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Posted by Sabre Wolf on September 30, 19100 at 07:38:05:
While I ate, and afterwards, my father spoke. 'Gor,' he said, 'is the name of this world.
In all the languages of this planet, The word means Home Stone.' He paused,
noting my lack of comprehension. 'Home Stone,' he repeated. 'Simply that.'
'In peasant villages on this world,' he continued,
'Each hut was originally built around a flat stone which was placed
in the center of the circular dwelling. It was carved with the family sign
and was called the Home Stone. It was, so to speak, a symbol of sovereignty,
or territory, and each peasant, in his own hut, was a sovereign.'
'Later,' said my father, 'Home Stones were used for villages, and later still for cities.
The Home Stone of a village was always placed in the market;
in a city, on the top of the highest tower. The Home Stone came naturally,
in time, to acquire a mystique, and something of the hot, sweet emotions
as out native peoples of Earth feel towards their flags became invested in it.'
My father had risen to his feet and had begun to pace the room,
and his eyes seemed strangely alive. In time I would come to understand more
of what he felt. Indeed, there is a saying on Gor,
a saying whose origin is lost in the past of this strange planet,
that one who speaks of Home Stones should stand, for matters of honor are here involved,
and honor is respected in the barbaric codes of Gor.
'These stones,' said my father, 'are various, of different colors, shapes, and sizes,
and many of them are intricately carved. Some of the largest cities have small,
rather insignificant Home Stonesbut of incredible antiquitdating back to the time
when the city was a village ,or only a mounted pride of warriors with no settled abode.' Tarnsman of Gor
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