QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Clearing Things Up
WHAT IS A CARAVANSERAI?
The English word Caravanserai, comes from a Turkish original, Kervansaray, which means “caravan-palace”.
A caravanserai would be a place like a big walled castle for merchants. Variously described as “guest houses,” “roadside inns,” and “hostels,” caravanserais were buildings designed to provide overnight housing to travelers. They would often contain stables and storerooms for the animals and goods, and a bathhouse, kitchens, etc. But the centre would be a courtyard — for people to talk, gossip, tell stories, etc.
The journeys of merchants and their caravans along the Silk Road through the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa would have been much more difficult if not for the caravanserais that dotted those ancient routes.
WHERE IS THE CARAVANSERAI OF TEEHRA LOCATED?
The Caravanserai of Teehra is a major stop for travel across the Tahari located near the lower Fayeen river in the "District of Teehra" between Kasra and Tor.
If one is traveling by caravan to the following cities it would take approximately this much time (dependant upon weather and raiders):
Travel time to Tor from the Caravanserai of Teehra is five days.
Travel to Kasra would be eight days.
Travel to Turia would be sixteen days.
Travel to the Oasis of Red Rock would be tweve days.
Travel to Schendi would be twenty two days.
Travel to Bazi would be thirty seven days.
Travel to Port Kar would be almost fifty days.
Travel to Lydius would be seventy two days.
AS A WOMAN DO I NEED TO WEAR A VEIL AND A HOOD?
That is entirely up to you and the culture you represent in Gor, however, as a woman you are reminded that as a visitor to the Tahari, you are not guaranteed the same protections as those you would be granted in your home city.
Further, the climate of the Tahari is harsh, with the sands reaching a temperature of 150 degrees or more during the day. It is *highly recommended* that you take measures to preserve your health and avoid visits to the physicians for the severe sunburns that could have otherwise been prevented by simply covering up while outside.
"It was difficult to believe then, in the cool of that morning, as early as late spring that the surface temperatures of the terrain we would traverse would be within hours better than one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. " - Tribesmen of Gor
"Look," cried one of the guards. We lifted our heads. We struggled to our feet. We gritted our eyelids, to shut out the heat, the blinding light.
"Water!" cried a voice. "Water!"
It was a man, come from the desert about. He had not been in the chain. He wore no manacles.
"Water!" he cried. He staggered toward us. He wore a bit of cloth. His body moved awkwardly. His fingernails were gone. His mouth and face seemed split, like dried crust.
"It is an escaped slave from the desert," said Hamid." - Tribesmen of Gor
"When water is in short supply, the nomads do not eat at all. It takes weeks to starve, but only, in the Tahari, two days to die of thirst. In such circumstances, one does not wish the processes of digestion to drain much needed water from the body tissues. The bargain would be an ill one to strike." - Tribesmen of Gor
WHY ARE SLAVES REQUIRED TO WEAR SHOES AND NOT KNEEL OUTSIDE?
This has to do with what Norman wrote about the environment of the Tahari. He was very clear that about the harshness of the desert. Certainly slaves who have wrapped their legs can kneel in the open, but many of the garments that are used for visual roleplay would have their lines ruined by doing so. It was therefore an easier decision to add to the realism and culture to simply require slaves not kneel and wear shoes. The choice is yours.
"The sun was the sun of the late spring in the Tahari. The surface temperature of The crusts would be in the neighborhood of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The air temperature would range from 120 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit." - Tribesmen of Gor
"My left leg broke through a dozen layers of crust, breaking it to the side with a hundred, dry, soft shattering sounds, the rupture of innumerable fine crystalline structures. I could feel blood on my left leg, over the leather wrappings, where the edge of a crust, ragged, hot, had sawed it open." - Tribesmen of Gor
"Our feet, earlier, had been wrapped in leather sheathing, it reaching, in anticipation of the crusts, -later to be encountered, to the knees." Tribesmen of Gor
"I struggled to my feet, pulling against the chain with my neck, wild, not able to see. "Kneel," said a voice. I knelt. I tensed. I could not see in the hood. I knelt, a chained captive in the crusts. I could not lift my hands before my body." - Tribesmen of Gor