Training Sleens is difficult without the proper tools
Where sleen are concerned, there is always danger." ---Witness of Gor,
a sleen trainer
has to have the proper equipment to train these six legged furred lizards....with very little if anything.....the first thing he has to have are slave cages and sleen cages.....slaves are used to get the scent for them so if any slave runs away they can be hunted down.....secondly...sleen cages which are in these diameters to fit the huge beast inside:
four feet (4') in height, six feet (6') wide and twelve feet (12') in length.
Floors were made of wooden planks for drainage, straw wasstrewn on the fllor and planks were flushed with the roof as well..a tarp is used at night so they sleep.
sleen collars wre used to keep the beasts at bay.....usually made of leather with steel studs on them. Sometimes it wa a form of punishment.sometimes for looks....slaves even wore them as well.
sleen knives were for i believe skinning he sleen after its master had died..or to cut the beast after it had been killed for when its Master passes or has been killed....it only heeds its Master....and when he is gone? the beast is yet wild again!
Sleen Whip
A heavier whip used for the herding of sleen, either in practical use or training.
made of of leather and with lil knives tied to the end of the tail of the whip.....to make its point using this tool and weapon to keep the attention of the beast and sho him who is Master andis beast.
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Different kinds of Sleens
There are various kinds of sleens known on Gor these are the many!
1.The forest sleen, which grows larger than the prairie sleen, black or brown in color, and often are domesticated, can reach lengths of up to twenty feet (20') and approximately eleven hundred (1,100) pounds in weight.
2.The prairie sleen, which is tawny in color, and about seven feet (7') long. This variety of sleen is commonly found in the camps of the wagon peoples
3.The sea sleen, which can reach twenty feet (20') in length. Found mainly in the cold, northern waters, some have been spotted occasionally farther south.
4.The snow sleen, known for their luxuriant thick white coat, are often domesticated in the north. Wild sleen are known to roam the arctic north and are especially dangerous as they hunt in packs in size of anywhere from a handful to well over one hundred.
5.
The water sleen inhabits the canals of Port Kar. It is not noted, however, if the water sleen is the same as the sea sleen. Most likely not, if you read the differentiations between the two.
6.Miniature Sleen. I've found a few notations in various sites mentioning a "miniature sleen." There is no such beast, but, there is a beast known as a zeder, and although it may look similar to the sleen, it is not a sleen. This small creature is found in the jungles of the Ushindi region.
7.Gray sleen: These sleen are considered the best hunters of all sleen.
8.Jungle sleen: Though they are uncommon, the jungle sleen is a shorthaired variety found in some tropical areas. Tarl speculated that maybe most sleen are not comfortable in the great wetness and humidity of the tropical jungle region.
9.Mountain sleen: These sleen inhabit the mountain ranges of Gor such as the Voltai, Thentis and Ta Thassa ranges.
10.Sand sleen: These sleen primarily inhabit the desert regions and may be domesticated by the tribesmen of the Tahari.
11.
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WILD SLEEN
Yes, so it's established that sleen can be domesticated and trained. But what of their wild counterparts? Is there any viable chance of bringing home a wild sleen and making it into a trained beast? Generally, this is not possible should a sleen be fully grown for such beasts tend to revert. Even young pups do not train well, unless they are taken prior to the first taste of blood, which is accomplished at about two (2) months of age. Although there are times when a sleen attacks silently, sleen generally are noisy in their attacks, snarling, hissing and squealing.
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 lofty larl. There is another ritual involving those who hunt and train sleen, which is a blood-brothership, binding two men forever.
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BREEDING
The breeding of sleen is generally found within the peasant villages. Most likely this is due to the availability of land for the various pens and training areas that would be needed. Tabuk's Ford is the leader of such villages, known to house the best sleen breeders on all of Gor. As stated previously, the domesticating of wild sleen is quite rare, except in the instance of perhaps a newborn pup. Therefore, breeding can be quite a profitable endeavor.
It is common for sleen to mate for life, at least among the wild sleen. The mating period of sleen is once a year, taking place in the Spring. The gestation period is six months, with litters of generally four (4) pups. The sleen pups are born with white pelts, and, depending on the variety of sleen, their fur will grow darker fur come Spring. Although in the wild, the sleen pups make their first kill at the age of two (2) months, this is reserved for the domesticated beast, feeding them instead by hand to prevent reverting to their true nature.
The actual mating of sleen is interesting as well. If a female sleen has never mated before, then she will try to flee or combat any male who approaches her. But, as male sleen are larger and stronger than females, the males will likely win any battle. The male will ultimately grab hold of the female's throat with his fangs, holding tight. He will then throw the female sleen onto her back so that they are facing belly to belly. With the grip on her throat, the female will become docile and allow the male sleen to do what he desires. He will then penetrate her and they will soon be locked together, by legs and teeth, rolling around in a mating frenzy. After that initial time, the female will never need to be forced again.
"I saw the coupling of sleen today," she said. "The female fought. Then the male seized her by the throat with his fangs. She became immediately docile. Soon she writhed in heat." ---Fighting Slave of Gor, pg.201
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Uses of Sleens:
Sleen are used for many different purposes but the most common include herding, tracking, guarding and patrolling. The most common animals that they herd include verr and bosk while the most common animals that they track are tabuk and slave girls. Hassan the Slave Hunter is said to have the best hunting sleen on Gor. In guarding and patrolling, sleen may be used to keep borders secure, to monitor atop walls, to meander through camps, to pad through city streets after curfews, and to patrol the halls of buildings. Sleen may deter thieves from entering locked shops or may stand sentry upon wharves and in warehouses.
There are other uses for sleen as well, though they are less common. For example, in Thentis sleen are used to smell out contraband, to deter those who try to smuggle out the beans used for make black wine. Though it is against the caste codes of Assassins, some Assassins do use sleen to make their kills. Some sleen are used as bodyguards, some as war sleen while others are trained to kill in the arena. Still others perform in exhibitions and carnivals, possibly dancing or performing tricks.
Even the Kurii use trained sleen for a variety of purposes. They use some sleen as watch or guard animals while others are used for hunting. Some take up points in front of Kurii squads to watch for any enemies. If enemies are sighted, some of the sleen are trained to attack them while others simply return to the squad to warn them of the enemy's presence. In a similar respect, some sleen are trained to hunt humans, some to kill and some just to herd them. Some sleen are even trained only to kill men and to herd women. They are able to differentiate between men and women by scent.
"It is common also on Gor to take troublesome or disobedient slaves, or recalcitrant slaves, or slaves who have not been fully pleasing, perhaps even in a quite minor way, either male or female slaves, and feed them to sleen. Indeed, sometimes slaves are fed to sleen simply for the amusement of the masters." Fighting Slave of Gor, pg.56
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The Caste of Sleen Trainers is responsible for training sleen in a wide variety of tasks. Their caste colors are brown and black. Bertram of Lydius is a well known sleen trainer, known even in the southern reaches of Gor.
"The five most common trainings are those of the war sleen, which may also be utilized as a bodyguard; the watch sleen, to guard given precincts; the herding sleen, which will kill only if the quarry refuses to be herded rapidly and efficiently to a given destination, usually a pen or slave cage; the trailing sleen, which is used, in leash, to follow a scent; and the hunter, which is trained to hunt and kill. It is next to impossible to use a hunter as a trailer, because, when the quarry is near, and the killing fever is on it, it will even turn and attack its leash holder, to free itself for the strike on the quarry. A trailer is usually a smaller beast, and one more easily managed, but it is, when all is said and done, a sleen, and trailers not unoften, at the hunt's end, their instincts preponderating, break loose for the kill. When they begin to become unmanageable, they must sometimes be killed. The hunters are used generally, of course, in the pursuit of fugitives, free or slave. Unleashed, they are not retarded in their hunt by the lagging of their keepers." ---Witness of Gor, pg.575
A sleen will be trained to obey a common series of commands such as Attack, Hunt, Stop and Back. There will be specific signals between the master and sleen to indicate the particular command. These signals are most commonly verbal as well as private. Verbal signals are needed, as many times the sleen, intent upon a scent, will not be looking at its master. Or the sleen may otherwise not be facing its master. Without a verbal signal, the master would be at a significant disadvantage in his control of the sleen. Privacy is important so that not just anyone can command the sleen. Obviously it would be dangerous if a sleen could be given orders by just anyone. Though they are private, the signal is often written down in case that master is no longer around for whatever reason. That way, the sleen does not need to be killed and can be used by another.
Interestingly enough, the Wagon People use verbal signals to control their prairie sleen. But the sleen will only respond to the voice of their master. And when the master dies, the sleen will be killed and then eaten. They do not transfer sleen to other masters.
"It was a precisely trained beast, but no training is perfect. It is a balancing of instincts and conditioning. It is never perfect." ---Slave Girl of Gor, pg.184
Tracking ability:
The sleen is the paramount tracker on Gor and the gray sleen is the best tracker of all varieties of sleen. The sleen is superior in its tracking abilities to even a larl or Kur. It is tireless, extremely tenacious, and single-minded while on a hunt. Almost nothing can divert it from a hunt. They can follow a scent that is days old with ease, and a scent that is weeks old with some minor difficulty. They could get a scent off a mere scrap of clothing, a bit of bedding or even the scent of a footprint. They might range for hundreds of pasangs, and many days, tracking down a scent. Sleen though generally follow the strongest traces of a scent. It is also believed that their hunting frenzy is a function in part of the secretions of certain glands. Hassan the Slave Hunter is said to have the best hunting sleen on Gor.
Each evening, when a sleen emerges from its burrow, it commonly will hunt the first scent that it locates. When a sleen finally locates its prey on a hunt, it may commonly be cautious before making its killing strike. It will take its time, watching, wary, to ensure there is no trap. And then it will suddenly burst out of the darkness, out of the shadows, making its killing charge. This will often be a silent strike. Young sleen on the other hand, often lacking the patience of an adult animal, are more likely to make a noisy attack, charging forward in a whistling and squealing rush.
Slave owners with sleen will usually have their sleen take the scent of their slaves, in case the sleen are needed to later hunt down any of them. When the sleen is taking that scent, the name of each slave will be repeated so that the sleen will associate that name with that particular scent. Later, if the slave tried to escape, the sleen could be given a command to Hunt with the name of the slave included in the command, such as Hunt Tika. The sleen will then recall the scent of Tika and follow her scent.
Sleen can recognize scents but are unaware, in a formal or legal sense, whose scent they are following. For example, a sleen can certainly recognize the scent of its master but it obviously has no idea whether its master is a peasant, a Ubar or an outlaw. Many sleen will even respond to their own names but do not know the names of their masters. Thus, there is a certain neutrality in what they do, simply connecting a particular scent with a particular person. Thus, the burden is on the master to determine whether a specific scent belongs to a particular person or not.
When simply tracking and held back on a leash, and not free on a hunt, a sleen may make a wild, hissing, excited squeal. This often is made when the sleen is avid upon a scent and wants to race off rather than be held back by their master. These sounds also signal their master of the strength of the scent, and may even serve to ventilate the frustrations of the restrained sleen.
"The sleen is Gor's most perfect hunter." ---Hunters of Gor, pg.156
Superstitions of sleens:
Besides breeding and training sleen, some Goreans choose to hunt wild sleen. Such sleen may be caught alive, often with sleen nets, or they might be killed. Sleen also figure into two superstitions often held by these sleen hunters.
First, when a sleen is killed the hunters will eat its heart as the heart is considered to give them luck. Only the heart of the mountain larl is said to bring more luck than a sleen heart.
Second, sleen hunters attempt to divine their future in the blood of the sleen. One first drinks a mouthful of blood. Then, cupping more blood in one's hands, you examine that blood to see your image. What you see will tell your fate.
"It is said that if one sees one's visage black and wasted one will die of disease, if one sees oneself torn and scarlet one will die in battle, if one sees oneself old and white haired, one will die in peace and leave children." ---Outlaw of Gor, pg.38
FINALLY: COSTS
Sleen are expensive creatures to either purchase or rent. Not just anyone can afford to purchase and maintain a sleen. A trained sleen will often bring a higher price than a beautiful slave. It is said that a seasoned hunting sleen might bring as much as one hundred times the cost of a slave. If rented, sleen are usually rented by the Ahn where a slave would be rented by the day or week. Even the pelt of sleen may sell for as much as a silver tarsk. It seems then that the price of a trained sleen would be calculated in gold tarns rather than silver or copper tarsks. And it certainly would not be outrageous to see sleen prices range over 100 gold tarns.
"You cannot always depend upon sleen," said the pit master." ---Witness of Gor, pg.598
