It was recently brought to rayne"s attention that when Master and she switched from a BDSM based Master/slave relationship to a Gorean based one, neither of them explained, really, what Gor is. rayne, naturally, assumed everyone reading her blogs would already know a little about the Gorean culture, forgetting that there are many misconceptions and a great number of people who have never even heard of it, and didn"t think it necessary to explain it. Then she gave the link to this blog to someone who, through no fault of her own, didn"t even really have a basic grasp on BDSM culture, forgetting that to someone who has never really had an interest in any of this, it might be a bit confusing.

So as to avoid an onslaught of information (and to avoid her blogs
being miles long) rayne will try to discuss some of the aspects of both
a BDSM based Master/slave relationship (as she knows it) and a Gorean
based one in her next few blog entries. her purpose will be to add this
blog to the list of resources people have on both subjects and to
display some of the differences. They are not wholly different, as
there are many aspects that are the same. But she realizes now that
even people coming here for an adult topic related blog might not fully
understand what Master and rayne are trying to illustrate.

she
will stress, so as to avoid panties getting bunched, that this is not
"the one true way{TM}" and that many people hold many different
beliefs. she will also ask that anyone who disagrees with something she
says or has something to add to it, feel free to comment. she would
love to hear how her readers feel about the things she says and what
they think or believe on the subjects she discusses.

So where to begin? We"ll start with the fictional aspects of Gor. This
entry may be rather long as rayne often has trouble finding a stopping
place when describing Gor.

The world of Gor, as it is
written by John Norman, is a counter Earth. The planet was built by
Priestkings (what we would call aliens or extraterrestrials) who have
learned to defy the gravitational pull of stars and planets and can
move Gor from one orbit to the next at will. They keep Gor directly on
the opposite side of the sun from Earth so that humans cannot see or
discover it.

The books are written from the perspective
of Tarl Cabot, whose help is enlisted by Priestkings to protect both
Gor and Earth from "the Others", known in the Gorean language as Kur or
Kurii, who are intelligent beasts and view humans as cattle. Mr. Norman
is a philosophy professor, so the books contain some philosophical
lessons and a great deal of world history. They"re not perfectly
written, grammatically or otherwise, but if one can see past that, they
are, in this slave"s opinion, a good read.

In helping
Priestkings, Tarl learns a great deal about himself and the world he is
fighting to save. He tries to teach his reader, as well, and to show
them that they must not condemn Goreans for their beliefs, as this is
the way their world works. How does it work, you ask? On Gor, they
believe that men are born and bred dominant and that women want nothing
more than to obey.

Instead of marriage, there is free
companionship, in which a man and a woman commit themselves to each
other for eternity. However, this bond must be renewed once a year in
the companionship ceremony (which consists of drinking wine together,
among other things) and can be dissolved if either the companionship
isn"t renewed or one or the other of the couple falls slave. It is said
that a man may have a million slaves but only one free companion.

Goreans
take slaves in times of war and of peace. Generally speaking, they take
slaves that do not belong to their own city, but occasionally they take
slaves of their own city as well – particularly when punishing a free
female for breaking laws or stepping out of line. They believe that a
beautiful women has only one place – in the chains of a strong man.
They also believe that slavery increases a woman"s beauty tenfold.

This
is not to say they never take men slave. On the contrary. Quite often,
espeically in times of war, men fall slave and are worked hard in
fields and mines and where ever else women are considered too weak to
work. However, male slaves are viewed close to worthless, even below
female slaves in the heirarchy, and are beaten severely or slain for
the slightest offense, which can, and does, include looking at or
touching a female slave without permission.

Female slaves
are seen as little more than animals. Mere possessions, cherished only
when they are pleasing, and sexual beings. Their purpose is to serve
men in anyway men deem fit, be it in the kitchen, on the love furs, or
in alcoves seeing to the pleasures of their Master"s men and/or
friends.

There are taverns and cafes and inns in every
city, and each have a plethora of slaves, each with their own subtle
differences in beauty and talent. Enter a paga tavern and you will find
a number of girls dressed in diaphanous yellow silk and serving bowls
of steaming hot paga (similar to whiskey or vodka, depending on the
type), their movements and mannerisms equally hot. The use of these
girls is bought with the bowl of paga they serve. Quite often, they
know a surplus of sensual slave dances that show off their many talents
and arrouse the passions of men.

rayne will pick up here for her March 7th entry.