Basic Information

The Caste of Initiates represent themselves as the intermediaries and interpreters of the will of the Priest-Kings. They regard themselves as the highest caste of all castes. They shave their heads and dress in robes of white which is the color of their Caste.

Religious training is the province of the Initiates. Religious matters are carefully guarded by the Caste. Very few from other castes are allowed to participate in their ceremonies and rituals. They utilize old Gorean, an archaic language seldom heard on the planet, to conduct their religious services and prayers.

The Initiates can not kill or shed the blood of another. They may not bear arms. They hire men to do this for them, if the need arises. They converse in archaic Gorean. They abstain from alcohol. It is forbidden for a woman to touch an Initiate or the Initiate to touch a woman. This would thus, presume that Initiates are celibate.

The Caste of Initiates believe in immortality and only Initiates can obtain eternal life. The way to eternal life is thru the learning of mathematics and avoiding the impurities of beans and meat. No woman is allowed to be an initiate, therefore no woman can achieve eternal life.

Their level of education, their reverence for archaic knowledge, and their long, involved rituals tend to bind the Initiates together in a cohesive group, making them interdependent. It is rumored some of their teachings are in spells and magic, secret, known only to the Caste of Initiates. It sets them apart and makes them feel important and wise, specially privileged.

The High Initiate of each city holds jurisdiction over one of two court systems. The Initiates court can be compared to an ecclesiastical court. The areas of jurisdiction for each court system is not well defined. The Initiates do claim jurisdiction over everything, by virtue of their supposed relationship with the Priest-Kings. The civil jurists disagree with this. This lends itself to tension between the civil authorities and the Initiates, for each feels they are supreme in matters of policy and law.

The Initiates tend not to be taken seriously by the High Castes or more intelligent members of the population, except in matters of political alliance. Their teachings and their purported ability to intercede with the Priest-Kings, is taken quite seriously by many of the lower caste. Civic leaders tend to not purposefully come into conflict with the Initiates, no matter how they feel about them, so that the power of the Initiates does not turn the lower castes against them.