Eel - Pond

 "Too," I said, "if even a slave's most secret thoughts harbor the least hint of recalcitrance, such an absurdity being inevitably revealed in subtle bodily clues and such, they might be summarily given to leech plants, cast to pond eels, thrown to sleen, such things."

Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 269

I had also had it confirmed that the snakelike visitants that had so frightened and discomfited me in my tenure in the mostly submerged cage were not water snakes, which tend to favor still water, but eels, in all probability Vosk eels, a form of river eel. Such eels, as other eels, are omnivorous, but, free swimming, are accustomed to feed on small fish and plants. They are unlikely to attack human beings, unlike pool eels, unless their nests are threatened. They are found in fresh water, but return, through the delta of the Vosk, to the salt water of vast, turbulent Thassa to spawn.

Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 139

Eel - River

 Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive.

Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 428

"We will attend to the body," said Genserich.

"What is left of it," said a man.

"Leave it for urts," said Aeson, "or cast it into the river, for eels, for river sleen."

Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 427

I had also had it confirmed that the snakelike visitants that had so frightened and discomfited me in my tenure in the mostly submerged cage were not water snakes, which tend to favor still water, but eels, in all probability Vosk eels, a form of river eel. Such eels, as other eels, are omnivorous, but, free swimming, are accustomed to feed on small fish and plants. They are unlikely to attack human beings, unlike pool eels, unless their nests are threatened. They are found in fresh water, but return, through the delta of the Vosk, to the salt water of vast, turbulent Thassa to spawn.

Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 139

Eel - Spotted

Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive.

Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 428

Eel - Vosk

 An additional problem, at least to a swimmer, I had gathered, from talking with some of the soldiers, were Vosk eels. These often lurk in shadowed areas, among the pilings beneath piers. Whereas they normally feed on garbage and small fish it is not unknown that they attack swimmers.

Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 153

Then, a bit after noon, I shrieked with horror, for something, long, and snakelike, had slid between the bars and brushed across my body. "Help! Help!" I cried. Then the thing, with a snap of its long, smooth body, had darted away. "Help!" I screamed. "What is wrong?" asked a voice from above. I knew not who it was. "A snake," I cried, "a water snake!" "There are no water snakes here," called the voice. "The current discourages them. It is most likely an eel, a Vosk eel." "Help!" I cried. "Call my master. Save me!" But I received no response to my cry. Toward nightfall another such intruder passed between the bars of the cage. I felt its body slide over my left leg. During the night four more such visitants traversed the cage.

Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 122

I had also had it confirmed that the snakelike visitants that had so frightened and discomfited me in my tenure in the mostly submerged cage were not water snakes, which tend to favor still water, but eels, in all probability Vosk eels, a form of river eel. Such eels, as other eels, are omnivorous, but, free swimming, are accustomed to feed on small fish and plants. They are unlikely to attack human beings, unlike pool eels, unless their nests are threatened. They are found in fresh water, but return, through the delta of the Vosk, to the salt water of vast, turbulent Thassa to spawn.

Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 139

Fish

 Here and there I could hear the flowing of water, from miniature artificial waterfalls and fountains. From where I sat I could see two lovely pools, in which lotuslike plants floated; one of the pools was large enough for swimming; the other, I supposed, was stocked with tiny, bright fish from the various seas and lakes of Gor.

Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 218

What I thought was a petaled flower underneath the swift, cold surface of the brook suddenly broke apart, becoming a school of tiny yellow fish.

Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 36

These were the first tharlarion that I had ever seen. They frightened me. They were scaled, vast and long-necked. Yet in the water it seemed, for all their bulk, they moved delicately. One dipped its head under the surface and, moments later, the head emerged, dripping, the eyes blinking, a silverish fish struggling in the small, triangular-toothed jaws.

Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 80

A tiny fish bit at my leg. Others, darting, pursued the irrationally moving titan that had held me.

Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 370

Many fish in these tropical waters are poisonous to eat, a function of certain forms of seaweed on which they feed. The seaweed is harmless to the fish but it contains substances toxic to humans. The river fish on the other hand, as far as I know, are generally wholesome for humans to eat. Indeed, there are many villages along the Kamba and Nyoka, and along the shores of Lake Ushindi, in which fishing is the major source of livelihood. Not much of this fish, however, is exported from Schendi.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 109

Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept.

Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 428

The bridge, entwined with the blue climbers, arched in a lovely manner, for a length of some thirty-five or forty feet over a narrow, decorative pond, on the surface of which bloomed white and yellow water flowers, rising from flat, green pads; below, in the pond, which was shallow, one could see the slow movements of colorful fish.

Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 584

Gint

 I was interested in the fauna of the river and the rain forest. I recalled, sunning themselves on exposed roots near the river, tiny fish. They were bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with tiny fiipperlike lateral fins. They had both lungs and gills. Their capacity to leave the water, in certain small streams, during dry seasons, enables them to seek other streams, still flowing, or pools. This property also, of course, makes it possible for them to elude marine predators and, on the land, to return to the water in case of danger. Normally they remain quite close to the water. Sometimes they even sun themselves on the backs of resting or napping tharlarion. Should the tharlarion submerge the tiny fish often submerges with it, staying close to it, but away from its jaws. Its proximity to the tharlarion affords it, interestingly, an effective protection against most of its natural predators, in particular the black eel, which will not approach the sinuous reptiles. Similarly the tiny fish can thrive on the scraps from the ravaging jaws of the feeding tharlarion. They will even drive one another away from their local tharlarion, fighting in contests of intraspecific aggression, over the plated territory of the monster's back. The remora fish and the shark have what seem to be, in some respects, a similar relationship. These tiny fish, incidentally, are called gints.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 299 - 300

"See the size of it," said Ayari.

"I do not think it will attack a canoe," said Kisu.

Ayari shoved it away from the side of the canoe with his paddle and it, with a snap of its tail, disappeared under the water.

"I have seen them before," I said, "but they were only about six inches in length."

The creature which had surfaced near us, perhaps ten feet in length, and a thousand pounds in weight, was scaled and had large, bulging eyes. It had gills, but it, too, gulped air, as it had regarded us. It was similar to the tiny lung fish I had seen earlier on the river, those little creatures clinging to the half-submerged roots of shore trees, and, as often as not, sunning themselves on the backs of tharlarion, those tiny fish called gints. Its pectoral fins were large and fleshy.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 384

At the far end of the lagoon, where its channel leads to the river, I saw what had alarmed the girl. It was a large fish. Its glistening back and dorsal fin were half out of the water, where it slithered over the sill of the channel and into the lagoon.

"Come to shore!" I said. "Hurry!"

I saw the large fish, one of the bulging-eyed fish we had seen earlier, a gigantic gint or like a gigantic gint, it now having slipped over the channel's sill, disappear under the water.

"Hurry!" I called to her.

Wildly she was splashing toward the shore. She looked back once. She screamed again. Its four-spined dorsal fin could be seen now, the fish skimming beneath the water, cutting rapidly towards her.

"Hurry!" I called.

Sobbing, gasping, she plunged splashing through the shallow water and clambered onto the mud and grass of the bank.

"How horrible it was!" she cried.

Then she screamed wildly. The fish, on its stout, fleshy pectoral fins, was following her out of the water. She turned about and fled screaming into the jungle. With the butt of the spear I pushed against its snout. The bulging eyes regarded me. The large mouth now gulped air. It then, clumsily, climbed onto the bank. I stepped back and it, on its pectoral fins, and lifting itself, too, by its heavy tail, clambered out of the water and approached me. I pushed against its snout again with the butt of the spear. It snapped at the spear. Its bulging eyes regarded me. I stepped back. It lunged forward, snapping. I fended it away. I then retreated backward, into the trees. It followed me to the line of trees, and then stopped. I did not think it would wish to go too far from the water. After a moment or so it began to back away. Then, tail first, it slid back into the water of the lagoon. I went to the water's edge. There I saw it beneath the surface, its gills opening and closing. Then it turned about and, with a slow movement of its tail, moved away. Ayari and Kisu referred to such fish as gints. I accepted their judgment on the matter. They are not to be confused, however, that is certain, with their tiny brethren of the west.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 389 - 390

 

Gint / Lung Fish

  "It was similar to the tiny lung fish I had seen earlier on the river, those little creatures clinging to the half-submerged roots of shore trees, and, as often as not, sunning themselves on the backs of tharlarion, those tiny fish called gints." 

~Explorers of Gor~

GINTS are Gorean lung fish - freshwater fish which have retained the ability to breathe air, having both lung and gills.

This ability enables them to leave the water, during dry seasons, to seek out other streams or pools. It also enables them to elude predators to some extent.

The have also developed the interesting behavior of sunning themselves on the backs of tharlarion, which affords even greater protection ... so long as they stay away from its jaws!

They can also thrive off the scraps from the thalarion's kills, and will even drive each other away from their local tharlarion - regarding the creature as 'their territory'.

A similar relationship exists between some fish on earth, such as the remora fish and the shark.

Common gints are described as bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with flipper-like lateral fins.

The GIANT GINT is its larger cousin, found further inland in the jungles. 

"The creature which had surfaced near us, perhaps ten feet in length, and a thousand pounds in weight, was scaled and had large, bulging eyes. It had gills, but it, too, gulped air, as it had regarded us."

~Explorers of Gor~

The giant gint is similar in appearance, but has a four-spined dorsil fin, and is a lot bigger!

They are carnivorous, like their smaller brethren, and can be dangerous to humans. However, they don't like to stray too far away from water so the best defence is simply to head into the trees!

Gorean Marine Life

 Gor is as much water as land. So, as with Urth, Gor has it own brand of marine life. Some friendly, some unfriendly. Below is a list of what you might find living in the waters of Gor.

Baleen Whale -

"Sometimes they managed to secure the northern shark, sometimes even the toothed Hunjer whale or the less common Karl whale, which was a four-fluked, baleen whale." ~Beasts of Gor, page 36~

 Bint -

"Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa." ~Explorers of Gor, page 247~

Cosian Wingfish -

"Now this," Saphrar the merchant was telling me, "is the braised liver of the blue, four-spired Cosian wingfish." This fish is a tiny, delicate fish, blue, about the size of a tarn disk when curled in one's hand; it has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin, which are poisonous; it is capable of hurling itself from the water and for brief distances, on it stiff pectoral fins, gliding through the air, usually to evade smaller sea-tharlarians, which seem to be immune to the poison of the spines. This fish is also at times referred to as the songfish because as a portion of it's courtship rituals, the males and females thrust their heads from the water and utter a short whistling sound. The blue, four spired wingfish is found only in the waters of Cos. Larger varieties are found further out to sea. The small blue is regarded a great delicacy, and it's liver a delicacy of delicacies." ~Nomads of Gor, page 84~

Dock Eel -

"I looked downward. Two or more heads, tapering, menacing, solid, were emerged from the water, looking up at me. Then, striking from under the water, suddenly breaking its surface, another body, some four feet in length, about eight or ten pounds in weight, leapt upward. I felt the jaws snap and scratch against the shearing blade. Then it fell twisting back in the water. It was the blood which excited them." ~Guardsman of Gor, page 130~

 Eel -

"Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive." ~Magicians of Gor, page 428~ 

Gint -

"I recalled, sunning themselves on exposed roots near the river, tiny fish. They were bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with tiny flipper like lateral fins. They had both lungs and gills. Their capacity to leave the water, in certain small streams, during dry seasons, enables them to seek other streams, still flowing, or pools. These tiny fish, incidentally, are called gints." ~Explorers of Gor, page 300~

Gint, Giant -

"The creature which had surfaced near us, perhaps ten feet in length, and a thousand pounds in weight, was scaled and had large, bulging eyes. It had gills, but it, too, gulped air, as it had regarded us. It was similar to the tiny lung fish I had seen earlier on the river, those little creatures clinging to the half-submerged roots of shore trees, and, as often as not, sunning themselves on the backs of tharlarion, those tiny fish called gints. Its pectoral fins were large and fleshy."  ~Explorers of Gor, page 384~

Grunt, Blue -

"Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa. The blue grunt is particularly dangerous during the daylight hours preceding its mating periods, when it schools. Its mating periods are synchronized with the phases of Gor's major moon, the full moon reflecting on the surface of the water somehow triggering the mating instinct. During the daylight hours preceding such a moon, as the restless grunts school, they will tear anything edible to pieces which crosses their path." ~Explorers of Gor, page 267~

Grunt, Speckled

"I saw a great speckled grunt, four-gilled." ~Explorers of Gor, page 360~

      

Grunt, White Bellied -

"Three other men of the Forkbeard attended to fishing, two with a net, sweeping it along the side of the serpent, for parsit fish, and the third, near the stem, with a hook and line, baited with vulo liver, for the white-bellied grunt." ~Marauders of Gor, page 59~ 

Hook-Billed Turtle -

"Indeed, it was unlikely that my body would reach the delta at all. It was far more likely that one of the water lizards of the Vosk or one of the great hook-beaked turtles of the river would seize my body and drag it and the frame under the water, destroying me in the mud below." ~Tarnsman of Gor, page 138~

 

Hunjer Long Whale -

"That scent, I knew, a distillation of a hundred flowers, nurtured like a priceless wine, was a secret guarded by the perfumers of Ar. It contained as well the separated oil of the Thentis needle tree; an extract from the glands of the Cartius river urt; and a preparation formed from a disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long Whale" ~Marauders of Gor, page 114~ 

 

Karl Whale -

 "Sometimes they managed to secure the northern shark, sometimes even the toothed Hunjer whale or the less common Karl whale, which was a four-fluked, baleen whale." ~Beasts of Gor, page 6~

 

Leach, Salt -

 "I flicked a salt leach from the side of the light rush carafe with the corner of the tem-wood paddle."  ~Raiders of Gor, page 5~ 

 

Leech, Marsh -

"Described as rubbery about 4 inches long; it attaches itself to plants in the marsh or float free in the water, waiting for warm blooded animals. They fasten themselves to their victim to suck blood until, satiated, they detach. They can be removed with fire or salt. They are edible." ~Vagabonds of Gor, page 96-102~

 

Lelt -

"Lelts are often attracted to the salt rafts, by their abnormally developed lateral-line protrusions, and their fernlike cranial vibration receptors; The tiny, eyeless heads will thrust from the water, and the fernlike filaments at the side of the head will open and lift, The lelt is commonly five to seven inches in length. It is white, and long-finned. It swims slowly and smoothly " ~Tribesmen of Gor, page 247~

 

Lung -

"Also called gints; small fish found near half-submerged roots of shore trees or sunning on the back of tharlarion." ~Explorer of Gor, page 384~

 

Marine Saurian -

"Sharks, and sometimes marine saurians, sometimes trail the ships, to secure discarded garbage and rob the lines of the fishermen. I had seen, yesterday, the long neck of a marine saurian lift from the waters of gleaming Thassa. It had a small head, and rows of small teeth. Its appendages ere like broad paddles. Then it had lowered its head and disappeared. Such beasts, in spite of their frightening appearance, are apparently harmless to men. They can take only bits of garbage and small fish." ~Slave Girl of Gor, page 60

 

Marsh Moccasin -

"Narrow dark, poisonous snake about five feet long with a small triangular head. It inhabits the waters of the Vosk Delta." ~Vagabonds of Gor, page 267~ Mollusks - "I could hear the cry of sea birds, broad winged gulls, and the small, stick-legged

 

Tibits -

"pecking in the sand for tiny mollusks." ~Hunters of Gor, page 247~ 

 

Oysters -

"Other girls had prepared the repast, which, for the war camp, was sumptuous indeed, containing even oysters from the delta of the Vosk, a portion of the plunder of a tarn caravan of Ar, such delicacies having been intended for the very table of Marlenus, the Owner of that great city itself." ~Captive of Gor, page 301~

 

Parsit -

"The slender, striped parsit fish has vast plankton banks north of the town and may there, particularly in the spring and fall be taken in great numbers; Trade to the south, of course, is largely in the furs acquired from Torvaldsland, and in the barrels of smoked, dried parsit fish." ~Marauders of Gor, page 28~

 

River Urt, Cartius -

"That scent, I knew, a distillation of a hundred flowers, nurtured like a priceless wine, was a secret guarded by the perfumers of Ar. It contained as well the separated oil of the Thentis needle tree; an extract from the glands of the Cartius river urt; and a preparation formed from a disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long Whale" ~ Marauders of Gor, page 114~

 

Shark, Marsh -

"Beyond them would be the almost eel-like, long-bodied, nine-gilled Gorean marsh sharks."  ~Raiders of Gor, page 58~

 

Shark, Northern -

"Sometimes they managed to secure the northern shark, sometimes even the toothed Hunjer whale or the less common Karl whale, which was a four-fluked, baleen whale. But their life, at best, was a precarious one."  ~Explorers of Gor, page 36~

 

Shark, River -

"Something, with a twist of its great spine, had suddenly darted from the waters under the pier and entered the current of the Laurius. I saw the flash of a triangular, black dorsal fin. I screamed. Lana looked out, pointing after it. "A river shark," she cried, excitedly." ~Captive of Gor, page 79~

 

Shark, Salt -

"We saw the broad, blunt head, eyeless, white. Then it submerged, with a twist of the long spine and tail. The waters were still. At the top of the food chain in the pits, a descendant, dark-adapted, of the terrors of the ancient seas, stood the long-bodied, nine-gilled salt shark. The head was more than a yard in width, white pits where there might have been eyes. The raft tipped, struck by its back, as it turned and, twisting, glided away into the darkness."  ~Tribesmen of Gor, page 251~

 

Shark, White -

"There is also, however, some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl off the oar." ~Marauders of Gor, page 66~ 

 

Sea Sleen -

"The sea sleen, vicious, fanged aquatic mammals, apparently related to the land forms of sleen, are the swiftest predators to be found in Thassa; further, they are generally conceded to be the most dangerous; they tend, however, to frequent northern waters. Occasionally they have been found as far south, however, as the shores of Cos and the deep inlets of Tyros." ~Slave Girl of Gor, page 360~

 

Sea Sleen, Black -

"Sleen, interestingly, come northward with the parsit. their own migrations synchronized with those of the parsit, which forms for them their principal prey. The four main types of sea sleen found in the polar seas are the black sleen, the brown sleen, the tusked sleen and the flat-nosed sleen." ~Beasts of Gor, page 36~ 

 

Sea sleen, brown -

"Sleen, interestingly, come northward with the parsit. their own migrations synchronized with those of the parsit, which forms for them their principal prey. The four main types of sea sleen found in the polar seas are the black sleen, the brown sleen, the tusked sleen and the flat-nosed sleen." ~Beasts of Gor, page 36~ 

 

Sea Sleen, Flat-Nosed -

"Sleen, interestingly, come northward with the parsit. their own migrations synchronized with those of the parsit, which forms for them their principal prey. The four main types of sea sleen found in the polar seas are the black sleen, the brown sleen, the tusked sleen and the flat-nosed sleen." ~Beasts of Gor, page 36~ 

 

Sea Sleen, Tusked -

"Sleen, interestingly, come northward with the parsit. their own migrations synchronized with those of the parsit, which forms for them their principal prey. The four main types of sea sleen found in the polar seas are the black sleen, the brown sleen, the tusked sleen and the flat-nosed sleen." ~Beasts of Gor, page 36~

 

Snails -

"Once the Forkbeard went to her and taught her to check the scoop, with her left hand, for snails, that they not be thrown overboard. Returning to me he held one of the snails, whose shell he crushed between his fingers, and sucked out the animal, chewing and swallowing it. He then threw the shell fragments overboard. "They are edible," he said. "And we use them for fish bait." ~Marauders of Gor, page 62~ 

 

Tharlarion, Tiny Water -

"Immediately following I saw the water seem to glitter for a moment, a rain of yellowish streaks beneath the surface, in the wake of the water tharlarion, doubtless its swarm of scavengers, tiny water tharlarion, about six inches long, little more than teeth and tail." ~Raiders of Gor, page 1~

 

Tharlarion, Marsh -

 "Marsh thalarion: I heard the hoarse grunting of the great march thalarion weighing more than half a hundred men. " ~Raiders of Gor, page 58~

 

Water Lizards

"Idly, with repulsion, I watched the body of the tharlarion in the swamp. As the water lizards fed, the carcass, lightened, had shifted, rolling in the water. Now, in a matter of moments, the skeleton was visible, picked almost clean, the bones glistening, except where small lizards skittered about on them, seeking the last particles of flesh."  ~Tarnsman of Gor, page 86~

Gorean Sea Life

 Bint: There are two types of bints. One is a small, carnivorous freshwater fish like a piranha that inhabits the rivers of the rainforests. A large school of these bints can strip a carcass bare in minutes. The other type is a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel.

Carp, Vosk

Clam, Tamber: Their polished shells are generally used in making cheap jewelry though certain shells can be quite valuable.

Crayfish

Cuttlefish

Eels: There are several varieties including dock eels, river eels, black eels, spotted eels, carnivorous eels, and Vosk eels. The dock eel is a black freshwater fish, comonly about four feet long and weighing eight to ten pounds. They are carnivorous, living in the shallow waters around the docks of most river ports.

Gint: There are two types of gints. One is a tiny, six-inch freshwater fish inhabiting the rainforests. It has bulbous eyes and flipper-like fins. It is amphibious and capable of walking on its pectorals. It is often found feeding off the scraps of tharlarion kills. It is similar to the Earth lungfish. They sun themselves on exposed roots near the river, remaining close to the water. They may even rest on the backs of resting or sleeping tharlarion. There is also a giant gint in the rainforests that is about ten feet long, weighs a thousand pounds.and has a four-spined dorsal fin.

Grunt: There are a few different types of this fish. One type is a large, carnivorous salt-water fish that inhabits Thassa. It is often attracted to the scent of blood like a shark. The blue grunt is a small, voracious, carnivorous freshwater fish also attracted to blood. It is particularly dangerous during the daylight hours preceding its mating periods. During its mating period, they are harmless. They are also more of a threat when they school and not when a solitary individual is encountered. The white-bellied grunt is a large game fish which feeds on parsit fish.

Leech: A salt leech is one type of known leech. A marsh leech is another. A marsh leech is about four inches long and half an inch thick. If a leech is stuck on you, burning it or placing salt on it will cause it to let go.

Lelt: This is a small, five to seven inches long, blindfish. It has fernlike filaments at either side of the head which are its sensory organs. It is white with long fins and swims slowly. It inhabits the brine pits and is the main food of the salt shark.

Mamba : Large, predatory river tharlarion which inhabits

the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi

Parsit fish: There are several types of this slender, silvery fish with brown stripes. They are migratory fish and the principal prey of sea sleen.

Pike: This is a carnivorous fish about fifteen inches long.

Sharks: There are several varieties of sharks on Gor, saltwater and freshwater. The common shark is nine-gilled and its skin is very rough and abrasive. Varieties include river sharks, salt shark, marsh shark, white sharks of the north and the Vosk and Laurius sharks. The salt shark is commonly over twelve feet long, with a sickle-like tail. It has several rows of triangular teeth and a sail-like dorsal fin. It inhabits brine pits such as those of the Tahari region.

Sea sleens : types (common, brown, black, flat-nosed, rogue, tufted) Common: Long sleek mammal with flippers and six legs and double fanged jaws can weigh as much as 1000 pounds.. and as much as 20 feet in length hunted by the Red Hunters for food and pelt.

Snails

Vosk sorp: This is giant-shelled mollusk that creates pearls like an oyster. Its blood is used for dye. Its shell could even be used as a chair.

Turtles: There is a variety of Vosk turtle, a hook-beaked creature, that can grow to be gigantic. It is a persistent carnivore that is almost impossible to kill. The marsh turtle is another variety of turtle on Gor.

Whales: There are several varieties of whales on Gor including the Karl whale, baleen whale, and the Hunjer Long Whale, a rare toothed black whale which eats cuttlefish.

Wingfish, Cosian: This is a tiny, delicate fish, about the size of a tarn disk when curled in one's hand. It is blue in color and has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin that are poisonous. It can hurl itself from the water and glide through the air for brief distances on its stiff pectoral fins. It does this to evade sea-tharlarions who are immune to their poison. It is sometimes called the songfish because of the whistling sound they make in courting rituals. The fish thrust their heads out of the water to whistle. The blue, four-spined variety is only found in Cosian waters. Larger varieties are found farther out to sea. It is a great delicacy, especially its liver. 

Grunt

 I was interested in the fauna of the river and the rain forest. I recalled, sunning themselves on exposed roots near the river, tiny fish. They were bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with tiny fiipperlike lateral fins. They had both lungs and gills. Their capacity to leave the water, in certain small streams, during dry seasons, enables them to seek other streams, still flowing, or pools. This property also, of course, makes it possible for them to elude marine predators and, on the land, to return to the water in case of danger. Normally they remain quite close to the water. Sometimes they even sun themselves on the backs of resting or napping tharlarion. Should the tharlarion submerge the tiny fish often submerges with it, staying close to it, but away from its jaws. Its proximity to the tharlarion affords it, interestingly, an effective protection against most of its natural predators, in particular the black eel, which will not approach the sinuous reptiles. Similarly the tiny fish can thrive on the scraps from the ravaging jaws of the feeding tharlarion. They will even drive one another away from their local tharlarion, fighting in contests of intraspecific aggression, over the plated territory of the monster's back. The remora fish and the shark have what seem to be, in some respects, a similar relationship. These tiny fish, incidentally, are called gints.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 299 - 300

I could see, some hundred yards off, dark on the ice, the bodies of two sea sleen. There must be a breathing hole there. When approached, they would disappear beneath the ice, for it was they who were being approached. On the other hand, some, seen first beneath the surface, a detectable, sinuous, twisting, moving body, a foot or two below, would suddenly emerge, beside the ship, snouts raised above the surface, with an explosive exhalation of breath, and then a drawing inward of air, these come to open water about the ship, to breathe. It was they who approached. It was eerie to look into the large, round, dark eyes of a sea sleen, peering at one from the icy water. The sea sleen will attack a human in the water, which it will see as food, but it is unlikely to attack one on the ice. Its usual prey is parsit fish, or grunt. In the case of the northern shark it is both prey and predator. Some sea sleen hunt in packs, and these will attack other sea mammals, even large sea mammals, such as whales, which they will attack in swarms, in a churning, bloody frenzy. We were instructed to stand in truce with these marine predators. If one came on the ice, we would push it back in the water with poles. One caught at a pole and snapped it apart with one swift, wrenching closure of its wide, double-fanged jaws, like a toothed trap door set low in that broad, viperlike head. In time one might need them for food. Thus, one welcomed them to come to the side of the ship, to breathe. To be sure, the sea sleen, like its confreres on land, is an intelligent animal, and we did not think it unlikely that it might prove quite dangerous if it were attacked, or thought it necessary to protect a breathing hole.

Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 138

The mystery of the parsit was solved, of course, as this wilderness of efflorescent plant life in the sea, floating like a vast park of life, drew myriads of small creatures, and these would draw the parsit, and the parsit would draw the shark, the grunt, and the unusual tharlarion.

Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Pages 219 - 220

"I will have the body delivered to the pool, by garbage slaves," said Demetrion.

Supposing this allusion might be obscure to the stranger and Captain Nakamura, I explained it to them. For any who might come upon this manuscript and are not familiar with Brundisium, the pool, when the grating is raised, is accessible from the sea, and may be entered by sharks, and grunt. It serves several purposes. It tends to draw predatory fish away from the piers, and it provides a convenient way of disposing of large forms of garbage, the bodies, say, of dead animals. It is also used as a place of execution, in particular, for minor offenses, such as theft. The grating is raised, which is a signal to fish in the vicinity that a feeding is at hand. If the victim is alive, a limb is severed, which distributes blood in the water, and then the limb and the victim are cast into the pool.

Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 511

One could smell fish. The early boats had come in. Grunt and parsit were strung between poles.

Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 68

Grunt - Blue

 "Keep a watch for tharlarion," said Kisu. He reached under the water and pulled a fat, glistening leach, some two inches long, from his leg.

"Destroy it," said Ayari.

Kisu dropped it back in the water. "I do not want my blood, pinched from it, released in the water," he said.

Ayari nodded, shuddering. Such blood might attract the bint, a ranged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa. The blue grunt is particularly dangerous during the daylight hours preceding its mating periods, when it schools. Its mating periods are synchronized with the phases of Gor's major moon, the full moon reflecting on the surface of the water somehow triggering the mating instinct. During the daylight hours preceding such a moon, as the restless grunts school, they will tear anything edible to pieces which crosses their path. During the hours of mating, however, interestingly, one can move and swim among them untouched. The danger, currently, of the bint and blue grunt, however, was not primarily due to any peril they themselves might represent, particularly as the grunt would not now be schooling, but due to the fact that they, drawn by shed blood, might be followed by tharlarion.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 267

Tende screamed, and we turned about. We saw the body of one of the raiders, seized in the jaws of a tharlarion, pulled beneath the surface. It had been drawn to the area probably by the smell of blood in the water, or by following other forms of marine life, most likely the bint or blue grunt, who would have been attracted by the same stimulus. It is not unusual for tharlarion to follow bint and grunt. They form a portion of its diet. Also they lead it sometimes to larger feedings.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 270 - 271

"I am well aware of that," he said. With his right hand he gestured about himself. He indicated the walls of the fortresslike enclosure within which he had ensconced himself and his men. Too, about this enclosure, at the foot of stairs leading from it, was a broad, shallow moat. Waters from the lake circulated through the city and fed this moat. In it, as had been demonstrated, by the hurling of a haunch of tarsk into the waters, crowded and schooling, were thousands of blue grunt. This fish, when isolated and swimming free in a river or lake, is not particularly dangerous. For a few days prior to the fullness of the major Gorean moon, however, it begins to school. It then becomes extremely aggressive and ferocious. The haunch of tarsk hurled into the water of the moat, slung on a rope, had been devoured in a matter of Ihn. There had been a thrashing frenzy in the water and then the rope had been withdrawn, severed. The moat had been crossed by a small, floating wooden bridge, tied at each end. This had been built, being extended outward from the opposite shore, by Shaba's men. The effectiveness of the moat, aside from the barrier of the water itself, would become negligible with the passing of the full moon, until the next. The grunt, following the mating frenzy, synchronized with the full moon, would return to the lake. Given the habits of the fish I had little doubt but that this place was an ancient mating ground for them, for the grunt populations tend to return again and again to the places of their frenzy, wherever, usually in a lagoon or shallow place in a river, they may be. The grunt now schooling in the open moat, come in from the lake, could well be the posterity of grunt populations dating back to the time when the city was not in ruins but in the height of its glory and power. The grunt in the moat were for a time an effective barrier, but surely Shaba and his men realized that it must be temporary. Suddenly the hair on the back of my neck rose. I now understood the practicality of their present situation.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 431 - 432

 

Grunt - Speckled

 I ran to the stern that I might watch. Half out of the water, then returning to it, I saw a great speckled grunt, four-gilled. It dove, and swirled away. Another man came to help with the line. I observed the struggle. One often fishes from the ships on Thassa, and the diet of the sailors consists, in part, of the catch. Part of each catch is commonly saved, to serve as bait for the next.

Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Pages 359 - 360

Grunt - White

 The Kur commander than gave orders to one of his beasts. Msaliti screamed with misery as the animal lifted him high over his head and then threw him into the moat.

Almost instantly Msaliti was on his feet and then he screamed, and fell, and again regained his feet, and fell again. There was a thrashing about him, a churning in the water, and it seemed the water exploded with blood and bubbles. Msaliti, as though moving through mud, howling, waded through the packed, slippery, voracious bodies. I tore the raider's spear from Kisu and extended it to Msaliti who, screaming, grasped it. We drew him from the water. His feet and legs were gone. We struck tenacious fish from his body. He then lay on the level and we, with strips of cloth, tried to stanch his bleeding.

The Kurii, on the other side of the moat, single file, then padded away.

We fought to save Msaliti. Finally, with tourniquets, we managed to slow, and then stop, the bleeding.

Bila Huruma then stood beside me, on the level near the moat. "Shaba is dead," he said.

Msaliti lifted his hand to the Ubar. "My Ubar," he said.

Bila Huruma looked down at Msaliti sadly. Then he said to his askaris, "Throw him to the fish."

"My Ubar!" cried Msaliti, and then he was lost in the moat, the fish swarming about him.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 444

Before each guests there were tiny slices of tospit and larma, small pastries, and, in a tiny golden cup, with a small golden spoon, the clustered, black, tiny eggs of the white grunt.

Fighting Slave of Gor     Book 14     Pages 275 - 276

Grunt - White-Bellied

 Three other men of the Forkbeard attended to fishing, two with a net, sweeping it along the side of the serpent, for parsit fish, and the third, near the stem, with a hook and line, baited with vulo liver, for the white-bellied grunt, a large game fish which haunts the plankton banks to feed on parsit fish.

Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 59

Grunt - Wide-Mouthed

 "There must be many predators at a fishing ground," I said, "sharks, sea sleen, fanged eels, wide-mouthed grunts, and such."

Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 102

grunt white bellied

 This is a game fish which inhabits plankton beds to feed on parsit fish. They are found in the cold waters of the Polar North and as far south as Torvaldsland. Their eggs, which are small and black, are a delicacy and possibly like Gorean caviar.

Be careful if you swim in the water here , as they have been seen from the docks where you now stand .

Hatchet

 In the delta, there is an eel-like fish, the Hatchet Fish, which has a rigid dorsal fin.

Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 195

Hogfish

 "I do not have a face like a hogfish," she said.

"No," I said. "You certainly do not."

"No?" she said.

"No," I said.

"I may look like a hogfish," she said. "But I am good. I cannot help myself. I am hot. I gush and oil."

"I am sure you do," I said.

Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 99

Isopod

 The lelt is commonly five to seven inches in length. It is white, and long-finned. It swims slowly and smoothly, its fins moving the water very little, which apparently contributes to its own concealment in a blind environment and makes it easier to detect the vibrations of its prey, any of several varieties of tiny segmented creatures, predominantly isopods.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 247

These, in turn, become food for various flatworms and numerous tiny segmented creatures, such as isopods, which, in turn, serve as food for small, blind, white crayfish, lelts and salamanders.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 249

It swims slowly, conserving its energy, not alerting its prey, commonly flatworms and tiny segmented creatures, predominantly isopods.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 256

Knife-Teethed

 "Bring me the body," said Pa-Kur.

"We found no body," said a man.

"He must have drowned," said another.

"I want the body," said Pa-Kur.

"Tharlarion, swamp fish, knife-teethed fish," suggested another.

Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 302

Leech

 I flicked a salt leach from the side of my light rush craft with the corner of the tem-wood paddle.

Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 5

I was not particularly surprised at finding a bit of rep-cloth tied on the rence plant, for the delta is inhabited. Man has not surrendered it entirely to the tharlarion, the Ul and the salt leach.

Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 6

"Keep a watch for tharlarion," said Kisu. He reached under the water and pulled a fat, glistening leach, some two inches long, from his leg.

"Destroy it," said Ayari.

Kisu dropped it back in the water. "I do not want my blood, pinched from it, released in the water," he said.

Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 267

"Leech!" I said. "Leech!" I could feel it on my back. It was large. It may have been what had touched me in the water. I could not reach it with my chained hands.

. . .

"On my back," I said, "I can feel it! A leech! Take it off!"

"You can be covered with them, spying sleen," snarled the man, "for all I care."

"I ask that it be removed," I said.

"Do not fear," said the fellow. "They are only hungry. When they have their fill, they will drop off."

"Here is another," said a fellow wading near me, holding up its wet, half-flattened, twisting body in his hand. It was some four inches long, a half inch thick.

"There are probably a great many of them here," said the fellow, dropping it back in the water.

Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Pages 96 - 97

I stood unsteadily in the water. I could feel the leeches on my body, one on my back, another on my leg. Then, shuddering, I felt yet another. It was fastening itself near the first, on my back.

Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 98

"Lie still," said the fellow crouching next to me.

I shuddered, lying in the sand. The reaction was uncontrollable, involuntary, reflexive.

"Still," he said. He held the bit of rence stalk, still smoking from the fire, to one of the creatures on my back. I could feel it pulling out of my skin. He then picked it from my back, dropping it to the side, with others.

I did not know how much blood I had lost, though I suppose, objectively, it was not much. How much can one of those creatures, even given the hideous distention of its digestive cavity, hold? Yet there had been many during the day. Many had released their hold themselves.

"That is the last one," observed the fellow, turning me about.

"My thanks," I said.

He had removed, by my count, eleven of the creatures. He had put them to the side. There are various ways in which they may be encouraged to draw out, not tearing the skin. The two most common are heat and salt. It is not wise, once they have succeeded in catching hold, to apply force to them. In this fashion, too often part of the creature is left in the body, a part, or parts, which must then be removed with a knife or similar tool.

Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Pages 99 - 100

I opened my mouth and he put one of the leeches into it. "Eat," he said.

Later he forced another leech into my mouth and waited until I had eaten it. He then took the remaining leeches and, with a shiver of disgust, with two hands, hurled them out from the bar, into the water.

Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 102

"Such things often attach themselves to rence stems," I said. "Apparently you bent down, to drink. The front of your collar is wet, and the strap, near the throat. Your hair, too, is damp. Perhaps you brushed against rence in doing this. Too, however, such things can float free in the water."

"Please!" she said, shuddering. "Please!"

"It has not had time to affix itself," I said.

It was about four inches long, rubbery, glistening in the moonlight.

"Please!" she whispered.

I picked it off.

"Do you want it?" I asked.

"No!" she said.

"The marsh leech is edible," I said. "At one time I did not know that."

Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 236

"Did you detect the presence of further such creatures upon me?" she asked, frightened.

"No," I said.

"Then I am now free of them?" she said.

"Apparently," I said.

She sobbed with relief.

"It may have been an isolated leech," I said.

"But there are others in the marsh!" she said.

"Of course," I said.

"Let me ride on the raft!" she begged.

"No," I said.

"But it is not just leeches," she said. "There are tharlarion, and other dangers."

"Keep a sharp lookout," I said.

Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 238

In the boat were two wide, shallow, wooden buckets, each half filled with wet, glistening leeches, taken from the water, often from the stems of water plants, such as rence.

Before being put on her belly in the boat, Ellen's face, she on her knees, was almost thrust into these two buckets, one after the other, filled with twisting, inching, churning leeches, that she might see them. She shrank back, as she could, in terror.

These creatures are utilized in some manner by the caste of physicians, not for indiscriminate bleeding as once on Earth, but for certain allied chemical and decoagulant purposes. Such creatures may also be used, of course, for less benign purposes, for torture, the extraction of information, punishment and, in the extreme, executions. The "leech death" is not a pleasant one. These creatures are not to be confused with the leech plant, which supplements its photosynthetic activities with striking, snakelike, at passing objects.

Prize of Gor     Book 27     Pages 365 - 366

"You are not to utter a sound," said the older lad, "not the least sound, or we will put you on your back, and put a stick between your teeth and tie it there, so that you cannot close your teeth, and then bind leeches in your mouth."

Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 366

Poling in the trackless delta, the rope on their neck, they are well aware of the wilderness, the vastness, the treacherous byways, the quicksand, the heat, the insects, leeches, delta sharks, winged, predatory uls, and, in particular, marsh tharlarion, which often scout the boats, and accompany them, little but the eyes visible, for pasangs.

Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 487

Left

Lelts are often attracted to the salt rafts, largely by the vibrations in the water, picked up by their abnormally developed lateral-line protrusions, and their fernlike cranial vibration receptors, from the cones and poles. Too, though they are blind, I think either the light, or the heat, perhaps, from our lamps, draws them. The tiny, eyeless heads will thrust from the water, and the fernlike filaments at the side of the head will open and lift, orienting themselves to one or the other of the lamps. The lelt is commonly five to seven inches in length. It is white, and long-finned. It swims slowly and smoothly, its fins moving the water very little, which apparently contributes to its own concealment in a blind environment and makes it easier to detect the vibrations of its prey, any of several varieties of tiny segmented creatures, predominantly isopods. The brain of the lelt is interesting, containing an unusually developed odor-perception center and two vibration-reception centers. Its organ of balance, or hidden "ear," is also unusually large, and is connected with an unusually large balance center in its brain. Its visual center, on the other hand, is stunted and undeveloped, a remnant, a vague genetic memory of an organ long discarded in its evolution. Among the lelts, too, were, here and there, tiny salamanders, they, too, white and blind. Like the lelts, they were, for their size, long-bodied, were capable of long periods of dormancy and possessed a slow metabolism, useful in an environment in which food is not plentiful. Unlike the lelts they had long, stemlike legs. At first I had taken them for lelts, skittering about the rafts, even to the fernlike filaments at the sides of their head, but these filaments, in the case of the salamanders, interestingly, are not vibration receptors but feather gills, an external gill system. This system, common in the developing animal generally, is retained even by the adult salamanders, who are, in this environment, permanently gilled. The gills of the lelt are located at the lower sides of its jaw, not on the sides of its head, as is common in open-water fish. The feather gills of the salamanders, it seems, allow them to hunt the same areas as the lelts for the same prey, the vibration effects of these organs being similar, without frightening them away, thus disturbing the water and alerting possible prey. They often hunt the same areas. Although this form of salamander possesses a lateral-line set of vibration receptors, like the lelt, it lacks the cranial receptors and its lateral-line receptors do not have the sensitivity of the let's. Following the lelt, not disturbing it, often helps the salamander find prey. On the other hand, the salamander, by means of its legs and feet, can dislodge prey inaccessible to the lelt. The length of the stemlike legs of the salamander, incidentally, help it in stalking in the water. It takes little prey while swimming freely. The long legs cause little water vibration. Further, they enable the animal to move efficiently, covering large areas without considerable metabolic cost. In a blind environment, where food is scarce, energy conservation is essential. The long, narrow legs also lift the salamander's head and body from the floor, enabling it, with its sensors, to scan a greater area for prey. The upright posture in men delivers a similar advantage, visually, in increasing scanning range, this being useful not only in the location of prey, but also, of course, in the recognition of dangers while remote, hopefully while yet avoidable.

But it was not the lelts nor the salamanders which explained our interest in the waters.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Pages 247 - 24

These, in turn, become food for various flatworms and numerous tiny segmented creatures, such as isopods, which, in turn, serve as food for small, blind, white crayfish, lelts and salamanders.

These latter, however, do not stand at the top of the food chain. Sometimes one picks up the lelts and salamanders in the cones. It was not these that had excited the interest of the men.

"Is it the Old One?" asked one of the men.

"I cannot tell," said another. The steersman stood ready with the lance.

"There!" cried one of the men, pointing.

I saw it then, moving in, slowly, then turning about. The lelts and salamanders vanished, disappearing beneath the water. The thing disappeared. The waters were calm.

. . .

"The lelts have not returned," said the steersman to me.

"What does this mean?" I asked.

"That the Old One is still with us," he said, looking down

at the dark waters. Then he said, "Gather salt." Again I flung out the rope and cone.

. . .

I heard screaming now, far off, then silence. Because of the saline content of the water the salt shark, when not hunting, often swims half emerged from the fluid. Its gills, like those of the lelt, are below and at the sides of his jaws. This is a salt adaptation which conserves energy, which, otherwise, might be constantly expended in maintaining an attitude in which oxygenation can occur.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Pages 249 - 250

"It is the Old One," said the steersman "It is dusk." I then understood, from his words, the meaning of the scarcity of food in the pit. When the hunting is good, one hunts. One can return later to earlier kills, driving away scavenging lelts.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 251

I looked at the heads of the lelts, and, scattered among them, the heads of the pale salamanders, thrust from the dark water, attracted by the movement, or the awareness of the light or heat, of the lamps.

. . .

I looked upon the lelts, and, among them, here and there, the salamanders. Their blunt, whitish heads protruded from the water, curious, each head oriented toward one or the other of the four lamps on the raft. I knelt down on the raft, and, quickly, scooped, holding it, one of the lelts from the water. It was enclosed in my hand. It struggled briefly, then lay still. The lelt is a small fish, long-bodied for its size, long-finned. It commonly swims slowly, smoothly, conserving energy in the black, saline world encompassing its existence. There is little to eat in that world; it is a liquid desert, almost barren, black, blind and cool. It swims slowly, conserving its energy, not alerting its prey, commonly flatworms and tiny segmented creatures, predominantly isopods. I turned the lelt, looking at the small, sunken, covered pits in the sides of its head. I wondered if it was capable, somehow, of a dim awareness of the phenomenon of light. Could there be some capacity, some genetic predisposition for the recognition of light, like an ancient, almost lost genetic memory, buffed in the tiny, simple, linear brain at the apex of its spinal column? It could not be possible I told myself. The tiny gills, oddly beneath and at the sides of its jaws, closed and opened. There was a minute sound. I lowered my hand and let the lelt slip again into the dark water. It slipped from sight. Then I saw it again, a few feet from the raft. Again its head protruded from the water, again oriented to the same lamp at the corner of the raft.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Pages 255 - 256

Some salt slaves eat the lelt, raw, taken from the water, or gleaned from their harvesting vessels. The first bite is taken behind the back of the neck.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 256

I regarded the fish.

Perhaps they have some dim awareness of light. Perhaps it is only the heat that draws them. I suppose, in the salt pit, one of our small lamps might seem to those who had in their lives known only darkness like the glory of a thousand suns. We know little about the lelt. We do know it will come from the darkness and lift the blind pits of its eyes toward a source of light.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 256

"What of the Old One?" asked one of the men.

"Leave him," I said. The lelts, as yet, had not even dared approach the shifting, buoyant carcass of the Old One. In time their hunger would bring them, nosing and nibbling, to its bulk, and the blind feast in the black waters would begin. "Return to the salt docks," I said.

Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 263

One of the four lifeboats had now reached the wreckage of the first corsair vessel. Seventy to eighty men, like frenzied lelts, were now trying to reach it. I watched it capsize, men swarming then like insects on the overturned hull.

Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 329

On The Caste of Builders

  THE CASTE OF BUILDERS

--------------------------

One of the five High Castes of Gor and accorded the third highest status (above Physicians and Warriors, but below Scribes and Initiates). 

The caste colour is yellow and the caste symbol is the angle square.

>>

The tier nearest the floor, which denoted some preferential status, the white

tier, was occupied by Initiates, Interpreters of the Will of Priest-Kings. In order, the ascending tiers, blue, yellow, green, and red, were occupied by representatives of the Scribes, Builders, Physicians, and Warriors. ..... I was pleased to note that my own caste, that of the Warriors, was accorded the least status; if I had had my will, the warriors would not have been a High Caste. On the other hand, I objected to the Initiates being in the place of honour, as it seemed to me that they, even more than the Warriors, were nonproductive members of society.

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

>>In Ar, for example, early in the day, a member of the Builders will go to the roof on which the Home Stone is kept and place the primitive symbol of his trade, a metal angle square, before the Stone, praying to the Priest-Kings for the prosperity of his caste in the coming year;

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

DUTIES OF THE BUILDERS CASTE

----------------------------------

1.)The builders caste are responsible for the design and construction of buildings, walls, palaces, fortifications, roads and other such public works....

>>

"As you might have surmised," said Misk, "your city is being rebuilt. Those of Ko-ro-ba have come from the corners of Gor, each singing, each bearing a stone to add to the walls. For many months, while you labored in our service in the Lands of the Wagon Peoples, thousands upon thousands of those of Ko-ro-ba have returned to the city. Builders and others, all who were free, have worked upon the walls and towers. Ko-ro-ba rises again."

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

.....most outstandingly there had been a considerable disbursement for the construction of four bastions and tarncots for the flying cavalry of Ar, her tarnsmen; the military men of Ar had waited patiently for these cylinders and were now outraged to discover that the moneys had actually been disbursed, and had apparently disappeared; the parties, presumably of the Builders, to which the disbursements had been made were found to be fictitious.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

The road, like most Gorean roads, was built like a wall in the earth and was intended to last a hundred generations. The Gorean, having little idea of progress in our sense, takes great care in his building and workmanship. What he builds he expects men to use until the storms of time have worn it to dust. Yet this road, for all the loving craft of the Caste of Builders which had been lavished upon it, was only an unpretentious, subsidiary road, hardly wide enough for two carts to pass.

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

>>

Some two years ago the merchants and builders had opened the road of Cyprianus, named for the engineer in charge of the project, which led to the fairs rather from the southwest.

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

  

2.) The builders also produce building materials......

>>

In the streets of Tharna shortly after the end of the revolt the caste colours of Gor began to appear openly in the garments of the citizens. The marvelous glazing substances of the Caste of Builders, long prohibited as frivolous and expensive, began to appear on the walls of the cylinders, even on the walls of the city itself.

OUTLAW OF GOR

<<

>>

The new Administrator of Ar was a man named Minus Tentius Hinrabius, an unimportant man except for being of the Hinrabian family, prominent among the Builders, having the major holdings in the vast, walled Hinrabian kilns, where much of Ar's brick is produced.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

3.) The Caste of Builders are responsible for the assaying (authentication) and certification of assayers, of gold......

>>

"You have, of course, been paid in advance for your troubles?" asked Chino. 

"Of course," said Petrucchio.

"In authenticated gold, naturally," added Chino.

"Authenticated gold?" asked Petrucchio.

"Of course," said Chino. "If you have not had the coins authenticated, my friend, Lecchio, here, is certified by the caste of Builders to perform the relevant tests......

"Let us see your other coins," said Lecchio.

"Sir!" cried Rowena.

"That we may see if they be genuine," he said, menacingly.

"I assure you that they are," said Rowena.

"Let them be examined," said Lecchio, "that a determination in the matter may be made."

"He is certified by the Builders," Chino reminded them."

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

4.) It should be noted that the builders caste are also the inventors of Gor who bring forth and introduce new technologies (although sometimes as a result of co-operation with other castes). Examples of builders' technological innovations are listed below......

4.1) The “slave goad” and the “tarn goad”......

>>

On the other side of the belt, there hung a slave goad, rather like the tarn goad, except that it is designed to be used as an instrument for the control of human beings rather than tarns. It was, like the tarn goad, developed jointly by the Caste of Physicians and that of the Builders, the Physicians contributing knowledge of the pain fibers of human beings, the networks of nerve endings, and the Builders contributing certain principles and techniques developed in the construction and manufacture of energy bulbs.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

4.2) “Energy bulb” lighting.......

>>

Inside, the tunnel, though dim, was not altogether dark, being lit by domelike, wire-protected energy bulbs, spaced in pairs every hundred yards or so. These bulbs, invented more than a century ago by the Caste of Builders, produce a clear, soft light for years without replacement.

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

4.3) A “Forbidden weapon”......

>>

On a green field somewhere, I had no idea where, a man in the garments of the Caste of Builders, emerged from what was apparently an underground cave.  He looked furtively about himself as though he feared he might be observed.  Then, satisfied that he was alone, he returned to the cave and emerged once more carrying what resembled a hollow pipe. From a hole in the top of this pipe there protruded what resembled the wick of a lamp.

The man from the Caste of Builders then sat cross-legged on the ground and took from the pouch slung at his waist a tiny, cylindrical Gorean fire-maker, a small silverish tube commonly used for igniting cooking fires.  He unscrewed the cap and I could see the tip of the implement, as it was

exposed to the air, begin to glow a fiery red.  He touched the fire-maker to the wicklike projection in the hollow tube and, screwing the fire-maker shut, replaced it in his pouch. The wick burned slowly downward toward the hole in the pipe. When it was almost there the man stood up and holding the

pipe in both hands trained it at a nearby rock.  There was a sudden flash of fire and a crack of sound from the hollow tube as some projectile hurtled through it and shattered against the rock.  The face of the rock was blackened and some stone chipped from its surface.  The quarrel of a crossbow would have done more damage.

"Forbidden weapon," said Sarm.

PRIEST-KINGS OF GOR

<<

4.4) The “glass of the builders”......

>>

The walls were crowded, and I supposed many upon them used the long glasses of the Caste of Builders to observe the field of the stakes.

NOMADS OF GOR

<<

>>

"How are they?" asked Chino.

"So far, they seem good," Lecchio muttered, "but many forgeries pass the first test." He then drew from his pack a glass of the Builders, used for identifying distant objects. "Oh, oh," he muttered, darkly.

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

>>

I snapped open the glass of the builders. From both the north and the south,

like distant black slivers knifing through the cold waters of Thassa, masts down, came the fleets of the fifth wave.

RAIDERS OF GOR

<<

4.5) The one way mirror......

>>

 Ho-Tu turned into a side corridor and we found ourselves, to my surprise, looking through a huge rectangle of glass, some twelve feet high and perhaps fifteen feet wide; it was one of a dozen such panels I could see in the corridor.

 Beyond the glass I looked into what seemed to be a Pleasure Garden, ...... Then I stepped back for I noted, coming along one of the curving walks, two lovely girls, ......

 "Do not fear," said Ho-Tu. "They cannot see you."

 I studied the glass that separated us. The two girls strolled near the glass and one of them, lifting her hands behind her head, studied her reflection gravely in the mirror, retying the band of silk which confined her hair.

 "On their side of the glass," said Ho-Tu, "it seems a mirror."

 I looked suitably impressed, though of course, from Earth, I was familiar with the principles of such things.

 "It is an invention of the Builders," said Ho-Tu. "It is common in slave houses, where one may wish to observe without being observed."

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

SOURCE OF LABOUR FOR CONSTRUCTION WORKS

-----------------------------------------------------

>>

Goreans generally do not employ slaves for such labors as road construction, siege works, raising walls, and so on. Similarly they generally would not use them for the construction of temples and public buildings. Most such work is generally done by the free labor of a given community, though this "free labor" may, upon occasion, particularly in emergencies, be "levied," the laborers then contributing their labor as a form of special tax, or, if you like, "conscripted" or "drafted," rather as if for military service. Usually, of course, the free labor is paid, and with more than provisions and shelter, either from public or private funds.

DANCER OF GOR

<<

>>

The men of Port Kar had not chosen to build towers. It is the only city on Gor I know of which was built not by free men, but by slaves, under the lash of masters. Commonly, on Gor, slaves are not permitted to build, that being regarded as a privilege to be reserved for free men.

RAIDERS OF GOR

<<

SPECIAL TOOLS OF THE TRADE

---------------------------------

1.) Surveying chords......

>>

The streets were laid out geometrically. This is usually done by engineers, with surveying cords.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

2.) The angle square......

>>In Ar, for example, early in the day, a member of the Builders will go to the roof on which the Home Stone is kept and place the primitive symbol of his trade, a metal angle square, before the Stone, praying to the Priest-Kings for the prosperity of his caste in the coming year;

TARNSMAN OF GOR

<<

EXCHANGE OF IDEAS

----------------------

>>

Four times a year, correlated with the solstices and equinoxes, there are fairs held in the plains below the mountains, presided over by committees of Initiates, fairs in which men of many cities mingle without bloodshed, times of truce, times of contests and games, of bargaining and marketing...... Similarly men of such castes as the Physicians and Builders make use of the fairs to disseminate and exchange information pertaining to their respective crafts.

OUTLAW OF GOR

<<

>>

Further, members of castes such as the Physicians and Builders use the fairs for the dissemination of information and techniques among Caste Brothers, as is prescribed in their codes in spite of the fact that their respective cities may be hostile.

PRIEST-KINGS OF GOR

<<

WOMEN IN THE CASTE OF BUILDERS

--------------------------------------

>>

For example, a woman in the Metalworkers does not, commonly, work at the forge, nor is a woman of the Builders likely to be found supervising the construction of fortifications. Caste membership, for Goreans, is generally a simple matter of birth; it is not connected necessarily with the performance of certain skills, nor the attainment of a given level of proficiency in such skills.

FIGHTING SLAVE OF GOR

<<

STYLE OF DRESS

------------------

>>

A Builder, whose robes were stained with thrown fruit, hastily strode by. "You had better be indoors," said he, "on Kajuralia."

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

In a Gorean city it was not difficult for a woman to travel incognito. By the robes of concealment this is made easy. I wore the robes of a woman of high, caste, today the yellow of the Builders.

KAJIRA OF GOR

<<

STYLE OF SPEECH

-------------------

>>

My Chamber Slave's accent had been pure High Caste Gorean though I could not place the city. Probably her caste had been that of the Builders or Physicians, for had her people been Scribes I would have expected a greater subtlety of inflections, the use of less common grammatical cases;....

.....So, I thought to myself, I had placed her accent rather well, either Builders or Physicians, and had I thought carefully enough about it, I might have recognised her accent as being a bit too refined for the Builders.

PRIEST KINGS OF GOR

<<

BUILDERS' KNOTS

-------------------

>>

I then illustrated, she cooperating, several other common knots, among them the Karian ancho knot, the Pin hitch, the double Pin hitch, the Builder's bend and the Builder's overhand.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

ARCHITECTURE AND NOTEABLE WORKS OF THE BUILDERS CASTE

--------------------------------------------------------------------

1.) On the general architecture of Gor......

>>

Indeed, good taste and aesthetic sense, abundantly and amply displayed, harmoniously manifested, in such areas as language, architecture, dress, culture and customs, seem innately Gorean. It is a civilization informed by beauty, from the tanning and cut of a workman's sandal to the glazings intermixed and fused, sensitive to light and shadow, and the time of day, which characterize the lofty towers of her beautiful cities.

SLAVE GIRL OF GOR

<<

>>

"Hold!" cried a guardsman, one of two, at this post on one of the long, arching, graceful, railess, narrow bridges interlaced among the towers of Brundisium. Such bridges are a feature of many Gorean cities. They are easy to defend and serve to link various towers at various levels, towers which in a time of attack or siege may serve on given levels or in isolation, if the defenders choose to block or destroy the bridges, as independent keeps, each an almost impregnable, well-stocked fortress in its own right.In Brundisium there were eleven such towers.

 In many of the high cites there are many more. In Ar, for example, there are hundreds. Other than in their military significance, of course, such bridges tend to be quite beautiful and, functionally, serve to divide the cities into a number of convenient levels. Many Gorean cities, in effect, are tiered cities. Gorean urban architecture, in the high cities, tends to be not so much a matter of flat, spreading, concentric horizontal rings, as in many cities, as a matter of towers and tiered levels, linked by soaring, ascendant traceries.

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

>>

Yards, and gardens and courts, if they exist, are generally within the house, not outside it. This is very general in Gorean architecture.

EXPLORERS OF GOR

<<

>>

There, some fifty yards away, kneeling, huddled together against the brick wall of a public building, the wall composed of the flat, narrow bricks common in southern Gorean architecture, was a group of some one hundred to one hundred and fifty females.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

>>

Most doors giving entry into a compartment, or set of compartments, on Gor do, however, have locks, generally hand-crafted, highly ornate locks, usually set in the center of the door and controlling a long bolt.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

He was a tall man, rather heavy, with bland soft features, but his voice was very deep and would have been quite impressive in one of the temples of the Initiates, constructed to maximize the acoustical effects of such a voice.

PRIEST KINGS OF GOR

<<

>>

The atrium in the house of records, I had learned, was open to the sky, which opening, as in many public and private Gorean buildings in the south, serves to admit light. The displuviate atrium is open in such a way as to shed rainwater outwards, keeping most of it from the flooring of the atrium below. This would also facilitate the use of the rope and iron. The alternative atrium, if unroofed, of course, is impluviate, so constructed as to guide rainwater into an awaiting pool below.

MAGICIANS OF GOR

<<

2.) The Pharos of Port Cos......

>>

We looked at the tall, cylindrical structure which lay on a promontory, at the southwesternmost point of the harbor. It was perhaps one hundred and fifty feet high. It tapered upward, and was perhaps some twenty feet in diameter at the top. It was yellow and red, in horizontal sections, the colors of the Builders and Warriors, the Builders the caste that had supervised its construction and the Warriors the caste that maintained its facilities. It was as much a keep as a landmark. At night, in virtue of fires and mirrors, it served as a beacon.

RENEGADES OF GOR

<<

3.) The city of Tor......

>>

The buildings of Tor are of mud brick, covered with colored, often flaking, plasters......

The buildings in Tor are seldom more than four stories high, which is about as high as one may build safely with beams and mud brick. Because of the irregular topography of Tor, however, which is a hilly, rocky area, like most of the Tahari terrain, many of the buildings, built on shelves and rises, seemed considerably higher. These buildings, on the outside smooth and bleak, save for occasional narrow windows, high, not wide enough to admit a body, abut directly on the streets, making the streets like deep, walled alleys. In the center of the street is a gutter. It seldom rains in Tor, but the gutter serves to collect waste, which is often thrown into it, through open doors, by slaves. Within these walls, however, so pressing upon the street, I knew there were often gardens, walled, well-watered, beautiful, and cool, dark rooms, shielded from the heat and sun, many with superb appointments. Tor was, as Gorean cities went, rich, trading city......

The architecture of Tor, in concentric circles, broken by numerous, narrow, crooked streets, was a function of the radius from its wells.

TRIBESMEN OF GOR

<<

4.) The city of Port Kar......

(Note that Port Kar was built by slaves. However the slaves only provided the brute force labour and where directed and supervised by their Masters. One has to assume those masters were of the Builders Caste)

>>

In Port Kar, incidentally, there are none of the towers often encountered in the northern cities of Gor. The men of Port Kar had not chosen to build towers. It is the only city on Gor I know of which was built not by free men, but by slaves, under the lash of masters. Commonly, on Gor, slaves are not permitted to build, that being regarded as a privilege to be reserved for free men.

RAIDERS OF GOR

<< 

>>

Fire has always been regarded as the great hazard to the arsenal. Accordingly many of her warehouses, shops and foundries are built of stone, with slated or tinned roofs. Wooden structures, such as her numerous sheds and roofed storage areas tend to be separated from one another.

RAIDERS OF GOR

<< 

>>

Here and there small lamps, set in niches, high in stone walls, or lanterns, hung on iron projections, shed small pools of light on the sides of buildings and illuminated, too, in their secondary ambience, the stones of the sloping walkway on which I trod, one of many leading down to the wharves......

I passed iron doors, narrow, in the walls. These doors usually had a tiny observation panel in them, which could be slid back. The walls were sheer. They were generally windowless until some fifteen feet above the ground. Yards, and gardens and courts, if they exist, are generally within the house, not outside it. This is very general in Gorean architecture. But there were few gardens or courts in Port Kar. It was a crowded city, built up from the marshes themselves, in the Vosk’s delta, and space was scarce and precious.

There were pilings along the walkway, to which, here and there, small boats were moored. The walkway itself varied from some five feet to a yard in width.

EXPLORERS OF GOR

<<

5.) The city of Ar......

>> I had seen Ar at various times before. Such a sight I was accustomed to. It would not move me, as it might others, the first time to look upon it.

"Incredible!" said a man.

"Marvelous!" whispered another.

...... I saw then, in the distance, some four or five pasangs away, the gleaming walls of glorious Ar.

"I had not realized how vast was the city," said one of the men.

"It is large," said another fellow.

"There is the Central Cylinder!' said a man, pointing.

The high, uprearing walls of the city, some hundred feet or more in height, the sun bright upon them, stretched into the distance. They were now white. That had been done, apparently, since the time of Cernus, the usurper, and the restoration of Marlenus, ubar of ubars. It was hard to look at them, for the glare upon them. We could see the great gate, too, and the main road leading to it, the Viktel Aria...... Within the gamut of those gleaming walls, so lofty and mighty, rose thousands of buildings, and a veritable forest of ascendant towers, of diverse heights and colors. Many of these towers, I knew, were joined by traceries of soaring bridges, set at different levels......

"I do not think I have ever seen anything so beautiful," said a man.

We were looking upon what was doubtless the greatest city of known Gor.

"I did not know it was like that," said another man.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

>>

We began the long journey through the halls of Ar's great Central Cylinder, almost a city in itself. At times we walked up swirling gradients, at times stairs, swirling and broad, leading higher and higher into the cylinder; sometimes we walked through marble-floored passageways, in which, through narrow windows, designed to be too small for a body to pass, but large enough for use as crossbow ports, I could see the blue sky of Ar's bright morning; ...... then we would be walking deeper within the cylinder, down broad, carpeted, tapestried halls, set with energy lamps, seldom found in the homes of private citizens, emitting a soft, glowing light; many of the doors had locks on them, the vast ornate locks in the center of the door, so common in the northern cities; some others were secured only by signature knots, presumably the doors to the compartments of unimportant retainers or members of the staff, in many cases perhaps the doors to the compartments of mere slaves.

ASSASIN OF GOR

<<

>>

There, in one wall, was a long crack. The floor creaked, too, in places, as one trod upon it. I trusted this was merely from the disrepair and age of the boards. Insulae are seldom maintained well. They are cheap to build, and easily replaced. Their structure is primarily wood and brick. There are ordinances governing how high they may be built. Although we had come up several flights, we were probably not more than seventy or eighty feet Gorean from the street level. Without girders, frame steel and timber iron, as the Goreans say wrought in the iron shops, such as are used in the towers, physics, even indexed to the Gorean gravity, is quick to impose its inexorable limits on heights. Such buildings tend to be vulnerable to structural stresses, and are sometimes weakened by slight movements of the earth. Sometimes walls give way; sometimes entire floors collapse.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

6.) The roads......

>>

The village of Tabuk's Ford lay some four hundred pasangs generally north and slightly west. The Vosk road was the road used many years ago by the horde of Pa-Kur, in its approach to the city of Ar. We had travelled the Vosk road after crossing the Vosk on barges. It is wide, and built like a great wall, sunk in the earth. It is marked with pasang stones. It is, I suppose, given its nature, a military road leading to the north, broad enough to accommodate war tharlarion, treading abreast, and the passage, two or three, side by side, of thousands of supply wagons and siege engines, without unduly, for more than several pasangs, extending and exposing the lines of the march. Such roads permit the swift movement of thousands of men, useful either in the defense of borders, the meeting of armies, or in the expansions of imperialism, the conquests of the weak.

SLAVE GIRL OF GOR

<<

>>

In the old days the road of Clearchus was often referred to as the "west road." This designation became less useful after the recent opening of the road of Cyprianus. It is not unusual, now, to refer to the road of Clearchus as the "old west road" and that of Cyprianus as the "new west road." Neither of these roads, incidentally, are "great roads," in the sense of being mounted in the earth several feet deep, built of stone like a sunken wall, the sort of roads which are often intended to last a thousand years, the sort of roads which, typically, are found in the vicinity of large cities or are intended to be military roads, speeding directly to traditionally disputed territories or linking strategic points. These roads are both secondary roads, so to speak, generally graveled and rutted; occasionally they are paved with such materials as logs and plated stone; they can be almost impassable in rainy weather and in dry, warm weather, they are often dusty. Tertiary roads, so to speak, are often little more than unfrequented twisting trails. There is often talk of improving the secondary roads, and sometimes something is done, but generally little is accomplished. The major consideration, of course, is money. Too, many roads, for great portions of their length are not clearly within the jurisdiction of given states.

PLAYERS OF GOR

<<

>>

Some were even street wagons, and not road wagons, the latter generally of heavier construction, built for use outside the city where roads may be little more than irregular paths, uneven, steep, rugged and treacherous. Some Goreans cities, for example, perhaps as a military measure, in effect isolate themselves by the refusal to allocate funds for good roads. Indeed, they often go further by neglecting the upkeep of even those tracks that exist. It can be next to impossible to reach such cities in the spring, because of the rains. Besnit is an example.

MAGICIANS OF GOR

<<

7.) The city of Laura......

>>

The warehouses seemed constructed of smoothed, heavy timbers, stained and varnished. Most appeared reddish. Almost all had roofs had wooden shingles, painted black. Many were ornamented, particularly above the great double doors, with carvings, and woodwork, painted in many colors. Through the great doors I could see large central areas, and various floors, reached by more ramps.

CAPTIVE OF GOR

<<

8.) The town of Kassau and the Torvaldsland region......

>>

Kassau is a town of wood, and the temple is the greatest building in the town, It towers far above the squalid huts, and stabler homes of merchants, which crowd about it. Too, the town is surrounded by a wall, with two gates, one large, facing the inlet, leading in from Thassa, the other small, leading to the forest behind the town. The wall is of sharpened logs, and is defended by a catwalk.

MARAUDERS OF GOR

<<

>>

"Your hall," said I to the Forkbeard, "is scarcely what had expected."

I had learned, much to my instruction, that my conception of the northern halls left much to be desired. Indeed the true hall, lofty, high-beamed, built of logs and boards, with its benches and high-seat pillars, its carvings and hangings, its long fires, its suspended kettles, was actually quite rare, and, generally, only the richest of the Jarls possessed such. The hall of Ivar Forkbeard, I learned, to my surprise, was of a type much more common. Upon reflection, however, it seemed to me not so strange that this should be so, in a bleak country, one in which many of the trees, too would be stunted and wind-twisted. In Torvaldsland, fine tlmber is at a premium. Too, what fine lumber there is, is often marked and hoarded for the use of shipwrights If a man of Torvaldsland must choose between his hall and his ship, it is the ship which, invariably, wins his choice.

MARAUDERS OF GOR

<<

>>

Though the hall of Ivar Forkbeard was built only of turf and stone....

MARAUDERS OF GOR

<<

9.) The Inn at Ar's Station......

>>

The inn itself, aside from certain ancillary buildings, was built of heavy logs, and in two parts, or structures, with a common, peaked roof, and an open space, covered from above by the roof, between the two parts. Each part, or structure, contained perhaps three or four floors, possibly joined by ladders. It was about a hundred feet between the door in the interior gateway, where I stood, and, to the right, the covered way between the separate parts of the inn. The flooring of the court was formed largely, leveled and carved, from the natural stone of the plateau.

RENEGADES OF GOR

<<

10.) The Torcodino Semnium......

>>

Within the entrance to the Semnium was a marble-floored, lofty hall. Passageways and stairways led variously from this broad vestibule. The walls were adorned with mosaics, scenes generally of civic life, prominent among them were scenes of public gatherings, conferences and processions. One depicted the laying of the first stone in Torcodino's walls, an act which presumably would have taken place more than seven hundred years ago, when, according to the legends, the first wall, only a dozen feet high, was built to encircle and protect a great, sprawling encampment at the joining of trade routes.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

11.) The aqueducts of Torcodino......

>>

"These are the aqueducts of Torcodino!" said Mincon.

"I see them," I said. The natural wells of Torcodino, originally sufficing for a small population, had, more than a century ago, proved inadequate to furnish sufficient water for an expanding city. Two aqueducts now brought fresh water to Torcodino from more than a hundred pasangs away, one from the Issus, a northwestwardly flowing tributary to the Vosk and the other from springs in the Hills of Eteocles, southwest of Corcyrus. The remote termini of both aqueducts themselves are usually patrolled and, of course, engineers and workmen attend regularly to their inspection and repair. These aqueducts are marvellous constructions, actually, having a pitch of as little as a hort for every pasang.

MERCENARIES OF GOR

<<

12.) The village of Tabuk's Ford......

>>

My master, with his lieutenants, sat cross-legged in the large, thatched hut of Thurnus. It was high, and conical, and floored with rough planks, set some six or seven feet on poles above the ground, that it might be drier and protected from common insects and vermin. The entrance was reached by a flight of rough, narrow steps. The entrances to many of the huts in the village, similarly constructed, were reached by ladders. Thurnus was caste leader. In the center of the hut was a large flat, circular piece of metal, on which, on legs, might sit braziers or the small, flattish cooking stoves, using pressed, hardened wood, common in the villages north and west of Ar. About the walls were the belongings of the house, in coffers and bales. Elsewhere about the village were storage huts and animal pens. Mats covered the rough planks. From the walls hung vessels and leathers. A smoke hole in the top of the hut permitted the escape of fumes. The hut, probably because of its construction, was not smoky. Also, though it was windowless and had but one door, it was not, at this time of day, dark. Through the straw of its roof and sides there was a considerable, delicate filtering of sunlight. The hut in the summer is light and airy. The frame of such a hut is constructed of Ka-la-na and Tem wood. The roof is re-thatched and the walls rewoven every third or fourth year. In the winters, which are not harsh at this latitude, such huts are covered on the outside with painted canvas or, among the richer peasants, with ornamented, painted bosk hides, protected and glossed with oil.

SLAVE GIRL OF GOR

<< 

cylinder

the primary architectural form of buildings in major Gorean cities; they are of varying heights and colors, flat-topped and cylindrical, connected by narrow, colorful bridges that arch between them.

Tarnsman of Gor, page 23

Pillar of Exchanges

about one hundred pasangs northwest of Tharna lonely white column of solid marble 400 feet in height and 100 feet in diameter. The solid pillar offers an almost ideal place for the exchange of prisoners.

Outlaw of Gor page, 141

NOTEABLE MEMBERS OF THE CASTE OF BUILDERS

-----------------------------------------------------

1.) The Lady Rena of Lydius......

>>

The woman sat regally on the curule chair, wrapped in resplendent, many-colored silks. Her raiment might have cost more than any three or four of us together were worth. She was, moreover, veiled........

“Lift you head, Child,” said a woman’s voice. 

I did so. She was no older than I, I am sure, but she addressed me as a child.......

How steadily she regarded me, over her veil, her eyes amused. How beautiful she seemed. How splendid and fine! I could no longer meet her eyes.

“You may lower your head, Girl,” she said, not unkindly.......

“Who was she?” asked the grizzled, one-eyed guard.

“The Lady Rena of Lydius,” said Targo, “of the Builders.”.....

CAPTIVE OF GOR

<<

>>

The new girl had been Rena of Lydius, of the Builders, one of the five high castes of Gor. She still lay, secured, in the wagon. I expected Targo would keep her hooded and gagged in Laura, for it was possible she might be known there.

CAPTIVE OF GOR

<<

2.) Ina the slave......

>>

"It is the garment of a free woman," I had said.

"It is a lower-caste garment!" she said. "I am of high caste!" Ina was, I had learned, of the Builders, one of the five high castes on Gor, the others being the Initiates, Physicians, Scribes and Warriors.

VAGABONDS OF GOR

<<

3.) Lady Filomela of Ar......

>>

“But I was of high caste!” said Filomela.

“What was your caste?” I asked.

“The Builders!” she said.

“But you are not now of the Builders, or of any other caste, are you?” I asked.

“No,” she said.

“What are you?”

“A slave,” she said.

MAGICIANS OF GOR

<<

4.) The members of the Hinrabius family (Tentius Hinrabius, Administrator of Ar and his daughter,  Claudia)......

>>

The new Administrator of Ar was a man named Minus Tentius Hinrabius, an unimportant man except for being of the Hinrabian family, prominent among the Builders, having the major holdings in the vast, walled Hinrabian kilns, where much of Ar's brick is produced.

ASSASIN OF GOR

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>>Nela, like most of the others at the baths, could talk of little but the startling disappearance, and presumed abduction, of Claudia Tentia Hinrabia, the proud, spoiled daughter of the Administrator of the City.

ASSASIN OF GOR

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5.) Cyprianus the engineer......

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Some two years ago the merchants and builders had opened the road of Cyprianus, named for the engineer in charge of the project, which led to the fairs rather from the southwest.

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This scroll compiled by the hand of Spyder Kamm, Scribe of Port Olni, 2008-09-09