Warrior Codes

Warrior Caste The Warrior Caste is one of the five High Castes on Gor, though it is the least of the High Castes. Red, or scarlet, is the color of the Warrior Caste and Warriors often wear red tunics to denote their status. The usual garb of a Warrior is a scarlet tunic, sandals and cloak. The books do not explicitly state that there are any subcastes to the Warrior Caste but it see s reasonable that so e do exist such as Tarns en and Tharlarion Cavalry en. !t can be difficult at ti es to differentiate between what would be considered an actual subcaste and what would si ply be considered a different position. " City Guards an ay si ply be a possible position and not an actual subcaste. !t generally see s that subcastes possess certain skills that others ay not. #eing a City Guards an does not really take special skills but obviously a Tarns an would. The Gorean ter for a Warrior is $rarius$ and the plural for is $rarii.$ " rarius denotes any type of Warrior and not %ust a e ber of the Warrior Caste. The warriors of the Wagon &eoples, Torvaldsland and other such cultures are rarii. This ter was never used to refer to a wo an in any of the novels. " pride consists of a hundred Warriors. !t appears to be an older ter that has fell out of use by the ti efra e of the novels. !n Gor's past, there were once &ride Chiefs who ruled rather than the (bars and "d inistrators of today. !t is unknown if &ride Chiefs still exist. Warrior Code The conduct of the Red Caste is governed pri arily by the Warrior Code. The Warrior Code is a rudi entary for of chivalry, e phasi)ing loyalty to the &ride Chiefs and the Ho e *tone. !t is harsh but with a certain gallantry and sense of honor. "ll Warriors are supposed to obey this code. The code is never fully laid out in the novels but any i portant details were given. +ore infor ation about the Warrior Caste Codes was given in the novels than for any other Caste. Certain ,uotes help to delineate the i portance of the Codes to Warriors. "What are the codes? They are nothing, and everything. They are a bit of noise, and the steel of the heart. They are meaningless and all significant. They are the difference. Without the codes men would be Kurii." -#easts of Gor, p. ./01 "What is it to be a warrior? It is to keep the codes. othing else matters." -#easts of Gor, p../01 "!ne does not speak to a slave of the codes." -#easts of Gor, p. ./01 2et, a nu ber of Goreans acknowledge that the Codes ay not be absolute. There ay arise situations not covered by the Codes. 3r there ay arise ti es when a Warrior feels he ust violate his Codes for so e reason or another. " couple ,uotes illustrate this viewpoint. "...all wisdom and truth does not lie in my own codes." -&riest45ings of Gor, p. 6/1 "...all truth and reality is not written in one"s own codes." -Raiders of Gor, p..601

Warrior Code *pecifics Here are so e of the ite s that are specifically included in the Warrior Codes in the novels. This is not an exhaustive list of everything in their Caste Codes. Code7 The only honorable reply to a challenge is to accept it pro ptly. -Warriors do not back down fro challenges. They face such atters with bravery.1 Code7 3ne who has shed your blood, or whose blood you have shed, beco es your sword brother, unless you for ally repudiate the blood on your weapons. This is part of a bond shared by Warriors that overco es city barriers. !t is a atter of Caste that supersedes allegiances. !t is a showing of respect for those who this Caste. Code7 Warriors do not break their sworn word. Code7 The only death fit for a warrior is in battle. Code7 !f you want another's slave, you ust challenge for her and choice. This is also known as the clai of sword4right. eet your opponent with the weapon of his

Code7 He who cannot think is not a

an and neither is he who can only think.

Code7 Warriors do not kill the selves or aid others in doing so. -*uicide is not an option for a warrior.1 Code7 "I had been so much a fool as to be sad. That is not the mood in which to enter battle, even the battle which one knows one cannot win, even the ultimate battle in which one knows is doomed to defeat. #o not be sad. $etter to take the field with laughter, with a %oke, with a light thought, with a buoyant thought, or to go forward with sternness, or in fury, or with hatred, or defiance, or calculation, but never with self pity, never with sadness. ever such things, never them&" -8agabonds of Gor, p. //91 Code7 When a wo en kneels, lifts her hands up with wrists crossed, and sub its to a warrior, custo that he either accepts the sub ission or slays the captive. de ands

Code7 !f a warrior accepts a wo an as a slave, it is prescribed that, at least for a ti e at his discretion, she be spared. #ut if she is in the least bit displeasing, she ay be i ediately killed. Code7 !n ti es of crisis, a war chief, or (bar, is na ed who rules without check and by decree until he decides the crisis has passed. *word loyalty is the bond of fidelity to a (bar. !t is not sworn lightly. When an (bar is thought unfit, the sword loyalty is dishonored and the (bar ay be deposed by his own warriors. Those who don't surrender are usually deserted by their en. When the en don't desert, the (bar then rules as a tyrant. Code7 Warriors have a co on Ho e *tone. !ts na e is battle. Code7 The slave is a %oy and a convenience to the warrior. Taking slaves is not only per itted, it is encouraged. Code7 !f you lift a weapon against a warrior, he is per itted by his codes to kill you. -:o not draw a weapon against a warrior unless you are prepared for battle.1 Code7 There is nothing in the codes that explicitly de ands resistance to brigands. Code7 &oisoned steel is against the codes. Code7 The oath of disown ent is an irreversible cere ony. 2ou essentially disown a fa ily e ber so that they lose their fa ily and caste. #asically you ake the pronounce ent with your hand on the hilt of your sword. Code7 ;<th "phoris of the Warrior Codes7 $What is invisible but ore beautiful than dia onds=$ The answer is $Honor.$ 3ther answers could include $that which is silent but deafens thunder$ and $that which depresses no scale but is weightier than gold.$ Code7 >ven warriors long so eti es for the sight of their own flags, atop friendly walls, for the courtyards of their keeps, for the hearths of their halls. Warrior *ayings There are also sayings of the warriors which co only followed. ay or ay not be actual parts of the codes but which are

"The bite of the ost to be one of the cruelest ways to die." -3utlaw of Gor, p. 66?1 "$e strong and do as you will. The swords of others will set you your limits." -+arauders of Gor, p. 601 "' warrior takes what he wishes." -3utlaw of Gor, p. @?1 "I am of the Warriors. I will take by the sword what women please me." -#easts of Gor, p. ./?1 "(teel is the coinage of the warrior. With it he purchases what pleases him." -+arauders of Gor, p. 601 "Within the circle of each man"s sword, therein is each man a )bar." -+arauders of Gor, p. 601 ")ntil you find *someone or something+, your companion is peril and steel." -&riest 5ings of Gor, p. .0<A Bo ads of Gor, p. @?<1 "' sword must drink until its thirst is satisfied." -Guards an of Gor, p. 6<1 "Where weapons may not be carried, it is well to carry weapons." -+arauders of Gor, p. /61 "#id he think that the color of a fellow"s garments was what made him a warrior? (urely he must

reali,e that one not of the warriors might affect the scarlet, and that one who wore the grimed gray of a peasant, one barefoot, and armed only with the great staff, might be of the scarlet caste. It is not the uniform which makes the warrior, the soldier." -+agicians of Gor, p. 6@;1 "There are no mere points of honor." -8agabonds of Gor, p. 9.1 "Tears are not unbecoming to the soldier.The soldier is a man of deep passions, and emotion. -any men cannot even understand his depths. #o not fear your currents and your powers. In the soldier are flowers and storms. .ach is a part of him, and each is real. 'ccept both. #eny neither." -Guards an of Gor, p. @.?1 " o one can take the scarlet from you, once it is granted, unless it be by the sword." -Tribes an of Gor, p. @6?1 "There is no incompatibility between letters and arms. The greatest soldiers are often gifted men." -+ercenaries of Gor, p. /?1 "-any are the causes of /or and so too, many are the captains. -any captains choose their causes on the scales of merchants, weighing their iron against gold." -+ercenaries of Gor, p. /?1 "(teel can always command a price." ->xplorers of Gor, p. ?91 "0auses e1ist that men may fight." -Guards an of Gor, p. 691 "War is a perilous and e1hilarating sport, a game of warriors and )bars." -8agabonds of Gor, p. 6?1 "It is no dishonor to surrender." -#easts of Gor, p. /@61 "There is a time and place for speaking, as there is a time and place for steel." -*lave Girl of Gor, p. @9;1 " ot everyone who is of the Warriors knows that he is of the Warriors." -Rogue of Gor, p. .6<1 "Is it not a parado1? -en need us in order to bring about a world in which we may be scorned and disregarded...-en seldom recall whom it was who brought them the fruits of victory." -#easts of Gor, p. .61 "I had heard warriors say that they would rather be poisoned by a woman than slain by an arrow." -Raiders of Gor, p. /1 "The steel, as is often the case, had seemed to think for itself." -*avages of Gor, p. ;@1 "The cynical, mercantile mind will never understand the mind of the soldier." ->xplorers of Gor, p. @@;1