Medications Found on Gor

The books are notorious for mentioningf medications and salves without placing a name to them or to their derivative or nature. I will address these particular medications and ointments with follow-up quotes. For information regarding plants and herbs used in the making of medicine, I have spent many hours researching plants found on Gor which could be used medicinally. Again, as stated on the first page of these medical pages, people did not make regularly scheduled trips to Earth to pick up medical supplies, or bring back plants. The Priest-Kings created a perfect eco-balance on their own. Such undertakings of humans would never have happened.

Known Medications

This particular medication, or at least it would presume to be some sort of possible antidote to the toxic effects of the Kanda, was given to Kamchak by a Physician to administer to his father, Kutaituchik., who had just finished chewing Kanda.

When Kamchak had finished he held out his right hand and a man, not a Tuchuk, who wore the green robes of the Caste of Physicians, thrust in his hand a goblet of bosk horn; it contained some yellow fluid. — Nomads of Gor, page 44.

This medication seems to be some sort of sleeping potion, administered by Kamchak to Elizabeth Cardwell who had trouble sleeping, fending off nightmares.

Kamchak said nothing, but then he got up and from a chest in the wagon he took forth a goblet and filled it with an amber fluid, into which he shook a dark, bluish powder. He then took Elizabeth Cardwell in his left arm and with his right hand gave her the drink. Her eyes were frightened, but she drank. In a few moments she was asleep. — Nomads of Gor, pages 61-62.

There is no mention of what the powders in the following passage were for. Possibly they were vitamins or some sort of immunization.

"When he was finished he mixed several powders in three or four goblets, adding water to them and stirring them. These I was ordered to drink. The last was peculiarly foul." — Captive of Gor, page 93.

There were also salves and ointments used for treatment of minor injuries, such as abrasions and cuts. The salve mentioned here is not expanded upon, other than it was odorless and absorbed rapidly. The derivitive of the ointment is not known.

He touched the bloodied cut on my belly, where the branch had struck me.        Then, with his hand, he lifted my head, turning it, looking at the cut on my cheek. "We are not pleased," he said.
       I said nothing.
       "Bring salve," he said. An ointment was brought, and he smeared it across the two cuts. It was odorless. To my surprise it seemed to be absorbed almost immediately. — Captive of Gor, page 29.

Stabilization Serums

Administered to all, Free and slave, this serum provides protection against most diseases and ailments as well as slow down the aging process. The serum is administered in four injections and is extremely painful to receive.

"At one time," said he, "centuries ago, men of my caste claimed age was incurable. Others did not accept this and continued to work. The result was the Stabilization Serums." — Assassin of Gor, page 266.

"Strangely, though it has now been six years since I left the Counter-Earth, I can discover no signs of ageing or physical alteration in my appearance. I have puzzled over this, trying to connect it with the mysterious letter, dated in the seventeenth century, ostensibly by my father, which I received in the blue envelope. Perhaps the serums of the Caste of Physicians, so skilled on Gor, have something to do with this, but I cannot tell." — Tarnsman of Gor, pages 218-219.

"The Player was a rather old man, extremely unusual on Gor, where the stabilization serums were developed centuries ago by the Caste of Physicians in Ko-ro-ba and Ar, and transmitted to the Physicians of other cities at several of the Sardar Fairs." — Assassin of Gor, page 29.

"She requires the Stabilization Serums," said the physician. The guard nodded. "They are administered in four shots," said the physician. He nodded to a heavy, beamed, diagonal platform in a corner of the room. The guard took me and threw me, belly down, on the platform, fastening my wrists over my head and widely apart, in leather wrist straps. He similarly secured my ankles. the physician was busying himself with fluids and a syringe before a shelf in another part of the room, laden with vials. — Captive of Gor, page 93.
       I screamed. The shot was painful. It was entered in the small of my back, over the left hip. They left me secured to the table for several minutes and then the physician returned to check the shot. There had been, apparently, no unusual reaction. I was then freed. "Dress," the physician told me.
       I gratefully donned the camisk, fastening it tightly about my waist with the double loop of binding fiber. I wanted to speak to the physician desperately. In his house, in this room, I had seem instrumentation which spoke to me of an advanced technology, so different from what I had hitherto encountered in what seemed to me a primitive, beautiful, harsh world. The guard, with the side of the butt of his spear, pressed against my back, and I was thrust from the room. I looked over my shoulder at the physician. He regarded me, puzzled. — Captive of Gor, page 94.
       We returned, similarly, to the physicians house on the next four days. On the first day I had been examined, given some minor medicines of little consequence, and the first shot in the Stabilization Series. On the second, third and fourth day I received the concluding shots of the series. On the fifth day the physician took more samples. "The serums are effective," he told the guard. — Captive of Gor, page 94.

"On the fourth day I received the last in the Stabilization Series. On the fifth day the physician had taken his tests and pronounced the serums effective. — Captive of Gor, page 96.
       "It was true that I had never felt as healthy in my life as I did then, nor had the air seemed as clear and pure, the sky so blue, the clouds so sharp and white." — Captive of Gor, page 96.

Known Toxins

Kanda
Kanda is a desert shrub, and its leaves are chewed as a recreational drug, although its long term effects are usually deadly; an addiction that was highly frowned upon and considered an embaressment. Kanda, in its purest form, is highly lethal and often used in warfare. There is NO mention in the books whatsoever that kanda was used medicinally.

"On the twentieth day of the siege there was great rejoicing in the camp of Pa-Kur, because in one place the wires had been cut and a squad of spearmen had reached the main siege reservoir, emptying their barrels of toxic kanda, a lethal poison extracted from one of Gor"s desert shrubs. The city would now have to depend primarily on its private wells and the hope of rain." — Tarnsman of Gor, page 179.

 

 

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Special Note

Because of the differences in publishing the books, depending upon whether published in the U.S. or Europe, depending upon whether a first publishing or a Masquerade Books release, page numbers will often vary. All of my quotes are from original, first-printing U.S. publications (see The Books page for a listing of publishers and dates) with the exception of the following books:

  • Tarnsman of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
  • Outlaw of Gor (11th Printing, Balantine)
  • Priest-Kings of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
  • Assassin of Gor (10th Printing, Balantine)
  • Raiders of Gor (15th Printing, Balantine)
  • Captive of Gor (3rd Printing, Balantine)

Disclaimer

These pages are not written for any specific home, but rather as informational pages for those not able to get ahold of the books and read them yourself. Opinions and commentaries are strictly my own personal views, therefore, if you don't like what you are reading — then don't. The information in these pages is realistic to what is found within the books. Many sites have added information, assuming the existences of certain products and practices, such as willowbark and agrimony for healing, and travel to earth and back for the collection of goods. I've explored the books, the flora, the fauna, and the beasts, and have compiled from those mentioned, the probabilities of certain practices, and what vegetation mentioned in the books is suitable for healing purposes, as well as given practicalities to other sorts of roleplaying assumptions.