Gorean coins and how to handle them
Presentation at the En’Kara Fair [2026, edited] by Rarius Yuroki (Yuroki Uriza), merchant and owner of the House of Yuroki Bank, Oasis of Lame Kaiila
Greetings Goreans, welcome to the presentation about coins on Gor and how to handle them.
Here is the content again:
1. What do we know about coins on Gor?
2. Hud coins versus prim coins
3. Which coins already exist in Secondlife Gor?
4. Role-playing with coins; ideas, suggestions and tips
5. Slaves and coins
Two Gorean coins merchants attempt to determine the exchange rates of coins an the En’Kara Fair
1. What do we know about coins on Gor?
The good news first: There is very little standardization of exchange rates on Gor. At every Sardar Fair, the money traders attempt to propose standardization, but their proposal fails every time. (Har har! Do not even try it now!)
Not enough good news – and I’ll explain why that’s good news in a moment: Specific exchange rates vary from city to city and region to region.
Between twenty and four tarsks make one copper tarsk. Between ten and one hundred copper tarsks make one silver tarsk. However, it seems to be standard practice for ten silver tarsks to equal one gold tarn. A double gold tarn is worth the same as two single gold tarns. Eight pieces of Tarsk make one copper Tarsk, one hundred copper Tarsk make one silver Tarsk, and ten silver Tarsk make one gold Tarsk. In Port Kar and the Vosk Delta, ten pieces of Tarsk are exchanged for one copper Tarsk and 100 copper Tarsk for one silver Tarsk.
Your are already confused, arent’ you?
Do you want more confusion? Here we go:
10 Copper Tarsks = 1 Silver Tarsk
“There are one hundred copper tarsks to one silver tarsk in Kailiauk. The ratio is ten to one in certain other cities and towns.”
Savages of Gor, Page 120
BUT:
40 Copper Tarsks = 1 Silver Tarsk
“The tarsk is a silver coin, worth forty copper tarn disks.”
Assassin of Gor, Page 160
| Coin Denomination | Book | Book Number | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper Tarsk Bit “shaving” | Swordsmen of Gor | 29 | 298 |
| Copper Tarsk Bit “piece” | Conspirators of Gor | 31 | 403 |
| Copper Tarsk Bit | Beasts of Gor | 12 | 77 |
| Copper Tarsk | Tribesmen of Gor | 10 | 36 |
| Copper Tarn | Outlaw of Gor | 2 | 68 |
| Copper Ten-Piece | Rogue of Gor | 15 | 126 |
| Copper Twenty-Piece | Conspirators of Gor | 31 | 186 |
| Copper Forty-Piece | Assassin of Gor | 5 | 27–28 |
| Copper Eighty-Piece | Assassin of Gor | 5 | 27–28 |
| “Smaller” Silver Tarsk | Prize of Gor | 27 | 488 |
| “Larger” Silver Tarsk | Kajira of Gor | 19 | 407 |
| Silver Tarn | Tarnsman of Gor | 1 | 165 |
| Silver Forty-Piece | Assassin of Gor | 5 | 157 |
| Silver Eighty-Piece | Assassin of Gor | 5 | 107 |
| Silver Stater | Swordsmen of Gor | 29 | 132 |
| Gold Tarsk | Smugglers of Gor | 32 | 522 |
| Gold Tarn | Tribesmen of Gor | 10 | 158 |
| Gold Stater | Kajira of Gor | 19 | 394 |
| Gold Tarn of Double Weight | Assassin of Gor | 5 | 4 |
Result: Norman’s books do not provide clear norms regarding the value of coins, only general trends. I recommend to make it simple:
8 Tarsk Bits = 1 Copper Tarsk
100 Copper Tarsk = 1 Silver Tarsk
10 Silver Tarsk = 1 Gold Tarn
2 Gold Tarn = Double Gold Tarn
Why is this confusion good news?
Quite simply: because bankers and coin merchants now have something to do. They have to determine the value of coins being exchanged by strangers. They have to identify counterfeit coins. They might even have to mint coins themselves. You can’t do that yourself; you need a professional because you lack the knowledge: “I was not always as knowledgeable as I might be about the relative values of various coins, of numerous cities, which, of course, depended on such things as compositions and weights, and exchange rates, which might fluctuate considerably.” (Magicians of Gor, Page 411)
Here we are! The coin merchants are a sub-caste of the merchant caste. We know everything about coins! And not only that: we know how to draw up a loan agreement on Gor, how to spot counterfeit coins, we know ….shhhhhhhh….. who to bribe to gain influence.
A Gorean coin merchant steps hard on a warrior’s toes because the warrior wanted to pay with invisible coins
2. Hud coins versus prim coins
Now the bad news: Nobody plays it that way, nobody wants to be a coin merchant. (Except for me, of course.) Why?
We need to briefly digress into the past of the Gorean roleplay, for example:
Gorm Runo: “I first became aware of online Gor in 1998.”
Gorm Runo: “It was in a chatroom in Yahoo Chat called the Three Moons Tavern of Gor.”
Roleplaying in forums means: you can’t rez or see anything and have to emote everything. So anyone could be a millionaire on Gor, they just had to use emotes. That was also the case at the beginning of Second Life: there were coins you could rez, but they were copyable, like the Yen coins that still exist today on on the Secondlife marketplace.
If someone wants to be a millionaire instantly:: Here you can see the copyable Yen coins. The surface and the (illegible) lettering are the same on all coins, only the color of the coins varies. They are available here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/YEN-Coins-Ingots-2/2602286
(If something like that is offered to me in character, my bank will only pay “the value of the metal”.)
That only changed when the Gorean meter introduced hud coins, which could be used, for example, to buy one’s freedom from capture. This was simple and convenient, but of course unrealistic because it’s OOC and the coins are not visible.
This hasn’t changed with the zCS HUD coins. They are simply a unit of account used to determine the OOC exchange value of virtual products.
[13:02] Marcus Attilius (badass.sciarri): What are you doing in my bed?
[13:02] Torm (niceshortbeard.jinxing): I am having sex with your slave…
[13:02] Marcus Attilius (badass.sciarri): But you are alone?!
[13:02] Torm (niceshortbeard.jinxing): I emoted her! (Emoters of Gor, pg. 87)
Here is the most important quote:
To be sure, there is little standardization in these matters, for much depends on the actual weights of the coins and the quantities of precious metals, certified by the municipal stamps, contained in the coins. Sometimes, too, coins are split or shaved. Further, the debasing of coinage is not unknown. Scales, and rumors, it seems, are often used by coin merchants. One of the central coins on Gor is the golden tarn disk of Ar, against which many cities standardize their own gold piece. (pg. 155, Rogue of Gor.)
Can you see municipal stamps on hud coins? No
Can you see the origin of a coin in hud coins, for example, something from Ar? No.
Could one compare the coins from Ar with the coins from Olni using hud coins? No.
But you can do all that with prim coins: you can rez them and read what’s written on the surface.
Of course, you could just emote all of that, but that inevitably leads to drama because I’d accuse anyone whose coin I couldn’t see of counterfeiting. And on my sim, that person would be arrested. Just for fun.
Notecard “Foreign Currency Exchange Rates (HoY bank)”, updated monthly, also includes screenshots of all existing prim coins (click to enlarge)
3. Which coins already exist in Secondlife Gor?
Since 2011, I’ve made non-copyable coins for around 30 sims. Over 80 (!) sims have made their own non-copyable coins so far, for example, Olni or Belnend. Why does hardly anyone use them? Most of them no longer exist, but where all the coins? Admittedly, I traded all the coins I could get for mine in roleplay, but there must still be countless coins lying around in some inventory.
Copper Tarsk bit of Port Cos, City of Ar 1 copper tarks bit (HoY bank), Argentum copper tarks bit, made by Brock Alcove (peko.alcove) (including a script: “Argentum 1 Copper tarsk Bit 6: This is Official Argentum Coin”)
The smallest unit is a copper tarks bit (aboce): “A copper coin worth from 1/4 to 1/20 of a copper tarks, depending on the original value of the coins and how that coin has seen segmented. The usaul numer of Tarsk-hits in a coppaer tarks tends to be eight.- In Port Kar and the Vosl basin region, there are ten tarksbits to a copper tarks.”.
So? Do you have copper Tarks bits in your hud? No, you don’t.
Hochburg 1 copper tarks made by Drusus Tacitus (rowan00), Hazelwood 1 copper tarsk made by beth (jood.mckee) (very rare!), Port Kar 1 copper, Venna 1 copper, Tarnwald 1 copper tarks /HoY mint)
A copper coin that is the whole coin of least value, equalling upt to twenty tarsk bits, though more typically, eight. The copper tarsks of Ar, for instance, are designed to be separated into eight sections.
A copper tarsk: “In many paga taverns, one may have paga and food, and a girl for the alcove, if one wants for a single copper tarsk”.
Since 2007, we have received many suggestions on how to convert the value, for example to the dollar; these range from 70 cents for one copper tarsk to 15 dollars for one copper tarsk.
1 silver tarn from Cartius, Holmesk, Tharna, City of Ar, Anango (HoY Mint) Port sun made by Pippi Moonites (Pippi.moonites), Hochburg made by Drusus Tacitus (rowan00), Torvaldsland (without mention of location) made by Ivar Longbeard (ivar.eberhardt)
A silver tarsk: “ten silver tarsks, such a sum would last a man months on Gor”.
How much are the silver coins worth? The highest amount proposed is 1500 US dollars. I consider that unrealistic.
“My financial resources, the ten silver tarsks, such a sum would last a man months on Gor” (Rogue of Gor, p.59). The average American worker earns $5,000 per month, which would be 10 silver tarsks. One silver tarks is therefore worth US approximately 500 US$. That would mean that 1 copper task is worth approximately 5 US dollars. For a copper task, one could therefore buy a hamburger.
1 gold tarn from Torvickburg, made by 丂in ßLøøÐαXe (sinder.ariantho), 1 gold tarn from City of Ar, Kasra, Jasmine, Oasis of Sand Sleen, Turmus, 1 doble gold tarn from Besnit and Piedmont (HoY mint)
Gold tarn and a doble gold tarn: “A gold tarn disk is more than many common laborers earn in a year” (approximately 50.000 $) With a gold tarn coin, you can buy a war tarn; the coin is therefore worth about as much as a car in real life.
“But how could one spend the coins, and on what?”
2. Role-playing with coins; ideas, suggestions and tips
– The biggest problem is not getting coins, but spending them.
I only recommend using prim coins for specific actions; for example, escorting free women traveling by mercenaries, buying and selling slaves, paying assassins (not everyone can afford that! And hud coins are therefore totally ridiculous).
I recently experienced this myself: a group from the black caste, whom I had hired as mercenaries, wanted hud coins as payment. What’s the next thing you want to hear? A killer demands Lindendollars? Absolute nonsense.
It’s less advisable to use prim coins in taverns or cafes, as this becomes cumbersome and confusing, and visitors are not allowed to rez coins on melee-only sims. Even wages paid to caste members didn’t work – it’s too complicated and quickly becomes boring. Taxes shouldn’t be enforced either, because that overwhelms people. Believe me, I’ve been making coins since 2011, and it’s never worked – people just left the sim.
What does work very well, however, is this: trading companies and independent slave houses should pay taxes to the council or the Admin/Ubar and also provide a written report of their transactions (roleplaying possibilities for scribes, magistrates, merchants, etc.). I would insist that payment be made with prim coins, so that one can be sure of not being given “counterfeit” money.
Two Gorean Free Women accuse each other of having paid with counterfeit money.
The sim owner must support you, but prim coins should never be mandatory, only an option to make roleplaying more realistic. If a sim owner tries to force you into out-of-character (OOC) activities by only allowing hud coins, I would recommend to leave this sim. There are about 150, and they’re all looking for players. A sim owner who hinders roleplaying for merchants instead of promoting it doesn’t deserve support.
– Coin exchange: Regardless of which coins you are offered (copyable or non-copyable), to exchange them for valid and certified coins: you need a scale and a silver and gold coin from Ar (you can get these from me; they show the coat of arms of the city of Ar, which consisted of four Sims). Certified means: you can see on the surface where it comes from. If someone offers me copyable coins, or if I can’t recognize their origin in roleplay, I’ll pay the value of the “metal” (endless roleplay possibilities).
A warrior could not pay his debts to the bank and was put in chains.
– Loans: In the small board you will find a notecard for a draft of a Tabularum obsignatione. Tabularum obsignatione was an IOU (acknowledgement of debt) in ancient Rome. Nexum was a debt bondage contract in the early Roman Republic. Don’t forget the witnesses:
“These papers are certified by the bank of Bemus in Venna, and are witnessed by the signatures of two citizens of that city.”
(Fighting Slave of Gor)
If someone borrows coins and doesn’t pay them back within a certain timeframe: call your slaver! He’ll have something to do!
Coin Girl of Gor
5.Slaves and coins
Generally, slaves were not allowed to touch coin. They could be punished severely, even to the point of having their hands cut off, for having unauthorized money on their person or in their belongings. This, in other words, was touching money without authorization.
However, slaves were often given money to run errands, go shopping, to give to their owners, etc. This money could be carried in a bag tied around their necks, in their mouths or carried in their hands. (Even the free carried coins in the mouth because most Gorean clothes have no pockets). The difference between this and the previous statement is that they were authorized to have the money.
Slaves could touch coins in Gor, as long as they had the permission of their owners to do so. (fore quotes read the notecard: “slaves and coins” in the small board)
“Coin girls” were sent out by their Masters with coin boxes and bells to earn him money for her use.
Coin girls were a form of street slave, usually sent into the streets around dusk by their masters, who commonly own several of them, with a chain on their neck, to which would be attached, normally, a bell, to call attention to their whereabouts, and a small, locked coin box. And woe to the girl who returns with coins jangling in the box! To be sure, in some places, one might even have a paga slave, or a brothel slave, for as little as a tarsk bit.
(Renegades of Gor)
“The girl did not now, of course, carry a purse. Slave girls are not permitted to carry such things. When shopping she carries the coins usually in her mouth or hand. Sometimes she ties them in a scarf about a wrist or ankle. Sometimes her master places them in a bag, which is then tied about her neck. Gorean garments, generally, incidentally, except for the garments of craftsmen, do not have pockets. Coins, and personal items, and such, are usually, by free persons, carried in pouches, which are usually concealed within the robes of a free woman, or slung about the waist, or shoulder, of a free man.” (Guardsman of Gor),
We’ve reached the end of my presentation. If you need any help, or if you’d like me (= the House of Yuroki Mint) to make you some coins, just let me know.
Thank you so much for your patience and for listening.
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