Near the Sadar mountains which is the legendary home of the Priest Kings, you cross the southern prairies of Gor and find yourself traveling along a well paved road. The journey rewards you, and all who are worthy enough to make it, as you near it's end. When, though you are still many pasangs distant, your eyes lift to the majestic and daunting sight of a massive city looming from the mists... the magnificent realm of Turia, a major city-state of Gor. Turia is named for the single Tur tree found at the bank of the stream by which it was built. This beautiful city is often referred to as the "Ar of the South'.
The city reveals itself, as you draw nearer... a huge fortress surrounded by walls a hundred feet high, and thick enough to actually contain structures. As you travel closer, you see nine well guarded gates providing entrance from the various provinces surrounding the city. The road you travel leads you to the huge iron gate that marks the main entrance to Turia..
Turia is a fortress rather than an open city because of the traditions and history that have shaped it. The city is surrounded by the Tachuk wagon people, vicious nomads of the Gorean plain, who beseige the city endlessly, keeping it in a constant state of war. This warrior city is ruled by an Ubar or military dictator and his commanders. There are no lords in Turia... all must serve in the military.
The Ubar and his commanders guard the gate and greet arrivals. Only Turians are invited to mingle with their fellow citizens at the Turian Inn located just inside the main gate. Non-citizens or outworlders are not allowed beyond the gate, but may congregate there to visit with the Ubar and other Turians. These arrivals will find the intense scrutiny one would expect from a militaristic society. The leadership seek to protect their beloved and beseiged city from all who would harm it by open or clandestine means. Those who have honor have nothing to fear and may apply for Turian citizenship should they desire. The procedure for acceptance as a citizen is reviewed in a later segment.
At a nod from the Ubar or his commanders, the gate swings open, groaning on ancient hinges. Just inside, to the right, is the entrance to the Turian Inn... your destination this night.. a favored guest of Turia. The Turian Inn and the Turian Gate are now closed on IRC after the previous owner and his slaves left. A Turian Gate has been opened as a city on OSGRID (http://www.osgrid.org/) and on the NEW grid called Counter Earth Grid- www.counterearthgrid.weebly.com Come visit one of the oldest Gorean Cities on IRC and on line... Turia!
"I found Turia to match my expectations. She was luxurious. Her shops were filled with rare, intriguing paraphernalia. I smelled perfumes that I had never smelled before. More than once we encountered a line of musicians dancing single file down the center of the street, playing on their flutes and drums, perhaps on their way to a feast. 1 was pleased to see again, though often done in silk, the splendid varieties of caste colors of the typical Gorean city, to hear once more the cries of peddlers that I knew so well, the cake sellers, the hawkers of vegetables, the wine vendor bending under a double verrskin of his vintage. We did not attract as much attention as I had thought we would, and I gathered that every spring, at least, visitors from the Wagon Peoples must come to the city. Many people scarcely glanced at us, in spite of the fact that we were theoretically blood foes. I suppose that life in high-walled Turia, for most of its citizens, went on from day to day in its usual patterns oblivious of the usually distant Wagon Peoples. The city had never fallen, and had not been under siege in more than a century. The average citizen worried about the Wagon Peoples, customarily, only when he was outside the walls. Then, of course, he worried a great deal, and, I grant him, wisely. One disappointment to me in trekking through the streets of Turia was that a crier advanced before us, calling to the women of the city to conceal themselves, even the female slaves. Thus, unfortunately, save for an occasional furtive pair of dark eyes peering from behind a veil in a recessed casement, we saw in our journey from the gate of the city to the House of Saphrar none of the fabled, silken beauties of Turia."
Nomads of Gor, pg. 87, by John Norman.
The city reveals itself, as you draw nearer... a huge fortress surrounded by walls a hundred feet high, and thick enough to actually contain structures. As you travel closer, you see nine well guarded gates providing entrance from the various provinces surrounding the city. The road you travel leads you to the huge iron gate that marks the main entrance to Turia..
Turia is a fortress rather than an open city because of the traditions and history that have shaped it. The city is surrounded by the Tachuk wagon people, vicious nomads of the Gorean plain, who beseige the city endlessly, keeping it in a constant state of war. This warrior city is ruled by an Ubar or military dictator and his commanders. There are no lords in Turia... all must serve in the military.
The Ubar and his commanders guard the gate and greet arrivals. Only Turians are invited to mingle with their fellow citizens at the Turian Inn located just inside the main gate. Non-citizens or outworlders are not allowed beyond the gate, but may congregate there to visit with the Ubar and other Turians. These arrivals will find the intense scrutiny one would expect from a militaristic society. The leadership seek to protect their beloved and beseiged city from all who would harm it by open or clandestine means. Those who have honor have nothing to fear and may apply for Turian citizenship should they desire. The procedure for acceptance as a citizen is reviewed in a later segment.
At a nod from the Ubar or his commanders, the gate swings open, groaning on ancient hinges. Just inside, to the right, is the entrance to the Turian Inn... your destination this night.. a favored guest of Turia. The Turian Inn and the Turian Gate are now closed on IRC after the previous owner and his slaves left. A Turian Gate has been opened as a city on OSGRID (http://www.osgrid.org/) and on the NEW grid called Counter Earth Grid- www.counterearthgrid.weebly.com Come visit one of the oldest Gorean Cities on IRC and on line... Turia!
"I found Turia to match my expectations. She was luxurious. Her shops were filled with rare, intriguing paraphernalia. I smelled perfumes that I had never smelled before. More than once we encountered a line of musicians dancing single file down the center of the street, playing on their flutes and drums, perhaps on their way to a feast. 1 was pleased to see again, though often done in silk, the splendid varieties of caste colors of the typical Gorean city, to hear once more the cries of peddlers that I knew so well, the cake sellers, the hawkers of vegetables, the wine vendor bending under a double verrskin of his vintage. We did not attract as much attention as I had thought we would, and I gathered that every spring, at least, visitors from the Wagon Peoples must come to the city. Many people scarcely glanced at us, in spite of the fact that we were theoretically blood foes. I suppose that life in high-walled Turia, for most of its citizens, went on from day to day in its usual patterns oblivious of the usually distant Wagon Peoples. The city had never fallen, and had not been under siege in more than a century. The average citizen worried about the Wagon Peoples, customarily, only when he was outside the walls. Then, of course, he worried a great deal, and, I grant him, wisely. One disappointment to me in trekking through the streets of Turia was that a crier advanced before us, calling to the women of the city to conceal themselves, even the female slaves. Thus, unfortunately, save for an occasional furtive pair of dark eyes peering from behind a veil in a recessed casement, we saw in our journey from the gate of the city to the House of Saphrar none of the fabled, silken beauties of Turia."
Nomads of Gor, pg. 87, by John Norman.