This section is specifically dedicated to the Home Stone. What is the Home Stone? To us of Earth there is no comparison but when you totally embrace the idea of Gor and it's beliefs, the idea of the Home Stone becomes a little clearer. The Home Stones of all Gorean Cities, save Port Kar which only recently got a Home Stone, is an ancient rock, sometimes ornately embellished, sometimes little more than a crude stone with the sign of the respective City enscribed on it with a blade. The Gorean's love for their Home Stones is incomparable to anything we on Earth can experience. There is no comparison I can make to explain to you how the Goreans felt for the Home Stone of their respective Cities. I do hope that this section brings a little light into the matter and can better help you all embrace your character's Love for his or her City.

'Gor,' he said, 'is the name of this world. In all the languages of this planet, the word means Home Stone.' He paused, noting my lack of comprehension. 'Home Stone,' he repeated. 'Simply that.' 'In peasant villages on this world,' he continued, 'each hut was originally built around a flat stone which was placed in the center of the circular dwelling. It was carved with the family sign and was called the Home Stone. It was, so to speak, a symbol of sovereignty, or territory, and each peasant, in his own hut, was a sovereign.' 'Later,' said my father, 'Home Stones were used for villages, and later still for cities. The Home Stone of a village was always placed in the market; in a city, on the top of the highest tower. The Home Stone came naturally, in time, to acquire a mystique, and something of the hot, sweet emotions as out native peoples of Earth feel towards their flags became invested in it.' My father had risen to his feet and had begun to pace the room, and his eyes seemed strangely alive. In time I would come to understand more of what he felt. Indeed, there is a saying on Gor, a saying whose origin is lost in the past of this strange planet, that one who speaks of Home Stones should stand, for matters of honour are here involved, and honour is respected in the barbaric codes of Gor. 'These stones,' said my father, 'are various, of different colours, shapes, and sizes, and many of them are intricately carved. Some of the largest cities have small, rather insignificant Home Stones, but of incredible antiquity, dating back to the time when the city was a village or only a mounted pride of warriors with no settled abode.' My father paused at the narrow window in the circular room and looked out on to the hills beyond and fell silent. At last he spoke again. 'Where a man sets his Home Stone, he claims, by law, that land for himself. Good land is protected only by the swords of the strongest owners in the vicinity.' 'Swords?' I asked. 'Yes,' said my father, as if there was nothing incredible in this admission. He smiled. 'You have much to learn of Gor,' he said. 'Yet there is a hierarchy of Home Stones, one might say, and two soldiers who would cut one another down with their steel blades for an acre of fertile ground will fight side by side to the death for the Home Stone of their village or of the city within whose ambit their village lies. Tarnsman of Gor; p. 26-27 Yet if the Home Stone of Ar, the very symbol and significance of the empire, could be removed from Ar, the spell of Marlenus might be broken. He would become a laughing-stock, suspect to his own men, a leader who had lost the Home Stone. He would be fortunate if he was not publicly impaled. Tarnsman of Gor; p. 66 The Home Stone of Ar, like most Home Stones in the cylinder cities, was kept free on the tallest tower, as if in open defiance of the tarnsmen of rival cities. It was, of course, kept well-guarded and at the first sign of serious danger would undoubtedly be carried to safety. Any attempt on the Home Stone was regarded by the citizens of the city as sacrilege of the most heinous variety and punishable by the most painful of deaths, but paradoxically, it was regarded as the greatest of glories to purloin the Home Stone of another city, and the warrior who managed this was acclaimed, accorded the highest honours of the city, and was believed to be favoured by the Priest-Kings themselves. The Home Stone of a city is the centre of various rituals. Tarnsman of Gor; p. 67-68 A Free Woman protecting her Home Stone One of them must be the Home Stone of Ar, but which? How could I tell it from the others, the Home Stones of those cities which had fallen to Ar? Yes! It would be the one that would be red with Ka-la-na, that would be sprinkled with the seeds of grain! I felt the stones in frenzy, but several were damp and dotted with the grains of Sa-Tarns. I felt the heavily robed figure dragging me back, tearing at my shoulders and throat with her nails, pitting against me all the fury of her enraged body. I swung back, forcing her from me. She fell to her knees and suddenly crawled to one of the stones, seized it up, and turned to flee. A spear shattered on the platform near me. The Guards were on the roof! I leaped after the heavily robed figure, seized her, spun her around and tore from her hands the stone she carried. She struck at me and pursued me to the tarn which was excitedly shaking his wings, preparing to forsake the tumultuous roof of the cylinder. Tarnsman of Gor; p. 79 'And the Home Stone of Ar?' I asked. 'In the saddle pack,' she said, confirming my expectations. I had locked the pack when I had placed the Home Stone inside, and the pack is an integral part of the tarn saddle. When she had spoken, her voice had burned with shame, and I sensed the humiliation she felt at having failed to save the Home Stone. Tarnsman of Gor; p. 89 It contained, as I'd known it would, the Home Stone of Ar. It was unimpressive, small, flat, and of a dull brown colour. Carved on it, crudely, was a single letter in an archaic Gorean script, that single letter which, in the old spelling, would have been the name of the city. At the time the stone was carved, Ar, in all probability, had been one of dozens of inconspicuous villages on the plains of Gor. Tarnsman of Gor; p. 144 Almost as an afterthought I had included the Home Stone of Ar, that simple, uncomely piece of rock that had so transformed my destiny and that of an empire. Tarnsman of Gor; p. 145 Tarl Cabot speaking about American Cities not being loved 'This is a great city,' said Cabot, 'and yet it is not loved. 'How many are there here who would die for this city? How many who would defend to the death its perimeters? How many who would submit to torture on its behalf?' 'You're drunk,' I said, smiling. 'This city is not loved,' he said. 'Or it would not be used as it is, kept as it is.' Outlaw of Gor; p. 14-15 For the Gorean, though he seldom speaks of these things, a city is more than brick and marble, cylinders and bridges. It is not simply a place, a geographical location in which men have seen fit to build their dwellings, a collection of structures where they may most conveniently conduct their affairs. The Gorean senses, or believes, that a city cannot be simply identified with its natural elements, which undergo their transformations even as do the cells of a human body. For them a city is almost a living thing, or more than a living thing. It is an entity with a history, as stones and rivers do not have a history; it is an entity with a tradition, a heritage, customs, practices, character, intentions, hopes. When a Gorean says, for example, that he is of Ar, or Ko-ro-ba, he is doing a great deal more than informing you of his place of residence. Outlaw of Gor; p. 22 The love of their city tends to become invested in a stone which is known as the Home Stone, and which is normally kept in the highest cylinder in the city. In the Home Stone - sometimes little more than a crude piece of carved rock, dating back perhaps several hundred generations to when the city was only a cluster of huts by the bank of a river, sometimes a magnificent and impressively wrought, jewel-encrusted cube of marble or granite - the city finds its symbol. Yet to speak of a symbol is to fall short of the mark. It is almost as if the city itself were identified with the Home Stone, as if it were to the city what life is to man. The myths of these matters have it that while the Home Stone survives, so, too, must the city. But not only is it the case that each city has its Home Stone. The simplest and humblest village, and even the most primitive hut in that village, perhaps only a cone of straw, will contain its own Home Stone, as will the fantastically appointed chambers of the Administrator of so great a city as Ar. My Home Stone was the Home Stone of Ko-ro-ba, that city to which I had seven years ago pledged my sword. I was now eager to return to my city. Outlaw of Gor; p. 22-23 Whereas I was of high caste and he of low, yet in his own hut he would be, by the laws of Gor, a prince and sovereign, for then he would be in the place of his own Home Stone. Indeed, a cringing whelp of a man, who would never think of lifting his eyes from the ground in the presence of a member of one of the high castes, a crushed and spiritless churl, an untrustworthy villain or coward, an avaricious and obsequious peddlar often becomes, in the place of his own Home Stone, a veritable lion among his fellows, proud and splendid, generous and bestowing, a king be it only in his own den. Indeed, frequent enough were the stories where even a warrior was overcome by an angry peasant into whose hut he had intruded himself, for in the vicinity of their Home Stones men fight with all the courage, savagery and resourcefulness of the mountain larl. More than one are the peasant fields of Gor which have been freshened with the blood of foolish warriors. Outlaw of Gor; p. 29 I was somewhat annoyed to find the Home Stones, taken so seriously in the cities of Gor that a man might be slain if he did not rise when speaking of the Home Stone of his city, so airily dismissed by the lofty Sarm. 'You find it hard to understand the love of a man for his Home Stone,' I said. Priest-Kings of Gor; p. 144 I stood back and made no move to draw my weapon. Though I was of the caste of warriors and he of peasants, and I armed and he carrying naught but a crude tool, I would not dispute his passage. One does not lightly dispute the passage of one who carries his Home Stone. Nomads of Gor; p. 1 "Bring the Home Stone of the city," commanded Kamchak, and the stone, oval and aged, carved with the initial letter of the city, was brought to him. He lifted the stone over his head and read fear in the eyes of the two men chained before him. But he did not dash the stone to the floor. Rather he arose from his throne and placed the stone in the chained hands of Phanius Turmus. "Turia lives," said he, "Ubar." Tears formed in the eyes of Phanius Turmus and he held the Home Stone of the city to his heart. Nomads of Gor; p. 333 These men of Ko-ro-ba, he knew, when their city had been destroyed by the Priest-Kings, had been scattered to the ends of Gor but, when permitted by the Priest-Kings, they had returned to their city to rebuild it, each bearing a stone to add to its walls. It was said, in the time of troubles, that the Home Stone had not been lost, and it had not. And even Kuurus, of the Caste of Assassins, knew that a city cannot die while its Home Stone survives. Kuurus, who would think little of men on the whole, yet could not despise such men as these, these of Ko-ro-ba. Assassin of Gor; p. 2 My return to the city was affecting, for here it was that my sword had been pledged to a Gorean Home Stone; here it was that I had trained in arms and learned Gorean; it was here that I had met my father, after long years of separation; it was here that I had made dear friends, the Older Tarl, Master of Arms, and small, quick-tempered Torm, he of the Caste of Scribes; and it was from this place that I had, many years before, in tarnflight begun the work that would shatter the Empire of Ar and cost Marlenus of Ar, Ubar of Ubars, his throne; and, too, it was to this place, I could not forget, that I had once brought on tarnback, not as a vanquished slave but as a proud, and beautiful, and free, joyous woman, Talena, daughter of that same Marlenus, Ubar of Ubars, had brought her to this place in love that we might here together drink, one with the other, the wine of the Free Companionship. Assassin of Gor; p. 73 “In the year 10,110, more than eight years ago, a tarnsman of Ko-ro-ba purloined the Home Stone of the city.” “It was I,” I told Elizabeth. She shuddered, for she knew the penalties that might attach to such a deed. “As Ubar,” said Hup, “it would ill become Marlenus to betray the law of the Home Stone of Ar.” “But he gave no explanation,” I protested. “An Ubar gives no accounting,” said Hup. “We fought together,” said I, “back to back. I helped him to regain his throne. I was once the companion of his daughter.” “I say because I know him,” said Hup, “though I might die from the saying of it, Marlenus is grieved. He is much grieved. But he is Ubar. He is Ubar. More than man, more than Marlenus, he is Ubar of my city, of Ar itself.” I looked at him. “Would you,” asked Hup, “betray the Home Stone of Ko-ro-ba?” My hand leaped to the hilt of my sword. Hup smiled. “Then,” said he, “do not think Marlenus, whatever the price or cost, his grief, his dream, would betray that of Ar.” “I understand,” I said. “If a Ubar does not respect the law of the Home Stone, what man shall?” “None,” said I. “It is hard to be Ubar.” Assassin of Gor; p. 406-407 I smiled. It was true. Port Kar, of all the cities on Gor, was the only one that had no Home Stone. I did not know if men did not love her because she had no Home Stone, or that she had no Home Stone because men did not love her. Raiders of Gor; p. 250 “How does a city obtain a Home Stone?” I asked. “Men decide that she shall have one,” said Tab. “Yes,” I said, “that is how it is that a city obtains a Home Stone.” The men looked at one another. Raiders of Gor; p. 251 “Go outside,” I told him, “and find a rock, and bring it to me.” He looked at me. “Hurry!” I said. He turned about and ran from the room. We waited quietly, not speaking, until he returned. He held in his hand a sizable rock, somewhat bigger than my fist. It was a common rock, not very large, and gray and heavy, granular in texture. I took the rock. “A knife,” I said. I was handed a knife. I cut in the rock the initials, in block Gorean script, of Port Kar. Then I held out in my hand the rock. I held it up so that the men could see. “What have I here?” I asked. Tab said it, and quietly, “The Home Stone of Port Kar.” “Now,” said I, facing the man who had told me there was but one choice, that of flight, “shall we fly?” He looked at the simple rock, wonderingly. “I have never had a Home Stone before,” he said. “Shall we fly?” I asked. “Not if we have a Home Stone,” he said. I held up the rock. “Do we have a Home Stone?” I asked the men. “I will accept it as my Home Stone,” said the slave boy, Fish. None of the men laughed. The first to accept the Home Stone of Port Kar was only a boy, and a slave. But he had spoken as a Ubar. “And I!” cried Thurnock, in his great, booming voice. “And I!” cried Clitus. “And I!” said Tab. “And I!” cried the men in the room. And, suddenly, the room was filled with cheers and more than a hundred weapons left their sheaths and saluted the Home Stone of Port Kar. I saw weathered seamen weep and cry out, brandishing their swords. There was joy in that room then such as I had never before seen it. And there was a belonging, and a victory, and a meaningfulness, and cries, and the clashing of weapons, and tears and, in that instant, love. Raiders of Gor; p. 251-252 “Listen,” I told her. “Hear them? Hear what they are crying outside?” “They are crying that there is a Home Stone in Port Kar,” she said, ‘but there is no Home Stone in Port Kar. Everyone knows that.” “If men will that there be a Home Stone in Port Kar,” I said, “then in Port Kar there will be a Home Stone.” Raiders of Gor; p. 253 We heard the cry about us sweeping the city, like a spark igniting the hearts of men into flame, that now in Port Kar there was a Home Stone. Raiders of Gor; p. 253-254 And I heard men behind him cry, “There is a Home Stone in Port Kar! There is a Home Stone in Port Kar!” This cry was taken up by thousands, and everywhere I saw men pause in their flight, and boats put about, and men pour from the entryways of their buildings onto the walks lining the canals. I saw bundles thrown down and arms unsheathed, and behind us, in throngs of thousands now, came the people of Port Kar, following us to the great piazza before the halls of the Council of Captains. Raiders of Gor; p. 255 And then, suddenly, I lifted my right arm, and held in my right hand, high over my head, was the stone. “I have seen it!” cried a man, weeping. “I have seen it! The Home Stone of Port Kar!” There were great cheers, and cries, and shouts, and the lifting of torches and weapons. I saw men weep. And women. And I saw fathers lift their sons upon their shoulders that they might see the stone. I think the cries of joy in the piazza might have carried even to the moons of Gor. Raiders of Gor; p. 257-258 "Do you love the city so?" I asked. Samos smiled. "It is the place of my Home Stone," he said. Raiders of Gor; p. 301 I looked at the Home Stone in the hut. In this hut, for it was here that his Home Stone resided, Thurnus was sovereign. In this hut, even had he been a lowly man or beggar, he, because of the presence in it of his Home Stone, was Ubar. A palace without a Home Stone is but a hovel; a hovel which contains a Home Stone is a palace. In this house, this hut, this palace, Thurnus’s was the supremacy. Here he might do as he pleased. His rights in this house, his supremacy in this place, was acknowledged by all guests. They shared the hospitality of his Home Stone. Had Thurnus requested me my master, in such a situation, would have granted me to him immediately. Not to have done so would have been inexcusably rude, a betrayal, a boorish breech of hospitality and good manners. Slave Girl of Gor; p. 142 These remarks would not be complete without mentioning Home Stones. Perhaps the most significant difference between the man of Earth and the Gorean is that the Gorean has a Home Stone, and the man of Earth does not. It is difficult to make clear to a non-Gorean the significance of the Home Stone, for the non-Gorean has never had a Home Stone, and thus cannot understand its meaning, its reality. I think that I shall not try to make clear what is the significance to a Gorean of the Home Stone. It would be difficult to put into words; indeed, it is perhaps impossible to put into words; I shall not try. I think this is one of the saddest things about the men of Earth, that they have no Home Stone. Slave Girl of Gor; p. 213-214 Young men and women of the city, when coming of age, participate in a ceremony which involves the swearing of oaths, and the sharing of bread, fire and salt. In this ceremony the Home Stone of the city is held by each young person and kissed. Only then are the laurel wreath and the mantle of citizenship conferred. This is a moment no young person of Ar forgets. The youth of Earth have no Home Stone. Citizenship, interestingly, in most Gorean cities is conferred only upon the coming of age, and only after certain examinations are passed. Further, the youth of Gor, in most cities, must be vouched for by citizens of the city, not related in blood to him, and be questioned before a committee of citizens, intent upon determining his worthiness or lack thereof to take the Home Stone of the city as his own. Citizenship in most Gorean communities is not something accrued in virtue of the accident of birth but earned by virtue of intent and application. The sharing of a Home Stone is no light thing in a Gorean city. Slave Girl of Gor; p. 394 To claim a Home Stone as one’s own when it is not is a serious offense among Goreans. Elicia Nevins shuddered. She had no wish to be impaled upon the walls of Ar. Slave Girl of Gor; p. 395 I think the explanation for the Gorean political arrangements and attitudes in the institution of the Home Stone. It is the Home Stone which, for the Gorean, marks the center. I think it is because of their Home Stones that the Gorean tends to think of territory as something from the inside out, so to speak, rather than from the outside in. Consider again the analogy of the circle. For the Gorean the Home Stone would mark the point of the circle's center. It is the Home Stone which, so to speak, determines the circle. There can be a point without a circle; but there can be no circle without its central point. But let me not try to speak of Home Stones. If you have a Home Stone, I need not speak. If you do not have a Home Stone, how could you understand what I might say? Fighting Slave of Gor; p. 145 Tasdron reached into his pouch. "I am sure that you recognize this," he said. He held, in his hands, two pieces of rock. "The topaz!" said Aemilianus. "The topaz!" said Calliodorus. "What you do not know," said Tasdron, "is that long ago, over a century ago, this stone, unbroken, was the Home Stone of Victoria." We were startled. There was silence in the room. "Over a hundred years ago," said Tasdron, "it was carried away by pirates, and broken. Since that time Victoria has not had a Home Stone. What had once been our Home Stone served then as nothing more than a pledge symbol among the buccaneers of the river. In a few days we of the council of Victoria will go down to the river. There, from the shore of the Vosk, we shall select a common stone, not much unlike others. That, then, shall be the new Home Stone of Victoria." There were tears in my eyes. "What of the topaz?" asked Aemilianus. "It has been broken," said Tasdron. "No longer may it serve as a Home Stone." "Why have you brought it here?" asked Calliodorus. "Ar's Station and Port Cos," said Tasdron, "are mighty powers on the river. I brought it here that I might give one half to you, Aemilianus, and one half to you, Calliodorus. In all that may later ensue, whatever it may be, do not forget that you once fought together, and once were comrades." Tasdron then gave half of the topaz to Aemilianus and the other half to Calliodorus. "My thanks," said Aemilianus. "My thanks," said Calliodorus. Then Aemilianus looked at Calliodorus. "Let us never forget the topaz," he said. "We will not," said Calliodorus. Guardsman of Gor; p. 271-272 “I do not think she has a Home Stone,” I said. “Gnieus Lelius permitted her to kiss the Home Stone,” he said. “It was done in a public ceremony. She is once again a citizeness of Ar.” Mercenaries of Gor; p. 265 "You are kind," I said. To be sure, much charity, and fraternal organizations, and evening outings, and such, are organized on caste lines. Caste is extremely important to most Goreans, even when they do not all practice the traditional crafts of their caste. It is one of the "nationalities" of the Gorean, so to speak. Other common "nationalities," so to speak, are membership in a kinship organization, such as a clan, or phratry, a group of clans, or a larger grouping yet, a tribe or analogous to a tribe, a group of phratries, and a pledged allegiance to a Home Stone, usually that of a village, town or city. It seems that in the distant past of Gor, these kinship allegiances were, in effect, political allegiances, as life became more complex, and populations more mobile, became separated. Kinship structures do not now figure strongly in Gorean public life, although in some cities divisions of the electorate, those free citizens entitled to participate in referenda, and such, remain based on them. Dancer of Gor; p. 293 Besides, the free laborers share a Home Stone with the aristocracies of these cities, the upper castes, the higher families, the richer families, and so on. Accordingly, because of this commonality of the Home Stone, love of their city, the sharing of citizenship, and such, there is generally a harmonious set of economic compromises obtaining the labor force, in general. Happily, most of these compromises are unquestioned matters of cultural tradition. They are taken for granted, usually, by all the citizens, and their remote origins, sometimes doubtless the outcome of internecine strife, of class war, of street fighting and riots, of bloody, house-to-house determinations in the past, and such, are seldom investigated, save perhaps by historians, scribes of the past, some seeking, it seems, to know the truth, for its own sake, others seemingly seeking lessons in the rich labyrinths of history, in previous human experience, what is to be emulated, and what is to be avoided. Some think that out of such crises came the invention of the Home Stone. There are, of course, several mythical accounts of the origin of the Home Stone. One popular account has it that an ancient hero, Hesius, once performed great labors for Priest-Kings, and was promised a reward greater than gold and silver. He was given, however, only a flat piece of rock with a single character inscribed on it, the first letter in the name of his native village. He reproached the Priest-Kings with their niggardliness, and what he regarded as their breach of faith. He was told, however, that what they gave him was indeed worth far more than gold and silver, that it was a "Home Stone." He returned to his native village, which was torn with war and strife. He told the story there, and put the stone in the market place. "Of the Priest-Kings say this is worth more than gold and silver," said a wise man, "it must be true." "Yes," said the people. "Ours," responded Hesius. Weapons were then laid aside, and peace pledged. The name of the village was "Ar." It is generally accepted in Gorean tradition that the Home Stone of Ar is the oldest Home Stone on Gor. Dancer of Gor; p. 301-302 Whereas in the cities, where the rights of citizenship are clearest, where the sways of custom and tradition tend to be jealously guarded, where the influence of Home Stones is likely to be most keenly felt, free labor was generally held its own, the same cannot be said for all rural areas of Gor, particularly areas which fall outside the obvious jurisdiction or sphere of influence of nearby cities. Too, it is difficult to be a citizen of a city if one cannot reach it within a day’s march. Citizenship, or its retention, on other than a nominal basis, in some cities, is contingent on such things as attending public ceremonies, such as an official semi-annual taking of auspices, and participating in numerous public assemblies, some of which are called on short notice. Accordingly, for various reasons, such as lack of citizenship, an inability to properly exercise it, resulting in effective disenfranchisement, or, most often, a fierce independence, repudiating allegiance to anything save one’s own village, the farmers, or peasantry, are more likely to suffer from the results of cheap competition than their own urban brethren. Dancer of Gor; p. 302-303 I shuddered. In such a fashion he had informed the small fellow that he was not such that one need keep faith with him. There is a Gorean saying that only Priest-Kings, outlaws and slaves lack Home Stones. Strictly, of course, that is an oversimplification. For example, animals of all sorts, such as tarsks and verr, as well as slaves, do not have Home Stones. Too, anyone whose citizenship, for whatever reason, is rescinded or revoked, with due process of law, is no longer entitled to the protections and rights of that polity’s Home Stone. That Home Stone is then no longer his. This suggested to me, again, that the small fellow might have been cast out of Tharna, perhaps exiled or banished. He did not seem to me a likely candidate for an outlaw, at least in the fullest sense of the word. Indeed, the fellows with whom he was dealing, such rough, dangerous, unkempt brutes, seemed to me much more likely candidates for such an appellation. Dancer of Gor; p. 388 "Beware," cried the driver through the rain to the men below me, beside the wagon. "I carry a Home Stone in this wagon." The three men looked at one another, and then backed away. They would not choose to do business with one who carried a Home Stone, even though they were three to two. It was as I had speculated. There were road pirates. Possibly the stones had been deliberately loosened. Renegades of Gor; p. 9 To be sure, the Home Stone, somewhere, supposedly, survived. At least I hoped it did. Renegades of Gor; p. 412 "I wanted to kill you," said Marcus to him. "Any particular reason?" inquired Boots. "For insulting the Home Stone of Ar’s Station," said Marcus, grimly. Magicians of Gor; p. 404 I wondered about the Home Stones of Gor. Many seem small and quite plain. Yet for these stones, and on account of these stones, these seemingly inauspicious, simple objects, cities have been built, and burned, armies have clashed, strong men have wept, empires have risen and fallen. The simplicity of many of these stones has puzzled me. I have wondered sometimes how it is that they have become invested with such import. They may, of course, somewhat simply, be thought of as symbolizing various things, and perhaps different things to different people. They can stand, for example, for a city, and, indeed, are sometimes identified with the city. They, have some affinity, too, surely, with territoriality and community. Even a remote hut, far from the paved avenues of a town or city, may have a Home Stone, and therein, in the place of his Home Stone, is the meanest beggar or the poorest peasant a Ubar. The Home Stone says this place is mine, this is my home. I am here. But I think, often, that it is a mistake to try to translate the Home Stone into meanings. It is not a word, or a sentence. It does not really translate. It is, more like a tree, or the world. It exists, which goes beyond, which surpasses, meaning. In this primitive sense the Home Stone is simply that, and irreducibly, the Home Stone. It is too important, too precious, to mean. And in not meaning, it becomes, of course, the most meaningful of all. It becomes, in a sense, the foundation of meaning, and, for Goreans, it is anterior to meaning, and precedes meaning. Do not ask a Gorean what the Home Stone means because he will not understand your question. It will puzzle him. It is the Home Stone. Sometimes I think that many Home Stones are so simple because they are too important, too precious, to be insulted with decoration or embellishment. And then, too, sometimes I think that they are kept, on the whole, so simple, because this is a way of saying that everything is important, and precious, and beautiful, the small stones by the river, the leaves of tress, the tracks of small animals, a blade of grass, a drop of water, a grain of sand, the world. The word "Gor", in Gorean, incidentally, means "Home Stone’. Their name for our common sun, Sol, is "Tor-tu-Gor" which means "Light upon the Home Stone’. Magicians of Gor; p. 485-486