The Solarium of Castle Drusus
Amaneris speaks about the role of Free Women in Gorean society
Our Robes of Concealment, in function, resemble the garments of Muslim women on Urth, though, from what I understand, ours are far more intricate and cumbersome. Normally, only a father or Free Companion may look upon a woman unveiled. In the "barbaric" world of Gor, these robes are deemed necessary to protect us as Free Women from the binding fibers of roving Tarnsmen, but few Warriors will risk their lives to capture a woman who might be as ugly as a water buffalo, and have a temper to match. I suppose they feel it is better to steal and capture slaves, where the guilt is less, the penalties less daunting, and the dubious charms of the captive are more readily and easily acertainable.
There is no marriage as an institution or legal agreement,( as practiced on Urth ) but Gor has the Institution of the Free Companionship, which is its nearest correspondent. This contract usually lasts a period of a year. It may or may not be renewed on its aniversary and is considered dissolved if not renewed or if either one is enslaved.
A Free Companion is a Free Person bonded to another by an Institution known as Free Companionship. It is however, true enough,that a Free Woman can be bought from her parents, for Tarns or gold, and still be regarded as a Free companion, even though she may not have been consulted in the transaction. More comendably, a Free Woman may herself, of her own free will, often agree to such a companion, particularly if she is left a saddened (but honorable) widow with small children and a well organized household.
It is not unusual for one of our men to free one of his slave girls in order that she may share the full advantages of a Free Companionship. For obvious reasons most Gorean born Free Women do not care for this idea, as they seem to feel that once a woman has been "degraded" into slavery and bondage she can never again see life from the same perspective and is to be pitied by all respectable females...and treated with Polite Courtesy. However, this is a private matter and certainly not one that any Free Woman would care to discuss at length with the man or woman involved in such an action. It is far more likely to be the topic of conversation and whispers in private discussions...where there are no men watching or listening and the opinions expressed unlikely to arouse the anger of Gorean males...
( Amaneris whispers cautiously, looking around to make certain none of the Free Women are listening ) I, personally, would never choose to discuss with any other Free Woman the fact that I, myself, was once such a slave to Drusus. I remain a Free Woman only as long as Drusus permits it, and I know all too well that at any time he could decide to place the ring of steel back around my neck. As a result of my own personal experiences as a barbarbian slavegirl I am sometimes criticized for being "too compassionate" in my supervision of the kajir in this household; however, memories remain, despite my change in status. After all, who knows what the uncertain future holds for a Free Woman who still speaks Gorean with the faintly detectable foreign accent of Urth.....
One may have, at a given time, an indefinite number of slaves, but only one Free Companion. Such an intimate relationship is not entered lightly, and we consider accepting this committment as indicating a sincere desire to form a family unit and sustain that family at all costs. After all, slaves are easily disposed of....
Free Women of Castle Drusus
Rules governing Free Women on Gor...and the Solemn Act of Submission to a ko'lar
Gorean Freewomen are those of us who dwell within the insulae and shops, or behind walls and guards in the secret pleasure gardens and relaxation pools of the city, performing our labors, managing our households, taking our pleasures and seeing to the birth, maintenance and correct training of the children of Gor. It is a difficult and perilous undertaking for a Gorean freewoman to maintain her status. In fact, a Gorean freewoman is expected to choose the option of free and honorable death rather than accept the fate of living in slavery. In practice, however, this rarely occurs. Few women, even Gorean women of high caste and social position, will willingly choose to suffer a grisly death rather than brave the degradations of bondage.
Many Gorean freewomen would rarely visit, much less frequent, a public paga tavern, as such places are, in essence, a Gorean cross between a strip-joint and a brothel. The men who visit such places do so because they have come to have sex with the slaves for the price of a cup of paga, or because they wish to take their ease and comfort in such a den of disrepute.
The key trait a Gorean warrior expects to find in the freewomen of his city is "virtuous." To the Gorean mind, any woman who possesses the raw lust and submissive desire openly displayed by collared slave girls deserves to be one, and if a freewoman's actions seem to suggest that she either secretly or openly wishes to be enslaved, sooner or later she will be called forth to disprove such accusations.
Nevertheless, the honor in which a true freewoman is held is so great that normally several such offenses must be committed before she is stripped and collared. In such a case, a freewoman will first be warned to abstain from slave like behavior. If she continues to behave so, then to the mind of the Gorean male, and according to the rules of Gorean society, she is actively seeking enslavement.
Similarly a freewoman who willingly places herself into a perilous situation in which enslavement might be the outcome is assumed by most Gorean males to be "courting the ko'lar." In such instances it is generally accepted practice to bestow upon the freewoman the very thing which she so seems to want, a brand and ko'lar of her very own.(shudder)
A Gorean freewoman may own and use slaves, both male and female, as she sees fit.
Perhaps the worse offense which can be performed against a freewoman is that of public facestripping, i.e. when the veils of a freewoman are removed from one of us by force. This is the equivalent of stripping us naked, though even the loss of our robes of concealment is not as great an insult as the loss of our veils. It is regarded as the right, duty and priviledge of Gorean freewomen of the high cities to remain veiled. Even when captured by the Warriors of an enemy city, the freewoman will commonly be allowed to retain her veils at least until her final fate has been decided.
Many Gorean freewomen possess kajiri, or male slaves. These serve many purposes. Often they are servants and retainers, they may be utilized as pack bearers or manual laborers. Often a freewoman will be borne through the streets of her city in a curtained palanquin carried upon the backs of such male slaves. In addition, the wealthier and more free-thinking Gorean freewoman will also have within her household one or more "silk slaves", male slaves chosen for their handsomeness and sexual vigor, who have been trained to serve a Mistress sexually. This is quite acceptable, unless there is a law on the city scrolls which prohibits such sexual congress by free females.
If at any time, or for any reason, a freewoman decides that it is in her best interests either to become a slave or to openly submit herself to a male for his protection and use, this is accomplished by the performance of a formal gesture of submission by which she invokes the ancient Gorean "rite of submission." Many freewomen would rather die than perform such a subserviant act. It is important that a freewoman understand that when this rite is invoked, there is no going back.
Typically there are only two possible outcomes when a freewoman submits so; either she is enslaved and becomes the personal chattel of the male, (his to do with as he sees fit,) or she is found lacking in desirability by the male in question and is driven from him in disgrace.
In the case of a Warrior, the consequences are even more dire, since a Warrior is not permitted by his Codes to abandon a female while she is still alive. Therefore, most Warriors have no qualms whatsoever against putting the submitting female to death on the spot. Indeed, to a Warrior's mind, it is better by far to take the supplicant's life than to abandon her to be randomly enslaved by the first person who comes along. Believe it or not, in such a situation a Warrior is acting to preserve the honor of the former freewoman and her caste and family.
The way the rite is invoked is this: the freewoman typically facestrips herself, publicly announces that she willingly submits to the individual she has chosen, and then assumes "the Position of Female Submission," wherein the freewoman kneels at her captor's feet and leans her body back, sitting upon her heels, with her arms extended upward, crossed at the wrists, and her head beneath them lowered in supplication.
If the male accepts her, she becomes his slave and forfeits all titles, rank and property immediately. If he does not, she accepts the consequences of her actions, even if it means her death. It should be obvious that a freewoman does not invoke the Rite of Submission hastily or without much consideration, as the very act can cost her her life.
These are worn by freewomen in the high cities and are elaborate affairs, being subject to the dictates of the current fashion in her city. They can be highly personal modes of garb, cut and fashioned in countless ways and in numerous styles, according to the whims and desires of the wearer and the restrictions imposed by local sumptuary laws. Nevertheless, they universally have these things in common: They consist of several layers of thick, opaque cloth. Normally opaque hose are worn beneath them, and gloves, to insure that no part of the wearer's body is visible.
The typical garments worn by a freewoman of the high cities includes a shaped and fitted brocade gown with an ankle-length hem and a high collar which reaches to just below the chin. Atop that is worn a loose fitting robe to further conceal the lines and shape of her body. A quilted or brocade headpiece, similar to the arab kafiyeh, is worn pinned or buttoned in place to cover her head, and drapes to the shoulders. The various veils are then attached over the wearer's face through the use of pins and ties, completing the ensemble.
A freewoman may wear slippers or even close-fitting boots beneath her robes, and it is also the custom for women of extremely high rank to wear ornate platform shoes which increase her height by as much as ten inches. Such adornments as those are normally worn only within doors, however, since they are exceedingly difficult to walk in over uneven surfaces.
A wealthy freewoman typically wears much jewelry, consisting of brooches, medallions and chains of office and rank, rings and armlets. Most of us are very careful about wearing wristlets and bangles of precious metal, however, or even close fitting necklaces and especially ornamental "chokers." Such jewelry is thought by many to be an ornamental derivative of the collar and slave-bracelets of a kajira, therefore it is almost never worn by the suitably cautious freewoman, and under no circumstances will any of us EVER wear any sort of jewelry or even a tied scarf about our left ankle, since the left ankle is universally acknowledged by Goreans as the "slave ankle," and any sort of adornment there by a freewoman is unthinkable. Our avoidance of such jewelry is part of our ongoing effort to distance ourselves from women who have fallen to bondage.
A freewoman will, depending upon the customs of her household and city, wear up to five separate veils simultaneously, each with a different purpose of concealment. These veils range in function from thin, gauzy ones worn close to the skin, all the way up to the heavily brocaded street veils worn by freewomen upon the streets and in the public gathering places of our cities. The five basic veils worn by freewomen are, in the order they are donned: the last veil, the veil of the citizeness, the pride veil, the house veil, and the street veil.
THE LAST VEIL:The innermost of the five veils worn by free women; it is worn under the veil of the citizeness, and is often very sheer. Also known as the "privacy veil" or "modesty veil," it is worn in all places except within the private chambers of the freewoman.
THE VEIL OF THE CITIZENESS:The second of the veils worn by free women; worn under the pride veil and over the last veil; it is worn by a freewoman when she leaves her chambers for any reason. The right to wear this veil at all times is guaranteed to all freewomen upon attaining their majority and pledging citizenship. To strip this veil from a citizen of your own Home Stone is considered a violation of basic Gorean law.
THE PRIDE VEIL:The third veil worn by free women; worn under the house veil and over the veil of the citizeness, it is worn when a freewoman is in her house. Unlike the last veil and veil of the citizeness, this veil is completely opaque, and provides true concealment of her features.
THE HOUSE VEIL:The next-to-last veil worn by free women, especially when in the company of men not of her own family; worn over the pride veil, and under the street veil upon leaving the house; when guests are within the walls of her house or when the freewoman is in the company of anyone who is not of her household, she wears this veil at all times.
THE STREET VEIL:The outermost veil worn by free women. Worn over the house veil when leaving the house. Typically a heavy, fitted face-covering of thick brocaded or quilted cloth, equipped with numerous pins and fastening devices.
There are no restrictions upon the weaponry owned and used by freewomen, apart from the general prohibition of technological items sanctioned by the Priest Kings. Nevertheless, the freewomen of the larger and more civilized cities of Gor seldom carry weaponry which cannot easily be concealed.
The two primary weapons in use by such women are the dagger and the poisoned needle, both of which can be secreted among the many folds of our robes and drawn forth for use at a moment's notice. In fact, most Gorean freewomen spend many hours practicing such movements, knowing that a moment's hesitation may one day make the difference for us between a life of ease and honor or a life of imbonditude. Bladed hair combs and the long, razor sharp pins which hold our many veils in place are often used by a freewoman in such an instance.
In general, the typical Gorean freewoman doesn't carry a weapon large enough to be perceived beneath her robes... we knows that there is little chance we would prevail in open combat against a trained Warrior. Our weapons are of stealth and surprise, combined with the desperate desire to remain free at all costs.
A Gorean freewoman does not draw a weapon against another freeperson unless she is under attack. Beware! According to his codes, to draw a weapon against a member of the Warrior Caste is to place yourself within his capture rites. This includes drawing weapons and placing them on a table or displaying such objects in a threatening manner to others in the room, without suitable provocation.
A FEW SUGGESTIONS AND NOTES ON EXPECTED BEHAVIOR
Remember your status! A freewoman is proud, but she does not challenge or insult. To do so is to invite a face-stripping. One thing warriors really seem to enjoy is to ko'lar and enslave freewomen. To draw attention to yourself by making yourself a nuisance to such men is foolhardy to say the least.
Be attractive, witty, graceful, and behave with honor, and you will be treated with the respect due to one your station. Many Warriors of Gor will protect you from overzealous Masters in search of a slave, as long as you do not actively provoke such unwanted attention.
Act like a slave, and you will wind up as one. Behave like the lady you are, and enjoy the respect and honor of Gorean males. Your choice.
"Writ Of Conduct Evidencing Suitability for the Collar"
