Home Stone: All settlements have a home stone, the tradition deriving from a flat stone around which houses and huts were built. In Ar’s legends, however, the home stone was given to Hesius by the Priest Kings to unite his people.
To a Gorean it is symbolic and stirs up the same sort of feelings that a flag or a constitution do. It is tradition to stand when speaking of the home stone and to hold it in total respect. Some despots and ambitious city states dream of a supreme home stone and will transport the home stones of subjugated cities to their own as a symbol of their conquest.
Desecrating a home stone is the most terrible crime, punishable by torture and death though, at the same time, stealing a home stone is the ultimate expression of a warrior’s skill. Men show incredible loyalty and tenacity when it comes to the home stone even of a small village. ‘Beware, I carry a home stone’ is a real and powerful warning to those who would waylay a man.
The power reactor used by the Priest Kings is called ‘The Home Stone of All Gor’, a dome of blue, glowing crystal that in legend is reduced to a glowing blue stone.
Observations:
I have never been much of a nationalist. Europeans tend to be more suspicious of flag-waving than our cousins in America. It is hard for me to even attempt to understand the kind of patriotism, nationalism and fervor for a symbol like a home stone that Goreans have. The sheer meaning that the home stone has for men in civilised Gor meets the worst excesses and can be used to make the gravest insults.
Postmortem Studios 