Furniture and the Energy Bulb

  Furniture and the Energy Bulb

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Chairs: Chairs are thought to be uncomfortable, and are not common on Gor. Generally chairs are used only by Administrators, judges, persons in charge

On Gor, incidentally, chairs have special significance, and do not often occur in private dwellings. They tend to be reserved for significant personages, such as administrators and judges. Moreover, although you may find this hard to understand, they are not thought to be comfortable. Priest Kings

Common seating: Men generally sit cross-legged on the floor, Women kneel on the floor

The Gorean male, at ease, usually sits cross-legged and the female kneels, resting back on her heels. The position of the Tower Slave, in which Vika knelt, differs from that of a free woman only in the position of the wrists which are held before her and, when not occupied, crossed as though for binding. A free woman’s wrists are never so placed. Priest Kings

At last I sat cross-legged behind the low table and Lara, in the fashion of the Gorean woman, knelt beside me, resting on her heels. When I had entered the music had briefly stopped but now Kron clapped his hands twice and the musicians turned to their instruments. Outlaw

He sits in the midst of his family, his closest well-wishers, his sword comrades, cross- legged on the floor in the Gorean fashion behind the long, low wooden table, laden with food, which stands at the head of the room. Outlaw

Stone blocks for "chairs" seen in Koroba

Aside from these things and two stone blocks, perhaps chairs, and a mat to one side, the room was bare; the walls and ceiling and floor were smooth as marble, and a classic white. I could see no door in the room. I rose from the stone table, which was indeed what it was, and went to the window. Tarnsman

Curule Chairs

A special chair used only by persons of great importance

On the broad steps leading to the throne, there were curule chairs, on which sat, I supposed, members of the High Council of Tharna. Outlaw

Near the finishing perches, nine of which were standing for this race, were the areas reserved for the Administrator, the High Initiate, and members of the High Council. These areas were almost porches, extending beyond the regular stands, covered with awnings, on which were mounted sets of curule chairs, at different levels. Assassin

"PLACE YOUR FIRST SWORD BEFORE ME," I said, "that I may kill him." Cernus of Ar, of the House of Cernus, studied me, his large face impassive, his eyes revealing nothing, like gray stones. His large hands rested over the arms of the curved curule chair in which he sat, which was mounted on a platform of stone, about a foot high and twelve feet square. In the base of the platform there were mounted six slave rings. Assassin

Couch - (used often as both bed & seat)

Stone couch

Vika had unrolled a straw mat which she placed on the floor at the foot of the great stone couch in the chamber. On this, wrapped in a light blanket, her chin on her knees, she sat watching me. Priest Kings

It really is stone, hard, solid.

She had been lying on the straw mat at the foot of the stone couch. So suddenly had she arisen that she had struck her knee against the couch and this had not much pleased her. Priest Kings

Made comfortable with sleeping pelts & silk sheets

I would allow Vika to share the great stone couch, its sleeping pelts, and silken sheets. Priest Kings

Couches in bedrooms

"My couch," she said, "in the master bedroom, has a heavy iron ring set in its base." "That is a slave ring," I said. "Surely you know it's purpose." "Yes," she said acidly. Such rings are commonly used for chaining slave girls, generally by the neck, to the foot of their Master's couch. Rogue

She did not meet my eyes. "You should knock," she said, "before entering a lady's bedroom." I tore away the clothing she held before her, casting it aside. She wore then only a light Gorean slip, white, which came high on her thighs. "I am not fully dressed!" she said. I took her and threw her on her belly on the couch. Rogue

Free Women had stone couches too

"You are a beast and a barbarian!" she cried to him, drawing back. Then she could move no further back against the stone couch. She could draw her feet up no further.

He took her and threw her to her right side, wedging her in the corner formed by the tiles and the foot of the stone couch.Slave Girl

In Schendi, we also see a stone couch

While the rest of our two parties, including Bila Huruma, had waited within the threshold, I was conducted across the broad stone court to its center, where, on a huge stone couch, of ancient design, lay Shaba. Explorers

It appears men and women had their own couches and bedrooms, the companion summoned to the mans couch when he desired.

And how wondrously different does the bedroom of the male seem to the free woman than it does to the slave. She looks upon the couch of the male. She sees the slave ring at its foot. She sees the furs of love, rolled against the side of the wall. She sees the lamp. She sees, coiled beneath the slave ring, a chain, with a collar or shackles. She sees the whip. But these things, as she is free, mean little to her. Imagine, however, if you will, her emotions if she entered that room as a slave girl, stripped and rightless, bearing on her upper thigh, just under her hip, the mark of bondage, her throat clasped in the light, gleaming, close-fitting, locked circlet of a slave. How different, then, would that room seem to her! She is ordered to spread the furs of love. She does so, beneath the slave ring. Guardsman

Large round couch, covered with furs

We were in a room in the Metellan district. I had sealed the shutters, and blocked them, on the inside, so that no one might, from the outside, through the cracks, observe what occurred in the room. In the center of the room there was a large couch, a round couch, some seven or eight feet in diameter. It was well cushioned, and covered with furs, and was soft and inviting. At one point, in its sides, there was a slave ring. We had set a small table near the couch, bearing a decanter of wine, with glasses, and a small, tasteful array of sweets. The room was lit with a small tharlarion-oil lamp. Magicians

Another large round couch

I rose on one elbow and looked down at her. How incredibly beautiful and soft she seemed; she was curled in the furs; she was half covered by them; I lifted them away, that I might see her fully; she stirred; her hands moved a bit on the furs; she drew her legs up; she reached as though to pull the furs more about her but her hands did not find them; she drew her legs up a bit more and snuggled down in the furs; there is perhaps nothing in the world as beautiful as a naked slave girl; a heavy iron collar, with chain, was locked on her throat; the chain ran from a ring fixed in the bottom of the great couch, circular, and some twenty feet wide, around the circumference of the couch to the right and was lifted and coiled to one side, on the left. Beasts

Couch referred to as bed

There were red silken sheets on the great couch, on which she reclined. At its foot there was a slave ring...

She rose from the bed, scarcely able to stand, bent over, so much was her need upon her.

"No," I said.

She looked at me.

"On your knees," I said. "In your teeth."

She crawled to the crop and, putting her head down, sideways, took it in her teeth. She, on her hands and knees, brought it to me. I took it roughly from her mouth. "Get on the couch," I told her. Tribesman

"Your bath is ready, Lady Elicia, my mistress," I said, kneeling before her.

"Untie my sandals," she said, sitting on her bed, "and disrobe me."

I obeyed.

"Your bath is ready, Mistress," I said, kneeling, head down, in brief white slave tunic, before the Lady Elicia of Ar, of Six Towers.

She seated herself on her great couch, and extended her feet, one after the other, to me. I, kneeling, removed her sandals, kissing each and laying it aside. She stood up and I, rising and standing behind her, lifted away her robe. I kissed it, and put it upon the couch.Slave Girl

Braziers

Braziers are somewhat large, open pans for fire. Irons can be thurst into them deeply

My captor rose to his feet and approached the brazier. I knelt back, on my heels. With a heavy glove, picked up from the grass, he pulled forth the iron and examined it. It was whitish hot. I withdrew from it, leaning back, so intense was its heat. He thrust the iron back in the brazier, deeply, and indicated I should continue my labors, with which directive, of course, I complied. Slave Girl

Coals burned in braziers, and needed fanning to encourage burning

Angrily I tended the brazier, on my knees, fanning the coals. Sparks flew from the iron-banded fire, stinging my body. Slave Girl

With a piece of stiff leather I fanned the coals in the brazier. An iron protruded from the coals. Slave Girl

Braziers may be used as cooking stoves

In the center of the hut was a large flat, circular piece of metal, on which, on legs, might sit braziers or the small, flattish cooking stoves, using pressed, hardened wood, common in the villages north and west of Ar. Slave Girl

Wine warmed in bowl on tripod over a brazier

Inside, in a brass pan, there was a small fire of coals. Over the coals, on a tripod, there was, warming, a small metal wine bowl. Captive

Would need quilted cloth to move or carry a brazier in use

Prepare a brazier and heat the iron. You will find there, too, earrings and a saddle needle. Bring them."

"Yes, Master," I said.

It was in the late afternoon that I, holding its handles with quilted cloths, slid the brazier into the chamber of the couch and bath. I had not done this earlier in order that the room not be made uncomfortably hot.Slave Girl

The chamber of irons was empty, but coals glowed softly in the brazier, from which two handles protruded. An iron is always ready in a slaver’s house. Explorers

Used for heating a room

And always under his table a brazier filled with hot coals burned near the feet of the scribe, perilously close to the scholarly litter with which the floor was strewn. Tarnsman

Lamps

Small oil lamp on a stand

I could hear the oil crackling in the bowl of the tiny lamp on its stand near us.

Samos looked at me, absently. Then he said to the guards behind me, "Take her to the pens and chain her heavily." Slave Girl

Oil lamps hanging on chains

Then, opening a door, I saw a new passageway, one in which there burned a lamp, hanging on a chain. Slave Girl

There were small lamps hung here and there in the tent. They hung on tiny chains. These chains were suspended from metal projections on certain of the tent poles. Beasts

He gestured to a guardsman to bring a lamp, for we were far from the light of the bowl of coals now, and of various torches set in the walls. Beasts

Then he reached into a fur sack at his feet and, gently, took forth a representation of the northern tabuk, carved in blue stone. I had no idea how long it took to make such a carving. It would take many nights in the light of the sloping, oval lamps. Beasts

Here and there small lamps, set in niches, high in stone walls, or lanterns, hung on iron projections, shed small pools of light on the sides of buildings and illuminated, too, in their secondary ambience, the stones of the sloping walkway on which I trod, one of many leading down to the wharves. I could smell Thassa, the sea. Explorers

Moss and straw may be used to light small clay oil lamp

Then she had the bit of moss lit and, into it, she placed a straw. This straw, burning then at one end, served to light the wick of a small, clay oil lamp. She then shook the straw, extinguishing it and, with her fingers, moved the bit of moss about, spreading it, and the tiny flame there dissipated into scattered glowing points which then, rapidly, disappeared. Fighting Slave

A simple copper bowl of oil with a wick

He lit the small hanging tent lamp, a wick set in a copper bowl of tharlarion oil, and in its flickering light turned to the sleeping mat. No sooner had he done so than he fell to his knees on the mat and grasped the ring. Tarnsman

Or a simple cup of oil with a wick

About his neck hangs a canvas bag in which pieces of ore are carried back to the scales. The ore itself is freed from the sides of the mine by a small pick. Light is supplied by tiny lamps, no more than small cups of tharlarion oil with fiber wicks. Outlaw

Oil needs to be refilled regularly

The Kal-da flowed free that night and thrice the oil in the hanging tharlarion lamps needed to be renewed by the sweating, joyful proprietor of the Kal-da shop. Outlaw

Lamps mounted on walls

The halls were lit occasionally by tharlarion oil lamps set in iron fixtures mounted in the walls. Outlaw

The place was lit by a small, foul tharlarion lamp set in the wall near the ceiling. I had no idea how far below ground it might be. The floor and the walls were of black stone, quarried in giant blocks of perhaps a tone apiece. The lamp dried the stone in its vicinity, but, on the floor and most of the walls, there was a dampness and the smell of mold. Outlaw

Sedan Chair

Used occasionally by FW, carried through streets by slaves

I then tied the hands of the two slave girls behind their backs and knelt them by the sedan chair. I then took what valuables and moneys there were in the chair, kept in the cabinets at its sides, and slung them, some scarfed and others placed in pouches, about the necks of the two slave girls. I was surprised. The owner of the chair had been rich indeed. Beasts

Tables

Tables are generally low since men are sitting cross-legged on floor

I descended three steps, and found myself in a warm, dimly lit, low-ceilinged room, cluttered with the low tables common on Gor, around which huddled groups of five or six of the grey-robed men of Tharna. Outlaw

I turned and, from where I sat cross-legged behind the low table, removed a small, crisp disk of fried larma, with a browned-honey sauce, from the silver tray. Guardsman

Low table may be of wood

He sits in the midst of his family, his closest well-wishers, his sword comrades, cross- legged on the floor in the Gorean fashion behind the long, low wooden table, laden with food, which stands at the head of the room. Outlaw

Rask of Treve threw the girl one of the oysters, from a silver plate on the low, wooden table. Captive

Even tables in paga taverns are low

I decided, if worst came to worst, that I could always go to a simple Paga Tavern where, if those of Tharna resembled those of Ko-ro-ba and Ar, one might, curled in a rug behind the low tables, unobtrusively spend the night for the price of a pot of Paga, a strong, fermented drink brewed from the yellow grains of Gor's staple crop, Sa-Tarna, or Life- Daughter. Outlaw

Benches

The Chamber of the Council is the room in which the elected representatives of the High s 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 colors, 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 color of that portion of the wall behind them, the caste colors. Tarnsman

Carpets, Rugs, Tiles

Her feet are bare on the thick, ornately wrought rug that carpets the chamber. There is a slight sound from the bells strapped to her ankles. Outlaw

Marble floor in Marlenus' quarters in Ar

Several tarns were dead; some were flopping about awkwardly on the marble floor, pierced by arrows. There were no living guardsmen in sight. Those who had survived had fled from the room, perhaps up the long, wide, circling stairwell that climbed the inside of the cylinder. Tarnsman

Stone floor

I had felt this even when my father had commanded her to rise and submit to me, accepting me as her new master. She had risen and walked across the room, her feet bare on the stone floor, and dropped to her knees before me, lowering her head and lifting and extending her hands to me, the wrists crossed. Tarnsman

Chests

Usually one chest is heavy, iron-banded, and bolted to wall (walls are often stone too)

Valuables, in such a room, are kept in a heavy, iron-banded chest which is bolted to the wall and kept locked. Most doors giving entry into a compartment, or set of compartments, on Gor do, however, have locks, generally hand-crafted, highly ornate locks, usually set in the center of the door and controlling a long bolt. Assassin

Other chests in the room and some cabinets

"Observe," I said to her.

I sprang to my feet and looked about the room. There were several chests in the room, including the iron-banded one with its heavy lock. There were also some cabinets against one wall, filled with plate and cups, some bottles of paga and Ka-la-na. Assassin

Desk: FW kneeling before low desk

She knelt before a low desk, her back to me, and gave her attention to the papers which she had now placed upon it. She held a marking stick in her right hand. Fighting Slave

The energy bulb: Invented by Caste of Builders they can produce clear soft light for years

These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement. Tarnsman

Energy bulbs only affordable to the very rich. Most Goreans prefer the light of flame

The light in the room came, interestingly, from behind a translucent blue ceiling, probably being furnished by energy bulbs. Saphrar was a rich man indeed to have energy bulbs in his home; few Goreans can afford such a luxury; and, indeed, few care to, for Goreans, for some reason, are fond of the light of flame, lamps and torches and such; flames must be made, tended, watched; they are more beautiful, more alive. Nomads

Places using energy bulbs: In an underground tunnel beneath the Ubars Cylinder in Ar

Inside, the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs, spaced in pairs every hundred yards or so. Tarnsman

In an underground chamber in Ar

The end of the tunnel widened into a vast chamber, lit by hundreds of energy bulbs. Tarnsman

In the tunnels of the Priest Kings beneath the Sardar Mountains

The passage was lit with energy bulbs, of the sort which I had encountered in the tunnel of Marlenus which led beneath the walls of Ar. There was nothing in the lighting of the passage, or its construction, to suggest that the Priest- Kings’ Caste of Builders, if they had one, was any more advanced than that of the men below the mountains. Priest Kings

Energy bulbs in underground areas of the Curulean in Ar

I saw no merchandise in my passage through the rear halls of the Curulean; the girls are generally kept, prior to their sale, in holding cells, lit by energy bulbs, beneath the ground level; soon, however, I was passing by the exposition cages, which are accessible to the public; these cages were now empty; they are used, from the tenth to the fourteenth Ahn of a given day, to display the goods that will be sold that evening; Assassin

In the house of Turias richest merchant

The light in the room came, interestingly, from behind a translucent blue ceiling, probably being furnished by energy bulbs. Saphrar was a rich man indeed to have energy bulbs in his home; few Goreans can afford such a luxury; and, indeed, few care to, for Goreans, for some reason, are fond of the light of flame, lamps and torches and such; flames must be made, tended, watched; they are more beautiful, more alive. Nomads

The operation of energy bulbs: Energy bulbs mounted in granite walls, protected by wire domes

Inside, the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs, spaced in pairs every hundred yards or so. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement. I mounted the tarn, who was visibly uneasy in this strange environment. Without much success, by hand and voice, I tried to soothe the beast's apprehensions. Perhaps I spoke as much for my own benefit as his. The first time I hauled on the one- strap, the bird would not move; the second time he lifted into flight, almost immediately scraping the ceiling of the tunnel with his wings, protesting shrilly. My helmet protected me as my head was roughly dragged against the granite of the ceiling. Then, to my pleasure, instead of alighting, the tarn dropped a few feet down from the ceiling and began to streak through the tunnel, the energy bulbs flashing past me to form in my wake a gleaming chain of light. The end of the tunnel widened into a vast chamber, lit by hundreds of energy bulbs. Tarnsman

Energy bulbs mounted in stone walls

The room in which I lay was large, perhaps forty feet square, and the sleeping platform lay at one end of the room but not touching the wall. The walls were of plain dark stone with energy bulbs fixed in them; the furnishings seemed to consist mostly of two or three large chests against one wall. There were no windows. Priest Kings

Philemon, I and the guards emerged from the exposition area to the interior of the sales amphitheater; the entire house was now lit by energy bulbs; later, the block alone would be illuminated; the seats rose in tier after tier, largely circling the block, though a passage lay open behind the block; there were exits from the amphitheater available on several of the levels of tiers; certain specially favored portions of the tiers were boxed, seating areas reserved for important clients of the Curulean, often important Slavers from distant cities; Assassin

Central controls (presumably) dim all the energy bulbs in the large amphitheater at one time. Different energy bulbs are activated to cast a blaze of light only on the auction block (spotlight effect)

Then the crowd stilled and the Musicians, too, were silent, as the energy lights in the amphitheater dimmed and went out, and another set of energy bulbs, to a pleased shout of the crowd, suddenly lit the block with a blaze of light.

The block, in the light, looked very stark and massive. It was empty.

I wondered how much the girls would be able to see from the block. I could make out, in the reflected light, the faces of those about me, and, as the moments passed, could make out more and more. Assassin

In the nest of the Priest Kings, all energy bulb are dimmed at certain times, presumably from a central control

Vika smiled up at me. "You see," she said in relief, "it is too late. Now you must remain."

"Why?" I asked.

She looked away, avoiding my eyes. "Because the energy bulbs will soon be dimmed," she said, "and it will be the hours allotted for sleep."

And then came the third and final stroke of that distant gong and at the same instant the energy bulbs in the room dimmed and I understood that now somewhere in the long corridors of that vast edifice there walked the Priest-Kings of Gor. Priest Kings

Energy bulb mounted in ceiling, when broken, reveals a tangle of wire

I seized the bowl from her hand and hurled it underhanded up against the bulb which, though it had apparently burned out, shattered with a great flash and hiss of smoke and sparks. Vika screamed and crouched behind the stone platform. Down from the cavity where the energy bulb had been there hung, blasted and smoking, a tangle of wire, a ruptured metal diaphragm and a conical receptacle which might once have held a lens. Priest Kings

Nothing to indicate that energy bulbs of the Priest Kings operate any differently than those of men

The passage was lit with energy bulbs, of the sort which I had encountered in the tunnel of Marlenus which led beneath the walls of Ar. There was nothing in the lighting of the passage, or its construction, to suggest that the Priest- Kings’ Caste of Builders, if they had one, was any more advanced than that of the men below the mountains. Priest Kings

Energy fed into a main system, powers the energy bulbs: Without this power source, the energy bulbs do not work

As Al-Ka had predicted, the energy bulbs in the Nest, except where they had actually been destroyed by the fire of Sarm’s silver tubes, came on again.

Former Mul engineers, trained by Priest-Kings, had constructed an auxiliary power unit and had fed its energy into the main system.

When the lights flickered and then burst into clear, vital radiance there was a great cheer from the humans in Misk’s camp, with the exception of the Gur Carriers to whom the energy bulbs were not of great importance. Priest Kings

A version of energy bulb able to be dimmed by rotating the base of the bulb

The instruments he used, the tests he performed, the samples he required were not unlike those of Earth. Of special interest to me was the fact that this room, primitive though it might be, was lit by what, in Gorean, is called an energy bulb, and invention of the Builders. I could see neither cords nor battery cases. Yet the room was filled with a soft, gentle, white light, which the physician could regulate by rotating the base of the bulb. Captive