The Gorean Measure

There has been recent discussion surrounding the creation of yet another centralized campus and cross‑city institution intended to educate new citizens, apprentices, and arrivals to Gor. While the intention may be order and efficiency, the structure itself is fundamentally flawed.

Gor is not a nation. It is a world of cities.

A citizen does not belong to an abstract body, a neutral campus, or a wandering authority. A citizen belongs to a Home Stone. Law flows from it. Custom is shaped by it. Identity is bound to it. To separate instruction from the Home Stone is to hollow it of meaning.

We would never send a slave from our kennels to another city to be trained in service, then return her and expect her to know our household, our customs, our expectations, or our discipline. We understand instinctively that service is contextual. It is learned through proximity, correction, and daily practice.

Why, then, would we treat our citizens with less care?

Instruction for new Goreans is not a matter of memorizing castes, reciting doctrine, or attending lectures delivered by those unaccountable to a city’s law. It is the slow and deliberate process of becoming of a place.

A Warrior learns how this city fights.
A Scribe learns how this city records law.
A Free Woman learns how this city expects dignity to be carried.
A slave learns how this city commands obedience.

These are not transferable skills taught in neutral halls. They are lived disciplines taught under the shadow of a Home Stone, overseen by those who must answer for failure.

Centralized instruction produces uniformity. Gor thrives on distinction.

When education is removed from the city, it becomes theoretical. When authority is divorced from accountability, it becomes performative. When titles replace mentorship, we produce citizens who know words but not weight.

If we truly wish to strengthen our cities, then we must teach within them.

Let new arrivals be instructed where law is enforced, where customs are practiced daily, where mistakes carry consequence, and where belonging is earned rather than granted.

The Home Stone is not a symbol to be referenced in syllabi.
It is the place where Goreans are made.

Should any wish to speak with me directly on these matters, my door remains open. I am willing to listen, to discuss, and to engage in good faith with those who approach with sincerity.

By my hand,

Lady Jessie Spiritweaver
Caste of Scribes
Resident of the Isle of Teletus