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  1. #1
    Member Member Taranaich's Avatar
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    Default The Kingdom of Hyperborea

    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.
    Last edited by Taranaich; 06-17-2007 at 22:01.

    "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.

  2. #2
    RnJ PR Officer Member Eufarius's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Kingdom of Hyperborea

    will the mammoths be larger than original elephants?


  3. #3
    Member Member Taranaich's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Kingdom of Hyperborea

    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!

    "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.

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    Naked Game Fanatic Member Murfios's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Kingdom of Hyperborea

    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.
    Last edited by Murfios; 06-20-2007 at 22:40.

  5. #5
    Member Member Taranaich's Avatar
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    Default Re: The Kingdom of Hyperborea

    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.

    "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.

  6. #6

    Default Re: The Kingdom of Hyperborea

    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

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