Torvaldsland

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May 2012

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May 28 - Memorial Day

[KiraLynn Vella]

Geography

"Torvaldsland is a cruel, harsh, rocky land. It contains many cliffs, inlets and mountains. Its arable soil is thin and found in patches. The size of the average farm is very small. Good soil is rare and highly prized. Communication between farms is often by sea, in small boats. Without the stream of Torvald it would probably be impossible to raise cereal crops in sufficient quantity to fee even its relatively sparse population. There is often not enough food under any conditions, particularly in northern Torvaldsland, and famine is not unknown. In such cases men feed on bark, and lichens and seaweed. It is not strange that the young men of Torvaldsland often look to the sea, and beyond it, for their fortunes. The stream of Torvald is regarded by the men as a gift of Thor, bestowed upon Torvald, legendary founder and hero of the land, in exchange for a ring of gold"

Marauders of Gor, pg.54

"Rune-stone of the Torvaldsmark is taken by many,to mark the border between Torvaldsland and the south. Many of those of Torvaldsland, however, take its borders to be much further extended that the Torvaldsmark. Indeed, some men regard Torvaldsland to be wherever their ships beach, as they took their country, and their steel, with them."

Marauders of Gor, pg. 45

"The Torvaldsberg is, all things considered, an extremely dangerous mountain. Yet it is clearly not unscalable, as I learned, without equipment. It has the shape of a spear blade, broad, which has been bent near the tip. It is something over four and a half pasangs in height, or something over seventeen thousand Earth feet. It is not the highest mountain on Gor but it is one of the most dramatic, and most impressive. It is also, in its fearful way, beautiful."

Marauders of Gor, pg. 220-221

Northern Men

"I know of no prouder, more self-reliant, more magnificent creature than the free Gorean, male or female: they are often touchy, and viciously tempered, but they are seldom petty or small: moreover they do not hate and fear their bodies or their instincts; when they restrain themselves it is a victory over titanic forces; not the consequence of a slow metabolism; but sometimes they do not restrain themselves; they do not assume that their instincts and blood are enemies and spies, saboteurs in the house of themselves; they know them and welcome them as part of their persons; they are as little suspicious of them as the cat of its cruelty, or the lion of its hunger; their desire for vengeance, their will to speak out and defend themselves, their lust, they regard as intrinsically and gloriously a portion of themselves as their thinking or their hearing. Many Earth moralities make people little; the object of Gorean morality, for all its faults, is to make people free and great. These objectives are quite different it is clear to see."

Marauders of Gor, pg. 8-9

"Many of them were giants, huge men, inured to cold, accustomed to war and the labor of the oar, raised from boyhood on steep, isolated farms near the sea, grown strong and hard on work and meat and cereals. Such men, from boyhood in harsh games had learned to run, to leap, to swim, to throw the spear, to wield the sword, to wield the ax, to stand against steel, even bloodied, unflinching. Such men, these, would be the hardest of the hard, for only the largest, the swiftest and finest might win for themselves a bench on the ship of a captain, and the man great enough to command such as they must be first and mightiest among them, for the men of Torvaldsland will obey no other."

Marauders of Gor, pg. 38.


"All men of Torvaldsland, incidentally, even if otherwise unarmed, carry a knife at their master belt. The sword, when carried, and it often is, is commonly supported might be mentioned, the common Gorean practice. It can also, of course, be hung, by its sheath and sheath straps, from the master belt, which is quite adequate, being a stout heavy belt, to hold it. It is called the master belt, doubtless, to distinguish it from the ax belt and the sword belt, and because it is, almost always worn. A pouch, of course, and other accoutrements my hang, too, from it. Gorean garments, generally, do not contain pockets. Some say the master belt gets its name be cause it is used sometimes in the disciplining of bond-maids. This seems to be a doubtful origin for the name. It is true, however, questions of the origin of the name aside, that bond-maids, stripped, are often taught obedience under its lash."

Marauders of Gor, pg. 50-51.


"The men of Torvaldsland sang with great voices. The oars, two men to an oars lifted and dipped. The helmsman leaned on the tiller of the great steering oar."

Marauders of Gor, pg. 54.


"In the long winters of Torvaldsland, when the snow, the darkness, the ice and wintry winds are upon the land, when the frost breaks open the rocks, groaning, at night, when the serpents hide in their roofed sheds, many hours, under swinging soapstone lamps, burning the oil of sea sleen, are given to Kaissa. At such times, even the bond-maids, rolling and restless, naked, in the furs of their masters, their ankles chained to a nearby ring, must wait."

Marauders of Gor, p 58.

[Ashoka Mosely]

Not many of these around in SL Gor still ... most of "the original btb torvie bad asses" are alting on other avis ... if still around at all ...

[Rayzor McAuley]

Good quotes, but was there a particular point you were wishing to make?

[KiraLynn Vella]

Yes I was a part of a northern rp based village in gor where food supplies were low, a lot of the members did not know what we would eat. Hence some of these quotes and others on the men as some had no clue what they were like, I will be posting more as well not to make a point but to post them because I can:)

[Rayzor McAuley]

Very cool.  Too often, we live in well-stocked longhouses and enjoy blackwine before raiding season even begins.  In reality, I'd like to see that particular commodity dry up nearly completely, since it was so rare in the books.

[Marie Forhilde]

This really also bothered me as a bond in the North and ruined my image so often! The cakes,the bread, the desserts and especially the Black Wine served there.

Also how well the bonds were fed with steak, buns, ice cream and such - they litteraly were lucky to get some gruel with fish heads.

There is so much great roleplay in imagining how the supplies could be added with different things like bark in the bread and so on. How hungry people would be in the latest of winters...

And my last one to this subject  - bees didnt produce honey in the winter

[Rayzor McAuley]

This really also bothered me as a bond in the North and ruined my image so often! The cakes,the bread, the desserts and especially the Black Wine served there.

Also how well the bonds were fed with steak, buns, ice cream and such - they litteraly were lucky to get some gruel with fish heads.

There is so much great roleplay in imagining how the supplies could be added with different things like bark in the bread and so on. How hungry people would be in the latest of winters...

And my last one to this subject  - bees didnt produce honey in the winter

Bond-maids were fed better things than gruel with fish heads.

    He threw me a piece of meat.  He cut two small pieces, and thrust them in the mouths of Pudding and Gunnhild.  They ate obediently, his pets....
....I tore a piece of meat from what Ivar had thrown me and held it to Thyri. She smiled at me. She was trying to learn how to please a man. "Thank you, my Jarl," she said. She took the meat, delicately, in her teeth. I grinned, and she looked down, frightened. She knew that soon she might be taught, truly, how to please men. - Marauders of Gor

I'm not so much against having nice baked goods during the summer, but over the winter, everything needs to get scarce.  The seas would be getting packed with ice and they'd no longer be able to raid as a result.

[KiraLynn Vella]

What do bond-maids eat?

She did not deign to speak to him, but looked away. Like the bond-maids, she had been fed only on cold Sa-Tarna porridge and scraps of dried parsit fish. Marauders of Gor, page 56
 
Another of the bond-maids was then freed to mix the bond-maid gruel, mixing fresh water with Sa-Tarna meal and then stirring in the raw fish. Marauders of Gor, page 63, 64
 
The girl who had prepared the bond-maid gruel, had now been refettered and placed again in the coffle. The slender blond girl, who had been giving the men water from the skin bag, was now given the work of filling small bowls from the large wooden bowl, for the bond-maids. She used a bronze ladle, the handle of which was curved like the neck and head of a lovely bird. About the handle was a closed bronze ring, loose. It formed a collar for the bird’s neck. The bond-maids did not much care for their gruel, unsweetened, mudlike Sa-Tarna meal, with raw fish. They fed, however. One girl who did not care to feed was struck twice across her back by a knotted rope in the hand of Gorm. Quickly then, and well, she fed. The girls, including the slender blondish girl, emptied their bowls, even to licking them, and rubbing them with their saliva-dampen-ed fingers, that no grain be left, lest Gorm, their keeper in the ship, should not be pleased. They looked to one another in  fear, and put down their bowls, as they finished, fed bond-wenches.Marauders of Gor, page 65

 

Something else to note, I have come to realize upon reading the books that not all is poured in cement and here we see that a bond-maid stole a piece of cheese from another, so we can see that bond-maids ate slave gruel as a staple, but that they also ate different types of food, if the men of Torvaldsland already knew to bring tospits on their travels not to get sick, that they knew to feed their bond-maids more then just gruel.

 

Dagmar had, two months ago, stolen a piece of cheese from Pretty Ankles; she had been beaten for that, at the post; fastened there by Ottar and switched by Pretty Ankles, until Pretty Ankles had tired of switching her, too; she had not been found sufficiently pleasing by several of the Forkbeard’s oarsmen; she was, accordingly, to be sold off, as an inferior girl. Marauders of Gor, page 158

[Marie Forhilde]

Everything can be discussed and yes, if they stole chease they ate that - if they stole a tabuk leg i guess they ate that too...and i can imagine that a jarl would throw some food to a bond as a man throws his best meat to his dog - nothing is just black and white lol

All i am saying is, gruel with fish were basic meal for bonds, they didnt sit and eat ramberry icecream, muffins with chocolate...vulo poured with honey and so on - to me thats is totally ridiculous

But we all have our picture of what Gor is ...and isnt that a blast

[KiraLynn Vella]

lol exactly, the books do leave a lot of grey areas and that is where we as role-players can fill it in and have fun with it.

[Ashoka Mosely]

...... having said what I did earlier .... I 100% categorically believe .... in the books .... no one kicks ass ... like the Forkbeard...

in fact, if there was a royal rumble celebrity death match, i bet the forkbeard could whoop eveyone's arse... and make kamchak look like a tool ... quivas and all ....

stripped sails and serpants are sitting ducks for Rask and gang from the skies though 

[Bor Grashnar]

More please....

[KiraLynn Vella]

Punishments in Torvaldsland

In Torvaldsland the punishments are swift and harsh. Each bondmaid will soon learn this, and in learning she will become eager-to-please and quick in her work; not many wish to see first-hand the punishment administered by the rough, strong men of the north.
"Do you wish to go to the whipping post ?" he asked. This is a stout post, outside the hall, of peeled wood, with an iron ring near the top, to which the wrists of a bond-maid, crossed, are lashed over her head. Near the bosk shed there is a similar post, with a higher ring, used for thralls. "No, my Jarl!" cried Pudding. "See then," said he, "that your baking improves!" "Yes, my Jarl," she said, and fled away.

"Sometimes," said he, "to discipline a bond-maid, she is hurled naked among the thralls." He smiled.

"I will not eat the gruel of bond-maids," said Aelgifu.
"You will eat it," said the Forkbeard, "or you will be stripped and put to the oar."
She looked at him with horror.
"That will not violate you, my pretty," said the Forkbeard.
In this punishment, the girl, clothed or unclothed, is bound tightly on an oar, hands behind her, her head down, toward the blade. When the oar lifts from the water she gasps for breath, only in another moment to be submerged again. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however, some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar. When food is low it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. The least pleasing girl is always used. This practice, of course, encourages bondmaids to vie vigorously to please their masters. An Ahn on the oar is usually more than sufficient to make the coldest and proudest of females an obedient, eager-to-please bondmaid. It is regarded as second only to the five-lash Gorean slave whip, used also in the south, and what among the men of Torvaldsland is called the whip of the furs, in which the master, with his body, incontrovertibly teaches the girl her slavery.

Gorean garments, generally, do not contain pockets. Some say the master belt gets its name because it is used sometimes in the disciplining of bond-maids. This seems to be a doubtful origin for the name. It is true, however, questions of the origin of the name aside, that bond-maids, stripped, are often taught obedience under its lash.



The punishment below served to teach the previous free woman Hilda, now bondmaid, that there was no place to be a "cold woman". It is known in the North that free women look down upon the wanton bondmaids, making them ashamed of their sexuality and desire, but again there was no place for such in a bondmaid, and binding her to the ice served to show Hilda her place and to in the end, make her beg to please her Jarl, the Forkbeard.
We carried a torch to the ice shed. We opened the heavy door, lined with leather, and lifted the torch, closing the door behind us. In the light of the torch we saw Hilda. We approached more closely. She lay on her side, in misery, across great blocks of ice; she could lift her head and shoulders no more than six inches from the ice; she could draw her ankles toward her body no more than six inches; small chips of wood, in which the ice is packed, clung about her body; she was bound, hand and foot, her wrists behind her, her ankles crossed and tied. Two ropes prohibited her from struggling to either a sitting or kneeling position, one running from her right ankle across the ice to a ring in the side of the shed, the other running, from her throat across the ice to a similar ring on the other side of the shed.
"Please," she wept.
Her teeth chattered; her lips were blue.
She lay before us, on her back.
"Please," she wept, piteously, "I beg to be permitted to run to the furs of Ivar Forkbeard."

"In this punishment, the girl clothed or unclothed, is bound tightly to an oar, hands behind her, her head down, toward the blade. When the oar lifts from the water she gasps for breath, only in another moment to be submerged again. A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however, some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar. When food is low, it is not unknown for the men of Torvaldsland to use a bond-maid, if one is available on the ship, for bait in such a manner. The least pleasing girl is always used. This practice, of course, encourages bond-maids to vie vigorously to please their Masters. An Ahn on the oar is usually more than sufficient to make the coldest and proudest of females an obedient, eager-to-please bond-maid. It is regarded as second only to the five-lash Gorean slave whip, used also in the south, and what among the men of Torvaldsland is called the whip of the furs, in which the master, with his body, incontrovertibly teaches the girl her slavery.”
~Marauders of Gor, page 66 ~



“Put her to the oar,” had said the Forkbeard.
Hilda, clothed, had been roped, hand and foot, and body, on her back, head down, to one of the nineteen-foot oars.
“You cannot do this to me,” she cried.
Then, to her misery, she felt the oar move. “I am a free woman!” she cried.
Then, like any bond-maid, she found herself plunged beneath the cold green surface of Thassa.
The oar lifted.
“I am the daughter of Thorgard of Scagnar!” she cried, spitting water, half blinded.
Then the oar dipped again. When it pulled her next from the water, she was clearly terrified. She had swallowed water. She had learned what any bond-maid swiftly learns, that one must apply oneself, and be rational, if one will survive on the oar. One must follow its rhythm, and, as soon as the surface is broken, expel air and take a deep breath. In this fashion a girl may live on the oar.
For a time the Forkbeard watched her, leaning on hi elbows, on the rail, but then he left the rail.
He did, however, have Gorm watch her, with a spear. Twice in the afternoon Gorm struck away sea sleen from the girl's body. Once he thrust away one of the white sharks of the northern waters, The second of the sea sleen it had been which, with its sharp teeth, making a strike, but falling short, had torn away her green velvet gown on the right side from the hip to the hemline; a long strip of it, like a ribbon, was in its teeth as it darted away.
She had not been on the oar for half an Ahn when she had begun to beg her release; a few Ehn later, she had be-gun to beg to heel the Forkbeard.
But it was not until evening that the oar lifted, and she was released. She was fed hot broths and fettered again to the mast."
~Marauders of Gor, pages 124 & 125~



“Bond-maid!” called he. She stopped, and turned. “Do you wish to go to the whipping post ?” he asked. This is a stout post, outside the hall, of peeled wood, with an iron ring near the top, to which the wrists of a bond-maid, crossed, are lashed over her head. Near the bosk shed there is a similar post, with a higher ring, used for thralls. “No, my Jarl!” cried Pudding. “See then,” said he, “that your baking improves!”
~Marauders of Gor, page 103~



“Sometimes,” said he, “to discipline a bond-maid, she is hurled naked among the thralls.”
~Marauders of Gor, page 89~



"Gorean garments, generally, do not contain pockets. Some say the master belt gets its name because it is used sometimes in the disciplining of bond-maids. This seems to be a doubtful origin for the name. It is true, however, questions of the origin of the name aside, that bond-maids, stripped, are often taught obedience under its lash…."
Marauders of Gor, page 50, 51



"We carried a torch to the ice shed. We opened the heavy door, lined with leather, and lifted the torch, closing the door behind us.
In the light of the torch we saw Hilda. We approached more closely.
She lay on her side, in misery, across great blocks of ice; she could lift her head and shoulders no more than six inches from the ice; she could draw her ankles toward her body no more than six inches; small chips of wood, in which the ice is packed, clung about her body; she was bound, hand and foot, her wrists behind her, her ankles crossed and tied. Two ropes prohibited her from struggling to either a sitting or kneeling position, one running from her right ankle across the ice to a ring in the side of the shed, the other running, from her throat across the ice to a similar ring on the other side of the shed.
"Please," she wept.
Her teeth chattered; her lips were blue.
She lay before us, on her back.
"Please," she wept, piteously, "I beg to be permitted to run to the furs of Ivar Forkbeard."
~Marauders of Gor, page 132~

[pasy namiboo]

::Stands and claps::
Officially love this thread! Read and Feed I say!

[Tariq Xue]

Very cool.  Too often, we live in well-stocked longhouses and enjoy blackwine before raiding season even begins.  In reality, I'd like to see that particular commodity dry up nearly completely, since it was so rare in the books.

That can get tricky.  Do you go by a RL calendar?  How many RL months are you blocked off from not just having supplies but travel.  Will you set your regions to not allow public access (world,  region estate, access  untick allow public access) and thus isolate your group from the non torvies for X amount of RL months? 

This of course goes more into the exactly how real do you want real to be in your RP.  I just wonder how a sim can accept visitors that are RPing arriving by ship and at the same time RP that they have no supplies.  How do you guys deal with stuff like that in the north?