With an admittedly nervous little smile, mandi kneeled close to the legendary Master Pantheus. Like most, mandi knew of him through his many contributions to the Gorean community, such as, operating the Gorean Public Board and the Gorean Voice. However, mandi had not had the privilege of speaking to him until this interview. So needless to say, mandi was very happy to have this opportunity.

Master Pantheus was born in Seattle, Washington, and joined the Navy right after high school. He was a hospital corpsman working in thoracic surgery. Also, he did a tour as a Fleet Marine Force, "basically a Navy Corpsman attached to the Marine Corp." After a little over four years, he was honorably discharged at Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA, and he decided to stay in the Bay Area. After his discharge, he was hired by a large milk company as management training and worked his way through many different jobs, including being a milkman to working as data processing manager. So, his first experience with computers and data processing began in 1961. The next 18 years, he worked in sales, sales management, and upper level management for two different International computers related corporations. After the sale of his division, he opened his own business, a computer supply and accessory company. Starting with no money, customers, or credit, the company was built to a million-dollar company. After about eleven years, the economy was not allowing the company to thrive as it once had been, and he decided to retire to the rural mountain community of Northern California.

When asked where he would like to travel that he had not been, he said, "I have traveled quite extensively. Athens, Rome, Acapulco (twice), Australia, the entire length (and both coasts) of Baja California (Mexico) in a 4WD vehicle, the Mexican mainland, and Canada (many times), as well as all of the West Coast of the US, and some of the East Coast." Also, he said, "There are many places I’d like to go, but none are pressing enough to cause me to do so, even if I had time and the money. I am very content with where I am, and what I’m doing, and whom I’m doing it with. I don’t really have a strong urge to travel a lot more. I am most happy just taking the 1947 Willys Jeep, that over the years I have highly modified, to a really remote mountain lake, and drowning a few worms, and pondering life without hassles of any kind, other than how to cook the fish, or when to cut firewood."

Unable to keep from smiling from his previous answer, mandi then asks, "On a romantic note, how did you ask Mistress Opal to marry you, Master?" He answered, "You know, now that I’m asked about it, I can’t recall ’proposing’ at all, we had been friends for so long, like over three years, and hadn’t yet touched (or even cybered). She was about to take a holiday, and California seemed as good a place as any. We thought at worst we’d end up still being best friends, and at best, something may come of it. After a month, she went back to Australia, and we were still in constant contact. Things changed in her life, she came back to California, and well, stayed. Things just evolved until we went to Lake Tahoe and married, and she’s here for good now, and in only 9 more months will be a US Citizen. Even that was nearly two years ago, now."

A girl then asked, "In your opinion, what is the difference of marrying a women that also believes in the lifestyle of Gor compared to another that knows nothing of Gor?" He says, "I’d think it very hard to have a spouse that wasn’t OF Gor. I see so many that try and fail. I’m not sure it’s really possible. I see far too many men whose wives just don’t get it, and they then sneak, hide, cheat, lie and otherwise live a very different life than the one they married into. I see more than one who must have his wife convinced he works 8 hours away and ‘works’ 8 hours at home. I think there has to be an understanding that goes beyond typical marriage vows for only one partner, and not both to be OF Gor, and have it work. I’m convinced there are a lot of spouses being lied to, or at least major parts of on-line time hidden or disguised from their spouse. This is far from a men-only deal. I see many married women being a slutty slave until hubby’s car pulls up in the driveway, or a FW, who cybers everywhere, but ‘remains faithful to her husband of 25 years’. Or, ‘sure, I can take a slave, as soon as my wife lets me’. Not in my mind a healthy way to keep a married relationship alive."

When asked what he thought of free women on Gor and their place, he said, "Too many women, who consider themselves free, as opposed to slave, have too little clue as to what a free woman OF Gor is all about. Too many think that means they have a high testosterone level and are female warriors, or leather bitches, and except for genitalia are equal to men. This is entirely wrong. There are too many female firefighters, cops, and warriors who think they can BE warriors, and act as if they were men. A FW always defers to men, remains in their station, behaves with dignity, and grace, does not go to paga taverns, does nothing that would infer equality or status with men."

Master Pantheus has been online since the early 80’s. He says, "I was a ’founding member’ of what is now Prodigy, and had a free 6 months subscription. If you want slow, try a weather map download at 300 baud! on an 8088 bare computer with no hard disk, and a full load of 256k RAM. When they tried to offer the service to continue at $ 9.95 a month, I said no way. When they then offered another 6 months free, I declined as well." He returned to "the web as we know it today" in the early 90’s and found web based chat. He went to a 40’s up room on netcenteral and met many people, including a certain Australian woman. Master Pantheus says, "Over the next year or more we maintained that friendship, and although we both had other on-line events, we still always found each other. When I couldn’t stand the slowness of web based chats, I discovered IRC, then in it’s infancy, and dragged that Aussie with me ;-)"

When asked how he found Gor, he replies, "The first time I heard the word Gor, I was asked to go to a paga tavern on dal.net and ‘kill or buy’ a friend, who was enslaved there, as that was the only way she could leave. I was told to read a new web site to understand what it was about, first. Gosh, that was even before Marcus was making that web site, it being hosted on darkrider.com and it was not like it is today. I remember a fire pit in the middle of it, and it was ’scary’. Laughing hard here, knowing now what I know. That friend was ’saved’. The rest, as they say, is history."

A girl then asked, "In light of the tragedy in the news the last couple of months, in your opinion, what are some of the things everyone should do for their own safety to protect their self in this medium and when going offline?" He replies, "While the tragedy you speak of, got a lot of ’press’, it is in no way a rare event. I have for years been writing, speaking and warning others, especially submissive and submitted females of all the dangers of any and all off-line meetings. At one time several years ago I had on my site a list of safety warnings, and methods of protecting and preventing such events. But you know what? .. too darn few think it can happen to them, or that it is always someone else, or that they ’know’ all the answers, and let their heart and belly lead them into a similar situation." He continues, "For me it served as yet another warning, similar to the two tales http://come.to/atale and http://come.to/atale2) that I host on my domain in the hopes that some more will get the word that this is a dangerous lifestyle, and not for the faint of heart and unwary."

Tucking her pen behind her ear and closing her little notebook, mandi ends the interview with a smile. A girl wants to thank Master Pantheus for allowing her to interview him. A girl has truly enjoyed getting to know him and considers it a great privilege. This girl wishes everyone a wonderful day.