Vor of Barrayar

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The Vor of Barrayar are a military caste and essentially aristocracy of the planet Barrayar in the sci-fi book series the Vorkosigan Saga.

On Barrayar, there exist two sets of people: the Vor and everyone else, occasionally referred to in the books as plebes or proles. Vor status is considered genetic, hereditary, and inescapable. All Vor surnames begin with the syllable Vor-, often prefixed to a recognizable surname from some Earth nation (e.g. Vorsmythe).

Because it is an honorific, the prefix Vor- is dropped at the Imperial Service Academy (though not in the service itself) to emphasize the ideal of meritocracy.

One Vor privilege is the right to carry weapons, usually a stunner or knife. Even low Vor women carry a "Vorfemme" knife, presumably to defend their honor from rapacious males. In the novel Barrayar, when Cordelia Vorkosigan buys the crippled Lt. Koudelka a sword-stick to improve his self-confidence, he protests that he cannot carry it. Admiral Aral Vorkosigan gets around this by "issuing" it to him in his capacity as a military officer.

1 Origins of "Vor"
2 High Vor
3 Other Vor
4 The Vor Counts
5 Other Vor names
6 See also

[edit] Origins of "Vor"

These are obscure, but the word exists in Russian, one of four languages spoken on Barrayar. It means "thief" or "thief-lord". Most aristocracies arise from warlords, who in turn tend to arise from competing bands of brigands, so this explanation is plausible.

The Russian "dvor" means "court", and "dvoryanin" were the "new nobles" created by Ivan The Terrible and Boris Gudunov to counterbalance the boyars (old nobles). See the entry on Muscovy.

"Vor does mean 'thief'!" — Duv Galeni, in the novel Memory.

In the Russian translations of the Vorkosigan saga, though, Vor is rendered as For (Фор); the novel The Vor Game is called Igra Forov/Игра Форов ("The Game of the Fors") in Russian.

[edit] High Vor

The term "High Vor" does not appear to have official standing within Barrayaran society, but is used informally by characters to refer to the upper-most, aristocratic portion of the Vor. The Vor are a military caste, and while all Vor have certain legal privileges and responsibilities Vor status does not necessarily denote wealth or political power. It appears that all aristocrats are Vor, but only a small portion of Vor are aristocrats; similar social arrangements have existed on Earth, e.g. the samurai of Japan or knights in Medieval Europe.

There are 60 Districts on Barrayar, each governed by a Vor with the title Count. On Barrayar, Count derives from accountant, as they were originally Imperial Tax Collectors and Accountants.

Members of a Count's immediate family have titles roughly parallel to those of a British Marquess's family. The heir, usually the eldest son of the Count, is Lord (Surname); his wife is Lady (Surname). Other children of a Count are called Lord or Lady (Forename) (Surname)e.g. Lord Mark Vorkosigan or simply Lord Mark. While Miles' grandfather, Count Piotr Vorkosigan, lived, Miles Vorkosigan was known as Lord Miles, and his father Aral Vorkosigan was Lord Vorkosigan. Upon Piotr's death and Aral's assumption of the count-ship, Miles immediately became Lord Vorkosigan.

[edit] Other Vor

There appear to be multiple levels of Vor as well.

[edit] The Vor Counts

Vorbarra - The Imperial family.

Vorkosigan - A line of ten Counts (Miles will be No. 11), but few collateral descendants. Thanks to former Regent Aral Vorkosigan, the family enjoys special favor with the Emperor.

Vorpatril - A large clan with a link to the Vorbarra line through Ivan Vorpatril's late father, Padma Xav, a grandson of Prince Xav Vorbarra.

Vordarian - Soon after the death of Emperor Ezar, the then Count Vordarian attempted to usurp the throne from the child Emperor Gregor.

Vorhalas - Compensating for the treason of his sons Evon and Carl in Vordarian's Pretendership, the current Count Vorhalas is the most loyal, upright and conservative member of the Council, but no friend to the Vorkosigans.

Vorrutyer - A large clan infamous for erratic or insane personalities. Aral Vorkosigan's first wife, who took many lovers and committed suicide, was a Vorrutyer, as was Aral's male lover, the corrupt and sadistic Ges Vorrutyer. Aral himself is descended from Count Pierre "Le Sanguinaire" Vorrutyer, or Bloody Pierre. The last Count Vorrutyer, also Pierre, was eccentric if not actually mad. His sister Lady Donna went to Beta Colony to be surgically changed into a man so she could inherit the title as Lord Dono, over her rapscallion cousin Richars, while her foppish drunkard cousin Byerly used his contacts to lay the groundwork at home.

Vortala - Count Vortala was Emperor Ezar's last Prime Minister, a reformer who mistakenly tried to fix Barrayaran society from the top down.

Vordrozda - Miles Vorkosigan exposed a Count Vordrozda as an embezzler of Imperial funds who attempted to have his cousin Ivan conveniently disappear.

Vorbretten - Friends of Miles, the current Count was discovered to have a Cetagandan ancestor, leading to an impeachment trial before the Council of Counts, and it also led to him being ridiculed, often called René ghem-Bretten.

Vorsmythe - Industrialist, Miles Vorkosigan told his clone-brother Mark to speak with Vorsmythe about his "Butter Bugs"

Vorvolk - The current Count, Henri, is one of Emperor Gregor's close friends and one of only a few Counts near in age to the Emperor.

Vortrifrani - The current count was suspected of a plot to crash an empty space freighter onto the Imperial Palace, though ImpSec were unable to link him to the actual saboteurs.

Vorlopoulos - Famous for Vorlopoulos's Law which limits each Count to only 20 armsmen and makes starting a private army treason for a Vor Lord.

Vortugalov
Vorinnis
Vorkalloner
Vormoncrief
Vorville
Vorpinski
Vortaine
Vorvolynkin
Vormuir
Vorgarin
Vorfolse
Vorlakial
Vortashpula

[edit] Other Vor names

Vorbohn - Lord Vorbohn is in charge of the Municipal Guard, the local police, in Vorbarr Sultana. (Vorbohn is referred to as "Count Vorbohn" in Barrayar. However, Vorbarr Sultana is clearly in the Vorbarra District, thus the name Vorbarr Sultana.)
Vorreedi - A Lord Voreedi was the "protocol officer" on Cetaganda, or more accurately, Chief of ImpSec on Cetaganda, during the novel Cetaganda.
Vortorren
Vorsoisson - The family name of Etienne Vorsoisson, principally important for being Ekaterin's first husband.
Vorvayne - Ekaterin's Maiden name.
Vorvane
Vorthys - Lord Auditor Professor Dr. Vorthys (unknown if a relative is a Count). Before becoming an Imperial Auditor, he was a professor of engineering who specialized in failure analysis; he is perhaps to some extent based on Bujold's father, an engineering professor who edited a multivolume Nondestructive Testing Handbook [1].
Vorob'yev - Lord Vorob'yev was the Barrayaran Ambassador to Cetaganda during the novel Cetaganda
Vorthalia - Mentioned as a heroic legend, such as Vorthalia the Bold or Vorthalia the Loyal. Probably a Count but can't be proven yet.
Vorventa - from Lord Vorventa the Twice Hung one of only a few people tried for a crime after death.