The Larl
Ferocious Feline
Sabre-cat of Gor
The larl is a very large feline, the mountain (common) variety being tawny, red or black in color; the snow larls are larger with pelts of white. They are absolutely carnivorous and quite the capable predator. John Norman has described the beast as being leopardlike and pantherlike, but probably the larl is more close in nature and looks as that of the prehistoric saber-toothed felines, and hunt both solitary and in packs.
"… 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 civilized plains below." — Tarnsman of Gor, page 147.
"I turned to see a stout man-at-arms step to the dais, carrying in his arms, folded in the furs of the scarlet larl, a girl." — Nomads of Gor, page 44.
Taming the Beast
These creatures are not cute kittenish pets. They are ferocious, strong, capable carnivorous predators. They cannot be tamed. They cannot be trained. 
Those that have attempted such have never lived very long to tell their tale. In the words of the very famous Siegfield and Roy, "[the beasts] are not tamed; they are trained and then only at their will … the day they desire their control back, they will take it with blood."
"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 then 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." — Priest-Kings of Gor, pages 19-20.
Hunting Habits
Although the larl is a dangerous predator, they generally do not attack men. Exceptions to this would be, of course, if food were scarce, or if a person happened upon them and disturbed them. 
Normally found in the mountains, their natural habitat, hunger is one of the provocations to drive a larl from the safety of the mountains and down onto the plains and other regions.
"… the larl in its native haunts in the Voltai Range, that incredible pantherlike carnivore which may stand six to eight feet high at the shoulder." — Outlaw of Gor, page 21.
"… beyond the bird, to my surprise, I saw even a black larl, a huge catlike predator more commonly found in mountainous regions; it was stalking away, retreating unhurried like a king; before what, I asked myself, would even the black larl flee; and I asked myself how far it had been driven; perhaps even from the mountains of Ta-Thassa, that loomed in this hemisphere, Gor's southern, at the shore of Thassa, the sea, said to be in the myths without a farther shore." — Nomads of Gor, page 2.
"It could be a panther come from the woods, or a strayed larl," said one of the men. This was less likely than a sleen attack. Though panthers and larls can be extremely dangerous to men they will usually attack men only if they are disturbed or other prey is not available. — Players of Gor, page 184.
"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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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 of Gor, pages 147-149.
… it was the sound of a living thing; the sound of a mountain larl. 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. The resemblance is, I suppose, due to the mechanics of convergent evolution, both animals having been shaped by the exigencies of the chase, the stealth of the approach and the sudden charge, and by the requirement of the swift and devastating kill. If there is an optimum configuration for a land predator, I suppose on my old world the palm must go to the Bengal tiger; but on Gor the prize belongs indisputably to the mountain larl; and I cannot but believe that the structural similarities between the two animals, though of different worlds, are more than a matter of accident.
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. 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. 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. The larl's skull… possesses an unobtrusive bony ridge which runs from its four nasal slits to the beginnings of the backbone… eight-valved heart that lies in the center of its breast." — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 21.
Varities of Larl
The jungle larl, an inhabitant of the Schendi, is less dangerous to man, than its cousin, the northern larl. The jungle larl is not only smaller than its northern cousins, but it has a far greater supply of food available, which may explain why it is less aggressive. Of course, like with any wild animal, if provoked or disturbed, it will attack and quite capably.
"On the jungle floor, as well, are found jungle larls and jungle panthers, of diverse kinds, and many smaller catlike predators. These, on the whole, however, avoid men. They are less dangerous in the rain forest, generally, than in the northern latitudes. I do not know why this should be the case. Perhaps it Is because in the rain forest food is usually plentiful for them, and, thus, there is little temptation for them to transgress the boundaries of their customary prey categories. They will, however, upon occasion, particularly if provoked or challenged, attack with dispatch." — Explorers of Gor, page 312.
The rarer white larl, 
also called the snow larl, sentries for the Priest-Kings, larger than the mountain larl, are described as such:
"There was a sudden startled rattle of chains and I saw two huge, white larls frozen in the momentary paralysis of registering my presence… 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 saber-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-Kings of Gor, page 22.
"Is a Priest-King frightened of a larl?" I asked.
Parp chuckled, but not quite so merrily as usual. I could not understand his perturbation. "Do not be afraid," he said, "they are well secured." — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 31."Outside I saw the two snow larls turn to face the portal. They were unchained." — Priest-Kings of Gor, page 290.
Hunting the Larl
Why? Because Gorean men love danger, adventure and beauty, and indeed the larl is a beautiful creature to behold.
"I once asked a Gorean hunter whom I met in Ar why the larl was hunted at all. I have never forgotten his reply. "Because it is beautiful," he said, "and dangerous, and because we are Goreans." — Priest-Kings of Gor, pages 19-20.
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Athough the skulls may look fairly similar, the skull of the larl is considerably larger than that of the African lion. |
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The anatomy of a sabre — and quite likely, a larl as well. Definitely not cuddly kitty. |
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Take a trip on my Time Machine and visit the beasts that lived millions of years ago on Earth, The visit is free of course. Please take a peek at the "Blast to the Past" page.
Special Note
Because of the differences in publishing the books, depending upon whether published in the U.S. or Europe, depending upon whether a first publishing or a Masquerade Books release, page numbers will often vary. All of my quotes are from original, first-printing U.S. publications (see The Books page for a listing of publishers and dates) with the exception of the following books:
- Tarnsman of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
- Outlaw of Gor (11th Printing, Balantine)
- Priest-Kings of Gor (2nd Printing, Balantine)
- Assassin of Gor (10th Printing, Balantine)
- Raiders of Gor (15th Printing, Balantine)
- Captive of Gor (3rd Printing, Balantine)
Disclaimer
These pages are not written for any specific home, but rather as informational pages for those not able to get ahold of the books and read them yourself. Opinions and commentaries are strictly my own personal views, therefore, if you don't like what you are reading — then don't. The information in these pages is realistic to what is found within the books. Many sites have added information, assuming the existences of certain products and practices, such as willowbark and agrimony for healing, and travel to earth and back for the collection of goods. I've explored the books, the flora, the fauna, and the beasts, and have compiled from those mentioned, the probabilities of certain practices, and what vegetation mentioned in the books is suitable for healing purposes, as well as given practicalities to other sorts of roleplaying assumptions.