Changing my backstory

When I started out in Gor I had no idea what sort of backstory I could have.  I knew nothing of Gor, really!  It seemed so complicated!

When I’d look at someone else’s backstory, it was always filled with disasters, crises, places I didn’t know…

It was intimidating.  How could I make a story if I didn’t even know the geography?  And what if I said I came from Ar, for instance, and someone asked me to tell them about it?

And so I said I came from Earth.  It seemed simplest.

But now I’ve found something even simpler and better:

“I was born a slave in the Tahari.  I have lived there all my life.”

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Laura: BYOB (Bring Your Own Bed)

From Tharna, Mistress and I traveled by tarn to Laura, the city of wood. We arrived at night and, finding no one at the Inn, we upstairs and found a empty bed to curl up and rest.

What happened next, I wish I’d taken pictures (no, not that kind of pictures!), but I did get a chance to replay it, as you’ll see.

Which brings us to our mystery photo:  Can you guess what I’m doing in these pictures?

I don’t know why the picture quality is so different. I’m working on my photo-editing, so be patient.

Well, here are some other clues. I’m not sure whether this is the before:

and this is the after:

or maybe it’s the other way around.

Let’s just say that the bed is SO SOFT that you get buried alive in there.

In fact, in that foot photo, I’m in the bed. Really, I’m in the bed.

Anyway, the first two photos show what happened when I tried to get OUT of the bed. I was stuck!

Incidentally, the Inn at Laura is a great place, and the other beds work normally. I’m just kidding about BYOB. I really like the city of Laura so far and the people that I’ve met.

So who is that man and where is my Mistress? And what am I doing in Laura?

Sheraka came to make a deal with the panthers. We didn’t see them. It was early or late, so I guess they were still curled up in their woodland nests.  That’s why we checked into the Inn.

It’s important to note that no one in Laura so far has seen Sheraka.

I’m sorry for giving a little RL info, but Sheraka is a bit busy, and hasn’t been able to log in for a week. Now, I thought: what should I do? This is SL, I could easy go home to the Oasis and wait there for her, but this is roleplay! Let’s stick with the story.

So I decided to wait in Laura. I’ll say Sheraka went to meet with a friend (I don’t know who) and hasn’t come back yet. And that she gave me a chore to do, which is to drink slave wine, which I haven’t done yet. So I went to the infirmary, came back to the Inn, and haven’t found her.

I have to see whether people believe she really exists, and will leave me to wait. So far, people have bought my story.

Laurus, who is the man in the pictures, is one of our escorts, and he came to Laura to protect me, which was very noble of him.

But guess what? No one has seen him yet either!

So while I’m there alone, I have to make them seem real, and not just figments of my imagination. I don’t want to end up in the city kennels, or caught as a runaway!

Regiment of Women

Sheraka pointed out that yesterday I was kneeling on Tharna… Now guess where we’re going today?

"Mistress, this looks like a tavern!"

We left our tarns in the parking lot, and entered a building. (Sir Brazil is our armed escort, btw.)

Alix MacMoragh: Mistress, this looks like a tavern!

Sheraka Sirnah: It is, but a bit different: women are allowed. [laughs] This is a bit of a different city, Alix.

Alix MacMoragh: yes, Mistress?

Sheraka Sirnah: It’s governed by a Tatrix, and the council are all women…

Alix MacMoragh: How interesting!

Sheraka Sirnah: Here they have a silver mine, and they are said to be very rich. Its actually the only city on Gor with female dominance.

Brazil Roelofs: … and the males are the slaves.

: Sheraka Sirnah OOC : This is by the books by the way no onlineism.

Alix MacMoragh: oh! It sounds like a dream!

Mistress went on to explain that “the dream became a nightmare” when men from surrounding cities began to raid and carry off the proud women of Tarna. So a panther leader named Sarka Matova proposed that she protect the city in exchange for the Tarna woods.

Sarka Matova

(Not a great picture, I admit, but we only met her briefly.)

Now, I can’t give away the details of some of the things that were discussed… for instance, we talked about where the captured male warriors would be held, and agreed on who would be dealing with the panthers. It was important to list the men, so they panthers would know not to take them prisoner as well!

We also met Ecko Honi, who is Sarka’s co-leader:

and other assorted panther girls:

These are the first and only panthers I’ve met, so I don’t know whether being a certified hottie is a requirement, but it sure looks that way.

Maps and fighting kajiri

Sheraka has a big plan she’s working on, and to explain it better she brought me and one of the warriors, Laurus, to look at the map in the Gor Hub.

It’s not a map you hang on the wall – it’s a map you walk on:

(I must be kneeling on the "you are here" sticker)

The red dots are teleport thingies. If you’re looking at the map and you want to drop into Port Kar or Telnus or wherever, you just click and bam! There you are. In fact, it’s easy to do by mistake.

I can’t remember which towns I’m kneeling between… but I think there are panthers there. (You’ll soon see why!)

(hmmm... take the second left after Tor...)

Alright. I laugh and joke and pretend I’m dumb, but now I’m going to tell you something serious. Just don’t tell anybody!

Here is what She told me before we went to look at the map:

Sheraka Sirnah: I was thinking about opening a kennel for male fighting slaves.

Alix MacMoragh opens her eyes wide and gapes

Sheraka Sirnah laughs

Sheraka Sirnah: I knew this would be your reaction.

Alix MacMoragh: You did?

Sheraka Sirnah: It’s a quite popular entertainment here on Gor

Alix MacMoragh: I have heard of it, but never seen it.

Sheraka Sirnah: You have male slaves which fight in the arena against each other, for the amusement of the free citizens.

Alix MacMoragh: I once met a Lady who told me she was training her boy for the arena… I wondered about it, because I thought it was illegal.

Sheraka Sirnah: No, it’s totally legal. Some people make good money with that, organizing the games

Alix MacMoragh: But is Mistress thinking of the entertainment? or do You want a kajirus?

Sheraka Sirnah: I am thinking of organizing those games: slave fights in the arena.

Alix MacMoragh: Do people come from other cities to see it?

Sheraka Sirnah: Yes, there would be guests invited. The problem is to get new slaves all the time because the loser usually gets killed.

Alix MacMoragh: oh, dear!

Sheraka Sirnah: But I thought of that… We could do a deal with some panther tribes…

Alix MacMoragh: and do they serve the ladies of the city?

Sheraka Sirnah: Noooo!

Alix MacMoragh: No?

Sheraka Sirnah: That’s too dangerous! We would keep them locked in all the time, until they fight. We’ll get new stock from Talunas and Panthers…

So guess who’s traveling from the nice warm desert to the dark forests? I hope I don’t go all pale and wan! I’m going to have to wrap up in blankets!

Are there dehumidifiers on Gor?

Just hi and so on

Sorry I haven’t written in so long.  Little things have been happening.  We got real gates on the sim.  We’ve had raids, we’ve had lots of slave girls join.  It’s hard to keep track and meet them all.  So many people have been visiting the sim, I’ve been giving a lot of tours, informal tours, because I don’t know all the buildings in town.  I still don’t know what the white tower is.

In fact, my next post could be Mysteries of the Oasis of Sand Sleen.  Of course, they may only be mysteries to me!  But I’m pretty sure they’ll be mysteries to you, too, after I show them to you.  Interesting, beautiful buildings, but I don’t know what they are.

All right.

In real life, things have been a bit… um… well, let’s just say adjustments have been going on.  Nothing bad!  Just stuff, normal stuff.  I’m fine, thanks for asking.

I have been getting emails and IMs and PMs from a fair number of people, asking me how to get into Gor.  It’s been so nice!  Good people.  And this is exactly what I hoped would happen.  When I wanted to get into Gor, I had no idea how to start, but I did find people who were willing to help me — including my Mistress.  So it’s nice to pay back as much as I can.

AND, I have got some new outfits.  This one is still an attempt to get the Tahari desert slave look… it’s really a dancer’s outfit, and being nearly flesh-toned, is a little embarrassing to wear, but I know you like pictures, so this is me today:

[Note added later: these pictures didn't look dark at all on my home computer! Sorry, next time I'll lighten them more.]

The three-day rule

If you look at the profile of almost anyone from Gor, you’ll see a part of their profile listing their RP limits.  It’s a list of things that they won’t do.

Of course, this is all roleplay — pretend — in a virtual world, so no gets hurt physically.  But your feelings — and those of other people — are real, and that’s what can be hurt.

So YOU have to set your limits.  Other people won’t do that for you.

Gor is a violent world, so you’ll find RP limits like this:  “Will not rp death, rape, or torture.”

Or this:  “If captured, will return home after three days.”

As far as I know, that last one is pretty common.  Some cities even write the three-day rule into their city’s laws.

After all, you have a life back on the sim you call home, don’t you?  If somebody carries you off, you don’t want to be stuck in a boring, unattractive sim just because you can’t find a plausible way out, right?  What if they lock you in a cage and forget you?  Are you going to stay there just because you don’t have a lockpick hidden in your cheek?

I asked Sheraka, “If I’m captured, what do I do?  I would try to escape and return to you.”

“That’s right,” she said.  “But make sure you roleplay your escape realistically.  Don’t just sneak off when no one is online.”

“Okay,” I said.  “What about the three-day rule?”

“I don’t have a three-day rule,” she said.  “If I’m captured, I’m captured.  I roleplay that.”

“Oh!” I said.

“Do you have any idea how you’d escape?” she asked.

“I would be all submissive,” I said, “and act like I was glad they took me away.”

“Yes,” she said.

“And when I’d won their trust–”

“They’d send you on an errand–”

“And zoom!  I’d be gone!”

So we talked about that… and Sheraka said with obvious satisfaction, “You know, if you play it right, you’ll never know where you’ll end up in Gor.”

“Yes, Mistress,” I said.

It is kind of exciting, if you take it that way.  Sheraka likes to stir things up.

I guess what I have to do is this:  if someone wants to capture me and take me away, I’ve got to ask THEM if they’ve got a three-day rule.  If they say no, I’ve got to fight like hell and run like the wind. 

Exploring Taharian sims

This morning my Mistress and I took a quick tour of some Taharian sims.

“Did you get into the snap habit, alix?” Sheraka asked me, when she noticed my arms doing the snapshot animation.

“Yes, Mistress,” I grinned, but you know what I forgot?  I forgot to write down where the heck we went!  I suppose if you search for Tahari, you’ll find the same sims we did.

First of all, Sheraka was wearing this cool outfit:

Which of course prompted me to talk about her Gorean Forum threads on best and worst Gorean outfits (they are on her blog, too)…  and I thanked her for putting me in the “best” category!

Only ONE Moon?

I ought to apologize for the night shots, since I could have changed it to midday or sunset or morning if I thought for a moment… but it did make me realize that Linden Labs could give the Gor sims three Moons if they wanted.  It would be one of those little changes that would make a big difference.

We walked through this vast desert.  And I hadn’t even had breakfast yet!  After we got to the other side, I climbed out of the RL blankets on my RL couch and made some RL breakfast.  Yes, it’s dark, but it was beautiful.  You don’t travel in the desert in the daytime if you can help it.

One thing we talked about was German.  I offered to learn it, but she said, “Life is too short for learning German,” and I laughed.

Why would I say that?  Well, our sim, the Oasis of the Sand Sleen, is English speaking, but a lot of the other Taharian sims are German speaking.  And we talked about why that might be.

It was an interesting morning!  One of the great things about being Sheraka’s kajira is that I get to talk with her a lot, and she has such clever, wise, and thoughtful things to say.

You should have been there.

In fact, we ran into another kajira along the way who wanted to come with us… so we’ll see what happens there.

Stay tuned!

When recruiting really works

One of the good things about being a kajira is that you get to do things that you would never do on your own.  Things you might never think of.

For me, recruiting is one.

My Mistress has an incredible eye for people who could be interested in Gor, and we met a man and talked for a while… after the pleasantries, and some jokes on his part, he began asking questions.  You could see he really was interested.

He said, “It seems that Gor is the Second Life inside Second Life.”  — An interesting thought!

A few days passed and we didn’t hear from him.  I didn’t see him online, but then, out of the blue, he IM’d me and asked if he could see our sim.

I quickly showed him how to put on the meter… he’s been in SL a long time, so he was done before I finished explaining.

Then I took him to the Gorean Freebies market (I’ll have to add the SLurl later) to get a starter Free Man outfit.

By then, I’d run out of time and we made an appointment to meet again, but while it was all going on I had this great realization.

I could see he was quietly, seriously interested in Gor.  He asked good questions, he took all the info and landmarks I passed him with attention.

It was a really nice experience.

Get the snap habit

I need to get in the habit of taking pictures of stuff…  I know that people read blogs, but people like to look at pictures.

Here is my plan:  when I log in, the first thing I have to do is press Ctrl-` (which saves a snapshot to my hard drive).  Then I save the first one.  Once I do that, I can just hit Ctrl-` as often as I like and the snapshots will pile up.

So what have I missed taking pictures of?

Last week, I had a visit from the man who first showed me around Gor!  Great guy, very likeable, brave, good-humored, and I gave him and his kajira a tour of the Oasis.

While we were out in the street, and very nearly done, I saw a figure robed in black high on a wall.

“Oh, sh—,” I said, because I was just about to log out!

He comes swooping down, and of course it was the thief who’s been having his way with our sim!  Now I’m afraid that I’m going to be carried off just as my husband (in real life) is tapping his foot, waiting for me to get the hell off the computer!

The thief walks up, scary looking guy, and after some tough talk, he cuts the clothes off me so he can take the jewels sewn into my silks.  I jump up and shout for help, and two of the city guards come running, scimitars drawn.

It was pretty exciting.  How often do you get to run around naked, watching a sword fight?  And this thief was good!  He was all over the place, inside a house, out in the street, on top of a wall, and he took out both guards in pretty short order.  And he got away.

Real swashbuckling stuff — and I could have gotten some great shots while me and the other girl crouched behind a bush, watching.

I was able to give aid to the fallen men (by holding down the mouse button, of course!) and then run into my Mistress’ house.

And THEN I logged off.

The next day, while I was giving a tour, somebody drove a jeep onto the Oasis — which is a big no-no.  There are no modern vehicles in Gor.  I proposed setting fire to it in the wastelands, but instead the driver was banned and the vehicle returned.

Would have made a great photo, but I wasn’t ready.

Next time, next time!

Recruiting is hard work!

I mean, look at this:

Explaining Gor to an Earthman

I don’t think Army recruiters do this.  I’m sure they aren’t supposed to… and I’m not sure whether I am, either, but we were only talking.

I think I was explaining about how kajirae are supposed to be pleasing at this point.

Still, isn’t this a good introduction to Gor?

Explaining more about Gor to the Earthman