| Animals |
| Kaiilas From Nomads of Gor The mount of the Wagon Peoples, unknown in the northern hemisphere of Gor, is the terrifying but beautiful kaiila. It is a silken, carnivorous, lofty creature, graceful, long-necked, smooth-gaited. It is viviparous and undoubtedly mammalian, though there is no suckling of the young. The young are born vicious and by instinct, as soon as they can struggle to their feet, they hunt. It is an instinct of the other, sensing the birth, to deliver the young animal in the vicinity of game. I supposed, with the domesticated kaiila, a bound verr or a prisoner might be cast to the newborn animal. The kaiila, once it eats its fill, does not touch food for several days. The kaiila is extremely agile, and can easily outmaneuver the slower, more ponderous high tharlarion. It requires less food, of course, than the tarn. A kaiila, which normally stands about twenty to twenty-two hands at the shoulder, can cover as much as six hundred pasangs in a single day's riding. The head of the kaiila bears two large eyes, one on each side, but these eyes are triply lidded, probably an adaptation to the environment which occasionally is wracked by severe storms of wind and dust; the adaptation, actually a transparent third lid, permits the animal to move as it wishes under conditions that force other prairie animals to back into the wind or, like the sleen, to burrow into the ground. The kaiila is most dangerous under such conditions, and, as if it knew this, often uses such times for its hunt. The kaiila moves with great rapidity. The kaiila of these men were as tawny as the brown grass of the prairie, save for that of the man who faced me, whose mount was a silken, sable black, as black as the lacquer of the shield. I saw the kaiila tense, almost like larls, their flanks quivering, their large eyes intent upon me. I saw one of the long, triangular tongues dart out and back. Their long ears were laid back against the fierce, silken heads. As suddenly as he had finished, as soon as the men had named themselves, as if a signal had been given, the four kaiila bounded forward, squealing with rage, each rider bent low on his mount, lance gripped in his right hand, straining to be the first to reach me. One, the Tuchuk, I might have slain with a cast of the heavy Gorean war spear; the others would have had free play with their lances. I might have thrown myself to the ground as the tart hunters from Ar, once their weapon is cast, covering myself with the shield; but then I would have been beneath the clawed paws of four squealing, snorting kaiila, while the riders jabbed at me with lances, off my feet, helpless. At the last instant, the lances of four riders but a hand's breadth from my body, the enraged, thundering kaiila, hissing and squealing, at a touch of the control straps, arrested their fierce charge, stopping themselves, tearing into the deep turf with suddenly emergent claws. Not a rider was thrown or seemed for an instant off balance. The children of the Wagon Peoples are taught the saddle of the kaiila before they can walk. Angrily the Tuchuk pulled back on the reins of the kaiila, causing it to rear, snarling, pawing at the sky. In their way I knew they were honoring me, that they had respected my stand in the matter of the charging lances, that now they were gambling to see who would fight me, to whose weapons my blood must flow, beneath the paws of whose kaiila I must fall bloodied to the earth. Here and there I saw riders, darting about, all mounted on the swift, graceful kaiila. It seemed scarcely had he passed than the kaiila had wheeled and charged again, this time given free rein, that it might tear at me with its fangs. I thrust with the spear, trying to force back the snapping jaws of the screaming animal. The kaiila struck, and then withdrew, and then struck again. All the time the Tuchuk thrust at me with his lance. Four times the point struck me drawing blood, but he did not have the weight of the leaping animal behind his thrust; he thrust at arm's length, the point scarcely reaching me. Then the animal seized my shield in its teeth and reared lifting it and myself, by the shield straps, from the ground. I fell from some dozen feet to the grass and saw the animal snarling and biting on the shield, then it shook it and hurled it far and away behind it. I was later to learn that kaiita are trained to avoid the thrown spear. It is a training which begins with blunt staves and progresses through headed weapons. Until the kaiila is suitably proficient in this art it is not allowed to breed. Those who cannot learn it die under the spear. Yet, at a close range, I had no doubt that I could slay the beast. As swift as may be the kaiila I had no doubt that I was swifter. Gorean warriors hunt men and tarts with this weapon. But I did not wish to slay the animal, nor its rider. The sides of the wagon box, incidentally, are, here and there, perforated for arrow ports, for the small horn bow of the Wagon Peoples can be used to advantage not only from the back of a kaiila but, like the crossbow, from such cramped quarters. I was about to press Kamchak on this matter when we heard a sudden shout and the squealing of kaiila from among the wagons. A lance was fastened between them, fixed to the stirrups of their saddles. The lance cleared the ground, given the height of the kaiila, by about five feet. They did not, in fact, even cross the western Cartius, far from cities, which they often do, swimming the bosk and kaiila, floating the wagons, the men often crossing on the backs of the swimming bosk. Indeed, it is not unknown that a Tuchuk will bet his entire stock of bosk on the outcome of a single kaiila race; as many as a dozen slave girls may change hands on something as small as the direction that a bird will fly or the number of seeds in a tospit. "You do not even own a kaiila," they would say. "You do not even wear the Courage Scar." The saddle of the kaiila, like the tarn saddle, is made in such a way as to accommodate, bound across it, a female captive, rings being fixed on both sides through which binding fiber or thong may be passed. To my dismay, as he returned racing toward the circle of the boskhide whip the girl, a fine wench, managed to sink her teeth into the neck of the kaiila causing it to rear squealing and hissing, then striking at her. By the time Kamchak had cuffed the girl from the animal's neck and struck the kaiila's snapping jaws from her twice-bitten leg and returned to the circle, he had used thirty-five beats. It might be mentioned, incidentally, that without the Courage Scar one may not, among the Tuchuks, pay court to a free woman, own a wagon, or own more than five bosk and three kaiila. "Ah, yes, weapons," Kamchak was saying, "what shall it be the kaiila lance, a whip and bladed bole perhaps the quiva?" The warrior of the Wagon Peoples does not use the short sword, probably because such a weapon could not be optimally used froth the saddle of the kaiila; the saber, incidentally, which would be somewhat more effective from kaiilaback, is almost unknown on Gor; its role, I gather, is more than fulfilled by the lance, which may be used with a delicacy and address comparable to that of a blade, supplemented by the seven quiva, or saddle knives; it might further be pointed out that a saber would barely reach to the saddle of the high tharlarion; the warrior of the Wagon Peoples seldom approaches an enemy more closely than is required to bring him down with the bow, or, if need be, the lance; the quiva itself is regarded, on the whole, as more of a missile weapon than a hand knife. I would have given much for a tarn. Even on my kaiila I was certain I could be outdistanced by numerous riders, each leading, in the Tuchuk fashion, a string of fresh mounts. Eventually my kaiila would tire and I would be brought down on the prairie by pursuers. The trailing would undoubtedly be done by trained herd sleen. All I received for my trouble were the angry shouts of the man leading the kaiila string. Indeed, one of the vicious beasts even snapped at me, ripping the sleeve on my shoulder. He did not buy the kaiila near the wagon of Yachi of the Leather Workers though it was apparently a splendid beast. At one point, he wrapped a heavy fur and leather robe-about his left arm and struck the beast suddenly on the snout with his right hand. It had not struck back at him swiftly enough to please him, and there were only four needlelike scratches in the arm guard before Kamchak had managed to leap back and the kaiila, lunging against its chain, was snapping at him. "Such a slow beast," said Kamchak, "might in battle cost a man his life." I supposed it true. The kaiila and its master fight in battle as one unit, seemingly a single savage animal, armed with teeth and lance. I drew back the reins on my kaiila to keep the beast quiet. Kurs Kurs are thinking beast that have their own culture, customs and ways. They are not to be dealt with like sleens, larls, etc., because these beasts are extremely intelligent and strong. What a Kur looks like Its head was approximately the width of the chest of a large man. It had a flat snout, with wide nostrils. Its ears were large, and pointed....The beast was approximately nine feet in height; I conjectured its weight in the neighborhood of eight or nine hundred pounds. Marauders of Gor, p. 169 "The Kur has two rows of fangs. Its mouth is large enough to take into it the head of a full grown man." Marauders of Gor, page 170 "The prehensile paws, or hands, of the Kurii are six-digited and multiple jointed. The legs are thick and short." Marauders of Gor, page 171 In spite of the shortness of the legs the Kur can, when it wishes, by utilizing its upper appendages, in the manner of a prairie simian, like the baboon, move with great rapidity. It becomes, in running, what is, in effect, a four-foot animal. Marauders, p 108-110 For short distances it can outrun a full-grown tarsk. It is also said to possess great stamina, but of that I am much less certain. Few animals, which have not been trained, have, or need, stamina. An exception would be pack hunters, like the wolves or hunting dogs of Earth. Mauraders, page 171 Its ears, large, pointed and wide, were laid back flat against its head. It was perhaps seven feet tall and weighed four or five hundred pounds. Its snout was wide, leathery. There were two nostrils, slitlike. Its tongue was dark. It had two rows of fangs, four of which were particularly prominent, those in the first row of fangs, above and below, in the position of canines; of these, the upper two were particularly long, and curved. Its arms were longer and larger than its legs; it held the body it was devouring in clawed, pawlike hands, yet six-digited, extrajointed, almost like tentacles. � "This was a small Kur," said the Forkbeard. "They are generally larger. Note the mottling of white. Those are disease marks." Marauders, 108-110 The pupils of its eyes, in the sunlight, were extremely small and black. They were like points in the yellowish green cornea. I knew that, in darkness, they could swell, like dark moons, to fill amost the entire optic orifice, some three or four inches in width. Evolution, on some distant, perhaps vanished world, had adapted this life form for both diurnial and nocturnal hunting. Doubtless, like the cat, it hunted when hungry, and its efficient visual capacities, like those of the cat, meant that there was no time of the day or night when it might not be feared. Marauders, 108-110 Kurii, I had been told, usually, in meeting men, laid the ears back against the sides of their heads, to increase their resemblance to humans. The ears are often laid back, also, incidentally, in hostility or anger, and always in its attacks. It is apparently physiologically impossible for a Kur to attack without its shoulders hunching, its claws emerging, and its ears lying back against the head. Marauders, 108-110 The trailing capacities of the Kurii are not as superb as those of a sleen, but they are reputed to be the equal of those of larls. The hearing, similarly, is acute. Again, it is equated with that of the larl, and not the sharply-sensed sleen. There was little doubt that the day vision of the Kurii was equivalent to that of men, if not superior, and the night vision, of course, was infinitely superior; their sense of smell, too of course, was incomparably superior to that of men, and their sense of hearing as well. Moreover, they, like men, were rational. Like men, they were a single-brained organism, limited by a spinal column. Marauders, 108-110 The beast was approximately nine feet in height; I conjectured its weight in the neighborhood of eight or nine hundred pounds. Interestingly, Priest-Kings, who are not visually oriented organisms, find little difference between Kurii and men. � One difference they do remark between the human and the Kur, and that is that the human, commonly, has an inhibition against killing. This inhibition the Kur lacks. Marauders, pages 169-170 They are capable of understanding humor: Again the skin drew back from its fangs. I wondered if this were an attempt to stimulate a human smile. � The Kur did not seem angry at the laughter. I wondered if it understood laughter. To the Kur it might be only a human noise, as meaningless to him as the cries of whales to us. "You are amused," it said. The Kurii, then, had some understanding of laughter. Its own lips then drew back, revealing the fangs. I then understood this clearly as a smile. Mauraders, page 173 The Kur language They have several dialects of language: The Kur stepped back with the other Kurii. They spoke together in one of the languages of the Kurii, for there are, I understood, in the steel worlds, nations and races of such beasts. I could hear little of what they said. I could detect, however, that it more resembled the snarls and growling of larls than the converse of rational creatures. Marauders, page 174 What Kurs eat In a word, meat -- and that includes human flesh *lol* Among the Kurii, in their various languages, were words referring to edible meat, food. These general terms, in their scope, included human beings. These terms were sometimes best translated as "meat animal" and sometimes "cattle" or, sometimes, simply "food." The human being was regarded, by Kurii, as falling within the scope of application of such terms. The term translated "cattle" was sometimes qualified to discriminate between four-legged cattle and two-legged cattle, of which the Kurii were familiar with two varieties, the bounding Hurt and the human. � The soft flesh of the human female, I knew, was regarded as a delicacy among the Kurii. Marauders, page 177 "I thank the great Jarl," said the beast, "and fine grain it is. It will be our hope to have such good fortune with our own crops in the south. But I must decline to taste your gift, for we, like men, and unlike bosk, do not feed on raw grain." Marauders, page 178 The Kur reached out and took the loaf. "I shall take this to my camp," it said, as a token of the good will of the men of Torvaldsland." "Feed," invited Svein Blue Tooth. "The two Kurii behind the speaker growled, soft, like irritated larls. It made the hair on my neck rise to hear them, for I knew they had spoken to one another. The Kur looked upon the loaf, as we might have looked on grass, or wood, or the shell of a turtle. Then, slowly, he put it in his mouth. Scarcely had he swallowed it then he howled with nausea, and cast it up. I knew then that this Kur, if not all, was carnivorous. Marauders, page 179 The blood of Kurii, like that of men, is red, and of similar chemical composition. It is another similarity adduced by Priest-Kings when they wish to argue the equivalence of the warring species. The major difference between the blood content of the Kur and of men is that the plasma of the Kur contains a greater percentage of salt, this acting in water primarily as a protein solvent. The Kur can eat and digest quantities of meat that would kill a man. Marauders, page 207 We looked down at the remains of a bosk, torn apart, eaten through. Even large bones had been broken, snapped apparently in mighty jaws, the marrow sucked from them. The brains, too, had been scooped, with a piece of wood, from the skull. "Do you not know," asked Ivar Forkbeard, "of what animal this is the work?" "No," I said. "This has been killed by one of the Kurii," he said. Marauders, 107 Kur ko-lars and brands Yes, the Kur will brand his property, especially female slaves, but he tends to refer to them as cow and consider them food rather than for sexual pleasure. From my pouch I drew forth a leather Kur collar, with its lock, and sewn in leather, its large, rounded ring. "What is it?" she asked apprehensively, I took it behind her neck, and then, closing it about her throat, thrust the large, flattish bolt, snapping it, into the lock breech. The two edges of metal, bordered by the leather, fitted closely together. The collar is some three inches in height. the girl must keep her chin up. "It is the collar of a Kur cow," I told her. Marauders, page 275 Incidentally, there are many brands on Gor. Two that almost never occur on Gor, by the way, are those of the moons and collar, and of the chain and claw. The first of these commonly occurs in certain of the Gorean enclaves on Earth, which serve as headquarters for agents of the Priest-Kings; the second tends to occur in the lairs of Kurii agents on Earth; the first brand consists of a locked collar and, ascending diagonally above it, extending to the right, three quarter moons; this brand indicates the girl is subject to Gorean discipline; the chain-and-claw brand signifies, of course, slavery and subjection with the compass of the Kur yoke." Explorers of Gor, page 12 Kur sexes "We have three, or, if you prefer, four sexes," it said. "There is the dominant, which would, I suppose, correspond most closely to the human male. It is the instinct of the dominant to enter the killings and mate. There is then the form of the Kur, which closely resembles the dominant but does not join in the killings or mate. You may, or may not, regard this as two sexes. There is then the egg carrier who is impregnated. This form of Kur is smaller then the dominant or the non dominant, speaking thusly of the non reproducing form of Kur." Beasts 369-370 "The egg carrier is the female." I said. "If you like," said the beast. "But shortly after the impregnation, within a moon, the egg carrier deposits the fertilized seed in the third form of Kur, which is mouthed, but sluggish and immobile. Those fasten themselves to hard surfaces, rather like dark, globular anemones. The egg develops inside the body of the blood nurser and, some months later, it tears its way free." "It has no mother." I said. "Not in the human sense." It said. "It will however, usually follow, unless it itself is a blood nurser, which is drawn out, the first Kur it sees, providing it is either an egg carrier or a nondominant." "The young receive blood in the nurser," he said. "When it is born it does not need milk, but water and common protein." "It is born fanged?" I asked. "Of course," it said. "And it is capable of stalking and killing small animals shortly after it leaves the blood nurser." Beasts 369-370 . "Is there an order to your sexes?" I asked. "Of course there is a biological order," He said, "Structure is a function of nature. How could it be otherwise? There is first the Dominant, and then the egg carrier, and then the non dominant, and then, if one considers such things Kur, the blood nursers." "The female, or egg carrier, is dominant over the non dominant?" I asked. "Of course," he said." They are despicable." "Suppose a dominant is victorious in the killings?" I said, "What then occurs?" "Many things could occur," He said, " but he then, generally, with a club, would indicate what egg carriers he desires. He then ties them together and drives them to his cave. In the cave he impregnates them and makes them serve him." "Do they attempt to run away?" I asked. "No," he said, " He would hunt them down and kill them. But after he has impregnated them they tend to remain, even when untied, for he is then their dominant." Beasts of Gor, 369-370 Kur civilization "Our brain cases are larger then yours," it said." Our anatomy could not well support a larger cranial development. In our history, as in your, larger brain cases have been selected for." "In what way?" I asked. "In the killings." It said. Marauders, 175 "Is the Kur a social animal?" I asked. "It is a social animal," it said," But it is not as social as the human." "That is perhaps a drawback to it as a species," I said. "It has its advantages," it said. "The Kur can live alone. It can go its own way. It does not need its herd." Beasts, 369 "Surly in ancient times, Kurri came together," I said. "Yes" it said. "in the matings, and the killings," It looked at me, chewing." But that was long ago," it said." We have had civilization for one hundred thousand years, as you would understand these things. In the dawn of our prehistory small bands emerged from the burrows and the caves and forests. It was a beginning." "What do you put above all?" I asked. "Glory," it said. It looked at me. "Can you understand that?" it asked. "How is it that an animal without strong social instincts can be concerned with glory?" I asked. "It emerges, we speculate, from the killings." Beasts 369-370 "The killings?" I asked. "Even before the first groups," he said, "we would gather for the matings and killings. Great circles, rings of our people, would form in valleys to watch." "You fought for mates?" I asked. "We fought for the joy of killing," it said, " Mating, however, was a prerogative of the victor." It took a rib bone from the larl and began to thrust it, scraping, between his fangs, freeing and removing bits of wedged meat. "Humans, as I understand it, perform all the functions pertinent to the continuance of the species." "Yes," I said, "that is true." Beasts, 369-370 These beasts, over the centuries grown numerous and strong, might now be directed by the Kurii of the steel worlds: Doubtless they had been in contact with them. I expected the speaker himself was of the steel ships, painfully taught Gorean. The Kurii native to Gor, or which had been permitted to survive and settle on Gor, would surely not be likely to have this facility. They and men seldom met, save to kill on another. Mauraders, page 175 How Kurs fight and how to fight against them These beasts are huge, strong and their grasp is much longer than yours. They also usually are armed by great axes and metal shields. His sword was drawn, but it would prove of little efficacy against the great metal shields, the sweeping axes of the Kurii. They could cut a man down before he could approach them, even with the long blade of the North. Marauders, page 207 A spear came too close to it. It seized it, ripping it from the man, and, with a single snap of its teeth, bit the shaft in two, snapping it like I might have broken a dried twig. Then it lifted its head and, fangs wild, like a maddened larl, roared in fury. I think there was not a man in the field who was not, for that instant, frozen in terror. The roar of the beast must have carried even to the ships. Marauders, page 179 Kur's ax and shield Behind the Kur, to one side, stood two other Kurii. They, like the first, were fearsome creatures. each carried a wide, round shield, of iron, some four feet in diameter. Each, too, carried a great, double-bladed iron ax, which, from blade tip to blade tip, was two feet in width. The handle of the ax was of carved, green needle wood, round, some four inches in diameter. The axes were some seven or eight feet in height. Marauders, page 171 In the doorway, silhouetted against flames behind them we saw great, black, shaggy figures. Then one leapt within the hall. In one hand it carried a gigantic ax, whose handle was perhaps eight feet long, whose blade, from tip to tip, might have been better than two feet in length; on its other arm it carried a great, round, iron shield, double strapped; it lifted it, and the ax; its arms were incredibly long, perhaps some seven feet in length; about its left arm was a spiral band of gold; it was the Kur which had addressed the assembly. It threw back its head and opened its jaws, eyes blazing, and uttered the blood roar of the aroused Kur; then it bent over, regarding us, shoulders hunched, its claws leaping from its soft, furred sheaths; it then laid its ears back flat against the sides of its great head. No one could move. Then, other Kurri behind it, crowding about it, past it, it shrieked, lips drawn back, with a hideous sound, which, somehow, from its lips and mien, and mostly from its eyes, I took to be a sign of pleasure, of anticipation; I would learn later that this sound is instinctively uttered by Kurii when they are preparing to take blood. Marauders, page 203 The doors behind us, both of them, great, carved doors, suddenly thrust open. In the doorway, silhouetted against flames behind them, we saw great, black, shaggy figures. Then one leapt within the hall. In one hand it carried a gigantic ax, whose handle was perhaps eight feet long, whose blade, from tip to tip, might have been better than two feet in length; on its other arm it carried a great, round, iron shield, double strapped; it lifted it, and the ax; its arms were incredibly long, perhaps some seven feet in length; about is left arm was a spiral band of gold; it was the Kur which had addressed the assembly. It threw back its head and opened its jaws, eyes blazing, and uttered the blood roar of the aroused Kur; then it bend over, regarding us, shoulders hunched, its claws leaping from its soft, furred sheaths, it then laid its ears back flat against the sides of its great head. No one could move. Then, other Kurii behind it, crowding about it, past it, it shrieked, lips drawn back, with a hideous sound, which somehow, form its lips and mien, and mostly from its eyes, I took to be a sign of pleasure, of anticipation; I would learn later that this sound is instinctively uttered by Kurii when they are preparing to take blood. This cry, like a stimulus, acted upon the others, as well; almost instantly, with the velocity that the stranger signal can course through a pack of urts, this shriek was picked up by those with it; then, the hall filled with their horried howling, eyes blazing, led by the Kur with the golden band, frenzied by the blood shriek, they leaped forward, great axes flailing. Marauders, pages 203-204 I saw half of the body of a man spinning crazily past. Kurii leapt down the long sides of the hall, slashing, cutting men down as they fled to their weapons. The wooden shields of Torvaldsland no more stopped the great axes than dried skins of larma fruit, stretched on sewing frames, migh have resisted the flour-bladed dagger cestus of Anango or the hatchet gauntlet of eastern Skjern. More than once the blades of the Kurii axes bit through the spines of men, reaching for their weapons, and splintered, gourging, in the beams of the hall. I choked in the smoke. My eyes stung. Near me a man screamed. I was knocked from my feet, buffeted in the crowd. For an instant I was conscious only of the dirt floor, the reeds strewn upon it, the mad forest of running feet. My left hand slipped in the dirt, in blood. I was knocked again but managed to force my way to my feet. I was carried in the panic-stricken throng a dozen yards in one direction, then, meaninglessly, carried back in the other. I could not even draw my weapon. The Kur axes fell again and again. The hall rang with their howling. I saw a man-at-arms lifted, back broken, in the black, furred, tentacled hand of one of the marauders. The thing roared, head back. The white fangs seemed scarlet in the light of the fires from the roof. Then it threw the man more than a hundred feet against the back of the hall. I saw another man-at-arms hanging from the jaws of a Kur. He was still alive. His eyes betrayed shock, staring blindly outward. I do not think he saw. I suspect he was not in pain. He was alive, but I did not think he any longer felt. He doubtless understood what was occurring but, to him, somehow, it did not seem of concern. It was as though it were happening to someone else. The the Kur's jaws closed. For the least instant there was a terrifying recognition in the eyes. Then he was bitten through. Marauders, 203-206 A great Kur ax swept near me. Four men, trying to back away, but held as though against a wall by the throng, were cut down. Those nearest the Kurii tried to crawl back within the throng. The Kurii axes, in their sweeps, at the edges of the throng, kept us helpless, crowded together. Few men could as much as draw their weapons. Some men, behind Kurii, fled away, out of the great, opened, double doors of the hall. I saw them fleeing, outlined briefly against the firs outside. But outside, too, I saw, silhouetted against the flames, waiting Kurii. Many fled into the axes of the Kurii in the yard of the hall. Then Kurii stood before the threshold, snarling, axes lifted. Men came before them and threw themselves to their knees, that they might be spared, even were it but for the Ahn, but these, like others, no differences drawn between them, were cut down, destroyed by strokes of the swift axes. Kurii take prisoners only when it pleases them. Marauders, 203-206 An ax struck toward me. It had been wielded by the Kur whose lips had drawn back. I darted to one side, the ax buried itself in the dirt. I found myself within the beast's guard, I thrust the blade, to the hilt, into the chest of the beast. It gave me a puzzled snarl which I heard, jerking the blade free, only as I leaped back. The other Kurii looked at it, puzzled, then it fell into the dirt. Marauders, 209 I do not choose to speak in detail of what followed. Kurii themselves, axes like sheets of iron rain, shattered that fearful throng, splitting it into hundreds of screaming fragments of terror. A man not more than a yard from me was cut half in two, from the head to the belt, in one stroke. I managed, as the Kur was twisting his ax, trying to free it of the body, to drive my blade through its neck, under the left ear. I saw Ivar Forkbeard, his sword gone, lost in the body of a nearby Kur, his knife in his hand, onehand thrusting away and upward the jaws of a Kur, repeatedly plunge his knife into the huge chest of the beast. �I hurled a speer. It had a shaft of seven foot Gorean, a head of tampered bronze, some eighteen inches in length. At close range it can pierce a southern shield, shatter its point through a seven-inch beam. It passed half through the body of a Kur. Its ax fell. My act had saved a man. But, in the next instant, he had fallen beneath the ax of another. � Their nostrils were shut against the smoke. The eyes of many of them, commonly black-pupiled, yellowish in the cornea, seemed red, swollen, veined. I saw one, suffering in the smoke and sparks, look up from feeding, and then again thrust his head down to the meat, clothes torn away from the chest, on which it was feeding. I saw Ivar Forkbeard, with a spear, set himself against the charge of an unarmed Kur. He set the butt of the spear deep in the earth behind him. The spear's shaft gouged a trench six inches deep behind him, and then stopped, and the Kur, biting in the air, eyes like fire, backed away, and fell backward; Ivar leaped away as another ax sought him. Marauders, 209-210 I saw Kurii, methodically, blow after blow, striking the fallen, lest any might have sought to hide among the dead. Some men, tangled in the bodies, screamed, the axes falling upon them. The wounded, too, were methodically dispatched. I observed the patterns; they were regular, linear, of narrow width, no body was missed. The Kurii, I realized, were efficient; they were, of course, intelligent; they were, of course, like men, rational animals. One man leaped screaming almost headlong into a Kur, one of the Kurii set before the killing line, to intercept such fugitives. Men, it seemed to me, could be no match for such animals. Marauders, 211-212 I heard a Kur below me scream with pain; I looked down, and hauled myself up to avoid the stroke of an ax; one Kur reeled about; the left side of its furred head, wet, drenched in oil, was aflame; it screamed hideously; it clawed at its left eye. Marauders, 212 Miscellaneous info on Kurs The Kur, moreover, tends to be an inveterate land animal. They neither swim well nor enjoy the water. They are uneasy on ships. Moreover, they knew little of the craftmanship of building a seaworthy ship. Mauraders, page 175 Larls The following quotes on larls are taken from Priest Kings of Gor: The larl is a predator, clawed and fanged, quite large, often standing seven feet at the shoulder. I think it would be fair to say that it is substantially feline; at any rate its grace and sinuous power remind me of the smaller but similarly fearsome jungle cats of my old world. The larl's head is broad, sometimes more than two feet across, and shaped roughly like a triangle, giving its skull something of the cast of a viper's save that of course it is furred and the pupils of the eyes like the cat's and unlike the viper's, can range from knifelike slits in the broad daylight to dark, inquisitive moons in the night. Females of both varieties tend generally to be slightly smaller than the males, but are quite as aggressive and sometimes even more dangerous, particularly in the late fall and winter of the year when they are likely to be hunting for their cubs. None of the men below the mountains, the mortals, had ever succeeded in taming a larl. Even larl cubs when found and raised by men would, on reaching their majority, on some night, in a sudden burst of atavistic fury slay their masters and under the three hurtling moons of Gor lope from the dwellings of men, driven by what instincts I know not, to seek the mountains where they were born. Here is the procedure that Norman created for killing larls. While you likely won't find yourself with six others, you follow the basic concepts of this procedure in fighting a larl: In the Voltai Range bands of hunters, usually from Ar, stalk the larl with the mighty Gorean spear. Normally they so this in single file and he who leads the file is called First Spear, for his will be the first spear cast. As soon as he casts his weapon he throws himself to the ground and covers his body with his shield, as does each man successively behind him. This allows each man to have a clean cast at the beast and provides some protection once the spear is thrown. The most significant reason, however, becomes clear when the role of the last man on the file, who is spoken of as Last Spear, is understood. Once Last Spear casts his weapon he may not throw himself to the ground. If he should, and any of his comrades survive, they will slay him. But this seldom occurs for the Gorean hunters fear cowardice more than the claws and fangs of larls. Last Spear must remain standing, and if the beast still lives, receive its charge with only his drawn sword. He does not hurl himself to the ground in order that he will remain conspicuously in the larl's field of vision and thus be the object of its wounded, maddened onslaught. It is thus that, should the spears miss their mark, he sacrifices his life for his companions who will, while the larl attacks him, make good their escape. This may seem cruel but in the long run it tends to be conservative of human life; it is better, as the Goreans say, for one man to die than many. First Spear is normally the best of the spearmen because if the larl is not slain or seriously wounded with the first strike, the lives of all, and not simply that of Last Spear, stand in considerable jeopardy. Paradoxically, perhaps, Last Spear is normally the weakest of the spearmen, the least skilled. Whether this is because Gorean hunting tradition favours the weak, protecting him with the stronger spears, or tradition scorns the weak, regarding him as the most expendable member of the party, I do not know. The origin of this hunting practice is lost in antiquity, being as old perhaps as men and weapons and larls. And here is an example of how a single man slew a larl: Then, as swiftly as it had come, that nightmarish instant of immobility passed and I set my spear to take the jolt of the larl's attack. Perhaps my sudden appearance had disoriented the beast or shaken its marvellous instincts, because it must have uttered its killing cry an instant too soon, or perhaps my muscles and nerves responded to my will more rapidly than it had anticipated. When, twenty feet away, the great, bounding beast, angs bared, leaped for its prey, it encountered instead only the slender needle of my spear, set like a stake in the ground, braced by the half-naked body of a warrior of Ko-ro-ba. The spearhead disappeared from sight in the furry breast of the larl, and the shaft of the spear began to sink into it as the weight of the animal forced it deeper into its body. I leaped from under the tawny, monstrous body, narrowly escaping the slashings of its clawed forefeet. The spear shaft snapped and the beast fell to the earth, rolling on its back, pawing at the air, uttering piercing, enraged shrieks, trying to bite the toothpick-like object from its body. With a convulsive shudder, the great head rolled to one side and the eyes half closed, leaving a milky slit of death between the lids. Tarns The tarn, like most birds, is surprisingly light for its size, this primarily having to do with the hollowness of the bones. It is an extremely powerful bird, powerful even beyond what one would expect from such a monster. Whereas large Urth birds, such as the eagle, must, when taking flights from the ground, begin with a running start, the tarn, with its incredible musculature, aided undoubtedly by the somewhat lighter gravity of Gor, can with a spring and a sudden flurry of its giant wings, lift both himself and his rider into the air. In Gorean, these birds are sometimes spoken of as "Brothers of the Wind". The plumage of tarns is various, and they are bred for their colours as well as their strength and intelligence. Black tarns are used for night raids, white tarns in winter campaigns, and multicoloured, resplendent tarns are bred for warriors who wish to ride proudly, regardless of the lack of camouflage. The most common tarn, however, is greenish brown. Disregarding the disproportion in size, the Earth bird which the tarn most closely resembles is the hawk, with the exception that it has a crest somewhat of the nature of a jay's. There are three types of tarns...common, war and racing tarns; each very different from the other, not simply in the training, which does differ, but in the size, strength, build and tendencies of the bird. Some tarns are bred primarily for strength and are used in transporting wares by carrying basket. Usually these birds fly more slowly and are less vicious than the war tarns or racing tarns. The war tarns, of course, are bred for both strength and speed, but also for agility, swiftness of reflex, and combative instincts. War tarns, whose talons are shod with steel, tend to be extremely dangerous birds, even more so than other tarns, none of whom could be regarded as fully domesticated. The racing tarn, interestingly, is an extremely light bird; two men can lift one; even it's beak is narrower and lighter than the beak of a common tarn or war tarn; it's wings are commonly broader and shorter than those of the other tarns, permitting a swifter take-off and providing a capacity for extremely abrupt turns and shifts in flight; they cannot carry a great deal of weight and the riders, as might be expected, are small men, usually of low caste, pugnacious and aggressive. Racing tarns are not used by tarnsmen in war because they lack the weight and power of war tarns; meeting a war tarn in flight, a racing tarn would be torn to pieces in moments; further, the racing tarns, though marvellous in their particular ways, lack the stamina of the common tarn or the war tarn; their short wings, after a flight of perhaps only fifty pasangs, would begin to fail; in a short distance dash, of course, the racing tarn would commonly be superior to the war tarn. Training Tarns The Goreans believe, incredibly enough, that the capacity to master a tarn is innate and that some men possess this characteristic and that some do not. One does not learn to master a tarn. It is a matter of blood and spirit, of beast and man, of a relation between two beings which must be immediate, intuitive, spontaneous. It is said that a tarn knows who is a tarnsman and who is not, and that those who are not die in this first meeting. Tarns, who are vicious things, are seldom more than half tamed and, like their diminutive counterparts the hawks, are carnivorous. It is not unknown for a tarn to attack and devour his own rider. They fear nothing but the tarn-goad. They are trained by men of the Caste of Tarn Keepers to respond to it while still young, when they can be fastened by wires to the training perches. Whenever a young bird soars away or refuses obedience in some fashion, he is dragged back to the perch and beaten with the tarn-goad. Rings, comparable to those which are fastened on the legs of the young birds, are worn by the adult birds to reinforce the memory of the hobbling wire and the tarn-goad. Later, of course, the adult birds are not fastened, but the conditioning given them in their youth usually holds except when they become abnormally disturbed or have not been able to obtain food. The spirit of the tarn must not be broken, not that of a war tarn. He is trained to the point where it is necessary for a strong master to decide whether he shall serve him or slay him. You will come to know your tarn, and he will come to know you. You will be as one in the sky, the tarn the body, you the mind and will. You will live in an armed truce with the tarn. If you become weak or helpless, he will kill you. As long as you remain strong, his master, he will serve you, respect you, obey you.' Tarnsman Apparel Clothing of a Warrior Tarnsman consists of, leather pants, tunic and high leather boots, made from the finest bosk hide. This apparel is worn to protect the skin of the warrior against the ruff feathers of the tarn, which can wear away the hide of the toughest warrior. Wrist straps of leather or beaten silver, may also be worn to give added strength to the wrists as well as protection. Into each boot is slipped a quiva, a sharp double sided throwing knife. Helmet and breast plate, may be worn when going into battle. Weapons Carried by Tarnsmen "My shield and spear were secured by saddle straps; my sword was slung over my shoulder. On each side of the saddle hung a missile weapon, a crossbow with a quiver of a dozen quarrels, or bolts, on the left, a longbow with a quiver of thirty arrows on the right. The saddle pack contained the light gear carried by raiding tarnsmen-in particular, rations, a compass, maps, binding fibre, and extra bowstrings". Tarn Goads A tarn goad is a metal rod about two feet long, with a leather loop attached. It had a switch in the handle, which can be set in two positions, on and off, like a simple torch. It is used to control the tarn; not used as a weapon. It has a leather loop, which is fastened around your wrist. If You strike a tarn with it set to the 'on' position the goad will shower sparks in a sudden cascade of yellow light; on impact it feels like a sudden, severe electric charge, like the striking of a snake ...but leaves no wound. The tarn-goad also is occasionally used in guiding the bird. One strikes the bird in the direction opposite to which one wishes to go, and the bird, withdrawing from the goad, moves in that direction. There is very little precision in this method, however, because the reactions of the bird are merely instinctive, and he may not withdraw in the exact tangent desired. Moreover, there is danger in using the goad excessively. It tends to become less effective is often used, and the rider is then at the mercy of the tarn. Tarn Whistles Each tarn is trained to respond to one particular whistle, one note, and the whistle is always sold on with the bird if it changes hands. The whistle is used to call the bird to the rider. Tarn Saddle Climbing up the five-rung leather mounting ladder which hangs on the left side of the saddle and is pulled up in flight. He fastened himself in the saddle with a broad purple strap. The Reins The tarn is guided by virtue of a throat strap, to which are attached, normally, six leather streamers, or reins, which are fixed in a metal ring on the forward portion of the saddle. The reins are of different colours, but one learns them by ring position and not colour. Each of the reins attaches to a small ring on the throat strap, and the rings are spaced evenly. Accordingly, the mechanics are simple. One draws on the streamer, or rein, which is attached to the ring most nearly approximating the direction one wishes to go. For example, to land or lose altitude, one uses the four-strap which exerts pressure on the four-ring, which is located beneath the throat of the tarn. To rise into flight, or gain altitude, one draws on the one-strap, which exerts pressure on the one-ring, which is located on the back of the tarn's neck. The throat-strap rings, corresponding to the position of the reins on the main saddle ring, are numbered in a clockwise fashion. Racing Harness The racing harness, like the common tarn harness, works with two rings, the throat ring and the main saddle ring, and six straps. The major difference is the tautness of the reins between the two rings; the racing saddle, on the other hand, is only a slip of leather compared to the common tarn saddle, which is rather large, with saddle packs, weapon sheaths and paired slave rings. On the racing saddle there are two small straps, rather than the one large strap on the common saddle; both straps fasten about the rider and to the saddle, in a sense each duplicating the work of the other; the theory is that though smaller straps can break more easily the probability of both straps breaking at the same time is extremely small; further the two straps tend to divide strain between them, thereby considerably lessening the possibility of either breaking; some saving in weight, of course, is obtained with the two smaller straps; further, the broad strap would be a bit large to fasten to the small saddle; even beyond this, of course, since races take place largely and most often over a net there is normally not as much danger in a fall as there would be in common tarn flight; the main purpose of the straps is simply to keep the rider in the saddle, for the purpose of his race, not primarily to protect his life. Supplied Required Tarn riders usually carry a variety of gear that they routinely need. Beak Strap: Used to tie beak shut of unruly tarn. Compass: Standard. Goad: About 20 inches long. It is like an electric cattle prod. Used to control tarn. Hobble: A chain around one leg and secured to an object to prevent the tarn from flying. Hood: Used to keep a hobbled tarn from getting excited. Ladder: A rope ladder to assist the rider to climb into the saddle. Saddle: Equipped with saddle bags, and a seat belt of sorts. Tarn Knife: General purpose folding blade knife. Throat Strap: The tarn is controlled by six throat straps. Each strap is attached to a collar around the tarns neck, and passes through rings on the saddle. Whistle: Used to call the tarn to its rider. A tarn knows the unique sound of its whistle. Flying Flying the tarn is accomplished by controlling/ pulling on one or more of the throat straps. 1 Strap: Climbing/ take off. 2 Strap: Climbs turns to the right. 3 Strap: Descends turns to the right. 4 Strap: Descends/ lands. 5 Strap: Descends turns to the left. -2- 6 Strap: Climbs turns to the left. Turn right only, pull 2 & 3 together I slapped his beak affectionately, as if we were in a tarn cot, and shoved my hands into his neck feathers, the area where the tarn can't preen, as the tarn keepers do when searching for parasites. I withdrew some of the lice, the size of marbles, which tend to infest wild tarns, and slapped them roughly into the mouth of the tarn, wiping them off on his tongue. I did this again and again, and the tarn stretched out his neck (book 1, page 142 |
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