Quote Originally Posted by Majestic7
They stole the Heart of Ahriman and well... you know what tends to happen to people who own that gemstone.
Heh heh.

I'm aware of the involvement of pastiches on sorcerous Hyperborea - however, such idea fits the cold kingdom so perfectly that I've learned to accept it. I'm quite a purist when it comes to the Hyborian Age otherwise.
A lot of people have, it's very pervasive. This is why I offer the choice for an involved player to turn Hyperborea into the Evil Empire of the pastiches: since Howard had sorcerers puppeteering the kings of normally non-sorcerous countries (Tsotha-Lanti the power behind Koth, Yara in Zamora, Xaltotun in Nemedia) I thought that the ability of the player to start things rolling in that direction would be pretty true to Howard. If the wizards were successful in their goals, then they could've set up nasty sorcerous empires like the pastiche Hyperboreans.

Hmmm, how about replacing Set with Tsathoggua? Sounds pretty exotic, I'm sure - but Howards Thurian and Hyborian Ages take arguably place in the world of Cthulhu Mythos, following the Hyperborean Age of Clark Ashton Smith. The Frog God is even mentioned by Howard as being worshipped far south. Hyperborea is located in the right place for Voorish ruins to be uncovered, perhaps that way entering in to an age of dark sorcery? Heh, just a suggestion that came to mind. I run Conan RPG myself and tend to mix Mythos in to it.
That was indeed an idea I had, that Howard's Hyperborea had a few elements of Smith's. Although it's quite controvertial among Howard (and Lovecraft and Smith) enthusiasts, I personally do subscribe to the shared mythos of the three writers being intentional. As such, I might include some Smithian elements in my mod, including Tsathoggua, who Howard seemed to be a big fan of.

You will include Kosala as a faction? Surprising, I thought them to be rather insignificant in their own right. Have you thought about including sorcery in the form of uber-assassins and spies for some factions?
Although it seems that Kosala isn't a big player, a study through the references seems to indicate Kosala being a pretty big cheese in the sorcerous department. Most of the choices I made for factions are based on Dale Rippke's essay The Blue East. Kosala's disposition for pretty heavy-hitting magic (artificial lighting, fruit that feeds on air, sceptres that fling fireballs) as well as Baal-Pteor's propensity for both physical brutality and mesmerism makes me think Kosala is pretty worth of inclusion.

Sorcery on the campaign map will include some nasties, where Stygia, Kosala et al use extremely powerful demons as their assassins and spies. The dreaded Inquisitors will become particularly nasty demons.

What comes to Picts and Cimmerians, having them portrayed as an united nation sounds a bit strange. How about having the player first take control of one tribe being tasked to subjugate other (rebel) tribes, after which a confederation of some sort would be formed?
That's the plan. Currently the Cimmerians own a single province, and they have to either ally with or subjugate other tribes to make Cimmeria one nation. The Picts start off with an alliance of four tribes: the Wolves, Hawks, Wildcats, and Turtles were tentatively allies as of Wolves Beyond the Border, and I'm working under the implication that another son of Jhebbal-Sag has arisen to unite them under one banner. I might change it to just the Wolf tribe, but combined with Aquilonia and the dangerous Pictish Wilderness it might be too difficult for the player.

Well, if I had any modding skills I'd be sure to offer help. Too bad I can't really do anything useful, heh. One thing I can do is writing though, so if you happen to need help writing unit descriptions or such, that I can do.
I'll remember that, cheers!