HIGH
CASTES make up the governing bodies of the city-states of Gor.
The Chamber
of the Council is the room in which the elected representatives
of the High Castes of Ko-ro-ba hold their meetings. Each city has
such a chamber. It was in the widest of cylinders, and the ceiling
was at least six times the height of the normal living level. The
ceiling was lit as if by stars, and the walls were of five colors,
applied laterally, beginning from the bottom--white, blue, yellow,
green, and red, caste colors. Benches of stone, on which the members
of the Council sat, rose in five monumental tiers about the walls,
one tier for each of the High Castes. These tiers shared the color
of that portion of the wall behind them, the caste colors.
The tier
nearest the floor, which denoted some preferential status, the white
tier, was occupied by Initiates, Interpreters of the Will of the
Priest-Kings. In order, the ascending tiers, blue, yellow, green,
and red, were occupied by representatives of the Scribes, Builders,
Physicians, and Warriors.
---Tarnsman of Gor
, 4:61-62
Initiates are said
to be the representatives of the Priest-Kings and responsible for
spiritual guidance. Their caste color is white.
The Initiates
claim to be the intermediaries between the Priest-Kings and men.
They have temples, rituals, ceremonies, etc. They are celibate,
eschew beans and study mathematics. They are much concerned with
asceticism and purity, at least officially. Their robes are long,
severe, and white. Their heads are shaved. They are suggested by
blending elements from the priesthood of Ancient Egypt with the
Pythagorean brotherhood. They are a powerful, but parasitical class,
rapacious and sanctimonious.
---John Norman, Letter to the Gorean Group, Sept 20th 2000
In the next
flash of lightning I saw the white robes of an Initiate, the shaven
head and the sad eyes of one of the Blessed Caste, servants it is
said of the Priest-Kings themselves. He stood with his arms in his
robe, tall on the road, watching me.
---Outlaw of Gor
, 5:40
It was common,
of course, for Initiates to claim to speak for the Priest-Kings;
indeed, it was presumably the calling of their caste to interpret
the will of the Priest-Kings to men.
---Outlaw of Gor, 5:41
...and the
men in that crowd were of all castes, and even of castes as low
as the Peasants, the Saddle Makers, the Weavers, the Goat Keepers,
the Poets and Merchants, but none of them groveled as did the Initiates;
how strange, I thought--the Initiates claimed to be most like Priest-Kings,
even to be formed in their image, and yet I knew that a Priest-King
would never grovel; it seemed the Initiates, in their efforts to
be like gods, behaved like slaves.
---Priest Kings of Gor
, 33:295
Scribes include scholars,
historians and clerks. Their caste color is blue.
The
Scribes wear blue, and handle most of the white-collar work, so
to speak, in the cities, keeping records, teaching, attending to
the law, and such.
---John Norman, Letter to the Gorean Group, Sept 20th 2000
...The
Scribes, of course, are the scholars and clerks of Gor, and there
are divisions and rankings within the group, from simple copiers
to the savants of the city.
---Tarnsman of Gor, 3:44
'Look,'
he cried in actual despair, waving his blue-robed arms hopelessly
at the messiest chamber I had seen on Gor. His desk, a vast wooden
table, was piled with papers and pots of ink, and pens and scissors
and leather fasteners and binders. There was no square foot of
the chamber that did not contain racks of scrolls, and others,
hundreds perhaps, were piled like cord wood here and there. His
sleeping mat was unrolled, and his blankets must not have been
aired for weeks. His personal belongings, which seemed to be negligible,
were stuffed into the meanest of the scroll racks.
---Tarnsman of Gor, 3:37
...--a
shrewd and kind spirit, a sense of humor, and a love of learning,
which can be one of the deepest and most honest of loves. It was
this love for his scrolls and for the men who had written them,
perhaps centuries before, that most impressed me about Torm. In
his way, he linked me, this moment, and himself with generations
of men who had pondered on the world and its meaning....
---Tarnsman of Gor, 3:38
...Many castes,
incidentally, have branches and divisions. Lawyers and Scholars,
for example, and Record Keepers, Teachers, Clerks, Historians and
Accountants are all Scribes.
---Assassin of Gor
, 15:208
Builders
include architects and all other building trades. Their
caste color is yellow.
The
Builders, who do the applied science in particular, are involved
in invention, aqueducts, architecture, roads, civil engineering,
and such, even the supervision of construction works.
---John Norman, Letter to the Gorean Group, Sept 20th 2000
Physicians and practitioners
of healing arts. Their caste color is green.
The
Physicians, who attend to all health needs, including what one would
think of as those addressed by dietitians, nurses, therapists, dentists,
and such, wear green.
---John Norman, Letter to the Gorean Group, Sept 20th 2000
...On the
first day the physician, a quiet man in the green garments of his
caste, examined me, thoroughly. The instruments he used, the tests
he performed, the samples he required were not unlike those of Earth.
Of special interest to me was the fact that this room, primitive
though it might be, was lit by what, in Gorean, is called an energy
bulb, an invention of the Builders. I could see neither cords nor
battery cases. Yet the room was filled with a soft, gentle white
light, which the physician could regulate by rotating the base of
the bulb. Further, certain pieces of his instrumentation were clearly
far from primitive. For example, there was a small machine with
gauges and dials. In this he would place slides, containing drops
of blood and urine, flecks of tissue, a strand of hair. With a stylus
he would note readings on the machine, and, on the small screen
at the top of the machine, I saw, vastly enlarged, what reminded
me of an image witnessed under a microscope....
---Captive of Gor
, 8:92-93
Warriors includes
all who apply themselves to the arts of battle--mercenaries, tarnsmen,
infantry and guards. Their caste color is red.
The
last of the five "high castes," for who would deny these fellows
such status, is the Warriors, whose color is red. They are trained
in weaponry and in hand-to-hand combat, and some for combat from
tharlarionback, tarnback, and such. Their tunics are short. The
usual Gorean helmet encloses much of the head, with a "Y" shaped
aperture for the eyes and front of the face, rather like certain
early Greek helmets, from which they may be derived. Their footwear
is generally a high bootlike sandal, designed for long marches,
and to protect the leg, perhaps from the slash of grass or brush,
the strike of leech plants, etc.
---John Norman, Letter to the Gorean Group, Sept 20th 2000
I opened
the leather bundle. In it I found the scarlet tunic, sandals and
cloak which constitute the normal garb of a member of the Caste
of Warriors. This was as it should be, as I was of that caste, and
had been since that morning, some seven years ago, when in the Chamber
of the Council of High Castes I had accepted weapons from the hands
of my father, Matthew Cabot, Administrator of Ko-ro-ba, and had
taken the Home Stone of that city as my own.
---Outlaw of Gor, 2:21-22
"You
have drawn a weapon against me," I said.
"You are of the warriors?" said the fellow. He wavered.
He, too, knew the codes.
"Yes," I said.
"And he?" asked the fellow.
"He, too," I said.
"You are not in the scarlet," he said.
"True," I said. Did he think that the color of a fellow's
garments was what made him a warrior? Surely he must realize that
one not of the warriors might affect the scarlet, and that one who
wore the grimed gray of a peasant, one barefoot, and armed only
with the great staff, might be of the scarlet caste. It is not the
uniform which makes the warrior, the soldier.
---Magicians of Gor
, 8:129
You may take note that Goreans,
from the lowest caste to the highest, used weapons of many types.
The use of such is never what determines caste, and to think that
it does is certainly a far cry from the strict code-led behavior
of the Gorean warrior.
Other
castes and sub-castes
Note that some mentioned
here are not truly castes but rather identified as a recognized
group with a particular trade. It is also important to note that
within each caste, a number of sub-castes may exist.
...Many castes,
incidentally, have branches and divisions. Lawyers and scholars,
for example, and Record Keepers, Teachers, Clerks, Historians and
Accountants are all Scribes.
---Assassin of Gor, 15:208
Assassins
(black) were recognized as having been hired and having accepted
gold, by the wearing of a mark, the drawing of a black dagger upon
their forehead.
The
caste of Assassins wears black. They, like the Warriors, commonly
wear short, loose tunics, freeing the limbs for attack, defense,
war, etc. They are like "dark warriors".
---John Norman, Letter to the Gorean Group, Sept 20th 2000
Bakers
wore robes of yellow and brown.
I stayed
for four days in the rooms above the shop of Dina of Turia, there
I dyed my hair black and exchanged the robes of the merchant for
the yellow and brown tunic of the Bakers; to which caste her father
and two brothers had belonged.
---Nomads of Gor
, 21:237
Cosmeticians
are mentioned in Assassin of Gor
---Assassin of Gor, 9:111
Charcoal
Makers
...I saw
a wide, hunched figure, bending under a gigantic bundle of sticks,
strapped to his back by two cords which he held twisted in his fists
in front of his body. His stature and burden proclaimed him a member
of the Caste of Carriers of Wood, or Woodsmen, that Gorean caste
which, with the Caste of Charcoal Makers, provides most of the common
fuel for the Gorean cities.
---Outlaw of Gor, 3:27
Cloth Workers
...The carders
and the dyers, incidentally, are subcastes separate from the weavers.
All are subcastes of the rug makers, which itself, interestingly,
perhaps surprisingly, is accounted generally as a subcaste of the
cloth workers. Rug makers themselves, however usually regard themselves
in their various subcastes, as being independent of the cloth workers.
A rug maker would not care to be confused with a maker of kaftans,
turbans or djellabas.
---Tribesmen of Gor
, 2:49-50
Bleachers (possibly
a subcaste of the Cloth Workers) are mentioned in
---Assassin of Gor, 9:111
Goat Keepers
are mentioned as a caste in
---Priest-Kings of Gor, 33:294-295
Leather Workers
are mentioned as a caste in
---Captive of Gor, 13:234
Magicians
are mentioned in
---Magicians of Gor, 17:259
Merchants
wear robes of gold and white.
For
example, women of the Merchants, like other women, might enjoy varying
their garments in color and style. Goreans are proud of their castes.
Whether the Merchants counts as a high caste or not is controversial,
Merchants for, many others against. Similarly, is the caste of Slavers
a subcaste of the Merchants or is it, rather, an independent caste,
with an uneasy relationship to that of the Merchants?
---John Norman, Letter to the Gorean Group, Sept 20th 2000
Down
the stairway slowly, in trailing white silk, bordered with gold,
the colors of the Merchants, there regally descended the girl who
was Aphris of Turia.
...Aphris
of Turia, then, was of the caste of merchants.
---Nomads of Gor, 9:91
...I wore
a white robe, woven of the wool of the Hurt, imported from distant
Ar, trimmed with golden cloth, from Tor, the colors of the Merchant....
---Hunters of Gor
, 1:7
Slavers wear robes
of blue and yellow. They also frequently shave their heads and are
considered a subcaste of the Merchants.
The Slavers,
incidentally, are of the Merchant caste, though, in virtue of their
merchandise and practices, their robes are different....
---Assassin of Gor, 15:208
Samos wore
the blue and yellow robes of the Slaver....
---Hunters of Gor, 1:7
Metal Workers
My opponent
was not Andreas, but a squat, powerful man with short-clipped yellow
hair, Kron of Tharna, of the Caste of Metal Workers....
---Outlaw of Gor, 13:113
Smiths
are a subcaste of the Metal Workers and mentioned in
---Assassin of Gor, 9:111
Musicians
...In most
cities it is regarded, incidentally, as a criminal offense to enslave
one of the caste of players. A similar decree, in most cities, stands
against the enslavement of one who is of the caste of musicians.
---Beasts of Gor
, 3:44
Peasants
Economically,
the base of the Gorean life was the free peasant, which was perhaps
the lowest but undoubtedly the most fundamental caste...
---Tarnsman of Gor, 3:43
...Even the
Caste of Peasants regarded itself as the "Ox on which the Home
Stone Rests" and could seldom be encouraged to leave their
narrow strips of land, which they and their fathers before them
had owned and made fruitful.
---Outlaw of Gor, 8:66
Rencers
or rence growers are exclusive to Delta of the Vosk, they are said
to be of higher caste than the Peasants and are mentioned throughout
---Raiders of Gor
Perfumers
My assistant,
a large fellow, but obviously stupid, smooth-shaven as are the perfumers,
in white and yellow silk, and golden sandals, bent over, hurried
forward. He carried a tray of vials.
---Marauders of Gor
, 8:111
Players
wear robes of red and yellow.
The Players
are not a Caste, nor a clan, but they tend to be a group apart,
living their own lives. They are made up of men from various castes
who often have little in common but the game, but that is more than
enough. They are men who commonly have an extraordinary aptitude
for the game but beyond this men who have become drunk on it, men
lost in the subtle, abstract liquors of variation, pattern and victory,
men who live for the game, who want it and need it as other men
might want gold, or others power and women, or others the rolled,
narcotic strings of toxic kanda.
---Assassin of Gor, 3:27
...In most
cities it is regarded, incidentally, as a criminal offense to enslave
one of the caste of players. A similar decree, in most cities, stands
against the enslavement of one who is of the caste of musicians.
---Beasts of Gor, 3:44
Poets and
Singers wear robes of aqua and red.
It could
have been worse, I thought. After all, though the Caste of Singers,
or Poets, was not a high caste, it had more prestige than, for example,
the Caste of Pot-Makers or Saddle-Makers, with which it was sometimes
compared....
---Outlaw of Gor, 12:103
Pot-Makers
(Potters)
Hup's rag
might once have been of the Caste of Potters....
---Assassin of Gor, 2:10
Saddle-Makers
are mentioned as a caste in
---Outlaw of Gor, 12:103
Sailors
(reference needed) wore robes of blue and gold.
Rope-Makers
and Sail-Makers are considered more of a union than a caste.
Mentioned in
---Raiders of Gor, 10:134
Sleen Trainers
wear brown and black and are mentioned in
---Beasts of Gor, 3:78
Tarn Keepers
are mentioned as caste in
---Tarnsman of Gor, 11:132
Thieves
are recognized as a caste only in Port Kar; they are identified
by a mark rather than by colors. Of course, anywhere in Gor
but Port Kar, thieves will not be flaunting their trade as it is
not a recognized one.
...On his
right cheek, over the cheekbone was the Thief brand of the Caste
of Thieves of Port Kar, who use the small brand to identify their
members....
---Assassin of Gor, 7:96
Vintners
wear white, decorated with green leaf patterns. They are mentioned
in
---Assassin of Gor, 3:29
Wood Carriers/Woodsmen
...I saw
a wide, hunched figure, bending under a gigantic bundle of sticks,
strapped to his back by two cords which he held twisted in his fists
in front of his body. His stature and burden proclaimed him as a
member of the Caste of Carriers of Wood, or Woodsmen, that Gorean
caste which, with the Caste of Charcoal Makers, provides most of
the common fuel for the Gorean cities.
The weight
the man was carrying was prodigious, and would have staggered men
of most castes, even that of the Warriors. The bundle reared itself
at least a man's height above his bent back, and extended perhaps
some four feet in width. I knew the support of that weight depended
partly on the skillful use of the cords and back, but sheer strength
was only too obviously necessary, and this man, and his caste brothers,
over the generations, had been shaped to their task....
---Outlaw of Gor, 3:27
...The whiskers
had been scraped from his face, probably by the blade of the broad,
double-headed wood ax bound on top of the bundle. He wore the short,
tattered sleeveless robe of his trade, with its leather back and
shoulders....
---Outlaw of Gor, 3:27
...The Gorean
woodsman, it might be mentioned, before he will strike a tree with
his axe, speaks to the tree, begs its forgiveness and explains the
use to which the wood will be put....
---Captive of Gor, 13:238