Goa'uld society

[SG1Member]

I've envisioned Goa'uld society as being shaped like a pyramid, which of course fits with the overall theme of the Goa'uld. At the top of the pyramid is the System Lord, who rules over multiple planets. Below that on the pyramid are the various Lesser Goa'uld who serve the System Lord as governors and administrators of the various worlds. Another level down are the Jaffa armies who maintain order on those worlds, and at the bottom of the pyramid are the largest population, the human slaves of those worlds. Does this sound fairly accurate, do you think, based on what we've learned from the show?

[SF_and_Coffee]

Well, there are probably other Goa'uld in that society, too. You know, the general run of rank-and-file folks who aren't governors or administrators or in charge of really anything. At most they might supervise some of the slaves and Jaffa, but they'd be the equivalent of middle management or even on the level of the part-time assistant manager at your local Stop 'N Shop.

[SGSargon]

I've envisioned Goa'uld society as being shaped like a pyramid, which of course fits with the overall theme of the Goa'uld. At the top of the pyramid is the System Lord, who rules over multiple planets. Below that on the pyramid are the various Lesser Goa'uld who serve the System Lord as governors and administrators of the various worlds. Another level down are the Jaffa armies who maintain order on those worlds, and at the bottom of the pyramid are the largest population, the human slaves of those worlds. Does this sound fairly accurate, do you think, based on what we've learned from the show?

Actually you're very right:

Spoiler:

sg1302025.jpg

The Goa'uld society is mostly feudal so a pyramid-like hierarchy is pretty accurate.

[lordofseas]

Except, wouldn't that be a triangular hierarchy be more accurate? Hierarchies tend not to be 3-dimensional.

[Dave2]

Well, there are probably other Goa'uld in that society, too. You know, the general run of rank-and-file folks who aren't governors or administrators or in charge of really anything. At most they might supervise some of the slaves and Jaffa, but they'd be the equivalent of middle management or even on the level of the part-time assistant manager at your local Stop 'N Shop.

Where are the goa'uld mechanics, teachers, plumbers, salesmen, professors, engineers, bus drivers, etc.?
We get the impression that goa'ulds are a few people at the top, though in Hathor's little empire befoer O'Neill kills her she has a few scientists.

[SG1Member]

Except, wouldn't that be a triangular hierarchy be more accurate? Hierarchies tend not to be 3-dimensional.

I suppose. A triangle could be seen as a pyramid, I only said pyramid because it seemed more fitting.

[Krisz]

Where are the goa'uld mechanics, teachers, plumbers, salesmen, professors, engineers, bus drivers, etc.?
We get the impression that goa'ulds are a few people at the top, though in Hathor's little empire befoer O'Neill kills her she has a few scientists.

They are the few on top! They are Gods!!!!

The minions are the Jaffa who bring the slaves, guard and tell them how things are done as they build the Goa'uld cities and ships. Then you have the Lotars who serve the Goa'uld too, guess they fix all the things that need fixing and are probably trusted as the architects and engineers as the Goa'uld may pass on some knowledge like this to their most loyal servants. There are no teachers since "writing is forbidden" for slaves as we find out in the original movie but some do recognise writing. Jaffa learn to read to man the ships and Goa'uld facilities.

Why would the Goa'uld have salesmen, they just come along, take over and impose their will over the hapless natives, if a Goa'uld wants you to buy and wear his latest designs in garish fashion you just do?!!!

[garhkal]

It's a pity to me, that we never got to see more of those lesser gou'ald shown on that holo emitter the Tok'ra used..

[Dave2]

So what happens to all the large numbers of goa'ulds being spawned and even swimming around or sitting in the bellies of Jaffa? By the way, are goa'ulds able to communicate as intelligent beings before they join a host, i.e. when swimming around or sitting in the bellies of Jaffa?

[jelgate]

So what happens to all the large numbers of goa'ulds being spawned and even swimming around or sitting in the bellies of Jaffa? By the way, are goa'ulds able to communicate as intelligent beings before they join a host, i.e. when swimming around or sitting in the bellies of Jaffa?

They get hosts or are eaten by hosts. As for Jaffa yes they can communicate with the Goa'uld but its very dangerous that it might kill them

[SF_and_Coffee]

They'd likely be able to communicate with each other while swimming in an aquatic environment, probably using electrical signals or possibly sound. But while in a Jaffa's pouch, no.

[Dave2]

They'd likely be able to communicate with each other while swimming in an aquatic environment, probably using electrical signals or possibly sound. But while in a Jaffa's pouch, no.

So the evil critters while in a Jaffa are just passive?
And how could such little heads contain intelligence comparable to a human and never function?

[SF_and_Coffee]

Who says they never function? On the other hand, larvae are immature, juvenile forms of the adult Goa'uld, comparable to a human infant or young toddler. Does a human infant or toddler display the same intellectual capabilities as an adult human? Even though the infant Goa'uld carry the same genetic memory as their adult parent(s), my guess is that it takes some time of physical maturation before the Goa'uld symbiote is capable of fully accessing and utilizing that knowledge, and during that time, the larval symbiote is physically nurtured in a Jaffa pouch until it reaches maturity.

[Bryan]

Where are the goa'uld mechanics, teachers, plumbers, salesmen, professors, engineers, bus drivers, etc.?
We get the impression that goa'ulds are a few people at the top, though in Hathor's little empire befoer O'Neill kills her she has a few scientists.

There are none like that. In my opinion (which I've put into fan fiction) is that Goa'uld operate at the top levels of society. There are no Goa'uld "teachers, plumbers, salesmen" or anything nearly so mundane. A Goa'uld would handle things a Jaffa or human slave could not be trusted to handle.

In return the Goa'uld gets either wealthy, luxury, or slaves or property to rule over. Very much like the feudal system with kings, lords, and knights.

The way I see it Goa'uld run Ha'taks and serve as commanders of air groups and battle squadrons. They're not of the rank and file but do have to command and create strategies. There are relatively few Goa'uld, so there might only be maybe a dozen on a Ha'tak while there could be 1,000 Jaffa.

Minor Goa'uld would basically do everything that needs to be done "behind the scenes." They would know how to produce weapons or new technology (my belief is the Goa'uld have some very advanced automated production sites so no Jaffa learns how their "magic" works).

A Goa'uld can either seek to rise through the fuedal system and maybe one day become his or her system lord's direct underling or just live a life of decadence and contribute at times to Goa'uld society.

The appearance of Goa'uld society in Children of the Gods was perhaps the deepest look we ever got. All the other episodes were pretty lazy. I think we saw less than 50 Goa'uld and are supposed to believe there are only a handful of them... laughable since there are billions of Jaffa. And not all those Jaffa die, so where do the baby snakes go?

You also can't eat them fast enough.

[SF_and_Coffee]

The fact of there being so many Jaffa and therefore so many Goa'uld larvae is precisely why I think the Goa'uld do have a full society, with scientists, engineers, and lots of other things. They couldn't all live in luxury, after all, because there isn't enough luxury to go around for that. Maybe they don't have teachers or plumbers, but probably lots of other things. We just never saw most of them, because they weren't germane to the episodes.