Elevations and Locations

Western Vosk River

This series covers the area of the Western Vosk River Region. This includes those lands east of the Vosk Delta bounded by the Teveh Pass in the north and the Plains of Sanchez in the south. I ran it out east to a point in line with Koroba running north-south. The reason for breaking the area into a west and east is because of the diversity of the landscape. The computing time to do the whole Vosk in close is horrendously time consuming.

In this image you can see the western Vosk River Region. Some ecosystems are in place. Notable are the larger flat land areas, the sa-tarna fields dispersed with internittent trees. Many trails run through this area. The Voltai Range is to the right in red. I purposely left the details out for the eastern regions. They will come in the 'east' series later.

"What lies west on the Vosk," asked Aemilianus.
"On the southern bank, Ven," said Marcus. Turmus, which is the last major town west on the Vosk, is on the northern bank.
"And what beyond Ven?" asked Aemilianus.
"The Delta" Renegades of Gor Pg 424

I knew something of the Vosk League. Its headquarters was in the town of Victoria, on the northern bank of the Vosk, between Fina and Tafa...
Renegades of Gor Pg 346

Viewed from the south at a point above the Ven Highlands north, the Thassa Cartius River can be seen. It winds its way until eventually flowing into the Vosk River, Argentum is a major crossroads in Gor. Both the North Salt Line and the Argentum Road meet near there. It would take a barge to cross the Vosk which is very wide, shallow and muddy. The Teveh Pass can be seen in the mountains to the north.

This is an interesting area because trails converge from Brundisium near the Tamber Gulf, a port city , as well as the Merchant flow along the Thassa Cartius River, Vosk River and surrounding hamlets and villages along the Vosk. I suspect the lands near Koroba should be slightly more rolling, and perhaps a little higher in elevation - we'll fix that later.

I understood that Brundisium was one of the largest and busiest ports of this world. It was a commercial metropolis of sorts.... Dancer of Gor Pg 147


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 Pg 263

Looking north from a point above the Teveh Pass, the Vosk River can be seen. The Plains of Sanchez are clearly visible with the Market of Semris located near Saminium.

Torcadino lies off way to the west (actually east) along the Thassa Cartius River. Aqueducts are used from Lake IAS region to bring water to that area, suggesting it is dry and without wells. The North Salt Line runs near Torcadino then heads further south down between the Voltai Range and the Jungles. Lake Shaba is located but I left the trees out for the Jungle, they are in the Schendi series.

The lower image is of Lake IAS, looking north and the Issus River is visible.

The actual source of the tributary to the Vosk, now called the Thassa Cartius, as you know, was found five years later by the explorer, Ramus of Tabor, who, with a small expedition, over a period of nine months, fought and bartered his way through the river tribes, beyond the six cataracts, to the Ven highlands. The Thassa Cartius, with its own tributaries, drains the highlands and the descending plains.
Explorers of Gor Pg 16

Two aqueducts now brought fresh water to Torcadino from more than a hundred pasangs away, one from the Issus, a northwestwardly flowing tributary of the Vosk, and the other from the springs in the Hills of Eteocles, southwest of Corcyrus....
Mercenaries of Gor Pg 101

We were not in Samnium, but in Market of Semris. This is a much smaller town, south, and somewhat to the east, of Samnium. It is best known, interestingly enough, ironically enough, as an important livestock market. In particular, it is famed for its sales of tarsks. Too, of course, there are markets here for slaves.
Dancer of Gor Pg 106

I shrugged. Much of Gor was terra incognita. Few knew well the lands on the east of the Voltai and Thentis ranges, for example, or what lay west of the farther islands, near Cos and Tyros. It was more irritating, of course, to realize that even considerable areas of territory above Schendi, south of the Vosk, and west of Ar, were unknown.
Explorers of Gor Pg 16

The Teveh Pass. I placed wagon trails in this trail because it seemed logical to me that wagons would use this major pass and then head to the North Salt Lines.

"Corcyrus," said the girl, "is south of the Vosk. It is southwest of the city of Ar. It lies to the east and somewhat north of Argentum."
Kajira of Gor Pg 40

"Where was the other one from?" asked Tupa.
"Argentum," I said.
"Where is that?" asked Tupa.
"To the south and west," I said. (the girls speaking here are in Ar.)
Kajira of Gor Pg 331

Image west of Torcadino along a trail called the 'Treasure Road'. The image below shows that area west of Argentum along the Vosk - agricultural land and sa-tarna fields.

Torcadino, on the flats of Serpeto, is a crossroads city. It is located at the intersection of various routes, the Genesian, connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south, the Northern Salt Line and the Northern Silk road, leading respectively west and north from the east and south, the Pilgrims Road, leading to the Sardar, and the Eastern way, sometimes called the Treasure Road, which links the western cities with Ar. Supposedly Torcadino, with its strategic location, was an ally of Ar. I gathered, however, that it had, in recent weeks, shifted allegiances. It is sometimes said that any city can fall behind the walls of which can be placed a tharlarion laden with gold...

"There are the aqueducts of Torcadino!" said Mincon.

"I see them," I said. The natural wells of Torcadino, originally sufficing for a small population, had, more than a century ago, proved inadequate to furnish sufficient water for an expanding city. Two aqueducts now brought fresh water to Torcadino from more than a hundred pasangs away, one from the Issus, a northwestwardly flowing tributary of the Vosk, and the other from the springs in the Hills of Eteocles, southwest of Corcyrus. The remote termini of both aqueducts were defended by guard stations. The vicinities of the aqueducts themselves are usually patrolled and, of course, engineers and workmen attend regularly to their inspection and repair. These aqueducts are marvelous constructions, actually, having a pitch of as little as a hort for every pasang.
Mercenaries of Gor Pg 101-102

The tiny village, Rarir, in which she had been born, lay south of the Vosk, and near the shores of Thassa.
Captive of Gor Pg 232

He had won her in Girl Catch, in a contest to decide a trade dispute between two small cities, Ven and Rarn, the former a river port on the Vosk, the second noted for its copper mining, lying southeast of Tharna....
Beasts of Gor Pg 41

The small fellow, I had gathered, might have once been from Tharna. That is a city far to the north and east of Venna. It is well know for its silver mines. So, too, incidentally, is the city of Argentum...
Dancer of Gor Pg 385

Approaching across the meadow, ankle deep in the wet grass, were four warriors, helmeted and carrying spears and shields. By the shield insignia and blue helmets I knew them to be men of Tharna.
Outlaw of Gor Pg 56

RIVE-DE-BOIS -- A city

View from the Thassa Sea looking eastward to the Voltai Range. The Vosk River is on the right, Rovere would be in the lower left and the North Salt Line road clearly marked.

Ko-ro-ba lay in the midst of green and rolling hills, some hundreds of feet above the level of the distant Tamber Gulf and that mysterious body of water beyond it, spoken of in Gorean simply as Thassa, the Sea. Ko-ro-ba was not set as high and remote as for example was Thentis in the mountains of Thentis, famed for its tarn flocks, but it was not a city of the vast plains either, like the luxurious metropolis of Ar, or of the shore, like the cluttered, crowded, sensuous Port Kar on the Tamber Gulf. Whereas Ar was glorious, a city of imposing grandeur, acknowledged even by its blood foes; whereas Thentis had the proud violence of the rude mountains of Thentis for its setting; whereas Port Kar could boast the broad Tamber for her sister, and the gleaming, mysterious Thassa beyond, I thought my city to be truly the most beautiful, its variegated lofty cylinders rising so gently, so joyfully, among the calm, green hills.

An ancient poet, who incredibly enough to the Gorean mind had sung the glories of many of the cities of Gor, had spoken of Ko-ro-ba as the Towers of the Morning, and it is sometimes spoken of by that name. The actual word Ko-ro-ba itself, more prosaically, is simply an expression in archaic Gorean referring to a village market. Outlaw of Gor Pg 39-40

Even the horizontal plains about Tharna, marked by their occasional outcroppings of weathered boulders, seemed to be grey, rather cold and gloomy, perhaps sad. Tharna was not a city to lift the heart of a man. Yet I knew that this city was, from my point of view, one of the most enlightened and civilized on Gor. In spite of this conviction, incomprehensibly, I found myself depressed by Tharna, and wondered if it, in its way, were not somehow, subtly, more barbaric, more harsh, less human than its ruder, less noble, more beautiful sisters. Outlaw of Gor Pg 69

View looking westward from a point not to far from the Sardar Mountains. Koroba is in the foreground and the Vosk Delta and Thassa Sea are in the rear.

The Vosk is a mighty river which flows westward, emptying into a vast rence delta, finding its way eventually to Thassa, the sea....
Slave Girl of Gor Pg 248

I was in the delta of the Vosk, and making my way to the city of Port Kar, which alone of Gorean cities commonly welcomes strangers, though few but exiles, murderers, outlaws, thieves and cutthroats would care to find their way to her canaled darknesses.
Raiders of Gor Pg 5-6

"Those are Vosk gulls,' said Kamchak, 'In the spring, when the ice breaks in the Vosk, they fly north.' " Nomads of Gor Pg 137

This image is special. The flowers above are verminiums and have been created by 'gant (AoA)' - an artist. Those below are dina's. One was created from which the others were grown. You will see these around more often. She is also working on other vegetation which I will put into the ecosystems.

"The petals of veminium, the "Desert Veminium," purplish, as opposed to the "Thentis Veminium," bluish, which flower grows at the edge of the Tahari, gathered in a shallow baskets and carried to a still, are boiled in water. The vapor which boils off is condensed into oil. This oil is used to perfume water. This water is not drunk but is used in middle and upper-class homes to rinse the eating hand, before and after the evening meal". Tribesmen of Gor Pg 50-51

"my own brand was the dina; the dina is a small, lovely, multiply petaled flower, short-stemmed, and blooming in a turf of green leaves, usually on the slopes of hills, in the northern temperate zones of Gor; in its budding, though in few other ways, it resembles a rose; it is an exotic, alien flower; it is also spoken of, in the north, where it grows most frequently, as the slave flower; ...But perhaps the dina is spoken of as the slave flower merely because, in the north, it is, though delicate and beautiful, a reasonably common, unimportant flower; it is also easily plucked, being defenseless, and can be easily crushed, overwhelmed and, if one wishes, discarded. Slave Girl of Gor Pg 61.

Well done girl.

My thanks to 'autumn NS' for her help. Thanks Tazmin.

Right click 'Save' for the larger images.

Inukshuk: 2002 - 2004