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Larls on Gor
Clawed & fanged Often stands 7 feet at the shoulder The larl is a predator, clawed and fanged, quite large, often standing seven feet at the shoulder. I think it would be fair to say that it is substantially feline; at any rate its grace and sinuous power remind me of the smaller but similarly fearsome jungle cats of my old world. Priest Kings Head is broad, sometimes more than 2 feet across Head shaped roughly like triangle Furred body Eyes like slits in daylight, dark round moons in night The larl’s head is broad, sometimes more than two feet across, and shaped roughly like a triangle, giving its skull something of the cast of a viper’s save that of course it is furred and the pupils of the eyes like the cat’s and unlike the viper’s, can range from knifelike slits in the broad daylight to dark, inquisitive moons in the night. Priest Kings Pelt normally tawny red or sable black Black larl is maned (both male & female) & nocturnal The pelt of the larl is normally a tawny red or a sable black. The black larl, which is predominantly nocturnal, is maned, both male and female. Priest Kings Red larl hunts whenever hungry Red larl is more common variety and has no mane Females are as agressive as males Females more dangerous in late fall & winter when hunting for their cubs The red larl, which hunts whenever hungry, regardless of the hour, and is the more common variety, possesses no mane. Females of both varieties tend generally to be slightly smaller than the males, but are quite as aggressive and sometimes even more dangerous, particularly in the late fall and winter of the year when they are likely to be hunting for their cubs. I had once killed a male red larl in the Voltai Range within pasangs of the city of Ar. Priest Kings Leopardlike Indigenous to Voltai and several other ranges Feared for occasional hunger-driven visits to civilization ...or, more dangerously, the larl, a tawny leopardlike beast indigenous to the Voltai and several of Gor's ranges, standing an incredible seven feet high at the shoulder and feared for its occasional hunger-driven visitations to the civilised plains below. Tarnsman Wild, uncanny hunting cry Even tarn seemed to shiver As the tarn wheeled upward, I heard the wild, uncanny hunting cry of the larl, piercing the dusk from somewhere in the peaks below. Even the tarn seemed to shiver in its flight. The hunting cry was answered from elsewhere in the peaks and then again from a farther distance. Tarnsman When larl hunts along, it hunts silently, only roaring as it charges to terrify prey When the larl hunts alone, it hunts silently, never uttering a sound until the sudden roar that momentarily precedes its charge, the roar calculated to terrify the quarry into a fatal instant of immobility. Tarnsman Pride of larls hunting together, herd with cries But tonight a pride of larls was hunting, and the cries of the three beasts were driving cries, herding the prey, usually several animals, towards the region of silence, herding them in the direction from which no cries would come, the direction in which the remainder of the pride waited. Tarnsman Larls in pride about 2 pasangs apart as they hunt & herd The light of the three moons was bright that night, and in the resultant exotic patchwork of shadows below, I caught sight of one of the larls, padding softly along, its body almost white in the moonlight. It paused, lifted its wide, fierce head, some two or three feet in diameter, and uttered the hunting scream once more. Momentarily it was answered, once from about two pasangs to the west and once from about the same distance to the south-west. Tarnsman Sharp pointed ears Tail lashing angrily when spying prey Crouches low, close to ground Moves forward swiftly, shoulders hunched, hind quarters close to ground It appeared ready to resume its pace when suddenly it stopped, its head absolutely motionless, its sharp, pointed ears tense and lifted. I thought perhaps he had heard the tarn, but he seemed to show no awareness of us. I brought the bird somewhat lower, in long, slow circles, keeping the larl in view. The tail of the animal began to lash angrily. It crouched, holding its long, terrible body close to the ground. It then began to move forward, swiftly but stealthily, its shoulders hunched forward, its hind quarters almost touching the ground. Tarnsman Ears lying flat against head when stalking Moves silently, placing toes then ball of foot on ground Its ears were lying back, flat against the sides of its wide head. As it moved, for all its speed, it placed each paw carefully on the ground, first the toes and then the ball of the foot, as silently as the wind might bend grass, in a motion that was as beautiful as it was terrifying. Tarnsman Larl will ruin a hunt rather than allow one single animal to escape Something unusual was apparently happening. Some animal must be trying to break the hunting circle. One would suppose that the larl might be unconcerned with a single animal escaping its net of noise and fear and would neglect an isolated kill in order to keep the hunting circle closed, but that is not true. For whatever reason, the larl will always prefer ruining a hunt, even one involving a quarry of several animals, to allowing a given animal to move past it to freedom. Though I suppose this is purely instinctive on the larl's part, it does have the effect, over a series of generations, of weeding out animals which, if they survived, might transmit their intelligence, or perhaps their erratic running patterns, to their offspring. As it is, when the larl loses its hunt, the animals which escape are those which haven't tried to break the circle, those which allow themselves to be herded easily. Tarnsman Paralyzing hunting roar Wild cry can grip man in fear Rather than risk casting my spear from the safe but unsteady saddle of the tarn, I leaped to the ground, just as the larl, furious that it had been discovered, uttered the paralysing hunting roar and charged. For an instant I could not move, literally. Somehow the shock of that great, wild cry gripped me in a steel fist of terror. It was uncontrollable, an immobility as much a physiological reflex as the jerking of a knee or the blinking of an eye. Tarnsman Heart of mountain larl said to bring luck to hunters Then, as sleen hunters do, for luck, and because I was hungry, I took my sword and cut through the fur of the animal and ate the heart. It is said that only the heart of the mountain larl brings more luck than that of the vicious and cunning sleen. Outlaw No mortals on gor ever succeeded in taming a larl Even when raised as cubs by men, will burst in sudden fury and slay their masters In spite of my hatred of Priest-Kings I could not help but admire them. None of the men below the mountains, the mortals, had ever succeeded in taming a larl. Even larl cubs when found and raised by men would, on reaching their majority, on some night, in a sudden burst of atavistic fury slay their masters and under the three hurtling moons of Gor lope from the dwellings of men, driven by what instincts I know not, to seek the mountains where they were born. A case is known of a larl who traveled more than twenty-five hundred pasangs to seek a certain shallow crevice in the Voltai in which he had been whelped. He was slain at its mouth. Hunters had followed him. One among them, an old man who had originally been one of the party that had captured the animal, identified the place. Priest Kings Head almost continually in motion Four nasal slits Eight-valved heart The path was steep but its ascent, here and there, was lightened by high steps. I have never cared to have an enemy above me, nor did I now, but I told myself that my spear might more easily find a vulnerable spot if the larl leapt downwards toward me than if I were above and had only the base of its neck as my best target. From above I would try to sever the vertebrae. The larl’s skull is an even more difficult cast, for its head is almost continually in motion. Moreover, it possesses an unobtrusive bony ridge which runs from its four nasal slits to the beginnings of the backbone. This ridge can be penetrated by the spear but anything less than a perfect cast will result in the weapon’s being deflected through the cheek of the animal, inflicting a cruel but unimportant wound. On the other hand if I were under the larl I would have a brief but clean strike at the great, pounding, eight-valved heart that lies in the center of its breast. Priest Kings Upper canine fangs at least foot in length fangs extend below jaws Long tails, tufted at the end I was struck with wonder, though I was careful to keep beyond the range of their chains, for I had never seen white larls before. They were gigantic beasts, superb specimens, perhaps eight feet at the shoulder. Their upper canine fangs, like daggers mounted in their jaws, must have been at least a foot in length and extended well below their jaws in the manner of ancient sabre-toothed tigers. The four nostril slits of each animal were flared and their great chests lifted and fell with the intensity of their excitement. Their tails, long and tufted at the end, lashed back and forth. Priest King gorean_librarian@yahoo.com 
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