The Wagon People – a fierce, nomadic people comprised of four distrinct tribes:
- Kassars – The Kassars are known as the Blood People. Their standard is a scarlet three-weighted bola, hanging from a lance. Their brand, which is used on both slaves and bosk, is a stylized representation of a bola: three circles joined at the center by lines.
- Kataii – The Kataii are black-skinned. Their standard is a yellow bow, bound across a black lance. Their brand is a yellow bow, facing to the left.
- Paravaci – The Paravaci are known as The Rich People. Their standard is a large banner of jewels strung on golden wires, forming the head and horn of a bosk. The value of such a standard is incalculable. The Paravaci brand is a stylized representation of a bosk head: a semi-circle resting on an inverted isosceles triangle. It is a peculiarity of the Paravaci that they deck themselves with ropes of precious stones when going into battle. However, this is not vanity on their part. It is a ploy to encite envy, and thus to provoke fights with their enemies. The Paravaci is fond of luxurious goods, but is vain only in the matter of his courage.
- Tuchuck – their standard is a representation of 4 bosk horns and the tribe largely featured in Nomads of Gor. (Courtesy of Gor Information)
“The Wagon Peoples claimed the southern prairies of Gor, from the gleaming Thassa and the mountains of Ta-Thassa to the southern foothills of the Voltai Range itself, that reared in the crust of Gor like the backbone of a planet. On the north they claimed lands even to the rush-grown banks of the Cartius, a broad, swift flowing tributary feeding into the incomparable Vosk.” — Nomads of Gor, page 2.
No caravans, to my knowledge, make their way to the Wagon Peoples, who are largely isolated and have their own way of life. — Nomads of Gor, page 4 (footnote).
Who are the Wagon People and where do they fit into the larger cultural society of Gor. They are nomads who largely keep their world and reality focused on the environment of the Turian plains and avoiding “civilized” Gor as much as possible. The culture is tribal in nature and they have their own distinct ways of living from the rest of Gorean society.
From a real life perspective, I view the Wagon People as a blending by Norman of Nineteenth Century Western US Prairie Settlers, European Gypsies and the nomadic tribes of US and Asian. The Tuchuck tribe which is depicted significantly in Nomads of Gor seems to be the most like the Western Settlers of the US – their wagons roaming across the Great Plains in search of a better and new way of life. The one difference that seperates the Wagon People of Gor and the Western Settlers of the US is the ongoing battle between the four tribes and the City of Turia for women, wealth and bragging rights.
Tuchuk women, unveiled, in their long leather dresses, long hair bound in braids, tended cooking pots hung on “tem-wood tripods over dung fires. These women were unscarred, but like the bosk themselves, each wore a nose ring. That of the animals is heavy and of gold, that of the women also of gold but tiny and fine, not unlike the wedding rings of my old world. Nomads of Gor, page 27
The way of dress for the Women of the Wagon People is reflective of their culture: Fabrics primarily of leather and hide allow the women the ability to work easily and when necessary ride a kaiila and tend to the Bosk herd. Her garb is utilitarian in nature and they never wear a veil.
“Stand aside, you fool!” cried a girl’s voice, and to my astonishment, astride the saddle of the monster I espied a girl, young, astonishingly beautiful, vital, angry, pulling at the control straps of the animalShe was not as the other women of the Wagon Peoples I had seen, the dour, thin women with braided hair, bending over the cooking pots.
She wore a brief leather skirt, slit on the right side to allow her the saddle of the kaiila; her leather blouse was sleeveless; attached to her shoulders was a crimson cape; and her wild black hair was bound back by a band of scarlet cloth. Like the other women of the Wagons she wore no veil and, like them, fixed in her nose was the tiny, fine ring that proclaimed her people.
Spirited and free is how one would describe the women of the Wagons. If beautiful enough, they are raised with priviledge and status among the higher wagons of the tribe. But this status comes with a risk – they are groomed to be a prize in the Love Wars.
The institution of Love War is an ancient one among the Turians and the Wagon Peoples…The games of Love War, of course, are celebrated every spring…
—Nomads of Gor, 10:115
The theoretical justification of the games of Love War, from the Turian point of view, is that they provide an excellent arena in which to demonstrate the fierceness and prowess of Turian warriors, thus perhaps intimidating or, at the very least, encouraging the often overbold warriors of the Wagon Peoples to be wary of Turian steel. …
—Nomads of Gor, 10:116
As I knew, not just any girl, any more than just any warrior, could participate in the games of the Love War. Only the most beautiful were eligible, and only the most beautiful of these could be chosen.
—Nomads of Gor, 10:117
To be a”fit prize” in the Love Wars, the woman is at risk of losing her freedom to slavery. One by one the woman are strapped to posts watching a contest ensue between a fighter from the Wagon People fighting on her behalf and Turian warrior battling for the freedom of a Turian girl. If her champion loses, she is enslaved by the winner but the other girl remains free. Because of the Love Wars, most of the slaves in the Wagon camps are Turian and likewise in Turia, the girls are of the Wagon People. Beauty in these cultures may come with a heavy price.
Kamchak laughed. “She is Hereena, a wench of the First Wagon,” he said.
“Tell me of her,” I said.
“What is there to tell?” asked Kamchak.
“What does it mean to be of the First Wagon?” I asked.
Kamchak laughed. “You know little of the Wagon Peoples,” he said.
“That is true,” I admitted.
“To be of the First Wagon,” said Kamchak, “is to be of the household of Kutaituchik.”……
“There are a hundred wagons in the personal household of Kutaituchik,” said Kamchak. ‘Not be of any of these wagons is to be of the First Wagon.”
“I see,” I said. “And the girl-she on the kaiila-is perhaps the daughter of Kutaituchik, Ubar of the Tuchuks?”
“No,” said Kamchak. “She is unrelated to him, as are most in the First Wagon.”
“She seemed much different than the other Tuchuk women,” I said.
Kamchak laughed, the colored scars wrinkling on his broad face. “Of course,” said Kamchak, “she has been raised to be fit prize in the games of Love and War.” Nomads of Gor, page 32-33
For me personally, I find the culture of the Wagon People to be romantic and beautiful and thus far Nomads is one of my favorite books. Perhaps it is reflective of the western spirit that still exists in the US state in which I raised, Oklahoma, and the time I spent on my family’s ranch as a child. So who knows where my journey in Gor will lead me – perhaps to the plains of Turia and a life as Tuchuck Free Woman.
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Body
Hair: >TRUTH< Sonya Streaked – carrot
Skin: *League* Amber Pale -CafeAuLait- Frex
Outfit
Arwen’s Creations Lady of the Plains Black Bosk
Shoes
(Shiny Things) Ving boots – black
Poses
Diesel Works
Location
City of Turia and Kataii Wagon Camp
