Laws & Customs

Authority & Government

• The civil leader of Rorus is the Administrator.
• Until an Administrator is elected, the Council of High Castes carries the village’s civil authority.
• The proper authority may appoint magistrates, scribes, guards or other officers to hear matters and carry out lawful orders.
• Rorus law governs the village and its claimed lands; Merchant Law applies where it provides the commonly recognized Gorean rule.
• Allegiance, citizenship and protection are established through the village and its Home Stone in roleplay—not by OOC group membership.

“The High Castes in a given city ... elect an administrator and council for stated terms.”

Tarnsman of Gor, Book 1, pp. 40–41

“His appointment was confirmed by Ar’s Council of High Castes.”

Tarnsman of Gor, Book 1, p. 216

“In virtue of my authority as Administrator of this City and in the presence of the Council of High Castes...”

Tarnsman of Gor, Book 1, pp. 62–63

Merchant Law & Commerce

• Honest weights, measures and coinage are required in every transaction.
• Fraud, deliberate misrepresentation, counterfeit coin, theft, false accounts and tampering with measures are offences.
• Agreements may be witnessed or recorded by a Scribe; disputed agreements go before the proper civil authority.
• Ownership of goods, animals and slaves must be respected. Sale or transfer requires the lawful owner or authorized agent.
• All services rendered within the village use zCS HUD Coins.

“Merchant Law, the only common legal arrangements existing among the Gorean cities.”

Smugglers of Gor, Book 32, p. 424

Free People & Free Women

• Free people are expected to act according to caste, station, agreements and obligations to Rorus.
• A Free Woman may own property, conduct business, belong to a caste, employ others and own slaves, subject to local law and roleplay circumstances.
• High-caste Free Women are expected to veil for public and formal appearances unless roleplay provides a credible exception.
• Lower-caste Free Women may work or move about unveiled according to occupation, region, setting and circumstances.
• A veil is not an OOC test of status. Identity and standing must be discovered through roleplay.
• Threats, assault, abduction, enslavement or other consequences must arise from valid roleplay and remain subject to OOC consent rules.

“Low-caste women, in their work, not unoften do without veiling.”

Mariners of Gor, Book 30, p. 151

“Veiling in public is common, though not universal, amongst Gorean free women.”

Treasure of Gor, Book 38, p. 153

Slavery & State Slaves

• A slave is property under Gorean law and may belong to an individual, household, business or the village.
• An unclaimed slave who is legally subject to claimancy may be claimed under Merchant Law.
• A state slave is owned by Rorus—not personally by the Slaver—and is placed under the Slaver’s operational care.
• The proper civil authority may accept a presented slave into village ownership.
• Collars, brands, sales, transfers, manumissions, assignments and disciplinary records may not be falsified or altered without authority.
• Theft, concealment or unauthorized transfer of another person’s slave is an offence.
• Permanent transfer, sale, manumission or irreversible consequences for a state slave require approval.

“According to Merchant law an unclaimed slave, one legally subject to claimancy, may be claimed.”

Smugglers of Gor, Book 32, p. 424

Fighting, Weapons & Death

• Violence requires a valid roleplay cause. OOC disputes may never be carried into combat.
• Weapons must suit caste, occupation and setting. Warriors may openly bear military arms; guards, hunters, peasants and tradespeople may carry practical arms or tools.
• Village-appropriate arms include knives, swords, spears, staffs, bows, slings and shields where the character has a credible reason and ability.
• Tools remain tools unless deliberately used as weapons.
• Threats, assault, duelling, ambush, poisoning and murder are roleplay actions with consequences.
• The proper civil authority decides charges and punishment arising from violence within Rorus.
• A raid must have a valid roleplay purpose and must be conducted as a roleplay scene rather than an OOC attack upon the sim or its players.
• The Guards lead the defence of Rorus, sound the alarm and organize the village response.
• When Rorus is threatened, villagers who are able to defend the village may be called upon to stand with the Guards.
• Villagers may defend themselves and Rorus with the practical tools already appropriate to their work, including axes, hammers, staffs and agricultural implements.
• A villager requiring a dedicated weapon may obtain one from the Armour Keep in the Warriors’ area. Issued weapons remain village property and must be returned when the danger has passed.
• A character should use only a weapon they can credibly handle. Taking up arms during a raid does not make the character a Warrior or erase the consequences of combat.
• Raiders and defenders must allow the scene to develop through roleplay.
• Character death requires the affected player’s OOC consent; otherwise the result remains non-permanent.

Animals, Food & Flora

• Suitable livestock and working animals may include bosk, verr, verrill, sleen, urts and domestic vulos.
• Agriculture may include Sa-Tarna, suls, katch, kort, peas, beans, onions, melons, tospits and other book-supported local crops.
• Rorus does not maintain aerial mounts. A future change requires a canon-supported, setting-appropriate proposal to the proper authority.