Written by: Dark Starr
Images by: Daeden Jessop
You are being led down the torch lit corridor into the dungeon, the dismal atmosphere is just a precursor of the horrors about to be inflicted. If only you had not been overpowered and captured this would not be happening right now but you are brave, what could possibly happen that you could not withstand?
The air is dank with humidity, your hair plastered to the back of your neck as your captors’ chuckle with glee, about your upcoming torture no doubt. Stoically you wait for them to reveal your fate.
The cross, rape, branding and collar you think likely. These things you will withstand and revenge you will plan.
You are led into a chamber, the air thick with moisture oozing down the walls, an array of broad leafed exotic tropical plants from Schendi line the thick stone walls and in the center lies a stone pool filled with clear water and the men push you forth at spear point. Maybe they intend to make you bathe before a rape. So what? Let them get their thrills.
As you enter the pool something moves, a yellowish blob appears around your legs and waist, surrounding you with their amorphous substance and it holds you tight, pulling you under and engulfing you. Your captor laughs manically echoing off the chamber walls as he informs you just before you go under that your body will slowly be digested over the course of several days by the creature in the pool.
What the hell? I’m not role playing this shit. That’s so Disney you shout and tp out. Amoebas that live in a pool and eat people…Disney sim…
Or is it?
The scene above is based from the books as written by John Norman about the Yellow Pool of Turia. This might seem fantastic and without a complete reading and understanding of the mysterious and unusual of Gor we might dismiss these things as Disney but they are within the world of Gor. Surely they are unique but we should not be so quick to dismiss them as impossible. Several things come to mind that many in SL Gor, especially the unread role player might totally dismiss as Disney.
The Yellow Pool of Turia, Rings of Invisibility, Crashed Spaceships, Men who use a Priest King egg as a throne…
Gor is not medieval fiction minus magic. It is, in actuality, a Science Fiction world of highly advance insect rulers, their beast like enemies, transplanted humans kept as pets and scientific experiments in culture. The Priest Kings are aliens who moved an entire world to our solar system and populated it with creatures that sparked their interest. Many of those creatures have no Earthly equivalent as they are and the Goreans seem to have had no Linnaeus to properly classify and codify species – no Darwin to conjecture of the nature of evolution. The water tharlarion and the riding tharlarion are likely two distinct species as the turtle and the crocodile. The Spider People, Urt People, Priest Kings and Kur are all intelligent creatures of Gor that did not come from Earth or even likely evolve from Earth stock. The Priest Kings seem to be collectors, not genetic experimenters. Perhaps they are from worlds in space before the move to Earth’s system. What other fantastical creatures and things came from these other people and places? Are they Disney? Not at all they are written into the books and really exist.
Why are we so quick to call things Disney and impossible?
When I started in SL Gor for instance, the thought of female outlaws was ludicrous. We had read the books, we took the time to learn and we knew such women were rare and meant to be expendable destined for a collar or death. I cannot recall the attitudes that led to the cry of Disney across the sim. What is Disney in such a world after all? Such marvels should be rare or unique to be sure, epic in proportions and not for every land. When such a thing stops being unique, it becomes Disney but in proper doses it is something that enriches the culture and role playing. We don’t want these things to be so commonplace they stop instilling the thrill and chill instead inspiring the kids ride at the Amusement Park in Ar.
Is Disney possibly the way many play it is Second Life? Look at the Physicians. It is stated that medical advances are greater than those of Earth. The serums that extend life and virtually halt aging, serums that can reverse aging, the healing salves, microscopic cell analysis, medicines in pill form that last until reversing – so why do we sometimes still play with herbs and barbaric conditions? We rarely see the cattle prod/slave goad or the Builders lights that are chemical cell lights. Those things are too much like Disney for SL Gor sensibilities.
The next time you are ready to be devoured by the blood sucking vines surrounding the outlaw fortress defended by female warriors in plate metal armor sipping black wine and willow bark tea for that headache, think to yourself…what is really Disney?
Reproduced with permission from Home Stone Magazine.
Past issues are not currently available to view online as
they were printed as the publication has been defunct since 2010.
