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Gorean Book Quote Requests
Requests 1-173 were asked and answered back when there were only 25 books.
Also, some of the early questions were unintentionally truncated and cannot be restored. However, the answers are shown in their totality.
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| 273 | Please tell me about the city of Vonda in the books. Thank you slave Lara Sunrise
Answer
To fully understand all the context of Vonda, it would be best to read for yourself Books 14 and 15.
However, I spent a couple hours of my time to comb through these books and compile the following quotes.
Vonda was one of the four cities of the Salerian Confederation. The other cities of this confederation were Ti, Port Olni and Lara. All four of these cities lie on the Olni River, which is a tributary to the Vosk.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 171
Ti, Port Olni and Vonda lie on the northern bank of the Olni;
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 172
"There was talk in the baths at Vonda," said the Lady Melpomene. "It is feared there will be an attack by Ar. Already troops have skirmished south of the Olni."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 173
The Lady Florence of Vonda
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 174
The Lady Florence owned many tharlarion. Her stables were among the most extensive and finest of any owned by a citizen of Vonda.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 176
The Lady Florence, of course, if I were identified as her slave, would by my collar presumably be recognized as a citizeness of Vonda, one of the cities of the confederation.
. . .
Too, of course, it would not be well to be a woman of Ar in Vonda, should hostilities break out.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 180
"Of course," I said. I did not press her on the nature of her training.
"I was trained in the House of Andronicus," she said, "and sold in Vonda."
"I, too, was in the House of Andronicus," I said. "I was later purchased by Tima, a slaver, mistress of the House of Tima. I was sold from the market of Tima. That is also in Vonda." I looked at her.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 187
"Who is your master?" I asked, walking behind her.
"Oneander of Ar," she said, "of the merchants. He does business in Vonda."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 192
I now knew who owned her, Oneander of Ar, a merchant who apparently did business in Vonda. It would have been in Vonda, I supposed, that he had purchased her.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 193
"I am the Lady Melpomene of Vonda," she said.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 222
There was dust on her bare feet, and on the floor of the room. I had heard that she had had to sell her slaves, or most of them. My Mistress spoke occasionally about her. She hated her. The two families, of which these two young women were scions, were ancient rivals in Vonda. The investments of the family of my Mistress, however, had prospered, while those of the family of the Lady Melpomene had languished. Indeed, most of the members of the family of Lady Melpomene had left Vonda over the years. She, of that family, had remained in Vonda, reigning over the shreds of what had once been a considerable number of assets.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 223
"Mistress has," I said, "a house in Vonda. Perhaps she might sell that, too."
"I could sell ten houses," she smiled. "and not recoup my fortunes. I owe the merchants of a dozen cities."
"What will you do?" I asked.
"Tomorrow," she said. "with the moneys I will have from the sale of this house I will recoup all, in a single afternoon. I will become again one of the richest women in Vonda."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 225
"But have no fear, pretty slave," she said. "Lady Melpomene of Vonda will win, and then will be again one of the richest women in Vonda. Perhaps, even, in time, she may ruin your Mistress, and force your sale." She smiled at me, and idly fingered my arm. "She might then, if she wished," she said, "buy you for her very own." She then, idly, touched my belly. "Would you like that, Jason?" she asked.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 226
"Thus," she laughed, "I, the Lady Melpomene of Vonda, take the silk slave of my enemy, the despicable Lady Florence of Vonda!"
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 227
"When we return to your villa near Vonda," he asked, "is the slave to be returned to the house or is it your intention that he serve there, as well as here, in the stables, not your private stables but the great stables?" The Lady Florence owned more than a thousand tharlarion. She bred and raised tharlarion, and her stables were among the finest in the vicinity of Vonda.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 229
We did not, in the great stables, raise saddle tharlarion, though in the house stables, here in the Mistress' villa, some forty pasangs south and west of Vonda, there were several saddle tharlarion.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 233
She resided now in Vonda, in a tiny, dingy holding, where she, as a citizeness of that city, would have, at least against foreign creditors, the protection of its Home Stone. The Lady Melpomene of Vonda, impoverished, ruined, had little now to pride herself on save the name of her family and the splendor of her lineage.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 233
Miles of Vonda, for example, raised hurt as well as tharlarion.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 246
"May I present, Kenneth," said the Lady Florence of Vonda, "my dear friend, the Lady Melpomene of Vonda."
"I am charmed, Lady Melpomene," said Kenneth, bowing.
"Jason," said the Lady Florence, "perhaps you remember my good friend, the Lady Melpomene of Vonda, my city."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 255
The pennon of the standard bearer, long and narrow, fluttering back some twenty feet from his spear, was that of Vonda. Yet Vonda, herself, I knew, did not have tarnsmen. The men were mercenaries.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 263
"You do not think there will be serious trouble, do you?" pressed one of the men.
"No," said Barus, "I do not think so." He looked after the disappearing tarnsmen. "There is a party in Vonda which wishes war," said Barus, "but, as I understand it, there is little sympathy elsewhere in the confederation for conflict with Ar."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 264
"Who is the captain of the mercenaries who fly for Vonda?" I asked. "Is it such men as Terence of Treve or Ha-Keel, once of Ar?" These were two well-known mercenary captains. Others were Oleg of Skjern, Leander of Farnacium and William of Thentis.
"Vonda does not pay so high," he had smiled. "It is one called Artemidorus."
"Artemidorus of Cos?" I asked.
"Yes," had said Barus.
"Vonda plays with fire," I remarked.
"Perhaps," said Barus. Though such a captain as Artemidorus was a free captain, certainly the sympathies of Cos would ride with him. Too, if there were trouble it would not go unnoticed by those of Ar that they were dealing with Cosians.
"It seems a potentially dangerous choice," I said.
"Even if Vonda were willing to afford such men as Terence or Ha-Keel," said Barus, "it is unlikely they would be willing to take saddle in her behalf. Terence, being of Treve, would not be eager to ride against Ar. Such an action could precipitate a new expedition into the Voltai by the tarnsmen of Ar." Several years ago I knew there had been war between Ar and Treve. The tarnsmen of Treve, over the snow-capped crags of the scarlet Voltai range, had turned back the squadrons of Ar. It had been one of the fiercest, bloodiest tarn battles ever fought in the history of the planet. Ar had never forgotten that she had been checked in the Voltai, nor had Treve forgotten the cost of having done so. Terence, I conjectured, would not be willing to ride against Ar unless he had removed the insignia from his helmet and shield. It did not seem likely he would do so. Men of Treve commonly disdain to conceal their identity. "And Ha-Keel," said Barus, "though he was banished from Ar, would not, I think, care to ride against her."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Pages 265 - 266
"You see in that a desire on the part of those in Vonda who favor war with Ar an artifice to provoke a full-scale conflict between Cos and Ar, a conflict in which Cos and the Salerian Confederation would then find themselves natural allies?"
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 266
"I thank you, citizens of Vonda and others, friends, all," said the Lady Florence. "And now I, in turn, lift my cup." All lifted their cups, save the Lady Melpomene.
"I lift my cup," said the Lady Florence, "to the beautiful Lady Melpomene of Vonda, who is beautiful enough even to wear the collar of a slave!"
There was laughter at this bold toast, and the Lady Melpomene, reddening, smiling, put down her head. "Please, Lady Florence," she chided. "There are those here who are not of Vonda." She looked across the tables, across the space between them, to where three men sat, one of Venna, and two of Ar. "What will your guests think?" she asked.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Pages 276 - 277
The fourth man was Brandon. He was from Vonda. He was a prefect in that city. His certifications on certain documents would be important. The two ladies, both of Vonda, were Leta and Perimene, both friends of the Ladies Florence and Melpomene. As free citizens of Vonda they could witness legal transactions.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 277
"And I," said the Lady Florence, "herewith publicly sign this draft, marked in the same amount, drawn on the bank of Reginald in Vonda, and properly certified, made out to Philebus of Venna."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 278
"You have lured me here," cried out the Lady Melpomene to the Lady Florence, "away from Vonda, beyond the shelter of her walls!"
"The walls of Vonda," said the prefect sternly, "would no longer afford you protection, for your debt, in its plenitude, is now owed to one who is a citizen of Vonda."
. . .
"Would you rather this be done on the platform of public shame in the great square of Vonda, where you might bring shame upon the Home Stone!" inquired the prefect.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 282
"I had intended to rent a dancing slave in Vonda," said the Lady Florence to her guests, "a decorous girl in blue silk and a golden collar, who might by the loveliness and grace of her movements please us, but it slipped my mind. I am so forgetful! I am afraid we must make do with poor Melpomene."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 287
"Thank you, Master," I said, and drank some swallows of the beverage. It was a Ta wine, from the Ta grapes of the terraces of Cos. Such a small thing, in its way, bespoke the intimacy of the trade relations between Vonda and Cos. In the last year heavy import duties had been levied by the high council of Vonda against the wines of certain other cities, in particular against the Ka-la-nas of Ar.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 306
Taphris, naked, and chained in a slave sack, was now on her way to a market in Vonda.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 310
I looked to the tiers and there saw the proud and regal figure of Miles of Vonda. He was smiling. I recalled that he had once been one of the rejected suitors of the Lady Florence of Vonda. He was one of the main tharlarion ranchers in the area.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 318
"Infantrymen from Vonda and Ar have engaged north of Venna!" called another man.
"It will be war," said Barus.
"By what right have the men of Vonda intruded so far to the south?" asked a man.
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 324
"Where are the guardsmen of Vonda?" she asked.
"If any have escaped in the direction of Vonda," I said, "perhaps they may be here tomorrow, by nightfall."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 330
"She is not here," said Miles of Vonda to his men. "We shall search elsewhere, in the vicinity, in the brush near the roads leading to Vonda."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 347
"Perhaps if I saw you in the robes of concealment, and veiled, being carried in a palanquin through the streets of Vonda by slaves," I said, "I would think you free."
Fighting Slave of Gor    Book 14    Page 349
setting like a droplet, on a tiny golden chain, was suspended at the center of her forehead.
"There has been a major engagement, one long awaited," said the man next to me, "south of Vonda.
. . .
"The field was ours!" said the man. "Vonda herself now lies open to our troops!"
. . .
"The women of Vonda will soon be emptied into our slave markets," said the man.
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 11
"I have heard," said another, "that forces from Port Olni are marching to the relief of Vonda."
"Our men will turn northeast to meet them," said another.
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 12
Ar, of course, was not at war technically with the Salerian Confederation. Similarly at that time hostilities with confederation cities had been limited to skirmishes with Vonda. His act, thus, though perhaps one of dubious propriety, and accordingly not one he would care to publicize in the streets of Ar, was neither treasonous nor illegal. It did, however, Lara being a member of the Salerian Confederation, suggest some economic desperation. Being denied the markets of Vonda, and perhaps of Port Olni and Ti, it was natural, I supposed, for Oneander to turn to Lara.
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 16
"I will take you no closer to Lara than this," had said the fellow who had flown the tarn which had brought me to this place. "Tarnsmen of Ar," had said he, "patrol the corridor between Vonda and Ar, but are insufficient in numbers to guard the sky beyond the corridor. Too, tomorrow, as the cavalries mass for attack, the guard on the corridor itself will be abandoned." I had nodded and paid him, crawling from the heavy basket. On his return trip he would doubtless take refugees, or perhaps bound girls from Vonda, back to Ar.
"What news of the war is there?" I asked the fellow who was guarding the long line of pleasure racks. "I have just come from Ar."
"We have been successful here," he said, "defeating in battle both the forces of Vonda and those of the tarnsmen of Artemidorus of Cos. Vonda is being sacked. The city burns. This is a victory camp, one for loot and pleasure."
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 23
"Did many of those of Vonda escape the city?" I asked.
"Many," she said.
. . .
"What of the House of Andronicus?" I asked.
"Gone," she said, "burned, its slaves and personnel fled or taken."
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 25
"We were put on the racks as free women," she said, "that we, the women of the enemy, be properly humiliated. Too, is it not a rich joke for the men of Ar that more than a thousand of the free women of Vonda adorn their pleasure racks, fastened down like slave girls, their use available for a tarsk bit to the passers-by?"
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 26
The inn was that of Strobius, in Lara, at the confluence of the Olni and Vosk. It was crowded with refugees from Vonda. Many hundreds had fled from Vonda, and most had taken the river southward, paying highly for their fares on the varieties of river craft, barges, skiffs, river galleys, and even coracles, which had brought them to Lara.
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 38
I had waited outside the food tent in the loot camp. The sky to the west was lit with the flames of Vonda.
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 39
The readings on these auspices had been challenged only by haruspexes of Vonda and Cos. It was generally understood, or felt, that neither the Salerian Confederation nor the city of Ar desired a full-scale conflict. Vonda, it was clearly understood, conspiring with Cos, had initiated hostilities. In burning and sacking Vonda Ar had, for most practical purposes, satisfied its sense of military propriety.
Rogue of Gor    Book 15    Page 61
"I shall venture to Turmus," he said, "where I have contacts. There I shall arrange a loan and with this money return to Vonda, there to rebuild the burned buildings of my ranch."
Guardsman of Gor    Book 16    Page 238
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