|
 Caste of RencersHere are relevant references from the Books where the Caste of Rencers is mentioned. While not specifically titled a Caste, this group is mentioned along with others that are. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban Then, from within the collar, he drew forth a thin, folded piece of paper, rence paper made from the fibers of the rence plant, a tall, long-stalked leafy plant which grows predominantly in the delta of the Vosk. I suppose, in itself, this meant nothing, but I naturally thought of Port Kar, malignant, squalid Port Kar, which claims suzerainty over the delta, exacting cruel tributes from the rence growers, great stocks of rence paper for trade, sons for oarsmen in cargo galleys, daughters for Pleasure Slaves in the taverns of the city. Nomads of Gor Book 4 Page 49 I heard a bird some forty or fifty yards to my right; it sounded like a marsh gant, a small, horned, web-footed aquatic fowl, broad-billed and broad-winged. Marsh girls, the daughters of rence growers, sometimes hunt them with throwing sticks. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 4 I was not particularly surprised at finding a bit of rep-cloth tied on the rence plant, for the delta is inhabited. Man has not surrendered it entirely to the tharlarion, the Ul and the salt leach. There are scattered, almost invisible, furtive communities of rence growers who eke out their livelihood in the delta, nominally under the suzerainty of Port Kar. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 6 A kind of paper is made from rence. The plant itself has a long, thick root, about four inches thick, which lies horizontally under the surface of the water; small roots sink downward into the mud from this main root, and several "stems," as many as a dozen, rise from it, often of a length of fifteen to sixteen feet from the root; it has an excrescent, usually single floral spike. The plant has many uses besides serving as a raw product in the manufacture of rence paper. The root, which is woody and heavy, is used for certain wooden tools and utensils, which can be carved from it; also, when dried, it makes a good fuel; from the stem the rence growers can make reed boats, sails, mats, cords and a kind of fibrous cloth; further, its pith is edible, and for the rence growers is, with fish, a staple in their diet; the pith is edible both raw and cooked; some men, lost in the delta, not knowing the pith edible, have died of starvation in the midst of what was, had they known it, an almost endless abundance of food. The pith is also used, upon occasion, as a caulking for boat seams, but tow and pitch, covered with tar or grease, are generally used. Rence paper is made by slicing the stem into thin, narrow strips; those near the center of the plant are particularly favored; one layer of strips is placed longitudinally, and then a shorter layer is placed latitudinally across the first layer; these two surfaces are then soaked under water, which releases a gluelike substance from the fibers, melding the two surfaces into a single, rectangular sheet; these formed sheets are then hammered and dried in the sun; roughness is removed by polishing, usually with a smooth shell or a bit of kailiauk horn; the side of a tharlarion tooth may also be used in this work. The paper is then attached, sheet to sheet, to form rolls, usually about twenty sheets to a roll. The best paper is on the outside of the roll, always, not to practice deceit in the quality of the roll but rather to have the most durable paper on the outside, which will take the most weathering, handling and general wear. Rence paper comes in various grades, about eight in all. The rence growers market their product either at the eastern or western end of the delta. Sometimes rence merchants, on narrow marsh craft rowed by slaves, enter some pasangs into the delta to negotiate the transactions, usually from the western edge, that bordering the Tamber Gulf. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 7 The rence growers, in spite of the value of their product, and the value of articles taken in exchange for it, and the protection of the marshes, and the rence and fish which give them ample sustenance, do not have an easy life. Not only must they fear the marsh sharks and the carnivorous eels which frequent the lower delta, not to mention the various species of aggressive water tharlarion and the winged, monstrous hissing predatory Ul but they must fear, perhaps most of all, men, and of these, most of all, the men of Port Kar. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 8 The rence growers, I had learned, communicate by means of such signals, disguised as the cries of marsh gants. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 12 The rence islands, on which the communities of rence growers dwell, are rather small, seldom more than two hundred by two hundred and fifty feet. They are formed entirely from the interwoven stems of the rence plants and float in the marsh. They are generally about eight to nine feet thick and have an exposed surface above the water of about three feet; as the rence stems break and rot away beneath the island, more layers are woven and placed on the surface. Thus, over a period of months, a given layer of rence, after being the top layer, will gradually be submerged and forced lower and lower until it, at last, is the deepest layer and, with its adjacent layers, begins to deteriorate. To prevent an unwanted movement of the island there are generally several tethers, of marsh vine, to strong rence roots in the vicinity. It is dangerous to enter the water to make a tether fast because of the predators that frequent the swamp, but several men do so at a time, one man making fast the tether and the others, with him beneath the surface, protecting him with marsh spears, or pounding on metal pieces or wooden rods to drive away, or at least to disconcert and confuse, too inquisitive, undesired visitors, such as the water tharlarion or the long-bodied, nine-gilled marsh shark. When one wishes to move the island the tethers are simply chopped away, and the community divides itself into those who will handle the long poles and those who will move ahead in rence craft, cutting and cleating the way. Most of those who handle the poles gather on the edges of the island, but within the island there are four deep rectangular wells through which the long poles may gain additional leverage. These deep center wells, actually holes cut in the island, permit its movement, though slowly when used alone, without exposing any of its inhabitants at its edges, where they might fall easier prey to the missile weapons of foes. In times of emergency the inhabitants of the island gather behind wickerlike breastworks, woven of rence, in the area of the center wells; in such an emergency the low-ceilinged rence huts on the island will have been knocked down to prevent an enemy from using them for cover, and all food and water supplies, usually brought from the eastern delta where the water is fresh, will be stored within; the circular wicker-like breastworks then form, in the center of the island, a more or less defensible stronghold, particularly against the marsh spears of other growers, and such. Ironically, it is not of much use against an organized attack of well-armed warriors, such as those of Port Kar, and those against whom it might be fairly adequate, other rence growers, seldom attack communities like their own. I had heard there had not been general hostilities among rence growers for more than fifty years; their communities are normally isolated from one another, and they have enough to worry about contending with "tax collectors" from Port Kar, without bothering to give much attention to making life miserable for one another. Incidentally, when the island is to be moved under siege conditions, divers leave the island by means of the wells and, in groups of two and three, attempt to cut a path in the direction of escape; such divers, of course, often fall prey to underwater predators and to the spears of enemies, who thrust down at them from the surface. Sometimes an entire island is abandoned, the community setting it afire and taking to the marsh in their marsh skiffs. At a given point, when it is felt safe, several of these skiffs will be tied together, forming a platform on which rence may be woven, and a new island will be begun. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Pages 13 - 14 He had brown hair, and brown eyes; the hair, long, was tied behind his head with a string of rence cloth. He wore a sleeveless tunic of rence cloth, like most of the rence growers. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 16 At such times there is drinking of rence beer, steeped, boiled and fermented from crushed seeds and the whitish pith of the plant; Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 18 The women of rence growers, when in their own marshes, do not veil themselves, as is common among Gorean women, particularly of the cities. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 18 "It is a weapon of peasants," said the man with the headband, he who had been unable to bend the bow. "So?" asked Ho-Hak. "I," said the man, "am of the Growers of Rence. I, for one, am not a Peasant." . . . "You, Ho-Hak," said he, "were not born to the rence." "No," said Ho-Hak. "That is true." "But we were," said the man. "We are Growers of the Rence." There was a murmur of assent, grunts and shiftings in the group. "We are not Peasants," said the man with the headband. "We are Growers of the Rence!" Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 21 "Bring the paste of rence!" cried the girl. "Unbind his ankles. Take these ropes from his neck." A woman left the group to bring some rence paste, and two men removed the marsh vine from my neck and ankles. My wrists were still bound behind my back. In a moment the woman had returned with a double handful of wet rence paste. When fried on flat stones it makes a kind of cake, often sprinkled with rence seeds. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 25 It was late in the year to cut rence but some quantities of the rence are cut during the fall and winter and stored on covered rence rafts until the spring. These stores of rence are not used in the making of rence paper, but in the weaving of mats, for adding to the surface of the island, and for the pith, used as a food. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 27 "It would doubtless be desirable, from the point of view of the rence islands," I suggested, "if they should, in certain matters, act in unanimity." "We Rencers," she said, "are independent people. We, each of us, have our own island." Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 32 "In there," she said, indicating the small, round hole that gave access to her tiny rence hut. . . . I fell to my hands and knees and, lowering my head, crawled through the small hole, the edges of the woven rence scratching at my shoulders. She followed me into the hut. It was eight feet long and five feet wide. Its ceiling was continuous with its walls, and, in its curve, stood not more than four feet from the rence surface of the island. The rence hut is commonly used for little else than sleeping. She struck together, over a copper bowl, a bit of steel and flint, the sparks falling into some dried petals of the rence. A small flame was kindled into which she thrust a bit of rence stem, like a match. The bit of stem took the fire and with it she lit a tiny lamp, also sitting in a shallow copper bowl, which burned tharlarion oil. She set the lamp to one side. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Pages 32 - 33 I saw her take one of the bodies by an arm and drag it toward the shore. I rose, wiping my hands on the bit of rence tunic I wore, and went to her. "What are you doing?" I asked. "We are of the marsh," she said, woodenly. "The rence growers," she said, "rose from the marsh, and they must return to the marsh." I nodded. She tumbled the body from the island into the water. Under the water I saw a tharlarion move toward it. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Pages 65 - 66 And Telima had often raised the piping cry of the marsh gant. The men of Port Kar knew, as I had not, that rencers communicate in the marshes by the means of such signals. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 72 "The Peasants," cried out Thurnock, his voice thundering over the marsh, "are the ox on which the Home Stone rests!" "But I am of the Rencers!" she wailed. The Rencers are often thought to be a higher caste than the Peasants. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 94 Ho-Hak, I recalled, still wore the heavy collar of the galley slave. The rencers had not had the tools to remove it. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 118 "The mouths of rence girls," I said, "are said to be as large as the delta itself." Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 286 And Telima, though she was very beautiful, was a rence girl. She was of low caste. Hunters of Gor Book 8 Page 84 Rencer bowmen were now used by certain captains of Port Kar as auxiliaries. Marauders of Gor Book 9 Page 20 The target in the shooting was about six inches in width, at a range of about one hundred yards. With the great bow, the peasant bow, this is not difficult work. Many marksmen, warriors, peasants, rencers, could have matched my shooting. Marauders of Gor Book 9 Page 167 The delta of the Vosk, for most practical purposes, a vast marsh, an area of thousands of square pasangs, where the Vosk washes down to the sea, is closed to shipping. It is trackless and treacherous, and the habitat of marsh tharlarion and the predatory Ul, a winged lizard with wing-spans of several feet. It is also inhabited by the rencers, who live upon rence islands, woven of the rence reed, masters of the long bow, usually obtained in trade with peasants to the east of the delta. Explorers of Gor Book 13 Page 26 Rencers live in the delta. They inhabit rence islands, huge floating rafts of woven rence. As the rence rots at the bottom, it is replaced, more rence being added to the surface. The sand bars, as I have suggested, are unsuitable for permanent locations. And, indeed, the rence islands, inhabited by the rencers, as they float, are movable. An entire village thus, on its island, may be shifted at will. Needless to say, this mobility can be very useful to the rencers, enabling them, for example, to seek new fishing grounds and harvest fresh stands of rence, their major trading commodity, used for various purposes, such as the manufacture of cloth and paper. It is also useful, of course, in withdrawing from occasional concentrations of tharlarion and avoiding undesired human contacts. The location of such villages is usually secret. Trade contacts are made by the rencers themselves, at their election, at established points. Such villages, given their nature, may even be difficult to detect from the air. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Pages 91 - 92 The influence of Cos was strong in the delta, to be sure, there as it was in the western reaches of the Vosk, but I did not think the rencers would be explicit allies of Cos. They, in their small, scattered communities, tend to be secretive, fiercely independent folk. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 108 "The robes of concealment must be bulky, hot, uncomfortable in the delta," I said. "The rence girls go barefoot, commonly, or wear rence sandals, and short tunics." Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 112 The combination of the delta, with its natural defenses, and the peasant bow, made the rencers all but invulnerable. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 128 "Rencers sometimes use such rocks," I said, "struck beneath the surface of the water, the sound detectable by holding the side of the head under water. They can be used to convey signals, to communicate. I do not know their codes." Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 142 Most sting flies, or needle flies, as the men from the south call them, originate in the delta, and similar places, estuaries and such, as their eggs are laid on the stems of rence plants. As a result of the regularity of breeding and incubation times there tends, also, to be peak times for hatching. These peak times are also in part, it is thought, a function of a combination of natural factors, having to do with conditions in the delta, such as temperature and humidity, and, in particular, the relative stability of such conditions. Such hatching times, as might be supposed, are carefully monitored by rencers. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 161 The rence stem, hollowed, may serve as a breathing tube. By means of this, particularly if the opening of the stem is kept near the surface of the water, and those in the vicinity are not familiar with marshcraft, if they are not vigilant and keenly alert to the possibility of such techniques, one may often travel about in relative security and concealment. To be sure, the movement of the tube, particularly if seemingly purposeful, if noticed, should excite immediate suspicion. Rencers are familiar with such techniques but seldom make use of them, except in trident and knife attacks. Immersion of the great bow, if prolonged, as it absorbs water, and is dampened and dried, and so on, impairs its resiliency; the effective life of the bowstrings, usually of hemp whipped with silk, is also shortened; and the fletching on arrows is irregularized. Too, of course, this approach requires immersion in the marsh, which can be dangerous in itself. Rencers usually attack in their rence craft, formed of bound rence, using the almost ubiquitous rence for cover. The attack unit usually consists of two men, one to pole or paddle the craft and the other to use the bow. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 167 I brushed against another shark under the water. There is no mistaking the feel of such a creature. Its skin is very rough, surprisingly, I think, for an aquatic creature. Indeed, it is even abrasive. One can burn oneself upon it. Rencers use it in smoothing. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 174 The rencer population of the delta is extremely small, actually, and they would presumably, if they were still active, be in the vicinity of the remnants of the forces of Ar. The chances of running into rencers in thousands of square pasangs of the delta were not high, particularly if one were concerned to avoid them. Indeed, most rencer villages usually have warning banners set up in the rence, pieces of cloth on prominent rence stems. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 176 I did not think that a lure girl, for example, could have managed that particular note of terror in the scream. It might, on the other hand, I supposed, be managed quite easily by a bait girl, tethered, bound, to a stake like a verr, by rencer hunters to attract dangerous prey, usually tharlarion. They do not use their own women for this, of course, but other women, usually slaves. To be sure, there had been in the scream not only unmitigated terror, but a kind of special, pleading helplessness as well. That sound suggested to me that the woman was not merely calling herself to the attention of hunters, desperately alerting them to the presence of the quarry, but that there might be no hunters about, or no one of whom she knew. It suggested that she might be alone. There is quite a difference, you see, between a bait girl who knows that hunters are about, usually concealed in a blind, whose skill will presumably protect her, and a girl with no knowledge of nearby succor. To be sure, it is possible for a hunter to miss, and that is why the rencers do not use their own women, or their own free women, as bait. That she not be put out as tethered tharlarion bait is an additional inducement for the female slaves of rencers to prove particularly pleasing to their masters. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Pages 178 - 179 "Yes," she said, "but as it turned out, it didn't matter, for the rencers do not even speak Gorean." "Why do you say that?" I asked. "They never spoke to me," she said. "They speak Gorean perfectly," I said, "though, to be sure, with accents much more like those of the western Vosk basin than those of the courts, the baths and colonnades of Ar." Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 191 "Rencer women," I said, "live in the delta." "I am not a rencer woman!" she wept. To be sure, rencer women, as well as others, needed the protection of men. If nothing else, slavers could hunt them down and get them in their chains. All women need the protection of men, though sometimes this protection is so profound and so familiar as to escape notice. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 206 I had not known, incidentally, that the rencers now made use of slave hoods. They perhaps obtained them through trade, as well as additional women. Many things had changed since I had been in the marsh, long ago. Some rencers even charged tolls to freight moving through the marsh. Also, it was not always easy to transport female slaves through the marsh now. Rencers had apparently discovered their delights. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Pages 242 - 243 "You are then to be as a mute rence girl." "Perhaps I can write in the sand," she said. "No," I said. "Most rence girls are illiterate." Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 294 Labienus did not look directly at me while he spoke. Rather he looked out over the marsh. He did not see anything, however, as he was blind. This was the result of the work of the sting flies, or, as the men of Ar are wont to call them, the needle flies. In their attacks he had insufficiently defended himself from their depredations which, too often, are toward the eyes, the surfaces of which are moist and reflect light. Most, of course, would shut or cover their eyes, perhaps with cloth or their hands or arms. The rencers use rence mats most commonly, or hoods made of rence, for these, screenlike, permit one to see out but are too small to admit the average sting fly. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 314 "It is my understanding that blond rencers are rare," he said. "But, of course," I said, "there are some such." I had seen some, years ago. "Undoubtedly," he said. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 316 "She is very pretty, for a rence girl," he said. "There are many beauties in the rence," I said. . . . "She does not have the simplicity, the roughness, I would expect from a rence girl," he said. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Pages 333 - 334 Rence women, on the whole, tend to be ill-tempered, frustrated and jealous of men. Many of them seem to feel that it is demeaning to them to be women. Many of them, it seems, would rather be imitation men than true women. Nowadays, with the increasing numbers of female slaves in the delta, a tendency muchly resented by the free females, though for whatever reason it is hard to imagine, given their claims of superiority to such creatures, many of the men, those lucky enough to own a slave, are less frustrated and deprived than once they were wont to be. Rence women, incidentally, once they themselves are enslaved, and learn that their absurdities and pretenses are now irrevocably behind them, make excellent slaves, as slavers have recognized for years. I have mentioned how they come often come to the delta to bargain for women, usually extra daughters. Interestingly the daughters are usually eager to leave the rence. So, too, are many other women, who propose themselves to their village chieftains, for such extradition. On some rence islands I have heard, incidentally, that the men have revolted, and enslaved their women. These are usually kept in cord collars, with small disks attached to them, indicating the names of their masters. Branding irons, usually with the common Kajira design, are now supposedly a trade item in the delta. These men are supposedly the most dangerous of rencers, being the truest of men. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 341 "The rence," said the lad, "has no quarrel with Port Kar." "Nor Port Kar with the rence," I said. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 347 Not even the free women of the rencers veil themselves. Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 362 "We were exhausted in the rence, lost, starving," said Claudius. "I do not think we could have survived a direct attack. They must have been following us, watching us. We did not even know they were there. We thought we were alone, with the tharlarion, and our misery. Then one night, on the sand, we awakened, knives at our throats. In a few Ehn we were naked, manacled, hand and foot, chained by the neck in a coffle. Our uniforms were not destroyed. They were not cut from us. Rather we were forced to remove them before our chaining. The Cosians, it seems, wanted some uniforms, doubtless for purposes of subterfuge or infiltration. Too, the women of the rencers like the bright cloth, and we were told, too, that some of them were to be cut into slave strips, or fashioned into Ta Teeras, slave rags, for slave girls, such being, in their opinion, a fit disposition for such material." Vagabonds of Gor Book 24 Page 369 The enemy they encountered, of course, was not the expected foe, but the delta itself, with its insects, heat, humidity, uncertain footing, quicksand, tharlarion, and rencers, denizens of the delta, almost invisible, subtle in warfare, masters of the bow and ambush. Mariners of Gor Book 30 Page 15 Chloe could read. She had been a free woman of Cos, captured at sea by a corsair from Port Kar, as had been the girl from Tabor with whom I had been sold in the Metellan district, though much farther from shore, had been sold to rencers in the delta of the Vosk, who had sold her at a profit to a camp of slavers at the delta's edge with its wooden cages, a camp transient seasonal, in nature, by means of which slaves from Thassa might be brought eastward into the Vosk basin, and slaves from the Vosk basin might be brought westward, through the delta to Thassa. The rencers often sell and trade in both directions. Sometimes the slaves, stripped, a rope on their neck, in the keeping of a master, are made to pole the light reed boats through the rence. Sometimes they are merely kept, lying naked, bound hand and foot in the craft, while the men propel the craft. A common practice is to keep them bound at the eastern and western edges of the delta where, new slaves, in their naivety, they might be tempted to think of escape. Poling in the trackless delta, the rope on their neck, they are well aware of the wilderness, the vastness, the treacherous byways, the quicksand, the heat, the insects, leeches, delta sharks, winged, predatory uls, and, in particular, marsh tharlarion, which often scout the boats, and accompany them, little but the eyes visible, for pasangs. Conspirators of Gor Book 31 Page 487 In the marshes of the delta may be found the scattered, floating villages of the Rencers. These villages are formed from the interwoven stalks of the rence plant, from which a common form of cheap paper is made. Fresh rence is added to the surface of the villages, as older, submerged layers deteriorate, break apart, and rot. The delta is rich in fish and birds. Also, as would be expected, given the abundance of game, it is home, as well, to various predators, in particular, the marsh shark and various forms of tharlarion, some, like the Ul, winged. One gathers that relationships between the Rencers and those of Port Kar, relationships which are now warily cordial, were once strained. It seems that the Rencers adopted the peasant bow, a weapon used in peasant villages on the continent to maintain and defend the freedom and sovereignty of the villages. This bow is particularly effective in the delta, given the stands of rence. It is hard not to respect a foe who, unseen, can kill from a distance. Also, it is difficult to attack or retaliate against such villages, as they can be easily moved, being towed to new locations. Furthermore, these villages are now loosely confederated, a political development traced to a man named Ho-Hak, sometimes referred to as the Ubar of the Marshes. The Rencers, it seems, once predominantly hunters and gatherers, have now added transport and trade to their economic repertoire. In transport, Rencers guide and maintain barges, poled, sailed, and drawn by large, swimming tharlarion, this linking, through the trackless marshes of the delta, the Vosk towns with Port Kar and the coast, and Port Kar and the coast with the Vosk towns. Trade has primarily to do with rence, but some attention is devoted elsewhere, for example, to salted fish, mostly parsit and grunt, to tharlarion oil and leather, and to feathers, in particular those of the Vosk gull, which are commonly preferred in the fletching of arrows. It is speculated that these economic interdependencies may have done as much to assure peace in the delta as the peasant bow. As coin abets commerce, so trade abets peace. Whereas slave girls are not allowed on the walls unaccompanied, some will seek escape by scrambling to deserted segments of the walls and diving into the marsh waters below. Those who do not fall prey to the predators of the marshes are picked up by Rencers. The Rencers will then brand their foreheads and keep them as rence slaves, which, as I understand it, is a most laborious and unpleasant slavery, or, swathing them with ropes, return them to Port Kar for punishment, a tarsk-bit for returning a less beautiful slave, and two tarsk-bits for returning a more beautiful slave. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Pages 132 - 133 A few yards ahead, standing before a street bin of cheap rence-paper scrolls, on the walkway, in front of the scroll shop, chatting, in street robes, were two men. One was holding, partly opened, a scroll, the spindles or rollers of which, knobless and unornamented, were of natural wood, neither stained nor varnished. A white ribbon was tied to one of the spindles or rollers which, I supposed, as there was writing on it, identified the scroll. Different-color ribbons are commonly indexed to one consideration or another, most commonly the asking price for a scroll, after which negotiations commonly begin. Scrolls with purple ribbons, as I had learned on former walks, were usually kept behind the counter, in the back, in pigeon holes or racks. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Pages 148 - 149 "The more expensive scrolls," I said, "are on finer rence, with knobbed or ornamented spindles, commonly stained or varnished. Some of the most expensive are kept behind the counter; the most expensive of those have a purple ribbon tied to the spindle." Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 187 Rencers had raised the shelter price for river pirates seeking asylum in the delta, when fleeing from ships of the Vosk League; Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 190 Outside the portal, one could see three or four of the small craft used by Rencers. These are conical and are formed of woven rence. They are commonly propelled by poling. The rence islands on which the Rencers live are also formed of woven rence. As rence rots, deteriorates, or breaks away on the bottom, new rence is added on the surface. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 196 Some men fish at night in the marshes, primarily Rencers, some trolling a small net, some fishing by means of torch and trident, the light of the torch serving to lure fish to the surface, within the range of the three-forked, barbed trident. The sky was cloudy. Both the White Moon and Yellow Moon were in the sky. Bruno of Torcadino had not lit the small lantern at the prow. There were the subtle night noises of the marsh, the calls of small amphibians, the humming of insects. At times we made our way through rence, it brushing the sides of the boat. In many places the rence is well above, sometimes several feet above, the sides of the boat. After the Rencers acquired the great bow, the peasant bow, which had taken place some years ago, the delta had become their undisputed domain. The thickets of rence provided ideal cover for mobile bowmen in their small craft, which could be deployed in their dozens. The rence islands, of woven rence, too, could be moved about, so a village located one afternoon might be gone by the next morning. In this way a rence community, a homeland or capital, a depot, camp, or outpost, so to speak, is not a fixed target. Such communities may approach or withdraw, scatter or regroup, in ways not practical for more sessile communities. This permits latitude and flexibility, both tactically and strategically. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 248 "Do not be agitated," he said. "It is a Rencer, fishing. They do not know we are here." The normal arrangement for torch-and-trident fishing is one torch man and one or two trident men. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 250 "Something passed," said Bruno of Torcadino, "perhaps a large tharlarion." I wondered if it might not have been something else, another canal boat, or, say, one of the small Rencer ships, made of woven rence. But probably not. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 251 I now knelt in the bow of the small rence craft, my hands and feet free. I gripped one of the two light paddles. Rence craft may be either paddled or poled. Rencers commonly stand in them and pole them, but this was not practical for Bruno of Torcadino. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 287 The rence craft is light, quick, and maneuverable. It could easily evade and outdistance the canal boat. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 291 Occasionally canal boats are stranded on a bar and one must disembark and thrust the craft free. This inconvenience seldom attaches to rence craft because of their shallow draft. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 292 I must avoid Rencers. Unattended slaves are taken, reasonably enough, as fugitives. Most commonly, if one manages to survive for a time in the delta, there are two alternatives, other than being cast to tharlarion or staked out for an Ul. One is kept or returned. If one is kept one's forehead is branded and one is kept as a rence slave. If one is not kept, one is nearly concealed with ropes, thrown into a rence craft, and taken back to Port Kar for punishment. In such a case, to whom would I be delivered? Rencers expect, as I once noted, to receive a tarsk-bit for returning a less beautiful slave, and two tarsk-bits for returning a more beautiful slave. I did not know if they would ask one or two tarsk-bits for me. It is men who decide such things. If masters are unwilling to pay the tarsk-bit or tarsk-bits, the girl is taken back to the delta to be forehead-branded and made a rence slave. Alternatively, if free rence women have their way, she may be thrown to tharlarion or put out for an Ul. That fate is also one which may be visited upon a slave who is found displeasing to her master. Quarry of Gor Book 35 Page 310 "And it is said there are strange lights, and sounds, mysterious doings, in the delta," said the newcomer. "One always hears such things," said Miles. "Rencers often contrive such things to discourage penetration into the delta." Quarry of Gor Book 35 Pages 364 - 365 |       
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