“Fresh Off the Boat” – that’s the step before being a noob.
Today I designed and equipped the avatars I’ll be using for my research into governance in Second Life’s Gorean community. Pandit Idlemind is my Caste of Scribes scholar:
Temperance (“Tempe”) Madrigal is my kajira, or slavegirl:
The tighter crop on Tempe’s photo is to keep it worksafe. Tempe is wearing the camisk, the garment slaves are exhibited and sold in. It’s translucent and ends above the crotch, the better to show the merchandise. She’s also wearing the “kef” slave brand:
I spent the afternoon designing Pandit’s and Tempe’s bodies, and going around getting them the basics: skin, hair and animation overrider. I had the invaluable help of several friends, and it was a fun time. Once that was done, I logged on as Pandit to begin my study.
The first stop in SL was the Gor Hub, a very busy nexus of shops, real estate vendors, web links and information givers. I looked around, and collected a stack of notecards for later reading. Not having seen a vendor selling the tunic of the Caste of Scribes, I turned to Second Life’s online shopping site, XStreet SL – and promptly found what I was looking for. Instead of buying online, I went back to the store in SL. I got what I wanted, and picked up a camisk for Tempe, to replace the silks of a slave in a wealthy household, which she’d had on hand.
From there, I teleported to the infohub at Port Kar, the community I’ll likely get introductions to through my colleague. Unlike a number of SL Gorean communities, Port Kar maintains a very active and regularly updated website (I’ll be at the fashion show on Saturday).
On arrival, I saw a set of popups on my screen, giving me informational notecards, and asking me to choose my reason for visiting (much like an automated border inspection). I chose “observer,” for a non-Gorean who would not be roleplaying, and thus not subject to attack. I put on the identifying tag and looked around at the inevitable shops and picked up more of the inevitable notecards. The environment gave the impression of a canon community, as opposed to “Disney Gor:” much of the clothing was drawn from descriptions in the books, rather than generic fantasy.
From there, I teleported down to the city itself, arriving on the docks just outside the town walls. I took some photos, and logged off, to repeat the process with Tempe.
It was as Tempe that I noticed the signs on the portal into town:
That brought home the enormity of what I intend.
I plan to live in this world for three months, about half the time as Pandit, the other half as Tempe. She has the collar, camisk and brand, but that’s just the beginning of the process of breaking her to slavery, a process I will go through – by the book. I see it as a personal and professional challenge: but so may whoever ends up buying her. It will not be an easy or pleasant time. Roleplay or no, it will be me in there, going through that. I’ve got a good support network, of people who know Gor and SL – but this will be a challenge.
Next up, introductions to my contacts, and a further exploration of SL-Gor websites.