The Minor Castes of GOR – Part V of IX
by ~nisaa
Caste of Metalworkers
"For example, one who is of the Metalworkers might not be permitted to work iron, but might be permitted to do such things as paint iron, and transport and market it.”
~Fighting Slave of Gor, pg. 209, by John Norman.
Caste of Merchants
"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, pg. 7, by John Norman.
Caste of Lamp Lighters
"Outside on the bridges I hear the cry of the Lighter of Laterns.
‘Light your lamps’, he calls. ‘Light the lamps of love.”
~Outlaw of Gor, pg. 252, by John Norman.
Caste of Musicians
"I wondered at this for the Caste of Musicians had been, like the Caste of Poets, exiled from Tharna. Theirs, like the Caste of Poets, had been a caste regarded by the somber masks of Tharna as not belonging in a city of serious and dedicated folk, for music, like Paga and song, can set men's hearts aflame and when men's hearts are aflame it is not easy to know where the flame may spread.”
~Outlaw of Gor, pg. 224, by John Norman.
“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, pg. 44, by John Norman.
Caste of Peasants
"In rare cases, one might have been permitted by the Council of High
Castes to raise caste. None of course would accept a lower caste, and there were lower castes, the Caste of Peasants, for example, the most basic caste of all Gor.”
~Outlaw of Gor, pg. 27, by John Norman.
"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, pg. 66, by John Norman.
Caste of Perfumers
"I knelt in the cool recesses of the shop of Turbus Veminius, a perfumer in Venna. Venna has many small and fine shops, catering to the affluent trade of the well-to-do, who patronize the baths and public villas of the area. I, a slave, unaccompanied by a free person, would wait until free customers were waited upon and served.
~Fighting Slave of Gor, pg. 209, by John Norman.
The Minor Castes of GOR – Part VI of IX
by ~nisaa
Caste of Players
"Most Gorean cities now, at least in the south, had accepted a standard tournament Kaissa, agreed upon by the high council of the caste of players. Sometimes the changes were little more than semantic. For example, a piece which once in Ar had been called the "City" was now identified officially as the "Home Stone" even in Ar.”
~Beasts of Gor, pg. 43, by John Norman.
"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, pg. 44, by John Norman.
"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, pg. 27, by John Norman.
"Through the entryway, rather angrily, strode a young man, perhaps no more than eighteen or nineteen years of age, with piercing eyes and incredibly striking features; he wore the garb of the Player, but his garb was rich and the squares of the finest red and yellow silk; the game bag over his shoulder was of superb verrskin; his sandals were tied with strings of gold; startlingly, this young man, seeming like a god in the splendor of his boyhood, was lame, and as he angrily strode forward, his right leg dragged across the tiles; seldom had I seen a face more handsome, more striking, yet rich with irritation, with contempt, a face more betokening the brilliance of a mind like a Gorean blade.”
~Assassin of Gor, pg. 322, by John Norman.
Caste of Poets
"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. On Gor, the singer, or poet, is regarded as a craftsman who makes strong sayings, much like a pot-maker makes a good pot or a saddle-maker makes a worthy saddle.”
~Outlaw of Gor, pg. 101, by John Norman.
Caste of Pot-Makers
(See Caste of Poets in Part VI for reference)