** Medicine in Gor **

 Please note that the Gorean Saga is a fictional series, and its world, customs, and values may not align with modern societal standards or moral principles.

The following is a report on the Physician's Caste and its function within this society. 

Gor is Copyrighted by John Norman


The Physician’s Caste

  • One of the Five High Castes, ranking fourth.

  • Caste color: green—most Physicians wear green tunics.

  • Each major city typically houses a Cylinder of Physicians, containing hospitals, laboratories, archives, and sometimes living quarters.

  • Every city’s Physician Caste is autonomous, guided by a local High Council.

Subcastes

Likely subcastes include:

  • Obstetrics

  • Pediatrics

  • Immunology
    Less likely due to limited need:

  • Dentistry

  • Psychiatry

  • Geriatrics

Caste Interaction

  • The Sardar Fairs, held four times yearly, serve as major medical conventions.

  • Physicians share research, discoveries, and caste-wide policy discussions.

  • Much medical knowledge spreads across Gor via these fairs.

Women in the Physician’s Caste

  • Many women serve as Physicians.

  • In many cities, they must bear two children before full practice.

    • They wear two bracelets at age 15; a bracelet is removed for each child born.

    • Purpose: preserve caste survival by ensuring reproduction among professional women.

  • Unsure what their exact restrictions are beforehand—likely comparable to a nurse vs. doctor distinction.




Technology: Primitive and Advanced

Gorean medicine is a mix of:

  • Primitive tech: no computers, limited cold storage.

  • Advanced capabilities: sophisticated drugs, serums, diagnostic devices without computers.

  • Instruments include blood/urine analyzers, microscopes, energy-lamp lighting, and hypodermics.

  • Despite herbs as drug sources, Gorean medicine is not herbalist-based; drugs are processed and advanced.

Disease on Gor

Almost unknown—except for two horrors:

Dar-Kosis (“Holy Disease”)

  • Wasting, contagious, leprosy-like.

  • Victims wear yellow robes and warn others with wooden clackers.

  • Legally considered dead: they lose companionships, property, and identity.

  • Priest-Kings' Initiate Caste forbids researching a cure—considering the disease sacred.

  • Secret attempts in Ar—led by Flaminius—nearly produced a cure using modified urts.

    • Research was destroyed by Initiates’ agents; Flaminius was badly injured.

    • After Assassin of Gor, he resumes research.

Bazi Plague (“the Pox”)

  • Highly contagious; lice-borne.

  • Causes pustules and yellowing eyes.

  • Some immunity exists; others die quickly.

  • Bazi port was once closed for two years—ruined its economy.

  • Physicians use gieron + sajel to mimic the disease (yellow eyes + pustules) without real harm.

Dentistry (Or… Lack Thereof)

  • Dental problems are rare due to:

    • Simple diet

    • Low stress

  • Dentistry is not a subcaste.

  • Fillings = common sign that a girl is from Earth.




Medicine Beyond the Cities

  • Barbaric regions—Barrens, Plains of Turia, Schendi jungles—lack the Physician’s Caste.

  • Healers rely on herbs, simple remedies, and traditional cures.

Common Medical Drugs & Tools

Capture Tools

  • Capture scent: chloroform-like; knocks out a woman in ~5 Ihn.

  • Anesthetic darts: flung or jabbed; take ~40 Ihn.

  • Tassa powder: tasteless, reddish; hidden easily in red wine.

Contraception

Slave Wine:

  • Extremely effective—far beyond Earth’s contraceptives.

  • Bitter for slaves, possibly sweetened for Free Women.

  • Derived from sip root.

    • Raw root: 3–4 moons effectiveness.

    • Concentrated liquid: now indefinite.

  • Neutralized by Breeding Wine / Second Wine, derived from teslik.

No evidence slave wine harms pregnancies or induces miscarriage.

Other Drugs Mentioned

  • Laxatives, emetics, purgative brak-bush leaves.

  • Hypnotic-type drugs that access memory or allow suggestion.

  • Sleep-powders used by Tuchuks.

  • Slave dip: required in ports to remove parasites from new slaves.

  • Animal drugs: tranquilizers, slow drugs.

Stabilization Serums: The Crown Jewel of Gorean Medicine

  • Developed ~500 years ago in Koroba & Ar.

  • Consider aging a disease.

  • Serums transform genetic structures to allow indefinite cell replacement.

  • Occasionally fail, wear off, or even accelerate aging—but rare.

  • Effects can be passed to offspring.

  • Given to all people—free, slave, barbarian.

  • Administered as four injections over four days, left-hip area; tested on day five.

  • Matthew Cabot is the only known long-term recipient (600+ years).

Medical Practice

  • Physicians tend to Warriors’ wounds: sterilizing, cleaning, bandaging.

  • A minor wound costs one tarsk bit—the only known medical fee.

  • Stitches, casts, and surgery are implied, though not always described.

  • Cold storage is expensive and usually available only in major Physician Cylinders.

  • Plastic exists and is occasionally used.

Health on Gor

  • Heart disease, cholesterol issues, and cancer are rarely seen.

  • Exercise and simple diets promote excellent health.

  • Psychological issues are uncommon—most Goreans accept their roles happily.

  • Advice for frigid Free Women? Learn slave dance.

Slaves with Medical Skills

  • Typically ex-Physicians enslaved later.

  • Rare for a slave to receive medical training post-enslavement.

  • Most Goreans avoid being treated by a slave—unless she belongs to them.

Everyday Biology Tidbits

  • Children are breast-fed, not bottle-fed.

  • Among the Red Savages: women wear hair loose during menstruation.



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