CLANS
There are as per John
Norman's writings, different uses of the term 'clan'. The first
is mentioned in Book 4, Nomads of Gor
, and pertains to a system
of trade/role within the social structure of the Wagon Peoples of
the Plains who, it is said, do not have castes.
...They do
not have castes, as Goreans tend to think of them. For example,
every male of the Wagon Peoples is expected to be a warrior, to
be able to ride, to be able to hunt, to care for the bosk, and so
on. When I speak of Year Keepers and Singers it must be understood
that these are not, for the Wagon Peoples, castes, but more like
roles, subsidiary to their main functions, which are those of the
war, herding and the hunt. They
do have, however, certain clans, not castes, which specialize in
certain matters, for example, the clan of healers, leather workers,
salt hunters, and so on. I have already mentioned the clan of torturers.
The members of these clans, however, like the Year Keepers and Singers,
are all expected, first and foremost, to be, as it is said, of the
wagons--namely to follow, tend and protect the bosk, to be superb
in the saddle, and to be skilled with the weapons of both the hunt
and war.
---Nomads of Gor, 6:12 (footnote)
Clans
of the Wagon People
Healers would be those
who tend wounds and any illnesses, though most Earth illnesses have
been eliminated from the planet.
Leather Workers would be those who specialize in making
saddles, tanning hides etc.
..."Come
along," he said. "There is a new kaiila I want to see
near the wagon of Yachi of the Leather Workers' Clan."
---Nomads of Gor, 13:170
Salt Hunters would
be those who hunt for salt.
Scarers are those
who do the tattooing of scars that are typical of those of the Plains.
"When
I have time," said Harold, "I will call one from the Clan
of Scarers and have the scar affixed. It will make me look
even more handsome."
---Nomads of Gor, 24:274
Singers are a specialty
area of the Wagon Peoples although not referred to as a clan.
...The
Wagon Peoples, as might be expected, have a large and complex
oral literature. This is kept by and occasionally, in parts,
recited by the Camp Singers....
---Nomads of Gor, 2:12 (footnote)
Torturers are a recognized
clan only in the Land of the Wagon Peoples; their colors are the
black and the red. Their trade, as the name indicates, is torture.
...The
Wagon Peoples, of all those on Gor that I know, are the
only ones that have a clan of torturers, trained as carefully
as scribes or physicians, in the arts of detaining life.
Some
of these men have achieved fortune and fame in various Gorean
cities, for their services to Initiates and Ubars, and others
with an interest in the arts of detection and persuasion.
For some reason they have all worn hoods. It is said they
remove the hood only when the sentence is death, so that
it is only condemned men who have seen whatever it is that
lies beneath the hood.
---Nomads of Gor, 2:9-10
Year Keepers are a
specialty area of the Wagon Peoples although not referred to as
a clan.
...The
years, incidentally, are not numbered by the Wagon Peoples,
but given names, toward their end, based on something or
other which has occurred to distinguish the year. The year
names are kept in living memory by the Year Keepers, some
of whom can recall the names of several thousand consecutive
years. The Wagon Peoples do not trust important matters,
such as year names, to paper or parchment, subject to theft,
insect and rodent damage, deterioration, etc....
---Nomads of Gor, 2:12 (footnote)
Later readings show us that
this use of the word clan is also used within the cultures of city/states,
in association with the caste system.
In this
cultural setting, we are told clans are:
...The clan
structures are kinship groups. They function, on the whole, given
mating practices, within the caste structure, but they are not identical
to it. For example, in a given clan there may be, though often are
not, individuals of different castes. Many Goreans think of the
clan as a kinship group within a caste. For most practical purposes
they are correct. At least it seldom does much harm to regard the
matter in this way. Clans, because of practical limitations on mobility,
are usually associated with a given city; the caste, on the other
hand, is transmunicipal or intermunicipal....
---Slave Girl of Gor
, 9:213
Picking the quote apart,
we find reference to clans as being mostly caste inclusive although
they do mention mating practices. We know that people within the
caste system will sometimes marry outside their caste and choose
to keep their own caste rather than become a member of their mate's.
This then, would mean that a clan COULD have the odd member whose
caste differs from others in that clan, BECAUSE of inter-caste companionships.
Admission to a clan then,
cannot be something that is done by nomination or appointment, it
is tied into caste one way or the other.
Furthermore, since these
clans are caste related and since castes are essentially city/state
culture related, this clan system would have little to no significance
outside the city/state system.
We have just established
that Norman clearly ties clan to caste and family and how this is
done. There is no other given explanation; there is no other type
of clan that forks from this given path. Families were tied into
castes of a given city in the previously explained fashion; it is
the ONLY Gorean determination of clan other than that of the Wagon
Peoples.
...the average
Gorean would no more think of altering his caste than the average
man of Earth would of altering his citizenship, from, say, American
to Russian, or French to Chinese....The
clan structures are kinship groups. They function, on the whole,
given mating practices, within the caste structure, but they are
not identical to it. For example, in a given clan there may be,
though often are not, individuals of different castes. Many Goreans
think of the clan as a kinship group within a caste. For
most practical purposes they are correct. At least it seldom does
much harm to regard the matter in this way. Clans,
because of practical limitations on mobility, are usually associated
with a given city; the caste, on the other hand, is transmunicipal
or intermunicipal.
---Slave Girl of Gor, 9:213
..When charity
is in order, as when a man cannot work or a woman is alone, usually
such is arranged through the caste organization, but sometimes through
the clan, which is not specifically caste oriented but depends on
ties of blood through the fifth degree. If one, of course, finds
oneself in effect without caste or clan, as was perhaps the case
with the small fool named Hup, and one cannot work, one's life is
likely to be miserable and not of great length.
---Assassin of Gor
, 2:11-12