Let’s talk about Honor, a very complicated subject, for which we do a lot of foolish things believing ourselves to be legitimate, and which is often misunderstood in 21st century urban Western society. Because honor isn’t just about demanding revenge when you’ve been insulted, or wanting a duel because you’ve been humiliated. It’s really much more complex than that: honor is stability, righteousness, assurance, fidelity, the source of family and home.

I would like to thank Torri, professor at Gorean University, for her inspiration and references in writing this article.

Quote:

 The 97th aphorism in the codes (of the Rarii) I was taught takes the form of a riddle: “What is invisible but brighter than the diamond? What is silent but deafens thunder? What weighs nothing, but is heavier than gold?”

– Honor, I said.

 Vagabonds de Gor, Page 305

1- Defining Honor

Honor, as defined academically, in the dictionary and on Wikipedia, is the act of acting first and foremost by virtue of one’s convictions, in line with the principles shared by one’s community, one’s people, or the believers of one’s religion. Honor is a code of conduct that is not personal, but shared by the family, the community and the representatives of the power from which one comes. It is earned through deeds and decisions admired by the community, and lost through betrayals, crimes and humiliations condemned by one’s own. Of all the virtues (honor, wisdom, courage), Honor is the most visible, and the most public; it cannot be hidden or secret.

Honor is what defines a Gorean socially. Without honor, he has no word and can no longer be considered trustworthy or reliable: he is vile. He will no longer be supported, and will be shunned, despised and rejected by his own kind, to the point of ostracism and banishment. Honor is cultural and social, but it has no sense of right or wrong as we understand it in the 21st century: in many human societies, ancient or contemporary, a young woman who has been raped, even though she is a victim, loses her honor and will often be repudiated or ostracized, or even driven to suicide, because of the crime she has suffered. In my own culture, Corsica, a breach of a parent’s honor reflects on his or her children, even if the parent is dead and even if the children are totally innocent of the crime or outrage for which the parent is responsible. This loss of honor can follow a family for generations, and even contaminate the family’s friends and allies!

Honor is transmitted and, contrary to popular belief, it is not a monolithic block, but a sum, a capital, which, like wealth, is invested, given and spent, and can be won and lost. An individual without honor often still has honor, through his or her actions and decisions. Honor cannot be measured by the individual, but by the group to which he belongs. Only the most vile of felons, without scruples or repentance, has no left at all, for anyone.

2- Acts of honor by goreans

Honor being a social and public virtue, it depends on the character’s culture of origin, but the following principles are considered by all to be honorable.

– A given word cannot be taken back: swearing, promising or making a deal cannot be undone without the agreement of the person concerned. Betraying an oath or a deal is a terrible offense for a Gorean. Keeping one’s word also applies to authority. If a Gorean makes a decision or gives an order, he will not go back on his word – at least not publicly – to do so would be to show weakness, and therefore dishonor.

– Serve only one master: a Gorean accepts only one allegiance at a time. If he serves a lord, a patron or a protégé, he has no other allegiance than this one, and he will never betray it. Betraying one’s allegiance is an unforgivable offense for a Gorean. Even if, for practical reasons, people on Gor SL often change their Home Stone, a Gorean will never betray his Home Stone and, in theory, will never change it (even if his city is devastated!).

– Assuming responsibility for one’s actions: committing an error, a misdemeanor or a crime is the sole responsibility of the person at fault, including through negligence or carelessness, even if he or she is the victim. Individual responsibility on Gor takes precedence over rules, laws and decrees. This is why we don’t feel sorry for anyone who has to pay for the consequences of their actions. To deny one’s responsibility, or even worse, to lie or try to cheat in order to shift the blame onto others, is a dishonor.

– To suffer without complaining, to die without begging: to be capable of this is greatly respected by Goreans, who will easily scorn those who weep and beg, all the more so if the latter are combatants. Note that we’re not talking about fighting to the death, without running away. Goreans are perfectly willing to surrender or flee in the event of defeat. Only certain Rariis units, or the most formidable warriors of the far north or the Red Savages, refuse to flee.

– Open your door to strangers, respect your host’s home: respect the codes and principles of hospitality. Goreans always share soup, a fire-place and a straw mattress for the traveler (and I’m not talking about sharing slaves, which is a rule of hospitality, but you need one for that). The traveler will be all the more honored if, in exchange, he does a favor or leaves a present, even a symbolic one, for his hosts. Not opening one’s door to a traveler is frowned upon, even if in the most remote places, or in times of war, this rule is rarely respected.

– Do not let an offense go unpunished: the notion of offense depends on the susceptibility of the victim and the seriousness of the crime. Goreans can insult each other like cart driver or scam each other off without taking offence, while others will take too insistent a look as an offense. But when a Gorean suffers a serious offense, he has to make the offender pay, especially if it took place in public. A man can quickly lose face if he doesn’t respond to a serious offense, especially if it’s well known. Reparation rarely results in death, as Goreans are not really murderers, but it does happen.

– Respect life, especially children: goreans don’t necessarily like to kill, and if they can solve the problem in some other way, they’ll prefer to find an alternative, including forced labor, hostages and enslavement. Wanton slaughter, torture and sadistic crimes are frowned upon: they are rare, and considered the work of a sick and dangerous mind. In particular, Goreans consider children sacred: attacking or killing children (or pregnant women) is absolutely unforgivable. Another unforgivable crime is arson. Whether it’s a city or a forest, destroying it by fire is a dishonorable act.

– Obeying the religion of the Priest-Kings and the Initiates: even if it’s far from constant, the majority of Goreans are superstitiously respectful of the Priest-Kings and their representatives, the Initiates. Even if this is widely contradicted in practice, every Gorean considers it honorable to respect an Initiate, who is often called Blessed One. The idea that they could be attacked is frightening for most Goreans.

– Respecting one’s caste & place in society: In Priest-King society, all Goreans are members of a caste inherited from their parents. The sons and daughters of a baker are all members of their father’s baker caste. Caste and its hierarchy is one of the pillars of society; every Gorean is proud of his or her caste. And whether doctor, warrior, sailor or fisherman, every member of a caste considers his caste better and more important than the others, and will never let an offense or threat to his caste go unpunished. In short, never call a peasant a “dirty peasant”. It’s a blow to get the whole caste on your back, and it’s the most widespread caste in Gor’s world!

The Honor of Women

Yes, it’s a sub-chapter. Why is it a sub-chapter? Because women’s Honor is almost the same as men’s, on Gor or anywhere else. Women may seem modest, but they have the same pride, and the same principles of Honor as men. You just have to remember the rights and duties of a Gor woman to apply these codes of honor. The big difference? Social codes relating to appearance, modesty and chastity.

While appearance and dress are important to all Goreans, it’s a matter of honor for women to be particularly careful in this respect. Women represent the wealth and means of the family, and it’s their duty to present this to the best advantage at every opportunity. A dirty, unkempt woman means she’s been hard at work, and you see her when she gets off work… because she’ll be going to wash, and no doubt change, as soon as she can.

Ah, yes… An onlinism: NO, a barefoot woman is not systematically enslaved. Are you aware that shoes didn’t become widespread until the 19th century, and that until the 1950s, most children in rural schools went barefoot? Well, shoes are expensive! Even clogs and sandals! We keep them for winter or for long walks, to save money!

I don’t think I need to explain modesty. Women hold back their expressions of emotion and affection in public, they avoid smiling and above all showing that they like a compliment. Free women’s reputation for coldness and aloofness is not just a reputation. The colder a woman is, and the more she hides her emotions to remain in control of herself, the more she is honored.

Chastity is no different. If you don’t respect this principle, you’re acting like a slave, and that’s bound to end badly. A Gorean doesn’t try to seduce a free woman, because everyone knows it’s a lost cause; and anyway, that’s not how companionship contracts, which are contracts between families, work. A free woman shows no desire, no sexual need, and responds only with indifference and contempt to the man who stoops to make advances. Well, that’s in public! As in ancient Rome, behind the walls of the home, the free woman, if she’s lucky, or has the means, can indulge herself and doesn’t mind. But this must never be known outside the walls of her home.

3- Honor is complicated

Quote:

  – Why are you saying these things? she asked, lifting her head, red-eyed. You risked your life to protect me from him, when he was going to whip me.

     – I do not think he was going to whip you, I said, though I expect he is quite capable of it, and would unhesitantly do so if it seemed appropriate, or upon various occasions, if it pleased him.

    – Why then did you interfere? she asked, puzzled. Why did you call attention to yourself when obviously there was something between you two, and you would be in danger, if recognized.

    – Do you truly not know? I asked.

    – It was to protect me, surely.

    – No, I said.

   –  Why then? she asked, wonderingly.

    – Because, I said, soberly, you were serving me.

    – That is what you said, she said.

    – And that was the reason, I said.

    – It was so tiny a thing, she asked, a point of propriety, of precedence? she asked.

    – Yes, I said.

    – You risked so much for a mere point of honor? she asked.

    – There are no mere points of honor, I told her.

    Vagabonds of Gor, Page 63

Honor can’t be measured by the person who holds it; it’s a social measure, in a way, of an individual’s degree of trustworthiness and reliability, whether good or bad. But it’s still a very personal treasure: in fact, you have to think of it as a sum in which you must always invest through your actions, at the risk of losing part of it.

To make things clearer, I’ll give you an example: a brutal warrior with little concern for honoring women behaves like a cad with them, and is therefore often confronted by individuals who, outraged by his behavior (family, friends or protectors of the women he has insulted), demand an accounting. Since he’s a warrior, he proposes to settle the matter in a duel. It’s easy to imagine that it’s better for him not to lose, because every time he loses, he loses a little of his honor, invested in the duel. But in fact, even winning all the time means losing honor. For every time he responds to a request for redress with a duel, he proves that his only honor lies in his strength, not at all in his ability to respect other people’s codes of honor, which in this case boil down to treating women with respect. From then on, he loses honor, since everyone will soon know that he is unreliable when it comes to the codes of his own community. While he will be respected and honored as a warrior, he will not be respected and honored as a social man by the women and their families and friends, who have also been outraged by his indecent behavior.

Thus, honor is multifaceted, and a truly honorable man is one who defends his honor with strength and words, respects his own word and doesn’t back down from a duel, but is also capable of respecting not only his leaders and equals, but also the weakest, or those in a position of submission to his authority. In other words, a man who despises everyone and responds to every offense with a sword has, in fact, no honor at all: he’s just strong… until he faces someone stronger than he is (and a lord surrounded by his guards, officers and police is bound to be the strongest!).

Nor is honor a virtue that can be measured for just one individual; it can be invested in others, and even used to restore honor to someone, not without risk! Let me give you a historical example. One of France’s most legendary knights, Roland de Ronceveaux, killed his lord, to whom he had sworn loyalty, following the latter’s vileness. It was an unforgivable crime. Only this lord’s peers have this right to justice, but hey, Roland, he’s a hot-blooded knight. That said, his act is totally dishonorable. But the Emperor Charlemagne, who is learning history but knows the knight’s warrior value, takes him into his service and clears him of any wrongdoing. Charlemagne had better know what he’s doing. Roland is a feisty knight, and if ever, under the Emperor’s orders, he were to commit the slightest dishonorable act according to the codes of the time, Charlemagne would lose his reliability and credibility, and therefore his honor! And a dishonored Emperor, even a little, has trouble keeping his throne, or his head. This almost happened, but fortunately, Roland listened to the voice of wisdom (a priest) at the last moment, and became the most valiant, valiant, honorable and faithful knight in French history (even if we’re mostly in the realm of legend). Charlemagne invested his honor, at the risk of losing it, to win a man who could not be bought with all the gold in the world. In the end, it was a good investment that further enhanced the Emperor’s honor.

4- Honor is not innate

Quote :

   Honor is important to Goreans, in a way that those of Earth might find hard to understand; for example, those of Earth find it natural that men should go to war over matters of gold and riches, but not honor; the Gorean, contrariwise, is more willing to submit matters of honor to the adjudication of steel than he is matters of riches and gold; there is a simple explanation for this; honor is more important to him. Strangely the girls of the cities are eager to participate in this sport. Doubtless each believes her standard will be victorious and she will return in honor to her city.

   Beasts of Gor, Page 42

Well, I’m guessing that Norman has never been in the army or practiced martial arts to write that; because if modern honor codes are very specific, these codes of honor are very marked and respected, especially in environments directly related to war or combat. In fact, it’s one of the first things we learn!

And yes, honor is learned, and a sense of honor is not born by magic: it is indelibly linked to the culture from which we come, and is often a reflection of its moral principles and laws. Even someone who has lived in isolation, far from society, has grown up in a community and culture, with its morals, codes, laws and definition of what is honorable and what is not. A definition that didn’t come about by magic. It is necessarily linked to the laws and beliefs of that culture, but also to its moral rules.

For example, I live in Switzerland, and in Switzerland, the worst impoliteness is not arriving on time for an appointment. Never arrive more than ten minutes late, and even worse, never arrive more than five minutes early. You’ll really be seen as some kind of rude barbarian if this is your habit. Only very old friends can ignore this law in their private relationships. Suffice it to say that for me, coming from a culture where when you’re given an appointment, the rule is to arrive at least thirty minutes late, because the other person is bound to be late, and you’ll humiliate them if you arrive before them, I had to adapt.

A culture, a community, without moral rules, without tacit or written laws, therefore, without honor doesn’t exist. Even pirates have always had a code of honor, which differed from 15th-century pirates in the Mediterranean and 17th-century pirates in the Caribbean or China. An individual with no honor, and therefore no moral rules and who doesn’t follow any codes or laws, does so with full knowledge of the facts, because he comes from a community, a culture that has instilled these rules in him from early childhood, and therefore, the principles of honor that go with them. Which brings us to the next point.

5- Do slaves have honor?

Quote:

    – I will not lose men in this fashion, I said.

    – It is better to lose such men, said Tajima.

    – If you want to die, I said to the kneeling figure on the platform, do so under the talons of the tarn.

    – It is wrong for you to interfere in this, Tarl Cabot, tarnsman, said Tajima. One must recover honor.

    – One recovers honor in life, I said, not in death. If he lives, he may begin again, and gain honor.

    – That is not our way, said Tajima.

    – But it is a way, I said.

    – Doubtless, said Tajima.

    – And it is my way, I said.

    Swordsmen of Gor, Page 259

It’s complicated. Yes, I know, I’ve said it before. But to explain what’s going to be a paradox, there are three things to consider.

Firstly, a slave comes from a culture, a community, even breeding’s cages slaves. Except for those who are locked up without any outside contact and with a strict minimum of social relations, slaves grow up with the children of free families, and are therefore imbued with the social codes, moral rules and honor codes of the culture in which they grow up. So they can’t ignore honor, and no doubt experience a terrifying debasement destroying their honor, however weak it may be, when they begin to be trained according to the standards of Gorean slaver training. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the slaves’ losses in training came from this.

Then there’s the training itself. While the aim of training is to destroy the pride of a person who was once free, or who thought he was free, and to degrade him completely in order to animalize him, he is also taught, harshly and mercilessly, other moral codes, the most important of which are loyalty, devotion and honesty. Whether or not this works is another matter. But for the slave devoted to his owner, respecting these codes is his own code of honor! Beyond the risk that if the slave doesn’t respect them and it’s noticed, he incurs terrible punishments, these are principles totally integrated into what becomes his own subculture and way of life. To disregard them, or to doubt them, for the best-trained slaves, is clearly to dishonor oneself. And I’m not citing these examples by chance: in Rome, Silvius Maurus, a highly reputed slave, teacher for childs, begged to be put to death for betraying his master. The betrayal? He had failed to teach a child to read and write, who was obviously a pest, and no doubt, one assumes, dyslexic. The slave died, but the child’s family paid dearly, as the act fell on the family and disgraced them.

And thirdly, the specific status of slaves on Gor. Slaves on Gor have no rights, not even an identity of their own. In Rome, slaves could (not all of them, eh!) be paid, rent a house, have a family and even buy back their servitude. They had to respect some of the Romans’ moral laws and codes of honor, and benefit from them too. On Gor, you forget all that. Gor slaves had even fewer rights than the black slaves of the triangular trade of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and that wasn’t much. So a Gorean slave owns nothing, not even his own identity, so… not even his own Honor! His Honor, and his pride, moreover, it’s through those of his owner that he experiences and enjoys them, or expresses them.

So, my personal interpretation is that slaves do have Honor, but it’s obviously not expressed in the same way as that of the Free, and above all, it reflects that of their owner. If the slaves’ code of Honor is expressed in the specific community they form among themselves, and creates moral codes and an informal hierarchy, the slaves’ honor passes through their master. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist! Slaves do have pride, but they also feel vexation, shame and humiliation, so they do have honor, and it’s precious to them. It’s just that, socially, Goreans don’t recognize it, at least not publicly, apart from a few exceptions, since they don’t use the same codes and, well, they’re slaves!

6- How to interpret Honor?

You’ll have understood that you can’t decide that your sense of Honor is just your character’s pride, susceptibility and tendency to use force when offended. Honor is based on all the laws, social codes and moral codes of the environment in which you live. Your honor is based on the Gorean codes I summarized in chapter 2, and on the codes followed by the people of your culture and community (caste, family, etc.).

Want a good reference? Read the OOC rules and RP laws of the place you’re playing, and you’ve got a good fuck about how to play your sense of honor. Don’t forget that honor is a value, a sum, which is spent, invested, lost, but also gained.

Honor should be seen as an investment, the value of which varies from one community to another, but which must always be maintained, because, publicly, Honor is always known: it’s really the degree of trust and reliability that people place in an individual. A Gorean must remain honorable at all times, and in front of others: the craftsman of modest talent but great generosity, through his help, uprightness and efforts with his caste, will not have the same fame and reliability outside his caste. But if one of his customers inquires about his reliability, he will know at once that the craftsman is reputed to be a man of honor.

Again, Honor is a social measure of an individual’s reliability and trustworthiness. The more honor a person is deemed to have, the more respect they have for codes, hierarchy, individuals, traditions and their word, and the more upright and honest they are. He will also be expected to be measured in his decisions, and to avoid listening to his anger, his outbursts or his whims. He may well be known for his outbursts of anger, but also for his ability to accept the consequences, contain himself, listen to others and admit his mistakes. Which gives you a good idea of how to interpret Honor, doesn’t it?

Of course, honorable deeds also include military victories, thoughtful and successful acts of war, or individual acts of courage and cunning, when they benefit one’s family or community. For, once again, strength and valour, while important, are never enough to be honourable! The individual must also respect his word, respect the community, and show wisdom. In short, honor is many things, and it’s not easy to be honorable all the time.

In this respect, losing face isn’t so bad. In some societies, people think they can’t stand a stain on their honor, but that’s not true. If they seem to have such an intense sense of honor that they may kill themselves over it, it’s because their culture generates a social pressure that doesn’t forgive mistakes. If these individuals commit suicide, it’s because their scorned honor doesn’t fall on their family. They don’t die to cleanse their honor, but so that their families don’t suffer the consequences.

Finally, don’t forget that honor remains relative, and is not an absolute. Sometimes you have to lose face, or lose honor, to stay alive, and regain it later. It’s possible to betray your lord, if it’s for the right cause, and you know you can redeem your honor with another lord.

And last but not least: honor is never the law of the strongest. It never works that way, and if you don’t understand that, you’ll quickly go from honorable to brute.