The Kingdom of Hyperborea

[Taranaich]

The Kingdom of Hyperborea

“Another factor has added to the impetus of Hyborian drift. A tribe of that race has discovered the use of stone in building, and the first Hyborian kingdom has come into being – the rude and barbaric kingdom of Hyperborea, which had its beginning in a crude fortress of boulders heaped to repel tribal attack. The people of this tribe soon abandoned their horse-hide tents for stone houses, crudely but mightily built, and thus protected, they grew strong. There are few more dramatic events in history than the rise of the rude, fierce kingdom of Hyperborea, whose people turned abruptly from their nomadic life to rear dwellings of naked stone, surrounded by cyclopean walls – a race scarcely emerged from the polished stone age, who had by a freak of chance, learned the first rude principles of architecture.” – The Hyborian Age
Capital: Commoria (Hyperborea)
Settlements: Uzuldaroum (Hyperborean Icelands), Haloga (Hyperborean Plains), Pomicia (Hyperborean Wastes), Sigtona (Hyperborean Tundra)
Current Ruler: King Tomar

Very little is written of Hyperborea in Howard’s fiction, mostly it is to do with their tall, gaunt warriors and cyclopean fortresses. However, they figure frequently in the power struggles detailed in The Hyborian Age, and so they warrant their own faction. In the absence of Hyperborean material written by Howard himself, I have decided to take some material from his colleague Clark Ashton Smith, whose Hyperborea is part of the Weird Tales mythos. His Hyperborea is much more ancient, and there will be remnants of the Old Hyperborea conflicting with the newer Nordic blood of Howard’s kingdom. As well as employ a few echoes of Clark Ashton Smith’s older civilization, I’m making Hyperborea a true barbaric kingdom, with lots of ritualistic superstition and fanatical warriors. They will seem like bloodthirsty monsters even to their barbaric neighbours, and will hopefully be a fun kingdom to terrorize the map with. They nominally worship the old Hyborian god Bori, but a dark undercurrent of Old One worship might mean that the kingdom joins Stygia and Zamora in open worship for the dark gods of their ancient history like Tsathoggua, as well as the gods of the Nordheimir and the growing cult of Mitra.

Hyperborea is not an expansionist nation, but they make frequent raids in the southern and adjacent kingdoms of slaves and resources to supplement their poor farming income. They are probably the least liked of the kingdoms of the Hyborian Age, with no notable allies in their history and a great deal of enemies. Hyperborea prefers to use slaves for their infantry, with the Hyperboreans themselves forming the knights and elite troops, and some of their more devoted followers become fanatic berserkers. If Hyperborea does decide to expand, then the weak Border Kingdom would be an effective beachhead into the soft Hyborian Kingdoms. Alternatively, traveling east to the northern wastes of the Eastern Desert and Hyrkania could offer other opportunities.

Units


Militia
Like the more advanced Hyborian kingdoms, Hyperborea relies on its peasants for the more mundane duties such as garrisons and patrols.


Having been born in the harsh northern wastes, Hyperborean peasants are hardier than other Hyborian peasants, made strong through a life of toiling frozen fields and herding horses. They wield strong work axes used for a variety of purposes, but suitable for relieving enemies of their heads.


Raiders
After the overthrow of Hyperborea the Elder's ruling classes by a group of roving Aesir, Hyperborea adopted a strong Nordic influence, especially in the upper class warriors. These warriors are the descendents of those Aesir invaders, ironically now defending Hyperborea from outside invasions.


Spearmen
Like all Hyborians, the infantry of Hyperborea's army consists of poorly armed and low-morale spearmen to protect their archers and offer a defense against cavalry. They may not be ideal spearmen, but their large shields offer them more protection than their southern brethren, adopted after attack from both Hyrkanian arrows and Aesir axes.


Knights
Apart from Aquilonia, all the Hyborian kingdoms have a great gap in quality between infantry and cavalry. Hyperborea is no different, their heavily-armed and disciplined knights are far more effective than their barely adequate infantry apart from the Raiders. They start off in classic Nordic-style armour, but the very elite units can afford lamellar armour which offers protection against arrows and heavy weaponry equally, and some even wear plate.


Mammoths

Mammoths were alive and well in the Hyborian Age, and found all over the continent from the Vilayet to Hyrkania and beyond. Somewhat naturally, a number of mammoths have been tamed, if not fully domesticated, and found use as heavy pack labourers and, occassionally, war mounts. Mammoths are relatively common in eastern Hyperborea, migrating there during the warmer summer when Hyperborea's snow briefly turns to mild grassy steppes. Most of the time, however, mammoths gather around the north of the Vilayet, where they are hunted by Kozaks and Grey Apes.
Because the eastern territories of Hyperborea are much less fortified than their western borders, Mammoths are used as semi-mobile camp centres. Somewhat perversely, the Hyperboreans use horses as their primary source for hide, so the Mammoths are more frequently used as border patrols or trade mounts in the east, where settlements are less common and a nomadic lifestyle continues away from the mighty citadels of the West.

[Eufarius]

will the mammoths be larger than original elephants?

[Taranaich]

At the moment I haven't done much modelling work, but the mammoths will certainly be larger than the elephants, which will themselves be bigger than the relatively puny Indian elephants. The mammoths in the mod will be based on the mighty Steppe Mammoth of Eurasia, Mammuthus trogontherii. The average height of this monster at the shoulder was 15 feet, a good bit bigger than the largest known African Bush elephant (13 feet) and almost a third taller than the largest recorded Indian elephant (11 feet), which were the largest types of elephant used in regular warfare.

That's not to say the elephants in the mod will be a pushover: the straight-tusked elephant Elephas Palaeoloxodon antiquus were 12 feet tall, and boasted gargantuan tusks that could be up to 17 feet long!

[Murfios]

Looks pretty good. But why not add an estra pair of longer tusks and a horn on their head? Besides, it is a fantasy mod, we could kindly take all kinds of original ideas.

[Taranaich]

Rest assured, one of the first things I'll put under the modeling knife once I get Milkshape up and running will be the mammoths.

Very nice manip, I like the horn in the forehead. Now, for the non-sorcerous animals like mammoths and elephants I'm not wanting to deviate too far from realism: I think there's a certain resonance from seeing an actual mammoth on the battlefield, as opposed to an original creation. Having said that, I'd quite like to give the heavy mammoths' armour some nice pointy horns in addition to their tusks, to make em more savage.

[christof139]

Hi everyone here,

Looks like a great mod for METW2, which game I don't have, yet anyway.

I have a good amount of Conan info., including the very rare 'The Conan Reader', by DeCamp, only 1,500 copies made, and 'A Gazeteer of the Hyborian World of Conan and Ethnographical Dictionary of Principle Peoples of the Era, by Lee N. Falconer (some mistakes etc. but very useful, and expensive, both of them).

If anyone needs some ideas or data I will look in these books for you, however, these books are not bibles, and obviously you have much info. and ideas already!!! There is a ton of good info. on the inet, including certain role playing sites with good descriptions all the nations and territories and peoples etc.

One thing I always wonder about is why doesn't anyone use Mastodons instaed of Mammoths?? Mastodons were smaller but still large and formidable and they had straight backs that would make it easier to place howdahs on, in comparison to the steep and slanted or angled backs of the Mammoth.

Doesn't matter, but I have always wondered about this.

Another decent book is 'Royal Armies of the Hyborian Age' by Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU), published in 1975 for wargaming on the tabletop. Lin Carter and Scott Bizar wrote these rather informative and decent game rules. I am sure some people here may have a copy. It can still be found on Ebay and FGU I think is still in existe(a)nce in Arizona, at least FGU was still operating only a few years ago.

Good luck with your very interesting mod!!! Great screenies you all posted!!! Thanx!!!

Chris

[Taranaich]

Cheers Chris!

One thing I always wonder about is why doesn't anyone use Mastodons instaed of Mammoths?? Mastodons were smaller but still large and formidable and they had straight backs that would make it easier to place howdahs on, in comparison to the steep and slanted or angled backs of the Mammoth.

I plan on giving the Picts some Mastodons: since both Picts and Mastodons originally came from the Sunset Isles (which nowadays would be the peaks of the Rockies), as well as the presumably American sabretooth from Beyond the Black River, it seems reasonable that a couple of American creatures will make an appearance. To top it all off, Conan even mentions a Mastodon in Red Nails, so it would only be reasonable for Mastodons to make some sort of appearance.

[christof139]

Cheers Chris!
I plan on giving the Picts some Mastodons: since both Picts and Mastodons originally came from the Sunset Isles (which nowadays would be the peaks of the Rockies), as well as the presumably American sabretooth from Beyond the Black River, it seems reasonable that a couple of American creatures will make an appearance. To top it all off, Conan even mentions a Mastodon in Red Nails, so it would only be reasonable for Mastodons to make some sort of appearance.

Thanx for the answer. I didn't know that a Mastodon was mentioned in Red Nails. Shows that I haven't read or reread anything in a long time.

At the time of Conan, there could be a land bridge existing between the Alaskan area of the New World and the Eurasian/Hyborian land mass, as the seas could have been a bit lower at that time as the last glacial age was starting or more probably had started and was in its early stage, but maybe not, Howard is a little vague and so are glacial ages.

You do know Hyboria and Conan!!! There are enough gaps in Howard's descriptions of the lands and people to have some fun with the imagination.

One thing I don't believe is that there would be any full plate armor with very many High to Late Medieval style helms with movable visors. I believe the equipment would have more Dark Ages to Early and perhaps some Middle Medieval influences. Argos perhaps would be even anything from a mixture of Ancient Rome/Greece and Byzantium type armors, but that is just my envisionment. Some types of various plate I can definitely see.

Seems the Black Dragons and Black Legion (and some other units) are at least partially described by Howard concerning their armor and arms etc.

I am an Ancient/Dark Ages/Early Medieval/Tolkien type myself.

You have taken on a huge amount of work!!!

Chris

[christof139]

Say Taranaich,

What about magic?? I think but am not sure the 4th Age Tolkien mod is going to try or has implemented it.

An occasional fireball or lighting bolt and some subtle morale and terror and weather effects would be nice. I don't know if the game engine could handle somethings but I am sure it could handle other things.

Chris

[Taranaich]

One thing I don't believe is that there would be any full plate armor with very many High to Late Medieval style helms with movable visors. I believe the equipment would have more Dark Ages to Early and perhaps some Middle Medieval influences. Argos perhaps would be even anything from a mixture of Ancient Rome/Greece and Byzantium type armors, but that is just my envisionment. Some types of various plate I can definitely see.

All the soldiers will be based on descriptions from Black Colossus, The Scarlet Citadel, The Hour of the Dragon: they generally say that the knights had extensive full plate, the infantry just in chain or brigandine:

The army was on the move at last. There were the knights, gleaming in richly wrought plate-armor, colored plumes waving above their burnished sallets. Their steeds, caparisoned with silk, lacquered leather and gold buckles, caracoled and curvetted as their riders put them through their paces. The early light struck glints from lancepoints that rose like a forest above the array, their pennons flowing in the breeze. Each knight wore a lady's token, a glove, scarf or rose, bound to his helmet or fastened to his sword-belt. - Black Colossus

The mercenaries brought up the rear, a thousand horsemen, two thousand spearmen. The tall horses of the cavalry seemed hard and savage as their riders; they made no curvets or gambades. There was a grimly business-like aspect to these professional killers, veterans of bloody campaigns. Clad from head to foot in chain-mail, they wore their vizorless head-pieces over linked coifs. Their shields were unadorned, their long lances without guidons. At their saddle-bows hung battle-axes or steel maces, and each man wore at his hip a long broadsword. The spearmen were armed in much the same manner, though they bore pikes instead of cavalry lances. - Black Colossus

The Aquilonian host was drawn up, long serried lines of pikemen and
horsemen in gleaming steel, when a giant figure in black armor emerged
from the royal pavilion, and as he swung up into the saddle of the
black stallion held by four squires, a roar that shook the mountains
went up from the host. They shook their blades and thundered forth
their acclaim of their warrior king - knights in gold-chased armor,
pikemen in mail coats and basinets, archers in their leather jerkins,
with their longbows in their left hand. - The Hour of the Dragon

That's not to say all the Hyborian nations will be straight Medieval: Nemedia will have some Roman influences, Koth some Byzantine, Ophir a bit of Ptolemaic Egypt, Argos a splash of Carthage etc.

I am an Ancient/Dark Ages/Early Medieval/Tolkien type myself.

Fear not: Brythunia and Hyperborea (not to mention Asgard and Vanaheim) will be pretty "Dark Age" in tone.

You have taken on a huge amount of work!!!

Heh, probably too much.

Say Taranaich,

What about magic?? I think but am not sure the 4th Age Tolkien mod is going to try or has implemented it.

An occasional fireball or lighting bolt and some subtle morale and terror and weather effects would be nice. I don't know if the game engine could handle somethings but I am sure it could handle other things.

Whilst I would really like to have some earth-shattering magic like Xaltotun's earthquake and storm calling and Thugra Khotan's literal firewall, I don't know how they could be handled in the game: likely they'd be in the form of events on the campaign map. Other things like hypnotism and dread would be easy enough, as well as ancillaries.

[christof139]

Yes, thanx for the reply and some magic is good.

Also, thanx for the descriptions of the troops. However, plate can be referring to just breastlplates and backplates and/or greaves, gorgets, and also open faced helms. Even the Ancient Celts used plate in the form of breastplates and greaves. Full plate is not mentioned in the descriptions, at least I didn't see it, and neither are fully enclosed helms with visors such as Late and High Medieval and Ren Era helms. So, it is still conjecture as to if the Knights of Aquilonia and Nemedia etc. had full Late Medieval Plate. The plate I and many others envision is Mid Medieval and only partial, but it is all still somewhat conjecture, and it doesn't bother me one way or the other, since you are making the mod, not me. It will be good when finished.

I see you have similar ideas to me for Argos and Corinthia, almost a Byzantine look, perhaps with even some older Greco-Roman type armor in evidence. I think that is what is described by Howard to some degree.

Too bad this mod couldn't be finished by say, mmm, tommorrow!!!

Oh, there is a halfway description of the Black Dragons and perhaps the Black Legion in maybe Conan the Conquerer, I forget since it has been a long time that I have read Conan.

Hyperborea became one of my favorite realms. Interesting with the magical/sorcerrous orders there etc., and the wierd beasts.

Thanx again, Chris

[christof139]

I missed the sallets in the first description.

At least vizorless headpieces are described for the mercenaries in the second description.

So, you can use many vanilla sprites/models from the vanila game. Makes it a whole heck of a lot easier.

And there is enough Dark Age and Early Medieval equipment and look for my tatses.

I haope I like the METW2 engine though, as I don't have it, and never even enjoyed RTW and its campaign map and strategic movement style etc. Played it once or twice and canned it.

Time will tell with what are new game engines etc. for me.

Then, there is always the METW1 engine to use. I enjoyed METW1 immensely.

Chris

[Taranaich]

Also, thanx for the descriptions of the troops. However, plate can be referring to just breastlplates and backplates and/or greaves, gorgets, and also open faced helms. Even the Ancient Celts used plate in the form of breastplates and greaves. Full plate is not mentioned in the descriptions, at least I didn't see it, and neither are fully enclosed helms with visors such as Late and High Medieval and Ren Era helms. So, it is still conjecture as to if the Knights of Aquilonia and Nemedia etc. had full Late Medieval Plate.

Full plate as seen in high-late middle ages is described:

At her command they brought harness to replace Conan's chain-mail - gorget, sollerets, cuirass, pauldrons, jambes, cuisses and sallet. When Yasmela again drew the curtains, a Conan in burnished steel stood before his audience. Clad in the platearmor, vizor lifted and dark face shadowed by the black plumes that nodded above his helmet, there was a grim impressiveness about him that even Thespides grudgingly noted. - Black Colossus

That's probably the most extensive description of plate, but since Khoraja was a small Hyborian kingdom it's logical that the plate-mail referenced by the more powerful and lucrative kingdoms would be of a similar type. Plus Tarascus is described as "clad in black plate", and Conan wore "full plate" in Hour of the Dragon, so it's pretty much a given that the great and the good of at least Aquilonia, Nemedia and the Kothic realms had full plate for their knights.

[christof139]

Full plate as seen in high-late middle ages is described:

At her command they brought harness to replace Conan's chain-mail - gorget, sollerets, cuirass, pauldrons, jambes, cuisses and sallet. When Yasmela again drew the curtains, a Conan in burnished steel stood before his audience. Clad in the platearmor, vizor lifted and dark face shadowed by the black plumes that nodded above his helmet, there was a grim impressiveness about him that even Thespides grudgingly noted. - Black Colossus

That's probably the most extensive description of plate, but since Khoraja was a small Hyborian kingdom it's logical that the plate-mail referenced by the more powerful and lucrative kingdoms would be of a similar type. Plus Tarascus is described as "clad in black plate", and Conan wore "full plate" in Hour of the Dragon, so it's pretty much a given that the great and the good of at least Aquilonia, Nemedia and the Kothic realms had full plate for their knights.

Yeah, thanx again for the references, it has been some time since I read the original and older books, although I have read some of the newer knock-offs and have all the books, original, older, and newer, mostly in PB except. Khoraja was small, could have used mercenaries to some degree, maybe even some Shemites and Turan/Hykrania/Desert tribes types.

Do you have Scott Bizar's and Lin Carter's Royal Armies of Hyperboria wargames rules, circa 1975?? They are not bad, and explain the generally limited use of magic and give some possible examples of battlefield magic, plus gives some OK descriptions of the nations. Has a good piece on Hyperborea and the ruling lords and magic users and sorcerer/ess cults, plus the original stoneworking history as you have here. Not a bad book. I don't have a good scanner, in fact I disconnected and maybe even trashed the old piece of Win95 age junk, otherwise I would send you some pages that are very interesting. Good write up on the Picts too, if I remember correctly. You'd find it interesting, if you don't already have it.

Chris

[Taranaich]

I have a ton of Conan/Howard material, but I haven't tracked down the Royal Armies rulebook yet. I'm still on the lookout for it, so I'll use it for research.

[christof139]

Yeah, it's worth getting, but don't pay too much for it. Sometimes they show up on ebay, and I think Fantasy Games Unlimited is still in business in Arizona. I bought a couple of copies a few years back for $6.00 each, and I think I have an old copy, have to check.

If you wanted one I could mail it if you have Paypal to pay for the cost and shipping, but I think you will find one on ebay etc. every now and then. The hardback Gazeteer (only 1,500 cpies printed) is also good, but there are some mistakes I have been told, but it is still good and interesting.

Are you a professional graphics artist or computer programmer?? I'm not either, just a barbaric, defunct geologist with a few loose rocks here and there. Ha ha ha!!!

Take care, Chris

[Taranaich]

I'll search about on ebay for it, but thanks for the offer.

I'm a student (recently graduated B.A. honours in computer animation ), and because I've been studying for more or less ten years non-stop through college and university, I'm taking a break from education and work to pursue personal projects, one of which is this mod. Hopefully I'll actually get a job in the CG industry on some level, though frankly I think I'm a better concept/2d artist than modeler (hence why I've been doing textures and haven't really done much to the models).

A geologist, eh? Rockin'!

[christof139]

I wish you success in your field, and with this mod.

Yeah, rocks in the head too at times, but I have or once had a hard head, so no damage done methinks in the sometime void, but I may have to rethink that.

Chris

[Majestic7]

Hmm, pastiche Hyperborea seems to draw heavily from Finnish mythologies. Do you plan to follow that or take a more Russian-like approach to the names, units and so forth?

[Taranaich]

Hyperborea's a pretty divisive topic among the Howard scholars I talk to. Some say it should be like the ancient Doric kingdoms of Greece, others say it should be more Russian. A few even think it should be Portuguese!

I decided on Russian, or at least the medieval Rus, for a few reasons:

The only Hyperborean name we hear of is Tomar, mentioned in Howard's notes. Tomar is a popular name for aristocratic Russians, both first and family.
Both were formerly nomadic horsemen (Rus=Slavs, Hyperboreans=Hyborians).
Both built massive stone buildings with many cities and eastern outposts.
Both had a "golden age" before many other kingdoms of the same ethnic stock (Novgorod was one of the first major Slavic realms as Hyperborea was the first major Hyborian kingdom)
Hyperborea was attacked by the AEsir as the Rus were attacked by the Norse.
Both had notable slave trades.
Both could form powerful invading armies even after all the invasions they've had.
Hyperborea was ultimately devastated by the Hyrkanians as the Rus were by the Golden Horde.

PLUS a few extrapolations which make sense to me:

Constantius was a Kothic Voivode. Since there are no other Slavic references relating to Koth, where did the Voivode come from? Koth does have a lot of possible Byzantine references. Byzantium had an elite corps formed from Rus warriors: perhaps Koth had a few Hyperboreans in that fashion? Perhaps there was traffic between the two kingdoms, allowing a Hyperborean to be a general, and a Kothian to become a Voivode.

Olgerd Vladislav. Where did he come from? Considering he's described as tall, gaunt and grey-eyed, just like the Hyperboreans, it seems logical that he was one, perhaps from the Eastern steppes. The Kozak-Cossack connection is already pretty evident.

So, with all that in mind, my personal conclusion is Hyperborea = the Rus in a similar way to Stygia = Egypt. Very similar, but with differences making it it's own kingdom.

[Volkmar]

I've always pictured the Hyperboreans as Rus before I even began reading Howard's stories.

I guess I also base my ideas of Hyboria based on a map drawn by Howard that's in The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (book) that has an overlay of Hyboria over a map of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

[Cadwalader]

I think they have some Finish elements as well.
I believe I remember reading that they worshipped "Louhi". Louhi is an important character in Kalevala, the Finish national epic.

[Taranaich]

I think they have some Finish elements as well.
I believe I remember reading that they worshipped "Louhi". Louhi is an important character in Kalevala, the Finish national epic.

That's the pastiches though. According to Howard they worshipped Bori.

However, that's not to say a Louhi won't appear, since the Kalevala might have it's "origins" in the Hyborian age like the Norse Sagas did.

[Cadwalader]

Yes, it turns out that she's from the comics. Embarassing!

Unless you have an interesting idea, I think it would be a suitable princess name.

[Majestic7]

Hehe, anyone familiar with the Finnish mythology would find it highly amusing to find Louhi, the Crone of the North as a seductive princess in the mod... If you want to include her or other characters from the Finnish myth, perhaps they could be ancillaries that appear available if the player choses the sorcerous path for his nation.

[Taranaich]

Hehe, anyone familiar with the Finnish mythology would find it highly amusing to find Louhi, the Crone of the North as a seductive princess in the mod...

It would indeed, that's part of the fun. She's just the victim of bad press!

If you want to include her or other characters from the Finnish myth, perhaps they could be ancillaries that appear available if the player choses the sorcerous path for his nation.

A good idea. Some original Howard characters that wouldn't work as generals or agents (Zelata for instance) will be included as ancillaries, so I could include a whole bunch of mythical/folklore characters for flavour and colour.