He was born in the desert region of the wealthy and luxurious city of Tor. Where his father, Kainoa Sage had a house with his free companion, Hamna. Ric, as a young Lad would be found playing in the gutters with his friends, which lay in the middle of the streets, or looking for people to take to The Golden Kaiila Cafe to earn a copper tarsk for every customer he brought. His father was away much at Klima and his mother was ill, after his birth until her death. Ric being the cleaver Lad that he was, would find ways to occupy the Guards time, so, he may go off and play. One morning he came down for breakfast to find his father had not left for Klima and the caravans loaded. His father then took him to Klima telling him of his mothers' death.

                     Kainoa                                                                                   Hamna

Growing up in the salt mines is not easy for a child even if he is the child of the Salt Ubar. Ric learned at a young age how to care for himself without his mother, female kajira where not allow in the salt city, only kajiru were brought there and put to work. It was very hard times for Ric and his father. For Ric had to learn how to cook for them at a young age. His father went to the City and got a slave that once was of the Scribe Caste to teach him how to read and write. Ric would study all the time for he knew what it meant to have education and there was little to entertain oneself in the salt city. As Ric grew he was given duties in the city, from making sure water was distributed fairly among the groups to being in charge of watching the kajiru to make sure they didn't try to run away on the slave caravans that would occasionally come threw. These caravans would bring fresh foods of tarsk, bosk or tabuk, fresh vegetables and drink. The caravans also brought kajira for the pleasure of free in the city or perhaps to a kajiru who had earned such a reward. One time not so long ago

Ric was walking around the salt mines making sure the slaves were doing their job and not stealing any salt or trying to escape. It was a hot summer day and a caravan had come to the salt city. A slave decided to try to hide in the caravan that would come threw to trade salt for food and pleasures. The slave made a mistake and tried to hide in the tent in the caravan that Ric was in. Ric was not pleased for the slave interrupted Ric if you get my drift. Ric carried the slave by the neck, chained him up and beat him until he begged for his life.

One of the major sites within the Tahari for obtaining salt are the brine pits of Klima. Klima is hidden deep within the dune country and its location is closely guarded. It is worked by thousands of male slaves and escape is nearly impossible. Kaiila are not permitted there, even for the guards. There is a well there but no other water for about a thousand pasangs. Women are not permitted there so that men will not kill each other for them. Slaves are taken to the mines on foot, hooded and chained. Many die on route. At the mines, their feet must be bound in leather to the knees as they will sink through the salt crusts. The salt would grate and burn their flesh. In the mines, most of the salt is in solution. It is obtained in either of two ways, by drilling and flush mining, or by sending men to collect it in the deeper pits. A work day is from dawn to dusk and some men kill others for lighter assignments. 

The brine pits of Klima are not devoid of life. Such creatures as lelts, salamanders, crayfish, and salt sharks live there. Salt sharks can be dangerous to the slaves. They are large creatures, twelve feet or longer, and carnivorous. Most of the other animals are harmless creatures. 

One of the most powerful men in the Tahari is the Salt Ubar, or Guard of the Dunes. His kasbah is located northwest of Klima and is a secret. A few merchants in the salt trade know of its location. Its walls are over seventy feet high and it has seventeen battlements that climb to ninety feet. The front wall is about four hundred feet long and the side walls are four hundred and fifty feet long. The Salt Ubar administers and controls the salt districts primarily by regulating access to the districts, checking the papers and credentials of merchants, inspecting caravans, keeping records of the commerce, etc. The support of the kasbah of the Salt Ubar comes from fees supplied by the salt merchants. The Salt Ubar's men are customarily veiled as their allegiance is supposed to be to no tribe but to the protection of salt.


Most salt at Klima is white, but certain of the mines deliver red salt, red from ferrous oxide in its composition, which is called the Red Salt of Kasra. pg 238 Tribesmen of GOR

Salt, red -- some of the salt mines in the Tahari Desert Waste area of Klima, deliver a salt, famed on Gor, that is red in color from deposits of ferrous oxide. It is called the Red Salt of Kasra, after its port of embarkation at the juncture of the Upper and Lower Fayeen.
Book 10: Tribesman of Gor, pages 20 and 238

Salt, yellow -- references to yellow salt as 'of the south' and on a table exist but no other description has been found.
Book 5: Assassin of Gor, page 86
Book 9: Marauders of Gor, page 186-187