Scarlet Caste (RRaMC)

The Code of the Warrior is, in general, characterized by a rudimentary chivalry, emphasizing loyalty to Pride Chiefs and the Home Stone. It was harsh, but with a certain gallantry, a sense of honor that I could respect. A man could do worse then live by such a code. - Tarnsman of GOR p.41

1. Your word is your bond and should be upheld at all cost.

I would betray Priest-Kings before I would betray you... The most they can take is my life, and if I were to lose my honor, even that would be worthless. - Players of Gor p.71

A last observation having to do with the tendency of some Goreans to accept illusions and such as reality is that the Gorean tends to take such things as honor and truth very seriously. Given his culture and background, his values, he is often easier to impose upon than would be many others. For example, he is likely, at least upon occasion, to be an easier mark for the fraud and charlatan than a more suspicious, cynical fellow. On the other hand, I do not encourage lying to Goreans. They do not like it. - Magicians of Gor p. 255

2. If a non-outlaw asks to be collared, you must collar or kill that person. If a warrior accepts a woman as a slave, it is prescribed that, at least for a time at his discretion, she be spared. But if she is in the least bit displeasing, she may be immediately killed.

Then, to my astonishment, the daughter of the Ubar Marlenus, daughter of the Ubar of Ar, knelt before me, a simple warrior of Ko-ro-ba, and lowered her head, lifting and extending her arms, wrists crossed. It was the submission of the captive female. Without raising her eyes from the ground, the daughter of the Ubar said in a clear, distinct voice: `I submit myself.' I was speechless for a moment, but then, remembering that harsh Gorean custom required me either to accept the submission or slay the captive, I took her wrists in my hands and said, `I accept your submission.' - Tarnsman of GOR p.93-94

`I can force you to take me,' she said.
`How?' I asked.
`Like this,' she responded, kneeling before me, lowering her head and lifting her arms, the wrists crossed. She laughed. `Now you must take me with you or slay me.'
I cursed her, for she took unfair advantage of the Warrior Codes of Gor. - Tarnsman of GOR p.109

3. Honor your opponent in victory or defeat.

You risked so much for a mere point of honor?' she asked.
`There are no mere points of honor,' I told her. - Vagabonds of GOR p.63

4. Pledge loyalty with due consideration, for you must honor your commitments.

5. If you want another's slave, you must challenge for her and meet your opponent with the weapon of his choice. This is also known as the claim of sword-right.

'Yield her', he snapped.
'You know the codes,' I said evenly. 'If you want her you must challenge for her and meet me with the weapon of my choice.' - Tarnsman of GOR p.117

6. He who cannot think is not a man and neither is he who can only think.

Men would rather die than think," I said.
Not all men, she said. - Explorers of GOR p.334

It was lonely here. Yet such times are good in the life of a Warrior, times to be alone, to think. He who cannot think is not a man, so saith the codes. Yet neither, too, they continue, is he who can only think. - Vagabonds of GOR p.65

7. The only death fit for a warrior is in battle. Warriors do not kill themselves or aid others in doing so.

Never such things, never them! The warrior does not kill himself or aid others in the doing of it. It is not in the codes. - Vagabonds of GOR p.446

8. Sword loyalty is the bond of fidelity to an Ubar, a military sovereign. It is not sworn lightly. When an Ubar is thought unfit, the sword loyalty is dishonored and the Ubar may be deposed by his own warriors.

9. The only honorable reply to a challenge is to accept it promptly.

10. If you lift a weapon against a warrior, he is permitted by his codes to kill you.

11. Poisoned steel is against the codes.

I would not have thought Sarus of Tyros would have used poisoned steel,' I said. Such a device, like the poisoned arrow, was not only against the codes of the warriors, but, generally, was regarded as unworthy of men. Poison was regarded as a woman's weapon. - Marauders of GOR p.18

12. Do not enter battle with sadness or self-pity, even if you are in an unwinnable battle.

I had been so much a fool as to be sad. That is not the mood in which to enter battle, even the battle which one knows one cannot win, even the ultimate battle in which knows one is doomed to defeat. Do not be sad. Better to take the field with laughter, with a joke, with a light heart, with a buoyant heart, or to go forward with sternness, or in fury, or with hatred, or defiance, or calculation, but never with self pity, never with sadness. -Vagabonds of Gor p.446

13. One who has shed your blood, or whose blood you have shed, becomes your sword brother, unless you formally repudiate the blood upon your weapons. - Tarnsman of Gor p.118

14. Warriors, it is said in the codes, have a common Home Stone. Its name is battle. - Renegades Of GOR p.343

15. Even warriors long sometimes for the sight of their own flags, atop friendly walls, for the courtyards of their keeps, for the hearths of their halls. Thus admit the Codes. -Blood Brothers of GOR p.306

16. Without the Codes, Men are no better then Beasts

`Flee!' she said.
`I am of the Warriors,' I said.
`But you may die,' she said.
That is acknowledged in the codes,' I said.
`What are the codes?' she asked.
`They are nothing and, and everything,' I said. `They are a bit of noise, and the steel of the heart. They are meaningless, and all significant. They are the difference. Without the codes men would be Kurii.'
`Kurii?' she asked.
`Beasts, such as ice beasts, and worse,' I said. `Beasts such as the face you saw in the sky.'
`You need not keep the codes,' she said.
`I once betrayed my codes,' I said. `It is not my intention to do so again.' I looked at her. `One does not know, truly what it is to stand, until one has fallen. Once one has fallen, then one knows, you see, what it is to stand.'
`None would know if you betrayed the codes,' she said.
`I would know,' I said, `and I am of the Warriors.'
`What is it to be a warrior?' she asked.
`It is to keep the codes,' I said. `You may think that to be a warrior is to be large, or strong, and to be skilled with weapons, to have a blade at your hip, to know the grasp of the spear, to wear the scarlet, to know the fitting of the iron helm upon one's countenance, but these are things are not truly needful; they are not, truly what makes one man a warrior and another not. Many men are strong, and large, and skilled with weapons. Any man might, if he dared, don the scarlet and gird himself with weapons. Any man might place upon his brow the helm of iron. But it is not the scarlet, not the steel, not the helm which makes a warrior.'
She looked at me.
`It is the codes,' I said.
`Abandon your codes,' she said.
`One does not speak to slaves of the codes,' I said. - Beasts of GOR p.340