|
Civitatis Ar, Plus!
Avenues / Streets / Districts
Viktel Aria
I had gone from Lara to White
Water using the barge canal, to circumvent the rapids, and from thence to
Tancred's Landing. I had later voyaged down river to Iskander, Forestport,
and Ar's Station. Ar's Station incidentally is near the site where there
was a gathering, several years ago, of the horde of Pa-Kur, of the Caste
of Assassians, who was leading an alliance of twelve cities, augmented by
mercenaries and assassins, against the city of Ar. This war is celebrated,
incidentally, in the Gorean fashion, in several songs. Perhaps most
famous among them are the songs of Tarl of Bristol. The action is reputed
to have taken place in 10,110 C.A., Contasta Ar, from the Founding of Ar.
It was now, in that chronology, the year 10,127. Ar's Station,
incidentally, did not exist at the time of the massing of the horde of
Pa-Kur. It was established four years afterward, as an outpost and trading
station on the south bank of the Vosk. It also commands, in effect, the
northern terminus of one of the great roads, the Viktel Aria, or Ar's
Triumph, leading toward Ar. This is also the road popularly known as the
Vosk Road, particularly by those viewing it from a riverward direction.
West of Ar's Station on the river I had visited Jort's Ferry, Point
Alfred, Jasmine, Siba, Sais, and Sulport. I had stopped also at Hammerfest
and Ragnar's Hamlet, the latter actually, now, a good-sized town. Its
growth might be contrasted with that of Tetrapoli, much further west on
the river. Ragnar's Hamlet began as a small village and, from this central
nucleus, expanded. Tetrapoli, on the other hand, began as four separate
towns, Ri, Teibar, Heiban and Azdak, as legend has it founded by four
brothers. These towns grew together along the river and were eventually
consolidated as a polity. The four districts of the city, as might be
supposed, retain the names of the original towns. The expression
‘Tetrapoli" in Gorean, incidentally, means "Four Cities" or " Four Towns."
ROGUE OF GOR-, (15) Pages 62-63
It was near dawn now. The wagon
would proceed east on the Argentum road, reach the Viktel Aria, and turn
south. Then, in time, it would arrive in Ar. Soon I would be enslaved,
legally. I would be, totally, legally, a slave on Gor. KAJIRA OF
GOR-, (19) Page 263
How different things seemed from
the marches of the forces of Ar, and others of the high cities. When the
men of Ar moved, for example, and whenever possible they would do so on
the great military roads, such as the Viktel Aria, they used a measured
pace, often kept by a drum, and including rests, would each day cover a
calculable distance, usually forty pasangs. At forty-pasang intervals
there would generally, on the military roads, be a fortified camp,
supplied in advance with ample provisions. Some of these camps became
towns. Later some became cities. These roads and camps, and measures, made
it possible to move troops not only efficiently and rapidly, but assisted
in military planning. One could tell, for example, how long it would take
to bring a certain number of men to bear on a certain point. The permanent
garrisons of the fortified camps, too, of course, exercise a significant
peace-keeping and holding role in the outer districts of a city's power.
Too, training and recruiting often take place in such camps. To be sure,
these forces of Cos could not be expected to have come over and taken a
few months to attend to the leisurely construction of permanent camps
along the route of their projected march. Still, judging from the nature
of the supply column, or columns, their progress seemed very slow, almost
leisurely. It was as though they feared nothing. Their numbers, I
speculated, might have emboldened them. Why had Ar not acted, I wondered.
MERCENARIES OF GOR-, (21) Pages 38-39
Boabissia and I, then, followed by
Hurtha and Feiqa, she bearing my pack, set out, with others, toward the
pennons. "I think there will be little difficulty in clearing the lines of
Cos," I said. "Refugees, I suspect, will be sped on their way. I am not
sure what would be the best way to approach Ar. We might reach the Argentum Road and take it east to the Viktel Aria. We would then trek
south to Ar." MERCENARIES OF GOR-, (21) Page 213
The driver halted the fee cart at
the crest of the hill.
I had seen Ar at various times before. Such a sight I was accustomed to.
It would not move me, as it might others, the first time to look upon it.
"Incredible!" said a man.
"Marvelous!" whispered another.
I smiled at their childish enthusiasm, at their lack of maturity. Then I
rose, too, to my feet. I saw then, in the distance, some four or five
pasangs away, the gleaming walls of glorious Ar.
"I had not realized how vast was the city," said one of the men.
"It is large," said another fellow.
"There is the Central Cylinder!' said a man, pointing.
The high, uprearing walls of the city, some hundred feet or more in
height, the sun bright upon them, stretched into the distance. They were
now white. That had been done, apparently, since the time of Cernus, the
usurper, and the restoration of Marlenus, ubar of ubars. It was hard to
look at them, for the glare upon them. We could see the great gate, too,
and the main road leading to it, the Viktel Aria. Indeed, we ourselves,
soon, I thought, would transfer to the Viktel Aria. Within the gamut of
those gleaming walls, so lofty and mighty, rose thousands of buildings,
and a veritable forest of ascendant towers, of diverse heights and colors.
Many of these towers, I knew, were joined by traceries of soaring bridges,
set at different levels. These bridges, however, save for tiny glintings
here and there, could not be well made out at this distance.
MERCENARIES OF GOR-, (21) Pages 255-256
"What had begun in the vicinity of
Lydius, as, with the possible exception of myself, a cage of free women
had become, by the time we had reached Venna, on the Viktel Aria, a cage
of competitive, amorous slaves." MERCENARIES OF GOR-, (21) Page 338
Venna is a small, lovely city,
largely a resort city, north of Ar, on the Viktel Aria. It is know for its
tharlarion races. It is also a common locale, it and its vicinity, for
villas of the rich, usually from Ar. DANCER OF GOR-, (22) Page 319
"I do not know its location," I
said. I had stayed at certain inns in the south, past which it had taken
its march, taking five days to pass given points. Then, moving northward,
I had stayed at inns, also on, or near, the Vitkel Aria somewhere north of
Venna.
"It cannot have just disappeared," he said.
"It is a mystery to us," I said, "but doubtless to those with access to
the proper intelligence network, its movements and position are well
known." I had encountered refugees from Ar's Station and its environs even
south of Venna. Some told me they had seen the army pass. Some had even
told me that men and women they knew had followed the army northward, as
though confident of its victory and returning to their homes. What puzzled
me most was that the Viktel Aria was the most direct route, for hundreds
of pasangs, to Ar's Station. Indeed, Ar's Station, in effect, secured the
northern terminus of the Viktel Aria, or Vosk Road, at the Vosk.
The Viktel Aria was a military toad, one laid out by military engineers as
a military route. It sped almost directly from Ar to the Vosk. It made few
concessions to towns or communities. Its primary purpose was to provide a
reliable, nearly indestructible surface for the rapid movement of armed
men. RENEGADES OF GOR-, (23) Page 36
Most of the major towns on the
Vosk are on the northern bank. This is undoubtedly because of a one-time
policy of Ar to maintain a margin of desolation to the north, one
stretching to the river, across which is would be difficult for an invader
to bring an army. The major route south was then, as it is now, the Viktel
Aria, which by means of its camps and posts, Ar then controlled. Thus,
supposedly, Ar could move north with ease, but it would be difficult for
other forces to move south, unless challenging Ar for the Viktel Aria. The
margin of desolation however, has not been maintained for years. Its
military significance declined with the development of large-scale tarn
transport, capable of supplying troops in the field. Too, as Ar's
population increased she began to move northward. Indeed, her interests in
the Vosk Basin are well known. In the past few years, particularly under
the governance of Marlenus of Ar, the policies of Ar have tended to be
expansionistic. Accordingly, it seems clear that in time the strategists
of Ar came to view the margin of desolation less as a rampart than a
barrier. RENEGADES OF GOR-, (23) Page 442
Kudos to you, Mr. Norman for writing the Gorean series!
A rich, yet utterly simple saga; a world, a time, a people;
those of the Counter-Earth .. the planet .. Gor.
Thank you!
The material presented herein was researched and compiled by me,
naia{Saul}.
The material referenced comes from John Norman's Gor Series, The
Counter-Earth Saga.
This is a work in process.
Please, do not take, copy, duplicate, or use this work as your own.
If you find it valuable enough to share, please .. share the link to this
page.
To Top
|