September 2017 – Voice of A HOR

Gorean Compass – The Web of Cause and Effect

Gorean Compass class offered every week at the Gorean Campus and taught by Master Gorm Runo.

Tal and Greetings,

Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing some of the tenets listed by an early online Gorean philosopher named Marcus of AR. Number 7 on his list of core Gorean concepts was “Responsibility for one’s actions.”

We have made reference to this concept several other times in different contexts, and it seems on the surface a rather simple and straight forward idea.

I think Marcus expressed it very clearly in his essay from the Gorean point of view and I think you will agree that it is a much more complex and timely issue than it first appears.

7) Responsibility for One’s Actions: This tenet is based upon the Gorean concept of basic “cause and effect.” It is through the practice of this principle that the rest of the tenets listed above make sense, and function. This is the belief that everyone, no matter how great or humble, chooses the course of his or her destiny. When a warrior
draws his sword, he can expect to suffer the consequences. When a Gorean submits to the bonds of slavery, he or she is expected to acknowledge and accept what occurs afterward. In such a way every choice made by every single Gorean is inextricably bound together with the choices of his or her fellow Goreans in a great interlinking web of cause and effect, a massive net of fate which moves the race forward into the future like an unstoppable juggernaut. Do whatever you want to, but expect it to effect you, either for good or ill. You are responsible for yourself.
Excuses are futile and no one wants to hear them anyway. If you screw up, take your medicine, deal with the situation and move on to the next thing. The basic rules and maxims of the various caste codes and the fundamental principles of Gorean interaction seem to be based mostly upon this concept; this, in effect, is the explanation for
Gorean “cruelty.” Goreans are not cruel, they are practical. “That which does not kill them makes them stronger,” to paraphrase from Nietzsche. If you wear the collar of a slave, look like a slave, act like a slave, and if you do not either fight your way to freedom or die in the attempt, then you must really be one. In any case, you most probably
were free at one point… so what happened? You either needed to be a slave, were too weak to stay free, or screwed up really badly somewhere along the way. Whatever the case, deal with it. Life is not fair, and most Goreans are far to practical to try to make it so. Life sucks. If you get hit on the head, don’t waste time crying about it… accept it and next time wear a helmet.

Quoted from the Essay. “What is the Philosophy of Gor” by Marcus of AR.

I think that passage is permeated with so much of what makes Gor unique and also points to what has hindered and haunted Second Life Gor, indeed, Online Gor, since its birth. It is another of those Counter Earth types of ideas that force us to turn a mirror back to Earth society and see how this idea of personal responsibility and an acceptance that life is essentially very unfair is not the direction things seem to be going.

One of the great dividing issues in Western Earth culture these days is the conflict between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. The advocates of equality of outcome have turned “fair” into a sacred word. One commentator remarked that if two men were sitting in a room and one had five dollars in his wallet and the other only one, there are people who are going to claim that it is unfair, and that the only way that such a discrepancy could exist is if one man had exploited, robbed, oppressed, or otherwise hindered the poorer man from earning or saving an extra four dollars. The idea that it might just be harder work and more frugality on the part of one, and some personal weakness in the other would never occur to them.

Goreans have a saying, “Do as you will, the swords of others will set your limits” It is really a fancy way of saying that actions have consequences , and every choice you make is “inextricably bound together with the choices of his or her fellow Goreans in a great interlinking web of cause and effect,”

This concept so applies to Second Life and is at the root of the lack of success that has befallen many Goreans and Gorean sims and groups.

Many people come to Second Life with the equality of outcome mindset of Earth. They are used to elaborate games with elaborate graphics that they can bounce around in and they forget that Second Life was not created by a bunch of programming wiz kids and packaged up and sold at Walmart. They put in their profiles comments such as “This is my Second Life and I will do whatever I please.” And in 99% of Second Life such an attitude is fine. It is how the majority of people feel, so no big deal. But, in the Second Life Gorean community, it is a total repudiation of the very core idea of Gor.

The people that form the heart of the Gorean community recognize that we are indeed bound together in that web of fate and cause and effect and that the actions of people have consequences for either good or bad. They know that they are not guaranteed equality of outcome, and no one can guarantee that they will enjoy or benefit from their experiences here except themselves. Hundreds of people have struggled to build this world and to pay large sums of real money to maintain it, and they have watched hordes of people take advantage of it because they think that opening a Second Life Account is like buying a ticket to Disney Land and they run around like kids expecting to be entertained and enlightened.

This is not a new idea. An American President was stated, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” This is the very point that I am trying to make today. We need to, every so often, stop and ask, “what can I do to make Gor better, or more fun, or more worthwhile?”

In the beginning of the movie, “The Dead Poets Society”, at a ceremony opening a new term of school, the Headmaster yells out, “What are the Four Pillars”, and the boys all stand and recite.
Tradition, Honor, Discipline, Excellence
What a Gorean moment. Those are the four words that best describe what the Gorean ethos and experience should be all about. If you come into this world with a sense of entitlement, and with a feeling that honesty is unimportant, or even with that Earth sense of unicorn fluidity that suggests you can really do and be anything you want whenever you want, then you are not going to further the understanding and execution of any of those four pillars and you are going to be a burden to the people that are fervently trying to do so.

It isn’t really that hard or demanding either. You do not need to contribute great sums of Lindens, or end up working harder in Second Life than you do in Real Life in order to create a positive influence in Second Life Gor. Just as Marcus tells the slaves that if you are a slave, be a slave, and do it right, and accept the consequences, we can tell the same thing to everyone regardless of Caste, or status. This is why he says all the other tenets rest on this one. Be who you are and what you are, and strive for those higher goals and standards and realize that we are really all bound together in that web of cause and effect, so when you improve yourself, you are helping all of us in that ” massive net of fate which moves the race forward into the future like an unstoppable juggernaut. ”

Another line from “The Dead Poets Society” that seems to fit here was delivered by the teacher to the boys. He tells them, “The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”

Second Life Gor is a powerful play, and it will go on, and you can very well contribute a verse. But, you are going to have to accept the idea of personal responsibility and the reality that actions have consequences. You are going to have to leave entitlement behind like excess baggage and accept some inequality and a lot of unfairness. If you can do that, it is very possible the verse you contribute will be extraordinary. It is , in the end, all on you.

*Note added by Xtabi Galaxy: just found this and it’s so perfect I had to add it! I hope it works: Trust, Commitment, Love – Born with a silver spoon

Gorean Compass – Advancing Strength

From The Gorean Compass class as presented by Master Gorm Runo at the Gorean Campus. Master Gorm Runo offers weekly classes every Thursday at noon and 6pm SLT. All are welcome to attend and participate in these amazing classes.

Tal and Greetings

I have been discussing the essay written years ago by Marcus of AR. Marcus was a very intelligent man and his understanding of the first 20 or so of the Gorean novels was very advanced.

His fourth point was called “Advancement of the Strong”

This is what he says:

4) Advancement of the Strong: This tenet is similar to that described above; it simply refers to the common Gorean belief that strength, whether it is physical strength, mental strength, or strength of will, should be celebrated and set forth as an example. In this way the Gorean feels he advances the human race, adding to its chances for survival and continued existence.

I think this short little statement is very, very important in understanding one of the major reasons Gor is called “The Counter Earth.”

Example after example could be shown of how this celebration of strength is being reversed in down there on Earth, and in ways that the Goreans would find totally insane.

In the world of the youth sports leagues, especially in the game of baseball, it is becoming common to not keep score. People are never really called “out” as that would be hurtful, and fans are encouraged not to cheer individual success as that implies someone else has failed and that is hurtful.

And yet the game of baseball would be loved by Goreans and the young would be encouraged to play it for blood as it was intended to be played. Winning is celebrated, losers hang their heads and resolve to work harder and practice more, and win the next year.

This is actually a hard truth for many of us. I, for example, am a man of great compassion. I tend to cry a bit when the camera moves to the losing team. I feel badly for those in the world that are sick, or weak, or are the victims of horrible circumstances, that I have , by luck, avoided. I could be called a bleeding heart by many who have seen the foolish things I tend to worry about.

But, it is a truth. We are not going in the right direction when we lower standards. We do no one a service by leveling the playing field and demanded fair and equal outcomes in all things.

Marcus says that when each person strives to higher goals and becomes stronger, physically, mentally, morally, then the human race becomes stronger and insures its continued survival.

The Counter Earth idea would obviously be that when everyone becomes a bit softer, a bit weaker, a bit more morally depraved, the human race is in a decline and its continued existence is less sure.

I do not think you have to look very hard to find more examples of this idea. Even the “group identity” and slogan words that we talked about in previous classes points to taking “less” personal responsibility, and thinking “less.”

So, this was nicely laid out in the books, and in the writings of the early critics and fans of the books, and then along came the internet.

And along came Second Life Gor.

It is pretty obvious to me that the people that would come here to this community would have bought in pretty strongly to point #4 up there. They were going to create a world that celebrated strength. They were going to set standards of conduct and behavior so high that their world would shine like a beacon on the hill to the rest of the Second Life World that Gor was where the strong ones were, and the ones with Honor. And it was where you were going to find what “submission” really meant, because even the slaves were going to be so real, so honest, so totally free of all harmful unnatural inhibitions that they would shine like diamonds compared to any other kind of female.

There was a bit of sarcasm in that statement above, but only a bit. Sure, the open gates of Second Life Gor led to a stampede of the worse kind of people that were grounded in the exact opposite standard. Everything is someone else’s fault, and we are entitled to do whatever we want , and that includes being dishonest, those were the standards of level the playing field, tolerate and even justify weakness rather than rage against it and always fight it.

Gor tells the slow to try to go just a bit faster. It tells the weak to try to get just a bit stronger. It tells the sick to fight to get just a bit healthier. It is a direction. It is one of the clearest points on the Gorean compass. It points to always trying harder. We celebrate strength and improvement and push ourselves higher because that pushes the whole human race forward.

People might ask if this is true why is Second Life Gor so fucked up right now, and my answer is that when you understand what has really happened, you realize that a miracle has occurred. Despite all the handicaps, despite all the people that tried to stop it from happening, and hated what it stood for, we have done it. We have created a community based on some very sound ideas.

However, the very idea of “Advancement of Strength” seems to point to an increased effort. Obviously, we would never get complacent and just rest on our success. Many of the conflicts and issues of the past remain unresolved, and there is still more drama, division, and lack of cohesion than there should be here.

Maybe I like baseball so much because you do keep score. Maybe it is the bottom of the ninth in Second Life Gor, and the score is tied. If each of us puts just a bit more effort into it, and if each of us raises his personal bar just a little bit higher, and if each person sets the standards just a little higher, then the Gorean community grows stronger and has a bigger chance to survive.

Gorean Compass – Pretending

Another in the series of Gorean Compass classes taught by Master Gorm Runo at the Gorean Campus every Thursday at noon and 6pm SLT. All are welcome to attend and participate in the discussions

Tal and greetings

All of my life I have been involved with and fascinated by role play type games. They gave me the chance to expand my imagination and for a short time pretend to be something other than what I actually was.

Long ago, before the internet, I was involved in Civil War reenactment groups. I would dress as a Confederate soldier and try to experience what it might have been like to march into a field shoulder to shoulder with other men and fire volleys of lead at men standing only 100 yards away shooting volleys back at me.

Even when I was serving in the Army National Guard, I realized that most of our drills were role play. At one time, a bunch of vets of the Vietnam war would go to the woods one weekend every month to role play the recently ended Vietnam War. An amazing device called, “miles gear” that we wore acted almost like the meters popular in Second Life combat. When we were “shot” by a laser beam from an enemy rifle, the device would beep until someone with a key turned it off. Realistic War Role Play.

Computers and video games opened that world up beyond my most wild fantasies. Now, I could pretend to be a general and command great armies. Or pretend to be a might warrior fighting awesome monsters to save a princess, or even a little Italian guy jumping over mushrooms.

The sky was the limit. I could pretend to be whatever I wanted to pretend to be while sitting in safety in front of some kind of screen or monitor. It all seemed so harmless, and so much fun, and there were even arguments that role play’s role was to expand our experiences, help us understand difference and even “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” to see how we would react.

Certainly, the “combat role play” in the National Guard was training soldiers to perform more efficiently. So, I encountered the world of online Gor with a rather favorable outlook on role play.

But, in the past few years, I have noticed an increasing tendency in Western Society on Earth to leave the den and computer and gaming room and take “pretending” to a whole new level. They did not like to use the word, “pretend” because it had a meaning that suggested that truth was not involved, and began to use the word, “identify” instead. Identify had a much more truthful ring to it. So, now men could identify as women. Women could identify as men. People could even identify as mermaids, or puppy dogs.

So, it is no wonder that when Linden Labs introduced a totally new thing—- a user created interactive online venue—- people would find it a perfect place to pretend and identify. A show that was made about second life featured a young man that pretended to be a young girl. He created an avatar, and wondered around doing kid like things. The show made it clear that the young man’s real life was consumed by this. He was spending so much time at it that he didn’t sleep, eat, or even work anymore. All he did was learn what it might be like to be a popular and bratty 11 year old girl, something he would never have a chance to actually be.

So, it was not any wonder either that when Second Life Gor began people would flock to it to pretend.

When the early online Gorean thinker, Marcus of AR, wrote his essay on “The Philosophy of Gor” and 8 core concepts, the very first one said: “Be What You Are.”

Lets read what he had to say.

1) Be WHAT you are: Similar in many respects to a tenet set forth by the Earth philosopher Marcus Aurelius; namely that each thing which exists possesses its own unique singularity. When a thing attempts to be something it is not, problems arise. A man is a man; a woman is a woman; a tree is a tree; a flower is a flower. To the Gorean mind, it is foolish for anything to assume the properties of another thing.Therefore, each person is required to understand his or her basic nature, and to abide by it. According to such a tenet, therefore, it is assumed that there are needs, desires and activities which are specifically masculine, and those which are specifically feminine. Though the lines may blur at times, when all things are reduced to their basic forms, each thing is appreciated and celebrated for its own uniqueness, and is not forced to assume properties of another, different, thing.

Since this does not address the issue of “where you are”, but talks about “what you are”, it seemed that a logical rule for how people would interact in this user created interactive world of Gor would be something like this: Here pretending is all about where you are and what you are doing, but no one is allowed to pretend that they are something other than what they actually are.

This type of role play was no different than the Army role play. We didn’t pretend we were someone else, we merely pretended we were somewhere else doing something else. So, in Second Life Gor, we pretended we were suddenly on Gor.

Is it possible that confusion and conflict might develop in a role play world that has as one of its major philosophical tenets that we seek out and be true to our actual reality and has everyone running around pretending to be something they are not.

Sure, a Gor roleplay game, purchased at Game Stop, and played on our X-Boxes would be amazing and I would be first in line to purchase one and try it out, but, the truth is that Second Life isn’t a Gor role play game at all.

The truth is that at this point, I don’t think anyone really knows what it is really. Nothing like it has ever existed and so we have no reference points. Most people solved that problem by making it what was familiar to them. Many made it a game, and called it that. Many saw it as a chatroom, and made it into that. A lot of people even saw it as a sort of animated “Match.com” and made it that.

This is the essence of our current problems, as well as our challenge. Second Life Gor is increasingly drawing to it, people who are really engaging its philosophy. It is drawing more and more people distressed by the direction of Earth society and exploring alternative ideas. it is drawing more people frustrated and unhappy and thinking society is conditioning them in a dishonest way to deny basic truths and want to explore other ways to express themselves.

And it is, at the same time, attracting game players who poo pah all that, and say this is just a place where you get to be an Italian guy jumping over mushrooms if you want to be because we are free to be whatever we want now. We have evolved to shape shifters in the last couple of generations

So, our problem is how do we reconcile all these different motivations into some sort of a cohesive community. And also, how important is it, in a Gorean based community, to actually, “Be who and what you are??

Gorean Compass – Natural Order

The Gorean Compass is a class taught every Thursday at the Gorean Campus in Second Life. The class is taught by Master Gorm Runo who is a well known instructor and philosopher within Second Life Gor. Class times are noon and 6pm SLT and all are welcome to come join in the fascinating discussion

Tal and Greetings

It is good to be back after a two week absence tending to matters down on Earth. It did give me a chance to reflect on some interesting topics for this seminar.

In a class last year, I quoted from the book, The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris.

One of the students made a point of debunking the reference by informing me that “modern thinkers” had totally repudiated the ideas of Morris and moved into a much more enlightened way of looking at the human condition and natural order.

Of course, this would be true of “modern thinkers” who seem bent on twisting even such things to fit a pre-approved agenda, and the natural order warning of his work would be very upsetting to them.

Here is some of the passage:

“As I have stressed throughout this book, we are, despite all our great technological advances, still very much a simple biological phenomenon. Despite our grandiose ideas and our lofty self-conceits, we are still humble animals, subject to the basic laws of animal behavior. Long before our populations reach the levels envisaged above we shall have broken so many rules that govern our biological nature that we shall have collapsed as a dominant species. We tend to suffer from a strange complacency that this can never happen, that there is something special about us, that we are somehow beyond biological control. But we are not. Many exciting species have become extinct in the past and we are no exception. Sooner or later we shall go and make way for something else.

“Optimism is expressed by some who feel that since we have evolved a high level of intelligence and a strong inventive urge, we shall be able to twist any situation to our advantage; that we are so flexible that we can re-mould our way of life to fit any of the new demands made by our rapidly rising species-status; that when the time comes we shall be able to cope with the over-crowding, the stress, the loss of our privacy and independence of action; that we shall re-model our behavior patterns nd live like giant ants; that we can control our aggressive and territorial feelings, our sexual impulses and our parental tendencies; that if we have to become battery-chicken apes, we can do it; that our intelligence can dominate all our basic biological urges.

I submit this is rubbish.

It is very likely that such a view, which seems so prophetic by those observing what is happening in Earth society today, is not popular in modern educational circles, or that Desmond Morris is not considered a legitimate voice of science, but there is no doubt this view expressed above contains the very cornerstone of the Natural Order suggested in the Gorean novels.

There has been much confusion about Natural Order and what it means in the Gorean philosophy. Even the dictionary is not much help as the term, as well as, Natural Law, have been around since Plato and have a wide variety of definitions.

One of the early online Goreans named Marcus of Ar had written an essay where he tried to define seven basic tenets of Gorean philosophy that seemed to be universal. It reminded me of the book written by C.S. Lewis, where he was defining some core Christian beliefs. He made the analogy of a big hotel with many rooms. Most of the beliefs held by various denominations of Christians were represented by those cozy private rooms, but before you could even get in the lobby to check out these rooms, you had to accept a few core beliefs.

Marcus of AR identified seven such core beliefs and at #3 he had: “Obey the Natural Order of Things” This is what he had to say on the subject.

Obey the Natural Order of things: This tenet applies to the way Goreans view the world around them. They feel it is futile to attempt to disregard the effect of hundreds of generations of evolution. If a creature is naturally genetically equipped to fulfill a specific function in relation to another, then it is considered fitting and proper that such a creature be allowed to do so, even when such natural predisposition might result in stratification. In regards to human beings, it is understood that stronger, more intelligent, and more ambitious human beings will naturally assume a higher social strata in regards to their interaction with the less strong, less intelligent, and less ambitious. In regard to male/female sexual relations, it is therefore the right of the male, who is genetically predisposed for physical dominance, to control the physical aspects of his relationship to the female. In return, he is expected to behave as the hunter/provider, seeing to the protection of the female to insure the propagation of the race. Females, meanwhile, who tend to be smaller and less physically powerful, are expected to respect the biological truths of their lesser physical stature, while making the most of their genetic predisposition to serve and aid the male, and utilizing their superior emotional empathy and long-term endurance to do so while surviving and advancing the species. Not all women, therefore, are slaves, though the female sex is often referred to by males as “the slave sex.” Gorean females are simply expected to respect and understand that they are less able in areas requiring raw physical strength than their male counterparts, and adjust their behavior accordingly. When one considers the fact that personal combat to the death is a daily occurrence throughout Gor, such behavior among Gorean women is a wise practice to say the least.

If you have watched the news, or been active in social media over the last couple off years, you can imagine the firestorm such a statement would arouse if published outside of Gorean circles. It is the very essence of misogyny and toxic Masculinity in the view of the enlightened “modern thinkers” It is a true example of the “Counter-Earth” view of Gor. The fact that it is most likely also hard cold truth is considered irrelevant.

Also, the fact that there is some evidence that people are being negatively impacted by their departure from “obeying natural order, seems irrelevant. Marcus of AR paraphrases John Noman by suggesting such a departure leads to “”a mass of conflicting drives and emotions, more prone to heightened mental stress, physical illness, psychological disease and a substantially shortened lifespan.”

In the next few weeks, we will examine the other six “core beliefs” from this essay and show how they all relate to a cohesive Gorean meaning of Natural Order, and also how they are in direct opposition to the direction of Earth society and are producing those messed up people John Norman was speaking of. We can also look at how closely these things are being observed in Second Life Gor and examine if we are actually as “counter-earth” as we think we are.

Gorean Compass – Howdy Stranger

The Gorean Compass class offered by Master Gorm Runo at the Gorean Campus within Second Life. The class is on Thursdays at noon and 6pm SLT. All are welcome to come and join in the discussions. These classes cover Gorean Philosophy as it relates to either lifestyle or roleplay goreans within Second Life. Timely lessons which are down to earth and full of wisdom. Well worth the time spent!

Tal and Greetings,

Last week we talked about signal words. Those meaningless words that are thrown out to make thinking a little less necessary.

I think the world’s record was set this week on Face Book when a meme was published that called a certain Earth political figure a total of 22 non-cognitive terms. Some of them have been topics of previous classes, such as misogynist and today I would like to discuss the Gorean perspective on a couple of others. They are racist and xenophobe.

The online dictionary defines xenophobia as a “hatred or fear of anything that is strange or foreign, including strangers and foreigners.”

If you are familiar with the Gorean novels, you will have come across the statement that in the Gorean language, the word for stranger and enemy is the same word.

It is mentioned many times. The Gorean word for “stranger” and the Gorean word for “enemy” are the same word.

That would be considered a very xenophobic statement by many in modern Western Earth culture.

Upon deeper reflection, however, the idea that you fear strange and foreign things might well be one of those deep rooted genetically fired reactions to a successful evolutionary selection.

In other words, you have good cause to fear the unknown, and early humans that had enough sense to fear strangers and take measures to protect themselves from them might have survived more often and been more likely to pass on their genetic codes to future generations.

The citizens of a city on Gor like Kassau, that had been raided by the men of Torvaldsland, could easily be called Xenophobic for hating and fearing the ‘strangers and foreigners” to the North by progressive thinkers of today, but they might also be called prudent and wise by more conservative ones.

In the quote from last week’s class, when Jason Marshall was called a “sexist” and blew it off as a “signal word”, the girl responded by saying:

“I am afraid you do not share my values”

And that, in my opinion, is the real underlying key to this issue. Progressive thinking tends to see the human race as one big happy family filled with different groups, perhaps, but basically all sharing the same values.

Since they are assuming that everyone has a shared set of identical values, they do not much like to discuss values, and tend to see anyone that is questioning this assumption as having hatred and fear rather than legitimate and prudent concerns.

The Gorean process would work more like this: A stranger is one that we do not know. Therefore, he may not share our values and he may pose a threat to our safety and wellbeing. Therefore, he is an enemy. Once we know him and realize he does share our values, he is no longer a stranger, and thus, no longer an enemy. In fact, he is now more likely to be a friend, or a brother.

You can find an extreme example of this in the beginnings of Nomads of Gor , when Tarl is going into the land of the Wagon People. He is told that the Wagon People slay strangers. And when he meets them, they do attempt to slay him. But, Tarl shows courage, and then shows compassion and mercy, and these are all the important values of the Wagon Peoples and thus Tarl is no longer a stranger, and holds Earth and Grass in his hand as a sign of brotherhood that is displayed throughout the rest of the story.

The little incident at the beginning of Nomads, when seen in this symbolic manner, illustrates the Gorean attitude on the second of those signal words as well.

The four riders that confront Tarl are a very diverse mix of racial and physical characteristics that are represented in the tribes of the Wagon Peoples. They range from the black skinned, to the oriental, to the fair haired blue eyed, and not one single reference is made to racial or physical characteristics that suggests those things have anything to do with “values.”

Racism is just that. It is suggesting behavior or values might be somehow a function of the pigment of the skin, the color of the hair or eyes, or any other factor beyond the control of an individual. It is an idea that is incomprehensible to a Gorean who understands rational thought and insists on personal responsibility and appropriate consequences for behavior.

Down on Earth these days, the idea of Intersectionality is becoming a popular idea. It suggests that the moral worth of a person can be determined by the group to which they belong and how oppressed that group has been in the past. It would suggest for example, that the opinion of a black gay woman would carry more moral validity than the opinion of a white straight male, simple because of membership in three oppressed groups. This is a total rejection of rationality and almost pure racism.

So, we are guilty of the xenophobia charge, but we are rather proud of it. The world still is a rather dangerous place and in the past severely conflicting values have led to incredible violence and could well again. It is wise to be prudent and to consider strangers as potential enemies until they are no longer strangers and we know that we share compatible values.

But, we are not guilty of racism. In fact, it is one of the shinning stars in the Gorean online galaxy. We reject it philosophically from every angle. It is not rational. It is not part of Natural Order. It is not something that could have been genetically programmed into us. We understand that it is a cultural thing and a rather sick and shallow one at that.

With all that said, I wonder if we have been too open in our welcome to the Gorean community? Over the years, I have seen many “Welcome Centers” and sims advertising “Beginner Friendly.”
We have displayed a very good public relations orientated attitude toward “newbies” that has made many of us feel all warm and fuzzy as we stand with open arms welcoming them to our world.

But, has that been really a proper Gorean approach? Would it be a bit wiser and more prudent to remember that the word for stranger and enemy is the same, and the new person we might be welcoming so effusively to our world might not share our values, and the conflict that might ensue could be dangerous.

Obviously, slamming shut and locking doors is the opposite extreme and does not jive well with our sense of balance, and the middle ground might be understanding and practicing the process illustrated in our Nomads of Gor story. We can be a bit stand offish and waste no time demanding new people quickly establish that they do share our values, and mean us no harm. Insist that they quickly cease being strangers and foreigners, because after all , for us Goreans, once you are no longer a stranger, and once you have impressed us, not with the color of your skin or hair, and not with your race or place of origin, but with your Honor, your courage, your honesty, you are very likely to become our friend and even our brother.

This idea applies across the board. Pure role players creating story line role play in BTB sims, would do well to think in terms of quality rather than quantity in their recruiting. Lifestyle Goreans certainly have a concern about the quality and motivations of the people with whom they interact in Second Life Gor.

Maybe our detractors will have more cause to hurl signal words at us like ripe larma fruit, but we are not worried about name calling. A little xenophobia might help raise the bar across the whole spectrum. Very rarely has anything been made less by raising its standards.

And we know we are not racists. The very idea is enough to make a Priest King weep. and curl his antenna with disgust.

A New Home!

The House of Runo is thrilled to announce they have a brand new home! We now reside on a full sim which will allow us to invite many more visitors and have bigger and better events and activities.

The Black Tarn Tavern and Inn is one of the main attractions of The House of Runo. It is situated along the vosk delta, only reachable through a small inlet which leads to the dock.

Once landing on the dock visitors can pick up information about the HOR and all it offers. Straight ahead is the Black Tarn Tavern and Inn and off to the right is the village with shops and activities.

The entire sim is known as Caer Cadarn. One won’t find the actual Caer, which is a collection of stone ruins, on the main ground since it is a sacred place. It is to be found up near Master Gorm Runo’s home and can be seen by invitation. However the rest of the Caer (as we affectionately call our new home) is open access.

Caer Cadarn, The Black Tarn Tavern and Inn are all active G&S participants. Products are actually used and consumed with the tavern using G&S coins. Those who live and work with the HOR and at the Caer are all paid salaries, thus creating a thriving economy within the community.

Caer Cadarn follows the philosophy of The House of Runo in that we don’t grow and produce everything that G&S has to offer. We have a large and thriving Tharlarion ranch and we actively race the Tharlarions. We are also known for our HOR Ka-la-na, paga and other strong drinks and so we have a modest Ka-la-na grove. However, there is plenty that we don’t produce which leaves the HOR open to trade with other G&S farms and communities.

The House of Runo doesn’t only focus on G&S productions, however. The community contains at least three broadcasters for Goreans Portal Radio. We have many events which include Tavern Night. Tavern night is just what it says it is. We like to keep it as authentic to what one would expect to find at a real gorean tavern.

You’ll find us enjoying tavern night in the Black Tarn Tavern every Thursday evening at 7pm SLT and Sunday evenings at 5pm SLT. It’s a very popular event and one of the main reasons we moved to a full sim so that more could attend and enjoy.

And don’t worry if you drink too much or aren’t ready to go home and the end of the evening because we have a full inn with plenty of rooms in which to stay and enjoy!

Speaking of enjoyment, Caer Cadarn and The HOR is not all work. Goreans are known for sucking the marrow out of life and enjoying every nuance of their world. As such Caer Cadarn provides many places for relaxation and fun! Lots of romantic locations, quiet locations, adventure or just those little erotic interludes that many enjoy.

For instance, there is a beach over on the side where the vosk delta melds into the Thassa sea. Dancing, swimming, sunning and fun is easy to find there. You’ll find a smooth transition as the vosk gives way to a less swampy and humid environment.

Finally coming to the beach with it’s salty ocean spray and more tropical atmosphere.

Right behind the beach with easy access to fresh water is the bathhouse. Brimming with anything and everything a gorean may need to enjoy their time romping, playing and relaxing in the waters warmed by fires and tended to by beautiful and sensual slave girls!

And next to the beach and bath house is the pleasure gardens. Beautiful gardens in which to relax, talk and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature…. and each other!

Don’t be thinking that all we do at The House of Runo is play and relax, though. We are very much into the arts and entertainment. All of the girls of the HOR are dancers and we are actively involved in the dancing community.

There are also warriors among us. Guardsmen to protect and defend Caer Cadarn and the surrounding area. They must hone their skills and keep sharp! As such there is both a theater/stage area and an arena all ready for those who wish to participate in those activities.

As if all of this wasn’t enough, there is more! A fishing hole with a small cabin are available for the anglers among us. Stocked with fish and other critters roaming which one would usually find within the vosk delta.

Caer Cadarn is home to a variety of citizens. As such, we have even made room in a small corner of the sim for a wagon camp. Plans are in the works for more homes to be constructed for those who wish to live and work within the House of Runo and on Caer Cadarn.

So come visit! Come see what we are all about. The House of Runo is growing and thriving and accepting people of all walks, trades and castes. Just follow the map provided and you’ll be met by a sultry slave who will be more than willing to show you around and answer all your questions. We hope to see you soon!

Follow this link to come visit The House of Runo, The Black Tarn Tavern and Caer Cadarn! Come See us!