t have much information about the capabilities of Gorian physicians in terms of vaccination, so I won’t venture an opinion on the subject. Presumably, this mainly concerns STDs such as syphilis and smallpox (the Bazi plague). Probably also tetanus, polio, and rabies, which do not seem to pose a real danger on Gor. While we’re on the subject of infections, there are antibiotics on Gor, and although they are mainly herbal remedies, they are described in the novels as being extremely effective.

– Hypnosis, conditioning, mental health care:

Yes, in the Gorian pharmacopoeia, there are a number of psychotropic drugs used to calm, sedate, and relax, but also to help hypnotize and condition. They can be used to accelerate the healing of mental disorders and, above all, certain violent traumas—particularly those suffered by slaves, for whom they are mainly intended. They can also be used in certain legal or investigative contexts, or—as is most often the case—to facilitate the education and conditioning of certain slaves who need to be rid of deeply ingrained behaviors and reflexes. Since the manipulation of these drugs and techniques cannot be invented, it is physicians who supply them and collaborate with slave owners.

5- Common and serious diseases

Norman claims that diseases are almost unknown on Gor, which I refute, having explained why above. So there are always infections, epidemics, etc. Let’s just say that diseases cause much less devastation on Gor than in an ancient world like that of the Romans, or even during the Renaissance. Thanks to their miraculous pharmacopoeia and organized healthcare system, cities rarely have to fear a pandemic decimating the population.

However, despite the proven existence of vaccination systems and antibiotics, certain diseases can sometimes become real problems:

cholera regularly strikes the poor in winter, and although it is fairly easy to treat, it does claim victims, as do pneumonia, encephalitis, and diphtheria.

Smallpox is one such example. The Goreans call it the Bazi Plague, as it ravaged the city of the same name a few years ago. Smallpox is an antibiotic-resistant virus that is highly contagious and very deadly: it can kill up to 40% of an infected population in a matter of weeks or months. If you don’t know what smallpox is, consider the Antonine Plague, a smallpox pandemic that struck Rome in 165 and lasted 20 years, described by the physician Galen, which killed between 5 and 10 million of the 60 million inhabitants of the Roman Empire.

The Bazi plague reappears regularly here and there. The Goreans have only vaccination, with uncertain results, to fight the disease. The only other solution is quarantine and epidemic control. In other words, many physicians are anxiously searching for a cure… but working with this disease is dangerous in itself, as it exposes you to it. It should be noted that the Bazi plague haunts more or less all Gorian cities: the high infant mortality rate in villages and poor neighborhoods in cities is largely due to the fact that smallpox cannot be eradicated.

The other endemic disease in the world of Gor is leprosy, which the Gorean call Dar-Kosis, meaning “sacred/taboo disease.” People with leprosy are considered cursed by the Initiates caste. In the minds of the Gorans, these people no longer exist once they have been recognized as infected. The law considers all lepers to be dead and applies the same rules to them as to deceased persons. As leprosy is notoriously contagious, lepers pose a real danger.

They are therefore driven out of towns, stoned or killed on sight when they approach, and condemned to beg as best they can. Only the caste of Initiates offers them help, in the form of leper colonies or isolated pits, far from everything, where they are given basic care and food, but with no hope of survival. However, the caste of Initiates also strictly forbids the caste of Physicians from conducting research on leprosy, as it considers this to be an encroachment on its sacred domain. This has not prevented some physicians from doing so, but it should be noted that this could end very badly if such research were to become officially known.