THE NORTHERN FORESTS

The forests of northern Gor, also called the High Forests, cover hundreds of thousands of square pasangs. The forests are located north of the Laurius River and extend as far north as Torvaldsland. They also extend east, past the northern ridges of the Thentis Mountains, and no one knows how far they extend. They extend west to the shores of Thassa. The forests are north of Delphius and it takes a few days by tarnback to reach the forests' edge. It is a much longer journey across land. The forests are a vast uncharted wilderness.

The forests contain a multitude of different types of trees and vegetation. The most typical tree is the lofty, reddish Tur tree that may grow to two hundred feet or more. Tur trees bear some similarity to the great redwoods of Earth. The forests are also the home to many animals, including panthers, sleens, tabuk and hith. In addition, the forests are the refuge of various outlaws, forest people and panther girls. The forests can be a very dangerous area to visit.

Laura is a small city, northeast of Koroba, on the banks of the Laurius river. It is two hundred pasangs inland from the Thassa coast. It is a trading city and river port. It is the only civilized area in the region. The city is comprised mostly of warehouses and taverns. Primarily, rough goods are sold in the city as there is little market for the more exquisite goods of Gor. It is a major stopping point and restocking area for many who travel into the northern forests.

The Laurius River is a long, winding, and slow river. It flows in a generally westernly direction though it inclines some to the southwest, emptying into Thassa at the free port of Lydius. Barges crossing the Laurius usually charge a free person one silver tarsk and one copper for an animal or slave. Above Laura, the river is less navigable, especially in the late summer. Some who travel into the northern forests take a ship from Lydius up river.

On the Laurius River and the coast of Thassa are a number of exchange points where outlaws and panther girls can display their wares for passing ships. At each spot is commonly a pair of sloping beams, positioned in an upside-down "V" shape. These are large, heavy and high structures. Iron rings are set in the beams to hold and display slaves. The early spring is best time to use these points so that the newly purchased slaves can be prepared in time for the summer season. Male and female outlaws do not bother each other at these points. It is an unwritten area of truce. Neither attempt to enslave the other while they are at these exchange spots.

A man who refuses to practice his livelihood or strives to alter status without consent of the Council of High Castes is by definition an outlaw. Other men, who lose their caste for various reasons, can be called outlaws. Some men even choose to be outlaws. Most Goreans do not look well on outlaws. Outlaws do not possess Home Stones. Outlaws are subject to impalement in most cities. Common penalties for outlaws in the northern forests include hanging and hamstringing. Outlaws are not permitted to wear identifying devices on their garb or weapons. Thus, many outlaws escape to the northern forests to hide there as the cities do not offer them refuge.

A number of escaped kajirae, and even some free women, also flee to these forests. They come together into bands, building shelters, hunting and hating men. They are known as panther girls or forest girls. Usually to join a band, you must fight and kill an existing member. Panther girls are considered outlaws and subject to the same penalties as male outlaws. Thus, a panther girl who dared to try to enter a city would be subject to impalement. They too must remain in the forests as they cannot seek haven in the cities.

Panther girls dress themselves in the teeth and skins of forest panthers, which they kill with spears and bows. They are often skilled archers but they do not wield swords. The only other weapon they use are sleen knives. They do not wear leather outfits, robes of concealment, veils or tunics. Some girls also wear gold ornaments, such as necklaces, bracelets and armlets.

They hate female slaves and treat them with great cruelty. They regard all women, slave or free, as soft, worthless creatures. They are arrogant and have little respect for anyone besides themselves. They also hate men but do hold more respect for men than women. Though panther girls are arrogant with men, they do not call them "males" in the books.

Panther girls capture and enslave some men who enter the forests. The girls usually shave a strip down the heads of male slaves. The strip is about two to two and a half inches wide and is done to humiliate them. It is called a degradation stripe. It is said that "only weaklings, fools and men who deserve to be slave girls, fall slave to women." Once the girls grow tired of their male slaves, they will sell them at the exchange points. Some former male slaves wear hats until their hair grows back.

Each band of panther girls customarily has a semi-permanent camp, especially in the winter. Each band knows the usual territories of other bands. Each band normally does not get along well with other bands and often war between each other. Most of these bands are small groups. Their camps have conical, thatched huts of woven saplings. The camp is surrounded by a palisade of sharpened saplings. There is a rough gate, fastened with vines, to enter the palisade. In the center of the camp is a cooking hole banked with a circle of flat stones. The camps are usually empty during the day, while the girls are hunting, but the girls return by dusk.

Each band also has a dancing circle near their camps. This is commonly a clearing of grass of twenty-five to thirty yards in diameter. At one side is a slave post, about five feet high and seven inches thick. There are two heavy metal rings in it, one ring two feet from the ground and the other three and a half feet. On the front, near the top, is a crude representation carved in the bark of opened slave bracelets. In the center of the circle are four heavy stakes, about six inches high, forming a small but ample square. At night, under the moons, the panther girls dance naked and wildly, like slaves, inside the circle. They usually dance when their suppressed womanhood becomes too painful.

Panther girls commonly trade for candies, knives, arrow points, small spear points, armlets, bracelets, necklaces, mirrors, slave nets, slave traps, and slave steel. There is little sugar in the forest, save in certain berries, so simple hard candies are highly prized. Panther girls trade slaves and animal pelts at the exchange points. Panther girls are not wealthy. They live very simply.

Panther girls fear being enslaved by men. There is a panther girl saying that, "Any girl who permits herself to fall to men desires in her heart to be their slave." But, it is said that panther girls, conquered, make incredible slaves. For this reason, men of various cities come to the northern forests to hunt panther girls or buy them from the exchange points.

Panther girls are not the same as talunas. Though there are some similarities, the two terms are not interchangeable. Taluna is not a Gorean word. It is from an inland dialect in the jungles near Schendi. Talunas and panther girls have a number of cultural differences.

Men also come to the northern forests to hunt animals as well. Marlenus, Ubar of Ar, often goes there to hunt. There are numerous small game and birds that are hunted as well as some larger game animals such as panthers, sleen, tabuk and tarsk. Hunting is an exciting yet dangerous pursuit.

The forest panther is a tawny-colored, proud beast and is very common in the forests. They hunt largely at night but are not invariably nocturnal. They normally hunt when they are hungry or irritable. Spears and bows are commonly used to hunt them. The panther girls prefer to hunt this beast. They wear its skins.

There are many varieties of sleen on Gor and there is a forest variety. This animal is a six-legged, long bodied carnivorous mammal, almost like a snake. It is an efficient, tireless, almost infallible hunter. It is capable of pursuing a scent, days old, for hundreds of pasangs. The sleen is Gor's most perfect hunter. Its preferred prey is tabuk. It is a nocturnal, burrowing animal that does not climb. Young sleen are about eight feet long and adults are nineteen to twenty feet long. A young sleen's attack is noisy, a whistling rush or a clumsy squealing charge. Adult sleen sometimes make their kills swiftly and silently. The forest sleen is a large animal, either brown or black pelted. Sleen hunters use bows, spears and sleen nets to hunt sleens. Sleen hunters, for luck eat the heart of a sleen they kill.

There are several varieties of the tabuk, a one-horned, yellow antelope that frequents Ka-la-na thickets. Those in the northern forest tend to be a little larger than average though not as large as those tabuk in Torvaldsland. They are herbivores. They have a single horn of ivory, a deadly weapon. The horn is about a yard or so long and two and a half inches at the base.

The tarsk is a six-tusked wild boar, with a bristly mane running down its spine. There is even a giant tarsk that stands ten hands at the shoulder. Their meat tends to be salty. They are normally hunted with spears and bows.