Written by: Beth Ronmark
Images by: Daeden Jessop
Welcome to the first issue of Homestone, a magazine dedicated to Gorean culture in Second Life. One area we are committed to addressing is the prevalence of online-isms. Found primarily online, online-isms are myths or falsehoods of information.
With the web being user-content driven, when using it as a resource for Gorean knowledge, you need to pay close attention to the sources. There are some sites that, for anyone who’s read a handful of the Gor books, are easy to spot as purveyors of misinformation. There are others who are not so easy to spot. These sites provide references for their information, but when you cross reference the cited material, you find that the information is incorrect, the quote doesn’t exist. The best source of information, and we can’t stress this enough, is in the books. We encourage everyone to read them.
In each issue, we’ll address a particular online-ism found in SL Gor. For this issue, we’ve chosen to take on the topic of the perma-kneel.
The perma-kneel is easy to spot. It is the slave who is making dinner in the tavern kitchen and kneeling as she cooks. It’s the slave who is off in a corner of the sim, doing a chore while kneeling. It is a group of slaves who are kneeling together, talking amongst themselves.
This online-ism is perpetuated by the belief that a slave on Gor is to kneel 24/7. The truth is; slaves knelt when in service to free. In the books, slaves were working, busy – not kneeling. They sat among themselves and talked. It was an odd sight to see a resting slave, kneeling by herself in the corner of the city.
Here are some simple tips on kneeling:
Here are some simple tips on kneeling:- Offering service. If you are offering service to a Free, you kneel.
- Stopping to talk. If you are stopping to talk with a Free, you kneel. If your Master or Mistress stops to talk and it’s going to be just an ehn or two, standing is okay. If it’s longer than that lower to a kneel.
- Doing chores. You don’t kneel. Think about what you are doing. Ask yourself, would you kneel while washing the dishes? Would you be able to reach the sink?
- Shopping in the market. Whether you’re shopping alone or with your Master or Mistress, you would stand. The constant up and down would slow them down.
And to the Free, if you see slaves standing, don’t go charging over and order them to kneel. They might have a reason for being on their feet. Take pity on them as well. Imagine if you had to kneel for an hour at a time, you wouldn’t be able to stand back up; your legs would fall asleep. While these are avatars rather than physical beings, the purpose of SL Gor is realism, or as close as you can get in recreating this fictional environment. Common sense by roleplayers goes a long way.
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 out of print since 2010.
