The Hyborian Age - Total War
"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 - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyberborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet."
Thus began the legend of Conan, one of the great literary icons of the 20th Century.
The Hyborian Age was an age of splendour and decadence, of golden civilization and savage barbarism, of proud swordsmen and eldritch sorceries. Most of all, it was an age of war.
The Hyborian Age: Total War is a project to bring the world of Robert E. Howard into the Medieval 2: Total War engine, to recreate the lost era of the Hyborians.
About Me
I'm completely new to the practical side of modding, but I've been working on the background to THATW for a few years, since the original Medieval in fact. There are various Conan mods for role-players like Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights, but the epic warfare and grand histories of civilizations so far haven't been attempted. I'm doing most of the work myself, though naturally I'd welcome any help on the project.
Still not convinced? Here are a few screens of those dark-haired, sullen-eyed dreamers of dark dreams, the Cimmerians:
The average Cimmerian ceitherne, or warband, is worth ten civilized men in battle, twenty in defense of their land. Dour and moody, they are ferocious warriors when defending their lands or avenging a slight against their clan, but they have little patience or interest in invasions or sieges.
Although every Cimmerian is a warrior when the times demand it, many Cimmerian men enjoy the bloody rage of battle enough to take it up as a vocation, as a member of the bonnachta (paid warriors). They can be found as mercenaries for Hyborian kingdoms, or tagging along with other Cimmerian or Nordic campaigns when their own tribe is at relative peace.
Cimmerian rastriagha (berserkers) are obsessive warriors, adventuring and plundering their Nordic neighbours and the soft Hyborian lands to the south. They wield big nasty claymores, useful for splitting the skulls of savages and discourteous civilized folks alike. They frequently enter a trance-like state of gloominess and emptiness, where they would lose themselves entirely in the bloodshed. Unlike their lusty and hearty Nordic neighbours, Cimmerian berserkers are unsettlingly emotionless and silent, never uttering a word during their cold, relentless reaping of heads and lives.
Some professional Cimmerian warriors prefer the use of a great axe to a claymore, and utilize great skill in crushing bone and plate armour with their mighty weapons. These warriors, the Scriostóira (destroyers), are frequently found on the borders of Aquilonia and the wild Border Kingdom, where plate-armoured knights are more likely to be on the other side of a battleground. They are every bit as deadly as the rastriagha, although they require much greater control of their minds considering the caliber of their chosen nemesis, the heavily armoured juggernauts of the Hyborian lands.
So what's worse than seeing a blood-crazed barbarian warrior charging at you?
When he's brought his mates.
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Originally Posted by Gurkhal
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