22

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 423
This second example is of a more formal sort of ceremony. Of particular interest is that the girl is cleaned, perfumed and prepared for the event, presented as fitting for such before her master. Also, the girl is again spurned at the end.
"Ena drew the hood up from my back and over my head.
'They are ready!" said the girl at the entrance to the tent.
'Lead her forth,' said Ena.
I was led through the camp, and, here and there, some men and slave girls followed me.
I came to a clearing, before the tent of Rask of Treve. He was waiting there. On my tether I was led before him. I looked at him, frightened.
We stood facing one another, I about five feet from him.
'Remove her tether,' he said.
Ena, who had accompanied me, unknotted the rope, and handed it to one of the girls.
I wore, the long, scarlet garment, hooded, sleeveless. My hands were bound behind my back with binding fiber.
'Remove her bonds,' said Rask of Treve.
In his belt I saw that he had thrust an eighteen-inch strip of binding fiber. It was not jeweled. It was about three quarters of an inch in thickness; it was of flat, supple leather, plain and brown, of the sort commonly used by tarnsmen for binding female prisoners.
Ena untied my wrists.
Rask and I regarded one another.
He approached me.
With one hand he brushed back my hood, revealing my head and hair. I stood very straight.
Carefully, one by one, he removed the four pins, handing them to one of the girls at the side.
My hair fell about my shoulders, and he smoothed it over my back.
One of the girls, she with the purple horn comb, combed the hair, arranging it.
'She is pretty,' said one of the girls in the crowd.
Rask of Treve now stood some ton feet from me. He regarded me.
'Remove her garment,' he said.
Ena and one of the girls from the tent parted the garment and let it fall about my ankles.
Two or three of the girls in the crowd breathed their pleasure.
Some of the warriors smote their shields with the blades of their spears.
'Step before me naked,' said Rask of Treve.
I did so.
We faced one another, not speaking, he with his blade, and in his leather, I with nothing, stripped at his command.
'Submit,' he said.
I could not disobey him.
I fell to my knees before him, resting back on my heels, extending my arms to him, wrists crossed, as though for binding, my head lowered, between my arms.
I spoke in a clear voice. 'I, Miss Elinor Brinton, of New York City, to the Warrior, Rask, of the High City of Treve, herewith submit myself as a slave girl. At his hands I accept my life and my name, declaring myself his to do with as he pleases.'
Suddenly I felt my wrists lashed swiftly, rudely, together. I drew back my wrists in fear. They were already bound! They were bound with incredible tightness. I had been bound by a tarnsman.
I looked up at him in fear. I saw him take an object' from a warrior at his side. It was an opened, steel slave collar. He held it before me.
'Read the collar,' said Rask of Treve.
'I cannot,' I whispered. 'I cannot read.'
'She is illiterate,' said Ena.
'Ignorant barbarian!" I heard more than one girl laugh.
I felt so ashamed. I regarded the engraving on the collar, tiny, in neat, cursive script. I could not read it.
'Read it to her,' said Rask of Treve to Ena.
'It says,' said Ena, ' - I am the property of Rask of of Treve.'
I said nothing.
'Do you understand?' asked Ena.
'Yes,' I said. 'Yes!'
Now, with his two hands, he held the collar about my neck, but he did not yet close it. I was looking up at him. My throat was encircled by the collar, he holding it, but the collar was not yet shut. My eyes met his. His eyes were fierce, amused, mine were frightened. My eyes pleaded for mercy. I would receive none. The collar snapped shut. There was a shout of pleasure from the men and girls about. I heard hands striking the left shoulder in Gorean applause. Among the warriors, the flat of sword blades and the blades of spears rang on shields. I closed my eyes, shuddering.
I opened my eyes. I could not hold up my head. I saw before me the dirt, and the sandals of Rask of Treve.
Then I remembered that I must speak one more line. I lifted my head, tears in my eyes.
'I am yours, Master,' I said.
He lifted me to my feet, one hand on each of my arms. My wrists were bound before my body. I wore his collar. He put his head to the left side of my face, and then to the right. He inhaled the perfume. Then he stood there, holding me. I looked up at him. Inadvertently my lips parted and I, standing on my toes, lifted my head, that I might delicately touch with my lips those of my master. But he did not bend to meet my lips. His arms held me from him.
'Put her in a work tunic,' he said, 'and send her to the shed.'"
- CAPTIVE OF GOR, Pg. 282-284
Branding
Branding is also much encouraged by the merchants caste, so far even as them having certain brands recommended and suitable locations for the mark. This is supported by them both because the brand marks the girl as an animal, and, because it marks her as a form of livestock or commodity, a trade good added to the world market. It does not hold the personal and symbolic relationship that the collar does. A collar marks a specific owner, telling the world that she is that person's slave, but a collar may change. The brand marks the girl as slave in itself, telling the world not just that she is someone's slave, but that she will remain such. Collars may change or be removed, as may owners, but the brand is permanent, symbolizing the fact though owner's amy change, her reality as a slave girl will not. It is for this reason that owner's commonly do not brand their girls themselves, preferring a professional to place what is an "institutional" mark on the girl, while they place the more personal collar themselves. Branding is also done by professionals, often metal workers, to insure the quality of the brand, as the placement of such in a skillful manner is no easy thing.
"I could, of course, examine your thighs, your lower left abdomen, your body generally," I said. The thighs and the lower left abdomen are the brand sites recommeded by Merchant Law. Masters, of course, may brand a girl wherever they please. She is theirs. Sometimes brands are placed on the left side of the neck, on the left calf, the interior of the left heel, and on the inside of the left forearm. The customary brand site, incidentally, is high on the left thigh. That is the site almost invariably utilized in marking Gorean kajirae."
- FIGHTING SLAVE OF GOR, Pg. 349
The particular brand selected is sometimes chosen to fit the nature of the girl who is to wear it. In this way it is a compliment to her form and manner, rather than a contradiction.
"Yet I had been made a 'dina.' He had not done this for economic reasons. He had 'sized me up,' me nature and my body. He had decided the dina brand would be, for me, exquisitely 'right.'"
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 63
Sometimes the placement of the brand will also be a reflection of this, though the left thigh is most often deemed perfect for females. At other rare times a girl might be branded on the abdomen, neck, forearm, calf or heel, though all will always be on the left side. This is done so that the right hand of the master can easily touch the brand which marks his property as his, a not so subtle statement and reminder to the girl, that she is owned and by who.
It should be added that very few branded girls are ever freed. Those few that are, are given what is termed "papers of manumission" which document the release. These are normally kept on hand by the former slave, as without such, if the girl should ever be recognized and the brand discovered, she will be returned to her slavery and perhaps punished as a runaway. These papers are legal documents which prove the fact of her having been freed, and reestablish her rights as a free person. Though most slaves that are freed commonly seek to find a way to return to the collar, for once one has been taught of such, it is unlikely they will want much else.
"'And these papers,' I said, 'are pertinent to you. They are all in order. I had Tolnar and Venlisius prepare them, before they left.'
'The papers are papers of manumission,' I said. 'I am no longer your master. You no longer have a master.'
'You are free,' I told him."
- MAGICIANS OF GOR, Pg. 460
Examples of Branding
The following are some examples of how a branding might be done, as taken from the books.
The first example is of a branding done in the House of a Slaver, the branding of girls that will be later sold. This is not always done by Slavers though, often a girl will be sold unbranded so that the owner will have the choice in selecting a brand, and so that he may have the pleasure of being the first to own her as a branded girl. Of note in this passage is the words spoken regarding "Hand-Branding," a form believed to present a better mark that that done by machine.
"'Is the iron ready?' asked Ho-Tu of the guard, and the man nodded.
At a signal from Ho-Tu the guard carried Virginia to the branding rack and placed her in the rack, spinning the lever that locked her thigh in place. She said nothing but stood there, wrists braceleted behind her back, locked in place, watching the approach of the iron, observing the graceful, white-hot character at the iron's termination; she screamed uncontrollably when the iron marked her, firmly, decisively for about three Ihn; and then she sobbed, beside herself, while the guard spun the lever releasing her; he lifted her from the rack and put her on the stones at the feet of Ho-Tu and Flaminius; Phyllis' eyes were wild with fear, but she, like Virginia, did not so much as whimper as the guard lifted her, carried her to the rack and locked her in place.
'We still do hand branding,' said Ho-Tu to me. 'Mechanical devices brand too uniformly. Buyers like a hand-branded girt. Besides it is better for a female slave to be branded by a man; it makes them better slaves. The rack, however, is a useful device, preventing a blurred brand." He indicated the guard. "Strius," said he, 'has one of the firmest irons in Ar. His work is almost always exact and clean.'
Phyllis Robertson threw back her head and screamed helplessly, and then she, too, began to sob, trembling, when the guard, Strius, released her from the rack and put her with Virginia."
- ASSASSIN OF GOR, Pg. 149-150
This second instance is of a girl branded by her master in a non-professional setting. It is told from the perspective of the girl being branded, both presenting a description of the action itself, and her reaction to it, including the effect on her mind, body, senses, and end perception of herself.
"I tended the brazier. It glowed in the darkness.
Two men came and stood over me. I looked up, startled. They pulled me up by the arms and took me to the white- barked tree. They threw me on my back, my head down, on the tree. I looked at them, wildly. My hands were tied together before my body and taken pulled up and over my head. They were fastened, behind my head, out of my vision, to the tree. My body was stretched out, one leg on each side of the trunk. "What are you doing?" I cried. I felt my body being tightly roped to the tree. I squirmed, my head down, my legs up. 'Stop!' I cried. Ropes were placed on my neck and belly, and on each leg, above the knees and at the ankles, and lashed tightly. 'Stop,' I begged. 'Please stop!' I could barely move. The men stepped back; I was fastened to the tree. 'Let me go!' I cried. 'Please!' I whimpered. 'What are you going to do?' I asked. They looked at me. I was helpless. 'What are you going to do?' I whimpered. 'Oh, no!' I cried. 'No, no, no, no!'
My captor had gone to the brazier and, with the leather glove, and another, too, with two hands, withdrawn the white-hot iron. I felt the, heat of it, even feet away. 'No!' I screamed. 'No!' Two men, large men, strong, held my left thigh immobile. I looked into the eyes of my captor. 'Please, no!' I wept. 'Please, no!'
Then, head down, helpless, held, I was branded a Gorean slave girl.
The marking, I suppose, took only a few seconds. That is doubtless true. Objectively I grant you the truth of that. Yet a girl who has been marked finds this obvious truth difficult to accept psychologically.
Perhaps I may be granted that those seconds, those few seconds, seem very long seconds.
For an hour it seemed I felt the iron. It touched me firmly, kissing me, then claiming me.
I screamed, and screamed. I was alone with the pain, the agony, the degradation, the relentless, hissing object, so hurting me, the men. Mercifully they let me scream. It is common to let a girl scream, a Gorean kindness, while she is being marked with a white-hot iron. Afterwards, however, once the iron is pulled out of her body, and she is fully marked, Gorean males are less likely to accord her such consideration for her feelings. They are less likely, then, to be so indulgent with her. This makes sense. Afterwards, she is only a branded girl.
It begins swiftly, almost before you can feel it. I felt the iron touch me and almost instantaneously, crackling, flash through my outer skin and then, firmly, to my horror, enter and ledge itself fixedly in my thigh. It was literally in my body, inflexibly, burning. The pain then began to register on my consciousness. I began screaming. I could not believe what was being done to me, or how much it hurt. Not only could I feel the iron, but I could hear it, hissing and searing in the precise, beautiful wound it was relentlessly burning in my thigh. There was an odor of burning flesh, mine. I smelled, burning, as of a kind of meat. It was my own body being marked. I could not move my thigh. I threw back my head and screamed. I felt the iron tight in my body, then, to my horror, pressing in even more deeply. The marking surface of the iron, then, lay hissing, literally submerged, in my flesh. I could not move my thigh in the least. I threw my head from side to side, screaming. The marking surface of the iron is some quarter of an inch in depth. It was within my flesh. It was lodged there, submerged, hissing and burning. Taking its time, not hurrying, it marked me, cleanly and deeply. Then, swiftly, cleanly, it withdrew.
I smelled burned meat, my own. The men released my thigh. I began to choke and sob. Men regarded the mark. My captor was commended on his work. I gathered I had been well marked.
The men then left me and I continued to lie, head down, roped and helpless, on the broken, inclined trunk of the white-barked tree.
I was overwhelmed, psychologically, with what had happened to me. The pain was now less. My thigh still stung, and cruelly, but the pain seemed relatively unimportant now compared to the enormity of the comprehension that shook me to the core. I had been branded. I shuddered in the bonds. I moaned. I wept. My thigh would be sore for days, but that was unimportant, even trivial. What would remain was the mark they bad placed in my flesh. That, unlike the pain, would not vanish. I would continue to wear that mark. It would, from now on, identify me as something which I had not been, or had not explicitly been, before, but now was clearly, for the eyes of all. I lay there. I knew I now was, because of the brand, deeply and profoundly different than I had been before. What could a brand mean? I shuddered. I scarcely dared conjecture the nature of a girl who wore such a mark on her body. She could be only one thing. I forced the thought from my mind. I tried to move my wrists, my head and body, my legs and ankles. I could move them very little. They were helpless in their constraints. Only animals wore brands.'"
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 57-59
Collaring and Branding Done in Succession
What follows is an example of a Collaring and Branding as done in Torvaldsland. Both are done by the same smith, and the girls are taken one after the other as a matter of formality, with little ceremony.
"'Please, my Jarl,' she cried, 'do not mark your girl!'
At a sign from the Forkbeard, the iron was pressed deeply into her flesh, and held there, smoking for five Ihn. It was only when it was pulled away that she screamed. Her eyes had been shut, her teeth gritted. She had tried not to scream. She had dared to pit her will against the iron. But, when the iron had been pulled back, from deep within her flesh, smoking, she, her pride gone, her will shattered, had screamed with pain, long and miserably, revealing herself as only another branded girl. She, by the arm, was dragged from the log. She threw back her head, tears streaming down her face, and again screamed in pain. She looked down at her bodv. She was marked for identification. A hand on her arm, she was thrust, sobbing, to the anvil, beside which she was thrust to her knees.
The brand used by Forkbeard is not uncommon in the north, though there is less uniformity in Torvaldsland on these matters than in the south, where the merchant caste with its recommendations for standardization, is more powerful. All over Gor, of course, the slave girl is a familiar commodity. 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 width, and the diagonal line 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 woman whose belly lies beneath the sword.
'Look up at me,' said the smith.
The slender, blond girl, tears in her eyes, looked up at him. He opened the hinged collar of black iron, about a half inch in height. He put it about her throat. It also contained a welded ring, suitable for the attachment of a chain.
'Put your head beside the anvil,' he said.
He took her hair and threw it forward, and thrust her neck against the left side of the anvil. Over the anvil lay the joining ends of the two pieces of the collar. The inside of the collar was separated by a quarter of an inch from her neck. I saw the fine lain on the back of her neck. On one part of the collar are two, small, flat, thick rings. On the other is a single such ring. These rings, when the wings of the collar are joined, are aligned, those an one wing on top and bottom, that on the other in the center. They fit closely together, one on top of the other. The holes in each, about three-eights of an inch in diameter, too, of course, are perfectly aligned. The smith, with his thumb, forcibly, pushed a metal rivet through the three holes. The rivet fit snugly.
'Do not move your head, Bond-maid,' said the smith.
Then, with great blows of the iron hammer, he riveted the iron collar about her throat.
A man then pulled her by the hair from the anvil--and threw her to one side. She lay there weeping, a naked bond-maid, marked and collared.
'Next,' called out the Forkbeard.
Weeping, another girl was flung over the branding log."
- MARAUDERS OF GOR, Pg. 86-87


"In the case of the girl, Rowena, of course, as she was already a self-pronounced slave, the brand and collar were little more than identificatory formalities. Nonetheless she would wear them. They would be fixed visibly and clearly upon her. This is in accord with the prescriptions of merchant law. Too, for all pratical purposes, they make escape impossible for the Gorean slave girl."
- PLAYERS OF GOR, Pg. 36
"'I thank my Master for his collar,' she whispered. 'I rejoice to wear it. I shall struggle to be worthy of it, he collar of such a man.'"
- GUARDSMAN OF GOR, Pg. 207


"Collars, incidentally, can be experienced quite differently by different girls. New girls, in particular, first finding themselves helplessly fastened in them, may find them distressing. For example, they cannot remove them. They are made to stay on their neck. The girl, seeing herself in the mirror, sees that her throat has been locked in what she, at the time, may take to be a shameful and degrading, even horrifying, symbol of bondage. This can distress, or dismay her. Some girls even fear to leave the house in their collars, fearing that on the streets, unveiled, scantily clad and collared, they might die of shame. They are sometimes, mercifully, whipped from the portals.
In the streets, they meet other girls in collars. Of course, they wear collars. They are slaves. Then, returning to her Master, she is no longer so ashamed, and, in time, she will think little or nothing of the collar. Of course, she wears it. It is appropriate for her. She is a slave. It is undeniable, of course, that the collar is a symbol of bondage. That no one will dispute. On the other hand, how the collar is experienced is quite another matter.
Most girls, in fact, sooner or later, wear their collars with pleasure and pride. First, the collar is extremely attractive, setting off and enhancing, as it does, their beauty. Secondly it is almost dazzlingly seductive. It can excite men, and drive them wild. Few women object to this, though, to be sure, sometimes slaves fear the power of their collars, knowing, as they do, what effect their sight can have on men. Too, they know that the collar marks them, and they cannot remove it, as the helpless and fit objects on which may be practiced the predations of the mastery. Similarly, the collar often has an interesting 'releasing effect' on the sexuality of the female.
A third reason why girls tend to wear their collars with pleasure and pride, aside from the attractiveness of the collar, and its seductiveness, is seldom mentioned. That is, that the collar, in its way, functions as a symbol of interesting differences among women. It, like a wired seal of quality, attests to the value of the merchandise upon which it is fastened. 'Beautiful enough to be collared' is a Gorean compliment, though perhaps a rather rude one, and one that one would not be likely to hear addressed openly and to the face of a free woman. 'She has legs pretty enough to be those of a slave girl' is another such compliment. If the free woman should hear such compliments she will be scandalized. But she may also wonder if, indeed, she is beautiful enough to be collared, and if, indeed, her legs are as pretty as those of a slave girl. If, at some later time, she is collared, she will then, for all practical purposes, have the answers to her questions. Normally it is only the finest, and the most feminine and desirable of women who are enslaved. This makes sense.
But, 'officially,' of course, the functions of the collar are simple. It serves to mark the girl as a slave, and identify her master. The true momentousness here, of course, is not the collar, but what it signifies, the condition of bondage. This condition, also, of course, could be signified in many other ways, for example, by such devices as a bracelet or anklet, or even a ring. But I think that there is no real competitor to the collar.
It is the bondage device, particularly on a girl, par excellence. It is beautiful, and the throat seems the perfect place for mounting the bondage symbol. On the throat it is prominently displayed, for all to easily see. One may see at a glance that she is slave. Too, the throat is beautiful, and soft and vulnerable. How appropriate then that it should be here, in this delicate, prominent, and defenseless place that the steel, of the leather or chain, should be placed. Too, where else on the body, that the impossibility of escaping it could be more obvious, could it be placed? Surely the physics of widths dictates such a mounting. But, too, psychologically, where could it be more advantageously placed? Where else on the body might it be placed that its security, its effectiveness and its meaning could be more clearly brought home to its lovely captive.
The collar also, of course, has other utilities. For example, it can be useful in leading her about, either because of its ring, to which a leash may be attached, or in connection with a leash with a snap lock, which can be placed about the collar itself; similarly it is useful, in connection with various forms of hardware, in fastening her to such things as trees and slave rings; her hands, too, can be tied at her collar, making it impossible for her to defend her beauties from the master's assault. Lastly, of course, many animals wear collars; in animals the throat seems a natural place in which to place such an identificatory control and guidance device; the slave girl, too, of course, is an owned animal. Thus it seems appropriate that she, too, wear her device in the same place."
- GUARDSMAN OF GOR, Pg. 207-208, 210-212

"Interesting, I thought, the transformations which a collar can make in a woman."

- VAGABONDS OF GOR, Pg. 17
-
"I had seen few collars on Gor, but I had learned from Eta that there was a geat variety among them. They ranged from simple bands of iron, hammered about a girl's throat, her head held down on an anvil, to bejeweled, wondrously wrought, close-locking circlets befitting the preferred slave of a Ubar; such collars, whether worn by a kitchen slave of the prize beauty of a Ubar, had two things in common; they cannot be removed by the girl, and they mark her as slave."
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 215
Gorean collars come in a variety of styles and shapes, as fits the nature of the Gorean man. Goreans have a strong eye for beauty, and an appreciation for what is aesthetically pleasing, and in collaring their girls, as in dressing, they will commonly seek to do so in a form that will add to the attractiveness of the slave. Most Gorean collars are of the simple type, and are placed on the simple, common girl. Preferred slaves, celebrated Dancers, or likewise exceptional girls might find themselves in a collar of design more suited to their valued status, and their master's whim. Different regions also have different sorts of collars which are considered the standard, with these common types usually being quite fitting to the nature of the people indigenous to the area. But even though many styles of collar do exist, they all stand for the same basic purposes, to mark the girl as a slave, to name her owner, to make her feel a slave, and to provide a place to attach a leash. And obviously, those it is put on, cannot remove it.
"In the matter of collars, as in all things, Goreans commonly exhibit good taste and aesthetic sense."
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 215
"Ko - lar"
The word "Collar" is prounced "Ko - lar" by Goreans. This is not so much a different word as it is a different pronunciation of the same word, much like how certain words that are spelled the same on Earth, will be pronounced differently in various parts of a given country, being a result of regional accent. "Collar" is a word borrowed from the English language, with a Gorean accent changing pronunciation slightly.
"'Ko - lar,' shea said, indicating her collar. 'It is the same word in English,' I cried. She did not understand my outburst. Gorean, as I would learn, is rich in words borrowed from Earth Languages; how rich it is I am not a skilled enough philologist to conjecture. It may well be that almost all Gorean expressions may be traced to one or another Earth language. Yet, the language is fluid, rich and expressive. Borrowed expressions, as in linguistic borrowing generally, take on the coloration of the borrowing language; in time the borrowings become naturalized, so to speak, being fully incorporated into the borrowing language; at this point they are, for all practical purposes, words within the borrowing language. How many, in English, for example, think of expressions such as 'automobile,' 'corral,' and 'lariat' as being foreign words? 'Collar!' I said. Eta frowned. 'Ko - lar,' she repeated, again indicating the neck band of steel fashioned on her throat. 'Ko - lar,' I said, carefully following her pronunciation. Eta accepted this."
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 80-81
The Common Gorean Slave Collar
More a range of styles within a common theme than a set and specific type, the Common Gorean Slave Collar, or Lock Collar, is the form most often used on slave girls. It is based on a simple piece of plain, but well formed steel, made to fit snug on the girl, and often sized to accurately fit her neck. It can then be etched, inscribed, enameled, "sleeved," or likewise adorned as fits the master's liking (a "collar sleeve" is a cover of fabric, made to go over the collar, enhancing its appearance).
Though called "common" it should be noted that it is common to the central regions of Gor, with those of lands such as Turia and Torvald having their own styles of collar which to them are the norm.
"The common Gorean collar, on the other hand, is a flat, snugly fitting steel band. Both collars lock in the back, behind the girl's neck."
- NOMADS OF GOR, Pg. 16
"Most Gorean collars, decorated of not, are basically a flat, circular band, hinged, which locks snugly about the girl's neck."
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 251
"These collars are normally measured individually to the girl as is most slave steel. The collar is regarded not simply as a designation of slavery and a means for identifing the girl's owner and his city but as an ornament as well. Accordingly the Gorean master is often extremely concerned that the fit of the graceful band will be neither too tight nor too loose. The collar is normally worn snugly, indeed so much so that if the snap of a slave lease is used the girl will normally suffer some discomfort."
- PRIEST-KINGS OF GOR, Pg. 158
"'You will in time be given a pretty collar.' He indicated Elizabeth's yellow enameled collar, bearing the legend of the House of Cernus. 'It will even have a lock.."
- ASSASSIN OF GOR, Pg. 154
"The small, heavy lock on a girl's slave collar, incidentally, may be of several varieties, but almost all are cylinder locks, either of the pin or disk variety. In a girl's collar lock there would be either six pins or six disks, on each, it is said, for each letter in the Gorean word for slave, Kajira."
- ASSASSIN OF GOR, Pg. 51
One book later, an interesting contradiction occurs regarding the number of pins in a slave collar lock...
"The common female slave collar on Gor has a seven-pin lock. There are, incidentally, seven letters in the most common Gorean expression for female slave, Kajira."
- RAIDERS OF GOR, Pg. 294
The Common Hammered Collar
The Hammered Collar is simply a band of steel, which is hammered into a circle around the slave's neck, by a metal worker. Such is the skill of these men that they are able to join the two ends of the once straight piece with practiced ease, making a perfectly aligned ring. This hammering is usualy done with the girl's neck pressed against an anvil. Collars of this type are put are low girls or girls who are to be sold or trained in anticipation of future removal and placement of a lock collar. They are also fairly common, with various regions having again, their own suitable versions.
"The girls were then motioned to the anvil. First Virginia and then Phyllis laid their heads and throats on the anvil, head turned to the side, their hands holding the anvil, and the smith, expertly, with his heavy hammer and a ringing of iron, curved the collar about their throats; a space of a quarter of an inch was left between the two ends of the collar; the ends matched perfectly; both Virginia and Phyllis stepped away from the anvil feeling the metal on their throats, both now collared slave girls."
- ASSASSIN OF GOR, Pg. 153-154
This is also the type of collar most often placed on a male slave...
"The male slave, or Kajirus, seldom has a locked collar; normally a band of iron is simply hammered about his neck."
- ASSASSIN OF GOR, Pg. 51
Jeweled Collars
Slaves, especially ones who have won the favor of their master, or are particularly striking, might well be collared in a band made not of steel, but some precious metal, perhaps even inlaid with rich gems. This is often done as a reflection upon the wealth of the owner, making the slave both in form and adornment, a testimony to the good fortune of her master.
"The girl was naked, save that she wore many strings of jewels and armlets. Too, she wore bracelets and anklets of gold, which had been locked upon her, and were belled. Her collar, too, was of gold, and belled. A single pearl, fastened in a setting like a droplet, on a tiny golden chain, was suspended at the center of her forehead."
- ROGUE OF GOR, Pg. 10-11
Dancing Collars
Dancing collars are made to be attractive, enhancing the beauty of the girl and her dance, while not restricting or hampering her movements. Sometimes these collars are part of an intricate arrangement that constitutes a form of dress, something that is also utilized in the dance itself. One such arrangement that is popular in the Tahari region is the "oval and collar."
"She wore a golden metal dancing collar about her throat, golden chains looped from her wrists, gracefully to the collar ring, then fell to her ankles; there are varieties of Tahari dancing chains; she wore the oval and collar; briefly, in readying a girl, after she has been belled and silked, and bangled, and has been made up, and touched with slave perfume, she kneels, head down in a large oval of light gleaming chain, extending her wrists before her; fastened at the sides of the top of the oval are two wrist rings, at the sides of the lower loop of the oval two ankle rings; the oval is then pulled inward and the wrist and ankle rings fastened on the slave; her throat is then locked in the dancing collar, which has, under the chin, an open snap ring; with the left hand the oval is then gathered together, so the two strands of chain lie in the palm of the left hand, whence, lifted, they are placed inside the snap ring, which is then snapped shut, and locked; the two strands of chain flow freely in the snap ring; accordingly, though the girl's wrists and ankles are fastened at generous, though inflexible limits from one another, usually about a yard for the wrists and about eighteen inches for the ankles, much of the chain may be played through, and back through, the collar ring; this permits a skillful girl a great deal of beautiful chain work; the oval and collar are traditional in the Tahari; it enhances a girl's beauty; it interferes little with her dance, though it imposes subtle, sensuous limits upon it; a good dancer uses these limits, exploiting them deliciously; for example, she may extend a wrist, subtly holding the chain at her waist with her other hand; the chain slides through the ring, yet short of the expected movement; the chain stops her wrist; her wrist rebels, but is helpless; it must yield; her head falls; she is a chained slave girl."
- TRIBESMEN OF GOR, Pg. 215
The Turian Collar
Contrary to the snug fitting band of the Common Slave Collar, the Turian Collar is a loose ring of steel. Enough space is allowed in the ceation for a man's hand to grab hold of the steel and clench it in his fist. This type of collar is known to be harder to engrave though, owing to the metals round nature, but regardless is quite popular, especially amongst the Wagon Peoples and its namesake.
"She wore the Turian collar, rather than the common slave collar. The Turian collar lies loosely on the girl, a round ring; it fits so loosely that, when grasped in a man's fist, the girl can turn within it; the common Gorean collar, on the other hand, is a flat, snugly fitting steel band. Both collars lock in the back, behind the girl's neck. The Turian collar is more difficult to engrave, but it, like the flat collar, will bear some legend assuring that the girl, if found, will be promptly returned to her master."
- NOMADS OF GOR, Pg. 29
"The Turian collar, on the other hand, fits more loosely, and resembles a hinged ring, looped about the throat. A man can get his fingers inside a Turian collar and use it to drag the girl to him. It does not fit loosely enough to permit its being slipped, of course. Gorean collars are not made to be slipped by the girls who wear them."
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 251-252
The Turian Message Collar
The Message Collar is a curious item created by those of Turia and employed as a means to use a slave to transport a message that she will neither lose or herself read. The collar itself is high and made of leather. The message is placed within before it is shown shut and placed on the girl. It must be cut to be removed.
"'Did you note the collar she wore?'
He had not seemed to show much interest in the high thick leather collar that the girl had had sewn about her neck.
'Of course,' he said.
'I myself,' I said, 'have never seen such a collar.'
'It is a message collar,' said Kamback. 'Inside the leather sewn within, will be a message.'"
- NOMADS OF GOR, Pg. 40
Coffle Collars
Coffle Collars are of simple design, not unlike that of the Common Collar. They are made to fit snug and lock much the same as the other. The primary difference is that a Coffle Collar will have one or more rings directly attached to it, to which a chain my be connected or run through. In this manner, many girls are strung on a single chain, thus producing a coffle for transportation or collection and keeping.
"The collars had front and back rings, were hinged on the right and locked on the left. This is a familiar form of coffle collar. The lengths of chain between the collars were about three to four feet long. Some were attached to the collar rings by the links themselves, opened and then reclosed about the rings, and some of them were fastened to the collar rings by snap rings."
- SAVAGES OF GOR, Pg. 135
"Another common form of coffle collar has its hinge in the front and closes behind the back of the neck, like the common slave collar. It has a single collar ring, usually on the right, through which, usually, a single chain is strung. Girls are spaced on such a chain, usually, by snap rings."
- SAVAGES OF GOR, Pg. 135-136
The Cord Collar
A Cord Collar is an article of a simple sort, usually employed by those with either little means, or not the intent to keep the girl, in the case of intended sale. It is simply a cord to which an identifying disk has been attached.
"On some rence islands I have heard, incidentally, that the men have revolted, and enslaved their women. These are usually kept in cord collars, with small disks attached to them, indicating the names of their masters."
- VAGABONDS OF GOR, Pg. 341
The Peasant Collar
Those of the Peasant's Castes, living outside of the cities oin their villages, have their own means of collaring their slaves, they make simple and useful collars out of sleen rope, forming what is also know as the Rope Collar.
"I rose to my hands and knees. I felt a length of sleen rope tied on my neck."
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 188
"'This rope is rough and course,' said Ladletender, fingering the rope collar."
- SLAVE GIRL OF GOR, Pg. 215
The Shipping Collar
Shipping Collars are employed by Slavers and Merchants transportion slaves over long distances. They are used to mark what lot of good they are a part of, for easier accounting and identification. The collar itself will state not only the owner, but shipping infomation and sometimes current destination. These notations are usually placed on an attachment made to be easily removed and replaced from the collar.
"'What sort of collar do you wear?'
'A shipping collar, Master. It shows that I am a portion of the cargo of the Palms of Schendi.'"