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 Codes - GeneralThese are relevant references from the Books where Codes in General are mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban "I order you to protect me," she said, never taking her eyes from the ground. "I do not take orders from the daughter of the Ubar of Ar," I said. "You must take me with you," she said, eyes still downcast. "Why?" I asked. After all, according to the rude codes of Gor, I owed her nothing, indeed, considering her attempt on my life, which had been foiled only by the fortuitous net of Nar's web, I would have been within my rights to slay her, abandoning her body to the water lizards. Naturally, I was not looking at things from precisely the Gorean point of view, but she would have no way of knowing that. How could she know that I would not treat her as - according to the rough justice of Gor - she deserved? Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 92 As I looked upon her, incredibly perhaps, my rage dissipated and with it the vengeful desires that had filled me. In anger I had dragged her, helpless, mine by all the Codes of Gor, to the shelter of the trees. Yet now once again I saw her as a girl, this time as a beautiful girl, not to be abused. Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 98 The eyes of Marlenus stared over my head, into the darkness outside. "I risked my life a thousand times and gave the years of my youth to the vision of Ar and its empire, that there might be on all Gor but one language, but one commerce, but one set of codes, that the highways and passes might be safe, that the peasants might cultivate their fields in peace, that there might be but one Council to decide matters of policy, that there might be but one supreme city to unite the cylinders of a hundred severed, hostile cities and all this you have destroyed." Marlenus looked down at me. "What can you, a simple tarnsman, know of these things?" he asked. "But I, Marlenus, though a warrior, was more than a warrior, always more than a warrior. Where others could see no more than the codes of their castes, where others could sense no call of duty beyond that of their Home Stone, I dared to dream the dream of Ar that there might be an end to meaningless warfare, bloodshed, and terror, an end to the anxiety and peril, the retribution and cruelty that cloud our lives - I dreamed that there might arise from the ashes of the conquests of Ar a new world, a world of honor and law, of power and justice." Tarnsman of Gor Book 1 Page 155 Also considered, though nothing was determined that night, were matters of taxation, the unification and revision of the codes of the five Ubars, the establishment of council courts, replacing those of the Ubars, and the acquisition of a sizable number of men-at-arms, who would be directly responsible to the council itself, in effect, a small council police or army. Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 159 "You chose," said Samos, "as warriors have it, ignominious bondage over the freedom of honorable death." There were tears in my eyes. "I dishonored my sword, my city. I betrayed my codes." "You found your humanity," said Samos. "I betrayed my codes!" I cried. "It is only in such moments," said Samos, "that a man sometimes learns that all truth and all reality is not written in one's own codes." Raiders of Gor Book 6 Page 310 It was possible, too, of course, that the Kurii had become gentle beasts, fond of farming, renouncing their warlike ways, and turning humbly to the soil, and the labors of the earth, setting perhaps therein an excellent example for the still half-savage human animals of Gor, so predatory, so savage, so much concerned with wars, and their codes and honor. Marauders of Gor Book 9 Page 176 "Why is it," she asked, "that the men of Gor do not think and move in herds, like those of Earth?" "I do not know," I said. "Perhaps they are different. Perhaps the culture is different. Perhaps it has something to do with the decentralization of city states, the multiplicity of traditions, the diversity of the caste codes." Explorers of Gor Book 13 Page 333 "You always were a courageous fellow, Callimachus," said the standing man. "I always admired that in you. Had you not been concerned to keep the codes, you might have gone far. I might have found a position for you even in my organization." Rouge of Gor Book 15 Page 77 In other cities, and in most cities, on the other hand, a free woman may, with legal tolerance, submit herself as a slave to a specific man. If he refuses her, she is then still free. If he accepts her, she is then, categorically, a slave, and he may do with her as he pleases, even selling her or giving her away, or slaying her, if he wishes. Here we might note a distinction between laws and codes. In the codes of the warriors, if a warrior accepts a woman as a slave, it is prescribed that, at least for a time, an amount of time up to his discretion, she be spared. If she should be the least bit displeasing, of course, or should prove recalcitrant in even a tiny way, she may be immediately disposed of. It should be noted that this does not place a legal obligation on the warrior. It has to do, rather, with the proprieties of the codes. If a woman not within a clear context of rights, such as capture rights, house rights, or camp rights, should pronounce herself slave, simpliciter, then she is subject to claim. These claims may be explicit, as in branding, binding and collaring, or as in the uttering of a claimancy formula, such as "I own you," "You are mine," or "You are my slave," or implicit, as in, for example, permitting the slave to feed from your hand or follow you. Players of Gor Book 20 Page 21 "What is "gentlemanliness"?" he asked, as Ellen, in her consternation, had used the English expression. "There is no exact word for it in Gorean," said Ellen. "I think I have heard the word," said the man. "It seems to be a word for a male who subscribes to, and conforms to, codes of behavior requiring, among other things, substituting convention for nature, propriety for power, self-conquest for self-liberation, restraint for command, inaction and conformity for dominance and mastery, and, in short, a word for one who denies his biological birthright, his powers, pleasures and delights, for one who forgoes, or pretends to forgo, his manhood in order to do, or seem to do, what women pretend will please them. He belongs to his culture, and not to himself, rather like the insect to the nest, the bee to the swarm. He is unhappy, as are the confused, unwitting, lovely tyrants whom he refuses to resist, whom he refuses to take in hand and conquer, putting them to his feet, as naked, bound slaves." Prize of Gor Book 27 Page 275 "When you spoke with Lord Zarendargar, on the day of the great breakfast, that night, did he not speak to you of these things?" "We spoke of many things," said Cabot, "of war and weapons, of beasts and ships, of stratagems, of honor, of codes, and such, and we again drank paga." "But you spoke not of the Sardar, of Priest-Kings, and their will?" said Grendel. "No," said Cabot. Kur of Gor Book 28 Page 714 Animals are innocent, I thought. They kill, and feed. Men smile, and soothe, and praise, and then kill, and feed. Is it honor and the codes, I wondered, which separate us from animals, or, rather, is it they which bring us closer to the innocence of the animals. Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 430 Whereas cities have laws, and most castes have caste codes, there is only one law which is generally respected, and held in common, amongst Gorean municipalities, and that is Merchant Law, largely established and codified at the great Sardar Fairs. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 424 Some here, I speculated, might even be of the caste of Warriors, though in such a case, perhaps renegades or exiles, possibly men who had fared badly in city revolutions, even men who may have forsworn Home Stones or betrayed codes, desperate men, dangerous men. Smugglers of Gor Book 32 Page 469 "Creatures of the sea encircle them," said Thurnock. "We cannot let them die, drown, or be eaten. Would you have them devoured? Honor inveighs against it. Codes do not permit it. We I must take them aboard." "Blame him not," I said. "His Home Stone is not ours. It is that of Nicosia. What hold have we on one whose Home Stone is not our own?" "The hold of the sword brotherhood, the hold of fellowship," said Thurnock. "Sometimes," I said, "it is not clear what honor prescribes." "It can be hard to keep the codes," said Clitus. "You and your men have wrought much on our behalf," he said. "Yet you are not of Mytilene. It is not the place of your Home Stone. I do not even think you are of the Farther Islands. Why have you done so? Why have you stood with us on the wall and in the breaches?" "Accept that we have done so," I said, "and do not enquire further." "It has to do with codes?" he asked. "Better," I said, "to finish remaining stores at once, with a great feast, and then, in the morning, hardy and nourished, in the sunlight and open air, scorning the enemy, singing, go forth to die in battle." "The codes?" said Thrasymedes. "Of course," I said. The crowded petitioners, meanwhile, trapped in the sealed-off Court of Complaints and Petitions, to a man, despite all codes of civility and honor, had been put to the sword by the assailants, presumably either to eliminate witnesses or prevent their participation in the action. "The Assassin frightens me," said Hemartius. "Justifiably," I said. "He is one of the most powerful and dangerous men on Gor. His power would be the envy of many Ubars. His tentacles unite a hundred Black Courts. His word can lift a knife in Schendi and speed a quarrel in Kassau. In the black dagger, unrestrained by city walls and common codes, resides much power." "Law," said Hemartius, "is majestic and implacable." "Law," I said, "must succumb to law." "I do not understand," said Hemartius. "There are other laws, other codes, other rights, other ways," I said, "other majesties, other implacabilities." "The matter of the ownership of the slave is at issue," said Hemartius. "No longer!" said Decius Albus. "The claim of the state has been accepted by the state." "The matter of the future ownership of the slave is at issue," said Hemartius. "The deputy counselor has the only documented proof of a specific, recorded ownership presented to the court. This was shown by the noble Tolnar and Venlisius. This, in itself, enables and legitimizes the deputy counselor's action." "That is true," said Marlenus of Ar, member of the Scarlet Caste, and knower of codes. We all looked up to the high bench. "So let it be so," said Marlenus. "Kajira canjellne." "But the blindfold must be reaffixed," I said. "Then you will be led about for a time, and then released." "Of course," said Ruffio. "Into the harbor, strangled," said Seremides. "Scarcely," I said. "This has to do with codes, does it not?" asked Seremides. "More with common courtesy," I said. |       
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