Crested hawk-like bird large enough to be saddled and flown, it is used in battle and in racing and is bred for swiftness and aggressiveness.
Book 1: Tarnsman of Gor, page 51
Book 22: Dancer of Gor, page 148
The tarn is guided by virtue of a throat strap, to which are attached, normally , six leather streamers, or reins, which are fixed in a metal ring on the forward portion of the saddle. The reins are of different colors, but one learns them by ring position and not color. Each of the reins attaches to to a small ring on the throat strap, and the rings are spaced evenly. Accordingly, the mechanics are simple . One draws on the stremer, or rein, which is attached to the ring most nearly approximating the direction in which one wants to go. For example, to land or lose attitude , one uses the four strap which exerts pressure on the four ring which is located beneath the throat of the tarn. To rise in to flight, or gain altitude, one draws on the one strap, which exerts pressure on the one ring, which is located on the back of the tarns neck. The throat strap rings, corresponding to the position of the reins on the main saddle ring, are numbered in a clockwise fashion. (pg 55 Tarnsman of Gor)
Something of the same joy of the rider, and mystique of the rider, exists on Gor in connection with the tarn as it existed on Earth in connection with the horse. For example, if you have thrilled to the movements and the power of a fine steed, you have some conception of what it is to be aflight on tarnback. There is the wind, the sense of the beast, the speed, the movements, now in all dimensions, the climb, the dive, soaring, turning, all in the freedom of the sky! There is here, too, a oneness of man and beast. (pg 138 Renegades of Gor)
The Goreans believe, incredibly enough, that the capacity to master a tarn is innate and that some men possess this characteristic and some men do not. One does not learn to master a tarn. It is a matter of blood and spirit, of beast and man, of a relation between two beings which must be immediate, intuitive, spontaneous. It is said that a tarn knows who is a tarnsmen and and who is not , and that those who are not die in this first meeting. (pg 51 Tarnsmen of Gor)
I drew on the four strap, and the tarn leveled out and then lifted his wings over his back and dropped like a striking hawk, with a speed that left me without breath in my body. I released the reins, letting them hang on the saddle-ring, which is the signal for a constant and straight flight, no pressure on the throat strap. (pg 56 Tarnsman of Gor)
Strap numbers and their responses
One strap = rise in to flight or gain altitude
Two strap = right turn and increase altitude
Three strap =right turn and decrease altitude
Four strap = To land or lose altitude
Five strap = left turn decrease altitude
Six strap = left turn and increase altitude
Straps loose and hanging on saddle = constant straight flight
