Laws of the north!
The northern lands of Gor—especially Torvaldsland, Kassau, and the frontier towns near the Laurius River—follow a very different kind of law from the civilized southern city-states like Ar or Turia. Up north, there are no scribes maintaining endless codes or magistrates quoting statute. Law is tribal, spoken, and backed by strength and reputation.
You could call it the law of honor, clan, and axe.
1. The Foundation: Honor as Law
Among the Torvaldsmen (Gor’s Norse-inspired seafarers), honor is the core legal principle. There are no courts in the southern sense—disputes are settled by oath, compensation, or combat.
A man’s word, once given before witnesses or the gods, is binding. Breaking an oath is a stain that can follow a man for life, and in extreme cases, it’s punishable by outlawry or death.
The code is simple:
Keep your word.
Take vengeance for wrongs.
Defend your kin and allies.
Die bravely, live proudly.
A man who fails in these duties is not only shamed; he effectively loses his legal standing. No one will trade with him, defend him, or acknowledge his Home Stone (if he has one).
2. Law of the Home and Ship
Each Hall (the great wooden longhouse of a jarl) and each ship has its own laws, enforced by its leader—the jarl (chieftain).
Inside the hall, the jarl’s word is law. Theft, cowardice, and dishonor are met with immediate punishment, usually physical—flogging, enslavement, or execution.
Jarls also preside over Thing-like assemblies where disputes between men can be resolved by arbitration or trial by combat (holmgang). The losing party may owe blood price (wergild) or property.
3. The Law of Blood and Vengeance
In Torvaldsland, blood feuds are legitimate legal actions. If a man is slain, his kin have the right (and obligation) to seek revenge. A feud may last generations unless settled by oath, marriage, or restitution.
Sometimes a jarl mediates to end a feud, but vengeance is never considered murder—it’s justice rendered personally.
4. Slavery and Property
Slavery in the north follows the same general Gorean customs, but with a harsher edge. Captives taken in raids are automatically enslaved.
Female captives are commonly collared and trained for domestic or sexual service. Male captives may row ships, serve as laborers, or die quickly if considered useless.
A free person’s property—including slaves—is protected only by their ability to defend it. There’s no city registry or bureaucratic ownership system like in the south; possession and reputation are the only proof.
5. Religion and the Priest-Kings
The northern peoples acknowledge the Priest-Kings but see them distantly—more as cosmic beings than lawgivers. Instead, they honor their own gods (often Odin-like war deities).
Priest-King laws (like the ban on advanced technology) are obeyed out of fear, not reverence. When something strange or forbidden occurs, it’s blamed on the “blue flame of the Priest-Kings,” and that’s the end of the discussion.
6. Women and Social Rank
Free women in the north can own property and run households, but they’re subject to the authority of their menfolk.
The culture admires strong men and proud women, but if a free woman shows defiance or insults a man publicly, she can be seized and enslaved by law—especially if she cannot find another man to protect her claim of freedom.
That may sound arbitrary, but in Gorean logic, protection and freedom are intertwined—without one, the other doesn’t exist.
7. Punishment and Justice
Justice in the north is direct and physical:
Theft: restitution, flogging, or hand removal
Cowardice: exile or death
Lying under oath: outlawry
Murder without cause: vengeance by kin
Treason or rebellion: execution
Disobedience to a jarl: death or enslavement
There are no prisons; punishment is swift and personal. To live dishonorably is worse than to die.
8. The Law of the Sea
Maritime law is sacred. Ships are considered sovereign spaces under their captain’s authority.
Crew mutiny, desertion, or theft aboard ship are punishable by death, often by being thrown overboard or left adrift.
Raiding is considered lawful warfare if done against enemies or strangers—not against allies. Pirates who violate guest-right or treaty are hunted and killed even by their own kind.
In short, northern Gorean law is law by deed, not decree. Where the southern cities rely on scrolls and magistrates, the north relies on steel, oaths, and personal reputation. Civilization there is thin ice over a deep sea of violence and pride—but for those who live by strength and honor, it’s as clear and fair as any written code.
If you want, I can map how northern “Thing” assemblies and justice rituals actually worked—some of them are straight out of Viking legal customs Norman adapted for Gor.