Literally it is a stone that represents the soul of a city; to be without a Home Stone is to lack citizenship. It is said, 'A palace without a Home Stone is but a hovel; a hovel which contains a Home Stone is a palace. The Home Stone is the center of various rituals in each city and is a valuable symbol of sovereignty and territory. These stones are of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Some are intricately carved while others simply have a single letter etched into them. Some large cities have small stones of great antiquity. The Home Stone of Ar is accepted by tradition as being the oldest Home Stone on Gor. It is allegedly over ten thousand years old.

Each city has a citizenship ceremony where children, who reach intellectual majority, swear an oath of allegiance to their city while touching or kissing the Home Stone. This ceremony may also require vouching by existing citizens. Another requirement may also be a questioning by a committee of citizens to determine your worthiness to the city. Nonperformance of this ceremony can be cause for expulsion from the city. You can renounce your Home Stone and change your citizenship to another city but this is rarely done. The Home Stone is more important than caste prejudices or other forms of prejudice. It inspires intense loyalty, great enough that everyone would die to protect it.

Stealing a Home Stone is a heinous sacrilege and punishable by the most painful of deaths. Conversely it is also the greatest of glories to steal one from another city. As long as the Home Stone survives, so does the city.

The origin of the Home Stone, according to legend, came out of the past when Hesius, the mythical first man of Gor, performed great labors for the Priest-Kings and was promised a reward greater than gold. He was given a flat piece of rock with the single character representing his native village. When he questioned them, he was told the reward was indeed worth more than gold, and they called it a 'Home Stone'.

Long ago, in peasant villages, each hut was built around a flat stone placed in the center of a circular dwelling. The stone was carved with the family sign and called the Home Stone. Each peasant within his hut was a sovereign. Later, Home Stones were used for villages, then towns and cities. In the villages, it was placed in the market area. In most cities, it is usually placed freely in the top of the highest tower, though it is well guarded.

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