So you want to play a Panther Girl?

Playing a panther girl is not as easy as a lot of people make it out to be. Unless you're familiar with Gorean customs, a lot of things Panther Girls do may strike you as confusing, or counter-intuitive, although when you take into account that Panther Girls are, or were Veil-wearing Gorean Free Women at one point in their lives, their viciousness, sexuality, haughtiness, and competitiveness may begin to make more sense.

 

They're Gorean Free Women:

Panther Girls are Free Women. Often petty, mean spirited, sexually frustrated, and incredibly arrogant -- a camp full of these Outlaw women can be incredibly difficult to get along with, especially without Gorean men as mediators of their disputes.

 

Organization:

Panther Girls are organized into small groups of Outlaws known as "bands" ("Verna's Band", "Hura's Band" etc. to name a few in the books) that are more similar to gangs of bandits claiming turf then they are to tribes and settled villages -- as with most hunter-gatherers, they tend to travel a lot when an area begins to run out of resources to support them -- i.e.; Animals, fruits, etc. Given the massive scope of Gor's Northern Forest which stretches for thousands of pasangs.. it is fairly easy for panther girls to move to another area.

 

Supplies, Trade and Exchange Points:

Panther Girls live in an inhospitable northern climate. They quite often do not know what they will be eating for their next meal, and even when they do, the amount of supplies they can usually keep are relatively limited given their mobile lifestyle. 

 

Leadership:

A Gorean Panther Band is held together by the strongest huntress amongst them. Those whom defy the leader are often threatened, killed or pushed out of the band. Leadership in a panther-band is hard-won ... often at the point of a knife or spear and so it is almost always held by a strong fighter. Weak, or unsuccessful leaders are often killed or driven off by stronger or more popular ones.

 

Online-ism warning: Though some in Second Life call this the 'En' or 'En Huntress' (En supposedly being a Gorean word for 'first'?)  this is largely an Online-ism. 

 

Panther Girls keep slaves?!:

Like most Free Goreans, Panther Women keep slaves - both male and female. Given that they, like most Gorean Free Women are incredibly arrogant, this is not unusual and is shown in both Captive of Gor, and Smugglers of Gor. Keeping slaves allow panther girls to carry more possessions, food, and water, provides body-warmth in the cold northern climates and slaves can perform petty tasks such as mending clothing, or gathering nuts and berries that allow a panther girl to focus on being a look-out, (for dangerous animals as well as enemies) hunting and weapons and even trap upkeep.

 

While the extra mouths to feed may require more food -- given that meat spoils quickly -- having extra time to hunt, and extra mouths to eat the meat before it spoils ( within days or hours, given panther girls cannot carry around large quantities of salt or other preservatives ) this can actually be an advantage.