What Is...

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Panther girls by the book
Recompiled by Adrian Serapis
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** Who are the panthers?
** Where do they come from?
** How did they get the name "Panthers"?
** What punishment do they give to the men?
** How easy is for men to get out of the binds done by panther girls?
** How are they organized? (EN, SE, Scout)
** What type of camp do they have?
** What do they commonly trade?
** Do panthers raid cities or towns? If yes, under what conditions? How do they do it
** Are panthers dangerous to men? How do they move in the woods?
** Are panthers territorial?
** How do panthers treat slaves?
** Do panthers trade with men?
** Do they use deception to capture? What type of deception do they use?
** Are panthers capable of lying about submission to save their lives? Will they try to escape?


** Who are the panthers?......
Captive of Gor:
"They live in the forest without men," she said, "saving those they enslave, and then sell, when tiring of them. They shave the heads of their male slaves in that fashion to humiliate them. And that, too, is the way they sell them, that all the world may know that they fell slave to females, who then sold them."


Captive of Gor:
"I was nothing with these proud, free, dangerous, brave women, these independent, superb, unfearing, resourceful, fierce felines, panther girls of the northern forests of Gor.  They were swift and beautiful and arrogant, like Verna.  They were armed, and could protect themselves, and did not need men.  They could make male slaves, if they wished, and sell them later, if they were displeased with them or wearied of them.  And they could fight with knives and knew the trails and trees of the vast forests.  They feared nothing, and needed nothing."


Hunters of Gor:
"She was barbaric, a panther girl, a beauty.  She carried a spear. She wore at her belt a sleen knife.  She wore the skins of forest panthers, primitive ornaments of beaten gold."


** Where do they come from? **
Captive of Gor:
"Some were doubtless once slaves," said Ute. "Others were once free women. Perhaps they did not care for matches arranged by their parents. Perhaps they did not care for the ways of their cities with respect to women. Who knows? In many cities a free woman may not even leave her dwelling, without the permission of a male guardian or member of her family." Ute smiled up at me. "In many cities a slave girl is more free to come and go, and be happy, then a free woman."


** How did they get the name "Panthers"?.....
Captive of Gor:
"Some call them forest girls," said Ute. "Other call them the panther girls, for they dress themselves in the teeth and skins of forest panthers, which they slay with their spears and bows."


** What punishment do they give to the men?.....
Captive of Gor:
"I saw only one slave cage on a barge moving downstream. It contained four or five nude male slaves. They seemed dejected, huddled in their cage. Strangely, a broad swath had been shaven lengthwise on their head. Lana saw this and shrieked out, hooting at them across the river. The men did not even look at us, moving slowly across the current toward Laura. I looked at Ute. "That means they are men who were taken by women,"


Captive of Gor:
"Then Verna turned away from me, and strode before the men.
How beautiful she was, and proud and fierce, in the brief skins and golden ornaments. She was beautifully figured and she carried herself arrogantly before them, taunting them with her beauty, and spear.
"I am Verna," she told them, "a Panther Girl, of the High Forests. I enslave men, when it pleases me. When I tire of them I sell them." She walked back and forth before them. "You are tarsks and beasts," she told them. "We despise you," she said. "We have outwitted you, and captured you. We have bound you. If we wished, we would take you into the forests and teach you what it is to be a slave!" As she spoke she jabbed at them with her spear, and a stain of blood was brought through the fabric of more than one tunic. "Men!" laughed Verna, contemptuously, and turned away from them."


** How easy is for men to get out of the binds done by panther girls?.....
Captive of Gor:
"I saw them struggle, but they could not free themselves. They had been bound by Panther Girls"


** How are they organized? (EN, SE, Scout).....
Hunters of Gor:
The panther girl, Sheera, who was leader of this band, sat down in the warm sand.


Hunters of Gor:
"I will be second to Hura," said Mira to Verna, "when her band arrives to command this portion of the forests."


Hunters of Gor:
"You are a scout?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"How far are you in advance of your band?" I asked.
"Pasangs," she said.
"What will be thought when you do not return to your band?" I asked.
"Who knows what to think?" she said. "Sometimes a girl does not come back."


Hunters of Gor:
"What was the name of the girl you took in the forest?" asked Verna.
"Grenna," I said.  Verna nodded. "I have heard of her," she said. "She stands high in the band of Hura."


** What type of camp do they have?.....
Hunters of Gor:
It consisted of five huts, conical, of woven sapling and thatched, and was surrounded by a small palisade of sharpened saplings. A rough gate, fastened with vines, gave entrance into the camp. In the center of the camp there was a cooking hole, banked with a circle of flat stones. On a wooden spit, set on sticks, grease dropping into the fire and flaming, was a thigh of tabuk.  It smelled good. The smoke, in a thin line, trickled upward into the sky.  The thigh of tabuk was tended by a squatting panther girl, who, from time to time, picked bits of meat from it and thrust them in her mouth. She sucked her fingers clean. Over to one side another girl worked on a slave net, reworking and reknotting the weighted cords."


** What do they commonly trade? ......
Hunters of Gor:
"There was little sugar in the forest, save naturally in certain berries, and simple hard candies, such as a child might buy in shops in Ar, of Ko-ro-ba, were, among the panther girls in the remote forests, prized.  It was not unknown that among the bands in the forests, a male might be sold for as little as a handful of such candies. When dealing with men, however, the girls usually demanded, and received, goods of greater value to them, usually knives, arrow points, small spear points; sometimes armlets, and bracelets and necklaces, and mirrors; sometimes slave nets and slave traps, to aid in their hunting’ sometimes slave chains, and manacles, to secure their catches."


** Do panthers raid cities or towns? If yes, under what conditions? How do they do it?.....
Plausible Scenarios: They would enter the cities in disguise to rescue members of their tribe if they are not submitted truly as slaves (this point is debatable, because panthers will lie thru their teeths to save their lives as will be shown later).


Also,


- Enter in disguise to rescue captured panthers: Here is a controversial epilogue as told by Tarl where Verna may have gone or help or instigated a rescue of her sisters from the City of Ar using the help of Rask of Treve:


Captive of Gor:  "I have heard, too, that the girls of Verna, chief of the panther girls, were freed in Ar, surreptitiously, and are believed to have escaped northward. In this I think I see the hand of Rask of Treve, or perhaps even of Verna, a most unusual woman, herself."


- Enter in disguise to steal supplies or do bona fide trade or even establish some negotiations with the men of the city........


Hunters of Gor, Revised Edition, Chapter 9:
"I had little doubt that panther girls, in disguise, perhaps veiled, in Robes of Concealment, or perhaps even as scantily clad, haughty, brazen slave girls, knowing their collars were meaningless, occasionally penetrated towns such as Lydius or Laura."


** Are panthers dangerous to men? How do they move in the woods?.......
Hunters of Gor:  "It is not uncommon for panther girls to first make contact," said Rim, smiling, "with a hunting arrow in the back."


Hunters of Gor:  "Outlaws move well in the forests, moving, like panther girls, with swiftness and stealth, and leaving little trace of their passage."


Hunters of Gor:"I thought that it was I who was hunting women," said he. "But it was they who were hunting me.


Hunters of Gor:  "She looked at my men, as a man might have looked upon women.  "Some of these men," she said, "seem interesting.  They are strong and handsome.  They would look well in the chains of slaves."
She strode to the opening in the stakes, and there turned again, to face me.
"Be warned," said she.  "These are the forests of the panther girls.  Leave them!"


** Are panthers territorial? ......
Hunters of Gor:
"Of whose band are you?" I asked.
"Of Hura’s," said she.
"This portion of the forest," I told her, "is the territory of Verna and her band."
"It will be ours," she said.
I withheld the water flask.
"We have more than a hundred girls," she said. "It will be ours."


Hunters of Gor:
"It is said," I said, "that in the band of Hura there are more than a hundred women."
Verna smiled. "We shall pick them off," she said, "one by one, and then, when they flee, we shall again follow them, and drop them one by one. When they turn in the forest and throw down their arms, the last of them, we shall put them in chains and sell them to men." There was bitterness in Verna’s face. "I would see Hura, and her high girls," she said, "sold as slaves to men." She looked at me, and laughed. "Grenna," she said, "is already slave. It is an excellent start."
"You hate them so?" I said.  "Yes," she said."


** How do panthers treat slaves?......
Captive of Gor:  "It seemed they were of a sex, or breed, other than, and superior to my own. Among such women I could be but the object of their scorn, what they despised most, only Kajira. And among them I felt myself to be only Kajira, one fit to be tethered and led, scorned as an insult to the beauty and magnificence of their sex. I was other than, and less than, they.  "Hurry, Kajira!" snapped the girl who dragged in my leash."


Hunters of Gor:  "I can understand why it is that such women hate men, but it is less clear to me why they hold such enmity to women. Indeed, they accord more respect to men, who hunt them, and whom they hunt, as worthy foes, than they do to women other than themselves. They regard, it seems, all women, slave or free, as soft, worthless creatures, so unlike themselves."




Role for slaves in a Panther Tribe
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For a slave to live in a panther slave, she would have to contribute directly to the survival of the tribe, and "pay for herself" through her contribution.


This might include:
a. Gathering food
b. Repairs (huts, defences, watch stations).
c. Keeping watch.
d. Filling some of the dangerous roles in place of panthers (a slave is expendable!!). Perhaps going into towns or villages on some task, maybe to scout or seek intelligence.
e. Perhaps slaves could be seen as a disposal asset, so that if the tribe were particularly hard up, 2 or 3 could be sold.


The minor part of the slaves role in spying missions to taverns in cities might include:
a. Serving
b. Dancing


As ever, in any capacity, a slave should always seek to be pleasing, as to not be pleasing could invite death.
In summary, a slaves role should be to actively ensure the survival of the tribe, and to demonstrate that they have value.


** Does a new panther needs to kill someone from the tribe to join?.....
The answer is a resounding NO. Why? Because the only passage that shows a panther saying that the person need to kill someone to replace them was a way for Verna to show Elionor that she was a kajira, not fit to be a panther. Otherwise, Hura would have never being ablet to increase her tribe to more than 100 panthers.


Captive of Gor:  "Would you like to be one of us?" she asked.
"Yes!’ I cried. "Yes!"
"Untie her," said Verna.
The choke leash was removed from my throat. My wrists were unbound.
"Stand," said Verna.
I did so, and so, too, did the other girls. I stood, rubbing my wrists. The girls put down their spears, unslung the bows and quivers from their shoulders. The light of the three moons filtered through the trees, speckling the glade. Verna removed her sleen knife from her belt. She handed it to me. I stood there, holding the knife. The other girls stood ready, some half crouching. All had removed their knives from their sheaths.


"The place of which of these," said Verna, "will you take?"
"I do not understand," I said.
"One of these," said Verna, "or myself, you will fight to the death."


I shook my head, No.
"I will fight you, if you wish," said Verna, "without my knife."
"No," I whispered.
"Fight me, Kajira!" hissed the girl who had held my leash. Her knife was ready.
"Me!" cried another.
"Me!" cried yet another.


One of the girls cried out and leaped toward me, the knife flashing in her hand. I screamed and threw the knife from me, and fell to my knees, my head in my hands.  "No, no!" I cried. "Bind her," said Verna. I felt my hands pulled again behind my back. The girl who had held my leash lashed them together, mercilessly. I felt again the snap of the choke collar on my throat.




Hunters of Gor:
"But this one," said Marlenus, reaching out and shaking Mira’s head with his large hand, "was the most useful of all." He laughed. "With my gold, Hura has increased her band to many girls. It will be the strongest band in the forest. And, with my gold, I purchased our Mira the lieutenancy in that band."


** Do panthers trade with men?.....
Hunters of Gor:
"The panther girl, Sheera, who was leader of this band, sat down in the warm sand.
'Let us bargain,' she said. She sat cross-legged, like a man. Her girls formed a semi-circle behind her.
Sheera was a strong, black-haired wench, with a necklace of claws and golden chains wrapped about her neck. There were twisted golden armiets on her bronzed arms. About her left ankle, threaded, was an anklet of shells. At her belt she wore a knife sheath. The knife was in her hand, and, as she spoke, she played with it, and drew in the sand."


** Do they use deception to capture? What type of deception do they use?...
Hunters of Gor:
"More than once," she said, "we have used our camp as a slave trap."


** Are panthers capable of lying about submission to save their lives? Will they try to escape?....
Hunters of Gor:
"She will attempt to escape tonight," said Marlenus.
I regarded him, puzzled. "Surely, together," he smiled, "we have motivated such an attempt?"
It was true. I doubted that Verna, unless conquered, would willingly endure another examination of the sort to which we had casually subjected her this evening, the rather detailed appraisal of a slave girl by masters.
"Did you note," asked Marlenus, "how deferentially she served us the last cup of wine?"
I smiled. "Yes," I said. "It was served almost as if a slave girl served it."
"It was her attempt," said Marlenus, "to pretend to be a slave. She served it as she thinks slave girls serve." He smiled. "Later," he said, "when she knows herself owned, she will serve, and naturally, as a slave girl serves."




"She attempted to serve as a slave," said Marlenus, "to put us off our guard."
"Then you think," I asked, "that tonight she will attempt an escape?"
"Of course," said Marlenus. "And I expect that by now she has left the camp."