Gargun

Characteristics, Place of Origin, and Notes on their situation on Harn

By James S. Watson

Description and Characteristics of the Gargun[1]

“ … The ancestral Gargun originated beyond Kethira and were probably imported by Lothrim (the Foulspawner) around 110 TR … The Gargun reproductive system is unique among the culture-forming races. They are mammals,[2] but their young are hatched from eggs. A Gargun tribe will generally contain one fertile female (the Queen) and one fertile male (the king). Male Gargun are potent, but become fertile only through continued social exposure to the opposite sex, a right reserved for the king and queen. Infertile females (princesses) show little interest in sex, until forcibly exposed to male company for a period of time.

A month after impregnation, a queen will lay, depending on her age and health, up to eighty gelatinous eggs. If the eggs are stored in a dark, humid environment, and given a good supply of decomposing organic material (offal), they will hatch in three to six months. Newborn Gargun have an extensive racial memory, permitting almost immediate social interaction. Racial memory preserves

Gargun culture from generation to the next, but does not allow much social evolution.[3]

… Since the queens become bloated and immobile, few princesses desire the role. …

There are few limits to the competition among the tribe’s strongest, most intelligent males to become king, thereby winning access to the queen. …

Gargun are fully-grown within a year and rarely live past twenty-five,[4] although most die violently before that. They constantly squabble, main, and kill among themselves, with other Gargun tribes, and any other race. …

By choice, Gargun eat only meat … They will not hesitate at cannibalism … As a rule, Gargun are nocturnal; sunlight seems to demoralize them.

Most Gargun communities are subject to frequent and bloody purges when the population pressure grows beyond the ability of the community to support. This will either be a sudden bloody civil war, or a ‘swarming.’ Civil wars can kill up to 80% of the male population in an orgy of bloodletting, perhaps lasting a mere hour. A swarm occurs when a significant number of males, perhaps 40%, seize female(s) and fight their way to freedom. The swarm will then attempt to establish a new community elsewhere.”

Speculation as to type of world/place of Origin:

It has been suggested that the Gargun are the result of mega-magic but I object to this. I doubt that Lothrim had access to spells that would do what neither Ilvar or Morgath can do, and the Orcs of classic D&D worlds or Tolken do not fit the description above. In any event, Sauron, who was more then human, could only make Orcs by twisting men.

There is no indication in the source material to suggest that Gargun have either infra or ultra vision but the fact that “sunlight seems to demoralize them” would suggest that on their original home world they were either nocturnal creatures or their home world had a very dim sun. Since there are no worlds within the Kethiran system where a strictly nocturnal predator exists of a size anywhere near that of a Gargun, they do not seem to fit within the ecologies of the Kethiran worlds. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the home world of the Gargun was lit by a very dim sun, which gave no more light during the day then Kethira receives at night. Recent cosmological studies on another world of the Kethrian system[5] suggest the existence of brown dwarf stars or suns. The radiation of such a star would be mainly in the form of heat so a close in planet would be warm enough for liquid water, a prerequisite for life[6] but such a world would be very dim because little of the radiation would be in the visible spectrum.[7] Gargun imported from such a world would find the brightness of Nolomar painful.

The aversion to bright light might also be an adaptation from their home world. This world could have been part of a binary system, with its’ dim sun in a long-term orbit about a much brighter star of the K or G class. Their “home” sun would have had little or no ultraviolet radiation and thus no ozone layer but the larger brighter sun would put out such radiation. When the “home” moved close to the brighter sun the flood of ultraviolet radiation would “kill” almost all surface life, or more to the point, cause such life to go dormant until the “home” world moved away from the bright sun. I suggest that the Gargun killing frenzy is triggered by the simultaneous presence of two factors: bright light containing high levels of ultraviolet radiation and a shortage of food. On their “home” world these conditions would be a signal to enter the dormant phase in which all the adults die and only the eggs survive. This would also explain the “instinctive” nature of Gargun culture.

These “home” world conditions would also make gathering food a real problem. The vegetation of their home world would be very different and with an instinctive culture the Gargun would not recognize any eatable plants on Kithara, and perhaps none of the plants are eatable by Gargun. Many of the animals they need to hunt including almost all of the large ones are mainly diurnal hiding at night. Most of Kethira’s, “native”[8] predators, such as big cats and wolves, can and do hunt both night and day. Humans, of course are day hunters. If the game animals the Gargun need to hunt are hiding then their hunting efficiency is poorer then both humans with their superior day vision and the other native predators with their superior adaptation to Kethira’s environment

Realism, Gargun, and Ecology O’my

There is a classic question in an Old Dragon Magazine in a discussion of dungeon design, especially of dungeons stuffed with monsters in every chamber which goes as follows: “What do the monsters eat when there are no adventurers about?” The same question can be asked about Gargun. In order to put the Gargun situation in perspective we need to consider Human and Gargun food sources and requirements. The following tables show the relative sizes of Gargun as a percentage of human size and the amount of meat that Humans and Gargun would need to eat each day.

Table of Human to Gargun sizes[9]

Species	Average Size	Ratio of Size
Human	5 feet, 8 inches	100%
Gargu-Arak	3 feet	53%
Gargu-Hyeka	4 feet (-)	70%
Gargu-Khanu	4 feet, 2 inches	74%
Gargu-Kyani	3 feet, 10 inches	68%
Gargu-Viasal	4 feet	71%

Table of food (meat) requirements per day[10]

Species	Pounds of Meat per man day	Factor[11]	Area required[12]	Number of individuals per hex
Human	2 (0.7)[13]	1	3.86	40
Gargu-Arak	1.06	1.5	5.79	26
Gargu-Hyeka	1.4	2	7.72	20
Gargu-Khanu	1.48	2.1	8.1	19
Gargu-Kyani	1.36	1.94	7.5	20
Gargu-Viasal	1.42	2	7.72	20

The Human situation:

We know from anthropological studies that pre-historically and historically most gather/hunter societies had an average band size of between thirty and fifty members.[14] There are a few exceptions to this rule but all were located in areas with extremely rich ecologies. Historically such areas usually came under the control of either agricultural or Pastoral nomad groups who drove the gather/hunter groups out.

More then sixty percent of the food needed by gather/hunter groups was collected by foraging done by the women and children. This figure could easily rise above seventy-five percent in some cases. For purposes of this discussion I will assume that, on the average, 65% of the food requirements of the gather/hunter group would be met by foraging and only 35% would come from hunting. Almost all hunting would be done within about fifteen miles of band’s campsite. The gathering/hunting range of the group would be larger because as resources near the camp were depleted the group would move to a new camp in an area not recently used.

Such gather/hunter bands would have territories, which adjoined those of other such groups. Very often a number of such bands covering a rather wide territory would have various ties to each other. Most often these ties were though marriage arrangements in which either young males or young females would leave their natal band upon “marriage” and go to live with the other spouse’s band. This arrangement was in response to incest taboos which did not allow siblings or close relatives to marry. The practical effects of such marriage alliances is to allow two or more bands to gather briefly for cooperative hunts, ceremonies, or for mutual action against an outside threat such as a Gargun nest.

The following is an estimate of how much hunting territory is needed for a human population, which can also used gathered food. If you accept the Kald as typical it takes about 3.86 square miles to support one person for one year. A human gather/hunter group of forty could subsist on the resources of a single hex.

The Gargun Situation:

Gargun eat only meat and, therefore, depend on hunting, which they do at night. Since the Queens become bloated and immobile a Gargun “tribe” cannot move to a new nesting site when the nearby game resources are depleted. This means that Gargun hunting parties may need to travel more then a night away from their nest before reaching an area with enough game for a hunt. For success a large hunting group needs a large population of good-sized animals in a fairly small area. Basically what such a group is looking for is a herd of animals and such herds are only found in the richer ecological areas, the very areas that Harnic humans have already occupied and expelled both the Gargun and the basic human gather/hunter groups from.

Because there are no large herds of animals in the ecological margin that the Gargun are forced to live in, their hunting parties have to be small. After all how many hunters do you need to hunt a deer?[15] A party of eighty, which is mentioned,[16] would be more likely to frighten the quarry into leaving the area then catch anything. There is also the problem of food needed for the hunting party itself. The table above shows how much meat each Gargun would need per night. Studies of the success rate of hunts by predators and human hunters indicate that on the average only about 20% of the hunts result in a kill. Assuming that the Gargun are no more successful then humans or other predators and that a surround hunt[17] will take several hours it is unlikely that the Gargun can get in more then one successful hunt per night. That might produce little food in excess of what is needed to feed a large hunting party. I would suggest that most Gargun hunting parties, once they reach the area to be hunted, are small, possible not more then three or four Gargun, because such parties are more apt to be successful. If the party left the nest with eighty Gargun then split into twenty smaller parties they might be able to take as many as many as four deer a night.

How much room does a Gargun need?

For a Gargun population, which does not use gathered food; the number of Gargun that can be supported by the hunting resources of a single hex is noted in the table above. The number of Gargun supported by the resources of a single hex ranges, depending on species, from 19 to 26. A figure of 1,000 square kilometers is given in Bestiary 5 of HM1 for the range of a common Gargun nest. This works out to about two and half hexes[18] on the map; if you assume that a hex can support 20 Gargun the given area could support a population of about 60 in a nest. To support a population of 1,000 common Gargun would require the meat resources of 50 hexes or 20,000 square kilometers. To support a population of 2,000 would require the meat resources of 80 hexes or 40,000 square kilometers. The outer limits of such an area would be four days travel away from the nest so a hunting party would need four days supply of food to reach its hunting area, another four days supply to get back plus what ever food was needed while they were hunting. Food for the nest plus food to return to the hunting area would be extra.

How many Gargun are there in them thar hills?

According to Barbarians 4[19] there are about 50,000 Gargun on Harn with about 30 major complexes noted on the various maps. This would imply that, at most there are about 1,600 Gargun in each complex. Such a complex would need 64+ hexes to support it. It could easily take a Gargun hunting party three nights travel just to reach the outer edge of their hunting area. Because the Gargun become demoralized by sunlight the Gargun hunting party must have caves or other light proof shelters to rest in during the day while traveling to the hunting area. It should also be noted that: “Hunting/Trapping reduces the amount of game in an area. Drives reduce the available game to sparse; … It is not possible to hunt an area repeatedly and still find plenty of game.”[20] As noted above the bright light plus shortage of food may be the combination that triggers the Gargun killing frenzy and leads to the loss of up to 80% of the population. For a population of 1,600 this would result in about 320 survivors. The corpses of the dead would provide about 80 man-days of food for the survivors[21] and reduce the area to be hunted to about 16 hexes. The hatching of new eggs, which takes three to six months, will at most give about eighty new mouths per hatching. While the source cited above does not say how often a Gargun Queen can lay I would suggest that at most a well-fed queen can only lay at most eighty eggs a month. She can, therefore, only produce about 720 new Gargun plus those who hatch from already laid eggs in the year following a killing frenzy. I would, therefore, suggest that Gargun nests very from around two hundred to about a thousand and that the figure of 50,000 represents a peak maximum for the Harnic Gargun. The average population might only be half of that cited.

Gargun/Human Interaction:

When a Gargun hunter party or swarm intrudes upon a human claimed territory they face some serious problems. Their need for a lightproof shelter during the day makes them vulnerable to attack during the day. If the shelter is a temporary one they have built it will probably burn.[22] If it is a cave the attacker could very well smoke the Gargun out by stuffing flammable material into the cave. In either case the humans would only have to wait outside for the demoralized Gargun to come out and then kill them. Arrows from a distance would work very well.

The Gargun Problem on Harn:

The Gargun are at most a minor nuisance on Harn. Whenever they start to cause a problem the local human population gets together and kills enough of them to either wipe out the swarm or chase them back into the hills. Among tribal people the men of several hunting bands, who are usually related under tribal custom, can gather for this task. In civilized areas the local feudal levee can usually handle the job. Combat information copied from HM1 is given in the Appendix below.

Appendix

Combat Stats of Gargun by Species Copied from Bestiary 5-6[23]

Gargu-Arak (Small or Streaked Orc)

Str 10	Spd 13	Int 11	Mob 65
End 10	Eye 13	Aur 07	Dge 55
Dex 11	Hrg 13	Wil 10	Ini 51
Agl 11	Smt 16		FR 03
Mankar/Club/Spear/Roundshield: 40: Bow: 60. Unarmed Combat: 40
Armor Hide/Ring

Gargu-Hyeka (Common or Brown Orc)

Str 11	Spd 11	Int 11	Mob 55
End 11	Eye 13	Aur 07	Dge 55
Dex 11	Hrg 13	Wil 11	Ini 52
Agl 11	Smt 13		FR 03
Mang/Mankar/Club/Spear/Roundshield: 40: Unarmed Combat: 40
Armor Hide/Ring/Inferior Scale/Mail

Gargu-Khanu (Great or Black Orc)

Str 13	Spd 11	Int 11	Mob 55
End 13	Eye 13	Aur 07	Dge 55
Dex 11	Hrg 13	Wil 13	Ini 60
Agl 11	Smt 13		FR 03
Mankg/Club/Spear/Roundshield: 60: Unarmed Combat: 60
Armor Hide/Ring

Gargu-Kyani (White Orc)

Str 11	Spd 11	Int 11	Mob 55
End 11	Eye 13	Aur 07	Dge 55
Dex 11	Hrg 13	Wil 11	Ini 52
Agl 11	Smt 13		FR 03
Mankar/Club/Spear/Roundshield: 45: Unarmed Combat: 45
Armor Hide/Ring

Gargu-Viasal (Red Orc)

Str 12	Spd 11	Int 11	Mob 55
End 12	Eye 13	Aur 07	Dge 55
Dex 11	Hrg 13	Wil 11	Ini 57
Agl 11	Smt 13		FR 03
Mang/Club/Spear/Axe/Roundshield: 55: Unarmed Combat: 55
Armor Hide/Ring

[1] HarnMaster, 1^st Edition 1986; Columbia Games Inc., Vancouver, BC. “Bestiary 4-6.”

[2] I question this assertion. All known mammals nourish their young by lactation. Gargun are warm blooded but there is no evidence that the Gargun nourish their young by lactation. Some Mesozoic reptiles were probably warm blooded and the practice of laying eggs in decomposing material (offal) is used by some modern birds and reptiles.

[4] The average life span of a creature that reaches maturity in one year is seven years in the wild. A Gargun in a zoo with good veterinary care and ample food might live to twenty-five but I doubt that they live that long in the wild.

[7] Incidentally infra or heat vision would not be practical on such a planet because everything would reflect heat. It has been suggested that such a world would not have an oxygen atmosphere but on the other world mentioned above life exists at deep ocean vents in the absence of light where heat (infa-red) radiation exists so organisms that can make oxygen as a “waste” product in the absence of visible light are possible.

[8] Presuming that the “native” predators, or humans for that matter, were not also imported from another world such as Terra by the Earthmasters. Not that this would make any difference because Kethira is quite similar to Terra.

[9] Human size average from HMC, Gargun size average from Bestiary 5-6 of HM1.

[10] Human meat requirements from Barbarians 5 CGI. Gargun requirements computed by multiplying size ratio times human requirement.

[11] The factor is a multiple of the number of square miles to supply meat to one individual based on the Human situation as outline below.

[12] Square miles. There are 154.4 square miles in one hex.

[13] Assumes that 65% of food is veggies and only 35% is meat.

[14] Band size includes women and children. Males of hunting age, fifteen and up to about forty-five, would equal about 20% of the total group.

[15] Most of my friends who are bow hunters hunt alone. They tell me that the best times to hunt are at dawn and dusk when the deer are moving to and from their feeding grounds. Hunting at this time would push Gargun very close to the demoralizing light of day.

[17] Which is the only way a large hunting party would be able to get anything at all.

[18] A hex is 20 km by 20 km or 400 square km.

By James S. Watson

Description and Characteristics of the Gargun[1]

Species

Average Size

Ratio of Size

Human

Gargu-Arak

Gargu-Hyeka

Gargu-Khanu

Gargu-Kyani

Gargu-Viasal