Among all the different regions of Gor, the Wagon Peoples are considered
to be the strongest and most fierce. Many see them as nothing more than herders
of bosk who live out on the wide open Plains of Turia, yet they are cunning,
brilliant and highly organized. They are the only group on Gor that has a clan
of torturers, trained as carefully as scribes or physicians, in the art of
detaining life
Those of the Wagon People, both Free and slave, are
stronger…bolder…wiser. Slaves amongst the Wagons are typical Gorean beauties,
however, they are more brazen and bold while still being completely slave. They
like to tear the Masters up with their fire and Masters expect and encourage
that. It is the strong that survive on the Plains and the slaves reflect that
strength.
Tribes of the Wagon Peoples
"And
there were four Wagon Peoples, the Paravaci, the Kataii, the Kassars and the
dreaded Tuchuks."
Nomads of Gor, pg 9
Ways of the Wagon Peoples
"The
Wagon Peoples grow no food, nor do they have manufacturing as we know it. They
are herders and it is said, killers. They eat nothing that has touched the dirt.
They live on the meat and milk of the bosk. They are among the proudest peoples
on Gor, regarding the dwellers of the cities of Gor as vermin in holes, cowards
who must fly behind walls, wretches who fear to live beneath the broad sky, who
dare not dispute with them the open, windswept plains of their world."
Nomads of Gor, pg 4
"I knew that they spoke a dialect of Gorean, and
I hoped I would be able to understand them. If I could not I must die as
befitted a swordsman of Ko-ro-ba. I hoped that I would be granted death in
battle, if death it must be. The Wagon Peoples, of all those on Gor that I know,
are the only ones that have a clan of torturers, trained as carefully as scribes
or physicians, in the arts of detaining life."
Nomads of Gor, pg 9
"He grinned a Tuchuk grin. "How are the Bosk?" He asked. "As well as may
be expected," said Kamchak. "Are the Quivas sharp?" "One tries to keep them so,"
said Kamchak. "It is important to keep the axles of the wagons greased,"
observed Kutaituchik. "Yes," said Kamchak, "I believe so." Kutaituchik suddenly
reached out and he and Kamchak, laughing, clasped hands."
Nomads of Gor, pg
44
Mother of the Wagon Peoples
"The
bosk is said to be the Mother of the Wagon Peoples, and they reverence it as
such. The man who kills one foolishly is strangled in thongs or suffocated in
the hide of the animal he slew; if, for any reason, the man should kill a bosk
cow with unborn young he is staked out, alive, in the path of the herd, and the
march of the Wagon Peoples takes its way over him."
Nomads of Gor, pg 5
How Wagon Peoples deal with strangers
"The Wagon Peoples, it is said, slay strangers. The
words for stranger and enemy in Gorean are the same."
Nomads of Gor, pg 9
kajir
"Among the Wagon Peoples, to
be clad Kajir means, for a girl, to wear four articles, two red two black; a red
cord, the Curla, is tied about the waist; the Chatka, or long , narrow strip of
black leather, fits over the cord in front, passes under, and then again, from
the inside, passes over the cord in back; the Chatka is drawn tight; the Kalmak
is then donned; it is a short sleeveless vest of black leather; lastly the
Koora, a strip of red cloth, matching the Curla, is wound about the head, to
hold the hair back, for slave women, among the Wagon Peoples, are not permitted
to braid, or otherwise dress their hair; it must be, save for the Koora, worn
loose. For a male slave or Kajirus, of the Wagon Peoples, and there are few,
save for the work chains, to be clad Kajir means to wear the Kes, a short,
sleeveless work tunic of black leather.
"As Kamchak and I walked to his
wagon, I saw several girls, here and there, clad Kajir; they were magnificent;
they walked with the true brazen insolence of the slave girl, the wench who
knows that she is owned, whom men have found beautiful enough, and exciting
enough, to collar. The dour women of the Wagon Peoples, I saw, looked on these
girls with envy and hatred."
Nomads of Gor, pg 30
"both girls wore
the Sirik, a light chain favored for female slaves by many Gorean masters; it
consists of a Turian-type collar, a loose, rounded circle of steel, to which a
light, gleaming chain is attached; should the girl stand, the chain, dangling
from her collar, falls to the floor; it is about ten or twelve inches longer
than is required to reach from her collar to her ankles; to this chain, at the
natural fall of her wrists, is attached a pair of slave bracelets; at the end of
the chain there is attached another device, a set of linked ankle rings, which,
when closed about her ankles, lifts a portion of the slack chain from the floor;
the Sirik is an incredibly graceful think and designed to enhance the beauty of
its wearer; perhaps it should only be added that the slave bracelets and ankle
rings may be removed from the chain and used separately; this also, of course,
permits the Sirik to function as a slave leash."
Nomads of Gor, pg 42
"Elizabeth Cardwell took the meat in her two hands, confined before her
by slave bracelets and the chain of the sirik, and bending her head, her hair
falling forward, ate it. She, a slave, had accepted meat from the hand of
Kamchak of the Tuchuks. She belonged to him now."
Nomads of Gor, pg 54
"the Wagon Peoples enjoy being served by civilized slaves of great
beauty and high station; during the day, in the heat and dust, such girls will
care for the wagon bosk and gather fuel for the dung fires; at night they will
please their masters."
Nomads of Gor, pg 57
"The Turian camisk, on
the other hand, if it were to be laid out on the floor, would appear somewhat
like an inverted "T" in which the bar of the "T" would be beveled on each side.
It is fastened with a single cord. The cord binds the garment on the girl at
three points, behind the neck, behind the back, and in front at the waist. The
garment itself, as might be supposed, fastens behind the girls neck, passes
before her, passes between her legs and is then lifted and, folding the two
sides of the T's bar about her hips, ties in front. The Turian camisk, unlike
the common camisk, will cover a girl's brand; on the other hand, unlike the
common camisk, it leaves the back uncovered and can be tied, and is, snugly, the
better to disclose the girl's beauty."
Nomads of Gor, pg 90
"Few it
seemed to me, much objected to leaving the luxurious delights of the gardens for
the freedom of the winds and prairies, the dust, the smell of bosk, the collar
of a man who would master them utterly, but before whom they would stand as
human shes, individual, each different, each alone and marvelous and prized in
the secret world of her master's wagon."
Nomads of Gor, pg 332
Garb of the Wagon Peoples
"I could
see he carried a small, round, leather shield, glossy, black, lacquered; he wore
a conical, fur-rimmed iron helmet, a net of colored chains depending from the
helmet protecting his face, leaving only holes for the eyes. He wore a quilted
jacket and under this a leather jerkin; the jacket was trimmed with fur and had
a fur collar; his boots were made of hide and also trimmed with fur; he had a
wide, five-buckled belt. I could not see his face because of the net of chain
that hung before it. I also noted, about his throat, now lowered, there was a
soft leather wind scarf that might, when the helmet veil was lifted, be drawn
over the mouth and nose, against the wind and dust of his ride."
Nomads of
Gor, pg 10
"He was very erect in the saddle. His lance remained on his
back, but he carried in his right hand the small, powerful horn bow of the Wagon
Peoples and attached to his saddle was a lacquered, narrow, rectangular quiver
containing as many as forty arrows. On the saddle there also hung, on one side,
a coiled rope of braided boskhide and, on the other, a long, three-weighted bola
of the sort used in hunting tumits and men; in the saddle itself, on the right
side, indicating the rider must be right-handed, were the seven sheaths for the
most legendary quivas, the balanced saddleknives of the prairie. It was said a
youth of the Wagon Peoples was taught the bow, the quiva and the lance before
their parents would consent to give him a name, for names are precious among the
Wagon Peoples, as among Goreans in general, and they are not to be wasted on
someone who is likely to die, one who cannot well handle the weapons of the hunt
and war. Until the youth has mastered the bow, the quiva and the lance he is
simply known as the first, or the second, and so on, son of such and such a
father."
Nomads of Gor, pg 11
The Omen Year
"The Wagon Peoples
war among themselves, but once in every two hands of years, there is a time of
gathering of the peoples and this, I had learned, was that time. In the thinking
of the Wagon Peoples it is called the Omen Year."
Nomads of Gor, pg 11
"It is the Omen Year," had said Kamchak of the Tuchuks. The herds would
circle Turia, for this was the portion of the Omen Year called the Passing of
Turia, in which the Wagon Peoples gather and begin to move toward their winter
pastures; the second portion of the Omen Year is the Wintering, which takes
place far north of Turia, the equator being approached in this hemisphere, of
course, from the south; the third and final portion of the Omen Year is the
Return to Turia, which takes place in the spring, or as the Wagon Peoples have
it, in the Season of Little Grass. It is in the spring that the omens are taken,
regarding the possible election of the Ubar San, the One Ubar, he would be Ubar
of all the Wagons, of all the Peoples."
Nomads of Gor, pg 55
The Kaiila
"The mount of the Wagon
Peoples, unknown in the northern hemisphere of Gor, is the terrifying but
beautiful kaiila. It is a silken, carnivorous, lofty creature, graceful,
long-necked, smooth-gaited. It is viviparous and undoubtedly mammalian. The
young are born vicious and by instinct, as soon as they can struggle to their
feet, they hunt. The kaiila is extremely agile and can easily outmaneuver the
slower, more ponderous high tharlarion. It requires less food, of course, than
the tarn. A kailla, which normally stands about twenty to twenty-two hands at
the shoulder, can cover as much as six hundred pasangs in a single day's
riding."
"The head of the kaiila bear two large eyes, one on each side,
but these eyes are triply lidded, probably an adaptation to the environment
which occasionally is wracked by severe storms of wind and dust; the adaptation,
actually a transparent third lid, permits the animal to move as it wishes under
conditions that force other prarie animals to back into the wind or, like the
sleen, to burrow into the ground. The kaiila is most dangerous under these
conditions, and, as if it knew this, ofter uses such times for its hunt."
Nomads of Gor, pgs 13-14
"The kaiila and its master fight in battle
as one unit, seemingly a single savage animal, armed with teeth and lance."
Nomads of Gor, pg 170
Scar Codes
"I was looking on the
faces of four men, warriors of the Wagon Peoples."
"On the face of each
there were, almost like corded chevrons, brightly colored scars. The vivid
coloring and intensity of these scars, their prominence, reminded me of the
hideous markings on the faces of mandrills; but these disfigurements, as I soon
recognized, were cultural, not congenital, and bespoke not the natural innocence
of the work of genes but the glories and status, the arrogance and prides, of
their bearers. The scars had been worked into the faces, with needles and knives
and pigments and the dung of bosks over a period of days and nights. Men had
died in the fixing of such scars. Most of the scars were set in pairs, moving
diagonally down from the side of the head toward the nose and chin. The man
facing me had seven such scars ceremonially worked into the tissue of his
countenance, the highest being red, the next yellow, the next blue, the fourth
black, then two yellow, then black again. I recalled what I had heard whispered
of once before, in a tavern in Ar, the terrible Scar Codes of the Wagon Peoples,
for each of the hideous marks on the face of these men had a meaning, a
significance that could be ready by the Paravaci, the Kassars, the Kataii, the
Tuchucks as cleary as you or I might read a sign in a window or a sentence in a
book. At that time I could read only the top scar, the red, bright, fierce
cordlike scar that was the Courage Scar. It is always the highest scar on the
face. Indeed without that scar, no other scar can be granted. The Wagon Peoples
value courage above all else. Each of these men facing me wore that scar."
Nomads of Gor, pgs 15-16
"Without the Courage Scar one may not,
among the Tuchuks, pay court to a free woman, own a wagon, or own more than five
bosk and three kaiila. The Courage Scar thus has its social and economic, as
well as its martial, import."
Nomads of Gor, pg 113
"To a Tuchuk,"
said Harold, "success is courage - that is the important thing - courage itself
- even if all else fails - that is success."
Nomads of Gor, pg 273
Children
"The children of the Wagon
Peoples are taught the saddle of the kaiila before they can walk."
Nomads of
Gor, pg 17
Tuchuck
"He wants a kill, I told
myself. He is under the eyes of warriors of the other peoples. It would be
safest to throw low. It would be a finer cast, however, to try for the throat or
head. How vain is he ? How skillful is he? He would be both skillful and vain;
he was Tuchuk."
Nomads of Gor, pg 25
Holding Dirt and Grass
"Suddenly
the Tuchuk bent to the soil and picked up a handful of dirt and grass, the land
on which the bosk graze, the land which is the land of the Tuchuks, and this
dirt and this grass he thrust in my hands and I held it. The warrior grinned and
put his hands over mine so that our hands, together held the dirt and the grass,
and were together clasped upon it. "Yes," said the warrior, "come in peace to
the Land of the Wagon Peoples."
Nomads of Gor, pg 26
"You would
risk," I asked, "the herds- the wagons- the peoples?"~ "Yes," said Kamchak.
"Why?" I asked. He looked at me and smiled. "Because," said he, " we have
together held grass and earth"
Nomads of Gor, pg 52
Free Women
"Tuchuk women, unveiled,
in their long leather dresses, long hair bound in braids, tended cooking pots
hung on tem-wood tripods over dung fires."
Nomads of Gor, pg 27
"Free women, incidentally, among the Wagon Peoples are not permitted to
wear silk: it is claimed by those of the Wagons, delightfully I think, that any
women who loves the feel of silk on her body is, in the secrecy of her heart and
blood, a slave girl, whether or not some Master has yet forced her to don the
collar."
Nomads of Gor, pg 58
Haruspex
The Wagon People are
fascinated with the future and its signs. An army of a thousand wagons once
turned aside because a swarm of rennels (poisonous crab-like desert insects) did
not defend its nest, which had been crushed by a wheel of the lead wagon.
Omens are interpreted by haruspexes, who read signs in bosk blood, the
livers and entrails of sleen, slaves, and other animals, as well as the wind,
the grass, the flights of birds, and other natural phenomenon.
In addition,
haruspexes provide amulets, talismans, potions, etc to members of the Camp.
They also provide minor medical treatment to the women and slaves of the
Wagon People.
Nomads of Gor, pg 28
Brands
"The brand of the Tuchuk
slave, incidentally, is not the same as that used in the cities, which for girls
is the first letter of the expression Kajirae cursive script, but the sign of
the four bosk horns, that of the Tuchuk standard, the brand of the four bosk
horns, set in a manner to somewhat resemble the letter H, is only about an inch
high."
Nomads of Gor, pg 62
"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, it is
used to mark their bosk and slaves."
Nomads of Gor, pg 106
"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; the Paravaci standard is a large
banner of jewels beaded on golden wires, forming the head and horns of a bosk
its value incalculable; the Paravaci brand is a symbolic representation of a
bosk head, a semicircle resting on an inverted isoceles triangle."
Nomads of
Gor, pg 106
Wagons
"The wagons of the Wagon
Peoples are, in their hundreds and thousands, in their brilliant, variegated
colors, a glorious sight. Surprisingly, the wagons are almost square, each the
size of a large room. Each is drawn by a double team of bosk, four in a team,
witch each team linked to its wagon tongue, the tongues being joined by tem-wood
crossbars. The two axles of the wagon are also of tem-wood, which perhaps,
because of its flexibility, joined with the general flatness of the southern
Gorean plains, permits the width of the wagons."
"The wagon box, which
stands almost six feet from the ground, is formed of black, lacquered planks of
tem-wood. Inside the wagon box, which is square, there is fixed a rounded,
tentlike frame, covered with the taut, painted, varnished hides of bosks. These
hides are richly colored, and often worked with fantastic designs, each wagon
competing with its neighbor to be the boldest and most exciting. The rounded
fame is fixed somewhat within the square of the wagon box, so that a walkway,
almost like a ships bridge, surrounds the frame. The sides of the wagon box,
incidentally, are, her and there, perforated for arrow ports, for the small horn
bow of the Wagon Peoples can be used to advantage not only from the back of a
kaiila but, like the crossbow, from such cramped quarters. One of the most
striking features of these wagons is the wheels, which are huge, the back wheels
having a diameter of about ten feet."
Nomads of Gor, pgs 30-31
"The
interiors of the wagons, lashed shut, protected from the dust of the march, are
often rich, marvelously carpeted and hung, filled with chests and silks, and
booty from looted caravans, lit by hanging tharlarion oil lamps, the golden
light of which falls on the silken cushions, the ankle-deep, intricately wrought
carpets."
Nomads of Gor, pg 31
Plain of a Thousand Stakes
"The
stakes, flat-topped, each about six and half feet high and about seven or eight
inches in diameter, stand in two long lines facing one another in pairs. The two
lines are separated by about fifty feet and each in a line is separated from the
stake on its left and right by about ten yards. The two lines of stakes extended
for more than four pasangs across the prairie."
"In the space between
the two lines of stakes, for each pair of facing stakes, there was a circle of
roughly eight yards in diameter. This circle, the grass having been removed, was
sanded and raked."
Nomads of Gor, pgs 112-113
Love War
"The theoretical
justification of the games of Love War, from the Turian point of view, is that
they provide an excellent arena in which to demonstrate the fierceness and
prowess of Turian warriors, thus perhaps intimidating or, at the very least,
encouraging the often overbold warriors of the Wagon Peoples to be wary of
Turian steel. It might also be mentioned that the Turian warrior, in his
opinion, too seldom encounters the warrior of the Wagon Peoples, who tends to be
a frustrating, swift and elusive foe, striking with great rapidity and
withdrawing with goods and captives almost before it is understood what has
occurred. I once asked Kamchak if the Wagon Peoples had a justification for the
games of Love War. "Yes," he had said. And he had then pointed to Dina and
Tenchika, clad Kajir, who were at that time busy in the wagon. "That is the
justification," said Kamchak. And he had then laughed and pounded his knee."
Nomads of Gor, pg 116
The
Tribes of Gor
Tuchuk, Kassar, Paravachi, Kataii, Who are they? where did they come
from? What decent are they? In this lesson I hope to enlighten you on
the Histories of these people as well as a breif background of their
beleif system. First We must cover the basics that are common to All
the Wagon Peoples. the commonalities that binds them in tradition on
The Tribes
of Gor
All the Nomadic Wagon tribes have many things in common, They have
a political structure, and a beleif system, in their political
struture, they are always lead by an Ubar. He is the sole leader of the
thousands of wagons. the First Wagon, or the Ubars Wagon, is generally
the largest in the Train, it is pulled by 100 bosk. though there are
other smaller wagons that are said to be of the first wagon, the Ubars
wagon is the largest, these other wagons are courtisans to the Ubar.
those of His family, and those that have gained His favor.
Those of the First wagon may be commanders of 1000, in earthen terms
they would be concidered generals,.in command of 1000 wagons. and the
ranks move down from there, Commander of 500 or lesser to Commander of
100.
All the Men of the Wagons wear Scars on their faces. these scars move
from the cheekbone down to the chin area. they are Red yellow black
and blue. these scars have meaning, the red scar is for Courage. No
Man of the Wagons will gain any respect with any of the People of the
wagons until this scar is earned, next is the Yellow scar, this is
for leadership, such as an Ubar or a commander, then the black scar
this is won in Glorious battle. finally the Blue scar or the peoples
scar, this is given for service to the Wagons.
The Beleif system of the Wagon people is that there is no Diety, nor
Deamon to pray to. they beleive only in what they can see or touch
or smell. Some pray to the sky, only because it is the giver of rain
and wind. All the tribes follow the same diet, they eat nothing of
the ground, they only partake of Bosk meat, and milk, they get
drunk from the curds of fermented bosk cream.
they use the Haruspex, for telling the future. these are their
fortune tellers. they are used in the omen year to predict the coming
of a new Ubarsan, or to predict the sex of an unborn bosk. they read
the blood and entrails of slaves, and the livers of bosk. they make
sacrifices to the sky with the burned bodies of bosk.
an interesting note about the Women of the wagons, is that they do not
wear veils or cover themselves in robes of concealment, they generally
wear bosk skin dresses, and braid their hair. They are feirce women
who in times of trouble fight along side the Men to save the wagons.
the slaves are usually dressed in a pancho type vestment with a rope
belt about it when they are walking amongst the wagons, this is called
the chatka and curla. unlike the freewomen they wear their hair free.
The Men of the wagon have but one vice, and that is they love a good
bet..they will bet on anything, which way a lance will fall from the
wind, or whether a bird will turn in flight from the south to the north
or on the seeds of a tospit, odd or even. The Wagon people rarely come
together, the only time is during an omen year. otherwise they have
their own territory marked out in the Turian plains.
The Tuchuk are the most commonly known tribe,it is beleived that they are
direct decendants of the people of the persian steps, near russia. Their standard is
four bosk horns mounted upon a lance. their brand is two sets of bosk
horns coming together to form an Earthen H in simility. The Tuchuk have
the most recognition because they have within their tribe the Ubarsan
Kamchak. or the sacred leader of all the tribes. The Tuchuk are known
also as the most feared of all the tribes, they have stormed Turia
and taken it, they have marched all the way up to the gates of Koroba
and could well have taken it if they wished to. they occupy the region
of the Plains closest to Turia, on the east of the plains near the Ta
thassa sea.
Directly across from the Tuchuks is the Kassar, these are the blood
people. it is said that they are direct decendants of Mongolian
Chinese and are dreaded fighters. they practice certain forms of
martial arts, and are conquerors. it is said that the kassar language
is the oldest language in Gor predating even Ar. Their standard is
a scarlet three weighted bola which is seated on a lance. their brand
is a stylisation of the bola. they occupy the western portion of the
Turian plains near the Aretai desert.
Directly to the north near the Southern rain forest is the lands of
the Paravachi, they are said to be the richest of the Wagon people.
they are descendants of the Latin/Italian heritage of earth, they at
one time challenged the Tuchuks to battle, and almost won if it hadnt
been for a brave effort of two Tuchuk warriors banding the Kassar
and the Kataii to aid the Tuchuks. Their brand is a jeweled
representation of a bosk head. and their brand is much like the old
middle eastern letter the aleif, which looks like the head of a cow.
They often wear ropes of jewels into battle, this is not done in
vanity, it is done to entice the enemy into fighting.
Finally is the Kataii tribe, they are dark skinned feirce warriors,
the Kataii are said to be the proud decendants of African Warrior
tribes, They are mysterious animalistic fighters, they fight with the
courage of a Larl. and with the strength of 1000 bosk. they are loyal
Men who fight with Honor. and they keep the traditions of their
ancestors. The Kataii standard is a yellow bow bound across a
black lance. and their brand is a yellow bow facing to the left.
There is one other tribe that is noteworthy of mentioning. that is the
kaiila tribes of the badlands below southern Gor. these people are the
direct decendants of Native Americans, they follow the traditions of
these proud people and carry their beleifs in Honor. they ride horses
whereas the Wagon people ride kaiila. little is known of the kaiila
tribe, they rarely trust anyone and can be savage if trespassed upon.
yet, in this light, if You are found to be worthy among them, You have
family for life.