Robes & Veils of a Free Woman

A woman in her Familys Cylinder would probably not be wearing the Robes of Concelment, She would be dressing for comfort. Though she would still be wearing some of the Veils. The Robes of Concelment are far to strict and heavy to be worn constantly.

When in the pleasure gardens she may even be found to be scantily clad protected from view by the high walls surrounding it. When she has decided to leave the safety of Her Cylinder or the pleasure gardens, She will carefully dress in the Robes of Concelment as follows: Depending on High Castes and Low Castes

High Caste Robes of Concelement
The robes would be very elaborate and heavily decorated according to the fashions of her City. They can be designed in many ways and cuts. All relating to personal tastes and local laws.

The under robes are worn in several layers of thick opaque material fitted to her frame, with hose and gloves. A woman makes sure all of her is covered from head to toe. The hem of the robes reach her ankles, and have high collars just under the chin. The outer robes are worn loosely to prevent any hint of her shape. She would also wear a matching quilted or brocade headpiece. This headpiece is designed much like the arab kafiyeh, it is ment to cover her head and all of her hair draping down to her shoulders. Some will have it drape further down according to prefrences.

The viels would be attached to this head piece. It is kept on with pins or buttons. To complete this she would wear slippers or close fitting boots, made just for her. If she is wealthy she would likely wear jewelry like pins, medallions, rings, armlets, and chains proclaiming her rank and office she holds. A woman who gaurds her freedom carefully. Will Never be seen wearing bracelets, chokers, necklaces or anklets. These are thought to be like slave collars and slave bracelets. She will Never never wear jewelry or anything at all around her left ankle. Across Gor, Goreans see this as the slave ankle, for a free woman to do such would be a secret desire to be a slave!

High Caste Veils
A Free Woman will usually wear outside of her home Five Veils. Each has a specific purpose. They are put on in the order below starting with the Last Veil and ending with the Street Veil.

The Last Veil the innermost of the five veils worn by free women; it is worn under the veil of the citizeness, and is often very sheer.

Known as the "privacy veil" or "modesty veil," it is worn in all places except within the private chambers of the free woman.

The Veil of The Citizeness
This veil is worn under the pride veil and over the last veil; it is worn when she leaves her chambers for any reason.

The right to wear this veil at all times is guaranteed to all free women upon attaining their majority and pledging citizenship. To strip this veil from a citizen of your own Home Stone is considered a violation of basic Gorean law.

The Pride Veil
Third veil worn by free women; worn under the house veil and over the veil of the citizeness, worn when she is in her Cylinder.This veil is completely opaque, and provides true concealment.

The House Veil
Fourth veil worn when in the company of men not of her own family; worn over the pride veil, and under the street veil upon leaving the Cylinder. When Guests are visiting she wears this veil at ALL times.

The Street Veil
Worn over the house veil when leaving the house; Usually very heavy with many pins and or buttons fastening it to the headpiece devices.

Low Caste Clothing
The Free Women of the Peasant Caste, would likely not be able to afford the Robes and styles of the High Caste's. They would most likely only wear a under-robe and a very thick and heavy outer robe fitting loosly.

She would probably not own gloves, delicate slippers, or jewelry. She would wear a head piece though much simplier then the High Castes. She would most likely only own two or three of the five Veils. She would not have the protection of guards or guard sleens when out in the city.

Face Stripping
For Women who are Trully free in there hearts, this is the Worst thing that can happen to them. This is when her Veils are removed by force. She would prefer to be stripped naked then to be facestripped.

It is a right, duty and privialege of High Caste women to remain with her veils on even when captured by enemy warriors. They will allow her to remain veiled till They have decided what will be done with her. The Men in Her Family, Friends and City will happily slay any who have face stripped Her.

But they will NOT slay any who have done this if she has show any behaviors indicating she has a secret desire to be a slave, by exhibiting slave behaviors (ie.. Not wearing her robes and veils, flirting with the Men of Her City and Men from other places, exhibiting sexual like behavior and going to places she should not be. etc..)

Ways to gain a Collar
A Woman does not facestrip herself in front of anyone not of her immediete family and personal slaves. If she does she will be collared emmieditly and forever be seen as a slut by Gorean Society.

If a woman goes to a place that exspressly forbids Free Women, Like paga taverns and some slaver houses. Expect to earn that collar. These places are EXTREMELY dangerous. When and if you travel ALWAYS read the places homepage rules etc.. before entering, These pages are there for a reason. It will tell you if Women are allowed there, if you still are not sure. Ask a Male relative or Friend if He would find out for you before going!

Let's explain what can happen when a Free Woman is captured by Warriors not of Her Homestone.

Let's say you were strolling along the street, dressed in your robes and veils, behaving as you should be. And you are captured. If your of a High Caste chances are your more valuable for ransom if this is so and your Captors decided on this you will still be Free in status. Meaning you won't be branded or collared, though you may be facestripped and used sexually. While captive you do not call the Free Men, Masters you would call them Captor. You may be chained till your ransom arrives or anything the Captor desires.

If your a Free Woman of a lower caste and poor, you will probably be enslaved or just outright killed, depending on the Captors desires, and whether your pleasing or not!

A few thoughts on what a Free Woman is Not!
It does not mean that you can insinuate yourself into the affairs of FreeMen if not invited to do so. It does not mean that you are free to argue, demean or otherwise attempt to humiliate a FreeMan. It means you are expected to set an exemplary example for the Free Women. It means that you must be knowlegeable in what is expected of the Free Women and slaves. What you may get away with in your own Home, don't expect to in others. Some Free Men are more tolerant than others and still others are inexperienced in what is expected in the behavior of a Free Woman.

Do not come to Gor and Expect to be respected or treated in any certain fashion, because you have a Capped Name. You will have to earn every inch of respect from Those around You.

Quotes!
This harsh treatment, incidentally,
when she is thought to deserve it, may even be
inflicted on a free companion, in spite of the fact
that she is free and usually much loved. According
to the Gorean way of looking at things a taste of the
slave ring is thought to be occasionally beneficial
to all women, even the exalted free woman. Thus when
she has been irritable or otherwise troublesome even a
Free Companion may find herself at the foot of the
couch looking forward to a pleasant night on the
stones, stripped, with neither mat nor blanket, chained
to the slave ring precisely as though she were a lowly
slave girl. It is the Gorean way of reminding her,
should she need to be reminded, that she, too, is a
woman, and thus to be dominated, to be subject to men.
Should she be tempted to forget this basic fact of Gorean
life the slave ring set in the bottom of each Gorean
couch is there to refresh her memory. Gor is a mans world.
• pg 67, Priest Kings of GOR •

Goreans, in their simplistic fashion, often
contend, categorically, that man is naturally free and
woman is naturally slave. But even for them the
issues are far more complex than these simple
formulations would suggest. For example, there is no
higher person, nor one more respected, than the Gorean
free woman.
• Pg. 311, Hunters of Gor •

Eta, from behind me, pinned the first of five
veils about my face. It was light, and shimmering, of
white silk, almost transparent. Then, one after the
other, she added the freedom veil, or veil of the
citizeness, the pride veil, the house veil, and
street veil. Each of these is heavier and more opaque
than the one which lies within. the street veil, worn
publicly, is extremely bulky, quite heavy and
completely opaque; not even the lineaments of the
nose and cheeks are discernible when it is worn; the
house veil is worn indoors when there are those present
who are not of the household, as in conversing with
or entertaining associates of one's companion. Veils
are worn in various numbers and combinations by Gorean
free women, this tending to vary by preference and
caste. Many low class Gorean women own only a single
veil which must do for all purposes. Not all high-caste
women wear a large number of veils. A free woman,
publicly, will commonly wear, one or two veils; a
frequent combination is the light veil, or last veil,
and the house or street veil. Rich, vain women of high
caste may wear ostentatiously as many as nine or ten
veils. In certain cities, in connection with the free
companionship, the betrothed or pledged beauty may wear
eight veils, several of which are ritualistically
removed during various phases of the ceremony of companionship
• pg 106, Slave Girl of GOR •

Goreans are not men of Earth,' I said. `They
will have what they truly want from a woman, everything.`
• pg 230, Beasts of GOR •

Free women, drinking, commonly lift their veil,
or veils, with the left hand. Low-caste free women, if
veiled, usually do the same. Sometimes, however,
particularly if they are in public, they will drink
through their veil, or veils.
• pg 276, Fighting Slave of GOR •

There seem to be two major reasons why free women
are seldom raped on Gor. first, it is thought that they,
being free, are to be accorded the highest respect, and
secondly, slave females are regarded as being much
more desirable.
• pg 184, Guardsman of GOR •

Sometimes, however, the free woman in a captured
city is not, say, simply stripped, thrown down and
tied, later to be turned over to an iron master for
the searing kiss of his white hot metal. sometimes,
rather, she stripped, and presented before officers, is
offered the choice between swift, honorable
decapitation and slavery. If she chooses slavery, she
may be expected to step onto a submission mat, and kneel
there, head down, enter a slave pen of her own accord,
or, say, fully acknowledging herself a slave, belly to
an officer, kissing his feet. The question is sometimes
put to her in somewhat the following fashion. "If you
are a free woman, speak your freedom and advance, now,
to the headman's block, or, if you are truly a slave,
and have only been masquerading until now as a free
woman, step now, if you wish, upon the mat of submission
and kneel there, in this act becoming at last,
explicitly, a legal slave." She is then expected,
sometimes, kneeling to lick the feet of a soldier, who
then rapes her on the mat. It is commonly regarded as
an acceptable introduction for a woman to her
explicit and legal slavery.
• page 337, Blood Brothers of GOR •

"I can still see your hair," said Drusus Renclus.
I drew the hood angrily even more closely about my
features. Little more now could be seen of me, as is
common with the robes of concealment, but a bit of the
bridge of my nose and my eyes.
• pg 99, Kajira of GOR •

`In most paga taverns,' he said, `free women are not
permitted. In some they are.'
• pg 122, Kajira of GOR •

'It was not necessary that you treated Susan
as you did,' I said. 'Don't not attempt to interfere
in the relationship between a man and his slave,'
he said. 'That relationship is absolute.' 'I see,'
I said. I stepped back, frightened.
• pg 172, Kajira of GOR •

"If and when a free woman should utter this, in
the Gorean culture, of course, this sort of thing is
very significant. Indeed, in some cities such things as
kneeling before a man, or addressing him as "Master"
effects legal imbondment on the female, being interpreted
as a gesture of submission."
• pg 139, Players of GOR •

In some cities an unveiled free woman is
susceptible to being taken into custody by guardsmen,
veiled, by force if necessary, and publicly conducted
back to her home... Repeated offenses in such a city
usually result in the enslavement of the female.
• pg 125, Players of GOR •

Women are on the whole are not permitted in
paga taverns, unless, of course, they wear collars.
• pg 197, Dancer of GOR •

The principle he had alluded to pertains to conduct
in a free woman which is taken as sufficient to warrant
her reduction to slavery. The most common application of
this principle occurs in areas such as fraud or theft.
Other applications may occur, for example, in cases of
indigence and vagrancy. Prostitution, rare on Gor because
of female slaves, is another case. The women are taken,
enslaved, cleaned up and controlled. Indulgence in
sensual dance is another case. Sensuous dance is almost
always performed by slaves on Gor. A free woman who
performs such dancing publicly is almost begging for the
collar. In some cities the sentence of bondage is
mandatory for such a woman.
• pg 372, Renegades Of GOR •

Aphris of Turia, pleased with herself, assumed
her place between the merchant and Kamchak, kneeling back
on her heels in the position of the Gorean Free Woman.
Her back was very straight and her head high, in the
Gorean fashion.
• pg 94, Nomads of GOR •