Panther Girls, by nature of their existence, are outlaws. Most of them being Free Women escaping unwanted companionships or runaway slaves coming to the forests to hunt, hide and dwell. Taking up weapons, honing their skills and forming bands to maintain their freedom, living mostly in the northern forests in bands they have formed away from the cities and town and away from Man that might enslave them given the chance. They remain free because of their intelligence and skill with weaponry more then any other reason.Panther girls are arrogant. They live by themselves in the northern forests, by hunting, and slaving and outlawry. They have little respect for anyone, or anything, saving themselves and, undeniably, the beasts they hunt, the tawny forest panthers, the swift, sinuous sleen.
Hunters of Gor Page 28They in fact are very dangerous because of their intelligence and skills they have honed, usually armed with the spear and bow they rarely travel far from their dwellings in the great forests of the unexplored regions upon Gor, largely the northern forests to keep from being recaptured and enslaved. These forest girls group together in bands defying Gorean laws and customs and adorning themselves in crude ornaments they fabricate from the teeth and claws of such beasts. They detest dressing or acting feminine.
Each band has it's own semi permanent camp as well as a dancing circle although these may be hard for someone unfamiliar with the forest to find. Traveling and hunting in bands of 15 or more deep in the forests. This forming of bands also helps them keep their freedom. Alone they could easily be plucked off, but several are a definite match to any skillful Warrior.
Panther Girls hunt almost anything and everything that ventures into their territory. It is not uncommon for a Panther Girl to capture another band's Panther Girl, a Male who was looking to do the same to her or an escaped slave who was seeking refuge in the woods. There is little loved lost between Panther Girls of different bands. They fight for territory and prey. They are not opposed to killing off or enslaving one another. Another band's Panther Girls and slaves are often ridiculed and abused until they are sold off at the exchange point.
In turn they capture Men who venture to close to their territories and often these Males are used for sexual pleasures for a short time after which their heads will be shaved with a two inch wide stripe from the forehead to the nape of the neck. This is known as 'the stripe of degradation' and shows everyone they have been captive of the Panther Girl's. Frequently these captured males as well as other captured females are sold for slaves at exchange points for items needed such as arrow heads, spear tips, candy which incidentally these wild forest girl's love to eat. They also will trade pelts for these items they desire.
In the jungle regions of the far south they also exist, living in amidst the jungle rain forests much as they do in the Northern Forests. Members of this southern version are referred to as "Talunas." Many of the Tulena's are actually escaped/runaway slaves so are in fact free only because of their cleverness to remain once again uncaptured and skill with weapons.
Capture
"They fell upon me in my sleep," he said. "I wakened to a knife at my throat. I was chained. They much sported with me. When they wearied of me, I was taken, leashed and manacled, to a lonely beach, at the edge of Thassa, bordering on the western edge of the forests."
Hunters of Gor Page 13There was another sound from beyond the perimeter. I saw something white move in the darkness, stumbling between two panther girls. A panther girl holding each arm, she was thrust into the camp. She was still braceleted, of course, but now her hands in the bracelets, with binding fiber, had been tied close to her belly. Her brief white garment had been torn to her waist. The fillet was gone from her hair. Sheera was thrust forward and forced to her knees, head down, by the fire. She had been much switched.
"We encountered this strayed slave," said the girl.
"She is mine," I said.
"Do you know who she was?" asked the girl.
I shrugged. "A slave," I said.
There was laughter from the girls beyond the perimeter, in the darkness.
Sheera lowered her head still more.
"She was once a panther girl," said the girl. "She was once Sheera, the panther girl."
"Oh," I said.
The girl laughed. "She was a great rival to Verna. Verna now takes pleasure in returning her to you."
The girl looked at Sheera. "You wear a collar well, Sheera," said she.
Sheera looked at her, her eyes glazed with pain.
Hunters of Gor Pages 88-89Dance
plus two panther girl dance's quote below
The Tribe of Verna's Stalking Dance of the Panther Girls (Dance of the Moons)
The Tribe of Hura's Dance of the Panther GirlsEach band of panther girls customarily has a semi permanent camp, particularly in the winter, but, too, each band, customarily, has it's dancing circle. Panther girls, when their suppressed womanhood becomes sometimes too painful, repair to such places, there to dance the frenzy of their needs. But, too, it is in such places, that the enslavement of males is often consummated.
Hunters of Gor Page 30Description of Panther Girl
The panther girl, Sheera, who was leader of this band, sat down in the warm sand.
"Let us bargain," she said.
She sat cross legged, like a man. Her girls formed a semi-circle behind her. Sheera was a strong, black haired wench, with a necklace I of claws and golden chains wrapped about her neck. There were twisted golden armlets on her bronzed arms. About her left ankle, threaded, was an anklet of shells. At her belt she wore a knife sheath. The knife was in her hand, and, as she spoke, she played with it, and drew in the sand.
Hunters of Gor page 28The girl facing me was blond, and blue-eyed, like many panther girls. She was lovely, but cruel looking. She was not particularly tall.
Hunters of Gor Page 89I saw a woman, in the brief skins of the panther women, turn and approach me.
She wore ornaments of gold, an armlet, and anklet, a long string of tiny, pierced, golden cylinders looped four times about her neck.
Hunters of Gor Page 127She was magnificent. She might have been bred from pleasure slaves and she panthers. She was sinuous and arrogant, desirable, dangerous, feline. I had little doubt that she was swift of mind. She was surely proud and haughty. She was tall and strong, but yet, in her height, graceful and incredibly lithe. She was perhaps two inches taller than the average Gorean woman, and yet, due to the perfection's of her proportions, she seemed as exquisitely sensual, as healthy and vital, as vigorous and stunning as a girl bred deliberately in the slave pens for a such qualities.
Hunters of Gor Page 128"Some call them the forest girls," said Ute. "Others call them the panther girls, for they dress themselves in the teeth and skins of the forest panthers, which they slay with their spears and bows."
Captive of Gor Page 82Exchange point and sale
There!" said Rim, pointing off the starboard bow. "High on the beach!"
His slave, Cara, in a brief woolen tunic, one piece, woven of the wool of the Hurt, sleeveless, barefoot onto deck, graced by his collar, stood behind him and to his left.
I shaded my eyes. "Glass of the Builders," I said.
Thumock, of the Peasants, standing by me, handed me the glass. I opened it, and surveyed the beach. High on the beach, I saw two pairs of sloping beams. They were high, large and heavy structures. The feet of the beams were planted widely, deeply, in the sand; at the top, where they sloped together, they had been joined and pegged. They were rather like the English letter "A," though lacking the crossbar. Within each "A," her wrists bound by wrapped and taut leather to heavy rings set in the sloping sides, there hung a girl, her full weight on her wrists. Each wore the brief skins of forest panthers. They were panther girls, captured. Their heads were down, their blond hair falling forward. Their ankles had been tied rather widely apart, each fastened by leather to iron rings further down the beams.
It was an exchange point.
Hunters of Gor Page 18"The price for a good sleen pelt is now a silver tarsk," said Arn. Then he held out his cup again to Cara. "More wine," he said.
Hunters of Gor Page 23We were a mere ten pasangs from the exchange point where we had, the preceding day, obtained two panther girls. Male and female outlaws do not much bother one another at the exchange points. They keep their own markets. I can not recall a case of females being enslaved at an exchange point, as they bargained with their wares, nor of males being enslaved at their exchange points, when displaying and merchandising their captures. If the exchange points became unsafe for either male or female outlaws, because of the others, the system of exchange points would be largely valueless. The permanency of the point, and its security, seems essential to the trade.
Hunters of Gor Page 27The girls had set two poles in the sand, and lashed a high crossbar to them. The man's wrists, widely apart, were, by leather binding fiber, fastened to this bar. He was nude. He hung about a foot from the ground. His legs had been widely spread and tied to the side poles.
Hunters of Gor Page 27Hunting
"It is not uncommon for panther girls to first make contact," said Rim, smiling, "with a hunting arrow in the back."
Hunters of Gor Page 79I was puzzled. Normally panther girls move and hunt in small bands. That there should be more than a hundred of them in a single band, under a single leader, seemed incredible.
Hunters of Gor Page 113Territories and locations
Panther girls generally know the usual territories of various bands. They might even know, approximately, the locations of the various camps, and dancing circles.
Hunters of Gor Page 31"The camp, and dancing circle, of Verna," said the first girl, Tana, "lies north and east of Laura. Go to the slave compounds at the outskirts of Laura. Then, where the forest begins, look for a Tur tree, blazed ten feet above the ground, with the point of a girl's spear. From this tree, travel generally north, seeking similarly blazed trees, a quarter of a passang apart. There are fifty such trees. At the fiftieth there is a double blaze. Go then north by northeast. Again trees are blazed, but now, at the foot of the trunk, by the mark of a sleen knife. Go twenty such trees. then look for a Tur tree, torn by lightning. A passang north by northeast from that tree, again look for blazed trees, but now the blazing is, as before, high on the trunk, and made by a girl's spear. Again go twenty such trees. You will then be in the vicinity of Verna's dancing circle. Her camp, on the north bank of a tiny stream, well concealed, is two passangs to the north."
Hunters of Gor Page 39"What is your name?" I asked.
"Grenna," she said.
"Where is the camp and dancing circle of Verna, the panther girl?" I asked.
She looked at me, sick, puzzled. "I do not know," she whispered.
Something in the girl's manner convinced me that she spoke the truth. I was not much pleased.
This portion of the forest was supposedly the territory of Verna, and her band.
I gave the girl some food from my pouch. I gave her a swallow of water from my flask at my belt.
"Are you not of Verna's band?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"Of whose band are you?" I asked.
"Of Hura's," said she.
"This portion of the forest," I told her, "is the territory of Verna and her band."
"It will be ours," she said.
Hunters of Gor Page 113Treatment and attitude towards captives
His head, too, was shaved, in the shame badge.
Hunters of Gor Page 27It interested me that the panther girls showed her no more respect, nor attention, than they did. But they did not acknowledge their sisterhood with such animals as she.
Hunters of Gor Page 28I can understand why it is that such women hate men, but it is less clear to me why they hold such enmity to women. Indeed, they accord more respect to men, who hunt them, and whom they hunt, as worthy foes, than they do to women other than themselves. They regard, it seems, all women, slave or free, as soft, worthless creatures, so unlike themselves. Perhaps most of all they despise beautiful female slaves, and surely Cara was such. I am not sure why they hold this great hatred for other members of their sex. I suspect it may be because, in their hearts, they hate themselves, and their femaleness. Perhaps they wish to be men; I do not know. It seems they fear, terribly, to be females, and perhaps fear most that they, by the hands of a strong man, will be taught their womanhood. It is said that panther girls, conquered,
make incredible slaves. I do not much understand these things.
Hunters of Gor Page 28She knew as well as I the contempt in which panther girls held female slaves.
Hunters of Gor Page 76Sales/trades
"We sell what we catch," said Sheera. "Sometimes chain luck is with Verna, sometimes it is not." She looked at me. "What am I bid for the two slaves?" she asked.
Hunters of Gor Page 29There was little sugar in the forest, save naturally in certain berries, and simple hard candies, such as a child might buy in shops in Ar, or Ko-ro-ba, were, among the panther girls in the remote forests, prized.
Hunters of Gor Page 31"A steel knife for each," I proposed to Sheera, "and twenty arrow points, of steel, for each."
"Forty arrow points for each, and the knives," said Sheera, cutting at the sand.
I could see she did not much want to conduct these negotiations. Her heart was not in the bargaining. She was angry.
"Very well," I said.
"And a stone of candies," she said, looking up, suddenly.
Hunters of Gor Page 31Sheera, and her girls, watched carefully, not trusting men, and counted the arrow points twice.
Hunters of Gor Page 31It was not unknown that among the bands in the forests, a male might be sold for as little as a handful of such candies. When dealing with men, however, the girls usually demanded, and received, goods of greater value to them, usually knives, arrow points, small spear points; sometimes armlets, and bracelets and necklaces, and mirrors; sometimes slave nets and slave traps, to aid in their hunting; sometimes slave chains, and manacles, to secure their catches.
Hunters of Gor Page 31Weapons
"It is not uncommon for panther girls to first make contact," said Rim, smiling, "with a hunting arrow in the back."
Hunters of Gor Page 79About her left ankle, threaded, was an anklet of shells. At her belt she wore a knife sheath.
Hunters of Gor Page 28"Some call them the forest girls," said Ute. "Others call them the panther girls, for they dress themselves in the teeth and skins of the forest panthers, which they slay with their spears and bows."
Captive of Gor Page 82When dealing with men, however, the girls usually demanded, and received, goods of greater value to them, usually knives, arrow points, small spear points; sometimes armlets, and bracelets and necklaces, and mirrors; sometimes slave nets and slave traps, to aid in their hunting; sometimes slave chains, and manacles, to secure their catches.
Hunters of Gor Page 31Suddenly, as one, they seized up their light spears, and, swaying, spears lifted, began to circle me.
Hunters of Gor Page 137
More Quotes of Panther Girl's
A Panther Girl is freed from slavery (Marlenus frees Verna)
On a rare occasion a slave is released and made Free once again, it's not unusual for Her to eventually return to slavery but it does happen occasionally"I am not a slave," said Verna to Marlenus of Ar, though she wore his collar.
They looked at one another for a long time. She had saved his life in the stockade, interposing her body and weapon, the crossbow, between him and the maddened, desperate attack of Sarus. He had not struck her, a woman. I had taken his sword from him, and given it to one of my men. Then, she had turned, and leveled her crossbow at the heart of Marlenus. We could not have stopped her, did she then fire. The Ubar, in chains, stood at her mercy. "Fire," he had challenged her, but she had not fired. She had given the crossbow to one of the men of Ar. "I have no wish to kill you," she had said. Then she had turned away.
Yesterday, she had returned of her own free will to the beach, and in her power, a captive panther woman, whose name was Hura.
"Take from the throat of this woman," said Marlenus, "the collar of a slave." He looked about. "This woman," he said hoarsely, "is no slave."
From the belongings of the camp of Marlenus, which had been carried to the stockade, was taken the key to the collar. It was removed from the throat of Verna, panther girl of the northern forests.
She faced the Ubar, whose slave she had been.
"Free now my women," she said.
Marlenus turned about. "Free them," he ordered.
Verna's women, startled, were freed of their bonds. They stood on the beach, among the stones, rubbing their wrists. One by one, collars were taken from their throats. They looked at Verna.
"I am not pleased with you," said Verna to them. "You much mocked me when I knelt slave, and wore garments imposed upon me by men." She then pointed to her ears. "You mocked me, too," she said, "when rings were fastened in my ears." She regarded them. "Is there any among you," she said, "who wish to fight me to the death?"
They shook their heads.
Verna turned to me. "Pierce their ears," she said, "and put them all in slave silk."
"Verna," protested one of the women.
"Do you wish to fight me to the death?" demanded Verna.
"No, Verna," she said.
"Let it be done as Verna has said," said I to Thurnock. Orders were given.
In an Ahn, the girls of Verna knelt before her on the beach. Each wore only clinging, diaphanous slave silk. In their eyes were tears. In the ears of each, fastened through the lobes of each, were earrings, of a sort attractive in each woman.
The skins of the woman who had protested "Verna!" were now worn by Verna herself.
She strode before them on the beach, looking at them.
"You would make beautiful slave girls," she told them.
I saw that the woman called Rena, whom I had used in Marlenus' camp, before departing from it, was especially beautiful.
I sat in the captain's chair, in authority, but crippled, huddled in blankets, bitter. I knew that I was an important man, but I could not move the left side of my body.
It was all for nothing.
"You," challenged Verna, to the girl who had protested, "how do you like the feel of slave silk?"
She looked down.
"Speak!" ordered Verna.
"It makes me feel naked before a man," she said.
"Do you wish to feel his hands, and his mouth, on your body?" she asked.
"Yes!" she cried out, miserably, kneeling.
Verna turned and pointed out one of my men, an oarsman. "Go to him and serve his pleasure," ordered Verna.
"Verna!" cried the girl, miserably.
"Go!" ordered Verna.
The panther girl fled to the arms of the oarsman. He threw her over his shoulder and walked to the sand at the foot of the beach.
"You will learn, all of you," said Verna, "as I learned, what it is to be a woman."
One by one, she ordered the girls to serve the pleasure of oarsmen. The girl, Rena, fled instead to me, and pressed her lips to my hand.
"Do as Verna tells you," I told her.
She kissed my hand again, and fled to he whom Verna had indicated she must serve.
Their cries of pleasure carried to me.
Marlenus regarded Verna. "Will you, too," he added, "not serve?"
"I know already what it is to be a woman," she said. "You have taught me."
He reached out his hand, to touch her. I had not seen so tender a gesture in the Ubar. I had not thought such a movement to be within him.
"No," she said, stepping back. "No."
"I fear your touch, Marlenus," she said. "I know what you can do to me."
He regarded her.
"I am not your slave," she said.
Hunters of Gor" pages 338 - 341
Dances of the Panther Girl's
The Tribe of Verna's Stalking Dance of the Panther Girls
(Dance of the Moons)"The girls now knelt about me, in a circle. They were silent.
I looked up at the large, white, swift moons. There were three of them, a larger, and two smaller, looming, dominating. The girls were breathing heavily. They had set aside their weapons.
They knelt, their hands on their thighs, occasionally lifting their eyes to the moons. Their eyes began to blaze. They put back their heads. Their lips parted. Their hair fell behind their heads, their faces lifted to the rays of the moons. Then, together, they began to moan and sway from side to side. Then they lifted their arms and hands to the moons, still swaying from side to side, moaning. I pulled at the thongs that bound me. Then their moaning became more intense and the swaying swifter and more savage, and, crying out and whimpering, they began to claw at the moons.
Mira leaped to her feet and tore her skins to the waist, exposing her breasts to the wild light of the flooding moons. She shrieked and tore at the moons with her fingernails. In an instant another girl, and then another, and another had followed her example. Only Verna still knelt, her hands on her thighs, looking at the moons. Beneath the moons, helplessly, I sought to free myself. I could not do so.
Mira now, the others following, crying out, tore away the scraps of panther skin that had concealed their beauty. They now wore only their gold, and their ornaments. Now, moaning, crying out, the she beasts of the forests, the panther girls, hands lifted, clawing, began to stamp and dance beneath the fierce brightness of the wild moons. Then, suddenly, they stopped, but stood, still, their hands lifted to the moons.
Verna threw back her head, her fists clenched on her thighs, and cried out, a wild scream, as though in agony.
She leaped to her feet and, looking at me, tore away her skins.
My blood leaped before her beauty.
But she had turned away and, naked, her head back, had lifted her hands, too, clawing at the moons.
Then all of them, together, turned slowly to face me. They were breathing heavily. Their hair was disheveled, their eyes wild.
I lay before them, helpless.
Suddenly, as one, they seized up their light spears, and, swaying, spears lifted, began to circle me.
They were incredibly beautiful.
A spear darted toward me, but did not strike me. It was withdrawn.
It could have killed me, of course, had its owner wished. But it had spared me.
Then, about me, the panther girls, circling, swaying, began a slow stalking dance, as of hunters.
I lay in the center of the circle.
Then, about me, the panther girls, circling, swaying, began a slow stalking dance, as of hunters.
I lay in the center of the circle.
Their movements were slow, and incredibly beautiful.
Then suddenly one would cry out and thrust at me with her spear. But the spear was not thrust into my body. Its point would stop before it had administered its wound. Many of the blows would have been mortal. But many thrusts were only to my eyes, or arms and legs.
Every bit of me began to feel exposed, threatened.
I was their catch.
Then the dance became progressively swifter and wilder, and the feigned blows became more frequent, and then, suddenly, with a wild cry, the swirling throng about me stood for an instant stock still, and then with a cry, each spear thrust down savagely toward my heart.
I cried out.
None of the spears had struck me.
The girls cast aside the spears.
Then, like feeding she panthers they knelt about me, each one, with her hands and tongue, touching and kissing me. I cried out with anguish. I knew I could not long resist them."
Hunters of Gor, page 137-138
The Tribe of Hura's Dance of the Panther Girls
"There was a long silence, of some Ihn, and then, at a nod from Hura, who threw her long black hair back and lifted her head to the moons, the drum began again its beat. Mira's head was down, and shaking. Her right foot was stamping. The panther girls put down their heads. I saw their fists begin to clench and unclench. They stood, scarcely moving, but I could sense the movement of the drum in their blood. The men of Tyros glanced to one another. It was few free men who had ever looked, unbound, on the rites of panther girls. Hura's eyes were on the moons. She lifted her hands, fingers like claws, and screamed her need. The girls then, following her, began to dance. How starved must be the lonely, hating panther women of the forests, so gross is their hostility, so fierce their hatred, and yet need, of men. They twisted, screaming now, clawing at the moons. I would scarcely have guessed at the primitive hungers evident in each movement of those barbaric, feline bodies. They would be masters of men. Proud, magnificent creatures. And yet by biology, by their beauty, by their aroused inwardness, could not, in fact, own but only, in their true fulfillment, belong, be taken, be conquered. The drum was now very heady, swift. The dance of the panther girls became more wild, more frenzied. Vicious, sinuous, clawing, lithe, these savage beauties, in their skins and gold, with their knives, their light spears, weapons darting, danced. They were terrible, and beautiful, in the streaming, flooding light of the looming, primitive moons of perilous Gor. I could hear their cries of rage and need, hear their heels striking in the earth, their hands slapping at their thighs. I saw the teeth of some, white, bared, at the moons, their eyes blazing. The hair of all was unbound. Several had already, oblivious of the presence of the men of Tyros, torn away their skins to the waist, others completely. On some I could hear the movement of the necklaces of sleen teeth tied about their necks, the shivering and ringing of slender golden bangles on their tanned ankles. In their dance they danced among the staked out bodies of the men of Marlenus, and about the great Ubar himself. Their weapons leapt at the bound men, but never did the blows fall. The dance would soon strike its climax. It could continue little longer. The women would go mad with their need to strike and rape. Suddenly the drum stopped and Hura stopped, her body bent backward, her head back, her long black hair falling to the back of her knees. She was breathing deeply, very deeply. Her body was covered with a sheen of sweat."
Hunters of Gor page 197
