Greetings Masters, Mistresses and slaves,

One hopes everyone has had the most joyous of holiday seasons, and hopes her initial exploration into the subject of obedience are found displeasing to none.

A girl wishes the Masters, Mistresses and slaves most well!
kessia{Sage}

"She is to be diligent and obedient in all things," she said.
"Yes," I said. (Players, pp. 176)

Although this is only one quote, conversations such as this one between Tarl Cabot and a slave are hardly unusual in the Gor books. Slaves are told ad infinitum that they must 'obey and be pleasing' or face punishment. Given that the stakes for disobedience can be as high as death, slaves are quick to catch on. Only when a girl is new to her collar does she tend to be insolent and require some extreme forms of correction to motivate her to absolute obedience.

Ensconced in a slave-accepting society with a non-technologically based economy and an uncomplicated style of life, a girl need only do as she is told quickly and well. There just does not seem to be the ambiguity in Gorean society that there is in our society. Girls do not give up and move out, girls do not face server problems when communicating with their Masters, there is no lag, no parents will butt in and ask that a slave get counseling for her freakish desire to serve. On Gor, a slave owner can conceivably monitor his girl's activities to the point that a few simple, clear cut commands mark the line between obedience and disobedience. To be obedient, all a girl has really to is "carry out a request, command, or the like; or be dutiful" in the tasks with which she is charged. (American Collegiate Dictionary)

Sadly, life is not this easy in our society. Here, it is more common for a slave to be faced with a murky sea of conflicting commands or ambiguous situations, leaving lots of room for guesswork and mistakes. Every slave must obey and be pleasing, and if she fails, she must beg mercy and not repeat the behavior. It sounds easy, but considering the vagaries and nuances of online communication, the number of tasks a girl might have, and situations a girl might face in a day, it really it not as cut and dried as Gorean girl's obedience. Since slaves were cheap and legal, a man might have as many as he wanted, making it possible for girls to share a workload, or have one girl for only a couple of jobs. Here, a girl might be expected to manage the housework, take care of household accounts, cook, clean, raise a Master's children, and so on and so on. No master can come up with a list of do's and don'ts covering any possible situation, so a girl has to use her judgement. Unowned girls, a non-existent entity on Gor, face the worst of it. They have several final authorities over their behavior, basically subject to any free person's whim. An owned girl has the luxury of having one final authority over her life, that of her Master. Still, we all get faced from time to time with those grey areas between obedience and disobedience.

Begging to serve is one nifty example of those misty grey areas that slaves must muddle through. Since our tavern interactions are virtual rather than face to face, there are no visual cues, like a glance with raised eyebrows or a beckoning hand. One answer to this limitation is that girls beg to be of use when they enter a tavern and beg again as new patrons enter. So very simple, except for the fact that some prefer girls to crawl to each man's furs and beg until either sent away or used and others prefer that a girl beg more generally by asking "may a girl be of sevice to any?". Still others think that the whole begging thing is nuts, as slaves are present to serve, not interrupt conversations between the free with their wheedling. The 'fun' happens when all three perspectives are present and a girl has to chose whom to disobey. Do you beg 'generally', risking the ire of the free who hate begging and the free who think girls ought to beg each person? Or, do you choose curtain number 2 and risk irking people when you crawl over to each man's furs and beg. OR do you sit there and pretend to be furniture until you are told to do something?

Left without the comfort of clear lines, slaves have to delve farther into obedience than merely responding to commands. Instead, a spirit of obedience must be maintained; in which one relies on her innate desires to be compliant and acquiescent, and hopes that inadvertent disobedience is counterbalanced by her attitude. Sometimes, a deep breath and 'good intentions' are all a girl have to mitigate the tears of helpless frustration in the face of conflicting commands. It is hard, when challenged with unresolved inconsistency (i.e. you have asked what to do and been told to 'figure it out'), to maintan anything other than a tearful wish to obey and sincere pleas for more detail.

kessia{Sage}