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For the Gorean, though he seldom speaks of these things, a city is more than brick and marble, cylinders and bridges. It is not simply a place, a geographical location in which men have seen fit to build their dwellings, a collection of structures where they may conveniently conduct their affairs.
The Gorean senses, or believes, that a
city cannot be simply identified with its material elements, which undergo their
transformations even as do the cells of a human body.
For them a city is almost a living thing, or more than a living thing. It is an
entity with a history, as stones and rivers do not have history; it is an entity
with a tradition, a heritage, customs, practices, character, intentions, hopes.
When a Gorean says, for example, that he is of Ar, or Ko-ro-ba, he is doing a
great deal more than informing you of his place of residence.
The Goreans, generally, though there
are exceptions, particularly the Caste of Initiates, do not believe in
immortality. Accordingly, to be of a city is, in a sense, to have been a part of
something less perishable than oneself, something divine in the sense of
undying. Of course, as every Gorean knows, cities too are mortal, for cities can
be destroyed as well as men. And this perhaps makes them love their cities the
more, for they know that their city, like themselves, is subject to mortal
termination.
---Outlaw of Gor, p 22
*AR -- The City-State of Ar extends from the foot of the Voltai Mountains, South of the mighty Vosk, over many pasangs of sa-tarna fields, ka-la-na orchards and vast swamp lands and forests, between the Vosk and Cartius rivers. In the heart of this territory is found the high walled City known to Gor as Glorious Ar, City of Marlenus, Ubar of Ubars.
By far the largest and most populous city on Gor, Ar is said to be, by myth and legend, the eldest City on Gor. First Home Stone of Gor, the 'Luck of Ar' is at the center of the first of the Chronicles of the Counter Earth series. Ar is where trends are set, where the latest is always first to be seen, it is 'the best' at many things, including the production of Gor's Ka-la-na wine.
Ar, beleaguered and dauntless, was a
magnificent sight. Its splendid, defiant shimmering cylinders loomed proudly
behind the snowy marble ramparts; its double walls, the first three hundred feet
high; the second, separated from the first by twenty yards, four hundred feet
high-walls wide enough to drive six tharlarion wagons abreast on their summits.
Every fifty yards along the walls rose towers, jutting forth so as to expose any
attempt at scaling to the fire of their numerous archer ports.
---Tarnsman of Gor, 15:162
*ARGENTUM -- South West of Corcyrus, this Silver producing City of the North is sister to the much written about Tharna.
*BESNIT -- A City near Harfax, both mentioned as being 100 pasangs from the woods of Clearchus and close enough to Ar's Station to have been fled to by its women during invasion.
*CORCYRUS -- One of the only Cities of Gor ever ruled by a woman. The tyrannous reign of Sheilah, was put to an end and rightful order was restored. The City lies South West of Ar.
"Corcyrus," said the girl,
"is south of the Vosk. It is south- west of the city of Ar. It lies to the
east and somewhat north of Argentum."
---Kajira of Gor, p 40
"Where was the other one
from?" asked Tupa.
"Argentum," I said.
"Where is that?" asked Tupa.
"To the south and west," I said (the girls speaking here, are in Ar)
Following the above passages, one pictures the following mapping, from North to South: Ar. To the SW, Corcyrus. To the SW further, Argentum.
***It
was near dawn now. The wagon would proceed east on the Argentum road, reach the
Viktel Aria, and turn south. Then, in time, it would arrive in Ar. Soon I would
be enslaved, legally. I would be, totally, legally, a slave on Gor.
---Kajira of Gor,
Now the above quote certainly makes for conflicting conclusions as to the exact location of Ar, Corcyrus and Argentum, in relationship to each other. Ineed, if one goes East, then South to make thier way from Argentum to Ar, would it not place Argentum to the NW of Ar? How then would Corcyrus be North of Argentum AND South of Ar? It certainly had this researcher puzzled and the only thing which was put forth is that the 'turn South' in that last quote should have been a 'turn North'.
*EDGINGTON -- A City mentioned in a brief comment on the exploits of Dietrich of Tarnburg. Its exact location is not specified.
*ESALINUS -- A City located within 100 pasangs of the woods of Clearchus.
*FORT HASKINS -- A trading post turned military outpost turned City, Fort Haskins lays in the Thentis mountain range, at the foot of the Boswell pass near the edges of the Barren lands of the North-East areas of explored Gor, home to the tribes of Red Savages.
"The next town northward is Fort
Haskins," I said. This lay at the foot of the Boswell Pass. Originally it
had been a trading post, maintained by the Haskins Company, a company of
Merchants, primarily at Thentis. A military outpost, flying the banners of
Thentis, garrisoned by mercenaries, was later established at the same point. The
military and strategic importance of controlling the eastern termination of the
Boswell Pass was clear. It was at this time that the place came to be known as
Fort Haskins. A fort remains at this point, but the name, generally, is now
given to the town which grew up in the vicinity of the fort, primarily to the
west and south. The fort itself, incidentally, was twice burned, once by
soldiers from Port Olni, before that town joined the Salerian Confederation, and
once by marauding Dust Legs, a tribe of the red savages, from the interior of
the Barrens. The military significance of the fort has declined with the growth
of population in the area and the development of tarn cavalries in Thentis. The
fort now serves primarily as a trading post, maintained by the Caste of
Merchants, from Thentis, an interesting recollection of the origins of the area.
---Savages of Gor, pp76-77
*FORTRESS of SAPHRONICUS -- A small merchant post several days from Ti.
The retinue was the betrothal and dowry
retinue of the Lady Sabina of the small merchant polls of Fortress of
Saphronicus bound overland for Ti, of the Four Cities of Saleria, of the
Salerian Confederation.
---Slave Girl of Gor, 5:
The journey itself, overland and afoot
from Fortress of Saphronicus to Ti, would take several days, but it was
ceremonially prolonged in order that the four tributary villages of Fortress of
Saphronicus might be visited. It is not unusual for a Gorean city to have
several villages in its vicinity, these customarily supplying it with meat and
produce.
---Slave Girl of Gor, 5:
*HARFAX -- A City near Besnit, both mentioned as being 100 pasangs from the woods of Clearchus and close enough to Ar's Station to have been fled to by its women during invasion.
*HOCHBURG-- A mountain fortress city of the Southern ranges of the Voltai, said to be locates some 200 pasangs South-West of Tarnburg.
Dietrich of Tamburg, of the high city
of Tamburg, some two hundred pasangs to the north and west of Hochburg, both
substantially mountain fortresses, both in the more southern and civilized
ranges of the Voltai, was well-known to the warriors of Gor.
---Mercenaries of Gor, 2:
*HOLMESK -- A town located between Ar and Ar's Station, 00 pasangs South of the Vosk river.
"The report claims they are in
winter quarters at Holmesk, one hundred pasangs south of the Vosk."
---Renegades of Gor, 11
*KAILIAUK -- Easternmost town of the Thentis mountain foothills, Kailiuk is on the very edge of the Inhanke or Boundary of the country of the red savages.
Kailiauk is the easternmost town at the
foot of the Thentis mountains. It lies almost at the edge of the Inhanke, or
Boundary. From its outskirts one can see the markers, the feathers on their tall
wands, which mark the beginning of the country of the red savages.
---Savages of Gor, p 77
In Kailiauk, as is not unusual in the
towns of the perimeter, the Administrator is one of the Merchants. The major
businiess of Kailiauk is the traffic in hides and kaiila. It serves a function
as well, however, as do many such towns, as a social and commercial center for
many outlying farms and ranches. It is a bustling town, but much of its
population is itinerant. Among its permanent citizens I doubt that it numbers
more than four or five hunderd individuals.
---Savages of Gor, pp 93-94
*KARGASH -- A City mentioned in a brief comment on the exploits of Dietrich of Tarnburg. Its exact location is not specified.
*KO-RO-BA -- This City of Cylinders whose name simply means "village market", renamed by poets "The Towers of the Morning", is the home of Tarl Cabot. A city destroyed by the will of the Priest Kings and rebuilt to its former strength and beauty. Ko-Ro-Ba is one of the most northern situated cities of its size, located well to the North and East of Ar, although not as far North as the areas refered to as 'The Northern Forest' and 1000 pasangs from the Sardar mountains. Ko-Ro-Ba is famed for the fierceness of its Warriors.
Ko-ro-ba lay in the midst of green and rolling hills, some hundreds of feet above the level of the distant Tamber Gulf and that mysterious body of water beyond it, spoken of in Gorean simply as Thassa, the Sea. Ko-ro-ba was not set as high and remote as for example was Thentis in the mountains of Thentis, famed for its tarn flocks, but it was not a city of the vast plains either, like the luxurious metropolis of Ar, or of the shore, like the cluttered, crowded, sensuous Port Kar on the Tamber Gulf. Whereas Ar was glorious, a city of imposing grandeur, acknowledged even by its blood foes; whereas Thentis had the proud violence of the rude mountains of Thentis for its setting; whereas Port Kar could boast the broad Tamber for her sister, and the gleaming, mysterious Thassa beyond, I thought my city to be truly the most beautiful, its variegated lofty cylinders rising so gently, so joyfully, among the calm, green hills.
An ancient poet, who incredibly enough
to the Gorean mind had sung the glories of many of the cities of Gor, had spoken
of Ko-ro-ba as the Towers of the Morning, and it is sometimes spoken of by that
name. The actual word Ko-ro-ba itself, more prosaically, is simply an expression
in archaic Gorean referring to a village market.
---Outlaw of Gor
*MARKET OF SEMRIS -- A small trading town south-east of Samnium, known for its livestock markets.
We were not in Samnium, but in the
Market of Semris. This is a much smaller town, south, and somewhat to the east,
of Samnium. It is best known, interestingly enough, ironically enough, as an
important livestock market. In particular, it is famed for its sales of tarsks.
Too, of course, there are markets here for slaves.
---Dancer of Gor, p 106
*MINUS -- A Village under the hedgemony of Ar. Its exact location is not specified.
By order of Rask of Treve they, by
their skill in weapons and their mastery of the techniques and lore of the hunt,
and pretending to be of Minus, a village under the hegemony of Ar, made
petition, and successfully so, to participate in the retinue of the great Ubar.
---Raiders of Gor, 15:
*PIEDMONT -- A City mentioned in a brief comment on the exploits of Dietrich of Tarnburg. Its exact location is not specified though likely at the foot of a mountain, as the name would indicate. (Pied-Mont, translates in French to 'Mountain Foot')
*RARIR -- A small village South of the Vosk and near the shores of Thassa.
The tiny village, Rarir, in which she
had been born, lay south of the Vosk, and near the shores of Thassa.
---Captive of Gor, 13:
*RARN -- A City located South-East of Tharna, which is known for its copper mines.
He had won her in Girl Catch, in a
contest to decide a trade dispute between two small cities, Ven and Rarn, the
former a river port on the Vosk, the second noted for its copper mining, lying
southeast of Tharna.
---Beasts of Gor, 3:
*RIVE-DE-BOIS -- A City of unspecified location though the name would indicate that it sits at a forest edge.
*RORUS -- A Village located to the South East of Ko-Ro-Ba.
*ROVERE-- A City mentioned in a brief comment on the exploits of Dietrich of Tarnburg. Its exact location is not specified.
*SAMNIUM -- A continental ally of Cos, located some 200 pasangs east and a bit south of Brundisium.
She stood not more than a hundred yards
from the gate of Tesius, in the City of Samnium, some two hundred pasangs east
and a bit south of Brundisium, both cities continental allies of the island
ubarate of Cos.
---Mercenaries of Gor, p 9
*SEIBAR's HOLDING -- A small State in the heart of the Barrens, which was born of the freeing of the Waniyanpi; an entire community of white men and women which were in fact working slaves of the Kaiila tribe.
Thus, first, those who had been Waniyanpi were now no longer slaves of the Kaiila and, second, they now maintained what amounted, for most practical purposes, to a small free state within the Barrens. These things were given to them as gifts by the Kaiila, in appreciation for the services rendered during the time of the war with the Yellow Knives and soldiers, for providing us with a tarn base within striking distance of Council Rock, and sheltering and supporting our men during the period of their training.
The community of those who had been Waniyanpi, of course, was not identified with a particular area of land, and certainly not with a territory occupied under the conditions of a leased tenancy. It now, in the Gorean fashion, for the first time, tended to be identified with a Home Stone. The community could now, if it wished, the Home Stone moving, even migrate to new lands. In Gorean law allegiances to a Home Stone, and not physical structures and locations, tend to define communities.
Seibar had wished to call the small community New Ar, but had abandoned this proposal in the face of an unfavorable reception by his fellows. Ar was not as popular with some of his fellows as it was with him, and that redoubtable municipality, the largest city in the Gorean north, was unfamiliar to many of them, even in hearsay. After much discussion it was decided to call the tiny community Seibar's Holding, this being a manifestation of the respect and affection they bore their leader. The only reservations pertaining to this name seemed to be held by Seibar himself who, to the end, remained the stubborn champion of "New Ar."
The red savages, themselves,
incidentally, have their own names for the new, small community. In Kaiila it is
called "Anpao" or, sometimes, "Anptaniya." The expression 'Anpao'
means "Dawn" or "Daylight." The expression 'Anptaniya' has a
more complex meaning in translation. It means, rather literally, "the
breath of day." It is used to refer, for example, to the first, lovely
glimmerings of morning. The expression is related, of course, to the vapors
raised by the sun in the early morning, these perhaps, poetically and
beautifully, as is often the case in the languages of the red savages,
suggesting "the breath of day." In both expressions, of course, the
connotations are rather clear, that darkness is over, that a new day is at hand.
---Blood Brothers of Gor, 54:
*TABUK'S FORD -- A peasant village some 400 pasangs and slightly West of Ar, known for its sleen breeders..
Tabuk's Ford was a large village,
containing some forty families; it was ringed with a palisade, and stood like a
hub in the midst of its fields, long, narrow, widening strips, which radiated
from it like the spokes in a wheel. Thurnus tilled four of these strips. Tabuk's
Ford receives its name from the fact that field Tabuk were once accustomed, in
their annual migrations, to ford the Verl tributary of the Vosk in its vicinity.
The Verl flows northwestward into the Vosk. We had crossed the Vosk, on barges,
two weeks ago. The field Tabuk now make their crossing some twenty pasangs
northwest of Tabuk's Ford, but the village, founded in the area of the original
crossing keeps the first name of the locale. Tabuk's Ford is a rich village, but
it is best known not for its agricultural bounty, a function of its dark,
fertile fields in the southern basin of the Verl, but for its sleen breeding.
Thurnus, of the Peasants, of Tabuk's Ford, was one of the best known of the
sleen breeders of Gor.
---Slave Girl of Gor, 6
The girls of Clitus Vitellius, I among
them, stood at the line scratched in the dirt within the peasant village of
Tabuk's Ford, some four hundred pasangs to the north, and slightly to the west
of Ar, some twenty pasangs off the Vosk road to the west.
---Slave Girl of Gor, 7
*TALMONT-- A City mentioned in a brief comment on the exploits of Dietrich of Tarnburg. Its exact location is not specified.
*TARNBURG -- A City of the Souther slopes of the Voltai range, to the North-West of Hochburg.
Dietrich of Tamburg, of the high city
of Tamburg, some two hundred pasangs to the north and west of Hochburg, both
substantially mountain fortresses, both in the more southern and civilized
ranges of the Voltai, was well-known to the warriors of Gor.
---Mercenaries of Gor, 2:
*TARNWALD -- A City whose location is not specified.
*TESLIT-- A small town to the North of Holmesk and South of the Vosk.
*THARNA -- The Silver City of Tharna, said to be located far North and East of Corcyrus is first introduced in Outlaw of Gor as ruled by total female domination, it is the scene of a revolt and reversal of order, led by Tarl Cabot and one known as Kron of the metal workers. Although the Tatrix remains ruler after the revolt period, the City of Tharna, with a vengeance, essentially eliminates all free women form its walls, enslaving and keeping slave, even their own.
By the time we reach the last of the published Gor novels, the Tatrix has stepped down, it is said of her own will, and the City administration is under the leadership of Kron himself.
Tharna is known for the fierceness of its men, often used as mercenaries by other forces, and of course, for its silver mines which supply Gor with much of the precious metal.
There were many things supposedly
strange about Tharna, among them that she was reportedly ruled by a queen, or
Tatrix, and, reasonably enough in the circumstances, that the position of women
in that city, in contrast with common Gorean custom, was one of privilege and
opportunity.
---Outlaw of Gor, p 49
These mines (those of Argentum) were
said to be almost as rich as those of Tharna, far to the north and east of
Corcyrus.
---Kajira of Gor,
In that revolution the gynocracy in
Tharna had been overthrown, devastatingly. Even to this day women in Tharna are
kept almost uniformly as helpless, abject slaves, the men of Tharna having an
excellent memory for history.
---Vagabonds of Gor, pp 267
*THENTIS -- A city located in the mountains of Thentis, famed for its tarn flocks and the exclusive claim to the blackwine market. Mentioned in the description of a map, in Tribesmen of Gor, as above Tharna, the Voltai Range and Glorious Ar.
The Older Tarl had told me that Thentis
is a city famed for its tarn flocks and remote in the mountains from which the
city takes its name.
---Tarnsman of Gor, p 69
*TOR -- Largest of the cities of the Tahari desert. The City of Olives sits in the Southern area of known Gor, far to the North of Turia, at the NW edge of the vast Tahari desert. It is a major trade center and the headquarters for thousands of caravan merchants.
"I was later sold in Tor,"
she said, "far to the north of Turia.
---Assassin of Gor
He might as well have used Tor, which
is an oasis city in the deserts far below Ar, and to its east.
---Hunters of Gor
Tor, lying at the northwest corner of
the Tahari, is the principal supplying point for the scattered oasis communities
of that dry vastness, almost a continent of rock, and heat, and wind and sand.
---Tribesmen of Gor, p 36
Tor was, as Gorean cities went, rich,
trading city. It was headquarters for thousands of caravan merchants. In it,
too, were housed many craftsmen, practicing their industries, carvers,
varnishers, table makers, gem cutters, jewelers, carders, dyers of cloth,
weavers of rugs, tanners, makers of slippers, toolers of leather, potters,
glaziers, makers of cups and kettles, weapon smiths, and many others. Much of
the city, of course, was organized to support the caravan trade. There were many
walled, guarded warehouses, requiring their staffs of scribes and guards, and,
in hundreds of hovels, lived kaiila tenders, drovers, and such, who would, at
the caravan tables, when their moneys had been exhausted, apply, if accepted,
making their mark on the roster, once more for a post with some new caravan.
---Tribesmen of Gor, p 39
Tor, rather similarly, though few crops
were grown within its walls, was built high, about its water, several wells in
the deepest area in the city. The architecture of Tor, in concentric circles,
broken by numerous, narrow, crooked streets, was a function of the radius from
its wells. An advantage of this municipal organization, of course, though it is
scarcely a matter of intentional design, is that the water is in the most
protected portion of the city, its center. Tor's water, I might mention, was
ample to her needs. Though I saw few of them, she boasted many shaded gardens.
Water for these gardens, by contract with slave masters, was carried by chains
of male slaves and emptied into house cisterns, whence, later, by house slaves,
it would be taken in cans and sprinkled carefully, foot by foot, throughout the
garden.
---Tribesmen of Gor, p 40
*TORCADINO (sometimes spelled Torcodino) -- A crossroads city located on the flats of Serpeto and stragically at the intersection of many routes, often placing her in key a position in various conflicts between cities. The city of Torcadino is famous for its century old aqueducs.
Torcadino, on the flats of Serpeto, is a crossroads city. It is located at the intersection of various routes, the Genesian, connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south, the Northern Salt Line and the Northern Silk road, leading respectively west and north from the east and south, the Pilgrims Road, leading to the Sardar, and the Eastern way, sometimes called the Treasure Road, which links the western cities with Ar. Supposedly Torcadino, with its strategic location, was an Ally of Ar. I gathered, however, that it had, in recent weeks, shifted allegiances. It is sometimes said that any city can fall behind the walls of which can be placed a tharlarion laden with gold.
…There are the aqueducts of Torcadino!' said Mincon.
'I see them,' I said. The natural wells
of Torcadino, originally sufficing for a small population, had, more than a
century ago, proved inadequate to furnish sufficient water for an expanding
city. Two aqueducts now brought fresh water to Torcadino from more than a
hundred pasangs away, one from the Issus, a northwestwardly flowing tributary of
the Vosk, and the other from the springs in the Hills of Eteocles, southwest of
Corcyrus. The remote termini of both aqueducts were defended by guard stations.
The vicinities of the aqueducts themselves are usually patrolled and, of course,
engineers and workmen attend regularly to their inspection and repair. These
aqueducts are marvelous constructions, actually, having a pitch of as little as
a hort for every pasang.
---Mercenaries of Gor, pp 101-102
*TREVE -- High in the scarlet crags of the larl-prowled Voltai mountains, 700 pasangs to the North of Ar, sits a Citadel of men who live off the plundering of other Cities. Its men are said to be proud and bold, its women beautiful and spoiled.
Treve was alleged to lie above Ar, some
seven hundred pasangs distant, and toward the Sardar. I had never seen the city
located on a map but I had seen the territory she claimed so marked. The precise
location of Treve was not known to me and was perhaps known to few save its
citizens. Trade routes did not lead to the city and those who entered its
territory did not often return.
---Priest-Kings of Gor, pp 60-61
There was said to be no access to Treve
save on tarnback and this would suggest that it must be as much a mountain
stronghold as a city.
---Raiders of Gor, pp 60-61
*TURMAS -- Turian outposts on the South East border of the Tahari desert.
Caravans with goods tend to travel the
western, or distant eastern edge of the Tahari; caravans do, it might be
mentioned, occasionally travel from Tor or Kasra to Turmas, a Turian outpost and
kasbah, in the southeastern edge of the Tahari, but even these commonly avoid
the dune country, either moving south, then east, or east, then south, skirting
the sands. Few men, without good reason, enter the dune country.
---Tribesmen of Gor,
*TURIA -- Often referred to as the Ar of the south, nine-gated Turia, said to be at least 1000 pasangs from any major body of water, is the largest of the southern Gorean cities, towering in the midst of the harsh plains of the south that are home to the feared Wagon People. The city is said to have been named after the large trunked reddish Tur tree.
Turia the high-walled, the nine-gated,
was the Gorean city lying in the midst of the huge prairies claimed by the Wagon
Peoples.
---Nomads of Gor, p 1
..There was one large trunked reddish
Tur tree, about which curled its assemblage of Tur-Pah, a vinelike tree parasite
with curled scarlet, ovate leaves, rather lovely to look upon; the leaves of the
Tur-Pah incidentally are edible and figure in certain Gorean dishes,; such as
sullage, a kind of soup; long ago, I had heard, a Tur tree was found on the
prairie, near a spring, planted perhaps long before by someone who passed by; it
was from that Tur tree that the city of Turia took its name; ...
---Nomads of Gor, p 217
The piercing of the ears of women, only
of slave girls, of course, was a custom of distant Turia, famed for its wealth
and its nine great gates. It lay on the southern plains of Gor, far below the
equator, the hub of an intricate pattern of trade routes.
---Captive of Gor,
Turia is a city of the far south, below
the equator. It lies in the lands of the Wagon Peoples. There is little water
closer to it than a thousand pasangs.
---Hunters of Gor,
*VENNA -- A small resort City to the North of Ar.
Venna is a small, exclusive resort
city, some two hundred pasangs north of Ar. It is noted for its baths and its
tharlarion races.
---Fighting slave of Gor, p 172
