The Kingdom of Hyperborea

[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.

[Cadwalader]

Yes, it turns out that she's from the comics. Embarassing!

Unless you have an interesting idea, I think it would be a suitable princess name.

[Majestic7]

Hehe, anyone familiar with the Finnish mythology would find it highly amusing to find Louhi, the Crone of the North as a seductive princess in the mod... If you want to include her or other characters from the Finnish myth, perhaps they could be ancillaries that appear available if the player choses the sorcerous path for his nation.