High Castes -INITIATES (color is white) represent the Prriest-Kings in Gorean society and are the religious leaders. They do not collar pleasure slaves nor do they take slaves to the alcoves.
-SCRIBES (color is blue) are concerned with history, accounting, record keeping, etc.
-BUILDERS (color is yellow) is the caste which includes architects, draftsmen, stone masons, etc.
-PHYSICIANS (color is green): practice healing arts.
-WARRIORS (color is red) also called Rarius and includes infantry, tharlarion cavalry, and tarnsmen Low Castes
-PLAYERS (caste colors are yellow and red in a checkered design much like the Kaissa board itself) a person who plays Kaissa professionally.
-ASSASSINS (color is black) those who kill for pay.
-WOOD CARRIERS (colors are brown and black)
-WOODMEN (colors are brown and black) hunters
-PEASANTS (color is brown) The basic caste of Gor; they refer to themselves as the 'Ox on which the Home Stone Rests'
-CHARCOAL MAKERS (colors are black and gray)
-TARN KEEPERS (colors are green and gray) those that take care of the large hawk-like warrior tarn birds.
-POETS AND SINGERS (colors are aqua and red)
-POT MAKERS (colors are brown and green)
-SADDLE MAKERS (color is tan) they fashion tarn saddles
-METAL WORKERS (color is gray) blacksmiths and harness makers
-MERCHANT (colors are white and gold) those who deal in merchandise and trading -SLAVER (colors are blue and yellow) The sub caste of the Merchants, one who deals in human merchandise.
-LIGHTER (colors are striped green, white and red) those who light the lamps and torches of the city streets.
-BAKER (colors are yellow and brown)
-SLEEN TRAINER (colors are brown and black)
-VINTNERS (color are green and white) makers of wine-like beverages Two other groups that do not fit into a specific caste are:
-PANTHER GIRLS-(no specific colors) a clan of fierce women who train for war and rebel against most Gorean conventions for free women.
-OUTLAWS-(no specific colors) bandits, renegades, criminals, runaway warriors or slaves, or exiled persons.
More Below:
HIGH CASTES: "The Chamber of the Council is the room in which the elected representatives of the High Castes of Ko-ro-ba hold their meetings. Each city has such a chamber. It was in the widest of cylinders, and the ceiling was at least six times the height of the normal living level. The ceiling was lit as if by stars, and the walls were of five colours, applied laterally, beginning from the bottom - white, blue, yellow, green, and red, caste colours. Benches of stone, on which the members of the Council sat, rose in five monumental tiers about the walls, one tier for each of the High Castes. These tiers shared the colour of that portion of the wall behind them, the caste colours. The tier nearest the floor, which denoted some preferential status, the white tier, was occupied by Initiates, Interpreters of the Will of Priest-Kings. In order, the ascending tiers, blue, yellow, green, and red, were occupied by representatives of the Scribes, Builders, Physicians, and Warriors." ---Tarnsman of Gor, pages 61 - 62 Initiates: "It is forbidden for Initiates to touch women, and, of course, for women to touch them. Initiates also avoid meat and beans. A good deal of their time, I gather, is devoted to sacrifices, chants, prayers, and the perusal of mystical lore. By means of the study of mathematics they attempt to purify themselves." ---Magicians of Gor, page 17 "The Initiates, hundreds of them, knelt in long lines to the crags of the Sardar, to the Priest-Kings. I saw their shaven heads, their faces distraught in the bleak white of their robes, their eyes wide and filled with fear, their bodies trembling in the robes of their caste." ---Priest-Kings of Gor, page 294 Scribes: "The scribes, of course, are the scholars and clerks of Gor, and there divisions and rankings within the group, from simple copiers to the savants of the city." ---Tarnsman of Gor, page 43 "I permitted her, of course, but a single garment, but I allowed it to be opaque, and of the blue of the Scribes. It was sleeveless and felll to just above her knees. Her collar, however, that she might not grow pretentious was a simple steel. It read, as I wished, I BELONG TO BOSK." ---Raiders of Gor, page 131 Builders: "Inside the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement." ---Tarnsman of Gor, page 197 Physicians: "A physician entered the booth with his kit slung over the shoulder of his green robes. He began to attend to the merchant. When the physician had finished the cleansing, chemical sterilization and dressing of the wounds of the merchant's wounds, he left. The scribe had paid the physician from a small iron box, taken from a locked trunk, a tarsk." ---Beasts of Gor, page 104 Warriors: " 'No,' he said. 'I do not keep you because of the gold. I am of the scarlet caste. I am of the warriors. I could cast the gold away, as a gesture.' " ---Vagabonds of Gor, page 490 "The Code of the Warrior is, in general, characterized by a rudimentary chivalry, emphasizing loyalty to Pride Chiefs and the Home Stone. It was harsh, but with a certain gallantry, a sense of honor that I could respect. A man could do worse then live by such a code." ---Tarnsman of Gor, page 41 LOW CASTES: Assassins: "You will see the black banner of the Caste of Assassins" ---Tarnsman of Gor, page 175 Bakers: "I stayed for four days in the rooms above the shop of Dina of Turia, there I dyed my hair black and exchanged the robes of the merchant for the yellow and brown tunic of the Bakers; to which caste her father and two brothers had belonged." ---Nomads of Gor, page 237 Bleachers: "...its libraries, its records and files; its cubicles for Smiths, Bakers, Cosmeticians, Bleachers, Dyers, Weavers, and Leather Workers..." ---Assassin of Gor, page 111 Cosmeticians: "...its libraries, its records and files; its cubicles for Smiths, Bakers, Cosmeticians, Bleachers, Dyers, Weavers, and Leather Workers..." ---Assassin of Gor, page 111 Charcoal Makers: "His stature and burden proclaimed him a member of the Caste of Carriers of Wood, or Woodsmen, that Gorean caste which, with the caste of Charcoal Makers, provides most of the common fuel for the Gorean cities." ---Outlaw of Gor, page 27 Cloth Workers: "The Carders and Dyers, incidentally, are subcastes separate from the Weavers. All are subcastes of the Rug Makers, which itself, interestingly, perhaps surprisingly, is accounted generally as a subcaste of the Cloth Workers. Rug Makers themselves, however usually regard themselves in their various subcastes, as being independent of the Cloth Workers. A rug maker would not care to be confused with a maker of kaftans, turbans, or djellabas." ---Tribesmen of Gor, pages 49-50 "I was the daughter of a Cloth Worker..." ---Assassin of Gor, page 317 Dyers: "...its libraries, its records and files; its cubicles for Smiths, Bakers, Cosmeticians, Bleachers, Dyers, Weavers, and Leather Workers..." ---Assassin of Gor, page 111 Goat Keepers: "I was pleased to see that the men of other castes....and even castes as low as the Peasants, Saddle-Makers, the Weavers, the Goat-Keepers, the Poets, and the Merchants...." ---Priest-Kings of Gor, pages 294-295 Leather Workers: "It was there that she had been purchased by Barus, of the Leather Workers." ---Captive of Gor, page 234 "...its libraries, its records and files; its cubicles for Smiths, Bakers, Cosmeticians, Bleachers, Dyers, Weavers, and Leather Workers..." ---Assassin of Gor, page 111 Magicians: "The magicians of Anango are famed on Gor. If you wish to have someone turned into a turtle or something, those are the fellows to see." ---Magicians of Gor, page 259 Merchants: "Down the stairway slowly, in trailing white silk, bordered with gold, the colors of the Merchants... ...Aphris of Turia, then, was of the caste of merchants." ---Nomads of Gor, page 91 "I wore a white robe, woven of the wool of the Hurt, imported from distant Ar, trimmed with golden cloth, from Tor, the colors of the Merchant." ---Hunters of Gor, page 7 Metal Workers: "My opponent was not Andreas, but a squat, powerful man with short-clipped yellow hair, Kron of Tharna, of the Caste of Metal Workers." ---Outlaw of Gor, page 113 Musicians: "A similar decree, in most cities, stands against the enslavement of one who is in the Caste of Musicians." ---Beasts of Gor, page 44 Peasants: "Economically, the base of the Gorean life was the free peasant, which was perhaps the lowest but undoubtedly the most fundamental caste..." ---Tarnsman of Gor, page 43 Players: "In most cities it is regarded, incidentally, as a criminal offense to enslave one of the Caste of Players." ---Beasts of Gor, page 44 "...he wore the garb of the Player, but his garb was rich and the squares of the finest red and yellow silk..." ---Assassin of Gor, page 322 Poets: "It could have been worse, I thought. After all, though the Caste of Singers, or Poets, was not a high caste, it had more prestige than, for example, the Caste of Pot-Makers or Saddle-Makers, with which it was sometimes compared." ---Outlaw of Gor, page 103 Pot-Makers: "Hup's rag might once have been of the Caste of Potters." ---Assassin of Gor, page 10 Rencers: "The Rencers are often thought to be a higher caste than the Peasants." ---Raiders of Gor, page 94 Rope-Makers: "These organizations, such as the sail-makers, almost guildlike, not castes, have dues...." ---Raiders of Gor, page 134 Saddle-Makers: "It could have been worse, I thought. After all, though the Caste of Singers, or Poets, was not a high caste, it had more prestige than, for example, the Caste of Pot-Makers or Saddle-Makers, with which it was sometimes compared." ---Outlaw of Gor, page 103 Singers: "It could have been worse, I thought. After all, though the Caste of Singers, or Poets, was not a high caste, it had more prestige than, for example, the Caste of Pot-Makers or Saddle-Makers, with which it was sometimes compared." ---Outlaw of Gor, page 103 Slavers: "I saw that the cover of the thalarion wagon, which had been rolled back, was of blue and yellow silk. It was the camp of a slaver." ---Outlaw of Gor, page 185 "The Slavers, incidentally, are of the Merchant caste, though, in virtue of their merchandise and practices, their robes are different." ---Assassin of Gor, page 208 "Samos wore the blue and yellow robes of the Slaver." ---Hunters of Gor, page 7 "From among the domed tents, wearing a swirling robe of broadly striped blue and yellow silk, with a headband of the same material, there approached a short, fat man, Targo the Slaver..." ---Outlaw of Gor, page 191 Sleen Trainers: "He now no longer wore the brown and black common to professional sleen trainers..." ---Beasts of Gor, page 78 Smiths: "...its libraries, its records and files; its cubicles for Smiths, Bakers, Cosmeticians, Bleachers, Dyers, Weavers, and Leather Workers..." ---Assassin of Gor, page 111 Tarn Keepers: "...was purchased by a fat, odious fellow, of the Caste of Tarn Keepers." ---Tarnsman of Gor, page 132 Thieves: "There is even, in Port Kar, a recognized Caste of Thieves, the only such I know of on Gor...They are recognized by the Thiefs Scar, which they wear as a caste mark, a tiny, three-pronged brand burned into the face, in back of and below the eye, over the right cheekbone." ---Raiders of Gor, page 104 "On his right cheek, over the cheekbone was the Thief brand of the Caste of Thieves of Port Kar, who use the small brand to identify their members." ---Assassin of Gor, page 96 Vintners: "...of the Caste of Vintners...wearing a white tunic with a representation in green cloth of leaves about the collar and down the sleeves of the garment..." ---Assassin of Gor, page 29 Weavers: "I was pleased to see that the men of other castes....and even castes as low as the Peasants, Saddle-Makers, the Weavers, the Goat-Keepers, the Poets, and the Merchants...." ---Priest-Kings of Gor, pages 294-295 Wood Carriers/Woodsmen: "His stature and burden proclaimed him a member of the Caste of Carriers of Wood, or Woodsmen, that Gorean caste which, with the caste of Charcoal Makers, provides most of the common fuel for the Gorean cities." ---Outlaw of Gor, page 27