CASTE COLORS AND MANNERS

Bounty Creditor: This position is identified as part of the Merchant Caste though it is unclear if it is a subcaste or simply a type of position. Bounty Creditors wear white and gold, the Caste colors of a Merchant. These individuals purchase a person's debts from other merchants, at a discounted rate, and then attempt to collect the face value of the debts from the debtors. They are a form of debt collector, speculating on their ability to get someone to pay. They are very tenacious in their work.

Merchant: This is a Low Caste though many within the Caste consider themselves a High Caste. Their Caste colors are white and yellow (sometimes called gold). Usually, they wear white robes that are trimmed with gold. Many merchants shave their heads and they are seldom trained in the martial arts. It is clear that there are a number of subcastes of the Merchant's. The Slaver's Caste is legally a sub-caste of the Merchant's Caste though they consider themselves a separate caste. The books do not give a list of the other subcastes. In general, merchants sell items that they do not produce. If someone produces the item that they are selling, they would belong to a Caste different from the Merchant's Caste.

One of the only aspects of their Caste Code that is depicted in the books is that they ensure that they are always paid. They do not give away anything for free. Haggling is very important to them and many are quite skillful in it. They have developed and help enforce Merchant Law, the only common set of laws and agreements that existing among the Gorean cities. They also are responsible for arranging and administering the four great Sardar fairs. The Merchant Caste often wield great power through their financial resources. This power may be used to gain political power as well. Influence can be gained through more than simple bribery. The extension or refusal of credit can affect a city's High Council. It can also affect public opinion.
 

Down the stairway slowly, in trailing white silk, bordered with gold, the colors of the Merchants, there regally descended the girl who was Aphris of Turia. (...) Aphris of Turia, then, was of the caste of merchants. ---Nomads of Gor, 9:91

...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, 1:7
 

Moneylender: This is a Low Caste, a subcaste of the Merchant's Caste. They are responsible for loaning money and credit. There are no Caste colors given in the books for this subcaste.

Slavers: wear robes of blue and yellow. They also frequently shave their heads and are considered a subcaste of the Merchants.
 

The Slavers, incidentally, are of the Merchant caste, though, in virtue of their merchandise and practices, their robes are different.... ---Assassin of Gor, 15:208

Samos wore the blue and yellow robes of the Slaver... ---Hunters of Gor, 1:7
 

Tavern Owners: These individuals are part of the Merchant's Caste though it is unknown if they form an actual subcaste or not. There are no Caste colors given in the books for these individuals. They may simply wear the colors of the Merchant Caste.  (From Luther's Scrolls and World of Gor)

CODES

"I am a merchant," said Mintar, "and it is in my code to see that I am paid." -Tarnsman of Gor, 10:121

"Free Kal-da for all!" cried Kron, and when the proprietor, who knew the codes of his caste, tried to object, Kron flung a golden tarn disk at him. Delightedly the man ducked and scrambled to pick it up from the floor.-Outlaw of Gor, 24:224

"Ulafi should have been recruited," said the dark-haired girl. "He will do anything for gold."
"Except betray his merchant codes," said he who was called Kunguni.
I was pleased to hear this, for I was rather fond of the tall, regal Ulafi. Apparently they did not regard him as a likely fellow to be used in the purchase of stolen notes on speculation, to be resold later to their rightful owner. Many merchants, I was sure, would not have been so squeamish. Such dealings, of course, would encourage the theft of notes. It was for this reason that they were forbidden by the codes. Such notes, their loss reported, are to be canceled, and replaced with alternative notes. -Explorers of Gor, 11:148

BRAND

A tiny brand in the form of spreading bosk horns for any wishing to do business with the Wagon Peoples that allows their passage over the plains; the stigma connected with this brand is that it suggests that any approaching the wagons do so as slaves.

The street was lined by throngs of Tuchuks and slaves. Among them, too, were soothsayers and haruspexes, and singers and musicians, and, here and there, small peddlers and merchants, of various cities, for such are occasionally permitted by the Tuchuks, who crave their wares, to approach the wagons. Each of these, I was later to learn, wore on his forearm a tiny brand, in the form of spreading bosk horns, which guaranteed his passage, at certain seasons, across the plains of the Wagon Peoples. The difficulty, of course is in first obtaining the brand. If, in the case of a singer, the song is rejected, or in the case of a merchant, his merchandise is rejected, he is slain out of hand. This acceptance brand, of course, carries with it a certain stain of ignominy, suggesting that those who approach the wagons do as slaves. ~Nomads of Gor~