Tarnsman of Gor was first published in 1966, author John Norman introduced the world to Tarl Cabot, a man ripped from his homeland and cast across space into the savage world of Gor. A world of magic and mystery, where the kidnapped prisoners numbering in the thousands were slaves, and power was wielded by a jealous few known as the Priest-Kings, their will enforced amongst men and women through torture, bondage and sexual rites. Part science fiction, part adventure novel, the stories in the world of Gor would unfold to show Tarl Cabot"s growth from a novice to a man whose fate might determine the course of every man woman and child on Gor. Over the course of twenty-six novels and more than forty years, the Gorean Saga is one of the longest-running epic fantasy series in publishing history, with millions of copies in print worldwide in numerous languages. 

According to the Priest-kings of Gor, the planet of Gor was brought to our solar system from another over two million years ago. On Earth at this time, this was still a couple hundred thousand of years before the arrival of Homo Erectus. The Priest-Kings brought with them some alien species, such as the Swamp Spiders. They would also eventually begin bringing creatures from Earth to Gor. The city of Ar is thought to be the oldest civilized city on Gor. It is over 10,000 years old and its calendar is figured from the date of its mythical founding by Hesius, the alleged first man on Gor. The Kurii have had a civilization for about one hundred thousand years. They have been at war with the Priest-Kings for about twenty thousand years, thus predating the time of Gorean civilization.

Gor is also known by the name, Counter Earth,taken from the writings of the ancient Greek, Pythagoras, who first speculated on the idea.

"What of the ship that brought me here?" I asked. "Surely that is a mervellous example of your technology?"
"Not of our technology, but of that of the Priest-Kings," he said. "I do not believe the ship was manned by any of the Men Below the Mountains."
"By Priest-Kings?" I asked.
"Frankly," said my father, "I believe the ship was remotely controlled from the Sardar Mountains, as are said to be all the Voyages of Acquisition."
"Of Acquisition?"
"Yes," said my father. "And long ago I made the same strange journey. As have others."
"But for what end, to what purpose?" I demanded.
"Each perhaps for a different end, for each perhaps a different purpose," he said.

Tarnsmen of Gor, chapter 2