GENERAL INFORMATION

 

Calendar
There are twelve twenty-five day Gorean months, incidentally, in most of the calendars of the various cities. Each month, containing five five-day weeks, is separated by a five-day period, called the Passage Hand, and every other month, there being one exception to this, which is that of the last month of the year is separated from the first month of the year, which begins with the Vernal Equinox, not only by a Passage Hand, but by another five-day period called the Waiting Hand, during which doorways are painted white, little food is eaten, little is drunk and there is to be no singing or public rejoicing in the city; diring this time Goreans go out as little as possible; the Initiates, interestingly enough, do not make much out of the Waiting Hand in their ceremonies and preachments, which leads one to believe it is not intended to be of any sort of religious significance; it is perhaps, in its way, a period of mourning for the old year; Goreans, living much of their lives in the open, on the bridges and in the streets, are much closer to nature's year than most humans of Earth; but on the Vernal Equinox, which marks the first day of the New Year in most Gorean cities, there is great rejoicing; the doorways are painted green, and there is song on the bridges, games, contests, visiting of friends and much feasting, which lasts for the first ten days of the first month, thereby doubling the period taken in the Waiting Hand. Month names differ, unfortunately, from city to city, but, among the civilized cities, there are four months, associated with the equinoxes and solstices, and the great fairs at the Sardar, which do have common names, the months of En-’Kara, or En-’Kara-Lar-Torvis; En-’Var, or En-’var-Lar-Torvis; Se-’Kara, or Se-’Kara-Lar-Torvis; and Se-’Var, or Se-’Var-Lar-Torvis.
{Assassin of Gor - 78}

There is also a system of latitude and longitude figured on the basis of the Gorean day, calculated in Ahn, twenty of which constitute a Gorean day, and Ehn and Ihn, which are subdivisions of the Ahn, or Gorean hour.
{Nomads of Gor - 3}

The Gorean week consists of five days. Each month consists of five such weeks. Following each month, of which there are twelve, separating them, is a five-day Passage Hand. The twelfth Passage Hand is followed by the Waiting Hand, a five-day period prior to the vernal equinox, which marks the Gorean New Year.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 26}

The Gorean week consists of five days. Each month consists of five such weeks. Following each month, of which there are twelve, separating them, is a five-day Passage Hand. The twelfth Passage Hand is followed by the Waiting Hand, a five-day period prior to the vernal equinox, which marks the Gorean New Year.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 26}

Coinage
The tarsk is a silver coin worth fourty copper tarn discs.
{Assassin of Gor - 160}

A silver tarsk is, to most Goreans, a coin of considerable value. In most exchanged, it is valued at a hundred copper tarsks, each of which valued, commonly, at some ten to twenty tarsk bits. Ten silver tarsks, usually, is regarded as the equivalent of one gold piece, of one of the high cities. To be sure, there is little standardization in these matter, for much depends on the actual weights of the coins and quantties of precious metals, certified by the municipal stamps, contained in the coins. Sometimes, too, coins are split or shaved. Further the debasing of coinage is not unknown. Scales and rumors, it seems are often sued by coin merchants. One of the central coins on Gor is the golden tarn disk of Ar, against which many cities standardize their own gold piece. Other generally respected coins tend to be the silver tarsk of Tharna, the golden tarn disk of Ko-ro-ba, and the golden tarn of Port Kar, the latter particularily on the western Vosk, in the Tamber Gulf region, and a few hundred pasangs north an south of the Bosk's delta.
{Rogue of Gor - 155}

To be sure, much seems to depend on the city and the partiular weighs involved. For example, a "double tarn" is twice the weight of a "tarn." It seems there are usually eight tarsk bits in a copper tarsk, and that these are the result of cutting a circular coin in half, and then the halves in half, and then each of these halves in half. An analogy would be the practice of cutting the round, flat Gorean loaves of sa-tarna bread into eight pieces. There are apparently something like one hundred copper tarks in a silver tarsk in many cities. Similarly, something like ten silver tarks would apparently be equivalent, depending on weights, etc., to one gold piece, say, a single "tarn." Accordingly, on certain cities, would be eight tarsk bits to a copper tarsk; one hundred copper tarks to a silver tarsk; and ten silver tarks to a gold piece, a single tarn. On this approach there would be, literally, 8,000 tark bits in a single gold piece. - J.N.
{Magicians of Gor - 468}


8 tarsk bits = 1 copper tarsk
100 copper tarsk = 1 silver tarsk
2.5 copper tarsk = 1 copper tarn
40 copper tarn = 1 silver tarsk
10 silver tarsk = 1 gold tarn
1 double gold tarn = 2 gold tarns

Length
As in the case of the official "Stone," so, too, at the Sardar in a metal rod, which determines that Merchant Foot, or Gorean foot, as I have called it.
{Raiders of Gor - 128}

Ah-il
Too, there were cloth merchants, with their silks and rolls of rep cloth. Cloth is measured in the ah-il, which is the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, and the ah-ral, which is ten ah-ils.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 50}

Ah-ral
and the ah-ral, which is ten ah-ils.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 50}

Gorean Foot /Merchant Foot
The Gorean foot, interestingly, is almost identical to the Earth foot. Both measures doubtless bear some distant relation to the length of the foot of an adult human male. The Gorean foot is, in my estimation, just slightly longer than the Earth foot; based on the supposition that each of its ten Horts is roughly one and one-quarter inches long, I would give the Gorean foot length of roughly twelve and one-half inches, Earth measure.
{Raiders of Gor - 127}

Hort
The hort is approximately and inch and a quarter in length.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 49}

Pasang
The pasang is a measure of distance on Gor, equivalent to approximately .7 of a mile.
{Tarnsmen of Gor - 58}

Time
I drew forth from my robes a small, flat, closed Gorean chronometer. It was squarish. I placed it in the hands of the boy Achmed. He opened it. He observed the tiny hands, moving. There are twenty hours, or Ahn, in the Gorean day. The hands of the Gorean chronometers do not move as the hand of the clocks of the Earth. They turn in the opposite direction. In that sense, they move counterclockwise. This chronometer, tooled in Ar, was a fine one, sturdy, exact. It contained, too, a sweeping Ihn hand, with which the tiny Ihn could be measured. The boy watched the hands. Such instruments were rare in the Tahari region.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 61}

Ahn, Ehn & Ihn
The Gorean day is divided into twenty Ahn, which are numbered consecutively. The tenth Ahn is noon, the twentieth, midnight. Each Ahn consistes of forty Ehn, or minutes, and each Ehn of eighty Ihn, or seconds.
{Outlaw of Gor - 26}

Volume
Talu
A talu is approximately two gallons.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 242}

Tef, Tefa & Huda
A handful with the five fingers closed, not open, is a tef. Six such handfuls constitutes a tefa, which is a tiny basket. Five such baskets constitutes a huda.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 46}

Weight
The Weight and the Stone, incidentally, are standardized throughout the Gorean cities by Merchant Law, the only common body of law existing among the cities. The official "Stone," actually a solid metal cylinder, is kept, by the way, near the Sardar. Four times a year, on a given day in each of the four great fairs held annually near the Sardar, it is brought forth with scales, that merchants from whatever city may test their own standard "Stone".
{Raiders of Gor - 127}

Stone
I have calculated this figure from the Weight, a Gorean unit of measurement based on the Stone, which is about four earth pounds. A weight is ten Stone.
{Raiders of Gor - 127}

Weight
A given tree, annually, yields between one and five Gorean weights of fruit. A weight is some ten stone, or some forty Earth pounds.
{Tribesmen of Gor - 37}

 

Banking ETC on gorCoin Merchants and Bankers
Every year at the Sardar Fair there is a motion before the bankers, literally, the coin merchants, to introduce a standardization of coinage among the major cities. To date, however, this has not been accomplished. I did not feel it was really fair of Boots to call attention to my possible lack of expertise in these matters. I was not, after all, of the merchants, nor, among them, of the coin merchants.
{Magicians of Gor - 411}

"Three five," said another. This was a bid of three silver tarsks and fifty copper tarsks. There are one hundred copper tarsks to one silver tarsk in Kailiauk. The ratio is ten to one in certain other cities and towns. The smallest Gorean coin is usually a tarsk bit, usually valued from a quarter to a tenth of a tarsk. Gorean coinage tends to vary from community to community. Certain coins, such as the silver tarsk of Tharna and the golden tarn of Ar, tend, to some extent, to standardize what otherwise might be a mercantile chaos. This same standardization, in the region of the Tamber Gulf and south, along the shore of Thassa, tends to be effected by the golden tam of Port Kar. Coin merchants often have recourse to scales. This is sensible considering such things as the occasional debasings of coinages, usually unannounced by the communities in question, and the frequent practice of splitting and shaving coins. It is, for example, not unusual for a Gorean coin pouch to contain parts of coins as well as whole coins. Business is often conducted by notes and letters of credit. Paper currency, however, in itself, is unknown.
{Savages of Gor - 120}

Street of Coins
Sometimes, of course, certain areas specialize in, or are known for, given types of services or products. Each city usually has, for example, its "Street of Coins." On such a street, or in such an area, its banking will largely be done. Similarly most cities will have their "Street of Brands," on which street, or in which area, one would expect to find the houses of its slavers.
{Fighting Slave of Gor - 214}

"They are afraid," he said. "The Street of Coins is almost closed."
This was actually a set of streets, or district, where money changing and banking were done. There are other types of establishments in the area, too, of course.
{Kajira of Gor - 165}

Many Gorean bankers, not only the fellows sitting on a rug in their booth on a street, their sleen about, but also those in the palaces and fortresses on the "Streets of Coins," work with scales. Too, sometimes coins are literally chopped into pieces. This is regularly done with copper tarsks to produce, usually, the eight tarsk bits equivalent in most cities to the copper tarsk.
{Magicians of Gor - 411}

Banks
"Before you Lady Melpomene of Vonda," said Philebus, "lie several papers, detailing the consolidation of your debts. These papers are certified by the bank of Bemus in Venna, and are witnessed by the signatures of two citizens of that city. Do you acknowledge that the tallies are correct and that the debts are yours?"
{Fighting Slave of Gor - 278}

"And I," said the Lady Florence, "herewith publicly sign this draft, marked in the same amount, drawn on the bank of Reginald in Vonda, and properly certified, made out to Philebus of Venna."
{Fighting Slave of Gor - 278}

From the sea bag I drew forth the notes for fortunes, made out to Shaba, to be drawn on various of the banks of Schendi, and the false ring, that which he was supposed to carry to the Sardar in place of the true ring.
{Explorers of Gor - 31}

Notes
I then took what valuables and moneys there were in the chair, kept in the cabinets at its sides, and slung them, some scarfed and others placed in pouches, about the necks of the two slave girls. I was surprised. The owner of the chair had been rich indeed. There was a fortune there, and the notes for other fortunes.
{Beasts of Gor - 118}

Shaba handed him the notes. "You do not trust our broad-shouldered courier?" he asked.
"I trust as few people as possible," said Msaliti. He looked at the notes, very closely. Then he handed them back to Shaba. "I know the seals and signatures," he said. "They may truly be drawn on the banks indicated."
"There are twenty thousand tarns of gold there," I said.
"This business could be conducted in the morning," I said, "at the banks in question. You might then verify the notes and withdraw or redeposit the gold as you please."
{Explorers of Gor - 211}

"What of the moneys, those vast sums wrought from the Kurii, the notes negotiated in Schendi?" I asked.
"They were to defray the costs of outfitting the expedition, of hiring the men," he said. "Surely you do not object to my making use of the funds of Kurii for such a purpose. They should be pleased to have made their contribution to so noble a project."
{Explorers of Gor - 434}

"Will you return to Port Kar?" I asked.
"I have moneys here in Schendi," he said, "notes which I have drawn upon my return from the Ua, moneys connected with my fees for accompanying Shaba’s expedition. They will last me many months."
{Explorers of Gor - 463}

Loans
In spite of having the respect, even to some degree the adulation, of almost all Goreans, the Players lived poorly. On the Street of Coins they found it difficult even to arrange loans. They were not popular with innkeepers, who would not shelter them unless paid in advance.
{Assassin of Gor - 28}

"Another possibility," Samos was saying, "would be a loan to the Sa-Tarna merchants, at a reduced rate of interest. Thus we might avoid the precedent of a direct subsidy to a sub caste. To be sure, we might then encounter resistance from the Street of Coins."
{Savages of Gor - 65}

I was pleased to hear this, for I was rather fond of the tall, regal Ulafi. Apparently they did not regard him as a likely fellow to be used in the purchase of stolen notes on speculation, to be resold later to their rightful owner. Many merchants, I was sure, would not have been so squeamish. Such dealings, of course, would encourage the theft of notes. It was for this reason that they were forbidden by the codes. Such notes, their loss reported, are to be canceled, and replaced with alternative notes.
{Explorers of Gor - 148}

Credit
I must leave Port Kar tonight. I would go to my holding; I would make arrangements; I would obtain weapons, moneys, letters of credit. I could be gone in two Ahn, on tarnback, before Priest-Kings discovered the failure of their plans.
{Players of Gor - 75}

Collection
The fellow from Venna, clad in white and gold, was Philebus, a bounty creditor. He was known to the merchants of several cities. Such men buy bills at discount and then set themselves to collect, as they can, their face value. They are tenacious in their trade.
{Fighting Slave of Gor - 277}