Outlaw Life, (Yet More) Thoughts Gor

Tele resigned Sais, his former city, and went looking for what is called a GE, Gorean Evolved, or NON BTB Gor. A friend recommended an outlaw sim, I found a very old and good friend there in an alt, and for now it looks like that is my rp life. Tele used to hate, despise Outlaws; now he is beginning to see the wisdom in it.

For one thing, the GE sims raid all day long. Almost too much, really, but still: raids and rescues, back and forth, every day. I like the extra fun. Also, they seem less serious so far about all things Gorean. There are many women fighters, even the slaves can wield a frying pan or blow dart or slingshot whenever they feel like it. These sims are about equality and fun.

The group I joined, Ghost, is huge. The raids I've been on so far have been massacres, Ghost moving in with huge numbers and taking everyone down by the numbers. I don't know if they keep fighter ratios in GE, hope so, but so far it has been easy. This is good for me as my 3.5 year old vid card lags pretty good in those massive combats.

Now, a few thoughts on Gor to wrap up: maybe I am repeating myself.

***

I respect those who want "BTB" or "By the Book" Gor. But a few things must be said. The Gorean books are a blend of John Carter romanticism (big he men and lovely ladies in distress) and bdsm. I know women and men who enjoy the Gorean fantasies in the novels. This is fine. I liked John Carter when I was a teenager myself. But the books are meant to be enjoyed. The problem with sl Gor is it results in a repressive chauvinism in my opinion, or can. The fact that slaves have no rights in the novels turns on submissive (and I guess dom) readers; the fact that slave role players in sl Gor have no rights, or can have no rights, is simply ridiculous. The entire female gender, objects of desire and willing submission in the novels, are often subjugated in SL Gor and that marginalization is defended as "by the books."

When I first joined SL Gor (all about playing in the Arena in those days) I wondered to myself: I am a living Stanford Prison Experiment. Will I change how I act towards the "slaves" in the rp? For a long time, for years, I don't think I did. Recently, very recently, I believe I began to. Only a little, but a little is enough. I think of Mrs. Auld in Frederick Douglass' Narrative...

The fact is the fantasies of the novels cannot be directly transposed into SL or RL on a sim wide scale without issues. As someone long ago said to me: the books are not about real feelings. I agree. They are far from psychologically realistic (raped women, hauled off in conquest, do not beg for more sex, etc.) So moving that fantasy into a world full of ACTUAL PEOPLE role playing through avatars is bound to have some complications. For me, the GE sims, at least so far, seem to work much better, are much less rigid, less formal...simply outside Gorean "law." And I love all the Emma Peel looking ass kicking women.

I never ever though I'd go outlaw, but here I go. When I have time that is! My career will pick up again soon and I will have little time.

Oh, someone asked to be my mother today in the GE rp, make me one of her twins or triplets or something. She said I can begin as a grown up with the entire back story I already have...I said cool :) Kind of an honor to bring me into Ghost with that much connection.

Love to all. I would spend more time writing about Gor but I don't think it would change a bloody thing. In the meantime, I hope everyone engages in rp that they find fun, constructive, enjoyable, not distressing or demeaning.

Love to all. We an surely use it.

Tele

There is Gor and then there is Gor...RANT

This blog, while open to anyone who knows my avatar's name, has always been written for an imaginary Caledonian audience. I was surprised to know the Duchess still reads it, and perhaps one or two others from the old days will stumble on it, but I find myself in the odd position of needing to share.

So I collared a girl. She was panther once, is half panther still, and carries a slingshot at all times. That sling is legal in my current city, but can only be used in very limited instances, like defending herself in the village during a raid, or defending me (which she did not do today when a mamba capped me at the docks, hah). Also, like some others, myself included, she has limits in her profile: no rape of any kind.

I had "owned" her about a week, had rp'd with her maybe once or twice in world, when I log in to a total mess. Some guy I don't know telling me my girl had been mouthy; she had to be punished. Yada yada. Then my girl shows up and tells me she has been raped with a whip handle. Yep. And she is white silk, meaning virgin (in her current rp). I found out the guy was a new citizen of my town; this complicated a lot.

I have no time to write this well, so fuckit.

Anyway, I asked the Magistrate what I could do: I could demand coin as payment for the damage to her. Now I've seen guys go off, overly so I thought, call other guys out when their girl was kicked once, or treated rudely, or slapped. In those cases, I get it. She is a slave in the rp. Sucks but this is cartoon rp. Not much you can do. But raping her without checking her limits first? And then some asshole who was with him demanded she be punished for mouthing off AFTER the rape. The rape happened so fast, one long paragraph, she did not have time to do anything.

Those who say one cannot have something done to them in SL they do not want done are wrong.

So, me, Mr. Protective, Protection being the CORE of my RP in world no matter where I am, I feel hamstrung by city law, by the rules of Gor, and I hardly know this girl. So I ask for the maximum "coin" (all rp only) and get it; I ask for an apology and seem to get it. But the fact is, this particular guy, and the city where I live now is "by the book." Meaning, rape happens to captives.

There are rules about that, and I have to admit I've talked to more than one "female" avatar (good luck with that one guys) who have told me they get off on the rape fantasy; they like that rp when it's done right. Okay, but there are plenty of people who rp in sl Gor who do not like it, who understand that the fantasies in the books, at least in the two quite marginal novels I read, depict both sides enjoying the forced sex; the women get turned on in spite of themselves, etc., or they care about the man. That is the bdsm piece of Gor. I do not find that appealing even in novel/fantasy, but some do....some seemingly pretty reasonable people do...

But apart from the rules, there are sadists roaming....those who are quite happy when just one side is enjoying the RP. And to you folks, let me say, FUCK YOU.

The guy was new to Gor; I tried to instruct him a bit, figured he made a mistake, explain things to him about the sophisticated nature of role play, about checking limits, about the nature of submission, etc. And then I am away another week and this happens:

My girl is fired on by a guard of the city for not stopping when she was told to stop (and maybe she mouthed off first, I don't know). Thing is, she fired back and downed the guy. Did I say she can smoke me with that slingshot when I have a bow? Yeah, that kind of girl. Now, in Gor, that can be cause for death. At the very least a severe whipping. She could be ejected from the village, etc. (No, it does not seem I picked an easy person for this kind of rp.) What happened was she was captured and caged, and then, according to her only, (the original Guy in Question denies he knew it was her when he said this, he pretty much denied remembering any of it) the guy who raped her said to the guy she capped..."make her your fucktoy...all you will have to do is pay the coin."

After the first rape I put it in her profile and mine: anyone who rapes this girl dies. A solemn oath which I mean to keep. So she informed the guy who was considering it, and he said, "that is too high a price." (I have no notecard of this btw). I confront the original rapist guy today, ask him, get mixed answers, make the mistake of getting pissed off in IM, OOC (oh, that cardinal sin in sl Gor, mixing ooc and ic, which is a good rule but in some ways silly, unrealistic, and sometimes used to justify some pretty asshole rp).

Now what?

Is this girl addicted to the drama? Maybe. One thing I do know is she is no slave at heart. She is all too ready to use that slingshot and down anyone she can. Well, maybe she is half slave. And you know what, I think that is fucking great. Funny. Her skill to apply as she wills when she needs to defend herself or her friends. But oh man, it does not go well in by the book Gor, not when the girl is a slave.

Is the guy who raped her demented and sick? Yep, I'm pretty sure. Funny thing is he thinks he is this cool enlightened karmic guy. I have not seen that in his rp at all.

And the hardest part of it all: I don't think I can continue in the village where I live or in any "by the book" sim. I have lived in others and never saw the kind of sexual coercion I see in my current village. And I don't mean between Master and slave, when people know each other and know what they are doing; I mean with the captives. Mostly I work with a lot of honorable and good people, but things get rougher here than anyplace else I've been in sl Gor and that roughness is tolerated.

And man, I am just there for the combat. For the defense of the city. For the brotherhood. For the Honor. For the bonding with Men. It is the total truth. I don't need or desire the dom/sub sex thing they do in the sims (though it's funny how many guys in sl Gor are actually chaste as I am; a lot more than I used to believe do not cyber). I just like the weapons and the warfare and the incredible excitement that brings. Try standing on a wall with arrows coming up so hard they are almost a solid sheet, holding a naked blade, waiting for the first guy to come up on the grapple line...that is what I do for a living in sl Gor.

I have to go. I have a real life too. Is all this drama even worth the energy? My rl takes enough. Four years I had no drama, saw friend after friend leave Gor because of drama, most of the guys I was close to are gone or retired from active rp. I never had an issue. Till now. Get a girl, get drama...

Sighs. Love to all.

Tele

Summer 11 and a Bit O Grid

I have not been active, really active, in sl for almost two years. I've popped in to say hello to old friends, to rp a bit when I can, but my rl has become quite demanding. This summer I should have time to play just a bit, but it will never be like the old days. Most of me thinks that is good and healthy; there were weeks in summer three and four years ago when I spent 20 hours in SL. All I did was housework and second life.

Since then I've moved out of the woods, closer to people, my job, my friends, and my rl has consistently felt enriched over the last year. Second life really is that: a dim second to the real thing.

Still, as always, the things I like to do in sl (rp combat mostly), silly as that sounds, I can't do in first life. Combat is only fun in a cartoon world, clearly. So, to balance out the pressures I have been under this academic year, and they have been extensive, sl can function as a bit of silly fun time which takes my head out of my responsibilities.

But there is something else I want to record here (in case anyone ever reads it): I collared a girl. Everyone who knows me knows I roll play chaste (and ooc chaste). I don't cyber, and I do not want a girlfriend in sl. My rl wife is enough. Why commit energy to a virtual rp relationship when my marriage takes all I have? That and I know an online romance on my part would break her heart.

Fair enough. My boundaries have always been respected in sl Gor, even when I have been captured and hauled off, even by the panther tribes. Mostly as an outgrowth of these values, and because I leave sl for long periods, I have never "owned" a bondmaid though such a thing is common in sl Gor (what is also common, much more than I realized, is guys who don't cyber their slaves or anybody else; many are chaste in sl Gor). I realize the idea of owning a person is repulsive and rightly so. But that is not what is going in in the consensual role play of sl Gor.

Anyhow, I girl considered a friend was abandoned by her "Master" as he left the grid (at least in the avatar). She was captured by an enemy city not long after and stayed there for a while until she decided she hated it and wanted to come back to Sais. She escaped but needed a Warrior's collar on her; the village girls have a harder life, less status; they generally bounce around trying to find someone who will collar them. I told her my boundaries: no sex, no romance; she says she's fine with that, and now she wears "my" collar. Did I mention she is a highly skilled bow fighter, perhaps one of the best, (my weakest area) and is willing to train me? Hah. Tele will always be Tele. Our relationship is built on friendship, trust, and my need for bow training.

I admit I don't know her that well, but I can end the arrangement any time I wish and I told her she has the same options. With plenty of ooc conversation I think the thing has a chance to be fun in world. I have long wanted a Y.T. to my Hiro; perhaps this will be that...if not, that is fine too.

See you on the walls of my City :)

Returning, Very Part Time

Somehow, while searching for a Latin phrase, an old comrade in arms found this site and Jake read my post below. He wondered if I was being unflattering, and reading it again, I can see I left some details out. But I never intended it that way. I thought that whole even on the pirate dock was hilarious and good rp. The only thing I think we should have done was burnt Port Victoria to the ground later that week, but then I only suggested that once and there was some issues with bans, etc. As always, Jake has my friendship and respect and this serves as a public apology for anything I left out below.

This winter break I've been back in world just a bit and having fun. Sais, where I rp now, is a very active Gorean city, and there is good rp there. They raid and are raided enough to keep me busy. Bohica, the leader or Ubar, is active in the Village and goes on many raids himself. I love that; like Maddog in the old days, he fights well and often. It's "by the book" Gorean, so no women fighters are allowed save panthers; I've never felt an issue with women outlaws, etc., but in some ways that restriction deepens the rp even as it restricts avatars.

Anyway, I wish Jake and all my friends form the old Fina days the best. Right now, Sais works for me. Love to all.

Oh, I've long since removed all my "protected" list. It has no value in rp; also, I am trying to be careful with my personal relationships (even more careful) and those who need my help know how to get it. I remain in the Court of Skye, of course, but that is different.

Tele