The brand is to be distinguished from the collar, though both are a designation of slavery. The primary significance of the collar is that it identifies the Master and his City. The collar of a given girl may be changed countless times, but the brand continues throughout to bespeak her status.

The brand is normally concealed by the brief skirted slave livery of Gor but, of course, when the Camisk is worn, it is always clearly visible, reminding the girl and others of her station.

When an individual captures a girl for his own uses, he does not always mark her, though it is commonly done. On the other hand, the professional slaver, as a business practice, almost always brands his chattels and it is seldom that an unbranded girl ascends the block.

The brand itself, (The Kef), in case of girls, is a rather graceful mark being the initial letter of the Gorean expression for slave in cursive script. If a male is branded, the same initial is used but rendered in a block letter.

The brand is used primarily for its reputed psychological effect. When the girl finds herself branded like an animal, finds her fair skin marked by the iron of a Master, she cannot fail to regard herself; as something which is owned, as mere property, as something belonging to the man who has put the burning iron to her thigh. Most simply, the brand is supposed to convince the girl that she is truly owned; it is supposed to make her feel owned. When the iron is pulled away and she knows the pain and degradation and smells the odor of her own burned flesh, she is supposed to tell herself, understanding its full import: I AM HIS. But of course, the effect of the brand depends on the girl. For many the brand has little effect besides contributing to their shame. With others, it might well increase their hostility. And some, once branded, become instantly a passionate and obedient Pleasure Slave.

There are many varieties of brands found on Gor, the following are quotes from the scrolls that describe some of these brands.

"I have five brands," said the metal worker, "the common Kaura brand, the Dina, the Palm, the mark of Treve, the mark of Port Kar."
----Explorers of Gor, page 70

The Common Brand:
"The man, placing heavy gloves on his hands, withdrew from the brazier a slave iron. Its tip was a figure some inch and a half high, the first letter in the cursive script, in the Gorean alphabet, of the expression Kajira. It is a beatiful letter."
---Hunters of Gor, page 51

The Dina:
"I had seen the design at the tip of the iron. It was a small flower, stylized; it was circular, about an inch and a half in diameter; it was not unlike a small rose; it was incredibly lovely and delicate."
---Slave Girl of Gor, page 52

The Tuchuk Standard:
"I supposed that on the morrow Kamchak would call for the Tuchuk Iron Master, to brand what he called his little barbarian; the brand of the Tuchuk slave, incidentally, not the same as that generally used in the cities. which for girls, is the first letter of the expression Kajira in cursive script. but the sign of the four bask horns that of the Tuchuk standard; the brand of the four bosk horns, set in such a manner as to somewhat resemble the letter "H." is only about an inch high; the common Gorean brand, on the other hand, is usually an inch and a half to two inches high; the brand of the four bosk horns, of course, is also used to mark the bosk of the Tuchuks, but there, of course, it is much larger, forming roughly a six-inch square; following the branding, I supposed that Kamchak would have one of the tiny nose rings affixed; all Tuchuk females, slave or free, wear such rings; after these things there would only remain, of course, an engraved Turian collar and the clothing of Elizabeth Cardwell Kajir."
---Nomads of Gor, page 62

The Kassar Standard:
"The standard of the Kassars is that of a scarlet, three-weighted bola, which hangs from a lance; the symbolic representation of a bola, three circles joined at the center by lines, is used to mark their bosk and slaves"
---Nomads of Gor, page 106

The Kataii Standard:
"...the standard of the Kataii is a yellow bow, bound across a black lance; their brand is also that of a bow, facing to the left"
---Nomads of Gor, page 106

The Paravaci Standard:
"...the Paravaci standard is a large banner of jewels beaded on golden wires, forming the head and horns of a bosk its value is incalculable; the Paravaci brand is a symbolic representation of a bosk head, a semicircle resting on an inverted isoceles triangle."
---Nomads of Gor, page 106

The Common Brand of the North:
"The brand used by Forkbeard is not uncommon in the north, though there is less uniformity in Torvaldsland on these matters than in the south, where the merchant caste, with its recommendations for standardization, is more powerful. All over Gor, of course, the slave girl is a familiar commodity. The brand used by the Forkbeard, found rather frequently in the north, consisted of a half circle, with, at its right tip, adjoining it, a steep, diagonal line. The half circle is about an inch and a quarter in height. The brand is, like many, symbolic. In the north, the bond-maid is sometimes referred to as a women whose belly lies beneath the sword."
---Mauraders of Gor, page 87

Priest King and Kurii Brand:
"Incidentally, there are many brands on Gor. Two that almost never occur on Gor, by the way, are those of the moons and collar, and of the chain and claw. The first of these commonly occurs in certain of the Gorean enclaves on Earth, which serve as headquarters for agents of the Priest-Kings; the second tends to occur in the lairs of Kurii agents on Earth; the first brand consists of a locked collar and, ascending diagonally above it, extending to the right, three quarter moons; this brand indicates the girl is subject to Gorean discipline; the chain-and-claw brand signifies, of course, slavery and subjection with the compass of the Kur yoke."
---Explorers of Gor, page 12

Penalty Brand:
"Four men held me, naked, near the brazier. I could feel the heat blazing from the cannister. The sky was very blue, the clouds were white. 'Please, no!' I wept. I saw Rask, with a heave glove, draw forth one of the irons from the fire. It reminated in a tiny letter, not more that a quarter of an inch high. The letter was white hot. 'This is a penalty brand,' he said. 'It marks you as a liar.' 'Please, Master!' I wept. 'I no longer have patience with you,' he said. 'Be marked as what you are.' I screamed uncontrollably as he pressed in the iron, holding it firmly into my leg. Then, after some two to four Ihn, he removed it. I could not stop screaming with pain. I smelled the odor of burned flesh, my own. I began to whimper. I could not breathe. I gasped for breath. Still the men held me. 'This penalty brand,' said Rask of Treve, lifting another iron from the brazier, again with a tiny letter at its glowing termination, 'marks you also as what you are, as a theif.' 'Please, no, Master!' I wept. I could not move a muscle of my left leg. It might as well have been locked in a vise. It must wait for the iron. I screamed again, uncotrollably. I had been branded as a theif. 'This third iron,' said Rask of Treve, 'is, too, a penalty iron. I mark you with this not for myself, but for Ute.' Through raging tears I saw, white hot, the tiny letter. 'It marks you as a traitress,' said Rask of Treve. He looked at me, with fury. 'Be marked as a traitress,' he said. Then he pressed the thrid iron into my flesh. As it entered my flesh, biting and searing, I saw Ute watching, her face betraying no emotion. I screamed, and wept, and screamed. Still the men did not release me. Rask of Treve lifted the last iron from the fire. It was much larger, the letter at its termination some one and a half inches high. It, too, was white hot. I knew the brand. I had seen it on Ena's thigh. It was the mark of Treve. Rask of Treve decided that my flesh should bear that mark. 'No, Master, please!' I begged him. 'Yes, Worthless Slave,' he said, 'you will wear in your flesh the mark of the city of Treve.' 'Please,' I begged. 'When men ask you,' said he, 'who it was that marked you as a liar and a their, and traitress, point to this brand, and say, I was marked by one of Treve, who was displeased with me.'"
---Captive of Gor, page 310

Location of the Brand

"'Yes, left thigh,' said Samos to one of the guards. I liked the left-thigh branded girl. A right-handed master may caress it while he holds her in his left arm."
---Beasts of Gor, page 25

"Where are we branded?" She said. "A girl is commonly branded on the left or right thigh," I said, "sometimes on the lower left abdomen."
---Beasts of Gor, page 229

"Left thigh or right thigh?" he asked.
"Left thigh," said Ulafi. Slave girls are commonly branded on the left thigh. Sometimes they are branded on the right thigh, or lower left abdomen."
---Explorers of Gor, page 71

Another Type of Brand

"The street was lined by throngs of Tuchuks and slaves. Among them, too, were soothsayers and haruspexes, and singers and musicians, and, here and there, small peddlers and merchants, of various cities, for such are occasionally permitted by the Tuchuks, who crave their wares, to approach the wagons. Each of these, I was later to learn, wore on his forearm a tiny brand, in the form of spreading bosk horns, which guaranteed his passage, at certain seasons, across the plains of the Wagon Peoples. The difficulty, of course is in first obtaining the brand. If, in the case of a singer, the song is rejected, or in the case of a merchant, his merchandise is rejected, he is slain out of hand. This acceptance brand, of course, carries with it a certain stain of ignominy, suggesting that those who approach the wagons do as slaves".
---Nomads of Gor, page 34.