He
wants a kill, I told myself. He is under the eyes of warriors of
the other peoples. It would be safest to throw low. It would be
a finer cast, however, to try for the throat or head. How vain is
he? How skillful is he?
He would be both skillful and vain; he was Tuchuk.
---Nomads of Gor
,
Among the more famous and
memorable personalities we meet in John Norman’s epic series
of Gor and its inhabitants stands the hard drinking, ribald, stern
countenance of Kamchak, he of the dreaded Tuchuks. The Tuchuks are
one of four tribes of nomadic peoples who inhabit and control the
territory of the Southern Plains of Gor, known to Turians and most
Goreans as the Plains of Turia. To the Wagon Peoples they are simply
known, and rightly so, as the Land of the Wagon Peoples.
The Paravaci, Kassar and Kataii join the Tuchuks in forming the
four tribes of Wagon Peoples. They share a rich and similar culture
that is often compared to the Mongols or the more mixed origins
that traveled into the Americas and later populated the South American
continent of Earth. Among the fiercest and proudest people of Gor,
they are as apt to kill strangers as speak to them. They grow no
food; most sustenance comes directly from the bosk, a mean tempered,
shaggy, hump-backed bovine-like creature, herded and raised for
nourishment, leather, milk and so many other things.
So fierce and strong are these legendary people that the Priest-King
Misk sends the precious last egg of his dying race to be hidden
among the Tuchuks, knowing no place on Gor will be safer than the
wagons. It is during Tarl Cabot’s journey to retrieve the
egg of Priest-Kings that we meet the redoubtable Ubar of the Tuchuks.
As Tarl Cabot approaches the wagons of the Tuchuks, unaware that
those he assumes to be outriders are in fact the Ubars of the four
tribes, gathered upon the plains for the taking of the Omens, he
is captured and held, his fate to be determined by chance.
As a result of the traditional game of spear gambling, Kamchak
is chosen to kill the stranger Tarl Cabot. The battle is short and
furious, ending with Kamchak at the mercy of the Koroban warrior.
Rather than kill Kamchak, for whom Cabot bears no grudge, the Tuchuk
is spared, and we catch then a glimpse of the honor and courage
of these mighty people as the ceremony of holding dirt and grass
takes place between the two warriors, bonding them together as if
brothers of the flesh.
With the bonding of Kamchak and Tarl we begin our discovery of
this enigmatic Tuchuk, from the fun loving, hard drinking to the
dark, sinister side, and all that can be found in between. His acceptance
of Tarl Cabot with the holding of dirt and grass is immediate and
we begin to learn through their interaction the ways of the Wagon
Peoples. As the Omen Year unfolds, we see his wisdom, laughter,
as well as his darkness.
Born to Kutaituchik, Ubar of the Tuchuks, Kamchak’s ferocious
features, highlighted by the epicanthic folds of his eyes, bespeak
the blood of the eastern cultures from which his Earth ancestors
were brought. The Ubar of the wily tribe is moderately tall with
a wiry build that belies a quiet strength and an agility honed to
razor sharp perfection from the rigid, demandingly physical life
lived upon the grasslands.
Kamchak’s most formidable attribute comes not from his well-muscled
body but from his intelligence and wisdom. His shrewdness in reading
people and situations makes him an even more menacing opponent.
We see this manifest itself throughout the story, from his questioning
of Elizabeth Cardwell before Kutaituchik to the confession of his
reasoning in making certain Tarl Cabot is indeed sent by the Priest-Kings
to claim the egg, and yet again in breaching the gates of Turia
with an almost diabolic determination to avenge the death of Kutaituchik.
His expert handling of the situation at the feast of Saphrar as
he maneuvers Aphris into standing at the stake in the games of Love
War shows his wily Tuchuk savvy.
We see stubbornness in his refusal to get a good night’s
sleep before the games of Love War, choosing instead to get drunk.
It is shown again in Kamchak’s refusal to truly turn away
from the gates of Turia once he determines to invade Turia and exact
a terrible revenge for the death of Kutaituchik. The determination
with which he seeks, at any cost, the blood of Saphrar affirms his
stubborn streak.
Let it burn," said Kamchak.
"It is yours,"
I said.
"I do not want Turia,"
he said.
"What is it you seek?"
I asked.
"Only the blood of Saphrar,"
said he.
"All this," I asked,
"is only to avenge Kutaituchik?"
"To avenge Kutaituchik,"
said Kamchak, "I would burn a thousand cities."
---Nomads of Gor, 22:254
We find wisdom evident in his advice to Harold to await Tarl Cabot’s
desire to go to Turia to search for the egg, as well as in his wager
that he can teach the Wagon Peoples the lesson of the Ubar San:
divided, the Wagon Peoples could be rent asunder, but united, no
force on Gor can stand before them. We find it too in his conviction
that the Kassar and Kataii understand that the alliance between
the Paravaci and Turia is a betrayal most heinous and in his understanding
that the Wagon Peoples need Turia, not only as an enemy, but as
the primary trading partner of the wagons.
"The Wagon Peoples need
Turia," said Kamchak, simply.
I was thunderstruck. Yet
it seemed to me true, for Turia was the main avenue of contact between
the Wagon Peoples and the other cities of Gor, the gate through
which trade goods flowed to the wilderness of grasses that was the
land of the riders of the kaiila and the herders of bosk. Without
Turia, to be sure, the Wagon Peoples would undoubtedly be the poorer.
"And," said Kamchak,
"the Wagon Peoples need an enemy."
"I do not understand,"
I said.
"Without an enemy,"
said Kamchak, "they will never stand together--and if they
fail to stand together, someday they will fall."
"Has this something
to do with the 'wager' you spoke of?" I asked.
"Perhaps," said
Kamchak.
---Nomads of Gor, 24:270
Intelligence manifests itself in knowing Tarl Cabot has come among
the Tuchuks seeking the egg of Priest-Kings. It is shown in his
understanding that the note contained within the message collar
brought by Elizabeth Cardwell could not have been written by Priest-Kings.
His slyness appears in his emphatic insistence that the golden
sphere so sought after by Saphrar of Turia is worthless and in the
choosing of swords as the weapon with which to face Kamras champion
of Turia at the games of Love War when all, including Tarl Cabot,
think Him insane. It is evident too, in his testing of Tarl Cabot
to make certain he is truly the one sent by Priest-Kings to seek
the egg.
We behold boldness at the banquet of Saphrar, when he spears the
arm of the feast steward who tries to beat a Tuchuk slave, lost
to Turia during the previous games of Love War, and in his collaring
of Aphris of Turia before the select group invited to dine with
Saphrar. We learn of boldness too in his account of infiltrating
the guard of Ar as a mercenary, for the purpose of learning the
defenses of Ar for his peoples.
Kamchak’s humor is seen in the many times he bests Tarl Cabot
in their wagering; in his delight in the banter between he and Aphris
at the banquet; in his obvious enjoyment of the defeat of the Kassar
in the contest of the bola and again, in his amusement when Albrecht,
Ubar of the Kassar, informs Tarl Cabot of the identity of Dina of
Turia and her record in the games of the bola. We also see his ability
to laugh at himself as Tarl and Harold remind him of the price he
paid to reclaim his Aphris from the Kassar.
We see his humanity following the death of Kutaituchik and his
anger as he turns his eyes upon Saphrar of Turia, the killer of
Kutaituchik. Yet again is his humanity demonstrated when he spares
Turia, perhaps a little because his own mother was Turian, and in
his gifting back to the Ubar of Turia the homestone of his City,
the loss of which could have easily destroyed the city.
Kamchak gestured to the riches
piled about him. "Whose is the wealth of Turia?" he asked.
"Kamchak of the Tuchuks',"
said they.
Kamchak thrust his fist affectionately
into the hair of Aphris of Turia and twisted her head to him.
"Whose are the women
of Turia?" he asked.
"-Master," said
Aphris.
"Kamchak of the Tuchuks',"
said the two men.
"Who," laughed
Kamchak, "is Ubar of Turia?"
"Kamchak of the Tuchuks,"
said the two.
"Bring the Home Stone
of the city," commanded Kamchak, and the stone, oval and aged,
carved with the initial letter of the city, was brought to him.
He lifted the stone over
his head and read fear in the eyes of the two men chained before
him.
But he did
not dash the stone to the floor. Rather he arose from his throne
and placed the stone in the chained hands of Phanius Turmus. "Turia
lives," said he, "Ubar."
---Nomads of Gor, 27:333
His love is readily apparent in the handling and possession of
Aphris of Turia and the gentle yet steady hand with which he first
claims her as his. His releasing of her once he has claimed Saphrar’s
life and his utter surprise when informs him that she has grown
fond of the smell of bosk show us the final piece of the puzzle
that is Kamchak, man, master, Ubar of the Tuchuks and Ubar San of
the wagon people; he who proclaims the once-enslaved beauty of Aphris
Turian Ubara Sana of the Wagon Peoples.
"The important thing,"
I said, "is that Aphris is back and safe." We rode on
for a while more. Then I asked, "By the way, as a matter of
fact, what did you pay for her?"
Kamchak's face was black
with rage. He looked at Harold, who smiled innocently and questioningly,
and then at me, who was only honestly curious. Kamchak's hands were
like white clubs knotted on the reins of the kaiila. "Ten thousand
bars of gold," he said.
I stopped the kaiila and
regarded him, astounded. Harold began to pound his saddle and howl
with laughter.
Kamchak's eyes, had they
been jets of fire, would have frizzled the young, blond Tuchuk in
his saddle.
"Well, well," I
said, a certain regrettable malicious elation perhaps unfortunately
detectable in my voice.
Now Kamchak's eyes would
have frizzled me as well.
Then a wry glint of amusement
sparkled in the Tuchuk's eyes and the furrowed face wrinkled into
a sheepish grin. "Yes," he said, "Tarl Cabot, I did
not know until then that I was a fool.”
---Nomads of Gor, 26:329
In Kamchak the reader will find one of the truest Goreans within
the pages of the saga of Gor, his personality displayed fully in
all its layers. We see within him all that is human, and all that
is Gorean. It is easy, in his love, compassion, hate, intelligence,
bravery and wisdom, for the reader to find pieces of himself and
of the kind of person we all might like to be. In this he stands
head and shoulders above most people we meet within the fabulous,
dangerous and strict world of Gor.
"If
you should ever need the Tuchuks, Tarl Cabot," said Kamchak,
"or the Kataii or the Kassars-or the Paravaci-you have only
to speak-and we will ride. We will ride to your side, be it even
to the cities of Earth."
---Nomads of Gor,