| BRANDS Most simply the brand is supposed to convince the girl that she is truly owned; it is supposed to make her feel owned. When the iron is pulled away and she knows the pain and degradation and smells the odor of her burned flesh, she is supposed to tell herself, understanding its full and terrible import, I AM HIS. Outlaw of Gor, page 189 |
| Kan-lara Eta smiled. She pointed to her brand. "Kan-lara," she said. She pointed to my brand. "Kan-lara Dina," she said. I repeated these words. Slave Girl of Gor, page 80 Reference to: The Dina, Mark of Treve, Mark of Port Kar, The Kef I have five brands, said the metal worker, "the common Kajira brand, the Dina, the Palm, the mark of Treve, the mark of Port Kar." Explorers of Gor, page 70 Common Northern Brand The brand used by the Forkbeard, found rather frequently in the north, consisted of a half circle, with, at its right tip, adjoining it, a steep, diagonal line. The half circle is about an inch and a quarter in height. The brand is, like many, symbolic. In the north, the bond-maid is sometimes referred to as a women whose belly lies beneath the sword. Mauraders of Gor, page 87 Dina I had seen the design at the tip of the iron. It was a small flower, stylized;it was circular, about an inch and a half in diameter; it was not unlike a small rose; it was incredibly lovely and delicate. Slave Girl of Gor, page 32 A small short-stemmed flower indigenous to hillsides, it is sometimes called the 'slave flower' and is often used as a design for slave brands. My own brand was the "dina"; the dina is a small lovely, multiply petaled flower, short-stemmed, and blooming in a turf of green leaves, usually on the slopes of hills, in the northern temperate zones of Gor; it is and exotic, alien flower; it is also spoken of, in the north, where it grows most frequently, as the slave flower; it was burned into my flesh. Slave Girl of Gor, page 61 Earth Brands The Moons and Collar & The Chain and Claw Incidently, there are many brands on Gor. Two that almost never occur on Gor, by the way, are those of the moons and collar, and of the chain and claw. The first of these commonly occurs in certain of the Gorean enclaves on Earth, which serve as headquarters for agents of Priest-Kings; the second tends to occur in the lairs of Kurii agents on earth; the first brand consists of a locked collar and, ascending diagonally above it, extending to the right, three quarter moons; this brand indicates the girl is subject to Gorean discipline; the chain and claw brand indicates, of course, slavery and subjection within the compass of the Kur yoke. Explorers of Gor page 12 Kef The brand itself, in the case of girls, is a rather graceful mark, being the initial letter of the Gorean expression for slave in cursive script. If a male is branded, the same initial is used, but rendered in a block letter. Outlaw of Gor, page 186 The brand was the common kajira mark of Gor, the first letter, about an inch in height and a half inch in width, in cursive script. of the expressions "Kajira" which is the most common expression in Gore an for a female slave. It is a simple mark, and rather floral, a staff with two, upturned, frond like curles, joined where they touch the staff on its right. It bears a distant resemblance to the printed letter "K" in several of the Western alphabets of Earth. Explorers of Gor, page 9 The man, placing heavy gloves on his hands, withdrew from the brazier a slave iron. Its tip was a figure some inch and a half high, the first letter in cursive script, in the Gorean alphabet, of the expression Kajira Hunters of Gor, page 51 Knife From the box he then took a small, curved knife and a tiny, cylindrical leather flask. I gritted my teeth, but made no sound. With the small knife he gashed my left thigh, making upon it a small, strange design. He then took a powder, orange in color, from the flask and rubbed it into the wound. �Kneel,� he said. I did so. From the flat box he then took a yellow neck belt, two inches in height, and beaded. It is fastened with a thong, which ties before the throat. "Say 'I am a slave. I am your slave, Master,�� he said. "I am a slave," I said. "I am your slave, Master." He then put the neck belt on me, tying it shut with the thong, with what I knew must be a slave knot From the box then he took a yellow leather disk, which had a small hole, possibly drilled with a tiny stone implement, near its top. There was writing in some barbaric script upon it. He threaded an end of the thong through the hole and then, using the other end of the thong, too, knotted the disk snugly at the very base of the collar, in the front, below my throat He looked down at me. "You have been knife branded," he said. "The orange mark upon your thigh will be recognized in the jungle for hundreds of miles around. If you should be so foolish as to attempt to escape any who apprehend you, seeing the mark, will return you to the city as a runaway slave." "Yes, Master," I said. Explorers of Gor, page 330 Mark of Treve A brand marking those of Treve. It is the first letter, in cursive script, of the name of the city of Treve. "I have never seen a brand of Treve," I said. "It is rare," said Ena, proudly. "May I see your brand?" I asked. I was curious. "Of course," said Ena, and she stood up and, extending her left leg, drew her long, lovely white garment to her hip, revealing her limb. I gasped. Incised deeply, precisely, in that slim, lovely, now-bared thigh was a startling mark, beautiful, insolent, dramatically marking that beautiful thigh as that which it now could only be, that of a female slave. "It is beautiful," I whispered. Ena pulled away the clasp at the left shoulder of her garment, dropping it to her ankles. She was incredibly beautiful. "Can you read?" she asked. "No," I said. She regarded the brand. "It is the first letter, in cursive script," she said, "of the name of the city of Treve." Captive of Gor, page 277 Passage A tiny brand in the form of spreading bosk horns found on the forearm of goreans, its presence guaranteeing their safe passage, at certain seasons, across the plains of the Wagon People. The stigma attached with such a brand is that the one who wears it approaches the Wagon People as a slave. If the offering of the person of wearing the brand, be it the song of a singer or merchandize from a merchant, is rejected than the bearer is slain out of hand. 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 band, 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 so as slaves. Nomads of Gor, page 34 Penalty Brands "Sometimes, too" she said, "a girl may be branded as punishment, and to warn others against her." I looked at her, puzzled. "Penalty brands," she said. "They are tiny, but clearly visible. There are various such brands. There is one for lying and another for stealing." Captive of Gor, page 277 I saw Rask, with a heavy glove, draw forth one of the irons from the fire. It terminated in a tiny letter, not more than a quarter of an inch high. The letter was white hot. "This is the penalty brand," he said. "it marks you as a liar." "Please, Master!" I wept. "I no longer have patience with you," he said. "Be marked as what you are." I screamed uncontrollably as he pressed in the iron, holding it firmly into my leg. Then, after some two to four Ihn, he removed it. I could not stop screaming with pain. I smelled the odor of burned flesh, my own. I began to whimper. I could not breathe. I gasped for breath. Still the men held me. "This penalty brand," said Rask of Treve, lifting another iron from the brazier, again with a tiny letter at its glowing termination, "marks you also as what you are, as a thief." "Please, no, Master!" I wept. I could not move a muscle of my left leg. It might as well have been locked in a vise. It must wait for the iron. I screamed again, uncontrollably. I had been branded as a thief. "This third iron," said Rask of Treve, "is, too, a penalty iron. I mark you with it not for myself, but for Ute." Through raging tears I saw, white hot, the tiny letter. "It marks you as a traitress," said Rask of Treve. He looked at me, with fury. "Be marked as a traitress,� he said. Then he pressed the third iron into my flesh. As it entered my flesh, biting and searing, I saw Ute watching, her face betraying no emotion. I screamed, and wept, and screamed. Captive of Gor, page 310 Tahari Kef I had little doubt that it would be the Tahari brand which, white hot, would be pressed into the thigh of the new slave, marking her thenceforth as merchandise. The contact surface of the iron would be formed into the Taharic character 'Kef', which, in Taharic, is the initial letter of the expression 'Kajira', the most common expression in Gorean for a female slave. Tribesman of Gor, pg 148 Thief's Scar -not a slave brand- There is even, in Port Kar, a recognized caste of Thieves, the only such I know of on Gor, which, in the lower canals and perimeters of the city, has much power, that of the threat and the knife. 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 Wagon People - Kassar The symbolic representation of a bola, three circles joined at the center by lines, is used to mark their bosk and slaves. Nomads of Gor, page 106 Wagon People - Kataii "Their brand is also that of a bow, facing to the left" Nomads of Gor, page 106 Wagon People - Paravaci The Paravaci brand is a symbolic representation of a bosk head, a semicircle resting on an inverted isoceles triangle. Nomads of Gor, page 106 Wagon People - Tuchuk The sign of the four bask horns that of the Tuchuk standard; the brand of the four bosk horns, set in such a manner as to somewhat resemble the letter "H". It is only about an inch high; the common Gorean brand, on the other hand, is usually an inch and a half to two inches high; the brand of the four bosk horns, of course, is also used to mark the bosk of the Tuchuks. Nomads of Gor, page 62 |
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