Culture
The
Red Savages, as they are commonly called on Gor, are racially and culturally
distinct from the Red Hunters of the north. They tend to be a more slender,
longer-limbed people; their daughters menstruate earlier; and their babies are
not born with a blue spot at the base of the spine, as in the case with most of
the red hunters. Their culture tends to be nomadic, and is based on the
herbivorous, lofty kaiila, substantially the same animal as is found in the
Tahari, save for the wider footpads of the Tahari beast, suitable for
negotiating deep sand, and the lumbering, gregarious, short-tempered,
trident-homed kailiauk. To be sure, some tribes do not have the kaiila, never
having mastered it, and certain tribes have mastered the tarn, which tribes are
the most dangerous of all.
Savages of
Gor
For
those who might be interested in such things, we came to the wands in the early
spring, early in Magaksicaagliwi, which is the Moon of the Returning Gants. The
preceding moon was the Sore-Eye Moon, or Istawicayazanwi. Because of its
uncertain weather, the possible freezes and storms, and its harsh winds, this
month had been avoided by Grunt. The next moon was Wozupiwi, the Planting Moon,
which term, in the context, I find extremely interesting. It seems to make clear
that the folk of the area, at one time, were settled, agricultural peoples.
That, of course, would have been before the acquisition of the kaiila, which
seems to have wrought a local cultural transformation of the first magnitude.
One often thinks of a hunting economy representing a lower, in some sense, stage
of cultural development than an agricultural economy. Perhaps this is because,
commonly, agriculture provides a stabler cultural milieu and can, normally,
support larger populations on less territory. A single human being can be
agriculturally supported by less than an acre of land. The same human being, if
surviving by hunting, would require a territory of several square miles. Here,
however, we seem to have a case where peoples deliberately chose the widely
ranging, nomadic hunting economy over an agricultural economy. The mobility
afforded by the kaiila and the abundance of the kailiauk doubtless made this
choice possible, the choice of the widely ranging hunter, the proud and free
warrior, over the farmer, denied distant horizons, he who must live at the mercy
of the elements and in bondage to his own soil.
Savages of
Gor
"It
would make my heart heavy to have you killed," said Canka. The kailiauk
bull is 'Tatanka. The suffix 'sa' designates the color red, as in 'Mazasa', 'Red
Metal', 'Copper. The expression 'Kailiauk' is used by most of the tribes for the
kailiauk, which is not an animal native to Earth. The expression 'Pte'
designates the kailiauk female, or kailiauk cow. It is also used, colloquially,
interestingly, for tire kailiauk in general. This is perhaps because the "Pte"
is regarded, in a sense, as the mother of the tribes. It is she, in the final
analysis, which makes possible their hunting, nomadic life. Like any similar
peoples, the red savages have generally a great reverence and affection for the
animals in their environment. This is particularly true of the animals on which
they depend for their food. The useless or meaningless slaughter of such would
be unthinkable
Savages of
Gor
Tribes
"It is unusual, is it not, for the
Dust Legs to be on the rampage?" I asked.
I had understood them to be one of the most peaceful of the tribes of the
Barrens. Indeed, they often acted as intermediaries between the men of the
settlements and the wilder tribes of the interior, such as the Yellow
Knives, the Sleen and Kaiila.
Savages of
Gor
"Are
we not yet in the country of the Dust Legs?" I inquired. This was a
perimeter tribe, which, on the whole, was favorably disposed towards whites.
Most trading was done with Dust Legs. Indeed, it was through the Dust Legs that
most of the goods of the interior might reach civilization, the Dust Legs, in
effect, acting as agents, and intermediaries. Many tribes, apparently, would not
deal on a face-to-face basis with whites. This had to do with the hatred and
suspicion fostered by that tradition called the Memory. Too, it was often
difficult to control their young men. Although small trading groups were
welcomed in the country of the Dust Legs, such groups seldom penetrated the more
interior territories. Too many of them had failed to return. Grunt was unusual
in having traded as far east as the country of the Fleer and the Yellow Knives.
Too, he had entered, at least once, the country of the Sleen and the Kaiila.
Some of these territories, apparently, had scarcely been penetrated since the
days of the first white explorers of the Barrens, men such as Boswell, Diaz,
Bento, Hastings and Hogarthe.
Savages of
Gor
"Ho,
Itancanka. Ho, Wicayuhe," she said.
"She speaks
Dust Leg," he said. "She then will also be conversant with Kaiila.
These are two closely related languages, or, better, two dialects of a single
language. Fleer is also related to them, but more remotely."
Savages of
Gor
Although
the Fleer speak a language clearly akin to Kaiila and Dust Leg there bad often
been strife among them.
Savages of
Gor
"I have
heard little of the Kailiauk," I said.
"They
are not well known west of the perimeter," he said. 'Their country lies to
the south and east of that of the Kaiila."
Savages of
Gor
"Why are they called Dust
Legs?" I asked.
"I do not know," said
Grunt, "but I think it is because they were the last of the major tribes to
master the kaiila. Afoot, they were much at the mercy of the others. Their
heritage as traders and diplomats may stem from that period."
Savages of
Gor
"In
the beliefs of the red savages the welfare of the whole, that of the tribe,
takes precedence over the welfare of the individual. In the thinking of the red
savages the right to diminish the community does not lie within the prerogatives
of the individual." Among
the red savages there are various sorts of chief. The primary types of chief are
the war chief, the medicine chief and the civil chief. One may be,
interestingly, only one sort of chief at a time. This, like the rotation of
police powers among warrior societies, is a portion of the checks and balances,
so to speak, which tend to characterize tribal governance. Other checks and
balanced are such things as tradition and custom, the closeness of the governed
and the governors, multiple-family inter-relatedness, the election of chiefs,
the submission of significant matters to a council, and ultimately, the
feasibility of simply leaving the group in greater or lesser numbers.
Government
Blood Brothers of Gor, page 11
Warrior Societies
Most
tribes had several warrior societies These societies had much influence within
the tribes and on an alternating basis to preclude any one society from becoming
predominant a good deal of power. Their members were expected to set an example
in war and the hunt.
Savages of Gor, page 260
Warrior Societies in the
tribes have many functions The are a significant component of tribal existence.
Such societies on an alternating basis do such things as keep order in the camps
and on the treks. They function too as guards and police. It is part of their
function too to keep the tribes apprised as to the movements of kailiauk and to
organize and police tribal hunts. Such societies too it might be noted are
useful in various social ways They provide institutions through which merit can
be recognized and rewarded and tribal traditions freshened maintained and
renewed. The preserve medicine bundles keep ceremonies and teach histories. It
is common for them to give feasts and hold dances. Their rivalries provide an
outlet for intertribal aggression and the attendant competitions supply an
encouragement for effort and a stimulus to excellence. Within the society itself
of course the members profit from the values of alliance and camaraderie and
friendship. Needless to say each society will have too its own medicines and
mysteries.
"Two societies are represented among the Kaiila here," said Grunt. "Most belong to the All Comrades, and one belongs to the Yellow-Kaiila Riders. The fellow in the background, with his war shield in its case, is a member of the Yellow-Kaiila Riders. That may be told by the stylized yellow kaiila print, outlined in red, on the flanks of his beast, over the red horizontal bars."
"The
sign for the All Comrades," I said, "is the heart and lance."
Savages of
Gor
Although
there are numerous physical and cultural differences among these people they are
usually collectively referred to as the red savages. This is presumably a
function of so little being known about them, as a whole, and the cunning,
ruthlessness and ferocity of so many of the tribes. They seem to live for
hunting and internecine warfare, which seems to serve almost as a sport and a
religion for them. Interestingly enough most of these tribes seem to be united
only by a hatred of whites, which hatred, invariably, in a time of emergency or
crisis, takes precedence over all customary con- and rivalries. To attack
whites, intruding into their lands, once the war lance has been lifted, even
long-term blood enemies will ride side by side. The gathering of tribes, friends
and foes alike, for such a battle is said to be a splendid sight. The kaiila
lance is used in hunting kailiauk as well as in mounted warfare. It is called
the kaiila lance because it is designed to be used from kaiilaback. It is to be
distinguished in particular from the longer, heavier tharlarion lance, designed
for use from tharlarionback, and often used with a lance rest, and the smaller,
thicker stabbing lances used by certain groups of pedestrian nomads. The kaiila
lance takes, on the whole, two forms, the hunting lance and the war lance.
Hunting lances are commonly longer, heavier and thicker than war lances. Too,
they are often undecorated, save perhaps for a knot of the feathers of the
yellow, long-winged, sharp-billed prairie fleer, or, as it is sometimes called,
the maize bird, or corn bird, considered by the red savages to be generally the
first bird to find food. The point of the hunting lance is usually longer and narrower
than that of the war lance, a function of the depth into which one must strike
in order to find the heart of the kailliauk. The shafts of the kaiila lances are
black, supple and strong; they are made of tem wood, a wood much favored on Gor
for this type of purpose. Staves for the lances are cut in the late winter, when
the sap is down. Such wood, in the long process of smoking and drying over the
lodge fire, which consumes several weeks, seasoning the wood and killing any
insects which might remain in it, seldom splits or cracks. Similarly, old-
growth wood, or second-growth wood, which is tougher, is preferred over the
fresher, less dense first-growth, or new-growth, wood. After drying the shafts are rubbed with grease and straightened
over the beat of a fire. Detailed trimming and shaping is accomplished with a
small knife. A rubbing with sandstone supplies a smooth finish. The head, of
metal, or of bone or stone, with sinew or rawhide, and also sometimes with metal
trade rivets, is then mounted on the lance. Lastly, grips, and loops, and
decorations, if desired, are added. The sinew and rawhide, before being bound on
the lance, are soaked with hot water. The heated water releases a natural the
water itself, of course, produces a natural shrinking and contraction in drying.
The mounting, thus, is extremely solid and secure. The tarn lance, it might be
mentioned, as is used by the red savages who have mastered the tarn, is, in size
and shape, very similar to the kaiila lance. It differs primarily in being
longer and more slender. These lances are used in a great variety of ways, but
the most common method is to thrust one's wrist through the wrist loop, grasp
the lance with the right hand, and anchor it beneath the right arm. This
maximizes balance, control and impact. With the weight of a hurtling kaiila
behind the thrust such a lance can be thrust through the body of a kailiauk. To
be sure, the skillful hunter will strike no more deeply than is necessary, and
his trained kaiila will slow its pace sufficiently to permit the kailiauk to
draw its own body from the lance. This permits the lance to be used again and
again in the same hunt. The
range and striking power of the small bow, while not negligible, do not compare
with that of the peasant bow, or long bow. The red savage, accordingly, whenever
possible, attempts to maximize the possibilities of an effective hit by
decreasing the distance between himself and the target. This fits in,
incidentally, with his glorification of close combat. The
most highly regarded battle exploit among most tribes, for which the highest
honors are accorded, is not to kill an armed enemy but to touch or strike one
with the open hand. The more danger and risk that is involved in a deed, on the
Whole, the greater is the concomitant glory of accomplishing it. Killing the
enemy, thus, in the heraldry of the red savages, ranks far beneath the besting
of the enemy, and in a way that supposedly demonstrates one's greater prowess
and courage. It is thus understandable that touching an armed enemy with the
open hand counts among most tribes as a first coup. The second and third man to
accomplish such a deed would then receive second coup and third coup. Killing an
enemy with a bow and arrow from ambush, on the other hand, might be counted as
only a fifth or seventh coup. Needless
to say, the counting of coup, which is reflected in the feathers and adornments
to which one is entitled, is a matter of great importance to the red savages.
Indeed, there are also, in many tribes, practical considerations, which also
become involved in these matters. For example, it is unlikely that one can
advance within a tribe, or become a leader or chieftain, unless one has
frequently counted coup. Too, in many tribes many tribes, a man who has not
counted coup is not permitted to mate. In other tribes, such a man, if he is
over twenty-five, is permitted to mate, but he is not allowed to paint his
mate's face. Thus will her shame before the other women be made clear. The
institution of counting, or tallying, coup has several obvious effects on the
structure and nature of the society of the red savages. In particular, it tends,
on the whole, to arrange social hierarchies in such a way that the society is
oriented toward aggressiveness and warfare, features, which tend to protect and
preserve, in an almost natural harmony and balance, delicate relationships
between food supplies, territories and populations. Viewed in this manner tribal
warfare may be seen as an example of intraspecific aggression, with its
attendant consequences in decentralizing and refining diverse populations. Too,
if one regards these things as of any interest, the counting of coup and
intertribal warfare lends color, excitement and zest to the lives of the red
savages. They live in a world in which danger is not unknown. Surely they could
live otherwise, but they have not chosen to do so. They live with the stars and
the, winds, and the kaiila and kailiauk. They have not chosen to revere the
fat-bellied, beer-drinking gods of more sedentary peoples. Too, of course, it
should he noted that the counting of coup tends, statistically, to ensure that
it is the stronger and healthier, the more alert, the more intelligent and
sharper-sensed who will repro- duce themselves. This is in marked contrast to
certain societies where it is the healthiest and finest who are sent off to war
while the inferior and defective remain behind in safety, making money and
multiplying themselves. In
most tribes, incidentally, a man who refuses to go on the warpath is put in
women's clothes and given a woman's name. He must then live as a woman.
Henceforth he is referred to in the female gender. Needless to say, she is never
permitted to mate. Sometimes she must even serve the members of a warrior
society, as a captive female. Interestingly
enough, whites stand outside the coup structure. This is something that few of
them will object to. It seems they are simply not regarded, on the whole, as
being suitable foes, or foes worthy enough to stand within the coup structure.
It is not that the red savages object to killing them. It is only that they do
not take pride, commonly, in doing so. Similarly
a man of the high cities would not expect to be publicly rewarded for having
speared a tarsk or slain an urt, Accordingly the red savage will seldom go out
of his way to slay a white person; he commonly sees little profit in doing so;
in killing such a person, he is not entitled to count coup. The
small bow has many advantages. High among these is the rapidity with which it
may be drawn and fired. A skilled warrior, in the Gorean gravity, can fire ten
arrows into the air, the last leaving the bow before the first has returned to
the earth. No Gorean weapon can match it in its rate of fire. At close range it
can be devastating. Two further advantages of the small bow that might be
mentioned are its maneuverability and its capacity to be concealed, say beneath
a robe. It can be easily swept from one side of the kaiila to the other. In this
type of combat, incidentally, it is not unusual for the warrior to shield
himself behind the body of his racing kaiila, and, circling the enemy, rise up,
suddenly, to fire over the animal's back or, sometimes, from beneath its neck: A
heel over the animal's back and a fist in its silken neck hair, or an arm thrust
through a leather throat loop, provide the leverage needed for these feats. To
be sure, these folk are superb riders. A child is often put on kaiilaback, its
tiny bands clutching the silken neck, before it can walk. Sometimes a strap
dangles back for a few feet from the throat loop. This is to be seized by the
warrior who may have been struck from his mount, either to recapture the beast
or, using the strap, being pulled along, with the momentum of the racing steed,
to vault again to its back. This strap, incidentally, is used more often in
hunting than in warfare. It could be too easily grasped by an enemy on foot,
with the result of perhaps impeding the movement of the kaiila or even causing
it to twist and fall. Needless to say, it is extremely dangerous to fall from
one's kaiila in hunting kailiauk, because one is often closely involved with
numerous stampeding beasts, or the given beast one is pursuing may suddenly turn
on one. The
red savage does not take an industrial or arithmetical approach to warfare. He
would rather rescue one comrade than slay ten of the enemy. This has to do with
the fact that they are members of the same tribe and, usually, of the same
warrior society. They will have known one another almost all of their lives; as
children and boys they have played together and watched the kaiila herds in the
summer camps together; they may even have shared in their first kailliauk hunt;
now, as men, they have taken the warpath together; they are comrades, and
friends; each is more precious to the other than even a thousand coups. This
explains some of the eccentricities of tribal warfare; first actual war parties,
though common, are formed less often than parties for stealing kaiila; in this
sport the object is to obtain as many kaiila as possible without, if possible,
engaging the enemy at all; it is a splendid coup, for example, to cut a kaiila
tether strap which is tied to the wrist of a sleeping enemy and make off with
the animal before he awakens; killing a sleeping enemy is only a minor coup;
besides, if he has been killed, how can he understand how cleverly he has been
bested; imagine his anger and chagrin when he awakens; is that not more precious
to the thief than his scalp; in actual warfare itself large-scale conflicts
almost never occur. The typical act of war is the raid, conducted usually by a
small group of men, some ten to fifteen in number, which enters enemy country,
strikes, usually at dawn, and makes away, almost at soon as it came, with scalps
and loot, sometimes, too, a woman or two of the enemy is taken; men of most
tribes are fond of owning a woman of the enemy; male prisoners are seldom taken;
because of their camaraderie and the sporting aspect of their warfare a group of
red savages will usually refuse to follow even a single enemy into rock or brush
cover; it is simply too dangerous to do so; similarly the red savages will
almost never engage in a standing fight if they are outnumbered; often, too,
they will turn their backs on even an obvious victory if the costs of grasping
it seem too high; sometimes, too, a large number of red savages will retreat
before an unexpected attack of a small number of enemies; they prefer to fight
on their own terms and at times of their own choosing; too, they may not have
had time to make their war medicine. Grunt
carried similar articles but he, as well, as I had not, carried such items as
long nails, rivets, hatchets, metal arrowheads, metal lance points, knife blades
and butcher knives. The knife blades and long nails are sometimes mounted in
clubs. The blades, of course, may also be fitted into carved handles, of wood
and bone. The rivets are useful in fastening blades in handles and lance shafts.
The metal arrowhead is a convenience. It is ready-made and easy to mount. It is
not likely to fracture as a stone point might. Similarly it makes dangerous
trips to flint-rich areas unnecessary. The butcher knives are usually ground
down into a narrow, concave shape. They do not have the sturdiness for combat.
They are used, generally, for the swift acquisition of bloody trophies.
Warfare
Savages
of Gor
Savages of
Gor
Savages of
Gor
Savages of
Gor
Savages of
Gor
Savages of
Gor
Hunting
In
hunting kailiauk the hunters usually scatter about, each selecting his own
animals. Accordingly, one's fellows are seldom close at hand to rescue one.
Savages of
Gor
