Reptiles of Gor
This is the huge, many banded python of Gor. The great banded, horned hith is the most feared constrictor but is only native to certain areas of the Great Forests. The golden hith is a rare snake. Its body would be difficult for a grown man to encircle with his arms.
“One such serpent was the huge, many-banded Gorean python, the hith.” -Outlaw of Gor, pg. 26
OST:
This is a venomous, brilliantly orange snake that is little more than a foot long. Its bite causes an excruciating death within seconds. A powder prepared from its venom can be put into wine. The osts of the rainforests are red with black stripes. The banded ost is yellowish orange and marked with black rings.
“A small, venomous snake whose bite will cause a painful death within seconds. Commonly they are bright orange, but the banded ost is yellowish orange with black rings. Both are poisonous. "One to be feared even more perhaps was the tiny ost, a venomous, brilliantly orange reptile little more than a foot in length, whose bite spelled an excruciating death within seconds."” --Outlaw of Gor, page 26
“One to be feared even more perhaps was the tiny ost, a venemous, brilliantly orange reptile little more than a foot in length, whose bite spelled an excruciating death within seconds.” -Outlaw of Gor, pg. 26
“The banded ost is a variety of ost, a small, customarily brilliantly orange Gorean reptile. It is exceedingly poisonous. The banded ost is yellowish orange and is marked with black rings.” - Assassin of Gor, pg. 335
SNAKES:
Besides the ost and hith mentioned before, other snakes also exist on Gor. Some other snakes include the adder and marsh moccasin.
“We saw a narrow, dark shape, about five feet long, like a slowly undulating whip, glide past. A small triangular head was almost level with the water surface. I did not think there had been much danger, but there was some possibility that the movements of her legs in the water might have attracted its attention. "That is a marsh moccasin," I said. "Are they poisonous," she asked. "Yes," I said. "I never saw one before," she said. "They are not common," I said, "even in the delta."” ---Vagabonds of Gor, 26:267
“The word 'Mamba' in most of the river dialects does not refer to a venomous reptile as might be expected, given its meaning in English, but, interestingly, is applied rather generally to most types of predatory river tharlarion. The Mamba people were, so to speak, the Tharlarion people. The Mamba people ate human flesh. So, too, does the tharlarion. It Is thus, doubtless, that the people obtained their name.”---Explorers of Gor, 44:393
THARLARION:
There are numerous varieties of this reptile. One type is a species of saddle lizard, common on Gor especially in swamplands and deserts. They are used mostly by those who have not mastered tarns. Tharlarions have been bred for a thousand generations before the first tarn was tamed. Wild tharlarion have round, shining eyes, webbed feet, teeth ridges and a long brown tongue that curls around their prey. They are carnivorous creatures. High tharlarion are short-tempered creatures, that run on its two back feet. Its forelegs are tiny and near useless. They respond to voice signals though sometimes the butt of a lance is needed to move them, hitting them about the eye or ear openings. Those are the few sensitive areas on its body as they are almost impervious to pain, having a sluggish nervous system. Most of the larger varieties have a brain and a smaller brainlike organ, located near the base of the spine. They need far less water than tarns and their metabolism is slower than a tarn. When they move slowly, their stride is a proud, stalking movement. When going fast, they bound in leaps that can carry them twenty paces at a time. Its saddle is built to absorb shock, unlike the tarn saddle. Mounted warriors though still wear a leather belt around their waists. They also wear high, soft boots to protect against the abrasive hide of the creature. Draft tharlarion are four footed, slow moving animals. They are herbivorous and also known as Broad tharlarions. There are at least four species of draft tharlarion. Sea tharlarion, immune to the poison of Cosian wingfish, grow up to thirty feet and more in length and have a yellowish slatted belly. Rock tharlarion are the small lizards of the Tahari. There are tiny water tharlarion, about six inches long, that are little more than teeth and tail like piranha. Some live in the swamps. There are also marsh tharlarion and river tharlarion. River tharlarion are long necked, web-footed, and scaled. Some of them are herbivorous and can be domesticated. They may be used to tow barges on the Cartius River. Tharlarion are also used as cavalry and there are even racing tharlarions. Racing tharlarion are usually larger and more agile than saddle tharlarion but smaller than draft or war ones. The city of Venna is famed for its tharlarion races. Some select breeds of racing tharlarion include the Venetzia, Torarii and Thalonian.
“These gigantic lizards had been bred on Gor for a thousand generations before the first tarn was tamed, and were raised from the leathery shell to carry warriors. They responded to voice signals, conditioned into their tiny brains in the training years. None the less, the butt of one’s lance, striking about the eye or ear openings, for there are few other sensitive areas in their scaled hides, is occasionally necessary to impress your will on the monster.
The high tharlarions, unlike their draught brethren, the slow-moving, four-footed broad tharlarion, were carnivorous. However, their metabolism was slower than that of a tarn, whose mind never seemed far from food and, if it was available, could consume half its weight in a single day. Moreover, they needed far less water than tarns. To me, the most puzzling thing about the domesticated tharlarions, and the way in which they differed most obviously from wild tharlarions and the lizards of my native planet, was their stamina, their capacity for sustained movement. When the high tharlarion moves slowly, its stride is best described as a proud, stalking movement, each great clawed foot striking the earth with a measured rhythm. When urged to speed, however, the high tharlarion bounds, in great leaping movements that carry it twenty paces at a time”. --Tarnsman of Gor, page 125
“The tarn is one of the two most common mounts of a Gorean warrior; the other is the high tharlarion, a species of saddle-lizrd, used mostly by clans who have never mastered tarns. No one in the City of Cylinders, as far as I knew, maintained tharlarions, though they were supposedly quite common on Gor, particularly in the lower areas - in swampland and on the deserts.” -Tarnsman of Gor, pg. 115
“These barges, constructed of layered timbers of Ka-la-na wood, are towed by teams of river tharlarion, domesticated, vast,herbivorous, web-footed lizards raised and driven by the Cartius bargemen, fathers and sons, interrelated clans, claiming the status of a cast for themselves. Even with the harnessed might of several huge thar- larion drawing toward the opposite shore the crossing took us several pasangs downriver.”- Nomads of Gor, pg. 3-4
“The word 'Mamba' in most of the river dialects does not refer to a venomous reptile as might be expected, given its meaning in English, but, interestingly, is applied rather generally to most types of predatory river tharlarion. The Mamba people were, so to speak, the Tharlarion people. The Mamba people ate human flesh. So, too, does the tharlarion. It Is thus, doubtless, that the people obtained their name.”---Explorers of Gor, 44:393
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.
"To my right, some two or three feet under the water, I saw the sudden, rolling yellowish flash of the slatted belly of a water tharlarion, turning as it made its swift strike, probably a Vosk carp or marsh turtle”. --Raiders of Gor, page 1
“Upon occasion, and it had happened early in Se'Kara this year, the arena is flooded and a sea fight is staged, the waters for the occasion being filled with a variety of unpleasant sea life, water tharlarion, Vosk turtles, and the nine-gilled Gorean shark, the latter brought in tanks on river barges up the Vosk, to be then transported in tanks on wagons across the margin of desolation to Ar for the event.” - Assassin of Gor, pg. 190
