Gor

Position of the counter-earth in the solar system
Image rights: AnonMoos

Lagrange points
Image rights: Cmglee

Gor (engl. Gor), also the Counter-Earth^[wp] is an earth-like planet, which rotates in the same orbit as the earth itself, but shifted by 180 degrees around the sun. As a result of this orbit shift, Gor is permanently obscured by the sun from the earth's perspective and cannot be detected from the earth. Gor has three moons that can appear simultaneously in the night sky.

Gor is slightly smaller than the earth, gravity is slight for humans, but noticeably lower. Because of its lower weight, the planet would not have a stable orbit around the Sun on Earth's orbit, but would either approach the Sun or move around the Sun more slowly than Earth. The priest kings^[ext] must therefore constantly readjust the orbit of Gor by changing the force of gravity.

Ceremony and Rituals

The Waiting Hand

Quote:

«Another five-day period called the Waiting Hand, during which doorways are painted white, little food is eaten, little is drunk and there is to be no singing or public rejoicing in the city; during this time Goreans go out as little as possible; the Initiates, interestingly enough, do not make much out of the Waiting Hand in their ceremonies and preachments, which leads one to believe it is not intended to be of any sort of religious significance; it is perhaps, in its way, a period of mourning for the old year; Goreans, living much of their lives in the open, on the bridges and in the streets, are much closer to nature's year than most humans of Earth.» - Assassin of Gor, Book 5, Page 78

Quote:

«It had been a long, hard winter for me and I think I, as well as the common citizens of Ar, rejoiced in the coming of En'Kara. The girls had finished their training during the Twelfth Passage Hand. Little then remained for them except to review their lessons, eat and sleep well, and be in prime condition for their sale in the late summer, during the Fifth Passage Hand, on the Love Feast. On the first day of the Waiting Hand, the last five days of the old year, the portals of Ar, including even that of the House of Cernus, had been painted white, and in many of the low-caste homes had been sealed with pitch, not to be opened until the first day of En'Kara. Almost all doors, including that of the House of Cernus, had nailed to them some branches of the Brak Bush, the leaves of which, when chewed, have a purgative effect. It is thought that the pitch and the branches of the Brak Bush discourage the entry of bad luck into the houses of the citizens. During the days of the Waiting Hand the streets are almost deserted, and in the Houses there is much fasting, and little conversation, and no song. Rations even in the House of Cernus were halved during this period. Paga and Ka-la-na were not served. The slaves in the pens received almost nothing. Then, at dawn, on the first day of En'Kara, in the name of the city, the Administrator of Ar, or a Ubar if it be Ubar, greets the sun, welcoming it to Ar on the first day of the New Year. The great bars suspended about the walls of the city then ring out for more than an Ahn with their din, and the doors of the city burst open and the people crowd out onto the bridges, clad in the splendor of their finest, singing and laughing. The doors are painted green and the pitch washed away, and the branches of the Brak Bush burned in a small ceremony on the threshold. There are processions in the city that day, and songfests, and tournaments of the game, and recitations by poets, and contests and exhibitions. When the lanterns on the bridges must be lit the people return home, singing, carrying small lamps, and give the night over to feasting and love. Even the slaves in the iron pens in the House of Cernus received that day a small cake with oil and had their troughs filled with water mixed with Paga.» - Assassin of Gor, Book 5, Pages 211-212

Quote:

«The Waiting Hand, the five-day period preceding the vernal equinox, the first day of spring, is a very solemn time for most Goreans. During this time few ventures are embarked upon, and little or no business is conducted. During this time most Goreans remain within their houses. It is in this time that the doors of many homes are sealed with pitch and have nailed to them branches of the brak bush, the leaves of which have a purgative effect. These precautions, and others like them, are intended to discourage the entry of ill luck into the houses. In the houses there is little conversation and no song. It is a time, in general, of mourning, meditation and fasting. All this changes, of course, with the arrival of the vernal equinox, which, in most Gorean cities, marks the New Year. At dawn on the day of the vernal equinox a ceremonial greeting of the sun takes place, conducted usually by the Ubar or administrator of the city. This, in effect, welcomes the New Year to the city. In Port Kar this honor fell to Samos, first captain in the Council of Captains, and the council's executive officers. The completion of this greeting is signified by, and celebrated by, a ringing of the great bars suspended about the city. The people then, rejoicing, issue forth from their houses. The brak bushes are burned on the threshold and the pitch is washed away. There are processions and various events, such as contests and games. It is a time of festival. The day is one of celebration. These festivities, of course, are in marked contrast to the solemnities and abstinences of the Waiting Hand. The Waiting Hand is a time, in general, of misery, silence and fasting. It is also, for many Goreans, particularly those of the lower castes, a time of uneasiness, a time of trepidation and apprehension. Who knows what things, visible or invisible, might be abroad during that terrible time?» - Players of Gor Book 20 Page 10

Quote:

«"Are you disturbed by the proximity of the Waiting Hand?" I asked. This is a frightening and difficult time for many Goreans.» - Players of Gor, Book 20, Page 34

Capture Ceremony

Quote:

«Something of the nature of the institution of capture, and the Gorean's attitude toward it becomes clear when it is understood that one of a young tarnsman's first missions is often the capture of a slave for his personal quarters. When he brings home his captive, bound naked across the saddle of his tarn, he gives her over, rejoicing, to his sisters, to be bathed, perfumed and clothed in the brief slave livery of Gor. That night, at a great feast, he displays the captive, now suitably attired by his sisters in the diaphanous, scarlet dancing silks of Gor. Bells have been strapped to her ankles, and she is bound in slave bracelets. Proudly, he presents her to his parents, his friends and warrior comrades. Then, to the festive music of flutes and drums, the girl kneels. The young man approaches her, bearing a slave collar, its engraving proclaiming his name and city. The music grows more intense, mounting to an overpowering, barbaric crescendo, which stops suddenly, abruptly. The room is silent, absolutely silent, except for the decisive click of the collar lock. It is a sound the girl will never forget. As soon as the lock closes, there is a great shout, congratulating, saluting the young man. He returns to his place among the tables that line the low-ceilinged chamber, hung with glowing brass lamps. He sits in the midst of his family, his closest well-wishers, his sword comrades, cross-legged on the floor in the Gorean fashion behind the long, low wooden table, laden with food, which stands at the head of the room. Now all eyes are on the girl. The restraining slave bracelets are removed. She rises. Her feet are bare on the thick, ornately wrought rug that carpets the chamber. There is a slight sound from the bells strapped to her ankles. She is angry, defiant. Though she is clad only in the almost transparent scarlet dancing silks of Gor, her back is straight, her head held high. She is determined not to be tamed, not to submit, and her proud carriage bespeaks this fact. The spectators seem amused. She glares at them. Angrily she looks from face to face. There is no one she knows, or could know, because she has been taken from a hostile city, she is a woman of the enemy. Fists clenched, she stands in the center of the room, alone, all eyes upon her, beautiful in the light of the hanging lamps. She faces the young man, wearing his collar. "You will never tame me!" she cries. Her outburst provokes laughter, skeptical observations, some good-natured hooting. "I will tame you at my pleasure," replies the young man, and signals to the musicians. The music begins again. Perhaps the girl hesitates. There is a slave whip on the wall. Then, to the barbaric, intoxicating music of the flute and drums, she dances for her captor, the bells on her ankles marking each of her movements, the movements of a girl stolen from her home, who must now live to please the bold stranger whose binding fiber she had felt, whose collar she wore. At the end of her dance, she is given a cup of wine, but she may not drink. She approaches the young man and kneels before him, her knees in the dictated position of the Pleasure Slave, and, head down, she proffers the wine to him. He drinks. There is another general shout of commendation and well wishing, and the feast begins, for none before the young man may touch food on such occasions. From that moment on, the young man's sisters never again serve him, for that is the girl's task. She is his slave. As she serves him again and again throughout the long feast, she steals glances at him, and sees that he is even more handsome than she had thought. Of his courage and strength she has already had ample evidence. As he eats and drinks with gusto on this occasion of his triumph, she regards him furtively, with a strange mixture of fear and pleasure. "Only such a man," she tells herself, "could tame me."» - Outlaw of Gor, Book 2, Pages 51-53

Quote:

«I supposed it quite probable that Claudia Hinrabius had been abducted, though it would not be the only possible explanation for her absence. The institution of capture is universal, to the best of my knowledge, on Gor; there is no city which does not honor it, provided the females captured are those of the enemy, either their free women or their slaves; it is often a young tarnsman's first mission, the securing of a female, preferably free, from an enemy city, to enslave, that his sisters may be relieved of the burden of serving him; indeed, his sisters often encourage him to be prompt in the capture of an enemy wench that their own tasks may be made the lighter; when the young tarnsman, if successful, returns home from his capture flight, a girl bound naked across the saddle, his sisters welcome her with delight, and with great enthusiasm prepare her for the Feast of Collaring.» - Assassin of Gor, Book 5, Page 159

Quote:

«It is a favorite sport of tarnsmen to streak their tarn over an enemy city and, in such a fashion, capture an enemy girl from one of the city's high bridges, carrying her off, while the citizens of the city scream in fury, shaking their fists at the bold one. In moments her garments flutter down among the towers and she is his, bound on her back across the saddle before him, his prize. If he is a young tarnsman, and she is his first girl, he will take her back to his own city, and display her for his family and friends, and she will dance for him, and serve him, at the Collaring Feast. If he is a brutal tarnsman, he may take her rudely, should he wish, above the clouds, above her own city, before even his tarn has left its walls. If he should be even more brutal, but more subtly so, more to be feared by a woman, he will, in the long flight back to his city, caress her into submission, until she has no choice but to yield herself to him, wholly, as a surrendered slave girl. When he then unbinds her from the saddle rings, she, so devastatingly subdued, well knows herself his.» - Captive of Gor, Book 7, Page 228

Collaring Ceremony

Quote:

«This was the day of my collaring. I was not permitted cosmetics. Kneeling within, slave girls preparing me, I looked through the tied-back opening of the tent of the women. Outside, I could see men, and girls, passing back and forth. The day was sunny and warm. There were soft breezes. Today Elinor Brinton would be collared. I had been coached in the simple collaring ceremony of Treve. Ena, the high girl, who wore the garment of white, had not been much pleased that I did not have a caste, and could not claim a familiar city as my place of origin. "But it cannot be helped," she said. Accordingly, it had been decided that I should identify myself by my actual city, and by my barbarian title and name. In the ceremony then I should refer to myself as Miss Elinor Brinton of New York City. I smiled to myself. I wondered how often, on this rude world, I would have the opportunity to so refer to myself. The proud Miss Elinor Brinton, of New York City, seemed so far away from me. And yet I knew she was not. I was she. Miss Elinor Brinton, incredibly, incomprehensibly, found herself kneeling in a barbarian tent, on a distant world, myself, being prepared for her collaring. The fact that New York City was of Earth, and that Treve was of Gor, would not even enter into the ceremony. Scarcely anything would enter into the ceremony save that I was female, and he was male, and that I would wear his collar.» - Captive of Gor, Book 7, Pages 269-270

Quote:

«"Assume the posture of female submission," I told her. She did so, kneeling back on her heels, her arms extended, wrists crossed, her head between them, down. She was weeping. "Repeat after me," I told her, "'I, once Miss Elizabeth Cardwell, of the planet Earth-'" "I, once Miss Elizabeth Cardwell of the planet Earth-" she said. "'-herewith submit myself, completely and totally, in all things-'" "-herewith submit myself, completely and totally, in all things-"she said. "'-to he who is now known here as Hakim of Tor-'" "-to he who is now known here as Hakim of Tor-"she said. "'-his girl, his slave, an article of his property, his to do with as he pleases-'" "-his girl, his slave, an article of his property, his to do with as he pleases," she said. Hassan handed me the collar. It was inscribed 'I am the property of Hakim of Tor'. I showed it to the girl. She could not read Taharic script. I read it to her. I put it about her neck. I snapped it shut. "'I am yours, Master,'" I said to the girl. She looked up at me, tears in her eyes, her neck in my locked collar. "I am yours. Master," she said.» - Tribesmen of Gor, Book 10, Page 359

La Kajira Ceremony

Quote:

«I recalled how she had kissed the whip frightened, to be sure, but, too, seemingly gratefully. She had placed her soft lips upon if gently, truly, fully, and had kissed it tenderly, deferently. In short, she had kissed it well. She had then completed the small ceremony, as instructed, saying "La kajira."» - Smugglers of Gor, Book 32, Page 6

Quote:

«A bit later, a small ceremony, or what I took to be a small ceremony, was enacted. A coiled whip was placed to my lips. I was told to kiss the whip and say, 'La kajira', with which instructions I readily complied.» - Smugglers of Gor, Book 32, Page 28

Submission Ceremony

Quote:

«"I know what you are waiting for," said the daughter of the Ubar, strangely calm after her earlier fury unnaturally calm, it seemed to me. I didn't understand her. What was it she thought I was waiting for? Then, to my astonishment, the daughter of the Ubar Marlenus, daughter of the Ubar of Ar, knelt before me, a simple warrior of Ko-ro-ba, and lowered her head, lifting and extending her arms, the wrists crossed. It was the same simple ceremony that Sana had performed before me in the chamber of my father, back at Ko-ro-ba the submission of the captive female. Without raising her eyes from the distinct voice "I submit myself." Later I wished that I had had binding fiber to lash her so innocently proffered wrists. I was speechless for a moment, but then, remembering that harsh Gorean custom required me either to accept the submission or slay the captive, I took her wrists in my hands and said, "I accept your submission."» - Tarnsman of Gor, Book 1, Pages 93-94

Quote:

«Then he removed his hands from her shoulders and, as the crowd cried out, she sank in abject misery at his feet and performed the ceremony of submission, kneeling, lowering the head and lifting and extending the arms, wrists crossed.» - Nomads of Gor, Book 4, Page 160

Quote:

«"Are you familiar with any of the rituals of enslavement?" I asked. "I, Sidney Anderson, of Earth," she said, "submit myself to Tarl Cabot, of Gor, as a slave, completely, his to do with as he pleases."» - Beasts of Gor, Book 12, Page 184

Quotes

Quote:

«"Masculinity and femininity are complementary properties," I told her. "If a man wishes a woman to be more feminine, he must be more masculine. If a woman wishes a man to be more masculine, she must be more feminine."»

Chronicles of Counter-Earth

#	Title	Year	Edition	ISBN	Indexed
1.	Tarnsman of Gor[ext]	1966	Ballantine Books	0-345-27583-7
2.	Outlaw of Gor[ext]	1967	Ballantine Books	0-345-27136-X
3.	Priest-Kings of Gor[ext]	1968	Ballantine Books	0-7592-0036-X
4.	Nomads of Gor[ext]	1969	Ballantine Books	0-7592-5445-1
5.	Assassin of Gor[ext]	1970	Ballantine Books	0-7592-0091-2
6.	Raiders of Gor[ext]	1971	Ballantine Books	0-7592-0153-6
7.	Captive of Gor[ext]	1972	DAW Books, Elinor Brinton	0-7592-0105-6
8.	Hunters of Gor[ext]	1974	DAW Books	0-7592-0130-7
9.	Marauders of Gor[ext]	1975	DAW Books	0-7592-0141-2
10.	Tribesmen of Gor[ext]	1976	DAW Books	0-7592-5446-X
11.	Slave Girl of Gor[ext]	1977	DAW Books, Judy Thornton	0-7592-0454-3
12.	Beasts of Gor[ext]	1978	DAW Books	0-7592-1125-6
13.	Explorers of Gor[ext]	1979	DAW Books	0-7592-1167-1
14.	Fighting Slave of Gor[ext]	1980	DAW Books, Jason Marshall	0-7592-1173-6
15.	Rogue of Gor[ext]	1981	DAW Books, Jason Marshall	0-7592-1179-5
16.	Guardsman of Gor[ext]	1981	DAW Books, Jason Marshall	0-7592-1368-2
17.	Savages of Gor[ext]	1982	DAW Books	0-7592-1374-7
18.	Blood Brothers of Gor[ext]	1982	DAW Books	0-7592-1380-1
19.	Kajira of Gor[ext]	1983	DAW Books, Tiffany Collins	0-7592-1926-5
20.	Players of Gor[ext]	1984	DAW Books	0-7592-1932-X
21.	Mercenaries of Gor[ext]	1985	DAW Books	0-7592-1944-3
22.	Dancer of Gor[ext]	1985	DAW Books, Doreen Williamson	0-7592-1950-8
23.	Renegades of Gor[ext]	1986	DAW Books	0-7592-1956-7
24.	Vagabonds of Gor[ext]	1987	DAW Books	0-7592-1980-X
25.	Magicians of Gor[ext]	1988	DAW Books	0-7592-1986-9
26.	Witness of Gor[ext]	2001	E-Reads, Janice	0-7592-4235-6
27.	Prize of Gor[ext]	2008	E-Reads, Ellen	0-7592-4580-0
28.	Kur of Gor[ext]	2009	E-Reads, The Kur	0-7592-9782-7
29.	Swordsmen of Gor[ext]	2010	E-Reads	1-6175-6040-5
30.	Mariners of Gor[ext]	2011	E-Reads, The Mariner	0-7592-9989-7
31.	Conspirators of Gor[ext]	2012	E-Reads, Allison Ashton-Baker	1-6175-6731-0
32.	Smugglers of Gor[ext]	2012	E-Reads, Margaret Alyssa Cameron, The Scribe and The Merchant	1-6175-6865-1
33.	Rebels of Gor[ext]	2013	E-Reads	1-6175-6123-1
34.	Plunder of Gor	2016	E-Reads	1-5040-3406-6

Picture credits

• Gor Orbit Diagramm von Wikimedia Commons; Ersteller: AnonMoos; Lizenz: gemeinfrei
• Lagrange-Punkte von Wikimedia Commons; Ersteller: Cmglee; Lizenz: gemeinfrei

External links

• The Gorean Cave: Festivals, Ceremony and Rituals
• Silk Caravanserai - Fashion