THARNA
-- The Silver City of Tharna, first introduced in Outlaw
of Gor as ruled by total female domination, is the scene
of a revolt and reversal of order, led by Tarl Cabot and
one known as Kron of the metal workers. Although the Tatrix
remains ruler after the revolt period, the City of Tharna,
with a vengeance, essentially eliminates all free women
form its walls, enslaving and keeping slave, even their
own.
By the time we reach
the last of the published Gor novels, the Tatrix has stepped
down, it is said of her own will, and the City administration
is under the leadership of Kron himself.
There
were many things supposedly strange about Tharna, among
them that she was reportedly ruled by a queen, or Tatrix,
and, reasonably enough in the circumstances, that the position
of women in that city, in contrast with common Gorean custom,
was one of privilege and opportunity.
---Outlaw of Gor
, p 49
One
can usually recognize a man of Tharna by two yellow cords,
each about eighteen inches long, thrust over the belt. Such
cords are suitable for binding a female, hand and foot.
In seeing such cords the woman understands that it is possible
for them to be used to put her at a man's mercy. The meaning
of these cords has something to do, apparently, with the
history of the polis of Tharna. Interestingly there are
supposedly almost no free woman in Tharna. Further, it is
said that the slavery of a woman in Tharna seldom brings
slaves into the city or, indeed, sell them out of the city.
It is their own women, it seems, whom they keep in bondage,
and a bondage of a very severe sort. Even when a slave begs
to be sold out of the city, this is usually denied her.
One might almost think that the slavery of the women in
Tharna was not an ordinary slavery but in some sense rather
different. It is almost as though it had been imposed upon
them as a punishment; it is almost as if they had been sentenced
to it. Surprisingly, however, and scarcely to be expected
in such a stern polity, the city itself is ruled by a Tatrix.
Her name, it is said, is Lara. Also, paradoxically, Tharna's
first minister, who stands second only to the Tatrix, is
not of high caste but of lowly origin, only of the metal
workers. His name, it is said, is Kron. Such things, I think,
make Tharna an unusual city.
---Dancer of Gor
, p 385
In
that revolution the gynocracy in Tharna had been overthrown,
devastatingly. Even to this day women in Tharna are kept
almost uniformly as helpless, abject slaves, the men of
Tharna having an excellent memory for history. The youth
of Tharna is usually bred from women temporarily freed for
the purpose of their conception, then reenslaved. In Tharnan
law a person conceived by a free person on a free person
is considered to be a free person, even if they are later
carried and borne by a slave. In many other cities this
is different, the usual case being that the offspring of
a slave is a slave, and belongs to the mother's owner. The
education of Tharnan youth differs on a sexual basis. The
boys are raised to be men, and masters, and the girls to
be women, and slaves. The boys, as a portion of the Home
Stone ceremony, take an oath of mastery, in which they swear
never to surrender the dominance which is rightfully theirs
by nature. It is in this ceremony, also, that they receive
the two yellow cords commonly worn in the belt of a male
Tharnan. These cords, each about eighteen inches long, are
suitable for the binding of a female, hand and foot. In
the same ceremony the young women of Tharna are also brought
into the presence of the Home Stone. They, however, are
not permitted to kiss or touch it. Then, in its presence
they are stripped and collared. They are then, by the young
men, bound with the yellow cords, so that they will know
their feel. Afterwards, they are usually conducted home
by one of the young men, often he whose cord have bound
them, and who may be interested in their acquisition, on
his leash, usually to the home of their mother's owner,
usually their father, to whom, in virtue of such a ceremony,
they now legally count as slave, who will see to their disposition,
or sale. Even free women visiting Tharna from other Cities
must, at the gates, don temporary collars and slave tunics,
and be leashed. The ruler of Tharna, paradoxically, was
for several years a tatrix, Lara. To be sure, she herself
apparently had some understanding of what it was to be a
female slave. It seems it had once been taught to her. I
had heard, incidentally, a few months ago, in Port Cos,
from a Tharnan silver merchant, that Lara had abdicated.
Perhaps her abdication was in the best interest of the city.
I do not know. Doubtless it ended something of a political
tension in the city, and I take it that Tharna now, under
the governance of its administrator, Kron, has at last achieved
a commendable political consistency. As nearly as I could
determine from the reports of the silver merchant Lara's
abdication was not forced, nor even the result of extreme
political pressures brought on her, but a voluntary act,
one apparently regarded by her as being not only in the
best interest of the city but in her best interest as well.
He did not know what had become of her. I would suppose
that she is now merely another Tharnan woman, another slave.
It is my hope that she is happy.
---Vagabonds of Gor
, pp 267-268