A discussion of the primary Hyborian kingdoms where our story begins...

The Rise of the Hyborian Kingdoms

The tawny-haired Hyborians began their rise to prominence around three millennia ago, when they were a rude and barbarous people of the north who worshipped some primitive chieftain-god, Bori. They swept down from the north in a series of migrations, conquering the older kingdoms they encountered and setting up new kingdoms of their own.

Hyperborea in the north was the first of the Hyborian kingdoms to rise from barbarism. Today the tall, gaunt Hyperboreans are the major power in the northlands. Their king, Tomar, keeps them generally isolated from the political intrigue of the other kingdoms to the south, aside from occasional border skirmishes with Brythunia and the Turanians to the southeast. They are, however, constantly warring with barbarians from the frozen wastes of Asgard and from hilly Cimmeria, both to their west. The Hyperboreans are notorious for their brutal treatment of captives, and tales of the Hyberborean slave pens are ones of horror. While the tenets of Mitra are known in Hyperborea, many still worship the ancestral god Bori.

The kingdoms of Koth, Ophir, and Corinthia were all
founded three thousand years ago after a wave of our
Hyborian ancestors migrated south. For centuries, they
were vassal states controlled by the ancient and sinister
empire of Acheron, until a new wave of Hyborian barbarians
swept down from the north. Some say the Acheronians
were descended from an early migration of Hyborians
mixed with the Stygians of the south, some say they belong
to an even more ancient race — no one knows for certain.
What is known is that the purple towers of Acheron, and
its temples to the Stygian god Set, crumbled under fire and
steel, wielded by these new Hyborian invaders.
Koth, Ophir, and Corinthia gained their independence,
and new younger kingdoms — Aquilonia, Nemedia,
Brythunia, and Argos, by name — arose from the ashes of
Acheron. The age of the Hyborians began.

Koth, with its capital of Korshemish, is the strongest
of these older Hyborian kingdoms. The Kothian king
Strabonus rules with an iron fist, though some say the
true power behind the throne is the sorcerer Tsotha-lanti,
who resides in the great Scarlet Citadel in the capital. The
kingdom is made up of numerous vassal city-states and
principalities that occasionally attempt to throw off the
yoke of Strabonus. More often than not these attempts at
rebellion are crushed by the king, but it shows that his hold
on power is somewhat tenuous, particularly in the eastern
part of his realm. One of the primary industries in Koth is
the trade in slaves — moreso than in any other Hyborian
kingdom — and even a highborn individual captured in
battle or convicted of a crime might be forced into a life of
drudgery for some petty noble.

Influences from the East

While Koth is fully Hyborian, there is a strong cultural
influence from the lands of Shem to the south and Turan
to the east. Indeed, the worship of foreign gods like Ishtar,
Bel, and Anu has eclipsed the worship of Mitra in many
Kothian cities, particularly in the eastern principalities. I
spent considerable time in the small kingdom of Khauran,
formally a Kothic vassal state on the eastern frontier, and
one would hardly know from the architecture and customs
that it was a province established by Hyborians rather than
Shemites or the people of the steppes.

Ophir may not be largest or strongest of the Hyborian
kingdoms, but it is possibly one of the wealthiest due to
presence of numerous gold and silver mines within its
borders. The opulent royal seraglio of King Amalrus is
legendary for its decadence and sheer size as is the vast
palace. But the common people see little of that wealth —
Amalrus is a despot, and the kingdom’s largesse is tightly
controlled by the king and his ruling elite.

Corinthia, while nominally a kingdom, is a land made
up of many rival city-states, and the throne has little true
political authority. Several powerful noble families control
their own cities, and political intrigue is rife. These noble
houses are the real power in Corinthia.

Aquilonia, Greatest of the Hyborian Kingdoms

Among the younger Hyborian kingdoms, the greatest is
truly Aquilonia, with its magnificent capital city of Tarantia.
The countryside of Aquilonia is fertile land for agriculture,
and the kingdom is divided into baronies and counties,
all controlled by vassal lords who swear fealty to the king,
Numedides. The powerful Aquilonian armies led by her
mounted knights provide a powerful bulwark against her
rivals and protect the efforts to expand her borders to the
west into Pictland and northwest into Cimmeria.

Several provinces form buffers on these western and
northern frontiers. In the northwest of the kingdom is
Gunderland, whose hardy frontiersmen are known for
their woodcraft and toughness in battle. They are excellent
pikemen, and many Gundermen serve in mercenary
companies. Stretching along the western and northern
frontier are the Bossonian Marches, whose inhabitants are
known far and wide as the most skilled of all Hyborians in
the use of the longbow. Beyond the Bossonian Marches is
the Westermark, a series of settlements that is an attempt
by the Aquilonians to push into the Pictish wilderness and
colonize the area. Needless to say, the savage Picts have not
allowed themselves to be dominated without a fight, and the
Westermark remains a dangerous place, where Aquilonian
settlers often disappear in the woods without trace — their
skulls no doubt decorating an altar in some Pictish hut.

Aquilonia’s Neighbors

East of Aquilonia is her sometime ally, sometime rival
Nemedia, the land of my birth. Nearly the equal of Aquilonia
in military might, my homeland exceeds her in culture,
learning, and the arts, though I cannot claim to be unbiased
in that judgment. The capital Belverus is a center of
learning and philosophy, as is the city of Numalia in the
eastern part of the kingdom.

Just as the Aquilonians have Gunderland and the
Bossonian Marches, Nemedia has the Border Kingdom.
Nominally independent, but in truth a vassal in all but
name, the Border Kingdom serves as a bulwark against the
Cimmerians and Hyperboreans to the north.

East of Nemedia is Brythunia, a mostly rural and agricultural
kingdom, but important for trade routes between the
great Hyborian powers of the west and the eastern realms
of Zamora and beyond. Without the military strength of
Aquilonia or Nemedia, the kingdom of Brythunia generally
tries to avoid the imperial ambitions of its neighbors.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:26, Thu 28 Mar 2019.

Zamora the Accursed

Thieves need opportunities to practice their rarified arts,
and there is no better place to practice them than in the
fabled City of Thieves — Zamora the Accursed. A sprawling,
decaying metropolis, Zamora is like a rotting tooth. It
shall either disappear on its own or be taken out by force.
In her twisting alleys and ample shadows, all manner of
business goes on. Other cities in Zamora, such as her sister
city Shadizar the Wicked, mysterious Yezud, and the other
city-states in the region, are similarly built and designed,
each one specializing in certain dark appetites. These
cities have long benefitted from being near the eastern
trade route that runs from Stygia through Shem, and up
along the western edge of the mountains into Brythunia.

The kingdom of Zamora is named after the accursed
city, so infamous are its colorful residents. Rimmed by
high mountains in the east and dry, cracked desert in the
west, Zamora is an ancient city, once a shining example
of civilization and piety for the kingdom. But that was
ages ago, and now many of the massive temples that
once were the hallmark of the city have been torn down
or repurposed. All of the gilt has long since been scraped
off of the tall fluted columns by thieves’ knives, and all
of the precious stones pried out of their settings around
the high-domed roofs by eager and desperate hands.
Such are, perhaps, the first steps toward a civilization’s
descent into barbarism.

Khitai

Travelling beyond the Himelian Mountains into the fabled
land of Khitai is an arduous journey, usually undertaken only
by the brave and hearty who seek to divine the strangeness
of that distant place. One could venture to Khitai for a year
and barely touch upon its vastness, experiencing not a hundredth
of its wonders. It is a closed place, and foreigners are
unwelcome. Even with letters of introduction and garments
lined with hidden pockets of coins, rubies, and sapphires to
serve as gifts and bribes, most outsiders are shunned and
kept at arm’s length, always intruders and never guests.
The contempt the Khitans all feel for barbarians from the
West is palpable, a mark of honor and distinction.

Thick jungles surround and infuse Khitai, but stop where
terraced rice paddies hug the steep slopes of hills and black
mountains. Deep in the jungles are lost temples where
Priests of Yun supposedly dwell and worship in secret; few
can say to what end. Further east amid virtually impenetrable
high bamboo forests lies purple-towered Paikang, and
further still are the rumored Swamps of the Dead where the
deadly gray lotus grows. An enterprising soul could make
a king’s fortune by harvesting such plants and surviving.

Khitans are yellow-skinned, with black hair and dark,
narrow eyes, a race far removed from any in the West.
They are somewhat slighter than the Hyborian peoples,
but powerful, stern, and duty-bound — not to be trifled
with. Some Western scholars, upon seeing the gray apes
that their priests have tamed, opined that their race might
have spawned from these, neglecting theories that apply
equal to the Hyborian races. Khitan warriors are proud
and skilled, and their leaders can raise enormous peasant
armies to ward off invaders. These vast hosts blanket
the earth, dwarfing what they call “the pitiful warbands
of Western nations”. Their assassins supposedly enjoin
magic with deadly martial skill, but they are secretive
and hidden and none discuss such things, especially
with outsiders.

It is nigh impossible for a Westerner to learn anything
of Khitai’s mystic sorcery, so closely guarded is it: said to be
unlike any other, though equally sinister and corrupting.
But such could be said for nearly everything in the land
of jade and jungles — the people of the East keep their
own counsel.
This message was last updated by the GM at 00:26, Mon 25 Mar 2019.