This is the way I see things, the way I as a Free Woman try to live, the codes I uphold, the codes I in My r/t life strive to uphold. They are things that W/we A/all should strive to uphold r/t and virtually. Perhaps You have heard this before, in fact, I hope You have.

Article One:..Virtue Code -by Lady Asaria, ChAtlantis Camp of the Tuchuk

When We come to Gor, the FreeWoman is told she is virtuous and held high in Gorean Society as long as she lives by her virtue, etc. The nine points Lady Arsia covers here may shed some light as to how, perhaps, a Free Woman, might live and succeed and keep true to herself and her Caste. They are also points I as well as she fell E/everyone can live by Virtue Code  

The Courage I speak of is not the courage to battle. In a million ways Gorean Society challenges our values. On Earth, in r/t We are legally equals to men. On Gor, We are not. This courage stems from within, telling Your character to be who You are meant to be on Gor, and live Your life there as it shall be. If Sally in the next wagon tells You that You are being too weak and subserviant, while she runs around acting like a man, who is right? Is this the way to get ahead and be accepted in Gorean society? No, live the way You are meant to as a Gorean FreeWoman.

The second virtue, is Truth. It is a word that holds so much in its definition, and includes such a wide variety of moral and philosophical beliefs that we were all drawn to it as a simple statement of what we stood for. At least one of the reasons is the simple issue of honesty. Words to live by: "if you don't want people to know about something, don't do it." Truth, in the sense of honesty, is essential to personal honor and also to any system or morality that is not based on rigid legalism. If one is to uphold an honor code, one must be brutally honest with oneself and with others. Truth is also the Truth that comes with a capital T--the kind of Truth that one talks about in terms of religion or morality. It's common to talk of different peoples having different "truths," but it's equally important to remember that while we acknowledge that each person or people has their own belief as to what Truth is or where to find it, there finally is a single Truth. This is not the Truth as we believe it, but ultimate Truth. While we may respect other people's "truths" and seek our own, we must never forget our search for The Truth. Like the Holy Grail of Christian legend, it may never be ours to reach, but when we cease to search we perish.

Honor is the basis for the entire Gorean moral rationale. If anything comes out in the things we do it is that without honor, we are nothing. Remember two types of peoples from ancient times: those whose honor was so clean that they shine as examples to us and those who were so without honor that their names are cursed a thousand years after they lived. We should always strive to be among the former. However, honor is not mere reputation. Honor is an internal force whose outward manifestation is reputation. Internal honor is the sacred moral compass that each of us should hold dear. It is the inner dwelling at peace which comes from living in accordance with ones beliefs and with ones knowledge of the Truth of what one is doing. It is something deeply personal and heartfelt, almost akin to an emotion. It's a "knowing" that what one is doing is right and decent and correct. In many ways while the most important of all the virtues it is also the most ephemeral in terms of description. It is all the other virtues rolled together and then still more. The best way I have found to describe honor is that if you are truly living with honor, you will have no regrets about what you have done with your life.

Fidelity is a word that is far too often defined by it's narrow use in terms of marriage fidelity. By the dictionary it simply means being faithful to someone or something. In a FreeCompanionship this means being true to ones vows and partner, and this has been narrowly defined as limiting ones sexual experience to ones spouse, with the exception of slaves. While I have found this to be great practical advice, many treat fidelity as if there were no other ways in which one could be faithful or unfaithful. For Gorean FreeWomen, fidelity is most important in terms of our faith and truth to the Caste. We must remain true to our Sisters, to Ourselves, and to the Man who will one day be our Companion.

In any discussion of values, discipline is best described as self-discipline. It is the exercise of personal will that upholds honor and the other virtues and translates impulse into action. If one is to be able to reject moral legalism for a system of internal honor, one must be willing to exercise the self-discipline necessary to make it work. Without self-discipline, we have the mess we currently see in our Earthen culture.

Hospitality is simply one of the strongest core values at the heart of virtually every ancient human civilization. In a community such as Gor, it is the virtue that upholds our social fabric. In ancient times it was essential that when a traveler went into the world he could find some sort of shelter and welcome for the night. In Gor it is just as essential that a traveler find friendship and safety. In our HomeStone, we need to treat each other with respect and act together for the good of our community as a whole. This functions most solidly on the level of the kindred where non-familial members become extremely close and look out for each other. It can mean hospitality in the old sense of taking in people, which we do, but in Gor it could mean a warm beverage, a compassionate ear, a meal, or help out a friend or sometimes even a stranger in need. Part of hospitality is treating other people with respect and dignity. The virtue of hospitality means seeing people as if they were all individuals with self-respect and importance. In terms of Gor as a whole, I see hospitality in terms of frontier "barn raisings" where a whole community would come together and pool their resources. This doesn't mean we have to forget differences, but we must put them aside for those who are of our Folk, and work for our common good.

We must be industrious in our actions. We need to work hard if we are going to achieve our goals. There is so much for us to do. We've set ourselves the task of restoring Honor to it's former place as a mainstream faith and by doing so reinvigorating our society and culture. We can't do this by sitting on our virtues, we need to make them an active part of our behavior. Industry also refers to simple hard work in our daily vocations, done with care and pride. Here's a few concrete examples. Are you are reading and don't agree with what I'm saying here? Well, be industrious! Write your own articles and arguments. Start composing an asnswer to me and suggest this material is horrible and tell me why--better that than passivity. Get the blood moving and go out and do it. That's how it gets done. The Gods do not favor the lazy. The same holds true for our lives. As FreeWomen we should offer a good example as industrious people who add to whatever we're involved in rather than take from it. We should be the ones the camps and villages can't do without and the ones who always seem to be able to get things done. When people think of the Gorean FreeWoman, they should think of people who are competent and who offer something to the world.

Industry brings us directly to the virtue of Self-Reliance, which is important both in practical and traditional terms. Going back to the general notion of this page, we are dealing with a form of morality that is largely self-imposed and thus requires self-reliance. We rely on ourselves to administer our own morality. Traditionally, our folkways have always honored the ability of a man or woman to make their own way in the world and not to lean on others for their physical needs. This is one of the ways in which several virtues reinforce and support each other. Hospitality cannot function if people are not responsible enough to exercise discipline and take care of themselves. It's for those that strive and fail or need assistance that hospitality is intended, not for the idle who simply won't take care of themselves. In mundane terms being self-reliant is a simple way to allow ourselves the ability to live as we wish to. In simple economic terms, if one has enough money in the bank one doesn't need to worry as much about telling off ones boss. We can look him in the face and tell him just where he can put it. It's also nice to have something in the bank to fall back upon. On the other side of this is self-reliance in the sense of Henry David Thoreau, who advocated a simple lifestyle that freed one from the temptations of materialism. Again, here we are able to live as we wish with those things that are truly important. Being self-reliant also means taking responsibility for ones life. It's about refusing to blame ones failures on someone else. Gor is in fact unfair, but it's our own responsibility to deal with it, get over it, and move on.

The final virtue is Perseverance which I think most appropriate because it is the one that we most need to keep in mind in our living of the other values. Life teaches us that the world is an imperfect place, and nothing comes easy. We need to continue to seek after that which we desire. In this imperfect world there are no free lunches or easy accomplishments--especially in the subjects we have set before ourselves. If we truly wish to build a successful FreeWoman character, one that people will hold up as an example of what committed people can do, then we must persevere through the hardships that building our guild is going to entail. We must be willing to continue on when we are pushed back. If one hurt, the answer is not to go and hide, but to continue until one finds a place where one can move forward and live as a FreeWoman should, with honor and dignity. Finally we must persevere when we simply fail. If the camp feels as if it is falling apart because of internal strife, one should push ahead and keep going. Pick up the pieces and continue on. We must be willing to continue in the hard work of making our camp strong--not just when it is convenient and easy to do so, but when it gets hard, inconvenient, or just plain boring. To accomplish without striving is to do little, but to persevere and finally accomplish a hard fought goal brings great honor. That was a bit rough, as I said, I pulled it from the guild page, so it was written for another world, for a r/t world as well as Virtual.some points may have been a little confusing with Gor, but the basic principles are there. To live a Virtuous life a FreeWoman must follow the codes of Her Caste.Truth to herself, Courage to live her life as she must, Fidelity to her code and self, Discipline to keep the codes, Hospitality to A/all who enter her home in peace. Industriousness - Do, Be, make happen, get involved. Self-reliance - take responsibility for Your own actions.Perseverance to continue uphill even tho the wind and rain may drive you back, all tempered with the Honor from within.

Lady Asaria, ChAtlantis Camp of the Tuchuk  

Article Two