Now that the stage is quickly set, let’s quickly summarize the three main social roles. Gor’s world is a man’s world. Dominant tendencies, violent impulses, sexual authority, virility and machismo are encouraged, right from childhood. The men of Gor are brought up to see their masculine impulses as qualities, not weaknesses, starting with their power and sexual needs. And that women are born and exist to satisfy their desires for domination and their sexual needs, and that they are never happier than when they do so, i.e. when they are enslaved and offered up to their whims.

That said, these men are also trained to know how to control themselves, both in the use of force and in the indulgence of their impulses. Goreans consider women to be at their service, under their domination, more fragile, weaker, but not inferior or contemptible. While a slave is undoubtedly so, a free woman is not. She is dominated by men, the law is most often on their side, not hers, but this woman is a mother, a daughter, a sister, a member of the community and the city, and she is honored and respected as an important member of that community, as much for her skills and, of course, her ability to bear children.

Goreans are educated to regard Earthlings as weak beings, destined for enslavement. Planet Earth is even nicknamed the planet of slaves. Of course, this is not true, and many Earthlings earn their freedom on Gor after being taken there. What’s more, with a notorious difference in gravity, earthlings on Gor are physically more powerful than goreans. Something Norman admits for his hero, Tarl Cabot, but blithely forgets for the enslaved Terran women in his novels.

But Earth is a world of weak slaves, or so the Goreans believe, and they are conditioned and educated to have contempt for Earth. Norman offers philosophical justifications for this, which he repeatedly puts forward, and we won’t go into them here. Just keep in mind this reality: to be an Earthling on Gor, especially if you’re a woman, is to be considered a natural slave, and rather despised.

1- The gorean man

The Gorean man can be described in two ways:

• The man who places Honor and Courage as his primary values, and believes that women must be protected because they are weak and dominated by man’s nature. Most Goreans consider their word to be sacred, and therefore giving it is an act of total commitment. They also consider their honor to be more valuable than their lives, and are therefore willing to die for it (though not necessarily needlessly). This is the most common norm.
• The man who places his pride in his Strength and Power, and considers women inferior and at his service. Barbarian or civilized, many Goreans remain convinced that women are born to serve them, and live under their yoke. In a Gorean family, the head of the household has the right of life and death over everyone, and may well enslave even his own daughter. Women are under the yoke of their partners, fathers, brothers and other men in the household, and are obliged to obey them. This kind of man is less common, but not uncommon.

In any case, a Gorean man is generally neither a sadist nor a pervert. Rape, torture, humiliation and mutilation are rare behaviors that are not supposed to exist on Gor, as they are eliminated, despised and mercilessly repressed. A Gorean encountering this kind of individual would surely be shocked and would even tend to kill him. The tendency to eliminate such deviations brutally and the intervention of the Priest-Kings and the Caste of Initiates make them rare. Truly cruel and sadistic sexual perversions are not widespread, even if certain scenes in the novels prove that such “depravities” do exist. And we mustn’t forget that what would shock us is perfectly acceptable to a Gorean, especially when it comes to slaves, with whom we can do almost anything.

A Gorean never strikes a free woman or a slave unless it’s for a very good reason: an obvious fault, under the constraint of codes or customs, out of necessity. He never considers violence or cruelty as an end, but as a means, which a wise man should know how to avoid.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t see the men of Gor as violent and sometimes even cruel brutes. Power – physical, moral and intellectual – is respected, demanded and emphasized. A weak man will lose everything because he will be robbed without mercy. Goreans are cruel because they consider individual responsibility above all else. This implies that man is responsible for his actions and their consequences, and must answer to his own kind. There will be no excuses, no extenuating circumstances, and no compassion for his misfortune. In other words, those who believe they can obtain everything by force, without taking care to respect their word, their deeds, the hierarchy, codes and laws, will end up very badly off.

2- The gorean woman

The Gorean woman can also be described in two ways:

• The submissive, respectful woman, who can nonetheless have her own outspoken character and freedom. She follows the Laws, but has a certain autonomy, and keeps her place by her own Honor. It’s often the women of the lower castles, but also the free women of Torvaldsland, who present this profile. Courageous, hard-working and self-reliant, they are an indispensable arm in the daily grind, and provide their men with offspring. These women are honored and respected, and it’s not uncommon for them to have virtually the same rights as men.
• Proud and noble, but trapped in the straitjacket of her role as a companion offered to a man, by alliance and political and financial interests. Often isolated from the world, she can be harsh with slaves, firstly to show her rank, but also out of envy and jealousy, as such a woman can generally show nothing of her femininity and feelings. She is condemned to remain in the shadow of men, without ever being able to really participate in the life of the city, or speak her mind frankly.

The education of Gor’s wife, and the higher her caste, the more this education is present, implies (in addition to the household arts, and the knowledge of her caste) the simplest rules, and postures, codes, and principles of slaves, because it’s always possible that she’ll have to end up captive, or punished, and it’s better that she can survive it.

Free women sometimes tend to hate the kajira… and also to envy it. Low-caste women are less harsh and more accommodating with slaves, and rarely own or associate with one. Since a slave is always a pair of hands for the job, she is all the more valuable the less well-off her owners are, even if this is only a general rule.

One important thing: free women in Gore expect consideration and respect from men. They are the masters, they dominate and they decide. But in the law and political organization of cities and castes, powerful women of high rank are not uncommon, and their words and decisions are respected as if they came from men. As I said above, free women are important and valuable, and are therefore respected. So, no, no man treats them as inferior, or despises them… unless he wants to incur the wrath of other men, or the Law!

3- The Gorean slave-girl

There are two main “concepts” of slave-girls, which Goreans call “Kajira“:

• The Gorean Kajira: ex-Free, or possibly “Panther” or wild, she is a descendant of the Goreans, accustomed to the concepts of this world. She may also have been born on a slave farm and never known anything but this life, which she cannot question. The very nature of humans on Gor makes women easily submissive and docile, as this trait is in the blood of all Gorean women, and they have been born and raised with the full weight of this upbringing, generation after generation. Although she may have her own character, a Gorean slave knows how her world works, is naturally prepared for it, and ultimately learns to accept her situation.
• The Barbarian Kajira: technically rare, the Barbarian or Born-Slave (another nickname) is a woman taken from Earth on a Journey to Acquire, then sold back naked, with or without the ability to speak Gorean (usually not, but for the sake of convenience, many SL players prefer to decide that she may have learned when she was abducted). She will often have been much harder to enslave, but shows more passion, sensuality and sensitive emotions than the Gorean slave, as Earth has a culture that encourages unrestrained expression of emotions, sensuality and love far more than on Gor.

In all cases, the kajira who has been trained has undergone a powerful and merciless ordeal designed to break her will and desire for rebellion and freedom. She submits to men, and wants to please them, if only to improve her lot. She knows that it’s through men that she’ll be treated well, and one of her only pleasures is sexual pleasure, but also attention and affection. So she’ll always be docile, and pleasant, to get them.

A kajira knows that she is a possession, and that misbehaving, provoking, threatening or even hitting a Free person exposes her to immediate punishment (physical correction, cage, even mutilation or death). Every slave knows this if she has been trained. And will do her best not to risk her life. No Kajira will tell a Free person that he or she is her friend, even if this is the case. Confession can threaten both the Kajira and the Libre. For Goreans, a slave – even if she was once a Free Woman they knew – is an animal, treated and considered as such. A Gorean can’t create an emotional bond with a kajira that could be compared to the bonds between free people. Friendship is therefore excluded. Even if this were the case, the word will never be used. This is also why a Gorean owes a slave nothing, and will never teach her professional skills or a trade, in theory.

Consequently, the love affair that sometimes arises between a master and a slave can, and will, never be admitted publicly, and the term will never be used by the master about his slave. He will be much tougher and more demanding with a slave who loves and is loved by him, to curb any weakness that might prejudice him in front of his peers.

Legally, on Gor, a slave has NO rights. Not even to have her own name. She can be traded, sold, beaten, mutilated, killed, given away or abandoned, without her owner having to justify his actions in the slightest. However, as Goreans dislike cruelty, violence and gratuitous sadism, a man who tortures and destroys his slave may suffer consequences and even lose respect and honor. But legally, he is free to do as he pleases with his property.

And if a man beats, injures, kills or otherwise abuses a slave who doesn’t belong to him, the only legal risk he runs is the obligation to pay compensation. Any other risk will be the wrath of the aggrieved owner.

4- Men’s rights and duties :

• A man is Master of his domain, and on Gor it is said that “a man is Ubar in the circle of his sword”. Patriarchal law is respected, where the man decides and reigns over his property, his spouse, his children and his servants.
• All men respect castes, and above all their own. Every Gorean, even a peasant, believes that his caste and the laws of his caste are the best.
• All Gorean men respect Honor and Courage above all else, and will follow a man with these qualities before following a man of high caste or lineage. Honor is a notion of respect for social rank, the value of others, given word, codes, traditions and laws. To have Honor based solely on getting angry when you feel insulted or don’t get what you think you deserve is pride.
• A man’s word is supposed to be sacred. We therefore avoid questioning it lightly, and we avoid giving it lightly, because the consequences can be socially serious.
• An Ubar is a warlord, a dictator with all the power in the world. In peacetime, however, a Council rules, with or without an administrator at its head, and makes decisions. The Council is elected from among the High Caste, and more rarely from the Low Caste.
• The order of precedence of the high-castes is: initiate, scribe, builder, physician and warrior. Warriors are therefore the lowest of the High Castes and are expected to show respect to all the others.
• A man without a hearthstone is nothing, and can be killed by anyone. As a reminder, in Gorean, “stranger” and “enemy” are synonymous words.
• A Gorean respects the laws of hospitality as sacred. Both the one who receives and the one who is received owe respect and deference to the other. And generosity and other displays of affluence include (but are not necessarily limited to) household kajirae.
• Dueling is a frequent custom in the event of dispute or conflict. A non-warrior can choose (or pay) a champion for a duel. A duel must take place in front of willing witnesses to be valid, in general.
• Among all the castes, a low-caste can appeal to a particular type of law: the Law of Merchants: the Law of Merchants is invoked for an exchange and negotiation, and the Law of Merchants means that as long as the negotiation is taking place, the place and its stakeholders are protected and considered sacred: you don’t fight or threaten during a trade.

 5- Women’s rights and duties :

• A woman is under the authority of her father, brothers, sons, or any male guardian in her family, as long as she is not in Companionship. Once bound by a Companionship contract, she is under the authority of her Companion. A woman without guardianship is rare, and unprotected.
• A woman is free to speak her mind, she has the right to speak if and when she wishes, and to give her opinion, including getting angry. A woman can even slap a man of her Home Stone. But everything depends on the circumstances, and she is subject to the law, and to the rules of respect and politeness. She may have to answer for her gesture, if it was ill-advised.
• A woman has the right to expect protection from a man of her Home Stone. Not to protect a woman from her Hearthstone is dishonorable. But a woman who begs a man can justify getting a collar for doing so.
• Women don’t usually carry weapons. And while she may have a dagger, it’s best not to let it show.
• A woman who behaves passionately, or overly sensitively, who shows too much emotional or sexual interest in a man, or who is caught sleeping with a kajiru that doesn’t belong to her, can be accused of behaving like a kajira, and enslaved (in the case of sleeping with a kajiru that doesn’t belong to her, she will be enslaved by the owner of the kajiru).
• A man cannot enslave a woman from his Hearthstone on his own initiative, except in the case of flagrant and indisputable facts before witnesses, without having to answer to the laws and Council of his Hearthstone.
• Companionship is not a marriage, but a contract between two parties, renewable every year and validated by a scribe. This contract is discussed between the parents/heads of family of the two companions – true above all for the wife – and has, especially in the high castes, nothing to do with love.

6- Slave-girl’s rights and duties :

• Slaves have only one recognized right: they can receive the longevity serum that guarantees them theoretical immortality. In reality, this right is totally subject to their owner’s goodwill. Longevity serum is not widely available, and is relatively expensive. But, in theory, it cannot be denied to a slave, if his master wishes him to benefit from it.
• Slaves also benefit from another, rather strange right: an enslaved person has no past. It is considered to have been erased. This means they can’t be blamed for past crimes.
• Finally, a last right, even if it depends on the owner: slaves are allowed and encouraged to a certain extent, to educate and learn. They are forbidden to read certain books, but if they know how to read, they have every right to go to a library and learn. An intelligent, cultured slave increases his value, and therefore his price!
• Almost all slaves are branded. This distinctive sign marks them as slaves, and unmarked slaves cannot be sold.
• All slaves, or almost all, wear a collar closed by a lock, or sealed, often with a ring. The collar is often engraved with the owner’s name.
• A slave is an animal, no longer a human, and is treated like a domestic animal, a kind of livestock: to run away, to own anything, to have any privacy, to claim any right or privilege, to call a free person in front of him by name, to be obnoxious or insulting, to assault a free person, even to defend himself, to refuse an order, to lie, to sit on a chair or cushion, to lie in a bed, to eat with cutlery, to raise his children, to keep family ties, to be too curious.