The city of Ko-ro-ba is the first Gorean city we encounter
in the Gor novels. In Tarnsman of Gor, Tarl Cabot is first brought
to this city when he is taken from Earth by a ship of the Priest-Kings. It
will become Tarl's first Home Stone and is one of the High Cities of Gor.
Despite its initial importance, the books actually do not describe Ko-ro-ba
in much detail. We know only a few of its citizens. We also know
little of what has transpired in Ko-ro-ba during much of the latter part
of the series.
The word "Ko-ro-ba" is an archaic expression for a village
market, thus likely showing the age of this mighty city. It is also
known sometimes as the City of Cylinders or the Towers of the Morning. The
latter designation was given to it by an ancient poet, one who sung the glories
of many different Gorean cities. These names show that the cylinders
of Ko-ro-ba seem to be impressive, maybe even more so than the cylinders
of other cities. As most Gorean cities consist of cylinders, there
must be some reason why Ko-ro-ba is named so.
Ko-ro-ba lies high in the northern temperate latitudes,
not too far from the Thassa shore. The Sardar is located over one thousand
pasangs away. Ko-ro-ba is located northwest of Ar, on the other side
of the Vosk River, and the Thentis Mountains. A tarn from Ko-ro-ba
could reach the city of Thentis in one day though a wagon would take the
better part of a Gorean month. It also takes about three days by tarn
to travel from the Vosk River to Ar. Northeast of Ko-ro-ba is the city
of Laura that is about two hundred pasangs inland of the Thassa shore. These
distances and travel times help us to determine the general location of Ko-ro-ba.
Ko-ro-ba sits in the midst of hills, a few hundred feet
or so above sea level. This is not a mountainous area, but one of gently
sloping rises. The road to the city does wind up a rather steep ascent
to a series of ridges. This steepness does bother some merchants and
others who must traverse this road with heavy burdens. The road is
also marked by cylindrical pasang stones each inscribed with the sign of
Ko-ro-ba and the approximate pasang count to the city walls. There
are grain fields some pasangs away from the city located toward the Vosk
and Tamber Gulf.
White walls surround the city, enclosing the myriad cylinders
and towers. These cylinders and towers are of varying sizes and colors,
joined by narrow bridges that arch between them. None of the bridges have
railings and some may be as high as one thousand feet off the ground. By
day, this is a colorful vision almost like a multi-hued spider web. At
night, the city is also as colorful. First, there would be peasant
fires lit in the areas surrounding the city. Then, there would be large
beacon fires on the city walls to mark the passage for tarnsmen. Within
the city, there would be lanterns on the bridges. The cylinder compartments
would also have lit lamps of a hundred colors burning brightly. Lamp
codes may be used to tell others of the latest news and gossip.
The present Administrator of Ko-ro-ba is Matthew Cabot,
the father of Tarl Cabot. Matthew was once the Ubar of Ko-ro-ba and became
the Administrator around 10108 C.A. Matthew was born on Earth over six hundred
years ago. He was brought to Gor by the Priest-Kings and would have
been one of the first generation to receive the Stabilization Serums. He
is the oldest known person on Gor. Though a few other Goreans are noted
as looking old, their actual ages are never given. Matthew is tall,
red-haired and appears to be in his 40s. He has been working for the
Priest-Kings for a long time. They were the ones who told him to name
his son Tarl. Tarl's mother was from Earth and she went to Gor to be
with Matthew. Gor scared her though and Matthew had her returned to
Earth out of his love for her. Matthew has a small Home Stone in his
personal chamber that encloses a handful of dirt he brought from Earth.
Tarl Cabot, the center of much of the Gorean series,
is Matthew's son and was born on Earth in Bristol, England. His mother
died when he was about six years old and he never knew his father during
his youth. After his mother died, Tarl was raised by his aunt. He
eventually went to the University of Oxford and graduated decently though
not superlatively. In his search for a job, he opted to become an English
history teacher at a small liberal arts college for men in New Hampshire.
(It is interesting that this was a male only college) Tarl has
red hair and blue eyes. He is also tall, well built, and fair-skinned.
One of Tarl's interests was in fencing. During his first Christmas
vacation, he decidesto go camping in the White Mountains despite a lack of
experience in such matters.
On February 3, he found a strange letter and ring. The
letter was an envelope of a strange metal with a place for a thumb print.
It opened when he placed his thumb against that spot. The letter was
dated February 3, 1640 and was from his father, Matthew Cabot. The
ring was a red metal bearing a simple crest "C", his father's crest. At
this point, Tarl is in his early twenties, no more than twenty-five years
old. Tarl then enters a spaceship, passes out and wakes up on Gor,
within a chamber in Ko-ro-ba. Tarnsman of Gor does not give
an Earth year for this occurrence but on Gor the year is 10110 C.A.
It is the second book in the series, Outlaw of Gor,
that provides us with the clues to approximate an Earth year for the timeline
of the novels. After the events of Tarnsman of Gor, Tarl is
sent back to Earth against his will. He returns to Gor at the start
of Outlaw of Gor and it is now 10116 C.A. on Gor. Soon after
he returns to Gor, his friend Harrison Smith receives a manuscript that would
eventually become Tarnsman of Gor. In general, it takes one
to two years for a book to see publication. Tarnsman of Gor
was published in December 1966 thus Harrison Smith likely received the manuscript
in February 1965 or 1966. That would then place the events of Tarnsman
of Gor in 1959 or 1960. The year 2000 A.D. would thus translate
to 10149 or 10150 C.A.
When Tarl first came to Gor, he was trained as a Warrior
and taken into the Red Caste. He was groomed for a dangerous mission,
to steal the Home Stone of Ar. He was successful and Marlenus, Ubar
of Ar, was ousted from the city and the Initiate Caste took control. Pa-Kur,
a Master Assassin later forcefully captured Ar but he was soon after overthrown
by Tarl and forces from Ko-ro-ba and Thentis. The Warrior Kazrak was
made the temporary Administrator of Ar while Marlenus was officially exiled
from the city. Marlenus then went to the Voltai Mountains with a group
of loyal men. Tarl then Companioned Talena, the daughter of Marlenus,
and returned to Ko-ro-ba. But after his wedding night, the Priest-Kings
returned him to Earth.
When Tarl returned to Gor, he found that the Priest-Kings
had destroyed Ko-ro-ba and decreed that no two people of Ko-ro-ba should
reunite. The citizens of Ko-ro-ba were now scattered all over Gor.
The city had existed for about another year after Tarl's return to
Earth. Then there were fire signs that indicated the city was to be destroyed.
Tarl journeyed to the Sardar to confront the Priest-Kings. After
the events of Priest-Kings of Gor, Tarl reunited with his father and
other Koroban citizens. Matthew still possessed the Home Stone of Ko-ro-ba
and the city was permitted to rebuild.
There are two other prominent Koroban citizens mentioned
in the novels. One is also named Tarl, sometimes referred to as the
Older Tarl, and the other is Torm. The Older Tarl was Tarl's instructor
in the warrior arts. He is a blond-haired, blue-eyed giant of a man.
He has a beard over his craggy face. He is commonly cheerful
and proud, though not arrogant. He disdains the use of the crossbow and long
bow believing they are weapons almost beneath a Warrior. Torm is a
Scribe of Ko-ro-ba and taught Tarl how to speak, read and write Gorean. Torm
has sandy hair, pale blue eyes, a sharp needle of a nose and a slight build.
He does not take care of his clothes and is a messy housekeeper. He
seems to be always cold. He understands English, has a phenomenal memory
and a true love of education. He is an eccentric man with a good sense
of humor.
An important cylinder within Ko-ro-ba is the Chamber
of the Council, a building common to most Gorean cities. It is here
where the elected representatives of the High Castes hold their meetings
and other important functions. It is the widest cylinder in the city
and its ceiling is six times higher than a normal ceiling in a residence
would be. The ceiling is said to be lit "as if by stars" though that
is not explained. Possibly there are tiny holes in the ceilings and
the light is shown through them. The walls are painted in horizontal
stripes of color, using the five High Caste colors. Benches of stone
surround the room in five tiers. The wall behind each tier is a different
color representative of the Caste assigned to that particular tier. The
bottom tier belongs to the Initiate Caste and the other tiers follow the
normal Caste ranking, from Scribe to Warrior. In the center of the
room is a throne for the city ruler, the Administrator in Ko-ro-ba. No weapons
are permitted in this room except when a new Warrior is being inducted into
the Warrior Caste. In that case, the entrant will be the only one with
weapons. It is likely that citizenship ceremonies also occur here.
Like all Gorean cities, Ko-ro-ba has its enemies and
allies. Ar is a hereditary enemy of Ko-ro-ba. Prior to the events
of Tarnsman of Gor, Matthew Cabot tried to form an alliance of cities
against Ar, worried about Ar's empire building. The fiercely independent
cities though rebuffed his offer, actually whipping his diplomatic envoys
with a slave whip. Matthew chose not to go to war over that insult
only because such a war would only benefit Ar. Ko-ro-ba knew that it
had only a comparitive handful of tarnsmen in comparison to Ar. This
is why Ko-ro-ba chose to steal the Home Stone of Ar to ruin its enemy. The
loss of their Home Stone would have a devastating effect. Later in
the series, during the Cos/Ar war, nothing is really said about Ko-ro-ba's
stance on this matter. It is doubtful they would support Cos but also
may not give much, if any, aid to Ar.
Raiders from Treve were once a threat to Ko-ro-ba. The
raiders would hit them at the harvest season and steal much of their grain,
burning what they did not take. The tarnsmen of Ko-ro-ba are on par
with those of Treve. But, the problem was detecting the raiders before
they reached the city. Matthew Cabot found a way though to stop those
attacks and Treve no longer raids their fields. Matthew constructed
a series of beacons, outside the city, set into fortified towers. Each
manned beacon would give alarm if a raider or invader were detected. The
beacon would light a flame. At night, the flame would be easily visible
by the next beacon that would also light a flame. During the day, green
branches would be used on the fire to make a white smoke. T he men also have
a system of signals to communicate with each other and the city. This
early warning system would allow the tarnsmen of Ko-ro-ba to quickly mobilize
against any danger. Once this system was in place, Treve stopped raiding
the city.
Ko-ro-ba is now allied with Thentis. After allying
with Thentis to stop Pa-Kur from seizing Ar, the two cities continued to
maintain the alliance. Ko-ro-ba does not have any other known allies.
Most Gorean cities are very independent and such alliances are rare.
The books also contain a mix of small items concerning
Ko-ro-ba:
War Call of Ko-ro-ba: This is mentioned very briefly. It
appears to be a summons to war for the warriors of the city. We do
not know if it is a specific signal or if this is simply a generality.
Tharlarion: No one in the city maintains or breeds tharlarions.
Tarns are the preferred mode of travel.
Free women: The women of Ko-ro-ba are some of the most free
of all the Gorean cities. They have less restrictions on their mobility.
Many Free Women in other cities are not permitted to leave their home
without the permission of a male relative or Free Companion. This is not
true in Ko-ro-ba. They may even attend the theater unattended. It
is thought that this is due in part to Matthew Cabot's liberal views on women.
Family is very respected in the city as well.
Street of the Field Gate: This broad avenue leads to the
southernmost gate of the city.
White walls: The rebuilt Ko-ro-ba has white walls, a similar
color to those of Ar. The color is intended to reflect light back at
any potential invaders making their attack more difficult.
Public slave pens: The city has such pens that are available
for rent to visting Slavers. State slaves are also housed here. This
is basically only a boarding facility and any training must be found in the
private pens.
Selnar: This is the third month of the Gorean calendar, known
in Ar and other cities as Camerius.
Coinage: The gold tarn disk of Ko-ro-ba is a well respected
coin over much of Gor.
Kaissa: Open and well-known Kaissa tournaments are held in Ko-ro-ba.
