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Thread: The Kingdom of Koth

  1. #31
    Marzbân-î Jundîshâpûr Member The Persian Cataphract's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Kingdom of Koth

    First of all, I'd like to commend Taranaich for undertaking such an enormous project; The world of Conan has been a childhood hobby of mine, so I have always been somewhat infatuated with the different cultures that finds historical precedents. As someone who particularly finds fascination in Iranian culture (I hope I don't give it away too obviously ), I personally find both Turan and Iranistan to be based on colloquial Iranian culture; The former appears to be an amalgam between Sassanian and Ottoman grandeur, while the latter seems to be the "Classical Persian culture" in its representation of Anshan.

    Ironically Robert E. Howard sprinkles many cultural imprints and impressions on very diverse cultures, and so the "Iranian-ness" turns into a merely fragmentary device (Ctesiphon, Hyrkania et al.), but Turan with its slightly Turcophone twist on Iranian conceptions and "common ancestry" to Hyrkania (Which finds its nearest historical relative to the Mongols), is a very strongly projected Persianate culture. The very name Turan itself is an Iranian concept, as are Khorosun, Shahpur, "Aghrapur" (Read: Naming convention), Yezdigerd (Yazdgerd/Izdegerdes) and Khawarism. Shem too has a few splashes of impressions (Akbitana... Obviously Ecbatana, Shushana... Susa)

    That's my take on it, so for me the Iranian culture, much like the "Roman'esque division" a la Corinthia/Koth, I find Turan and Iranistan to be the two sides of the same coin, even though the canon would have them pitted as mortal enemies. This goes to show the huge source of inspiration history can be in the construct of fantasy as a genre.


    "Fortunate is every man who in purity and truth recognizes valiance and prevents it from becoming bravado" - Âriôbarzanes of the Sûrên-Pahlavân

  2. #32
    Member Member Taranaich's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Kingdom of Koth

    Quote Originally Posted by The Persian Cataphract
    First of all, I'd like to commend Taranaich for undertaking such an enormous project; The world of Conan has been a childhood hobby of mine, so I have always been somewhat infatuated with the different cultures that finds historical precedents.
    Well, same here of course, thanks!

    As someone who particularly finds fascination in Iranian culture (I hope I don't give it away too obviously ), I personally find both Turan and Iranistan to be based on colloquial Iranian culture; The former appears to be an amalgam between Sassanian and Ottoman grandeur, while the latter seems to be the "Classical Persian culture" in its representation of Anshan.
    That's the plan, basically.

    Ironically Robert E. Howard sprinkles many cultural imprints and impressions on very diverse cultures, and so the "Iranian-ness" turns into a merely fragmentary device (Ctesiphon, Hyrkania et al.), but Turan with its slightly Turcophone twist on Iranian conceptions and "common ancestry" to Hyrkania (Which finds its nearest historical relative to the Mongols), is a very strongly projected Persianate culture. The very name Turan itself is an Iranian concept, as are Khorosun, Shahpur, "Aghrapur" (Read: Naming convention), Yezdigerd (Yazdgerd/Izdegerdes) and Khawarism. Shem too has a few splashes of impressions (Akbitana... Obviously Ecbatana, Shushana... Susa)
    Iranistan's role in the Hyborian Age is complicated and mysterious: none of the experts I talk to can agree on their origin. One says they are the remnants of eastern Thurians, another that they were an early Hyborian tribe. I'm treating the "Iranian" elements of Turan as being influenced by the old Iranistan empire (of which Akbitana and Shushan the Imperial were cities until the Sons of Shem took them), explaining the Turkic/Persian quirk of Turan.

    That's my take on it, so for me the Iranian culture, much like the "Roman'esque division" a la Corinthia/Koth, I find Turan and Iranistan to be the two sides of the same coin, even though the canon would have them pitted as mortal enemies. This goes to show the huge source of inspiration history can be in the construct of fantasy as a genre.
    True that.

    "Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world, like blue mantles beneath the stars...
    Is fhearr fheuchainn na bhith san duil.

  3. #33

    Default Re: The Kingdom of Koth

    I had indeed planned Pelias to be an ancillary character - someone had to run the Scarlet Citadel while Tsotha-Lanti's away looking for his head!
    I'm reading 'The Return of Conan' at the moment, the first non-Howard Conan novel written way back in 1956, and in it Pelias has taken up residence in Khoraja (in the city of Khanyria), residing in a great golden tower and mostly keeping to himself doing his wizardly thing.

    Something to note about Koth's roster, from The Scarlet Citadel:

    Strabonus had not dared march on into Aquilonia with Shamar, unsubdued, at his back. He had sent his light riders, his spahis, inland to ravage the country, and had reared up his seige engines on the plain.

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