The Northern Forest on Gor

Northern forests are magnificent, deep, and cover hundreds of thousands of square pasangs.
The northern forests, the haunts of bandits and unusual beasts, far to the north and east of Ko-ro-ba, my city, are magnificent, deep forests, covering hundreds of thousands of square pasangs.
Assassins

Extend from Laura to Torvaldsland, no on knows how far east
SEE ALSO Laura
"See," she said, pointing up to the hills and forests north of Laura. "Those are the great forests. No one knows how far they extend to the east, and they go north as far as Torvaldsland.
Captive

The forests cover such a large area that different portions may differ considerably
The forests of the northern temperate latitudes of Gor are countries in themselves, covering hundreds of thousands of square pasangs of area. They contain great numbers of various species of trees, and different portions of the forests may differ considerably among themselves.
Captive

From the shores of Thassa, the forests extend beyond the most northern ridges of the Thentis Mountains
SEE ALSO Thassa
It is not known how far these forests extend. It is not impossible that they belt the land surfaces of the planet. They begin near the shores of Thassa, the Sea, in the west. How far they extend to the east is not known. They do extend beyond the most northern ridges of the Thentis Mountains.
Captive

The northern forests are dangerous
"It is not my wish", said Samos, looking up from the board, "that you journey to the northern forests."
I regarded the board. Carefully, I set the Ubar's Tarnsman at Ubar's Scribe Six.
"It is dangerous," said Samos.
"It is your move," said I, intent upon the game.
He threatened the Ubar's Tarnsman with a spearman, thrust to his Ubar Four.
"We do not care to risk you," said Samos. There was a slight smile about his lips.
"We?" I asked.
"Priest-Kings and I " said Samos.
Hunters

Few travelers journey through the northern forests
"What were you doing in the northern forests?" I asked him.
"I am an outlaw", he said proudly.
"You are a slave," said Samos.
"Yes," said the man, "I am a slave."
The slave girl, in her brief silk, stood, holding the two-handled bronze paga vessel, that she might look down upon him.
"Few travelers journey through the northern forests," I said.
"Commonly," said he, "I plundered beyond the forests." He looked at the slave girl. "Sometimes," said he, "I plundered within them."
Hunters

Using the moss that grows on the northern sides of trees as a directional guide
The prevailing northern winds, carrying rain and moisture, had coated the northern sides of the high trees with vertical belts of moss, extending some twenty or thirty feet up the trunk. By means of this device I continued, generally, to run southward.
Captive

Eating berries from bushes
Finding small streams for water
Edible fruits hanging on branches
I fled southward.
I was hungry.
At bushes I stopped and nibbled at berries.
Then, shortly before noon, I stumbled onto a small stream, which could only be a tributary of the Laurius.
I flung myself down on the pebbles of its shore and lapped the fresh water, slaking my thirst.
Then, rising, I entered the stream, feeling its cold waters on my ankles, and waded downstream. I wished to take this further precaution against leaving a trail behind me, a stain of odor on a twig, a dampness of perspiration on a leaf.
I followed the stream for an Ahn, sometimes stopping to lift my head to overhanging branches, to nibble at hanging fruit.
Then the stream joined a larger stream, and I followed that further. I had little doubt that this larger stream would join the Laurius.
Captive

Water traps made for fish - SEE ALSO Fishing
Snares made for small animals as well as tabuk
She had shown me what could be eaten, and what could not. It was she who had shown how the water trap might be built. She had also shown me how to make snares of binding fiber, bending down small branches, and making triggers of small twigs.
She had also shown me how, with binding fiber, a log and a stick trigger, to make a snare large enough to catch a tabuk, but we did not actually make such a snare. It might have attracted the attention of a huntsman, and provoked his curiosity. The smaller snares would be more easily overlooked. Further, it would have been difficult for Ute and I to have placed the log in such a snare, and, besides, without a knife, and wishing to move swiftly, tabuk would have been heavy game for us.
Captive

Using a small curved stick to strike down birds & tiny animals
Digging for roots
She had also shown me how to make shelters of various sorts and use a small, curved stick for striking down birds and tiny animals. Ute taught me to find food where it would not have occurred to me to look for it. I relished the roots she taught me to dig for. But I was less eager to sample the small amphibians she caught in her hands, or the fat, green insects she scooped from the inside of logs and from under overturned rocks.
"They can be eaten," she said.
I, however, contented myself with nuts and fruits, and roots, and water creatures which resembled those with which I was familiar, and, of course, the flesh of small birds and animals.
Perhaps, the most extraordinary thing Ute did, to my mind, was, with sticks, a flat piece of wood and some binding fiber, make a small fire drill. How pleased I was when I saw the dried flakes of leaves suddenly redden and flash into a tiny flame, which we then fed with leaves and twigs, until it would burn sticks.
Captive

Abrupt storms of the north
Cold rains in icy sheets, here lasting two hours
Then, to my joy, I felt a drop of rain on my naked body, and then another. And then, suddenly, with the abruptness of the storms of the Gorean north, the cold rains, in icy sheets, began to pelt downwards. In the forest, tied, bound, in the icy rain, I threw back my head and laughed. I was overjoyed. The rain would wipe out my trail! I might escape the beast! I doubted that even a sleen, Gor’s most perfect hunter, could follow my trail after such a downpour. I laughed, and laughed, and then, crouching, hid in some brush, trying to protect myself from the rain.
After some two hours the rain stopped and I crawled out from the brush and again continued my way southward.
Captive

Snow in winter
Trees may also be purchased from the Forest People, who will cut them in the winter, when they can be dragged on sleds to the sea. If there is a light snowfall in a given year, the price of timber is often higher. Port Kar is, incidentally, completely dependent on the northern timber.
Raiders

Ground, leaves and grass wet with morning dew, forest is cool in morning
The ground was wet and damp from the dew. The forest was cool. I could make out the shape of Arn's head, near me, as he waited.
We heard the throaty warbling of a tiny horned gim.
Then we saw the first sparkle of the morning, the glistening of the dampness of leaves and grass.
Hunters

Tur trees
Tem trees
Needle trees
Ka-la-na trees
Port Kar is, incidentally, completely dependent on the northern timber. Tur wood is used for galley frames, and beams and clamps and posts, and for hull planking; Ka-la-na serves for capstans and mastheads; Tem-wood for rudders and oars; and the needle trees, the evergreens, for masts and spars, and cabin and deck planking.
Raiders

Tur trees are the high trees
Grow together in certain areas
It had been difficult making our way through the brush and thickset trees. To reach the high trees of the forest, the great Tur trees, would be perhaps better than another hour’s trek.
Captive

Tur tree is lofty, reddish, and some can grow more than 200 feet high
The most typical and famous tree of these forests is the lofty, reddish Tur tree, some varieties of which grow more than two hundred feet high.
Captive

Tur trees have broadly spreading branches, 200 feet up
Beneath the Tur trees, the floor of forest is almost bare, little but leaves on the ground
We found ourselves now in a stand of the lofty Tur trees. I could see broadly spreading branches some two hundred feet or more above my head. The trunks of the trees were almost bare of branches until, so far above, branches seemed to explode in an interlacing blanket of foliage, almost obliterating the sky. I could see glimpses of the three moons high above. The floor of the forest was almost bare. Between the lofty, widely spaced trees there was little but a carpeting of leaves.
Captive

Beneath other trees there are tangles of brush and vines
I had run madly away, through the dark trees, stumbling, falling, rolling, getting up and running again. Sometimes I ran between the great Tur trees, on the carpeting of leaves between them, sometimes I made my way through more thickset trees, sometimes through wild, moonlit tangles of brush and vines.
Captive

Tiny brush urt scurrying on the ground - SEE ALSO Urts
Tiny horned gim - throaty warbling in the trees
Yellow breasted hermit bird - sharp beak pounding in bark of Tur tree for larvae
I saw a tiny brush urt scurry past. I was not likely to encounter sleen until darkness. Panthers, too, hunted largely at night, but, unlike the sleen, were not invariably nocturnal. The panther, when hungry, or irritable, hunts.
Overhead were several birds, bright, chattering, darting, swift among the branches and green leaves. I heard the throaty warbling, so loud for such a small bird, of the tiny horned gim. Somewhere, far off, but carrying through the forest, was the rapid, staccato slap of the sharp beak of the yellow-breasted hermit bird, pounding into the reddish bark of the tur tree, hunting for larvae.
Hunters

Sleen - SEE ALSO Sleen
Panthers
Fierce tarsks
In the forests there were sleen and panthers, and fierce tarsks.
Hunters

I wondered if it were the same animal which Verna, and one of the other girls, had detected earlier. The girls, too, seemed apprehensive. I hoped that it was not the same animal. If it was, it had been following us. There are, of course, many sleen in the forests.
Captive

Screams of forest panthers in darkness
We heard, as is not uncommon, the screams of forest panthers within the darkness of the trees.
Hunters

A pride of forest panthers - four together with blazing eyes
Hunting at night.
Forest panther is a proud beast
As I ran through the darkness, I suddenly saw, before me, some fifty or sixty yards away, four pairs of blazing eyes, a pride of forest panthers. I pretended not to see them and, heart pounding, turned to one side, walking through the trees. At this time, at night, I knew they would be hunting. Our eyes had not met. I had the strange feeling that they had seen me, and knew that I had seen them, as I had seen them, and sensed that they had seen me. But our eyes had not directly met. We had not, so to speak, signaled to one another that we were aware of one another. The forest panther is a proud beast, but, too, he does not care to be distracted in his hunting.
Captive

Tabuk in herds, antelopelike creature of the thickets and forests
Once I nearly stumbled on a sleen, bending over a slain Tabuk, a slender, graceful, single-horned antelopelike creature of the thickets and forests. The sleen lifted its long, triangular jaws and hissed. I saw the moonlight on the three rows of white, needlelike teeth. I screamed and turned and fled away. The sleen returned to its kill. As I fled I sometimes startled small animals, and once a herd of Tabuk.
Captive

Hith - great banded serpentine constrictor, native only to certain areas of the forest
In one cage, restlessly lifting its swaying head, there coiled a great, banded hith, Gor’s most feared serpentine constrictor. It was native only to certain areas of the forest.
Captive

Forest urts - small, furred, about the size of cats
Un-named small green and yellow plumaged birds
She had, thrust in her belt, the binding fiber she had used for snares. We always took it with us, of course, when we moved. Over her shoulder she had two small, furred animals, hideous forest urts, about the size of cats, in her left hand she carried four small, green-and-yellow-plummaged birds.
Captive

Small amphibians
Un-named fat green insects inside logs & under rocks
I relished the roots she taught me to dig for. But I was less eager to sample the small amphibians she caught in her hands, or the fat, green insects she scooped from the inside of logs and from under overturned rocks.
Captive

Bandits
The northern forests, the haunts of bandits and unusual beasts, far to the north and east of Ko-ro-ba, my city, are magnificent, deep forests, covering hundreds of thousands of square pasangs:
Assassins

Bands of male outlaws
Slave girls who escape masters or some free women, who will not accept the matches arranged by their parents, or reject the culture of Gor, occasionally flee to these forests and live together in bands, building shelters, hunting their food, and hating men; there are occasional clashes between these bands of women, who are often skilled archers, and bands of male outlaws inhabiting the same forests:
Assassins

In them there are the forest people, but also many bands of outlaws, some of women and some of men."
Captive

Panther girls
In them there are the forest people, but also many bands of outlaws, some of women and some of men."
"Women?" I asked.
"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."
I looked at her.
"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."
"Who are these women?" I asked. "Where do they come from?"
"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."
Captive

Forest People
"Those are the great forests. No one knows how far they extend to the east, and they go north as far as Torvaldsland. In them there are the forest people, but also many bands of outlaws, some of women and some of men."
Captive

Trees may also be purchased from the Forest People, who will cut them in the winter, when they can be dragged on sleds to the sea. If there is a light snowfall in a given year, the price of timber is often higher. Port Kar is, incidentally, completely dependent on the northern timber.
Raiders

The wardens who tend the forest preserves claimed by Port Kar
Such preserves are posted, surrounded by ditches to keep out cattle and unlicensed wagoners. There are wardens who watch the trees, guarding against illegal cutting and pasturage, and inspectors who, each year, tally and examine them. The wardens are also responsible, incidentally, for managing and improving the woods. They do such work as thinning and planting, and trimming, and keeping the protective ditch in repair. They are also responsible for bending and fastening certain numbers of young trees so that tey will grow into desired shapes, usually to be used for frames, and stem and sternposts.
Raiders