The Kingdom of Hyperborea

[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.