Sleen

 

"Never had I seen such beasts ... They were six legged, clawed, and doubly fanged. Their heads were wide and triangular, like those of vipers, but their bodies, long and sinuous, were thickly furred. They twisted and squirmed about one another. I had been held by the two men at the edge of the barrier, to see the attack on the first piece of lowered meat. The animals leaped for it, some of them thirty or more feet into the air. There was a stink in the place of the animals, and the noise of their snarling, their hissing, their squealing and challenge screams was ear-piercing and horrifying."

~Fighting Slave of Gor~

The above passage from Fighting Slave of Gor describes Jason Marshall's first meeting with the sleen, that vicious, ferocious predator of Gor.

By their nature, they are known as being the most tenacious hunters on the planet. Sleens can follow a days-old trail as though it were fresh, tracking down their prey and ripping it to shreds even weeks later.

WILD SLEEN

In the wild, the sleen is a burrowing animal, usually hunting at night.

Sleens are almost reptilian in their appearance, described as "almost as much snake as animal" ... they are, however, designated as mammals, and most varieties are thinly furred, being refered to as "feline", like the larl.

They are commonly born in litters of four after a gestation period of six months, and a sleen pup will usually make its first kill by the age of two months. In most breeds the young are white furred at birth, with the fur darkening by the following spring. 

Young sleen are often more eager and irresponsible in their attack than the older, it being "noisy - a whistling rush, a clumsy squealing charge". An older, calmer sleen will attack almost silently.

In its attack frenzy, the sleen is one of the most dangerous animals on Gor. Its tail tends to switch back and forth, getting rigid as it hunts, and its ears flatten against its head just prior to its final charge.

Sleen hunters customarily eat the heart of the sleen that they kill, considering it to bring them good luck - although not as much as the heart of the mountain larl. 

There is another ritual involving those who hunt and train sleen, which is a blood-brothership, binding two men forever.

VARIETIES OF SLEEN

Different varieties of sleen can grow from about seven to twenty-feet long, but all are distinguishable by their six legs and two rows of teeth.

The type of sleen which the narrator described in the earlier quote were FOREST SLEEN, being brown or black in colour. They are large creatures, on average weighting about 1100 pounds though they can grow to between 1200 and 1400 pounds.

Sid, however, is a common variety of PRAIRE SLEEN, tawny in colour and quite a bit smaller than the forest sleen being about seven feet long on average ... but he's no less dangerous, mind!

In the south, these the forest and praire sleen are the most common to be domesticated and used as hunting sleen.

In the north it is the SNOW SLEEN, known for their luxuriant thick white coat, which are most often domesticated by the Red Hunters. They are easily identified by the thickness of their coat, the narrowness of their ears and breadth of their paws.

Wild snow sleen are known to roam the arctic north and are especially dangerous if starved enough to hunt in packs, which can range from a handful of animals to well over one hundred.

A less common variety of sleen is the GRAY SLEEN, who are known to be particularly good trackers even for sleen, capable of following a weeks-old scent for a thousand pasangs.

These are about fifteen feet long, with silver gray fur. Their widely set eyes have slit-like pupils.

DOMESTICATED SLEEN

There is a sub-caste of the Animal Handlers which specifically deals with sleen ... the Caste of Sleen Trainers. Their colours are brown and black.

They are faithful and intelligent creatures. Usually very obedient to their trainer, and capable of responding to both whistles and verbal commands.

Domesticated sleen are used for many purposes on Gor, but most famously for hunting down and destroying runaway slaves.

A runaway slave has the highest chance of survival if they are caught while trying to escape. In this case, the sleen will usually be well-trained enough simply to herd them back to their kennel.

Aside from being trained to guard or catch slaves, sleen can also be used to herd or track other animals. They are very useful creatures indeed ...

They are also filthy animals, as you can probably tell from the stench. They even make the common tarsk seem clean!

"As we passed among the wagons I leaped back as a tawny prairie sleen hurled itself against the bars of a sleen cage, reaching out for me with its six-clawed paw. There were four other prairie sleen in the cage, a small cage, and they were curling and moving about one another, restlessly, like angry snakes."

~Nomads of Gor~

Domesticated praire sleen are used for hunting, and nocturnal herd sleen are used as shepherds or sentinels. They are released from their cages at nightfall, responding only to the voice of their Master.

Another, rarer use for the sleen, is as entertainment. A sleen might be trained to 'dance' by a talented trainer, and it will perform during festivals and such, being guided through the motions by its Master.

Being pack animals, sleen are cared for only by their Master, with whom they develop a deep bond. Great care is taken to ensure that they are not befriended by a slave who might try to escape, so slaves will rarely be permitted to care for a sleen, beyond throwing meat to it perhaps.

Trained sleen respond to only one Master in their lifetime. If their Master dies, the sleen is then commonly destroyed - its meat eaten and hide stripped, being of little other use.

Sleen are trained with heavy whips and collars. Sometimes, as punishment, a slave girl might be forced to wear a heavy leather sleen collar, or bend to the harsh sleen whip.

Slave girls might also be lucky enough to assist in the training of a sleen. This training takes place in well-fenced training pits into which the sleen are also released, with cages strewn about for girls to run to for their safety. This keeps the attacking instincts of the animals sharp.

As described in the chronicles, sleen cages would usually be shorter, thinner and longer than the one you see here - usually about four feet in height, six feet wide and twelve feet in length.

The flooring is made of wooden planks spaced apart for drainage, and straw is often strewn on the flooring. The roof is also planked. Tarps would be thrown over these cages at night.

SLEEN BREEDING

Now ... sleen breeding is also an important trade.

Wild sleen are almost impossible to train. Sometimes young sleen, after their mother is hunted and killed, are dug out of the burrow and raised. Provided the young have not yet made their first kill, there is a good chance they can be domesicated.

If a sleen is to revert to its wild nature, this usually happens in the spring during the natural mating season - especially common in male sleen.

This is a good reason why trained sleen are commonly bred. This is often done in peasant villages, as it can be a very lucrative trade.

Tabuk's Ford, the village mentioned in Slave Girl of Gor, is known to be the home of some of the best sleen breeders in all of Gor.

"The mating of sleen is interesting. The female, if never before mated, flees and fights the male. But he is larger and stronger. At last he takes her by the throat and throws her upon her back, interestingly, belly to belly, beneath him. His fangs are upon her throat. She is at his mercy. She becomes docile and permits her penetration. Shortly, thereafter, their heat growing, they begin, locked together by legs and teeth, to roll and squeal in their mating frenzy. It is a very fierce and marvelous spectacle."

~Slave Girl of Gor~

I've heard that observing sleen mating can have a peculiar effect on slave girls ... but I'm sure it's a myth ...

Sleen mate for life. After the female has been taken the first time, she no longer need be forced.

In fact she follows her mate, often rubbing against him, and hunts alongside him. If the male sleen is in a foul mood, she will sometimes be driven away temporarily with snarls and bites, only to return to his side when he is calmed.

Sounds familiar somehow ...