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The island of Asperiche
Raiders At the mouth of the Laurius, where it empties into Thassa, is found the free port of Lydius, administered by the merchants, an important Gorean caste. From Lydius goods may be embarked for the islands of Thassa , such as Teletus, Hulneth and Asperiche, even Cos and Tyros, and the coastal cities, such as Port Kar and Helmutsport, and, far to the south, Schendi and Bazi. Captive Clark of Thentis had a daughter, but he was not a Ubar. He was not even of high caste. He, too, was of the merchants. Indeed, there were many important merchants who had daughters, for example, the first merchant of Teletus and the first merchant of Asperiche. Indeed, the two latter individuals had already, in the past year, approached me with the prospect of a companionship with their daughters, but I had declined to discuss the matter. I wanted a woman of high caste. Hunters Weeping, Ilene, the Earth-girl slave, was dragged from my presence. She would be sold in Port Kar, a great slave-clearing port. Perhaps she would be sold south to Shendi or Bazi, or north to a jarl of Torvaldsland, Scagnar or Hunjer, or across Thassa to Tabor or Asperiche, or taken up the Vosk in a cage to an island city, perhaps eventually to find herself in Ko-ro-ba, Thentis or Tharna, or even Ar itself. Hunters “The Venna and Tela have arrived from Scagnar,” she said, “with full cargoes of the fur of sea sleen. My information indicates that highest prices currently for such products are being paid in Asperiche.” “Very well,” I said, “give the men time for their pleasure, eight days, and have the cargoes transferred to one of my round ships, whichever can be most swiftly fitted, and embark them for Asperiche, the Venna and Tela as convoy.” Marauders Coming about Point Schendi, behind us, some two pasangs astern, was a round ship. She flew the colors of Asperiche. Far to starboard we saw two other ships, a medium-class round ship and a heavy galley, the latter with red masts, both of Ianda. “What will be done with us in Schendi?’ asked the blond-haired girl of Sasi. “I do not know what will be done with me,” said Sasi, “but doubtless you will be marketed.” Explorers “What do you think of them?” Inquired Uchafu, indicating the two blond-haired sisters from Asperiche. Both were blue-eyed. They crouched in the mud, chained, beneath the palm-thatched roof of the tiny shelter. Explorers “These are beauties,” said Uchafu, indicating the two sisters, the blonds from Asperiche. “Buy one or both,” he said. Explorers “In his wallet were staters of Brundisium,” I said. “Do you know anything about Brundisium, anything having to do with either Priest-King or Kurii?” “No,” said Samos. “Then the Brundisium staters are probably meaningless,” I said. “I would suppose so,” said Samos. “They are, of course, a valuable stater. There would be nothing incredible about their use being specified in a given transaction.” “Why not coinage of Ar,” I asked, “or that of Port Kar, or of Asperiche, or Tharna, or Tyros, or Schendi, or Turia?” Players “I am Telitsia, Lady of Asperiche,” she said. “I am a free woman. I am not afraid of men!” I smiled to myself. She was perfectly safe, of course, for she was within the perimeters of the Sardar Fair. How brave women can be within the context of conventions! I wondered if they understood the artificiality, the fragility, the tentativeness, the revocability of those subtle ramparts. Did they truly confuse them with walls of stone and the forces of weaponry? Did they understand the differences between the lines and colors on maps and the realities of a physical terrain? To what extent did they comprehend the fictional or mythical nature of those castles within which they took refuge, from the heights of which they sought to impress their will on worlds? Did they not know that one day men might say to them, “The castle does not exist,” and that they might then find themselves once again, the patience of men ended, the folly concluded, the game over, struck to their place in nature, gazing upward at masters? Asperiche, incidentally, is an exchange island, or free island, in Thassa. It is south of Teletus and Tabor. It is administered by merchants. Players “It is a veil woven by the magicians of Anango,” he said. “Not them!” she cried. “The same,” he agreed solemnly. Anango, like Asperiche, is an exchange, or free, island in Thassa, administered by members of the caste of merchants. It is, however, unlike Asperiche, very far away. It is far south of the equator, so far south as to almost beyond the ken of most Gorean, except as a place both remote and exotic. Players “Many of those captured,” I said, “might be shipped to the islands, Cos, Tyros, Tabor, Asperiche and so on. If that is the case, they might not depress the market as much as you feared.” Renegades “She is lovely!” said Marcus. “Yes,” I agreed. “Surely she is a bred slave, with lines like that,” he said. “No,” I said. “She was a free woman, from Asperiche.” Marcus looked at me, puzzled. “Yes,” I said. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Yes,” I said. Magicians The next two women sold had been a mother and daughter from Cos. They were sold to separate buyers, as pot girls. The mother brought sixteen tarsks and the daughter fourteen. They were among the eleven women, including the blond barbarian, who had been sold by Bejar to Vart. They had been taken in the capture of the Blossoms of Telnus. The crew and male passengers of the Blossoms of Telnus had also been sold by Bejar to Vart, but these had been auctioned by Vart in the morning, on the wharf blocks, as work slaves. I had then stayed for only two more sales, and had then left, those of a peasant girl, blond, from southwest of Ar, and a merchant’s daughter from Asperiche. The peasant girl brought eight tarsks; the merchant’s daughter, to her indignation, brought only six. She had not yet learned slave heat. A strong master would teach it to her. She would learn it, or die. Frigidity is accepted by Goreans only in free women. Slave fires, of course, lurk in every woman. It is only a question of arousing them. Explorers “These are nice,” said Uchafu, indicating a pair of white blonds. “These are sisters,” he said, “from Asperiche. You may buy them together, or separately, as you please.” Explorers “What do you think of them?” Inquired Uchafu, indicating the two blond-haired sisters from Asperiche. Both were blue-eyed. They crouched in the mud, chained, beneath the palm-thatched roof of the tiny shelter. “What can you do?” I asked them. They looked at one another, frightened. One whimpered. Uchafu angrily raised the heavy, knobbed stick he carried. “Whatever Master desires,” said one of the girls. “Whatever Master desires,” said the other girl, quickly. “What of that one over there?” I asked, casually, indicating the blond-haired barbarian in a shelter some feet away, diagonally to my left. “These are beauties,” said Uchafu, indicating the two sisters, the blonds from Asperiche. “Buy one or both,” he said. But I had begun to walk toward the blond-haired barbarian. Uchafu hurried along behind me, and seized my sleeve, stopping me. Explorers “In his wallet were staters of Brundisium,” I said. “Do you know anything about Brundisium, anything having to do with either Priest-King or Kurii?” “No,” said Samos. “Then the Brundisium staters are probably meaningless,” I said. “I would suppose so,” said Samos. “They are, of course, a valuable stater. There would be nothing incredible about their use being specified in a given transaction.” “Why not coinage of Ar,” I asked, “or that of Port Kar, or of Asperiche, or Tharna, or Tyros, or Schendi, or Turia?” “I do not know,” said Samos. Players “I refuse!” she cried. “The very thought of it! The outrage! The indignity! How dare you even think of such a thing! I am of high caste! I am of the scribes! Wait until I bring this matter to the attention of magistrates!” Players “This slave here,” said Boots, “the well-formed brunet,” indicating Telitsia, “has begged permission to record our plays, to write them down. Is that not absurd?” “Why would it be absurd?” I asked. “Because they constantly change, being continually improved and refined, and because they are often being adapted to different venues and are often topical,” he said. “Too, how could a mere literary image capture the essence of the living drama?” “Too, they are not worth writing down,” said Lecchio. Players Editorial Based on what we DO know of Asperiche, the society falls into what can be called "mainstream gor" - castes and such. There is no reason to believe that life on Tabor was vastly different than other such places in regard to such things as : gorean_librarian@yahoo.com 
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