tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51382250165179635822024-03-05T01:57:09.939-06:00The Darkstorm FilesThis blog is dedicated to displaying content from my (now defunct) HEROES OF DARK FANTASY website and general musings on Heroic and Epic Fantasy, as well as anything else that happens to strike my fancy...Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18275846242078447111noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-27939582606881330892020-09-18T15:55:00.003-05:002020-09-18T16:01:30.094-05:00<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"> <span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: xxx-large; font-weight: bold;">Bloodstained Memories</span></span></p><p align="center" class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">How my imagination was ensnared by</span></p><p align="center" class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Karl Edward Wagner's</span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Kane</span></p><p align="center"><span style="color: #990000;"><img class="style1" height="1" src="http://home.mchsi.com/~moonblossom/Pix/BAR2.gif" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";" width="600" /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">It all started one cold, clear evening in the early spring of 1975. I was attending college in a small Iowa town called Spencer, when I became hooked on a fantasy genre called Heroic Fantasy. Sure, it all started simply enough; an issue of Savage Sword of Conan here, a couple of Conan the Barbarian Comics there, and before I knew it I was an addict. Before long I was ordering every Conan comic I could find and scrounging in derelict bookstores trying to find long out-of-print Lancer paperbacks. I had hit rock bottom.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Then one night, on an all but hopeless visit to my local bookstore, I spied a gleaming paperback cover shining out like a beacon in the night. The cover had large man on it, standing with a sword in front of what appeared to be a green and red dome. The title on the cover was <i>Bloodstone</i>. I read the back cover and the book seemed pretty cool. It was definitely a heroic fantasy, so I bought it and took it home to devour it. Kane was different, not a hero so much as an antihero. Played both sides against the middle. Killer Frogs! What more can a person ask from the genre. To this day I think of <i>Bloodstone</i> as a fondly remembered first love and it remains my favorite Kane novel.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I discovered a second Kane book had already made its appearance, so I trundled back to the bookstore and asked to order <i>Death Angel's Shadow</i>. Alas, it was out of print. I seemed to be out of favor with the gods of fantasy. Three months later I found a copy (entirely by accident) at the neighborhood Pamida. It had been published by Paperback Library and sported a picture of a mail-clad Kane on a mostly white cover (I still prefer this cover to the later Frazetta one, mostly because it depicts Kane and not some generic monster-killing warrior). Of the stories within, <i>Mirage</i> and <i>Reflections</i> were pretty good, but the best one, in my opinion, was <i>Cold Light</i>. Between this story and the novel <i>Bloodstone</i>, the character of Kane became fully crystallized within my mind. Years later, <i>Cold Light</i> became a great D&D session as I had my villain take apart an adventuring group in a very similar manner.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;"><i><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Dark Crusade</span></i> <span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I discovered in an Estherville bookstore in 1976. I was somewhat disappointed by this novel, as the story was relatively straightforward (compared with the earlier ones). I also felt Kane was acting in a somewhat inconsistent manner by not learning from his mistakes. My favorite scene in the book is Kane's conversation with the little girl playing kickball with her mother's head (something I have never read in a Conan story). Years later I discovered, to my pleasure, that the story had aged well. I still feel that Kane not understanding Orted-Ak-Ceddi's motivation is still a weak spot in an otherwise outstanding novel.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Two years later, I discovered <i>Darkness Weaves </i>in a tiny supermarket book section. I bought it and read it with the usual gusto. This is a great Kane novel, and I've always felt it would make a killer movie. It seems to me to be a better-written version of <i>Dark Crusade </i>(Kane leading an army on a mission of revenge). The characterization is superb and subtle, and everyone's motivations are crystal clear from the start. My only regret is that Wagner didn't see fit to enlighten us as to why the Lartroxian Combine "thirsted for Kane's blood". I later found out that this was actually the first Kane novel to be published, years before in an abridged, badly edited edition. I'm glad I found the unabridged version of the book.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">The way I found <i>Night Winds</i> was positively creepy. The term night wind figured prominently in a dream that I had the night before I found the book. Went into my local bookstore and my eye was immediately drawn to the book with the title <i>Night Winds</i>. Imagine how unsettling it felt to discover the name I had dreamt of to be a Kane collection. Call it synchronicity, but at that moment reality WAS a concept. This actually happened. Getting beyond that, the book was pretty good. The best stories were <i>Two Suns Setting</i> and <i>Raven's Eyrie</i>. In a sort of morbidly funny way, Wagner answered the question "Who would win a fight between Kane and Conan?" The story <i>Undertow</i> has Kane fighting a wizard-slaying barbarian fashioned after a certain Cimmerian. Since this is the first story in Kane's long career, I'll leave it to your imagination as to who won. After the publication of <i>Night Winds</i>, Kane seemed (to me anyway) to drop off the face of the Earth.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Unknown to me, Donald Grant published a third Kane collection titled <i>The Book of Kane</i> in 1985. It contained a number of previously published stories including two that hadn't been collected before, <i>The Other One</i> (that I first read in the <i>Barbarians</i> anthology) and <i>Misericorde</i> (which was published in <i>Barbarians II</i>).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">In March of 1989, I discovered a Kane story in an issue of the new <i>Weird Tales</i> magazine. <i>At First Just Ghostly</i> was unusual in that Kane appears a third of the way into the story and that it is set in modern times. His daughter Klesst makes an appearance (she's apparently immortal as well). The story concerns Kane fighting Satan for control of the world in London shortly after the Harmonic Convergence (Harmonica Virgins?). My favorite part is when Kane claims to have killed God (this must have happened before <i>Time</i> magazine decided God was dead).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">The next Kane story I found was called <i>The Gothic Touch</i>. It had been published in a story collection titled <i>Tales of the White Wolf</i> and told of a meeting between Kane and Elric of Melniboné. It is one of the best Kane short stories I've read in ages.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Last year (1987) I learned on the newsgroups that a new Wagner compilation called <i>Exorcisms and Ecstasies</i> had been published. Within it is a section called <i>Silver Dagger</i> that contains 5 previously uncollected Kane short stories. Of the five, I had already read <i>At First Just Ghostly </i>and <i>The Gothic Touch</i>. The other three stories were pretty inconsequential (a fragment, a juvenile effort, and a modern psychodrama). The novel fragment, <i>In the Wake of the Night</i>, makes me really, really wish that someone would publish the whole fragment one day, not just the prologue (perhaps as part of a <i>Great Kane Omnibus</i>?). The best part of <i>Exorcisms and Ecstasies </i>is the working bibliography at the back of the book. Reading through it I discovered a Kane short story called <i>Lacunae</i> that I had never read. I found a copy of it in an anthology called <i>Splatterpunks II</i>. It is another modern psychodrama that seems to take place before <i>At First Just Ghostly</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Karl Edward Wagner died in October of 1994, so it is pretty doubtful we will see anymore tales of Kane. It seems a shame, because this is one character that really speaks to me. And while Kane might not have the universal appeal of a Conan, to me he is a towering giant in the field of Heroic Fantasy. He can easily take his place beside the likes of Elric, Imaro, Kull and Conan. And can you really ask for anything more than that?</span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Dale Rippke</span></p><p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Bloodstained Memories - Karl Edward Wagner essay and Website Copyright 1998-2020 Dale E. Rippke</span><br style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";" /><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">All rights reserved</span></span></p>Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-36550000291308882882020-09-18T14:59:00.003-05:002020-09-18T16:03:05.221-05:00<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"> <span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: xxx-large;">Gods in Darkness</span></span></p><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><p align="CENTER">A Glossary of the Deities and Demonlords of Kane's World</p><p align="center"><img height="1" src="http://home.mchsi.com/~moonblossom/Pix/BAR2.gif" width="600" /></p><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><b></b><p align="CENTER"><b>In their castle beyond the night,<br />In the dungeon's evil light,<br />Gather the Gods while even fades,<br />And Darkness weaves with many shades...</b></p><p align="center"><img height="1" src="http://home.mchsi.com/~moonblossom/Pix/BAR2.gif" width="600" /></p></span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Demonlords</b>:---the Fallen, angels that rebelled against their Creator. The Demonlords are described as "dark creatures of blighted beauty - demons with leathery wings and beautiful faces". Kane calls them "the physical embodiment of a predatory, trans-dimensional force alien to this world". The inhabit a subterranean area of the Earth known as Hell. (<i>Undertow</i>, <i>Raven's Eyrie, Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>, <i>At First Just Ghostly</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Dualist Heresy</b>:---the great religious schism that tore the ancient Serranthonian Empire apart. The heresy was a result of the contention that Thoem and Vaul were dual expressions of the same deity. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>, <i>Dark Crusade</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>God</b>:---a Modern-day, good-aligned deity that Kane claims to have killed. He is presumably identical to Kane's creator-god. (<i>At First Just Ghostly</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Grey Lord</b>:---the most feared of the Nameless Seven. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Horment</b>:---a god of the northern Lartroxian continent, whose worship has spread as far south as the Thovnosian Empire. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Inglarn</b>:---the Solar god of the city of Andalar. Inglarn supposedly left a part of his fiery being within the rulers of Andalar. When they die they must be burnt to release the fire of Inglarn in order to be reborn in the Paradise of the Chosen. The worship of Inglarn ended with the destruction of Andalar by Kane. (<i>The Other One</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Lato</b>:---a god worshipped in the Thovnosian Empire. Priestesses administer his rites. Lato is another name for Lord Tloluvin. (<i>Raven's Eyrie</i>, <i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Ommen</b>:---a Fiery-bright Sun god worshipped in Wollendan and presumably Waldann. This god's power is at its lowest point at night. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Onthe</b>:---a good-aligned goddess worshipped in the southern realms of the Earth. (<i>Undertow</i>, <i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Sataki</b>:---a prehuman God of Darkness and the greatest of the Che'eyl'rhy, a race of alien predators that live in a parallel dimension to the Earth. Sacrifices were made to it through a gateway, the Altar of Ceddi in Ingoldi. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Satan</b>:---a Modern-day alias for Sathonys, the evil-aligned Demonlord. He is described as "a tall, dark man with a widow's peak and neatly trimmed black beard". (<i>At First Just Ghostly</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Sathonys</b>:---the true name of Lord Tloluvin. Sathonys is THE Demonlord, absolute ruler of the Seven Hells. He has various names, such as Lato, Tloluvin, and Satan. (<i>Raven's Eyrie, At First Just Ghostly</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Seven Nameless</b>:---also called "the Seven", a group of Elder proto-gods. Their realm is one of timeless chaos. None of these deities bears a name because to utter their true names will summon the god without the means to control it. Students are sworn to study one of "the Seven" for a space of 49 years. The most feared of "the Seven" is a deity called the Grey Lord. (<i>Lynortis Reprise</i>, <i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Shenan</b>:---an aboriginal Moon-goddess worshipped in the Southern Lands, whose worship eventually made it as far north as the Serranthonian Empire. The female clergy of Shenan practice human sacrifice. (<i>Bloodstone</i>, <i>The Dark Muse</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Temro</b>:---a deity, presumably worshipped on the Lartroxian continent. Nothing is known of this being. (<i>Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Thoem</b>:---also known as Thoem the Accursed. He is hard to define. While his priests believe him to be the paramount god of good, there are worshippers who claim that he is a bearded horned man who consorts with demons. His priests believe Thoem to be the One True God who cursed Kane to wander the Earth. Thoem is the main deity that Kane blasphemes when he curses. (<i>Bloodstone</i>, <i>The Dark Muse</i>, <i>Raven's Eyrie</i>, <i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>, <i>Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>, <i>Cold Light</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Thro'ellet</b>:---an evil winged Demonlord with seven eyes. (<i>The Dark Muse</i>, <i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>, <i>Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Tloluvin</b>:---a tall, thin winged Demonlord, with onyx-taloned hands and red eyes that glow like stars. He is the ruler of the Seven Hells and makes his abode in the lowest part of the Seventh Hell. He was damned three times. Once a year, on the red moon of autumn, Lord Tloluvin and his black hound Serberys are able to hunt the Myceum Mountains for souls to take to Hell. This evil Demonlord is also worshipped as Lato, but his actual name is Sathonys. (<i>Raven's Eyrie</i>, <i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>, <i>Cold Light</i>, <i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Vaul</b>:---the Warrior-god worshipped by the northern barbarian tribes of the Great Northern Continent. He has a somewhat cold and prosaic nature. (<i>Undertow</i>, <i>The Dark Muse</i>, <i>Raven's Eyrie</i>, <i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>, <i>Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>, <i>Dark Crusade</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Volutio</b>:---a Demonlord that controls a pack (of hellhounds?). Nothing else is known about this being. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"></p><b></b><p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Yslsl</b>:---a forgotten prehuman God of Darkness and one of the Che'eyl'rhy, a race of alien predators. Sacrifices were made to it on a black sunburst stone atop the Towers of Yslsl. The demon-wizard made its lair on an interdimensional corridor that linked it to the gateways at these towers. One of the two towers was located in Ingoldi, the other on the opposite side of the world. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</p><p align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p><p align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;">The people and places in the Kane Saga are copyrighted by Karl Edward Wagner</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;">Page Copyright 2003-2020 Dale Rippke</span></div><p align="JUSTIFY"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;">All rights reserved</span> </div></span></span>Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-46885426458228314322020-09-18T14:48:00.005-05:002020-09-18T15:59:57.092-05:00<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; text-align: start;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Where Old Gods Laugh and Giants Die</span></strong><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: x-large;">Several maps showing the barbaric world of Karl Wagner's Kane.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-large; text-align: start;"><span class="style1" style="color: #990000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: x-large; text-align: start;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3O3ui06KOCPWWGON7c6_YY3UOcCuD-JR18xRwkg_JxFswbvDjAVa3ZIh0-p7HiYILnLYeDOvJRwFKfh7U-fhyphenhyphenK1O3vDpmTI2D7q1hHLNRQaHUqUhhQaJ6HV0UdywtoOyNBbjBxyqwr3D/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="36" data-original-width="170" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3O3ui06KOCPWWGON7c6_YY3UOcCuD-JR18xRwkg_JxFswbvDjAVa3ZIh0-p7HiYILnLYeDOvJRwFKfh7U-fhyphenhyphenK1O3vDpmTI2D7q1hHLNRQaHUqUhhQaJ6HV0UdywtoOyNBbjBxyqwr3D/" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Night Shade Map</b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: x-large;"><u><span style="color: #990000;">Kane's World</span></u></b></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5d-FVB6gpwGKBJuUfvWSTuDc5CGLbIg0vn9lP3I5D0eCszaWBueWyPVZ5zLPF7984NsXtmpfkoK-5OWaj-Rw7CW7kLiFLPsfeuM_4zfsewaap8pX3M8o_7vtBXsb29EZN7xElOOMRTrAP/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #990000;"><img alt="" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5d-FVB6gpwGKBJuUfvWSTuDc5CGLbIg0vn9lP3I5D0eCszaWBueWyPVZ5zLPF7984NsXtmpfkoK-5OWaj-Rw7CW7kLiFLPsfeuM_4zfsewaap8pX3M8o_7vtBXsb29EZN7xElOOMRTrAP/" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: large; text-align: left;">Map drawn by Snow</span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p align="center" class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">Based on a map prepared by Dale Rippke</span></p><p align="center"><span class="style1" style="color: #990000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: medium;">This map was originally presented in the Night Shade edition of<br /><b>Gods in Darkness</b></span></p><p align="center"><span class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #990000;"></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhto99kW3yrO1nPoW6eJNT91grhQ5Pwiwu6hQX4NIt4xxJ_KHH6vl6KwMq23qZTJyJFMXO6PQFGSxO_NbslN6HaoQ4Zy5-ZUvAe1EGN-pAEm0Rlkxgrg_IBWpIfPs4NuzJjhz7q5SPDW9rZ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="36" data-original-width="170" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhto99kW3yrO1nPoW6eJNT91grhQ5Pwiwu6hQX4NIt4xxJ_KHH6vl6KwMq23qZTJyJFMXO6PQFGSxO_NbslN6HaoQ4Zy5-ZUvAe1EGN-pAEm0Rlkxgrg_IBWpIfPs4NuzJjhz7q5SPDW9rZ/" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><b>Kane's World</b></span></span></div><p></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><u>The Western Reaches</u></span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">A map showing the Western Lands of Kane's World.</span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqAuwP9Zk09H0s3hc6s5qIHgE9WE-PrpBvaxx4g1CniGTf69PqkVpjiLlESvQFzBxX7YadBczhxCcVxSQS_1n2JUSlbwBiIiQpBG1K0d-JHGHyeDcUNvQbHaTd14zaPGI11o_2efHIPESZ/" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #990000;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="796" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqAuwP9Zk09H0s3hc6s5qIHgE9WE-PrpBvaxx4g1CniGTf69PqkVpjiLlESvQFzBxX7YadBczhxCcVxSQS_1n2JUSlbwBiIiQpBG1K0d-JHGHyeDcUNvQbHaTd14zaPGI11o_2efHIPESZ/" width="182" /></span></a></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><b><u>The Eastern Reaches</u></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">A map showing the Eastern Lands of Kane's World.</span></b></p><p align="center" class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw07dl4QabdI0ftDMJB6HaaQ7jHtndjHpHQ9DtogS-llszD58-JnaZxzDVJneDsdh1hrJvUg4E-xMuJWbNa19VOySgXBisickBPSdMIQNTJM8Fxyg79hpmyISJlKvV2Q330h1N5t2t5LQf/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #990000;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="801" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw07dl4QabdI0ftDMJB6HaaQ7jHtndjHpHQ9DtogS-llszD58-JnaZxzDVJneDsdh1hrJvUg4E-xMuJWbNa19VOySgXBisickBPSdMIQNTJM8Fxyg79hpmyISJlKvV2Q330h1N5t2t5LQf/" width="184" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">Maps created and prepared by Dale Rippke</span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">These maps originally appeared in REHUPA #167</span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">When I created these maps, I attempted to incorporate the Bill Hughes map below as I didn't find any insurmountable inconsistencies between it and the texts .</span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">These maps are conjectural and should in no way be construed as being official, but they are probably the most accurate maps that have been produced up to this date. The subject of the maps cover about two thousand years of history and are designed to primarily impart a sense of location.</span></p></div><p></p><span style="color: #990000;"><!--more--></span><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0nD4Z_9Hf7tSQKr5EVJNdjPyoVSbUNd3iXxYXE-NibKWkNezkaoZiV50kBLJixTUOFXGPMHaALzIpfc01jRv8oyBvIsXU9ldHYR5ypSjhZOvSAW0K-Vbgw4KUHfOmrIuzDCnAQ3apbMVF/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="36" data-original-width="170" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0nD4Z_9Hf7tSQKr5EVJNdjPyoVSbUNd3iXxYXE-NibKWkNezkaoZiV50kBLJixTUOFXGPMHaALzIpfc01jRv8oyBvIsXU9ldHYR5ypSjhZOvSAW0K-Vbgw4KUHfOmrIuzDCnAQ3apbMVF/" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Beyond the Middle Sea </span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><b style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="color: #990000;">The Thovnosian Empire and Lartroxian Combine</span></u></b></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Db-SsN1tR1ADE54kbhftwuCig81TWguiPHVHNCVXuqVDbLAZrC-O1beBP3UYxvt5OJIOYHDFZ4Fg_sMSpwnrfqnH4a4Hq3hyoeRkrFDRgCHQQmTczYi9gJnX-N6nUpgiVvBuqlc2QcfJ/" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #990000;"><img alt="" data-original-height="759" data-original-width="448" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Db-SsN1tR1ADE54kbhftwuCig81TWguiPHVHNCVXuqVDbLAZrC-O1beBP3UYxvt5OJIOYHDFZ4Fg_sMSpwnrfqnH4a4Hq3hyoeRkrFDRgCHQQmTczYi9gJnX-N6nUpgiVvBuqlc2QcfJ/" width="142" /></span></a></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">Map drawn by Bill Hughes</span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This map was originally presented on the back cover of</span><b style="font-size: x-large;"> </b></span></p><p align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="font-size: large;">Darkness Weaves with Many Shades.</b><span style="font-size: medium;"><img class="style1" height="1" src="http://home.mchsi.com/~moonblossom/Pix/BAR2.gif" width="600" /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #990000;"></span></span></p><!--more--><span class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;">The people and places in the Kane Saga are copyrighted by Karl Edward Wagner</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;">Page Copyright 2003-2020 Dale Rippke</span></div></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: medium;">All rights reserved</span> </div></span></span></span><p></p></div><p align="center" class="style1"></p><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p></div><p align="center" class="style1" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span></p></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span> </p>Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-68792876549989100722016-07-23T12:04:00.000-05:002016-07-23T16:15:37.645-05:00The Age of the Deathwalker<div align="center" style="color: red;">
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<strong style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="color: blue;">A world age gazetteer of the races and places in the Drenai Saga.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Version 3.0</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><strong>Gazetteer compiled by </strong><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Dale E. Rippke</strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Adderbridge</b>:--a small village that lies to the south of the Drenai capital of Drenan. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Angostin</b>:--a northern nation of the Drenai continent. Angostin is a feudal empire wherein the noble houses continually vie for the crown. Assassination is the usual method of changing the nation's emperor. The Emperor will only hold power as long as his strength and guile hold out. The people of Angostin are descended from the same root race as the Drenai and share a similar language. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ax Ridge</b>:--a feature of the western Skeln Mountains (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Azhtac</b>:--a race of tall, bronze-skin men with straight black hair that live in a hot, humid jungle world that lies beyond the Gateway. The Azhtacs hated the Tattooed People to the point they eventually exterminated them. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Bel-azar</b>:--a fortress of northern Gothir. Located about sixty miles east of New Gulgothir, Bel-azar is the site of the only battle Tenaka Khan ever lost in his bid to conquer the world. After his death, the bones of Tenaka Khan were secretly hidden here. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Blood Mountains</b>:--a mountain range lying in the nation of Pelucid, on its border with Tantria. The mountains were composed of an iron-rich reddish stone, hence the name. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Blood River</b>:--a Chiatze watercourse. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Bodacus</b>:--a Gothir city, built of stone, that lay by the western sea. It lies far (24 days travel) to the west of Gulgothir. It is the site of the Bodacus Military Academy. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Cadia</b>:--a nation of the Ventrian continent. It lies to the south, beyond the Great River and Ventria proper. Cadia has a varied assortment of terrain features. There are deserts and mountains near the Ventrian border, and beyond that lies jungles and rivers teeming with crocodiles. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Capalis</b>:--a Ventrian seaport. It is a city of four gates, sixteen towers, and a single forty-foot high wall that extends from the sea in the south in a curving half-circle to the cliffs in the north. It lies west of the Ventrian cities of Larian and Ectanis. There is a mountain range lying to the east of the city and the Ventrian Sea lies to the west. (<i>The Demon in the Axe, The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Caphis</b>:--a Ventrian seaport. It lies to the south of Morec and to the west of the Carpos Mountains. It is the closest Ventrian port to the Drenai seaport of Dros Purdol. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Captis</b>:--a Ventrian farming village that lies a days travel from the capital at Usa. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Carduil</b>--one of the easternmost peaks of the Skoda Mountains. It rises in the second ring of the Skoda stone rose. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Carlis</b>:--a port city of eastern Kydor. The city is site of the Duke's winter palace. Another palace of note, the White Palace, contains one of the most complete libraries on the Drenai continent, as well as a museum and an infirmary. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Carlis, Bay of</b>:--a beautiful blue bay that lies at the eastern edge of the duchy of Kydor. The port city of Carlis lies on the bay. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Carpos Mountains</b>:--a large range of rough mountains, lying parallel to the coast of the Ventrian Sea in northern Ventria. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Carsis</b>:--a city of Naashan. Carsis was the site of the battle where Skilgannon captured the Usurper King, Bokram. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Castle Tenaka</b>:--see the entry for Dros Delnoch.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Castran</b>:--a Naashanite city. The city was near the site of one of the first battles in Naashan’s civil war. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Cepharis, Lake of</b>:--a body of water that lies on the Eiden Plain near the ruins of Kuan Hador in the duchy of Kydor. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Chasica Peak</b>:--the highest peak in the Delnoch mountains. The Sathuli use it as a lookout, so that nobody can enter the mountains from the Sentran Plain without being observed. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Chiatze</b>:--a rich, proud northern nation, fabled to be home of the legendary dragons. It lies to the northeast of Gothir, north of Ventria, and in the vicinity of Kiatze and Sechuin. The Chiatze are tall and slender, with golden skin, raven hair, and wide, almond-shaped eyes. They write in hieroglyphs. They are said to have a 10,000-year-old civilization. The foundation of Chiatze culture is the law governing the subjugation of self to the rigours of an iron etiquette. Intrigue and treachery were endemic to the Chiatze way of life, and among their nobility, loyalty always came at a price. Their method of warfare is apparently ritualistic. Many campaigns were conducted and won without bloodshed by armies maneuvering across battlefields until one side or the other conceded the advantage. The Chiatze fashion their buildings to have no angles. All the walls and even the doorways flow in perfect curves; ovals or circles, or circles upon ovals. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, Hero in the Shadows, The Demon in the Axe, Legend of Deathwalker, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Chien-Po</b>:--a city of the Chiatze nation. Oshikai Demon-bane razed it shortly before he fled over the mountains and founded the Nadir race. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Chu-Chien</b>:--a plain that lies on the outer marches of Chiatze. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Chupianin</b>:--a port-city of Lentria. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Citadel</b>:--an ancient Pelucid fortress placed to protect the crossroads of four major trade roads. The crumbling keep has been abandoned for several decades and is only used by brigands. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Corialis</b>:--a frontier town, presumably Vagrian. (<i>Birth of a Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Corn Road</b>:--a tail that leads from Kasyra on the Sentran Plain to the Drenai capital of Drenan. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Corteswain</b>:-- see the entry for Dros Corteswain.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Crescent, The</b>:--an area of farms and towns that lies to the south of Carlis in the duchy of Kydor. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Datia</b>:--a nation of the East. It is usually a vassal state of one of its large southern neighbors, Ventria or Naashan. Datia is renowned for the quality of its female slaves. (<i>The Demon in the Axe, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Delian, Forest of</b>:--woodland lying east of the city of Naashan. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Delnoch</b>:-- see the entry for Dros Delnoch.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Delnoch Mountains</b>:--the gray-blue mountain range that marks the northern border of Drenai lands. The highest part of the range appears to lie between Dros Delnoch and Dros Corteswain. The western portion of the range does not lie far from the sea. The mountains are claimed to belong to the Sathuli tribesmen. The echo-haunted canyons of the Delnoch range are home to bears, wolves, and mountain lions. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, Birth of a Legend, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Delnoch Pass</b>:--the main route through the Delnoch Mountains. It connects the Sentran Plains with the Nadir Steppes to the north. The northern part of the pass slopes downward for over a mile in a series of treacherous scree-covered ledges. The fortress of Dros Delnoch is built at the top, across the pass. (<i>Waylander</i>, <i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Delving Forest</b>:--a woodland area that lies southwest of Drenan. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Demon Smile Valley</b>:--the lower of the two eastern entry points into the Skoda Mountain range. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Dospilis</b>:--a nation of the East. It is bordered by Sherak to the north, Tantria to the west, Naashan to the south, and Datia to the east. Dospilis is a cultured land, though usually subservient to either Ventria or Naashan, depending on which empire is currently ascendant. (<i>Birth of a Legend, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Drenai</b>:--also called Drenan, the nation is the primary setting of the Drenai Saga. It lies on the southern end of its continent, with the nation of Vagria lying to the west across the Skoda Mountains and the peninsular land of Lentria lying to the southeast across an unnamed mountain range. East of the nation lies the vast Ventrian Sea. The land of Drenai is cut into two regions separated by the western portion of the Skeln mountain range. The southern part of Drenai is described as cut by eastern valleys; the northern part is comprised of the vast Sentran Plain, Skultik Forest, and the mountains of Delnoch. The people of Drenai have no distinguishing racial characteristic, other than their language. They tend to be a tall, white-skinned race, with dark hair predominating in the southern portions tending toward blondness the further north one travels. The people of Drenai are descended from the same root race as the Angostin Empire and share a similar language.They are viewed as being arrogant, and they tend to believe that the races of the nations around them are their inferiors. The nation of Drenai was founded by a race of warlike nomads with the founding of the capital at Drenan. The nation gradually expanded by conquering older, decaying nations. The conquered people became more prosperous and welcomed the rule of Drenai Law. The Drenai built schools, hospitals, roads, and encouraged trade with the kingdoms beyond its borders. The nation was nearly destroyed and absorbed into Vagria during the Chaos Wars, but was saved at the last hour by General Egel. Slightly over seven hundred years after its founding, the nation of Drenai was conquered by the Nadir hordes led by Tenaka Khan. A century later Drenai had freed itself from foreign control, and under the leadership of King Skanda, proceeded to conquer most of the world. (<i>Waylander, In the Realm of the Wolf, Hero in the Shadows, Birth of a Legend, Legend of Deathwalker, Druss the Legend, Legend</i>, <i>The King Beyond the Gate, Quest For Lost Heroes, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Drenan</b>:--the vast, white, capital city of the nation of Drenai. It appears to be either on a seacoast or a navigable river, since Vagrian ships trade there. The city is built on a cluster of at least six hills. East of the city lie a mountain range of blue peaks. Drenan is a pleasant city with many libraries. Drenan's gates were sundered during the First Vagrian War and all it's remaining inhabitants killed and buried in a mass grave east of the city. The city was rebuilt and became the greatest city of the realm. (<i>Waylander, Birth of a Legend, Druss the Legend, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Drinn River</b>:--a watercourse that drains the interior of Drenai. The estuary of the river lies in Lentria, two days hard ride from Graven Forest. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Dros Corteswain</b>:--a Drenai fortress that nestles in the shadows of the western Delnoch Mountains, near the borders of the lands claimed by the Sathuli tribesmen and the nation of Vagria. Early in the history of the Drenai, Orien of the Two Blades won a battle here. Presumably destroyed during the First Vagrian War, it was built up in the days of Egel, the First Earl of Bronze, as a defense against Vagrian invasion. Shortly before the First Nadir War, the Dros became the centerpoint of a series of Sathuli skirmishes that quickly ignited into a border war. The war ended when Gan Hogun routed the Sathuli at Corteswain. The fortress and the town that sprang up around it had been deserted more than 40 years, by the time of the Ceska Wars. Two hundred years later, Corteswain is once again inhabited, as a Docian monastery is now located there. Tenaka Khan once claimed that Dros Corteswain was the only Drenai fortress to not see a battle during its history, although this is certainly untrue. An interesting feature of the Dros is Egel's Stone. It was placed by the gate and it says that the Drenai Empire will fall when Corteswain is manned no more. Egel was certainly prescient, as the nation of Drenai fell to Tenaka Khan's Nadir ten years after the last soldier manning the fort died. <i>Legend</i> erroneously states that Dros Corteswain lies in the Delnoch Mountains to the east of Dros Delnoch. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, The Demon in the Axe, Legend</i>, <i>The King Beyond the Gate, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Dros Delnoch</b>:--the mightiest fortress in the world lies atop the Delnoch Mountains and sits astride the only trade route between the northlands and the vast Sentran Plain to the south. The fort completely spans the Delnoch Pass and surrounds the northern Drenai town of Delnoch. Egel, the first Earl of Bronze built Dros Delnoch, after he had a future vision of Nadir hordes besieging the town. "Egel's Folly" is famed for its six great walls, built by twenty thousand laborers, a thousand stonemasons, fifty architects, and hundreds of carpenters. Each wall carries a different name; Wall One is Eldibar (exultation), Two is Musif (despair), Three is Kania (renewed hope), Four is Sumitos (desperation), Five is Valteri (serenity), and the Sixth and last wall is Geddon (death). The walls are sixty feet high, twenty feet thick, with jutting towers every fifty paces. Each wall has a gate set behind an iron portcullis, and is built of layered bronze, iron, and oak. Beyond each gate are tunnels that narrow at the center before opening out into the level between the walls. Dros Delnoch was attacked shortly after its construction, presumably by the forces of Gothir. Its most legendary moment came over a hundred years later when Nadir forces under Ulric barely failed to take it. Tenaka Khan, a descendant of the Earl of Bronze and Ulric, conquered the fortress a century later and renamed it Castle Tenaka. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, Legend of Deathwalker, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate, Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Dros Purdol</b>:--the Drenai "City by the Sea". Purdol is a Drenai port-fortress that lies at the foot of the eastern Delnoch Mountains. The city has silver-gray towers and a palace. The city's keep juts from the gray granite mountain like a broken tooth. Dros Purdol's most famous moment came during its siege by the armed forces of Vagria. Karnak One-Eye led the defenders of Purdol until the Drenai army under Egel relieved him and successfully broke the siege. Several years later the Ventrians attempted to attack Purdol, but were turned away by Drenai forces. Centuries later Ventria again besieged the Drenai at Purdol, but were ultimately defeated by King Skanda. "<i>Legend</i>" states at various times that Dros Purdol lies to the east AND to the west of Dros Delnoch. The other books of the saga place Delnoch firmly in the east. (<i>Waylander, The Demon in the Axe, Legend, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Dros Segril</b>:--a Vagrian fortress-city lying eighty miles west of Dros Delnoch, on the border of Drenai territory. Serbitar of the Thirty was born there. Originally the Vagrian citadel of Segril, Dros Segril was presumably conquered, occupied, and renamed by the Drenai in the aftermath of the first Vagrian War. The Vagrians later regained control of it, presumably during the third Vagrian War. (<i>Waylander</i>, <i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Druss, Shrine of</b>:--lies on the plain north of Dros Delnoch, presumably near the site of Druss's funeral pyre. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Earis, River</b>:--a watercourse that drains the interior of Drenai. Its source is in the Skeln Mountains, and its estuary is on the Ventrian Sea. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ectanis</b>:--a Ventrian city, it lies east of Capalis. (<i>The Demon in the Axe, The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Eiden Plains</b>:--a grassland that lies to the west of the city of Carlis in Kydor. The ruins of Kuan Hador can be found there. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ekarlas</b>:--a Drenai village located on the southern edge of the Delnoch range. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Elder Race</b>:--also called the Elders and the Ancients. They were the race that ruled the earth in the world-age prior to the Fall. They knew everything and understood nothing. And they were destroyed for it. It was known to the Source priesthood that one of the Elder's religions offered strong men a hall of heroes, where warrior maidens sand songs of the deeds of the brave. Another promised peaceful paradise and an eternity of song and praise. Everything else known of the Elders speaks of corruption, lust, greed, fear, and hatred, enormous evil and terrible weapons. They raped the land and lived like kings while fouling the rivers and lakes, the forests - even the air they breathed. In their final days they created a technology that could meld and manipulate flesh. They use it to make half men/beasts called Joinings to fight their wars, creating areas of great desolation where once were mighty cities. Due to the nuclear winter caused by the presumed nuclear war, the ice at the poles began to expand rapidly, causing the earth to begin to wobble. The wobble alerted the Elders that a catastrophe was about to occur, and they attempted to prepare for it, leaving clues about themselves for future generations. Centrifugal forces caused the ice on the poles to begin migrating towards the equator; the world tipped, the oceans rose up and covered the land, and the ice spread to cover entire continents. The oceans drank the Elder's cities and their culture was all but lost. That is the Fall and is what destroyed the Elders. (<i>Waylander, In the Realm of the Wolf, Hero in the Shadows, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Erekban</b>:--a Drenai seaport, presumably located near the estuary of the River Earis. The city is the garrison for a company of infantry. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Estri</b>:--a small Drenai village lying east of the town of Skarta in the Skultik Forest. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Five Rise Mountain</b>:--a peak that lies to the east of the Drenai capital of Drenan. It is part of an unnamed range of blue mountains. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Fort Town</b>:--a stockade walled town of the Nadir that lies three weeks journey to the south of Gothir across the Mountains of the Moon and sixty days journey from Ulrickham. The town is the marketplace for the many slaves taken in raids by the Nadren. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Free Trading Ports</b>:--a number of havens of the Corsair-Lords lie amid the Thousand Islands of the Ventrian Sea. (<i>Birth of a Legend, The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Gassima</b>:--a Gothir city, and the site of a battle in one of Gothir's many civil wars. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Gathere</b>:--a Drenai village lying high in the Skoda Mountains. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Gateway</b>:--also called the Shrieking Gate, it is the entrance to either another world, or perhaps this world in a different time. Through the Gateway leads to the land of the Tattooed People, where it is hot and the beasts eat human flesh. One legend claims that the Tattooed People used sorcery to open a doorway between worlds, allowing them an escape route to a land of riches and plenty. Another maintained that the Gateway had been there from before the days of the ice fall, the last remnant of a once-proud civilization, and beyond it lay a mountain of gold. Twenty years prior to the story, a nobleman named Carsis led a small force into the valley; their shrunken heads were left on spears at the entrance. For ten years whenever a traveller would pass by, the heads would shriek warnings. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ginava</b>:--a city lying near the foothills of a northern mountain range in Drenan. Nogusta used to have an estate there. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Gothir</b>:--the great northern nation that lies to the north of Drenai and Vagria, to the west of Ventria, and southwest of Chiatze. For nearly its first seven hundred years, the nation of Gothir stretched from north of the Mountains of the Moon south across the Nadir Steppes and the Delnoch Mountains and into the Sentran plains. Its western edge was the ocean; its eastern edge was the desert of Namib. Shortly thereafter the expanding nation of Drenai defeated the Gothir and forced them off the Sentran Plains and north across the Delnoch Mountains. The average Gothir tends to be slender, with pale skin, blonde or light brown hair, and cold blue eyes. They worship a variety of gods, the most popular being Missael, the God of War. Originally a peaceful people living in the lush lands south of the Mountains of the Moon, the arrival of Oshikai Demon-Bane's Nadir changed them forever. After Oshikai's death the Nadir subjugated the peaceful southerners, raiding their villages, taking their women, and sowing the seeds of hatred for a millennia. The southerners fought back, becoming more organized. About the time the Nadir splintered into many tribes, the southerners became the nation of Gothir, founding their capital at Gulgothir. Their remembrances of past iniquities made them hate the Nadir, visiting upon them the terror of the killing raids. The Gothir used the Nadir race as a pool to draw slaves from for the gold mines scattered across the northern mountains and as prey in hunts arranged by Gothir nobles. For centuries the Gothir kings held the Nadir in thrall, sure in the knowledge that the Nadir hated each other more than they detested the Gothir. Then Ulric came, uniting the Nadir into an army numbering hundreds of thousands of fierce-eyed warriors. The Gothir empire was crushed, its king slain. Refugees of the Gothir lands fled northwest across the Mountains of the Moon to build a new home and capital at New Gulgothir. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, The Demon in the Axe, Legend of Deathwalker, Legend, Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Graven Forest</b>:--an unhealthy forestland that lies in the southern part of Drenai, between Drenan and the border of Lentria. The vast forest is a place of evil legends, inhabited by cutthroats and brigands. It is five days ride to cross the tangled woodland. In the time of "Legend", a monastery founded by a group of Source warrior-priests called "The Thirty" was located on its southern margin. A hidden doorway beneath the forest opens into an ancient center of the "Elders", where machinery discovered there allowed Ceska to create the half-human/half-beast hybrids known as "Joinings". A mountain range lies to the east of the woodland. (<i>Legend, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Great River (Chiatze)</b>:--a major Chiatze watercourse. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Great River (Ventria/Cadia)</b>:--a watercourse that lies between Ventria and the nation of Cadia. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Guanador</b>:--a corruption of the name Kuan Hador, used by some of the people of Kydor. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Gulgothir</b>:--capital city of the Gothir nation. It lies 600 miles north of the Drenai capital of Drenan. At its height the city was a marvel of architecture. In the western part of the city was located the Palace of the God-King, a colossal edifice of white marble adorned with gold leaf, and surrounded by ornate gardens. It boasted the Great Arena, an amphitheater that could hold 15,000 people. Several miles northwest of the amphitheater lay the Hall of Antiquities. At the center of the city lay the Grand Park, with its hills and fountains. Immediately to its north lie a massive stadium used for chariot races. South of the park lay the center of Old Gulgothir, with its tightly packed jumble of houses, shops and workplaces. The old Keep Palace sat at the center of Old Gulgothir, being used as a granary. The Nadir warlord Ulric devastated the city after it refused to surrender, when he sacked the nations of the northern plains. (<i>Waylander, In the Realm of the Wolf, The Demon in the Axe, Legend of Deathwalker, Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Gulgothir Plain</b>:--the flat meadowlands surrounding the Gothir capital of Gulgothir. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Gurunur</b>:--a northern city of the Ventrian Empire. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Hao-tzing</b>:--the Supreme City, capital of the eastern nation of Kiatze. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Hargate</b>:--a Drenai fortress-town that lie in the western Skoda Mountains. Even though it was captured during the First Vagrian War, Hargate is famed as the first "victory" attributed to Karnak. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>High Valley</b>:--a wooded vale nestled high up in the Mountains of the Moon, lying to the south of Talgithir. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Hill of the Men of Clay</b>:--located in Kydor, the hill's interior is a vast domed hall that contains several hundred full-sized clay figures, each a <i>Riaj-nor</i> swordsman. The swordsmen are held in stasis, awaiting the time that the sorcerers of Kuan Hador return to the earth. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Hunting Woods</b>:--A woodland area near the northern Gothir city of Talgithir. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ice Mountains</b>:--a frozen, high mountain range that lies to the west of the nation of Chiatze. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Illohir</b>:--also called the "Windborn" are spirits of the air. They existed on the earth during what they termed as the Days of Ice and Fire, when ice encrusted the lands and volcanoes spewed ash into the skies. Around 5000 years prior to <i>Winter Warriors</i>, two Illohir deities decided to cast a spell that enabled the air-spirits to take on a physical form and interact with the inhabitants of the earth. Some Illohir landed in forest and became Dryads and wood nymphs, drawing their strength from the trees. Others drew strength from rocks and mountains; these were the High Trolls. Those appearing near living creatures became Shape-Shifters and were-beings. Those that landed in unclean places, such as graveyards and battlefields became blood-drinking vampires or Krayakin warriors, respectively. Regardless of what form the Illohir took, they could not take nourishment like the rest of the earth's creatures. They were forced instead to feed on the dark emotional energies and the life force of the earth's inhabitants. The humans began to regard them as demons and began a war with the Illohir that lasted for a thousand years. At the end of that time the Demon Wars began. This war was waged between two Demon-Lords, Emsharas and his brother, Anharat. Anharat desired the destruction of the human race; Emsharas set out to thwart him. At the Battle of the Four Valleys, Emsharas joined with the human armies of the Three Kings and the hosts of Kuan Hador, and defeated Anharat and dispelled his magic. The humans, with their enchanted Storm Swords and <i>Kriaz-nor</i> shock-troops, killed the Illohir by the thousands until only 200 Krayakin remained to flee the field. The days of Illohir dominance of the earth were over. In the weeks that followed, the remaining Krayakin were hunted down and killed, until only ten remained. Then Emsharas evoked the Great Spell, which resulted in the banishment of all the remaining creatures of the Illohir from the earth. (<i>Hero in the Shadows, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Isbas</b>:--a large Ventrian city that lies on the eastern end of the spice routes to and from the western nations. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Jian Sea</b>:--a body of water that lies near the northern nation of Chiatze. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Jiang-shin</b>:--the "Mother of Mountains" is located near the northern land of Chiatze, possibly in the Ice Mountains. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kall's Pool</b>:--an oasis and the only source of water two days ride east of Gulgothir. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kar-Barzac</b>:--once a great center of the Elder Race, the ancient fortress lies within the Mountains of the Moon, seven days ride west of Gulgothir. The citadel has four twisted, leaning turrets and a portcullis gate set in an uneven wall. Ten millennia ago Kar-Barzac was a place of miracles. The secret was contained inside a giant crystal encased in gold shielding. The Elders learned how to merge flesh. People could regrow lost limbs and organs riddled with cancer could be replaced without the use of a knife. Bodies could be regenerated, rejuvenated. At this place lay the secret of immortality. It all came to an end with the Fall. Kar-Barzac fell into ruin, the magic locked inside the crystal for millennia. Fifty years ago, adventurers looted the ruins, removing the gold shielding the crystal. The magic of the Elders was still alive at Kar-Barzac, and radiated out into the valley beyond. Now nothing can live in the valley without being corrupted and twisted out of shape; there are deformed trees, carnivorous goats and fanged rabbits. East of Kar-Barzac lies a collapsed volcanic crater where the Nadir Wolfshead tribe camp for the winter. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Karnak</b>:--a Drenai city with tall white spires that lies on the Sentran Plain, six day's walk south of Sousa. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kasyra</b>:--a large Drenai city of high towers that lies on the southeastern edge of the Sentran Plain near the Skeln Mountains. The city is a gathering point for the crops grown on the Plain, sending wagonloads of grain south to Drenan. A Priest's School is located in the city. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kiatze</b>:--an eastern land, known by its inhabitants as the "Middle Kingdom". Kiatze lies far to the east of the Nadir Steppes and can be most easily reach by ship. Its capital is the Supreme City of Hao-tzing. They are ruled by a Supreme Emperor that they consider to be divine. The Kiatze people are closely related to the Chiatze and Nadir races. They have developed elaborate rituals for nearly every public occasion and can communicate in a very intricate type of sign language. They are renowned for their cynicism. The warriors of the Kiatze wear lacquered leather armor and carry a unique type of curved double-handed sword called a <i>chantanai</i>. Their court magicians can make tiny golden machines that fly in the air, imitating birds. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kishtay Pass</b>:--a Ventrian mountain pass held by Druss and fifty other men against a full legion of Naashinite troops. (<i>The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kolear</b>:--a tribe of northeastern Naashan, related to the Nadir and the Chiatze. They believe that small furry mammals called marmots contains the souls of Kolear wise men. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kuan, Temple of</b>:--the massive temple of Ustarte the Healer lies in the Blood Mountains of Pelucid. It is protected by spells and can only be seen when the moon is directly overhead. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kuan Hador</b>:--one of the first city-states to arise after the "Fall", Kuan Hador was a city of mighty sorcerers. At its height over 200,000 people lived there. During the "Demon War" between Anharat and Emsharas, the city saw much horror and devastation. Emsharas aided the city by giving its lords the most arcane secrets of "meld magic". The ability to meld beasts and men into proved to be too much for the demonic forces of Anharat and they were expelled from the world. Kuan Hador was victorious, and its age of great enlightenment began. For a little while the world knew peace and tranquillity under the city's benevolent rule, but eventually the city began to ask for more and more support from its client nations. If one of these nations refused, Kuan Hador would send its <i>Kraiz-nor </i>(meld-legions) and have the nation plundered of its wealth. Benevolence rapidly became tyranny. Nations that rose against them were crushed for their treachery. It was in this way that the "Great War" began. Kuan Hador prevailed for a time, but the city-state could not muster the resources that the rebel nations had at their disposal. With help from the descendants of Emsharas, the rebels created their own legions--the <i>Raj-nor</i> and their swords of power. The "Great War" ended when the human army forced the surviving sorcerers and their half-human slaves to retreat through a magical gateway into another world. The city was destroyed by fire and the magical portal was sealed with a powerful enchantment that prevented the enemy from ever returning. The remains of the city fell to ruin and the dark mystery of Kuan Hador passed into legend. The ruins can be found lying on the Eiden Plains of Kydor. Legends claim that the portal spell will fade with the passage of time and that the world has not seen the last of Kuan Hador. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Kydor</b>:--although referred to as a land, Kydor is a separate duchy of the Angostin Empire and lies in the far northeastern part of the northern continent, 2000 miles from the nation of Gothir. The people of Kydor are offshoots of the Drenai and Angostin empires. While it is not stated what part Drenai took in the founding of Kydor, by the time of Waylander the duchy was firmly under Angostin rule. There are four major Angostin noble houses that vie for control of Kydor. They are House Bakard, House Kilraith, House Loras, and House Rishell. The name Kydor is thought to be a corruption of the name Kuan Hador, whose ruins lie in the land. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>The Lakes (of Naashan)</b>:--a beautiful area in the mountainous nation of Naashan where many of the nobles have built their estates. (<i>The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Lania</b>:--a northern town of the Ventrian Empire. It lies in a large valley that runs amid a mountain range. There is a small village that lies 4 days east of the town. (<i>The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Larian</b>:--a Ventrian city, it lies east of Capalis. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Larness</b>:--a beautiful Gothir city, its location is not known. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Lem</b>:--a city of the Ventrian Empire that lies 200 miles to the south of the capital of Usa. It was said to be one of the greatest cities ever built. At its height, the ancient city was "a jewel, shimmering in the night with a 100,000 lights. The city was built around the wealth of nearby silver mines. 200 years prior to WW the silver mines played out and by WW it was only a ghost-city of abandoned ruins and lost memories. There is a temple dedicated to Anharat, the Demon-Lord in the city. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Lentria</b>:--the southeasternmost nation on the western continent, the peninsular nation lies to the south and east of Drenai across an unnamed mountain range. Lentria lies to the east and north of Mashrapur. The land is also referred to as the Lentrian Horn. Lentria is renowned for making the best red wine in the world. Pilgrims visit it. Eskodas considered it to be a place of ghosts and legends. Two of the most famous generals in Drenai history were Lentrian; General Ironlatch and Magnus Woundweaver. (<i>Waylander, The Demon in the Axe, Legend of Deathwalker, Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Lentrum</b>:--a Drenai seaport, presumably located near Skeln Pass. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Lercis</b>:--a Ventrian town that lies on the River Mendea. There is a bridge crossing the river at Lercis. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Lincairn Pass</b>:--site of a battle located in some unnamed Gothir mountain range. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Lisaia, Forest of</b>:--a woodland area that lies in the foothills of the mountains south of the Ventrian capital of Usa. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Magadon</b>:--a high, eastern valley that accesses the center of the Skoda Mountain Range. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Manea</b>:--an eastern sea-kingdom. The kingdom surrendered to Ulric and its king became his vassal. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Maphistan</b>:--a Naashanite town that lies two hour’s walk east of the Capital. It is the site of a famous temple said to contain the Chest of Relics. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Marain</b>:--a small Ventrian town that lies between Lem and the Ventrian seaport of Morec. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Mashrapur</b>:--an independent city-state, renowned for its infamous slave markets, that lies to the south of Drenai, nestled between the nations of Lentria and Vagria. The city, a haven for thieves and smugglers, is ruled by an exiled Ventrian prince. (<i>Birth of a Legend, The Demon in the Axe, The King Beyond the Gate, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Masin</b>:--a Drenai town that lies on the Sentran Plain near the Vagrian border. A fortress, destroyed during the First Vagrian War, protected the town. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Masyn</b>:--the ducal capital of Kydor. The city is located across the mountains to the north of Carlis. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Matapesh</b>:--a land that lies far to the east of Naashan and north of the Opal Jungles. (<i>The Chaos Warrior, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Medrax Ford</b>:--a small Drenai town that lies to the south of Skeln Pass (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Mellicane</b>:--the capital and a port city of Tantria. It was here that the "Battle of the River" took place, when the Ventrian army lost to Drenai forces during a wintertime invasion at Mellicane. (<i>White Wolf, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Mendea, River</b>:--a watercourse that lies in the rough country between the Ventrian capital of Usa and the mountain range to the south. It is not fordable, and bridges cross it in only three places. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Middle Peaks</b>:--the highest part of the Mountains of the Moon. Raboas the Giant is presumably a part of the Middle Peaks. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Mithega</b>:--a series of caves that are the site of a Gothir leper colony. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Morec</b>:--a Ventrian seaport, it lies west of the capital of Usa on a bay in the Ventrian Sea. Bandits and rebel tribesmen constantly harassed merchants traveling to Morec. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Mountains of the Moon (Gothir)</b>:--a range of jagged blue mountains that bisect the Nadir Steppes. At the center of the range is the tallest peak called Raboas, lying some 200 miles west of Gulgothir. The Nadir believe that the mountains house the souls of all the Nadir, past and future. There are areas that they tend to avoid, believing them to be demon-haunted. The land around the mountains would make for good, rich farmlands, if the Nadir had been farmers instead of hunter/warriors. Snow leopards can be found in the range. (<i>Waylander, In the Realm of the Wolf, Legend of Deathwalker, The King Beyond the Gate, Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Mountains of the Moon (Opal)</b>:--a range of mountain highlands lying to the east of the jungles of Opal on the Ventrian continent. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Naashan (Capital)</b>:--the seat of Naashan's Empire is located in its mountainous highlands, far to the east of the Ventrian city of Resha. The realm’s inhabitants often choose to refer to it as simply “The Capital” in order to avoid confusion. (<i>The Chaos Warrior, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Naashan (Nation)</b>:--a mountainous eastern kingdom that lies along the Ventrian Sea. It lies to the north and east of Ventria. The nation is famed for the quality of its horses. Naashan has imperial ambitions, absorbing many of the smaller realms that lie adjacent to it. The road to empire was brought to a standstill with an unsuccessful invasion of Ventria. Thirteen years later, Naashan was in turn invaded and absorbed into the Greater Ventrian Empire after a two year war. Naashan once again became an independent nation at the death of the Ventrian emperor Gorben and the realm’s subsequent civil war. (<i>Birth of a Legend, The Demon in the Axe, The Chaos Warrior, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Nadir</b>:--a race of dour, nomadic tribal people inhabiting the steppes between the Mountains of the Moon and the Delnoch Mountains. The Nadir are described as swarthy-skinned, with high cheekbones, slanted eyes and midnight hair. Oldest of the tent-people were the Wolfshead tribe (they live to the west of Gulgothir). Other tribes are Green Steppe, Long Monkeys (deceased), Spears (a western tribe, they live to the south of the Wolfshead), Northern Grey, Green Monkeys (also called "Pack Rats", because at one time they were deprived of their ponies and forced to carry their possessions on their backs), Stone Tigers, Fast Ponies, Lone Wolves, Sky Riders, Curved Horns (who live in the vicinity of Oshikai's Shrine), Tall Spears, Grave Mountains, Soul Stealers, Doublehair (they live far to the northeast), and the outcasts called Notas (no tribe). A group of Notas called the Chop-Backs live in the area east of Gulgothir. The Nadir are a brutal people, as harsh and unyielding as the steppes on which they live. Their warriors wear lacquered breastplates and fur-trimmed helms; most carry two swords and an assortment of knives. The men treat their women with casual cruelty, although they rarely mistreat their children. Most die in early adulthood because they exist in an almost constant state of war with each other, and also because of being hunted for sport by Gothir noblemen. The Nadir have no rights under Gothir law. Their tongue is guttural, with many sounds created in the back of the throat. It is difficult for people of the southern nations to speak. The name "Nadir" in the language of Chiatze means "the Crossroads of Death". The Nadir race was founded by a Chiatze renegade named Oshikai Demon-Bane. He was a reckless man, given to great rages. It was he who led the rebel tribes from the lands of the Chiatze, and fought his way toward the lands to the south. When Oshikai and his armies reached these lush, southlands, they found a peaceful people living there. After Oshikai's death the tribes roamed free, warring against each other and subjugating the southern people, raiding their villages and taking their women. The southerners fought back, organizing into the nation of Gothir. For centuries the Gothir kings held the Nadir in thrall, sure in the knowledge that the Nadir hated each other more than they detested the Gothir. Then Ulric came, uniting the Nadir into an army numbering hundreds of thousands of fierce-eyed warriors. The Gothir Empire was crushed, its king slain. Ulric proceeded to try to conquer the world. He failed in his attempt, but his half-Nadir great-grandson, Tenaka Khan, finally succeeded in the subjugation of the western continent. The fate of the Nadir Empire has not yet been recorded. (<i>Waylander</i>, <i>In the Realm of the Wolf, Legend of Deathwalker, Druss the Legend, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate, Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Nadir Steppes</b>:--a desert wasteland that lies north of the Delnoch mountains, east of Gothir, and southwest of Chiatze. It is the homeland of a race of nomadic tribes called the Nadir. The Nadir steppes are beautiful in their starkness. Awesome mountains lie beneath a naked, burning sky, with endless prairies, hidden valleys, and deserts, where a man could ride for a year and never see another soul. (<i>The Legend of Deathwalker, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate, Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Nadren</b>:--outlaws of the Nadir Steppes, consisting of Nadir outcasts and renegades from other nations. They raid villages for slaves to sell to the Nadir slave-markets. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Namib</b>:--a small Gothir city lying across the Spice Route leading from the western nations to Ventria in the east. There are deep forests around the city. The city is famed for its marketplace. East of the city lies the great wasteland known as the Namib Desert. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Namib, Desert of</b>:--the great wasteland that separates Ventria from the lands of Gothir and Drenai in the west. While the southern part of the desert is mostly sandy and barren, the northern portion is a great salt waste. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>New Gulgothir</b>:-- this northern Gothir capital is located on the shore of the Western Sea, north of the city of Talgithir. The city was founded by refugees fleeing Ulric's destruction of Gulgothir and other Gothir cities. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Nicolan</b>:--a city that lies in the western reaches of the duchy of Kydor. It contains a Source monastery. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Nine Oaks</b>:--a small Gothir village. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Northern Sea</b>:--the ocean that lies to the north of the Nadir steppes. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Nusa</b>:--an early capital of Ventria. Nusa was glistening city of white marble built by the Ventrian God-King (Gorben's father) on a hill overlooking a verdant valley. It was the first city to fall in the Ventrian's war with the Naashanites. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Opal</b>:--a land of humid jungles lying south of the nations of Matapesh and Panthia. A huge mountain range lies between Opal and Ventria to the west. Southeast of the teeming jungles lies a fabled range called the Mountains of the Moon. A backwater, barbaric land, Opal is famed for its diamonds and other precious gems. (<i>Waylander</i>, <i>The Demon in the Axe, The Chaos Warrior, White Wolf, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Opal Creek</b>:--a watercourse that flows from the Delnoch mountains through Skultik Forest. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Opal Mountains</b>:--a high range that lies between the Ventrian Empire and the junglelands of Opal. The range is considered to be a rare and beautiful vista in the wintertime, as viewed from Ventria. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Oshikai's Shrine</b>:--the tomb of Oshikai Demon-bane. It is located in the Valley of Shul-sen's Tears, five days ride east-northeast of Gulgothir. Once a temple, the shrine is thought to be the oldest building in all the Gothir lands. It was at this place that Oshikai died after being mortally wounded in the Battle of the Five Armies. The Gothir built a white stone wall around the shrine and its three deep wells, turning it into a supply fortress; they later abandoned it. It is now a sacred holy site for the Nadir, and considered a great honour to be chosen to guard it. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ostry</b>:--a Drenai village that lies on the Sentran plain north of the Skoda Mountains. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Padia</b>:--a Drenai city, location of a garrison. It lies 4 days walk, two days ride north from the mountains of Skoda. (<i>Birth of a Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Panthia</b>:--a land lying east of Matapesh and north of Opal. This half-legendary land is thought to be poor and undeveloped by the nations of the West. Being the natural terminus of the trade-routes coming north out of Opal, Matapesh is actually one of the richest lands of the East. Its black-skinned warriors arm themselves with stabbing spears and wicker shields. (<i>Druss the Legend, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Parsha-noor</b>:--a city-state of 78,000 people located on another world that was conquered by the forces of Kuan Hador. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Parsitas Rocks</b>:--a towering cliff-face located in the mountains to the west of the city of Carlis in the duchy of Kydor. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Pashturan</b>:--a city of the nation of Naashan. It lies along a river. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Pechuin</b>:--a city of the Chiatze. It is famed for its fabulous White Palace. It is the place where Oshikai and Shul-sen were married. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Pelucid</b>:--a nation lying to the west of Tantria and Sherak. It is an arid land, lying between the mountains and an arm of the Ventrian Sea. Pelucid is an ancient realm, containing many mysteries and many perils. There are places where all the natural laws are twisted and bent. An Elder text, called the Pellucidian Chronicles was written there. In Druss’s time its mountains are reportedly haunted by a werebeast. (<i>Druss the Legend, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Penrac Bay</b>:--a location on the Ventrian Sea 5 days hard ride south of Skeln Pass. It lies 300 miles from Drenan and the countryside between the two is flat as a lake. (<i>Druss the Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Perapolis</b>:--a Naashanite city that lies to the southeast of the Ventrian capital of Usa. One of Naashan’s largest cities, the nation’s foreign embassies are located there. Perapolis was sacked and all the inhabitants killed during the Naashan Insurrection by Skilgannon the Damned. It is probably identical to the Naashanite city of Pieropolis. Three hundred years later, the city was part of Ventria. (<i>White Wolf, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Phocia</b>:--a black nation, lying near the lands of Opal in the eastern Ventrian continent. Its people are famed as seafarers. Nogusta's ancestors were from Phocia. (<i>White Wolf, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Pieropolis</b>:--a city of the country of Naashan. After its absorption into the Ventrian Empire, the city was presumably renamed Perapolis. (<i>The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Plettii</b>:--the site of a legendary battle in Drenai history. Apparently a warrior by the name of Nazredas made a mistake that cost him the battle. Its location is unknown. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Porchia</b>:--a city of the Ventrian Empire. A mountain range lies to the north of the city. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Preafa</b>:--a Drenai town located within Skultik Forest. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Purdol</b>:-- see the entry for Dros Purdol.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Purdol Pass</b>:--a pass through the Delnoch Mountains to the desert beyond. The pass runs to the east, along a cliff-path. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Pusha</b>:--a southern city of the Ventrian Empire. (<i>The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Qumtar</b>:--a city that lies on the southeastern border of Kydor. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Raboas</b>:--the tallest peak that lies at the center of the Mountains of the Moon, two hundred miles west of Gulgothir. The name Raboas means Sacred Giant in the Nadir tongue, and is one of their most holy places. Orien of the Two Blades hid the Armor of Bronze in the heart of the dark mountain. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Rank of Giants</b>:--a row of parallel mountain ranges separated by the Valley of the Tomb. They are located in Wolfshead's area of the Nadir steppes, and are presumably parts of the larger range known as the Mountains of the Moon. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Resha</b>:--a northern city of the Ventrian Empire. The city lies to the north of Capalis, near a lake. It is famed for its theatres, the arena, and the gardens. Resha lies to the east, across the mountains, from the town of Lania. (<i>The Demon in the Axe, The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Resurrectionists, Temple of the</b>:--a place that is reputed to be able to bring the dead back to life by using the “code of life” locked in bone and hair. Its location is unknown, although it’s thought to be deep within the Nadir steppes or beyond the old lands of Kydor. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ri-ashon</b>:--a city of the northern nation of Chiatze. The city is renowned for its temple where the famous <i>Rajnee</i> swords are forged. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Rostrias</b>:--the Nadir "River of the Dead". It flows from its source in the Mountains of the Moon and continues eastward to empty into the sea a hundred miles north of Purdol. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sardia</b>:--a Drenai city. There is a Source temple located there. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sathuli</b>:--a race of fiercely independent, semi-nomadic mountain and desert people that live primarily in the Delnoch Mountains. The men of the Sathuli tend to be swarthy, hawk-faced, and bearded, and prefer to wear white robes. Although they fight with tulwars, they are untutored in the skill of the sword, preferring the strength of number to wear down their foes. The Sathuli live their lives in isolation from the civilizations of both the Gothir and Drenai. They swear by the soul of their ancient prophet, Mehmet. Originally the Sathuli lived in the deserts of Ventria, but were persecuted for their religious beliefs, so they crossed the Ventrian Sea and settled in Delnoch. For many centuries the Sathuli have fought the Drenai over the rights to the Delnoch ranges. They claim them as their territory and have settlements in the foothills to the south of them. These villages are the bases for raids into the Sentran Plain. They have conducted raids on both Skarta and Corteswain. During the First Nadir war the Earl of Bronze gave the Delnoch mountains to the Sathuli in thanks for their aid. A century later Ceska revoked the original treaty and the skirmishes between the Sathuli and Drenai began anew. (<i>Waylander</i>, <i>In the Realm of the Wolf, Birth of a Legend, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sathuli</b>:--a city of a thousand white stone buildings filling the bowl of a hidden valley high in the heart of the Delnoch Mountains. The Palace of Sathuli is the only building higher than a single story. The city is difficult to reach; few Drenai have ever set foot in it. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Saurab Mountains</b>:--a lush, green range that lies in the Ventrian Empire. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sea of Souls</b>:--the great ocean of water that lies to the east of the Ventrian continent. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sealac Hollow</b>:--an area of the northern mountains of Drenan. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sechuin</b>:--a northern nation that lies near Chiatze lands. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Segril</b>:-- see the entry for Dros Segril.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Senac Pass</b>:--one of the high mountain passes that crosses the Delnoch Mountains. It is treacherous and seldom used by travelers. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sentran Plain</b>:--a thousand square miles of flat, rich grasslands that lies from between the Skoda/Skeln mountain range northward to Skultik Forest and the Delnoch Mountains. Nearly all the food for Drenan and a great amount of the food for Vagria are grown on farms on the plain. In the summer, the whole of the Sentran Plain is golden with corn. The plain is famed for its dairies. The plain has been the site of much warfare. Early in Drenai's history, Sentran was taken by force from the kingdom of Gothir. It was fought over by the Vagrians and later the Ventrians in the Chaos Wars. (<i>Waylander, Druss the Legend, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Shala Falls</b>:--a cataract of the Shala River in the northern mountains of Drenan. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Shala River</b>:--a watercourse that flows from high in the northern mountains of Drenan. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Shemak</b>:--an area lying near the Namib Desert and the Nadir Steppes. It is most likely a typo for Sherak, a country that lies in exactly the same place. Shemak is also the name of a Naashanite/Ventrian demon-god. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sherak</b>:--a kingdom of the East. An arid nation, most of its major cities lie in a strip along its northern sea-coast. Sherak is famed for its incense. (<i>Birth of a Legend, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Shul-sen's Tears, Valley of</b>:--a place in the Nadir steppe five days ride east-northeast of Gulgothir. The Shrine of Oshikai Demon-bane, a sacred site to the Nadir, is located there. It is at this place that Oshikai died of wounds received at the Battle of the Five Armies. His wife, Shul-sen was with him when he died, hence the name of the valley. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Siccus</b>:--a Gothir city, and site of the God-King's Winter Palace. It presumably lies in the southern regions of Gothir. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Skarta</b>:--a large Drenai town sprawled across a clearing between two hills in the southwest of Skultik Forest. The mostly single-story dwellings were made of white stone hewn from the Delnoch Mountains to the north. The town is built around an old fort villa that became Egel's headquarters during the First Vagrian War. Several years later, the priests of the Thirty built a monastery on one of the hills overlooking the town. (<i>Waylander, In the Realm of the Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Skathia</b>:--a nation that was conquered by King Skanda's army and absorbed into the Drenai empire. It lies to the west of Vagria. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Skeln Pass</b>:--this narrow mountain pass is considered to be the eastern gateway to the Sentran Plain. West of the pass lies a steep, rocky slope. The pass itself is nearly a mile long, narrowing in the center to only about 50 paces. Eastward from this point, the pass widens into a gently rolling slope that drops into a stream-fed valley that angles toward the sea. It ends at a bay on the Ventrian Sea some 3 miles away. Skeln Pass connects the city of Lentrum with the rest of the Drenai lands. The pass was held for a short time by a Ventrian invasion that was summarily repulsed by Karnak. The most famous event in the history of the pass came a century later when Druss and a couple of hundred Drenai soldiers kept an entire Ventrian army from gaining access to it and the plain beyond. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, Druss the Legend, White Wolf, Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Skeln Mountains</b>:--a range of gray granite mountains that lies six days hard ride east of the Skoda Mountains. These jagged peaks lie to the east of the Sentran Plain and run parallel to the Ventrian Sea. The mountains are lush, green, and are considered exceptionally beautiful. (<i>Druss the Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Skepthia</b>:--a Tantrian town. Skepthia lies in the southern foothills of a mountain range in eastern Tantria. It is famed for Cobalsin’s castle, which has been converted into a monastery. (<i>White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Skoda Mountains</b>:--the mountains where Druss makes his home, lies 6 days hard ride west of the Skeln peaks. The snow-covered peaks lies due south of the Sentran Plains, on the frontier with Vagria. For the most part, the glittering cities of the Drenai lie to the southeast of Skoda. The mountain range is somewhat circular, and from the air has the appearance of a stone rose. The outer ring of mountains conceals nine valleys large enough for an army to march, plus a score of other narrow passes. The second ring of mountains has only four main valleys, but three treacherous passes thread their way to the open pastures and woodlands beyond. At the center of the stone rose rise mountains bunched together with only two access points from the east: the valleys known as Tarsk and Magadon. There are peaks in Skoda which have never been climbed; they are bathed in mist for nine months of the year. The Skoda valley bottoms are good country, sheltered and peaceful. The ground is not as rich as the Sentran Plains, but when treated with care, the farms prosper and the cattle grow fat on the wild grasses of the timberland. Raiders, cattle thieves, slavers, robbers, and outlaws roam the mountains. The lands to the south and east of Skoda are considered to be more "civilized". The mountains are patrolled by one troop of Drenai cavalry. (<i>Waylander, Birth of a Legend, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Skultik Forest</b>:--a large tangled woodland that lies on the foothills to the south of the Delnoch Mountains. The forest is immense, thousands of square miles of trees, clearings, hills and valleys. In Karnak's time, only three towns had been built within the forest, Tonis, Preafa, and Skarta. It is only ten miles from the forest's northwestern edge to Dros Delnoch. The forest is a hiding place for outlaws of all types. The forest was the last redoubt of Egel during the first Vagrian War. Centuries later Skultik was the location of the barracks and training ground of the Dragon, an elite regiment of Drenai warriors. (<i>Waylander, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sousa</b>:--a Drenai "corn city" that lies on the edge of Skultik Forest, just off the Sentran Plain. It is five days walk from the Dragon's barracks south to Sousa. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Southern Sea</b>:--the ocean that lies to the south of the Drenai lands. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Stone Hawk Peak</b>:--a mountain peak in the northern range called the "Mountains of the Moon". Nadir shamen use it for initiation purposes. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Symilia</b>:--a northern kingdom, whose king owns a silver mirror discovered in the ruins of Kuan Hador. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Talgithir</b>:--a northern Gothir city that lies within sight of the Mountains of the Moon. Talgithir lies south of the capital of New Gulgothir and northwest of the nation of Vagria. It was originally a keep built to guard the northern toll road, but when Ulric's great horde destroyed the capital at Gulgothir, the refugees streamed north across the mountains and settled around the keep. Over the centuries the lonely keep has grown into a bustling metropolis. Talgithir is now considered to be the southernmost point of the Gothir nation. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tantria</b>:--a fertile nation of the East. It is usually dominated by its large southern neighbors, either Ventria or Naashan, although for a time it was subservient to Dospilis and Datia. The realm’s armed forces seem somewhat antiquated, since its archers attack in gleaming bronze chariots with serrated sickles attached to the wheels, at a time when its neighbors use cavalry tactics. By the time of King Skanda, Tantria was part of Ventria. (<i>Druss the Legend, White Wolf</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tarsk</b>:--a high, eastern valley that accesses the center of the Skoda Mountain Range. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tattooed People</b>:-- a mysterious race of short people that call themselves "The People of the World's Dream". Their entire bodies, including their faces, are covered in blue tattoos. Legends tell that they were once of our world, forced back by the migration of nations ten centuries before. They used the Gateway to escape into a land of hot, humid jungle, where beasts eat human flesh. The Tattooed People collect heads and shrink them down by magic. The greatest enemy in their new home was tribe called the Azhtacs, who eventually exterminated them. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tavern Town</b>:--a Gothir settlement that lies in the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon, south of Talgithir. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Temple Stone</b>:--a towering red-rock butte located deep in the heart of the Nadir Steppe. The butte lies amid a series of jagged slopes; a narrow trail passes alongside it. It was carved into the shape of a giant bell by the long-forgotten sea that used to cover this vast land. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tertullus</b>:--a city of the nation of Sherak. Tertullus is famed for its Ventrian university, and is presumably located in the arid region closest to the Nadir steppes. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Thousand Islands</b>:--a large island chain on the Ventrian Sea. The Free Trading Ports of the Corsair-Lords are located there. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tigren River</b>:--a watercourse lying 30 miles south of Druss's village in the Skoda Mountains. A small village lies 20 miles to the south. Mashrapur lies three days ride beyond the village. (<i>Birth of a Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tonis</b>:--a Drenai town located deep in Skultik Forest. (<i>Waylander</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Towers of the Damned</b>:--are twin pinnacles of black volcanic rock located three days journey east of Gulgothir. The Towers have a evil and sinister reputation for being haunted by demons. Nadir legends say that an evil sorcerer was entombed there. The entombed sorcerer turned out to be Shul-sen, Oshikai Demon-bane's wife. Oshikai's Shrine lies two days ride to the northeast. (<i>Legend of Deathwalker</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ulalia</b>:--a Lentrian seaport. Its location is not recorded. Ulalia is possibly the unnamed Drinn River seaport. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ulric, Tomb of</b>:--the burial ground of the great Nadir warlord, Ulric Khan. It lies on Wolfshead land between two mountain ranges known as the Ranks of Giants in the Valley of the Tomb. The Tomb is built of sandstone covered with marble. Forty thousand slaves died building this monolith, shaped like the crown Ulric never wore. Six pointed towers ring the white dome, and all the available surfaces are carved with runes proclaiming his greatness and that fact that he is entombed here. After his death, Tenaka Khan's bones were reputedly interred at this site. In the mountainsides above the Tomb are caves where the Nadir shamen hold council. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ulrickham</b>:--the capital of the Nadir Empire. Tenaka Khan built it on a broad plain one week's journey north of the Mountains of the Moon and one day's ride east of the Gothir fortress at Bel-azar. Ulrickham is a city of single-story dwellings of mud-dried brick and stone. Inside each dwelling are the tent hangings that meant home to the Nadir. A palace of six square towers lies at the city's center. The city contains both a school and a hospital. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Usa</b>:--the Ventrian capital city. The city was Gorben's capital. The city was thought to be older than time and is mentioned in the earliest known historical records. In myth it had been a home for gods, one who is said to have built the royal palace in a single night. The city contains a barracks built to house the Immortals, Emperor Gorben's élite regiment. At the time of its construction it was thought to be one of the Wonders of the World. There is a snow-crested mountain range that lies to the south of the capital. (<i>Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Vagria</b>:--a land that lies adjacent to the Sentran Plain, south and west of the Skoda Mountains and Drenai lands. The land of Vagria is mostly rolling plains dotted with small forests. There are mountains in eastern Vagria that contain gold and silver mines. The men of the nation tend to be tall and slender, with dark features. The men of their army wear black horned helms. Vagria is famed for its white wine. The nation also exports sugar and oranges. Vagria has waged at least three wars with Drenai. It stayed neutral in Drenai's war against Ulric's Nadir. (<i>Waylander, Hero in the Shadows, Birth of a Legend, Legend, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Vagrian Plains</b>:--an area of eastern Vagria consisting of rolling plains dotted with small forests. It is connected to the Sentran Plain northwest of the Skoda Mountains. The defense of the Vagrian Plains is centered at the fortress of Segril. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Valia</b>:--a Ventrian fortress that lies in the mountains between Lania and Capalis. Outlaws and renegades inhabit it. (<i>The Chaos Warrior</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Valley of Angels</b>:--a place of great beauty on the Nadir Steppes. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Valley of the Dawn</b>:--the higher of the two eastern entry points into the Skoda Mountain range. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Valley of the Gateway</b>:--also called the Valley of the Shrieking Gateway, it is an alpine vale high up in the Mountains of the Moon, southeast of Talgithir. The valley is the locations of the Gateway, a portal to a different world. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Valley of the Tomb</b>:--lies on the Nadir steppe between two mountain ranges known as the Rank of Giants. The burial tomb of the great Nadir warlord, Ulric Khan is located here. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Varnii</b>:--a nomadic tribe of men distantly related to the Chiatze. They have shamen and celebrate season feasts. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Varsipis</b>:--a city of the Ventrian Empire. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ventria</b>:--a huge empire that lies east of the Drenai lands, across the Ventrian Sea. At the time of Druss's birth, the Ventrian Empire was 214,969 square miles, with an estimated population of fifteen and a half million people. The people are described as tall, with brown skin and dark hair worn in braids. It boasted a university in every city, and there were schools, hospitals and a road system second to none. The climate of Ventria is usually hot and dry. Ventria is an ancient realm as the Battle of the Four Valleys was fought in the vicinity of the city of Usa. In modern times, Ventria began its march toward Empire with the crowning of its first battle monarch (Cyrios the Lord of Battle?). After he died in battle with the Drenai, Ventria suffered civil war and became more and more insular. Decades later, Ventria’s God-king devotes his country to building public works and universities. A revolt by the more militant elements of Ventria’s nobility throws the realm into another civil war. Prince Gorben arose from the ashes of this second civil war and began the drive toward Empire. His handpicked honour guard was an elite regiment called "The Immortals". By the time of his invasion at Skeln Pass, Emperor Gorben had conquered the lands of Naashan, Tantria, Datia, Dospilis, Sherak, Matapesh, Panthia, Cadia and parts of Opal. His empire did not survive his death, since all of the vassal states immediately threw off Ventrian rule. Ventria itself plunged into a civil war lasting nearly a decade. Some three hundred years later, the Drenai army led by King Skanda conquered the Empire of Ventria. (<i>Waylander, Birth of a Legend, The Demon in the Axe, The Chaos Warrior, White Wolf, The King Beyond the Gate, Winter Warriors</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ventrian Continent</b>:--a large landmass lying east of the Ventrian Sea. The continent is huge, with over 300 large cities and thousands upon thousands of small towns and villages. (<i>The Demon in the Axe, White Wolf, The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ventrian Sea</b>:--a large body of saltwater that lies between the eastern kingdoms and the lands of the Drenai. The sea is the home of the "Free Traders" a group of pirates. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Virinis</b>:--a Naashanite sea-port that trades with Lentria. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Visha</b>:--a city near Mashrapur where the rich have palaces. (<i>The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Western Ocean</b>:--the sea that lies to the west of the Drenai lands. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>White Gold Bay</b>:--a harbor that lies in the far eastern part of the Ventrian continent. There are many legends concerning the people of the bay and the gold mines they work. The mines have been long worked out, the people now grow maize and corn. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Wildlands</b>:--any part of the countryside outside of the sight of a city in the northern area of the nation of Gothir. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Willow Lake</b>:--a beautiful lake the lies just outside of the city of Carlis in the duchy of Kydor. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Zharn</b>:--a race of tribal people living near the duchy of Kydor. (<i>Hero in the Shadows</i>)</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue;">***Places of Mystery***</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">There are a number of locations in the Drenai Saga that, while mentioned and sometimes described, have been given no official name. What follows is a short list of some of them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Drinn River Seaport</b>:--a Lentrian harbor located on the estuary of the Drinn River. Rek, Virae, and the "Thirty" boarded a ship at this port for the voyage to Dros Purdol. This unnamed seaport is possibly the Lentrian port of Ulalia. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Druss's home village</b>:--located on a broad valley in the eastern part of the Skoda Mountains. It was the location of a gigantic, sacred tree called "The Great Oak". The village was destroyed by a band of slavers when Druss was seventeen. It is not know if it was ever rebuilt. (<i>Birth of a Legend, Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Lentria's Capital</b>:--the principle city of Lentria, it's palaces and villas lie along the sea-coast. The city is located a thousand miles to the south of the Gothir capital of Gulgothir. There is a renowned iron-works located here. (<i>In the Realm of the Wolf, Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Nadir Seaports</b>:--several unnamed ports that lie far to the east of the Nadir capital at Ulrikham. The ports are seasonal and are sometimes closed in the winter due to the weather. (<i>Quest For Lost Heroes</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Northern Kingdoms, The</b>:--a number of nations that lie to the north of Gothir that were conquered by Ulric's Nadir before he turned his attention toward the land of Drenai. Ulric built his empire on the conquered remains of a dozen lands and five score cities. These consisted of all the northern and several of the eastern lands adjacent to the Nadir Steppes. The northern nations that are named besides Gothir are Chiatze, Kiatze, Sechuin, Angostin, and Symilia. It seems reasonable to assume that at least two other lands not named are included in the list of the Northern Kingdoms. (<i>Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sieben's Town</b>:--a small Drenai town located to the southeast of the Skoda Mountains. (<i>Birth of a Legend</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Tenaka Khan's Ventrian estate</b>:--part of an unnamed Ventrian city that lay in the Desert of Namib to the south of the Spice Route, most likely in the realm of Pelucid. The marbled-edificed city lies 200 miles from the nearest Drenai city, presumably Dros Purdol. The city lies close to a source of ice. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Vagria's Capital</b>:--located several days' journey west of the city-state of Mashrapur. It was here that Waylander assassinated General Kaem's only son. (<i>Waylander, The Demon in the Axe</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>Ventrian Island Village</b>:--in southern Ventria an entire community lives on a volcanic island. Every ten years or so the mountain erupts, spewing ash, dust, and burning rock, killing hundreds. Every time the eruption ends, the people return, convinced that the worse is over. (<i>The King Beyond the Gate</i>)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">The people and places in the Drenai Saga are copyrighted by David Gemmell</span><br style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: large;" /><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Page Copyright 2003-2016 Dale Rippke</span></span><br style="background-color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">All rights reserved</span> </span></span></div>
Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-53309641374422894932016-07-23T11:44:00.000-05:002016-07-23T12:05:50.146-05:00Beyond the Days of Ice and Fire<div align="center" style="color: red;">
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "dragonwick"; font-size: large;"><b>The world atlas of David Gemmell's Drenai Saga</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "dragonwick"; font-size: large;"><b>Map researched and developed by Dale Rippke</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma";">The Drenai world is based on what appears to be the Eurasian/African continents of our Earth approximately 10,000 years in the future. The world has suffered from the "Ice Fall" (a pole shift) and its geography has changed considerably.....</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma";">Below is the map that Del Ray created for use in David Gemmell's Drenai series. Del Ray paid me to allow them to publish the map even though I retained the rights for it. I also received permission to use a copy of the map they commissioned on my website. This is their version of my map.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilblm1Ww3c8YnNRqLPdWi8j2ikEregZtBjB26WTG3KjOgU754irj2loFBJbb-lFdsaVQGa-TNzHqVFfVkJs4qJviTJQVh8LVS2tMDUr5uFpgVqkjevHDBx-cv72_PhGRcWlAZutrcTr5fG/s1600/Drenai+WW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilblm1Ww3c8YnNRqLPdWi8j2ikEregZtBjB26WTG3KjOgU754irj2loFBJbb-lFdsaVQGa-TNzHqVFfVkJs4qJviTJQVh8LVS2tMDUr5uFpgVqkjevHDBx-cv72_PhGRcWlAZutrcTr5fG/s640/Drenai+WW.jpg" width="423" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma";">Well, my map should no longer be considered conjectural; it was the source map that Del Rey Books based their official Drenai map upon, as well as the map the David Gemmell used in plotting WHITE WOLF.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAh0LIK2EygF0u6x9xsyTSqp6sClnLG6imcxIq8eDndj_5D9M3_m6JibM2dOue4Bc1J31hV31tZ_TNMRVoWh3rui-pAbseVUYglWhKPAx4Zsg9PPcjDUB6EksWTzEEgI83IeVRAuWmm5md/s1600/Drenaiworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAh0LIK2EygF0u6x9xsyTSqp6sClnLG6imcxIq8eDndj_5D9M3_m6JibM2dOue4Bc1J31hV31tZ_TNMRVoWh3rui-pAbseVUYglWhKPAx4Zsg9PPcjDUB6EksWTzEEgI83IeVRAuWmm5md/s640/Drenaiworld.jpg" width="498" /></a></div>
<span style="color: blue;">1:Drenan 2:Dros Purdol 3:Dros Corteswain 4:Erekban 5:Lentrum 6:Sardia 7:Kasyra 8:Skarta 9:Dros Delnoch 10:Skeln Pass 11:Skoda Mountains 12:Skeln Mountains 13:Delnoch Mountains 14:Skultik Forest 15:Delving Forest 16:Graven Forest 17:Penrac Bay 18:Sentran Plain 19:Corialis 20:Vagrian Capital21:Mashrapur/Visha 22:Chupianin 23:Lentrian Capital 24:Raboas Peak 25:Mountains of the Moon 26:Valley of the Tomb 27:Oshikai's Shrine 28:Dros Segril 29:Kar-Barzac 30:Gulgothir 31:Siccus 32:Bodacus 33:Gassima 34:Larness 35:Namib 36:Talgithir 37:New Gulgothir 38:Bel-azar 39:Ulrickham 40:Hao-tzing41:Pechuin 42:Chien-Po 43:Jiang-shin (peak) 44:Ice Mountains 45:Ri-ashon 46:Mellicane 47:Tertullus 48:Virinis 49:Naashan (capital) 50:The Lakes 51:Perapolis (Pieropolis) 52:Opal Mountains 53:Mountains of the Moon 54:White Gold Bay 55:Isbas 56:Morec 57:Caphis 58:Capalis 59:Larian 60:Ectanis 61:Usa62:Lercis 63:Lem 64:Resha 65:Nusa 66:Pusha 67:Lania 68:Valia 69:Porchia 70:Gurunur 71:Varsipis 72:Saureb Mountains 73:Carpos Mountains 74:Blood Mountains 75:Ventrian Island Village 76:Thousand Islands 77:Sathuli 78:Sousa 79:Ulalia 80:Carlis 81:Kuan Hador 82:Masyn 83:Nicolan 84:Qumtar 85:Chasica Peak 86:Five Rise Mountain 87:Towers of the Damned 88:Stone Hawk Peak 89:Gateway 90:Druss's Home Village 91:Padia 92:Hargate 93:Rostrias (river) 94:Mendia (river) 95:Great River 96:Tigren (river) 97:Drinn (river) 98:Earis (river) 99:Great River 100:Blood River</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; text-align: -webkit-left;">The map above is based on David Gemmell's ten novels of that comprise the official "Drenai Saga" and is certainly the most accurate map that has been produced up to this date. The only inaccuracy shown by my map is the region of Opal, which was seriously compressed to allow its inclusion on the map I had drawn. The Del Rey map reproduces this inaccuracy for the same reason; they were aware of the compression. Below is an accurate map of the Opal region</span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; text-align: -webkit-left;">.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS2A24gWhbnuY-jPa6FKB470Tjg4z1cZY_JyMLEtpI2IJmkgKL0Yqco4iKTfDbwAFWZunlCJe865IQtE7Kdlgpm3a-072MoLkO3oyfzsYV1eCMACqoxNgNPRwgxfnY_2vZYIDOyFIqgLh0/s1600/Opal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS2A24gWhbnuY-jPa6FKB470Tjg4z1cZY_JyMLEtpI2IJmkgKL0Yqco4iKTfDbwAFWZunlCJe865IQtE7Kdlgpm3a-072MoLkO3oyfzsYV1eCMACqoxNgNPRwgxfnY_2vZYIDOyFIqgLh0/s640/Opal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: medium;"><strong>Notes on the Map</strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">As on any map that encompasses a time span of nearly two thousand years, there are bound to be errors due to the vast distances of time involved. This map was not intended to be a snapshot of any particular time during that 2,000 years, thus you get a map where cities like Kuan Hador and Ulrikham can exist together when in fact they were widely separated by time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">There are also several serious inconsistencies that needed to be addressed before attempting to draw this map. Fortunately, these were fairly few in number. These were remedied by noting a preponderance of supporting evidence and by recognizing a "greater weight" to the information in the more recent novels (LEGEND wasn't originally written as part of a series and so its information tends to be more inaccurate than the later novels like THE LEGEND OF DEATHWALKER and HERO IN THE SHADOWS that were written as integrated parts of the whole series).</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: medium;">Specific to the 2.0 version</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">All of the placements listed in the 1.0 notes below are no longer conjectural; all have been adopted into the Drenai saga when this map became the basis of the official Del Rey map. The most noticeable is that Mellicane is the actual capital of Tantria in WHITE WOLF. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Naashan is the actual name of the capital of the eastern empire of Naashan. This fact isn't easily discernable from the source material, but has been confirmed through private correspondence with David Gemmell.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: medium;">Specific to the 1.0 version</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">It should noted that a fair amount of inference went into the creation of this map. There are nations and cities that are mentioned in the books that I have placed on the map even though it isn't specified where they are located. I shall attempt to list them below:</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Dospilis, Datia, Sherak, and Tantria are described as "Eastern nations", so I placed them in the area around Ventria.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Panthia, a nation whose inhabitants are black-skinned, was conquered by Ventria. I placed it near the jungles of Opal.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Skathia's location isn't mentioned at all. It was conquered by the Drenai, so I placed it fairly close to their nation, on the far side of Vagria.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Pellucid's location isn't mentioned either. Druss supposedly killed a were-wolf in its mountains prior to his battle at Skeln Pass. I placed it in an area that he could have reached in his wanderings (between Gothir and Ventria, but still close to Drenai).</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Angostin's location isn't mentioned although it is apparently a nation of the northlands.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Symilia's location isn't given either. It is a northland nation whose king owns a mirror from Kuan Hador. I decided to make it the unnamed kingdom that lies beyond Kydor's eastern border.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Mellicane is a Ventrian city at the time of WINTER WARRIORS. I placed it in the nation of Tantria because of its described location and because by the time of WINTER WARRIORS Tantria was part of the Greater Ventrian Empire.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: small;">Tertullus is a Ventrian city that has a university and is the closest major city to the Nadir Steppes at the time of LEGEND. I placed it in Sherak, since it had become part of Gorben's Greater Ventrian Empire prior to the events of LEGEND.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: medium;">The people and places in the Drenai Saga are copyrighted by David Gemmell</span><br style="font-family: tahoma; font-size: large;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: medium;">Page Copyright 2003-2016 Dale Rippke</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: medium;">All rights reserved</span> </span></span><br />
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Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-21025518908544182532015-12-30T12:41:00.002-06:002015-12-30T12:47:39.814-06:00The Age of Shattered Empires<div align="center" class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">The World Age Gazetteer of Kane</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Version 2.0</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Adessa Wells:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a Sandotneri frontier garrison located on the savannah 20 miles south of Tregua Spring and 10 miles north of Meritavano. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Altanstand Mountains:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a great, rocky mountain range that lay west of the Inland Sea, stretching northward into the vast heart of the Great Northern Continent. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Altbur Keep:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a provincial fortress destroyed in the Chrosanthian civil war 200 years prior to the events in <i>Mirage</i>. The vampire Nairchoryss was the mistress of the ruined ghoul-haunted keep, high in the Altanstand Mountains above Chrosanthe. (<i>Mirage</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Altharn Keep:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a fortified stronghold that lay on a pass running through the Altanstand Mountains, between Harnsterm and the frontier beyond. (<i>Misericorde</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Ammuria:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a coastal city-state whose exact location is not recorded, although it apparently lies along the southwestern edge of the Lartroxian continent. This independent seaport is not a member of the South Lartroxian Combine. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Andalar:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a fabulous city-state of eastern Lartroxia, lying south of Lomarn. Andalar was the wealthiest city on Earth at its time. The god, Inglarn, founded it. Andalar lay amid tropical jungles and a river gorge ran close to it. Kane so utterly destroyed the city that 100 years later the jungle was just beginning to return. The ruins of the city are known as "Andalar the Accursed". (<i>The Other One</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Antamareesi Mountains:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a low, broken range of mountains that lay to the east of the Herratlonai wastelands, approximately 1000 miles from the cities of man. They were once home to a race of giants. There were immense caverns beneath them, the burial place of their kings. Rolling plains lay to the east of the range. Kane thought the mountains looked like a row of worn, discolored teeth. (<i>Two Suns Setting</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Arellarti:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a wondrous, imposing citadel, built millennia prior to the story <i>Bloodstone</i>, by a non-native elder race called the Krelran on the island of a great inland bay that cut deep into the Southern Lands of its day. Arellarti was a circular city of seven radial avenues that measured nearly three miles across. At the center of the city was a colossal domed edifice a thousand feet high, housing a crystalline entity called Bloodstone. The city lasted only a year, destroyed by a coalition of elder races, reputedly the Scylredi, Tuhchiso, and Brveen. The Krelran never recovered and degenerated into the bestial Rillyti. The sea surrounding Arellarti receded, until it was encircled by the vast, cold, salt marsh called Kranor-Rill. Arellarti was finally destroyed by a witch-tide summoned by the Daughters of Shenan. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Arestellia:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a coastal country, boasting a professional navy. Its location was not recorded. (<i>The Treasure of Lynortis</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Ashertiri:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an ancient city-state that lay on the southern shore of the Great Northern Continent. It was destroyed, a millennia prior to the events in <i>Dark Crusade</i>, by the sorcerers of Carsultyal after an ill-fated attempt to claim the bulk of the continent. The ruins of Ashertiri lay near the city of Intantemri, on the shores of the Southern Sound. At the time of <i>Reflections</i>, there were still scholars that understood the archaic language of Ashertiri. Kane was a sorcerer, and at one time possibly the king, of Ashertiri. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>, <i>Reflections for the Winter of My Soul, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Bavostni:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a Southern Kingdom that lay on the Eastern Sea. It shared part of the marches of Shapeli. It supplied men and equipment to the Dark Crusade. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Bern's Cove:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a small fishing village that lay on the eastern shore of the Inland Sea. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Brandis:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a town of the tropical forests of Shapeli, one of the first in the region to fall to the Dark Crusade. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Breimen:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a Wollendann city-state that lay on the River Clasten west of a great, old oak forest. It was considered the fastest rising city-state in the Southern Lands. The people were mostly blonde or red haired. The city lay north of the independent city-state of Selonari and shared a border at the Macewen River. The city was mostly destroyed during the events of <i>Bloodstone</i>-it is not known if it was ever rebuilt. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Brvenn:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an elder race that dwelt in the cliffs where the Serpent's Head dropped down upon the salt marshes. They participated in the first destruction of Arellarti. They were humanoid beings that fluttered through the air on moth-wings. Their angular bodies were clothed in shaggy scales, and their faces were set with great compound eyes, that resembled glittering mosaics. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Burwhet:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city of Lartroxia, where Gaethaa the Avenger took on Olidi and his gang of raiders. The city was destroyed in the fight. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Carrasahl:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the capital city of a northern kingdom that lay west of the principality of Rader. It was once a northern province of the Serranthonian Empire. It was considered somewhat of a backwater nation consisting of a number of provinces ruled by barons. The Halbrosn Mountains lay between Carrasahl and Rader. The road leading to Rader forks to the south along the western edge of the mountains. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Carsultyal:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the capital city of a great empire that was the center of man's exploration of the elder knowledge of the "Golden Age" of vanished pre-human civilizations. Carsultyal was mankind's first great city. A former fishing village, it lay in the settled northwest crescent of the Great Southern Continent. It's "clustered, star-reaching towers were whispered to be overawed by cellars where depths plunged further still". Building on the knowledge collected by Kethrid on his voyages of discovery, Kane became a sorcerer, eventually becoming one of the most powerful in the city. He was finally driven out by fellow sorcerers alarmed by the alien direction his studies had taken. By the time he left, Carsultyal had grown stagnant, its spirit of discovery and renaissance burned out. At the time of <i>Bloodstone </i>the city was in decline, past its days of glory. During this period, the sorcerers of Carsultyal fought a war of annihilation with the nation of Ashertiri. The longsword favored by Kane was forged in Carsultyal. The secret of its manufacture was lost with the city's strange fall. By the time of <i>Raven's Eyrie</i>, Carsultyal was only a memory, long buried by sand and sea and time. (<i>Undertow, Two Suns Setting, Bloodstone, The Dark Muse, Dark Crusade, Raven's Eyrie</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Castakes:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city on the northern coast of the Southern Lands. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Ceddi:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a fortress found in the city of Ingoldi that incorporated into its design the ancient black Tower of Yslsl. The name "Ceddi" meant "the Altar". The worshippers of the demonlord Sataki controlled the fortress. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Charia's Wells:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the northernmost Sandotneri outpost located on the savannah 25 miles south of the Shapeli city of Sembrano. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Chectalos:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">--- a city-state south of Carrasahl on the Great Northern Continent. At the time of <i>Reflections</i> it was at war with the city-state of Enseljos. (<i>Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Chrosanthe:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a kingdom that lay to the east of the forested Altanstand mountain range on the Great Northern Continent. The mountainous realm lay to the northwest of the Southern Kingdoms. Once a southern province of the vast Serranthonian Empire, an imperial university was located there. The kingdom was part of a region where racial features tended to dark hair and lean wiriness. At the time of <i>Misericorde</i>, Chrosanthe was in the midst of a particularly fierce civil war, mentioned during the events of <i>Mirage, </i>some 200 years later. The dead from that war attracted ghouls to the outlying areas of the kingdom. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese,</i> <i>Misericorde,</i> <i>Mirage</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Churtannts:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city-state that was home to the philosopher-sage Monpelloni. It had lain in ruins for over a century at the time of <i>Cold Light</i>, and its location was not recorded. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Citadel of the Red Three:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an ogre stronghold on the continent of Lartroxia. The lands surrounding the citadel lived in abject terror of the "Red Three", Omsell, Gesell, and Dasell. Gaethaa the Avenger and his army destroyed the citadel. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Clasten River:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a tributary of the Macewen River of the Southern Lands. It flowed past Breimen and entered the Macewen twenty miles downstream from the Macewen's confluence with the Neltoben River. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Cold Forests:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a sea of giant, blue-green evergreen trees lying in the Southern Lands south of Kranor-Rill. It stretched far to the south, ending at last at the Ice Sea. This heavily forested area seldom felt the tread of man. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Combine Cities:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---See the entry under the </span><b><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">South Lartroxian Combine</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Cotras River:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a watercourse of Lartroxia South, the source of the river was the cold springs and tiny streams from high in the Myceum Mountains. The river cut a twisted path through miles of rocky foothills, then upon reaching the lowlands, ran 50 miles of navigable channel through fertile farmland, finally emptying into the Western Sea. (<i>Raven's Eyrie,</i> <i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Dan-Legeh:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the black citadel of the lords of Pellin. It lay in the city of Prisarte. The citadel was built from the ruins of an ancient Scylredi castle. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Demonlands, The:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---see the entry under </span><b><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">Hell</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Demornte:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a plague-haunted ghost-land that lies between the great deserts of Lartroxia West and Lomarn to the east. At one time it was a fertile land of gently rolling hills and cool lakes, a giant oasis surrounded by desert. The land was the center of a vast east-west caravan trade until the day twenty years prior the story <i>Cold Light</i>, when a caravan brought plague to Demornte. Cut off from the world as it was, the nation became a tomb where there were not enough survivors to bury the dead. The capital of Demornte was the city of Sebbei. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Desdrinel:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a Southern Kingdom that lay south of Ripestnari and west of Sandotneri. It was conquered by the Dark Crusade. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">East, The:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a colloquial term used to describe the eastern reaches of the Lartroxian continent. This area is the source of an unusual type of sword called a scimitar. (<i>Darkness Weaves, The Treasure of Lynortis</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Eastern Sea:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a massive ocean of saltwater that lay to the east of the Great Northern and Great Southern continents. One thousand leagues across the azure waves lay the continental mass of Lartroxia (of course, the Lartroxians call it the Western Sea). Ships could and did cross this great span of ocean, but such crossings became less and less common as both of the northern continents lapsed into barbarism during the "Age of Shattered Empires". (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Ebony Shipwreck:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---lay on the seacoast of the Great Southern Continent, 100 miles north of Carsultyal, the shipwreck was the remains of a ship of Elder Earth that was beached for perhaps a millennia. The ship was constructed of a black metal both harder and lighter than steel. Kethrid of Carsultyal salvaged, rebuilt the ship, and called it <i>Yhosal-Monyr</i>, which means <i>Light Reborn</i> in the Old Tongue. Kethrid used the ship on his voyages of discovery. (<i>In the Wake of the Night, Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Eden:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a sterile paradise created for the race of Man by their Creator-God. After Kane's rebellion, mankind was scattered across the earth and Eden was destroyed by fire. Its location is not recorded. (<i>In the Wake of the Night, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Emleoas:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city of the tropical forests of Shapeli that was looted by the Dark Crusade. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Enseljos:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city-state south of Rader, located on the eastern shore of the Great Northern Continent. Once the sprawling capital city of Halbros-Serrantho, Enseljos presumably became the capital of the vast Serranthonian Empire. During the final century of the Empire, the wool-fair previously held in Rader had to be moved to Enseljos, due to the Dualist Heresy. At the time of <i>Reflections</i> it was at war with the kingdom of Chectalos. (<i>The Dark Muse, Sing a Last Song of Valdese, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Fisitia:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---one of the eight major islands of the Thovnosian Empire, some 2000 to 3000 square miles in size. It lays directly south of Pellin. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Giants:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an elder race that dwelt on the Great Southern Continent near the foothills of the Antamareesi Mountains. They were humanoid beings that looked like perfectly proportioned, eighteen-foot tall men and they spoke a language called the "Old Tongue". The giants lived on the fertile grasslands of Herratlonai during their "Heroic Age", before a war between two unnamed elder races created the cold wasteland. After the destruction, part of the race migrated overseas to the Southern Lands. Eventually, the race went into decline, living a semi-barbaric existence in the lands not frequented by mankind. (<i>Two Suns Setting, Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Gillera:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a walled city that lay in the forests of Shapeli. It was conquered through Sataki magic. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Great Northern Continent:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a large landmass lying over one thousand leagues west of the Lartroxian super-continent, and north of the Great Southern Continent. To the east lies lay the Eastern Sea, to the south was the Southern Sound, west was the Western Ocean, and north was the Northern Ice Sea. Starting in the tropical forests of Shapeli, the continent curved westward as a broad region of savanna around the Inland Sea to the north and the Southern Sound on the south - then northward past the western shore of the Inland Sea, where at last the grasslands rose into the great rocky mass of the Altanstand Mountains. Beyond this mountain range the greater portion of the continent sprawled out over some 4000 miles, eventually ending at the Northern Ice Sea. In the southwestern portion of the continent were jungles swarming with army ants and whose rivers were infested with piranha. The first attempt to lay claim to the continent resulted in Ashertiri's ill-fated war with Carsultyal in mankind's earliest days. Centuries later, the line of Halbros-Serrantho attempted to unite the northern region as the vast Serranthonian Empire, but was ultimately brought down by religious wars. The centuries following its fall were known as the "Age of Shattered Empires", an age of anarchy where men reverted to barbarism. It was at this time when the Dark Crusade smashed its way across the southern portion of the continent. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Great Serpent's Head:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---presumably the aboriginal name for the eastern end of the Ocalidad Mountain range in the Southern Lands. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Great Southern Continent:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a large landmass that lay across the Southern Sound from the Great Northern Continent. Once home to a prehistoric race of giants, the land saw rise to the first great city of mankind, Carsultyal. The cold wastelands of Herratlonai were a notable feature of the interior, stretching over a thousand miles east to west. The mountains of Antamareesi lay to the east, beyond which were gently rolling plains. In the south of the continent was an unnamed mountain range that was home to a tribe of blonde-haired barbarians. (<i>Undertow, Two Suns Setting, Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Halbros-Serrantho:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a vast kingdom that lay on the Great Northern Continent. At the time of <i>Dark Muse</i>, it is embarking on building an empire from the multitude of city-states on the vast, northern land. (<i>The Dark Muse</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Halbrosn:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---presumably one of the founding city-states of the Serranthonian Empire. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Halbrosn Mountains:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a mountain range of the Great Northern Continent. Several centuries prior to the story, Kane had a fortress from which he held the mountains under his thrall for a hundred years. The combined armies of the Serranthonian Empire finally pulled it down around his head. There was a road running along the western edge of the mountains that forked, eastward to Rader and westward to Carrasahl. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Harnsterm:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city in the realm of Chrosanthe. It lay west of the capital, in the foothills of the Altanstand Mountains. (<i>Misericorde</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Hell:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---also known as the Demonlands and as the Seven Hells, it is a series of huge caverns found deep beneath the surface of the Earth. In the caverns are smoking plains of shattered rock, angry lava pits, and lakes of black fire. Hell is inhabited by "dark creatures of blighted beauty - demons with leathery wings and beautiful faces". The Fallen Angels - the Demonlords, are the rulers of these subterranean lands. (<i>Undertow, Raven's Eyrie, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Herratlonai:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a cold, wind-etched wasteland of gravel that lay southeast of Carsultyal. It stretched over a thousand miles, until it ended at the foothills of the Antamareesi Mountains. It was rumored to border on one of the prehuman realms of lost antiquity. There were tales of cities impossibly ancient buried beneath the gravel dunes. At one time a fertile grassland populated by giants, a war between two elder races created the wasteland. At the time of <i>Dark Crusade</i>, nothing lived there anymore. (<i>Two Suns Setting, Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Ice Sea:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an ice-bound stretch of water that lay south of the Southern Lands. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Ingoldi:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an indolent, sprawling city that lay in the tropical forests of Shapeli, on the Great Northern Continent. An edifice called the Fortress of Ceddi could be found there. The city was the home of a yearly Guild Fair, being at the center of the trade routes that crossed Shapeli. Orted-Ak-Ceddi, the Prophet of Sataki, built the city into the powerful capital of his "Dark Crusade". The city was razed by the army of the "Grand Combine" and it is not known whether it survived. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Inland Sea:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a great equatorial sea, famed for its sudden storms, located in the southern region of the Great Northern Continent. The sea was an extension of the vast Eastern Sea. It was bounded on the east by the forestlands of Shapeli, on the south by savannas, and on the west and north by the bulk of the Great Northern Continent. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Intantemri:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a stronghold of the Southern Kingdoms that lay on the Southern Sound. The ruins of Ashertiri lay nearby. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Jadenbal:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an independent city-state that lay on the western coast of the Southern Lands. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Jhaniikest's Tower:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an ancient spire of basalt that jutted above a sheer cliff thousands of feet above the coastal plains below. It was located on the eastern coast of the Southern Lands. The tower was the realm of Jhaniikest, the ageless child of a priestess of a vanished pre-human race and the winged god they had worshipped. The tower was the temple of an ancient ruined city and the race that had dwelt there, possibly the Brveen. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Josten:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">--- one of the eight major islands of the Thovnosian Empire, some 2000 to 3000 square miles in size. (<i>Cold Light, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Kamathae:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a large, prosperous city-state, ruled by a baron, presumed to be on the Lartroxian continent. Gaethaa the Avenger hailed from here. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Kranor-Rill:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a treacherous cold-swamp in the Southern Lands described as a "tangle of slime and mud, vine and cypress, insects and vermin". The mist-covered swamp was virtually impenetrable except for the ruins of an ancient stone causeway. Not far from its southern limit the Cold Forest began. There was a lost city within Kranor-Rill called Arellarti that was home to a race of frog-like humanoids called the Rillyti. Kranor-Rill drained into the Western Sea through a break in the Lesser Ocalidad range at a place called the Serpent's Tail. It was destroyed, scoured clean by a witch-tide summoned by the Daughters of Shenan. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Krelran:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the ancient alien race that built the citadel of Arellarti housing Bloodstone. They had peaked skulls, were taller and more erect than the Rillyti they degenerated into after the destruction of Arellarti. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Krussin:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a port on the western shore of the Inland Sea. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Lartroxia:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---also spelled Latroxia, the kingdom that lent its name to the entire Lartroxian super-continent. The kingdom brews tasty white wine. (<i>Cold Light, Mirage</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Lartroxia Bay:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an arm of the Western Sea that lay on the western coast of Lartroxia South. The Combine cities are ranged around it. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Lartroxian Super-continent:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a huge, ill-defined continental mass that was located mostly in the northern hemisphere, 1000 leagues east of the Great Northern Continent. To the west of it lay the depths of the Western Sea, to the south, the Middle Sea. Regions named Lartroxia North, West, and South are mentioned in the saga. Lartroxia North is described as a land of dense forest and wind-blown wastelands. The only kingdom mentioned in the saga was that of Demornte. Lartroxia West was described as an uninhabited land of great deserts. The best-defined region was Lartroxia South. The Myceum Mountains roughly paralleled the west coast, protecting the cities of the South Lartroxian Combine from the rest of the region. Southeast of the Myceum Mountains lay jungles and veldts. At the southern edge lies the forestlands of Waldann. Platinum is worked here, and tigers are hunted in the areas to the south of Demornte.(<i>Bloodstone, Lynortis Reprise, Cold Light, Raven's Eyrie, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Latroxia:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---see the entry <b>Lartroxia</b>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Lomarn:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a great desert wasteland and the kingdom that lies on its eastern edge. It is located in the eastern regions of the Lartroxian continent. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Lynortis:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">--- a fortress city carved from the top of a spire of sandstone that tapered thousands of feet above the plain before it and the Myceum Mountains behind it. There had been a city on the peak as long as memory recorded, although the city of Lynortis was raised but a few hundred years before its destruction. The earliest human inhabitants of the city were a former nomad race of plunderers, who subdued the earlier inhabitants and decided to adopt the location as a fortress city. The construction of the city of Lynortis took about three decades to complete. Long thought to be unassailable, the lords of Lynortis ruled the great valley stretched below for centuries. Masale of Wesvetin put the city under a siege lasting two years, until it fell at last by treachery. All that remains of Lynortis are its ruins. (<i>The Treasure of Lynortis, Lynortis Reprise, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Macewen River:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a deep, swift-flowing watercourse of the Southern Lands. It sprang from the mountain streams of the Greater Ocalidad range, cut southwest through the forests until it reached the Western Sea at the Serpent's Tail, flowing through the same great fault through which drains Kranor-Rill. The Macewen marked the border between Breim and Selonari and lay nearly 80 miles south of the former and 90 miles north of the latter. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Marsarovj:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a frozen, subarctic province of the kingdom of Carrasahl that lay to the northwest of the principality of Rader on the Great Northern Continent. A baron ruled the province and the abundant game made the hunting excellent. (<i>Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Matnabla:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city that lay on the Bay of Lartroxia, up the coast from Nostoblet. It has an academy with pedants. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Meritavano:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a village of the northern grasslands of Sandotneri. South of the village was an expanse of reedy bog and water-meadow. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Middle Sea:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the body of waters that separates the continents of Lartroxia and the Southern Lands. The islands of the Thovnosian Empire lay in the southwestern reaches of the sea. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Montes:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---one of the lesser islands of the Thovnosian Empire. The island consisted of sheer, rocky cliffs with little beach, but a good defensible harbor. Two centuries prior to <i>Darkness Weaves</i>, Kane arrived from the Southern Lands and erected a pirate empire controlled from his island fortress of Montes. The scourge known as Red Kane the Pirate Lord, and his Black Fleet terrorized the islands, as well as burning and pillaging cities on the Lartroxian coast. The combined fleet of the newly formed Thovnosian Empire eventually destroyed his empire, burning the citadel after a siege of months. Kane was rumored to have died at Montes, but his body was never found. (<i>Cold Light, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Myceum Mountains:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a high, nearly uncrossable mountainous region that protected the plains and cities of Lartroxia South. It lay far to the east of Nostoblet. The range was the location of the legend of the Demonlord's Moon. Kane performed sorcerous experiments on the local natives 5 years prior to the events in <i>Cold Light</i>. As a bandit-chief, he terrorized the region for nearly 10 years. (<i>Cold Light, Raven's Eyrie, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Neltoben River:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">--- a tributary of the Macewen River of the Southern Lands. It flowed past Selonari and entered the Macewen twenty miles upstream from the Macewen's confluence with the Clasten River. The Neltoben had a south branch that flowed into Kranor-Rill, but it was usually little more than a mud-choked creek. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Northern Ice Sea:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an ice-packed ocean that lay to the north of the Great Northern Continent. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Nostoblet:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city of the South Lartroxian Combine. It was an inland river-port, receiving exotic trade goods from the Western Seas, as well as the wealth of the eastern mountains. It had a university, and slaves were traded there. (<i>Cold Light, Raven's Eyrie, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Obray's Station:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a place in Lartroxia well north of the Combine Cities' authority. (<i>Raven's Eyrie</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Ocalidad Mountains:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a huge, forest-covered mountain range that protected the interior forestlands of the Southern Lands. The Greater Ocalidad range guarded the northern coast, while the Lesser Ocalidad range ran along the western coast. The original inhabitants of the continent may have called this range the "Serpent Mountains". The Ocalidad were infamous for its bandits since "long before the blonde seafarers of the coast migrated through its passes to carve out cities from the great forests of the south". (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Olan:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---one of the lesser islands of the Thovnosian Empire, considered somewhat of a backwater realm. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Old City:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the former capital of Halbros-Serrantho, the Old City was a forest-buried ruin that lay outside of Enseljos. It was abandoned to the forest two centuries prior to the events in <i>Dark Muse</i>. Kane's knowledge of the city implies that he spent some time there previously. (<i>The Dark Muse</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Omlipttei:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city of the Lomarn desert, somewhat hostile to the country of Lomarn to the east. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Parwi:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">--- one of the eight major islands of the Thovnosian Empire, some 2000 to 3000 square miles in size. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Pellin:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the ill-starred northern island of the Thovnosian Empire. The island is large, nearly 3000 square miles and covered with cyclopean citadels of marvelous antiquity. The main city on the island is the capital of Prisarte. North of the island lay the deepest part of the Western Sea, called the Sorn-Ellyn. The island regularly raided Lartroxia's hinterlands. Pellin lays 5 days sail from Thovnos. (<i>Cold Light, Raven's Eyrie, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Prisarte:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the capital city of the island of Pellin. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Quarnora:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">--- one of the eight major islands of the Thovnosian Empire, some 2000 to 3000 square miles in size. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Raconos:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">--- one of the eight major islands of the Thovnosian Empire, some 2000 to 3000 square miles in size. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Rader:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an independent principality on the Great Northern Continent. It was once the northernmost province of the Serranthonian Empire</span></span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">. </span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: medium;">The abbey of Thoem fell to the Dualists during the Dualist Heresy, and its wool-fair shifted south to Enseljos. Rader was cut off after the dynastic wars destroyed the strength and wealth of the central states and the caused the extinction of the line of Halbros-Serrantho. At the time of <i>Reflections</i>, it had been independent for about a century, and ruled by a motley succession of warlords. Orted-Ak-Ceddi was the ruler until Kane killed him. The Halbrosn Mountains lay to the west of the region. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Raven's Eyrie:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an inn, once a caravanserai, that sat on a pass through the Myceum Mountains. It lay on a bluff overlooking the gorge of the River Cotras. A raid Kane made on the inn 8 years previously was the catalyst for the story. (<i>Raven's Eyrie</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Raven's Knob:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---also called Raven's Bald, it is a peak or prominence in the Myceum Mountains. (<i>Raven's Eyrie</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Rillyti:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a race of mottled, batrachian humanoids that were the degenerated remnants of an alien race called the Krelran. They lived in the Southern Lands in a large cold-swamp called Kranor-Rill. The Rillyti raided surrounding farmsteads for human victims to sacrifice to their crystalline god, Bloodstone, at the ruined city of Arellarti. They were taller than humans, with webbed hands and yellow eyes set in frog-like faces. They were somewhat intelligent, using bronze-alloyed armor and weapons that were harder than steel. They coated the heads of their spears with a deadly type of poison. The Rillyti died out with the destruction of Kranor-Rill. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Ripestnari:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a Southern Kingdom that lies on the eastern shore of the Inland Sea. It shares its eastern border with Sandotneri, its traditional enemy. It was presumably conquered by the Dark Crusade. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Salt Desert:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an arid wasteland that lies upon the Southern Land's eastern coast. Tribesmen in this area skirt the desert. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Sandotneri:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---one of the Southern Kingdoms, it lay across a hundred miles of savanna from the southern border of Shapeli. It was located in the equatorial part of the Great Northern Continent. Sandotneri defied the army of the Dark Crusade and as a result, was totally destroyed one year later, the first of the Southern Kingdoms to fall to the "Sword of Sataki". (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Scylredi:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---one of the oldest of the elder races. They built an immense civilization at the bottom of the Western Sea. They participated in the first destruction of Arellarti. The Scylredi fought a Great War with another race of Elder Earth and the greater part of the Scylredi race was destroyed. After a time, the oceans receded, and their remnants withdrew into their castles in the depths of the Sorn-Ellyn. The Scylredi somewhat resemble humanoid octopuses. Instead of legs they have six tentacles, two more tentacles in place of arms, and instead of a head, they have a projection with six or more eyes and a large, toothless cavity that acts as a mouth. They can jet water through their gills to propel themselves at great speed through the water. They seem to be particularly fond of eating humans. (<i>Bloodstone, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Sebbei:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the former capital of the nation of Demornte. Once a walled city of 10,000 people, after plague decimated the populace fewer than a couple of hundred remained alive to bury the dead. It became a city of ghosts, with hundreds of empty, abandoned houses. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Selonari:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an independent city-state that lay along the Neltoben River in the west-central region of the Southern Lands. It lay to the south of the Wollendann city-state of Breimen, and shared a border at the Macewen River. The cold-swamp of Kranor-Rill was found in the southernmost part of the kingdom. The inhabitants of Selonari were descended from the original race of men civilizing the Southern Lands and spoke the aboriginal language. The people tended to have mostly dark hair. The Selonari had legends of giants and demons stalking the forestlands before the arrival of men. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Sembrano:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a city that lay on the southern edge of the forests of Shapeli. It became the staging area for the Dark Crusade's invasion of the Southern Kingdoms. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Serpent's Tail:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---presumably the aboriginal name for the southern end of the Lesser Ocalidad Mountain range in the Southern Lands. The Macewen River and Kranor-Rill emptied through a great fault in the Serpent's Tail into the Western Sea. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Serranthonian Empire:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an empire of the Great Northern Continent ruled by the line of Halbros-Serrantho. The empire started to the west of the Inland Sea and extended far into the northern part of the continent. It lasted several centuries, enlisting Kane's help at several times in its imperial conquests. The Dualist Heresy fanned the flames that eventually destroyed the Empire. Dynastic wars destroyed the strength and wealth of the central states and this caused the extinction of the line of Halbros-Serrantho. The Serranthonian Empire had collapsed a century prior to the time of the story, <i>Reflections</i>. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese, Dark Crusade, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Seven Hells, The:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---see the entry under </span><b><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">Hell</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Shapeli:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a peninsular subcontinent of tropical forests that lay on Great Northern Continent, northeast of the Southern Kingdoms. The great Inland Sea lay on its western shore, the Eastern Sea to the north and east. Hundreds of miles of savanna lay between Shapeli's southern border and the rich cities of the south. The capital of this region was Ingoldi. (<i>Dark Crusade, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Sorn-Ellyn:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a region of the Western Sea that in some archaic tongue translates as "bottomless sea". It is the deepest area of the sea, and sailors in the area tell tales of ghostly lights glimpsed at night from the floor beneath the sea, of an eerie droning that drives men insane, and of horrible sea monsters called Oraycha that can drag a ship beneath the waves. The elder race called the Scylredi live in great castles beneath it. It lies north of Pellin and southwest of Lartroxia. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">South Lartroxian Combine:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a region on the southwestern coast of the Lartroxian supercontinent, well known for its marvelous vineyards. The Combine Cities were an alliance of the cities of Lartroxia's coastal plains. The cities were located on a wide belt of lowland plain that surrounds the great Bay of Lartroxia. The alliance was managed by the Merchant's League. The only cities of the Combine mentioned were Nostoblet, Lartroxia, and Matnabla. North and east of the coast were hills scarred by great outcroppings and stone cliffs rose hundreds of feet above the valleys, creating an almost uncrossable barrier that protected the plains of South Lartroxia. (<i>Raven's Eyrie, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Southern Kingdoms:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a region of the Great Northern Continent that lay between the Inland Sea and the Southern Sound. Scattered across a 2500-mile stretch of sun-scorched veldt, they numbered between fifty and a hundred, depending on marriages and inheritances, annexations and secessions, alliances and civil wars. Fierce border wars and deadly court intrigues were hallowed traditions. The cities of the south were considered more prosperous than those of the northern lands. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Southern Lands:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a small, cold, heavily forested continent that lay close to the earth's southern polar region. The continent was bordered on the west by the Western Sea, on the south by the Ice Sea, and on the north by the Middle Sea. There was a long mountain range (Ocalidad) that protected the heart of the continent on its northern and western coasts. The great pine forests of the interior gave way to a virtually uninhabited salt desert in the eastern regions. Originally inhabited by an aboriginal race, it was civilized by man nearly 500 years prior to the events in <i>Bloodstone</i>. Several centuries later, the blonde-haired seafarers of the northern coast crossed the mountains and built a confederation of city-states in the northern interior called Wollendan. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Southern Sound:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a sun-baked stretch of water that lay between the Great Northern and Great Southern continents. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Thovnos:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the powerful island-capital of the Thovnosian Empire, it lies nearly 500 miles to the southwest of Nostoblet. It is a large island, over 3000 square miles in size. Its capital city was Thovnosten. Thovnos has ruled the Empire for over 200 years. (<i>Raven's Eyrie, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Thovnosian Empire:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an island federation that lay south and east of the Lartroxian coast, beyond the Middle Sea that separates the continent of Lartroxia and the Southern Lands. The "Island Empire" was formed 200 years prior to <i>Darkness Weaves</i>, from a broken sub-continent of eight major islands, some 2000 to 3000 square miles each-along with a dozen or so smaller islands and countless bits of land to small to mention. Kane's Black Fleet terrorized the islands that became the Thovnosian Empire 10 years prior to the events in <i>Cold Light</i>. The largest, most powerful island, Thovnos, was the seat of the Empire for most of its history. (<i>Cold Light, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Thovnosten:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the capital city of the island of Thovnos and the Thovnosian Empire. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Tranodeli:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a country or region of rolling hills, presumed to be located on the Great Northern Continent, south of the Inland Sea. (<i>Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Tregua Springs:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a small village that lay on the veldt between the forests of Shapeli and the northern border of Sandotneri. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Tresli:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---one of the eight major islands of the Thovnosian Empire, some 2000 to 3000 square miles in size. (<i>Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Tuhchiso:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an elder race that dwelt in far (from the Southern Lands) deserts. They participated in the first destruction of Arellarti. They were chitinous, spider-like creatures, large as horses, and clicked across the stones on four spindly limbs. Four more limbs thrust forward from an upward curling cephalothorax. The creature's limbs ended in clashing, metallic claws. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Vegliari:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a Southern Kingdom that lay south of Desdrinel and southwest of Sandotneri. It was conquered by the Dark Crusade. (<i>Dark Crusade</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Vlad's Cove Inn:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---an inn of the northern Halbrosn Mountains, it lay on the road between Rader and Carrasahl. A famous rape and murder occurred here 49 years prior to the story. (<i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Waldann:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a forestland of blonde barbarians, who lived far to the south on the continent of Lartroxia. Its people were a warrior race who earned their livelihood as mercenary soldiers. Legends claimed that the inhabitants ate only raw flesh. It is presumed the Waldanns were the seafarers that settled the north coast of the Southern Lands and founded the tribes of the Wollendann. (<i>Bloodstone, The Dark Muse, Lynortis Reprise, Cold Light</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Western Sea:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a massive ocean of saltwater that lay to the west of the continents of Lartroxia and the Southern Lands. The islands of the Thovnosian Empire lay amid the waters of the Western Sea. One thousand leagues across the azure waves lay the mass of the Great Northern and Great Southern Continents (of course, they called it the Eastern Sea). Ships could and did cross this great span of ocean, but such crossings became less and less common as both of the northern continents lapsed into barbarism during the "Age of Shattered Empires". (<i>Bloodstone, Dark Crusade, Darkness Weaves</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Wesvetin:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a kingdom on the northern slopes of the Myceum Mountains. It raised an army to carve an empire out of Lartroxia North, and lost most of it in the siege of Lynortis. (<i>Lynortis Reprise</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Wollendan:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---a confederation of barbarian clans that lay in the northern part of the Southern Lands. It stretched from the north coast, across the Ocalidad Mountains, into the deep forests as far south as the Macewen River. It is unknown whether the great old forest of Wollendan took its name from the region's tribes or vice-versa. (<i>Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Yhosal-Monyr:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---means <i>Light Reborn</i> in the Old Tongue, the organic, streamlined <i>Yhosal-Monyr</i> was shaped like some impossibly huge whale. The long, sleek black hull tapered toward either end, with the stern slightly more rounded. It had a curved keel, shaped somewhat like a sharks dorsal fin. The ship was a leviathan, built by some impossibly ancient elder race (see <b>Ebony Shipwreck</b>). Kethrid of Carsultyal restored the ship and sailed it on his voyages of exploration. Kethrid sailed <i>Yhosal-Monyr </i>on the strange seas of man's birth, explored unknown coasts, new lands, and found the fallen cities of Earth's elder races. On his various voyages he brought back fantastic stores of information that overnight lifted mankind from the semi-barbarism which followed the fall of the Golden Age, to an advanced state of civilization. His adventures were epic. Of the final voyage of the <i>Yhosal-Monyr</i>, nothing is known. Neither Kethrid nor his ship was ever seen again. (<i>In the Wake of the Night, Bloodstone</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style2" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-weight: bold;">Yslsl's Towers:</span><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS';">---the two black-stone towers that connected the lair of the demonlord, Yslsl, to earth. One was located in the city of Ingoldi on the Great Northern Continent, the other was hidden in the forests of Lartroxia. The towers were round and somewhat over a hundred feet tall. Inside the tower at the top of a winding staircase was a door. At its base lay a jet-black carving of a sunburst. The door could be opened, with the correct spell, into the Lair of Yslsl. (<i>Dark Crusade, Reflections for the Winter of My Soul</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; text-align: start;">Copyright 1998-2016, Dale E Rippke</span><br class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; text-align: start;" /><span class="style1" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; text-align: start;">All rights reserved</span></span></div>
Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-79657630782047688912015-02-24T20:49:00.001-06:002017-03-18T10:36:25.399-05:00Acheron Revisited<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Nightmare Inside the Age Undreamed Of</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">By Dale E. Rippke</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Over the space of four years back in the early
1930’s, Texan author Robert E. Howard crafted one of the most indelible
characters to ever capture the attention of the pulp magazine reading public.
This character was at various times a warrior, a thief, a pirate, a frontier
scout, treasure hunter and all around adventurer. His name was Conan and he
hailed from a misty place called Cimmeria during a forgotten prehistoric era
that Howard dubbed the Hyborian Age. During that fertile four years, Howard
fashioned twenty one tales of the redoubtable Cimmerian, ranging from short
stories to an episodic novel. He sold seventeen of theses stories to Weird
Tales magazine and saw most of them published prior his untimely suicide in
1936. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Although Howard crafted <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hyborian Age</i>, a historical essay of Conan’s imaginary world
prior to starting his new series, you could not make the case where the whole
thing sprang fully-formed in his mind. Instead the pseudo-history evolved in a
rather piece-meal manner as Howard colorfully filled in the forgotten past of
his stories with whatever his imagination required to make them shine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In 1934 Howard tried his hand at writing a novel
featuring his Conan character for a British publishing house. It was called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hour of the Dragon </i>and was in some
ways a mash-up of several earlier Conan stories. This novel featured a three
thousand year old resurrected sorcerer named Xaltotun as Conan’s supernatural
antagonist. Xaltotun was the most powerful mage in his time and before his
death he lived in an amazing, shadow-haunted land called Acheron. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Acheron as a named historical entity only appears
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hour of the Dragon</i>. But in his
previously written stories and in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hyborian
Age</i> essay Howard eludes to the existence of a long-lost civilization
thousands of years prior to Conan’s life. If one takes the position that this forgotten
civilization is actually the remnants of Acheron and that the timeline that
Howard laid out in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hyborian Age</i>
essay changed substantially as he wrote the stories (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tower of the Elephant</i> uses the original timeline, while the
very next story written, The<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Scarlet
Citadel </i>uses the revised timeline), then it is fairly simple to map out the
history of Acheron.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The history of Acheron is tied to the history of
Archaic Stygia. Archaic Stygia was the remnants of a forgotten Elder Earth civilization
whose foundation predated the appearance of human beings. This prehuman civilization
worshipped a demon-lord called the Great Serpent. Millennia passed and mankind
flourished as the Elder Earth races began to wither and vanish. Sometime during
the Thurian Age (the time of King Kull of Valusia) this demon-lord (who was now
called Set) saw the writing on the wall decided to take human form and mate
with the daughters of mankind, creating a hybrid race called the Children of
Set that ruled over Thurian-era Stygia in a city named Luxor. The Children of
Set were essentially human but the demonic taint of Set made them appear as
giant snakes with human faces. Some time after this, the Great Cataclysm put an
end to the Thurian Age. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Archaic Stygia managed to survive the world-wide
disaster. They found that the disaster had left their shattered capital of Luxor in the midst of a hostile
desert so they packed up and moved to a large fertile river valley to their
west. The northward flowing river was called the Nilus and it emptied into a
small salty inland sea. Archaic Stygia expanded along the sea’s coast, building
their cyclopean cites along fresh water rivers that emptied into this salty
mere. The citadels of Kuthchemes and Pteion were built during this period. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Even before the cataclysm the rulers of the land
had evolved into a much more human–looking appearance and Howard now calls them
the Giant-Kings. They still contain demonic taint of Set, though and this taint
allows them to manipulate the forces of magic much easier than a normal human
can. An era of sorcery and necromancy takes hold of the race and Archaic Stygia
becomes a nation of blood and magic. One of their most notable magical creations
is a fantastic flaming jewel called the Heart of Ahriman. This artifact was
also given the ability to kill at a word, bring the dead back to life, and most
importantly, the ability to dispel ANY sorcerous spell cast. Magic ruled the
lives of everyone in Archaic Stygia.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Five hundred years later, a lesser cataclysm
rearranged the face of their world, up lifting the lands to the east of the
salty sea and causing it to drain westward to the ocean through an old river
valley that was originally formed back in the Thurian Age by a western section
of the Stagus River. The channel cut by this drainage
in turn became the western leg of the Nilus River, and during this period was
it was referred to as either the Nilus or Stagus before the river became more
commonly known as the River Styx. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Once more the Archaic Stygians picked up the
pieces and rebuilt their civilization. They expanded westward along the new
river channel, building a new capital city named Luxor after their old Thurian Age capital.
The nation eventually stretched all the way to the Western Ocean.
The city of Khemi was founded at the mouth of
the Styx and another round of massive
stonework and pyramids was completed by the magic of the giants.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Khemi became the mercantile center of the archaic
civilization. It sent ships north and south along the coast, only to find that
while there was commerce to be had with the black lands of the south there was
no one living in the north. The sailors of Khemi proceeded to establish an
outpost at the mouth of a large northern river that they most likely called the
River Acheron, but would in later days be called the Khorotas River.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">For the next several hundred years the tall, Set-worshipping
humans of the northern outpost explored and exploited the lands along the great
river and discovered the moldering ruins of ancient Valusian cities, plundering
them for their magic relicts. Eventually they ventured into the great tributary
river that in Hyborian times would come to be called the Tybor (It could be
argued that the colony considered the Tybor branch to be the main part of the
River Acheron). In short order they probably discovered gold in the streams
leading out of the mountain range that extended along the southern side of the
Tybor valley. An investigation soon uncovered a great deal of wealth from the
gold and gemstones discovered within the mountains. A number of villages sprung
up along this part of the river to take advantage of the mineral discoveries
and attracting a great number of citizens seeking their fortune. Before long
the rapidly growing towns were banding together, and formed the backbone of
Archaic Stygia’s first real colony. This colony became known as Acheron.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A thousand years after the Lesser Cataclysm, the
Giant-Kings back along the Styx were living a
life of idle, decadent splendor built on the subjugation of the area's nomadic
tribes and blacks from the lands to its south. A cloud of dust on the eastern
horizon was the first indication that their world was about to be turned upside
down by a nomadic eastern race that Howard never names.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The first city of any importance to face the
invading nomads was the citadel of Kuthchemes. The walled city, which up until
this time had to never contend with anything larger than infrequent nomadic
raids found itself facing a large disciplined army of invaders intent on its
capitulation. The vastly under-defended city fell in short order. I believe
that during this battle the nomads managed to capture the Heart of Ahriman from
the dying Giant-Kings in the city. The capture of Kuthchemes gave them a base
to accomplish the subjugation of the rest of the Styx
valley cities.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The armed forces of the Giant-kings were hampered
by mutiny from within of the subject humans that comprised it. Deprived of the
Heart, its sorcerers were forced for the first time in millennia to depend on
their own little used magical abilities. Its sorcerers were hindered by unseen
forces conjured by the nomad’s wizard-priests, who in turn were able to use the
Heart to dispel the magic of the giants. Refugees fleeing from the cities of
the east tied up the resources of the remaining cities in knots. Treachery
unwove the fabric of society as various noble houses made secret deals with the
nomads to betray the rest of their number for a place in the succeeding order.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The archaic empire of the Giant-Kings rapidly
dissolved in blood and flames. Refugee groups taking as much as they could
carry fled the nation by ship for the sanctuary of Acheron's cities. One of the
Giant-Kings by the name of Asura escaped to reside in Vendhya. The rest of the
prehuman giants were killed as the nomadic invaders consolidated their gains.
Howard was correct; the second-oldest race in the world was now effectively
extinct.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The conquerors co-opted the Giant-King's culture
and ritual and they almost immediately began to refer to themselves as
Stygians. As promised, the treacherous noble houses of the Giant/human hybrids
that aided the newly-minted Stygians were incorporated as promised into the
upper tier of Stygian society. In time the Stygians came to realized that by
intermarrying with the demon-tainted nobles they could gain genetic access to
the hybrids innate magical abilities.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The destruction of their homeland caused the
Acheron colony to become isolated and fairly insular. This did not last long.
Somewhere far to the north, a new race of tall tawny-haired barbarians called
the Hyborians had burst upon the scene. While most of the Hyborians were
content at that time to remain in their homelands, a fairly sizable group split
off from the main body and migrated far to the south. Eventually this early barbarian
drift came across the colony of Set worshippers. The Hyborians agreed to spare by
the colony in exchange for their knowledge of agriculture, metallurgy, and
magic. The demon-tainted descendants of the Giant-Kings were absorbed intact
and disappeared into the genetic mix of the Hyborians and ceased to exist as a
separate race.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In much the same way that the nomads far to the
south appropriated the culture of Archaic Stygia, the Hyborians swiftly adopted
the technology, religion and culture of the absorbed colony. The first Hyborian
nation of Acheron had begun.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In a break with their past, the men of Acheron
built incredible cities of tall purple towers, instead of the cyclopean
architecture that defined the Giant-Kings. Their capital and greatest city was
built on the plains to the north of the River Acheron (Tybor) in what would
become south-central Nemedia. They called it Python, and it was the apex of
sorcerous knowledge. Although there were other cities in the empire, Howard
never named bothered to name them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Acheron’s population began spreading out until it
encompassed much of the lands that would later be called Aquilonia, Nemedia,
and Argos. It
subjugated every race it came across (with the exception of the
proto-Cimmerians) as slaves or sacrifices for their blood-magic. This was the
earliest phase of what came to be thought of as the Nightmare Empire.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Far to the south during this time, the wizards of
Stygia had been busy learning all they could from the surviving hybrid nobles
about the magical abilities of the Heart of Ahriman. The Stygians also began to
have bi-lateral commercial dealings with the land of Acheron,
probably due to its worshipping of Set.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Acheron's slow expansion continued southward and
eastward into relatively unpopulated lands. The Stygians had also been
expanding into the uplands north of Shem and came to share an uneasy border
with Acheron. To the east, the nation of Zamora
had arisen from the labors of the Zhemri. All of this was going to change
dramatically in a few hundred years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Two hundred years or so after the founding of its capital
city of Python,
the ever-expanding empire encountered the first of an increasing flood of tall,
tawny-haired Hyborians from the northern lands. The barbarian flood split
itself on the nation of Acheron like a rock in a stream; some diverting
southwestward and others southeastward.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Hyborians quickly filled the lands to the west
of Acheron, travelling as far south as the Western Ocean.
Trapped as they were between the Picts to the west and the Acheronians to the
east, the Hyborians had no real choice but to settle in the western areas of
Acheron, where they became the choice targets of slave-raiders from out of the
east.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The slow Hyborian drift along the eastern borders
of Acheron continued south until the Stygians stopped them along a line of
forts in Corinthia. Eventually, the pressure from succeeding drifts pushed the
Hyborians into the Stygian uplands</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Howard’s writings seem to imply that the Stygians
resisted the Hyborian invasion into the uplands and slaughtered them by the
thousands. Eventually the Acheronians allowed refugees of the three large
Hyborians tribes to settle in the little populated regions southern regions of
their nation as a buffer with the Stygians. There are indications that the
nascent nations of Koth, Ophir, and Corinthia were formed at this time,
although Acheron probably considered them nothing more than subject provinces. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is also of interest to note that it is around
this time that the Heart of Ahriman disappeared from Stygia and made its way to
Acheron. Whether this occurred through theft or by a war between Stygia and
Acheron is unclear. We do know that an Acheronian mage named Xaltotun came into
possession of the Heart and used it to become the premier sorcerer in that
turbulent land of wizards.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Did the wizard-priests of Acheron ever consider
the Hyborian drifts to be a particularly immediate threat? I don't believe so.
I don't think they ever really saw the other Hyborians as anything other than
raw material to fuel their magic rituals and grease the infrastructure of their
society. Plus, for all intents and purposes, the people of Acheron were
Hyborians and these people were their kinsmen. The Hyborian drifts were seen as
nothing more than a nuisance. The Hyborian situation in the east seemed to be
pretty stable with the establishment of Koth, Ophir, and Corinthia. The
Hyborian situation in the thinly settled western areas of Acheron was kept in
check by slave-raids and the destruction of entire villages.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But to the Hyborian tribes subjugated by the
Acheronians this matter was seen in a completely different light. Set worship
was demonic in practice and the average person quailed at the thought of ending
up as grist in a blood-soaked ritual. And Acheron seemed to have a stranglehold
on religion that didn’t tolerate the worship of the Hyborian gods Bori and
Mitra.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Which leads me to the most contentious part of
this article. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hyborian Age</i> essay tells
of a fifteen hundred year period between the founding of the Hyborian kingdoms
and Conan’s life. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phoenix on the Sword</i>
also speaks of an event fifteen hundred years previously, when the Hyborians
were freed from their subjugation from the tyranny of Set. It seems obvious
that the two events are linked. But from the fourth Conan tale onward to the
end of the series, the date of the founding of the Hyborian nations is set at
three thousand years prior to Conan’s life. And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hour of the Dragon</i> tells us of Set-worshipping Acheron and its
destruction at the hands of the Hyborians. Both dates can’t be true, so to my
rationale, Howard must have changed his mind about the timeline, and the
fifteen hundred year events and the three thousand year events are describing
the same exact moments in history. And that moment is the end of Acheron.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Three thousand years before Conan was born, in the
regions to the west of Acheron, a man was born named Epemitreus and when he
grew to manhood he became a priest of the Hyborian god Mitra (Xaltotun derisively
describes him as a feathered shaman). This priest of Mitra discovered the key
to the salvation of his people lay in a magical bauble called The Heart of
Ahriman. So he contrived to steal it from where Xaltotun kept it hidden. Epemitreus
learned that he could negate the magic of Acheron’s wizards with the aid of the
Heart. He persuaded the western Hyborian tribes to unite into two (possibly
more) great armies under the command of war-chiefs from the Aquilon and Nemed
clans. Shortly thereafter these armies began to attack selected targets along
Acheron’s western frontier, with Epemitreus using the Heart to negate all magic
used against them. The west quickly dissolved into blood and chaos.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Aquilon army bored into Acheron from the west,
while the army of the Nemed clan attacked from primarily the north. Powerful
mages sent to destroy the Hyborian armies were rendered ineffectual and destroyed
by the power of the Heart. Acheron’s over-reliance on magic was proving to be
its undoing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In an effort to stabilize the war in the west,
Acheron demanded that the subject kingdoms of Koth, Ophir and Corinthia send
troops to help repel the invasion. The three kingdoms acquiesced and sent
armies into Acheron to aid in its defense. Once there, the army led by Khossus
V of Koth treacherously rebelled and attacked the Acheronian units in the east.
The armies of Ophir and Corinthia followed suit and the eastern regions of
Acheron were decimated.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Its magic largely ineffective and its subject
armies in revolt, the empire of Acheron fell in flaming ruin. The army of the Aquilon
destroyed the Khorotas and western Tybor
River cities, finally joining with the
army of Koth to destroy the major Acheronian port city on the Khorotas River
estuary (their original Stygian outpost). The army of the Nemed burned and
pillaged across the areas of Acheron east of the central mountains, surrounding
and utterly destroying the capital of Python. They then swept southward until
they ran into the army of Ophir near the Tybor River Pass. The combined
Hyborian armies obliterated all of Acheron’s beautiful purple-towered cities,
razing them to the bedrock.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Hundreds of years of racial hatred exploded across
the length and width of Acheron. Extreme hatred of Set worship caused the
Hyborians to put to the sword every single serpent worshipper they encountered.
With the aid of better weapons, armor, and tactics, the men of Koth, Ophir ,
and Corinthia pushed southward and swiftly drove the Stygians from the fertile
uplands to enlarge their kingdoms. A Stygian army sent to take back the region
was defeated and chased back to Kuthchemes, which the Hyborians promptly
sacked. The few surviving Set worshipping Acheronians fled to the hills, to Zamora or back to their
original homeland in Stygia. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">After the civil war concluded the Heart of Ahriman
was placed into a cave near the site of the bloodiest battle of the war, and
protected by demonic means. The cave was hidden by a temple dedicated to the
Hyborian god Mitra built over the site. In time, the victorious Hyborians built
Aquilonia’s capital city of Tarantia
around the temple.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The great wizard Xaltotun survived the civil war
and fled to Stygia, living in Khemi until jealous Stygian wizard-priests
poisoned him. With its last demon-tainted son dead, the direct lineage of the
Giant-Kings concluded. The Age of Acheron was over.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-90920386697014638352011-12-10T14:40:00.001-06:002011-12-11T08:01:24.549-06:00Lord of Chaos<div align="center" class="style1" style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: blue;"></span><span style="background-color: #76a5af;"></span></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">A timeline of
Kane's adventures</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Version
3.0</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Disclaimer: the following is
a probable timeline using the sources in the Kane saga by Karl Edward Wagner.
The numbers on the left are Kane's age, except for the last seven, which are
dates. Nothing in this chronology should be considered official, although I
attempted to make it as accurate as possible. At the bottom of the list are the
facts that I had to work with, along with a discussion of the 2.0, 2.1, and 3.0
updates.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Pre-zero</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Oceans have receded, possible ice age, several ancient
alien races living on Earth</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Zero</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="%81%"><span style="font-size: small;">God perfects the first man after many attempts, a Golden
Age begins, Kane born</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>35</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane rebels against God, kills his brother Abel, Kane is
marked by God, Golden Age ends</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>36</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">God disperses mankind across the Earth</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>55</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Carsultyal founded on the ruins of a prehuman
city</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>80</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>In the Wake of the Night</i></b>, Kethrid
rebuilds the Yhosal-Monyr</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>90</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kethrid begins the voyage of Yhosal-Monyr, collects the
knowledge of Elder Races</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>92</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane joins Kethrid on his voyage, Alorri-Zrokros compiles
the "Book of the Elders"</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>125</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kethrid disappears on his final voyage</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>200</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane reappears in Carsultyal, starts practicing
sorcery</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>250</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Carsultyal has become the greatest city of mankind's
dawn</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>300</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Undertow</i></b>, Kane has become the envy
of Carsultyal's mages</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>325</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane journeys to Hell and speaks with a Demonlord,
presumably Sathonys</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>330</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The spirit of discovery in Carsultyal begins to
stagnate</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>375</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane's sorcerous studies take off in alien
directions</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>400</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Amderin the mage begins to craft a set of sixteen muses in
Carsultyal</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>425</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Carsultyal's sorcerers drive Kane from the city, events of
<b><i>Two Suns Setting</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>475</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Bloodstone</i></b>, Carsultyal is in
decline</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>500</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane begins practicing sorcery in the city of
Ashertiri</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>510</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane rules from the Obsidian Throne of
Ashertiri</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>515</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane extends the dominion of Ashertiri across vast regions
of the Northern Continent</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>530</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The sorcerers of Carsultyal attack and destroy the
ill-fated empire of Ashertiri</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>535</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The Halbros-Serrantho capital (the Old City) is visited by
Kane</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>550</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Halbros-Serrantho move their capital to Enseljos, the Old
City is abandoned</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>650</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Carsultyal has experienced a "strange fall" and is no
longer inhabited</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>750</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is a crime-lord in Enseljos, events of <b><i>The Dark
Muse</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>751</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Halbros-Serrantho begins the road to empire, annexing
several neighboring realms</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>940</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane begins practicing necromancy from a stronghold atop
the Halbros Mountains</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>950</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane consolidates his rule and begins demanding tribute
from the countryside</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>965</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Several expeditions attempt to unseat Kane, all
fail</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>990</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane uses his skills to aid Halbros-Serranthro in the
Imperial Wars</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1000</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Halbros-Serrantro becomes known as the Serranthonian
Empire</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1040</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Tiring of Kane's depravity, the combined forces of the
Serranthonian Empire destroy Kane's citadel</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1301</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The rape and death of the maiden, Valdese, and the torture
of Korjonos</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1340</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The Dualist Heresy begins in the northern Serranthonian
Empire</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1350</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane stirs up civil unrest as an assassin, events of
<b><i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1360</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The Serranthonian Empire descends into civil war, several
provinces successfully declare their independence, including
Chrosanthe</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1415</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">King Janisavion of Chrosanthe is
assassinated</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1420</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Chrosanthe is in the middle of a civil war, Kane is renown
as an assassin there</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1425</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Misericorde</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1430</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Consumed by civil war, the Serranthonian Empire falls,
breaking up into hundreds of city-states</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1435</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Masale of Wesvetin decides to carve an empire, declares war
on Lynortis</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1437</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">After two years of bloody siege, Lynortis falls due to
Kane's treachery</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1440</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The "Age of Shattered Empires" begins, the northern
continents fall into barbarism</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1452</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane and Jeresen of Waldan put Roderic on his brother's
throne</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1467</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Lynortis Reprise</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1468</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane becomes a bandit in the Myceum
Mountains</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1470</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane burns the Raven's Eyrie Inn, the Lartroxian Combine
put a price on his head</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1471</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane's daughter, Klesst, is born, Ionor makes a pact with
Sathonys, the Demonlord</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1478</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Raven's Eyrie</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1527</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is a general in Sandotneri</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1530</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Dark Crusade</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1532</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane spends a year recovering from his ordeal in the Tower
of Yslsl</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1536</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Reflections for the Winter of My
Soul</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1564</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is wandering the Southern Lands</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1565</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane melds a number of pirate vessels into the Black Fleet
in the isles south of Lartroxia</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1570</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is such a success that he becomes known as Red Kane
the Pirate Lord</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1575</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The Black Fleet is destroyed at Montes, Kane
escapes</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1576</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The remnants of Kane's Black Fleet raid the coast of the
Southern Kingdoms</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1580</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is performing sorcerous experiments in the Myceum
Mountains</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1584</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is raiding caravans in the deserts of
Lomarn</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1585</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Cold Light</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1600</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane fights a towering demon with a broken
sword</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1624</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane joins the army of Talyvion of Chrosanthe, rises to the
rank of lieutenant</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1625</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Jasseartion takes his brother's throne in Chrosanthe,
events of <b><i>Mirage</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1754</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane travels to eastern Lartroxia, where his band of
mercenaries enters service in the army of Andalar, Kane rises to general of
Andalar's armies, events recounted in <b><i>The Other
One</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1755</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is a general in the Lands east of the Myceum
Mountains, gathers an army of one hundred thousand men and razes the city of
Andalar</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1774</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane returns to Lartroxia South, discovers that the
Lartroxian Combine has placed a price on his head</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1775</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events of <b><i>Darkness Weaves</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1776</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane returns to roam the Southern Lands</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1855</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is a bandit leader in eastern Lartroxia, framing
events presented in <b><i>The Other One</i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; width: 750px;"><tbody>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Unknown
Date</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Using his accumulated knowledge and power, Kane learns to
open the doorways between space and time, and to travel to alternate realities
for a limited time</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Unknown
Date</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">On several journeys through space/time gateways, Kane first
meets Elric of Melniboné and later Prince Corum Jhaelen Irsei. Around this time
he begins to repair a damaged spaceship he has discovered.</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Unknown
Date</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane learns the whereabouts of a supposedly undamaged
spaceship transducer, events of <b><i>The Gothic Touch</i></b></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Unknown
Date</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Presumably using his rebuilt space ship, Kane makes his way
to his Creator's abode and manages to kill him along with most of his
minions.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; width: 750px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1974
A.D.</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">The poem <b><i>Midnight Sun</i></b>, the Kane stories shift
to a modern-day setting</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1980
A.D.</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Events in <b><i>Lacunae</i></b>, Kane begins accumulating
wealth and power by the takeover of an illegal drug lab in New York's Soho
district</span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1982
A.D.</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane has risen in wealth and power as the owner of
Kane,Ltd., based in New Orleans, events of<b><i> Deep in the Depths of the Acme
Warehouse</i></b></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1985
A.D.</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane learns to master the manipulation of real time, near
time, and time time. </span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="19%"><div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Aug 1987
A.D.</b></span></div>
</td>
<td height="20" valign="top" width="81%"><span style="font-size: small;">Kane is now the head of a powerful international
corporation, and is in London for the Harmonic Convergence, events of <b><i>At
First Just Ghostly</i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<h2 align="center" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Notes on the
Timeline</span></h2>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Special note on the
Version 2.0 Update</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Last year, when I first developed the timeline, I stated
to my friends that I would change it only if I recieved proof that my timeline
was wrong in any way. Last week, I recieved a copy of an article about Kane that
Steve Trout wrote back in 1979. Attached to the article (and its timeline) was a
letter from Karl Edward Wagner critiquing the article. While most of Wagner's
letter talks about how the Kane stories are "free-standing" and not meant to be
read in chronological order, he did provide a glimpse into how the stories are
arranged:</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>"This is not to say that a
chronological order does not exist - rather, that it's a far more complex
pattern than most fans realize. The novels can be placed in order easily enough,
again keeping in mind the gulfs of time and distance. Also, within the story
collections (DEATH ANGEL'S SHADOW, NIGHT WINDS, and the projected SILVER DAGGER
volume) the stories are arranged in chronological order; but again there is a
gap of time - about a century in DAS, over a thousand years in NW and SD - so
that the stories straddle the novels and the stories of the other collections.
The stories are gathered to center on a mood or a theme, and not a specific
connected period of events. Thus the novels would run IN THE WAKE OF THE NIGHT
(still in progress), BLOODSTONE, DARK CRUSADE, DARKNESS WEAVES, with the stories
scattered in between, from "Undertow" to "The Other One" - keeping in mind that
the stories in each collection are in chronological order within that collection
itself. Simple, isn't it?" K.E.W.</i></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Well, yes and no. It meant I
needed to move <i>Raven's Eyrie</i> forward to fit after the events of
<i>Lynortis Reprise</i>. That was easy enough (although I noted on the Steve
Trout timeline that he had it placed in the same order that I placed it; a
pretty clear indication that the internal evidence of the story argued for a
later placement). I moved <i>The Other One</i> to immediately in front of
<i>Darkness Weaves</i> (it fits much better here than where I had it; I'm really
happy about this one). I had to squeeze all of the events between <i>Reflection
for the Winter of My Soul</i> and <i>Mirage</i> into a space of less than a
century (I think I've got it into ninety years), which created a fairly drastic
renumbering of the years of the events after <i>Dark Crusade</i>, not to mention
a few before. All of this was fairly simple.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately, there is one
story that I could not reconcile with Wagner's chronology. <i>Sing a Last Song
of Valdese</i> cannot be placed as the final chronological story in NIGHT WINDS.
It has to take place before the events of <i>Lynortis Reprise</i>. Here's why.
<i>Reflection for the Winter of My Soul</i> states that the Serranthonian Empire
fell one hundred years prior to the story, and that Kane was in Lynortis when it
fell a century earlier. <i>Dark Crusade</i> states that the Dualist Heresy that
fanned the flames that brought down the Serranthonian Empire occurred several
centuries prior to the story. Now <i>Reflection for the Winter of My Soul</i>
takes place only five years after <i>Dark Crusade</i> so this means that the
Dualist Heresy started at least one and possibly two hundred years before the
Serranthonian Empire fell. Since in <i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i> the
Dualist Heresy is well underway, it HAS to take place before the events of
<i>Lynortis Reprise</i>(remember Kane was in Lynortis when the Serranthonian
Empire fell, and <i>Lynortis Reprise</i> takes place thirty years later). A
placement after <i>Raven's Eyrie</i> guts the timeline and makes it for all
intents and purposes useless. This isn't to say that Wagner was wrong; he could
have fixed the timing of the other stories to fit his chronology. Unfortunately
he died before he saw fit to do this, so we are left with a chronology with an
artifact in it. Whether this matters or not I will leave up to
you.........</span></div>
<h2 align="center" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">***</span></h2>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Update 2.1, May 1,
1999</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-I received an
email from Scott Wyatt (who worked on the bibliography for EXORCISMS AND
ECSTASIES) and he was kind enough to relate to me that Karl Wagner did indeed
know that <i>Sing a Last Song of Valdese</i> was out of order in NIGHT WINDS. It
seems it was placed as the final story for artistic considerations. He also
provided me with a much more logical reordering of the "modern-day" Kane
stories, which I have adapted for this timeline. I should never have to change
it again. Thank you, Scott!</span></div>
<h2 align="center" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">***</span></h2>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Update 3.0, April 22,
2002</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-After reading
and re-reading the various Kane stories, I came to the conclusion that <i>The
Gothic </i><i>Touch </i>is not one of the modern tales. See my article "<i><a href="http://thedarkstormfiles.blogspot.com/2011/12/rethinking-gothic-touch.html" target="_blank">Rethinking The Gothic Touch</a></i>" to see how I came to my conclusions.</span></div>
<h2 align="center" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">***notes on the
stories***</span></h2>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Bloodstone</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Kane is found to be 450-500 years
old (Teres is 25, and she estimates that Kane was twenty years older than she
was. He claimed to be over ten times that number in years, hence 450-500). The
voyage of Kethrid was over 400 years before events in the story.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Reflection for the Winter
of My Soul</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-This
story takes four years after the events of <i>Dark Crusade</i>. Kane spent one
year recovering from Yslsl's Lair. The Serranthonian Empire fell one hundred
years prior to the story. Kane was in Lynortis a century earlier, when the city
fell.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Cold Light</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Kane was practicing sorcery in the
Myceum Mountains 5 years prior to the story. 10 years previously Kane was a
pirate attacking the Thovnosian Empire. The year prior was spent raiding
caravans in Lomarn. The cities of Lartroxia seem to be independent
city-states.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Mirage</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-One year prior to the story, Kane
was a lieutenant in the army of Talyvion of Chrosanthe. 200 years previously,
Chrosanthe experienced a terrible civil war.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Dark
Crusade</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-The story
takes place during the Age of Shattered Empires. The Dualist Heresy that fanned
the flames that brought down the Serranthonian Empire occurred several centuries
prior to the story. Kane was a general in Sandotneri one year previously.
Ashertiri was destroyed a millenium prior to the story.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Undertow</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Kane is practicing magic at the
height of Carsultyal's glory.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Two Suns
Setting</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Kane has
been alive "a few centuries." Mega-fauna (sabertooths, great sloths, cave bears,
woolly mammoths) have been extinct for some time. Carsultyal has started into
decline.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Dark
Muse</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-The Old City
was abandoned two hundred years before the story. Kane's familiarity with the
city implies his having visited it before it became deserted. The mage Amderin
sculpted the Dark Muse centuries ago during Carsultyal's declining
years.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Raven's
Eyrie</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Kane has been
a bandit in the Myceum Mountains for the past ten years. He destroyed an inn and
fathered Klesst 8 years prior to the story. Lartroxia's cities have combined
into an alliance. Kane has talked to the Demonlord previously.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Lynortis
Reprise</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-The fall of
Lynortis occurred thirty years prior to the story, placing it some 70 years
prior to <i>Reflections</i>. 15 years before the story, Kane and Jeresen put
Roderic on a throne.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sing a Last Song of
Valdese</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Kane aided
the Serranthonian Empire in its imperial wars and his keep was destroyed
"centuries ago". Valdese was raped and killed 49 years prior to the story. The
Dualist Heresy is in full swing.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Darkness
Weaves</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Kane claims
to have only recently come into the Lartroxian Combine and has had some
successes as a general in several campaigns to the east of the Combine (part of
this is recounted in <i>The Other One</i>). The tale of Red Kane the Pirate Lord
takes place two centuries prior to the story. <i>Lynortis Reprise</i>,
<i>Bloodstone</i>, and the stories of <i>Death Angel's Shadow</i> all take place
before <i>Darkness Weaves</i>. The book also has vignettes about Kane fighting a
demon, as a necromancer, as king of a country, and killing his brother,
Abel.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Other
One</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-The story takes
place in the eastern part of Lartroxia South, because of mention of jungles,
veldts and Banyan trees. I placed the story as I did because Karl Wagner stated
in a letter written in 1979 that this was the last of the short stories when
placed in chronological order. It also fits in really well as occuring
immediately preceding the events of <i>Darkness Weaves</i>.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Misericorde</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-While the historical parts of the story suggest an early
placement in the saga, the latter part sets the tale firmly at the time of the
Southern Kingdoms, after the fall of the Serranthonian Empire. Kane also states
that the stars have changed since he was born, which would seem to indicate a
considerable period of time. The kingdom of Chrosanthe is in the midst of a
lengthy civil war, quite possibly the one mentioned in <i>Mirage</i>.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>In the Wake of the
Night</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:- This story
takes place shortly after the founding of Carsultyal.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Midnight
Sun</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:- This poem is
the first of the 20th century stories. I dated it as 1974, the date it was first
published.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Gothic
Touch</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-It is
difficult to date this story until you realize that Kane is carrying his
Carsultyal Blade, can travel to parallel worlds through space and time, and is
seeking a spaceship transducer. It is dated to shortly before Kane kills his
Creator.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Lacunae</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-A modern story that seems to take
place before <i>At First Just Ghostly </i>because of Kane having just recently
joining up with Blacklight, and still trying to perfect his special
drug.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Deep in the Depths of the
Acme Warehouse</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-Not
much to report about this story. Kane is a record producer in New Orleans.
Blacklight makes an appearance.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>At First Just
Ghostly</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">:-This story
takes place in London during the Harmonic Convergence. Klesst, Blacklight, and
the special drug all make appearances in this story. Full scale war with
Sathonys. Fun stuff!</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Special note on
<b>Ashertiri</b>:-While it never states anywhere in the saga that Kane was the
King of Ashertiri, several items make me assume so. First, in <i>Dark
Crusade</i>, Kane digs into the ruins of Ashertiri, at the exact spot where he
knew a fire elemental was imprisoned. Second, in <i>Reflections</i>, the bard
sings a song pointed directly at Kane in the language of Ashertiri knowing full
well that he will understand it. Third, there is the vignette in <i>Darkness
Weaves</i> that shows Kane as a king on an obsidian throne shortly after the
events of <i>Bloodstone</i>. Finally, Carsultyal destroyed Ashertiri when it
attempted to create an empire on the Great Northern Continent. If that doesn't
sound like something Kane would do, I don't know what does.</span></div>
<div style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Copyright 1999-2012 Dale E
Rippke<br />All rights reserved</span></div>Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-54950836885470179332011-12-10T14:27:00.001-06:002011-12-11T08:13:59.768-06:00Rethinking The Gothic Touch<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Dale E. Rippke
</span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Caution! This essay contains spoilers about THE
GOTHIC TOUCH</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Of the entire Kane saga
set out by its author, Karl Edward Wagner, the only really difficult tale to
place is his final Kane story, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE
GOTHIC TOUCH</b>. The tale is a bit of a
mixed bag; it reads like one of the old “heroic fantasy” Kane stories, yet
contains elements of the more “modern” ones. The story is usually placed amid
the modern Kane stories, but I intend to show that it doesn’t really belong
there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">THE GOTHIC
TOUCH</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> is
the story of how Kane manages to open a gateway between his world and the world
of Elric of Melniboné. He enlists Elric and Moonglum’s help to recover a
treasure that exist beneath a ruined castle. Of course, the treasure ends up
being something entire different than what Elric expects.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is one plot point
that makes <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b> appear
to be one of the “ancient days” tales: </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane’s appearance and
weapons.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are a number of plot
points that make <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b>
appear to be a “modern” story: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">1.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane has the ability to
travel between parallel worlds in space/time. </span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">2.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane is attempting to
retrieve a transducer that helps to power a space ship. </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">3.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane is carrying a nuclear
weapon. </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">4.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane is on the run and
trying to escape from an unknown pursuer through time and space.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I
intend to show how an examination of each of these points can lead to a very
interesting conclusion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<b style="color: blue;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Appearance and weapons.</span></u></i></b><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane is described in the
story as “clad in mail, leather breeks and high boots, and a flapping black
cloak”. He is carrying a long sword made of odd-looking metal, which he claims
was made in Carsultyal “long ago and far away”. This is pretty much how he is
described in nearly all of the “ancient days” heroic fantasy stories.</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane in the modern stories
wears modern clothing (biker leathers and pin-striped suits). He doesn’t carry
his sword in any of these stories, but does carry a cosmic ray laser in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If a “modern” Kane changed
into armor to fit in with the manner of dress on Elric’s world, then you would
still have to ask why he went to all the trouble to enlist Elric’s help when he
could have just brought his cosmic ray laser instead (after all, he brought a
nuke). I am nearly positive that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE
GOTHIC TOUCH</b> takes place before the “modern” stories, but a long time after
the “ancient” yarns. </span></div>
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<b style="color: blue;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
ability to travel between parallel worlds in
space/time</span></u></i></b><span style="color: cyan;"><u style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span></u><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b>, Kane is able to hold
a gateway open for a very limited time at great effort. We are not positively
told whether this ability is magical or some type of technology. There is at
least one of the “ancient days” stories where the ability to interfere with time
by magical means is inferred; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">MISERICORDE</b>. Kane is promised the
ability to travel between worlds by the Bloodstone entity in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">BLOODSTONE</b>, although this would be
accomplished through the application of its alien technology instead of magic.
Whether it taught him how to do this is in question, although it certainly
showed him that teleportation within the same world was possible.</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The “modern” story <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LACUNAE </b>showed that he had mastered the
ability to teleport at will without apparent technology and in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b>, Kane showed both
the ability to teleport at will and to manipulate time in various fashions, all
without any apparent technology (it is implied though, since his other weapons
use some fantastic manners of tech). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane’s ability to open a
gateway in space/time between parallel worlds in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b> is one that he has
acquired fairly recently (within several years of the beginning of the story).
It is apparent that he has used it quite a bit since he claims that this is his
second meeting with Elric (the first being sometime in Elric’s future) and that
he has also had dealings with Corum. We get the impression that magic is
involved, since Kane declares that opening a gate “is a feat any sorcerer could
carry out”; Elric suspects that this is a lie. Kane also seems to need to
mentally concentrate to keep the gateway open; this implies the mental
discipline found in certain types of magic (to be fair, Kane does describe the
process in tech terms like “trans-dimensional warp” and “losing time phase”
while keeping the gate open).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Even if the ability to
open a gateway seems inclined to be more magical than technological, it is
probably a toss-up as to its placement amid the tales of Kane. I could literally
place this story anywhere in the unknown history between the “ancient,
magic-using” Kane and the “modern, tech-using” Kane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
attempt to retrieve a transducer that helps to power a space
ship</span></u></i></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.
</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is actually one of
the better arguments for an earlier than “modern” placement for this story.
According to Wagner, Kane left his creator and came to earth in a flying saucer
(according to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LACUNAE</b> it looked like
the hubcap of a 1957 Chrysler 300C). <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE
GOTHIC TOUCH</b> even states that the metal in Kane’s Carsultyal blade is made
of melted-down starships. The unwritten novel <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IN THE WAKE OF THE NIGHT</b> was supposed
to chronicle Kane’s discovery of an elder-earth spacecraft during Kethrid’s
voyages. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">BLOODSTONE</b> and in
fantasy conventions around the country, Wagner always made the case that Kane’s
primary motivation was to get off our Earth and attempt to return to his
creator’s abode. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the “modern” tale <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY </b>it is obvious
Kane has been off-planet. First of all, he claims he has already killed his
creator (who lives off-planet). Also, he has a cosmic ray laser that is powered
by two black holes locked in an antimatter matrix. Just where are you going to
find the technology to make a weapon like that on Earth?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The thrust of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH </b>has Kane attempting to
retrieve a crashed starship’s transducer from Elric’s world and time. This
implies that Kane has a need for it; that he has already obtained an undamaged
spaceship to attach it to. This would place <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH </b>between the
“looking-for-a-way-off-planet” Kane of the “ancient” stories and the Kane of the
“modern” stories who has already gotten off Earth and killed his Creator.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<b style="color: blue;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
appearance of the nuclear weapon</span></u></i></b><span style="color: cyan;"><u style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span></u><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This would seem to place
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b> firmly amid the
“modern” tales. Suitcase nukes are a pretty recent weapon here on Earth. So why
is this not the case here?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Because there is evidence
that Kane utilized nuclear weapons prior to the modern stories. In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LACUNAE</b> (the first of the “modern”
tales, chronologically) Kane mentions that he used to build atomic bombs, and
that they are overrated. When did he do this? He hadn’t been in our “modern”
time very long, as he was just beginning to establish himself in our world by
creating designer drugs. If he learned enough about atomic bombs to be able to
build one, then this almost certainly had to have occurred before he appears in
our “modern” era. His knowledge came from someone else. This isn’t as crazy as
it sounds…</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The text of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH </b>makes it clear that
the nuclear bomb Kane carries has been stolen from someone else. Someone who is
able to follow him through space/time to retrieve it. Since the people of our
“modern” era don’t have the ability to pursue someone across time and space, the
weapon cannot be from our world. This also means <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b> does not have to be
placed within the context of the “modern” tales. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kane
being on the run and trying to escape from an unknown pursuer through time and
space</span></u></i></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.
</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b>, Kane is being pursued
by “certain forces who wish me no good”. These forces, like Kane, have the
ability to travel across time and space. They are intent on stopping him from
using the nuclear weapon he carries. Kane plans to use the nuke to seal the
gateway between worlds, so his pursuers can’t follow him anymore. So who are
these “certain forces”?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Well I find it hard to
believe that Kane would be on the run from any group of humans, no matter how
technologically advanced they were. The Kane described in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b> is so strong and
deadly that it would take a pretty large group to take him down. His desperation
to close the gate permanently seems to indicate someone or something bigger and
badder is after him.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This really only leaves
three possible groups that would be consistent with Wagner’s saga of Kane:
Extraterrestrials, the evil forces of the Demonlords, or the good forces of the
Creator.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Earth prior to the
advent of man was inhabited by a variety of extraterrestrial visitors, such as
the Brvenn, Tuhchiso, Scylredi, and Krelran. For the most part these alien colonists were
either gone or degenerate by Kane’s age. And I think we can pretty much discount
visiting Extraterrestrials, since <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE
GOTHIC TOUCH </b>implies that Kane is only able to open gateways between
parallel versions of our world and no mention is made of contact with anyone
from Outer Space yet.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I
also think we can rule out the forces of the Demonlords. Even in the “modern”
tale <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b>, when the
source of Kane’s power is literally astronomical, the forces of darkness live by
a sort of “You don’t mess with us and we won’t mess with you” philosophy, until
Kane marks Cody Lennox as his own minion. The Demonlords live to spread Chaos
and Kane is really only a human who does just that. For most of the “ancient
days” series the Demonlords and Kane have had a sort of alliance against his
creator.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">That leaves the “Good”
forces of Kane’s Creator to consider. Several things make me feel that these are
those “certain forces who wish me no good”. First of all, the Angelic minions of
the Creator seem to keep Kane under observation (this is what chapter 5 of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">DARKNESS WEAVES</b> is about). Secondly,
they are no fools; they have to realize that if Kane completes his spaceship, he
could cause major trouble for them. And lastly, if you don’t think Angelic
forces would wield nuclear weapons, then you don’t remember the destruction of
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sodom</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">and
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Gomorrah</span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">by an
angel wielding “fire and brimstone”. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is one final
clue about who this force might be that I would like to touch on. Wagner wrote
that Kane was being pursued by “certain forces who wish me no good”. I find this
an intriguing use of the language. Why did he use the term “wish me no good”?
“Wish me no good” doesn’t equate with wishing someone evil or even harm. It’s
sort of a neutral phrase. I equate it with the withholding of good intentions.
The Demonlords certainly wouldn’t be able to withhold good intentions and to
Extraterrestrials the term would probably be meaningless. If this is the case
than it could be a clue pointing toward the Angelic forces of good being those
“certain forces who wish me no good”. Of course, I could be reading something
into the story that really isn’t there. But it is pretty interesting…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<b style="color: blue;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In
Conclusion</span></u></i></b><span style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I
think it’s only fair to acknowledge the overriding story arc to the Kane saga
was Wagner’s insistence that Kane was finally able get off planet to kill his
creator. How he accomplished this must have been pretty spectacular since <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b> claims that he
not only killed God, but destroyed ALL of the forces of good. Kane annihilated
Heaven! It certainly makes for the greatest untold story in the Kane
series.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">THE GOTHIC
TOUCH</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
shouldn’t be considered a “modern day” story, because it never was one. It was
the setup story leading to the tale of how Kane was finally able to kill his
creator. It all fits; Kane on the run with a nuclear bomb he stole from the
angels, managing to elude them long enough to recover the one part he needed to
make his spaceship fly, and then setting off the bomb so they couldn’t follow
him as he planned his mission to kill God. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I
told you this was going to go someplace interesting… </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Rethinking the Gothic Touch essay Copyright 2002-2012 by Dale E Rippke</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">All rights reserved</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-1852569488538414252011-12-10T14:11:00.001-06:002011-12-11T08:15:26.492-06:00Reflections of a Midnight Sun<div align="center" class="style2" style="color: cyan;">
<br /></div>
<div class="style2" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">By Dale Rippke</span></div>
<div class="style2" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">This article originally appeared in
REHUPA #167</span></div>
<div align="center" class="style2">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="style2">
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">
</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">In 1970, Karl Edward Wagner unleashed upon the world a new
character in the Heroic Fantasy vein, a perfect human killing machine named
Kane. Kane was an immortal, cursed to wander the Earth until killed by the
violence that he himself had created. While not as popular as Robert Howard's
Conan character, the Kane character seems to have carved out a respectable niche
for himself.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">The thing I find most fascinating about Kane is that there is a
subtle story arc that is alluded to in the published saga, but never directly
addressed. It is the reason why Wagner describes Kane as the Black
Prometheus.</span></div>
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">Now in Greek mythology Prometheus gave the gift of fire to
mankind and was punished by the gods for it. Did Kane give a gift to mankind as
well? We know he was the first man on Earth to murder another. Was that the
gift? Or was there another?</span></div>
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">
<div align="justify">
This story arc was supposed to have been made clear in a
loosely related trilogy of Kane novels. Their titles were <b>BLACK EDEN</b>,
<b>IN THE WAKE OF THE NIGHT</b>, and <b>AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b>. Two of these
novels were started but never finished. They were to delve into who and what
Kane really was.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
</div>
<div align="justify">
The first book of the trilogy was to be called <b>BLACK
EDEN</b>. While I do not know with absolute certainty what the book is about, I
believe that the title refers to a "corrupted paradise". This implies that
<b>BLACK EDEN</b> is the novel of Kane's origin. The plot of the novel can be
discerned by collating those snippets of information concerning Kane's origins
as recounted in the various published stories. His origin seems to have been
patterned after the Biblical Cain, however there are some differences.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Some time after the fall of the Elder Races (due to wars over
the Earth's dwindling resources in the new Ice Age) an alien god referred to as
the "Creator" fashioned a race after his own image, and named that race "man".
Unfortunately, this "Creator" didn't take into account that his imperfections
would mirror themselves in his new creation. He placed his new men and women in
a sheltered, Golden Age paradise and interacted with them in much the same way
that you or I would interact with pets for our amusement. It is not stated with
any certainty whether this paradise was actually on the Earth or within this
god's abode. One gets the impression that mankind existed in this paradise for
some time, as they became quite numerous and apparently highly civilized.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
One of these "First Men", was Kane, a son of Adam (Eve was his
stepmother, presumably Lilith was his mother). Kane decided to be the master of
his own destiny and rebelled against this god's authority. He spurred the infant
race of man to independent will by provoking them to rise in rebellion against
their "Creator" and his stifling paradise. Kane's own brother and the
"Creator's" favorite plaything, a man named Abel, initiated an attempt to thwart
Kane's defiance. It failed when Kane violently strangled his brother before the
smoking altar of his temple. Thus Kane gave the gift of murder, as well as
rebellion, to mankind. </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Despair racked the mind of the "Creator" god when he finally
recognized that his own imperfections were the actual cause of mankind's
rebellion, so he cast man out of paradise and scattered him across the face of
the Earth in an act of abandonment. For Kane he reserved a special
punishment.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Because of his propensity to murderous violence, the "Creator"
decided to recreate Kane into the very avatar of that violence; a biological
weapon along the lines of a Terminator type cyborg. It is unknown how much of
this was done genetically and how much he was augmented mechanically (most
likely done through nano-technology). Mechanical and organic life melded to
become the perfect killing machine. His speed, strength and stamina were
increased. His conscience was either removed or greatly reduced (<b>THE GOTHIC
TOUCH</b> implies his soul was removed) and he was given immortality and
immunity to disease. Finally, he was given the glowing blue eyes of an insane
killer (allowing him to see in the dark) so that everyone could recognize him
for who he was. The "curse" behind this was that Kane could only die by the same
violence that he had introduced to the world.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
It is not certain how long it took to complete this
transformation, but somewhat under a century seems to have passed before Kane
reappeared on the Earth stage (<b>BLOODSTONE </b>states that man had wandered
the earth somewhat over five hundred years, but that Kane was only somewhere
over 450 years old). What also seems certain is that it was finished prior to
the rebellion of the angels and their subsequent war with "God". Apparently,
this war was to be modeled after John Milton's <b>PARADISE LOST</b>. The
"re-created" Kane ended up with a little too much intelligence and free will and
escaped his "Creator's" control. I imagine the role Kane played in this war was
probably that of a catalyst. <b>BLACK EDEN </b>would have made for a very
exciting book!</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<b>
</b><div align="justify">
<b>IN THE WAKE OF THE NIGHT</b> was the second novel of the
trilogy and was planned to have been about 150,000 words (twice the size of
<b>BLOODSTONE</b>). Fantasy author David Drake states that Karl had written the
opening chapters of the novel, but only an excerpt of the prologue has ever seen
the light of day. Several friends of Karl's remember the other bits and pieces
of the novel. One remembers a fight scene and another recalls a part describing
a crashed space ship. </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
What I have deduced from the various clues (some of them
contradictory) I've had to work with is pretty interesting, to put it mildly.
The book seems to be about Kane's fall to Earth and his attempt to return and
kill his creator.</div>
<div align="justify">
<b><br /></b></div>
<b>
</b><b>
</b><div align="justify">
<b>IN THE WAKE OF THE NIGHT</b> begins with the discovery of an
elder race shipwreck by a human visionary named Kethrid and his resolve to
rebuild the ship into a vessel to be used to explore, discover, and restore
elder race science and technology to the world. He names his ship the
<i>Yhosal-Monyr.</i> Kethrid was the greatest mind of his age, and it was
because of him that his home city of Carsultyal became the preeminent city in
the early history of mankind. His voyages took place around a century after
mankind's Diaspora. </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Kane's first appearance in the novel deals with his escape on a
spaceship that he pilots to the Earth and manages to destroy in a crash-landing.
He is fleeing from the war between the angels. I do not know whether this war
would have been fleshed out as a major part of this book or in <b>BLACK
EDEN</b>. If it appeared in the latter then it would have been told as a one or
two page flashback in <b>IN THE WAKE OF THE NIGHT</b>. It would also have
introduced a continuity error in that <b>BLOODSTONE</b> has Kethrid recounting
the legend of a Kane cursed by his god to wander the Earth shunned by mankind; a
legend that couldn't have taken root if Kane only appeared on Earth at the
beginning of Kethrid's voyages.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
I do not know how Kane and Kethrid got together. At any rate,
Kane joins Kethrid on his voyages of discovery. Kethrid is obsessed with finding
the fallen cities of the Ancients so he can unlock their secrets for the benefit
of mankind. Kane could care less about mankind. He has come along in an effort
to discover an ancient technology that will allow him to leave the Earth so he
can rejoin and kill his "Creator".</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span class="style1" style="font-size: medium;">Interestingly enough, the book was to be</span><span class="style1"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style1">unlike Wagner's other novels, and did not feature Kane as leading
an army or a navy. It also would not have focused on Kane as the primary
character of the book; Kethrid was to have taken that role. Kane is Kethrid's
close friend and advisor and he plays a major part in the discoveries that the
<i>Yhosal-Monyr</i> uncovers. The two make several voyages and the knowledge
they return with forms the core of Carsultyal's civilization. The book is about
those voyages.</span></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><span class="style1">The novel was supposed to have ended with
man's first rocket launch from the city of Carsultyal. I would imagine that this
was Kane's attempt to return and kill his creator. At any rate, the launch was
obviously not successful.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">We know from <b>BLOODSTONE</b> that Kethrid, his crew, and the
<i>Yhosal-Monyr</i> disappear on his final voyage and are never heard from
again. Whether this happened prior to or subsequent to the rocket launch is
unknown.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">
<div align="justify">
After the end of <b>IN THE WAKE OF THE NIGHT</b> Kane begins
his long road of discovery that is chronicled over the course of three novels
and eleven short story/novelettes. He develops the nihilistic philosophy that
Chaos is a kinetic force that must wage eternal war against the stagnant
principle of Order. His actions in the pursuit of this philosophy range from
lust for power to boredom to revenge, and we are only given hints in the stories
as to his actual motives. The best view of his outlook came in the novel
<b>BLOODSTONE</b>, where he attempts to explain to Teres that his mastery of the
Bloodstone is a key that will allow him to unlock the <i>doors of the
infinite</i>. He is still trying, after a half millennia, to get the hell off
the Earth! </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Another interesting fact makes itself apparent during the
course of the series. Living through the passage of millenia has made Kane
insane. The form this insanity takes manifests in his performing deeds that are
not always in his own best interest. The cold-blooded games and schemes that he
spends years on can be swept away in a moment of berserk rage. In doing so he
risks the violent death that he was promised by his creator; a death that he
dreads yet, paradoxically enough, longs for. I imagine reason behind Kane's
inconsistent behavior was best summed up by Karl Wagner's best friend John
Mayer: <i>Imagine knowing for a fact that God is out to get you.</i></div>
<i>
<div align="justify">
<i>"Ride on through the night, Kane, alone,<br />Like a comet
that comes and destroys,<br />And drives on.<br />Play the game to the end,
Kane.<br />Maybe this time."</i></div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
</i>
<div align="justify">
The first hint that he ever succeeded in leaving the Earth was
recounted in a poem written by Karl called <b>THE MIDNIGHT SUN</b>. The poem
recounts how Kane comes to appear in the 20<sup>th</sup> century. It was written
fairly early in Wagner's career, and first published in 1974. It established
early on the thread of a story arc that is really only hinted at until the
publication of the "modern" Kane tales. </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<b>
</b><div align="justify">
<b>THE MIDNIGHT SUN</b> is the first mention of Kane to be linked
with our current age. It shows some of the inner workings of his mind and why he
does what he will. It states that Kane is a true lord of Chaos and will brook no
control by the forces of Law. It also implies that he has destroyed his
"Creator":</div>
<i>
<div align="justify">
<i>"I vanquished Law once, I'll conquer yet again--<br />And
force upon Mankind the Freedom he fears--<br />And dead gods I will again
defy…"</i></div>
</i>
<div align="justify">
This will not be the last time Karl Wagner returns to this
theme.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Besides the poem, there are four other tales of Kane that take
place in "modern" times. These are <b>LACUNAE</b>, <b>DEEP IN THE DEPTHS OF THE
ACME WAREHOUSE</b>, <b>THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b>, and <b>AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b>.
The first two add nothing of real substance to Kane's story arc. The final two
do, and it is these I will take a special look at.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<b>
</b><div align="justify">
<b>THE GOTHIC TOUCH</b> establishes that Kane is now able to
travel between alternate realities/universes to pursue his ultimate plan. He is
attempting to acquire a weapon to be used against a powerful unnamed enemy. This
enemy has sent agents after Kane in an attempt to stop him. The weapon must be
rare and pretty powerful, as Kane is carrying a portable nuclear device with him
to seal the gateway behind him! While it could probably be argued that <b>THE
GOTHIC TOUCH</b> is not one of the modern day tales, the presence of the nuke
would seem to place it there.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Things really get wild in <b>AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b>.
Originally planned to be the opening chapters of a 100,000-word novel of the
same name, <b>AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b> would have been the third and final part
of the trilogy arc. As a novelette, the story finds Kane in conflict with his
former acquaintance, Sathonys (Satan), and for once, the two opposing powers are
evenly matched. The story is complex and shows Kane in a completely different
light than his stories usually do. He is not the primary character in the story.
That role is reserved for a man named Cody Lennox: a wild card with the ability
to manipulate synchronicity. Kane enlists Lennox's aid in an attempt to prevent
Satan from manifesting Hell on Earth during the Harmonic Convergence. That Kane
is the only person who can do this is made clear when Lennox asks him why the
forces of Good don't intervene:</div>
<div align="justify">
(Kane) <i>"Because there are no good forces."</i><br />
(Lennox)
<i>"So, then. You don't believe that there is a God."</i><br />
<i>"There was a
god."</i><br />
<i>"Well, then. Where is he now?"</i><br />
<i>"I killed him," said
Kane.</i></div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<b>
</b><div align="justify">
<b>AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY</b> would have made for a great novel!
Just from what information was given in the novelette, it appears that the plot
of the novel would have been a war and probably the conclusion of that war
between the final evil forces of control (Law) in the universe and the default
forces of good led by Kane (Wagner referred to it as "the epic struggle between
Bad vs. Evil")! Since it was presented in the novelette, the novel would also
have presumably given us a look at how Kane killed his "Creator". An author of
murder who would dare bestow that gift upon the very gods themselves!</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
The subtle story arc that I have alluded to runs throughout the
Kane Saga. It is about a man who perceives outside, imposed control on one's
self to be the greatest crime. This man then sets out to seek a way to eliminate
the forces that would control him, thus in effect, becoming a Lord of Chaos. In
doing so, he would also free the universe of those forces and by association,
the whole of mankind.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
It is pure, unadulterated speculation on my part that Kane was
built as a weapon by his "Creator" to be used against any uprising by the more
militant of the rogue angels. And somehow these angels managed to co-opt Kane
and enlist his help on their side, presumably by showing how his "Creator" was
controlling every aspect of his life. Kane threw his lot in with the rebellion
(<b>RAVEN'S EYRIE</b> practically states as much), even through the newly fallen
angels were using him in much the same way as his god was. Eventually he
recognized that their control was just as pervasive, and he fled on a spaceship
to get away from all of the controlling influences and to decide what he wanted
for himself. </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Kane eventually came to the realization that the only way he
could be free of everyone's control would be to destroy the sources of that
control. In the process of freeing himself he would sever the human race's
connection to the gods and free them to be the masters of their own destiny, for
good or evil.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Kane's time on prehistoric Earth showed him honing his skills
for an attempt to free himself if and when the time came. He was actively
looking for a way of striking back at the forces that created him. </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
While we are never made privy to the details, it appears that
Kane was successful in his attempt to destroy his "Creator". What is really
astounding is that he not only managed to kill god, but that he also totally
removed the inimical forces of Good from the universe. In all fairness, the
minions of the Demonlord probably destroyed their share.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
Kane must have realized fairly quickly that his destruction of
the forces of good would have dire consequences for mankind, so he refocused his
sights on the only other forces left, those of Evil. While the stories give no
clue as to whether he was successful, I'm betting that anyone who could kill God
could destroy Satan and his forces. He freed mankind from the dictates of the
hostile forces that surrounded him. </div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
That is why I believe Karl Edward Wagner referred to the
immortal Kane as the Black Prometheus. His gift wasn't fire, but freedom. Real
freedom.</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
</span><br />
<div class="style1">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Reflections of a Midnight Sun essay
Copyright 2001-2012 by Dale E Rippke</span></div>
<div class="style1">
<span style="font-size: medium;">All rights reserved</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"></span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div align="center" class="style2">
<br /></div>Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-23566992979596965952011-12-10T13:59:00.001-06:002011-12-11T08:15:03.130-06:00Phantasmal Tomes<b>
</b><br />
<b>
</b><b><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">
</span></b><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">By Dale E. Rippke</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">
</span><b><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"></span></b><br />
<div align="center">
<b><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">
</span></b><br />
<div align="center">
</div>
<b><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">
</span></b><br />
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<b><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 1970 a new fantasy character strode onto the stage of Heroic
Fantasy. He was an immortal anti-hero called Kane, and his adventures were
written by fantasy/horror author Karl Edward Wagner. Wagner wrote five actual
books about Kane, three novels called Darkness Weaves, Bloodstone,
and Dark Crusade and two short story collections, Death Angel's Shadow
and Night Winds. What isn't as widely known is that at least four
(and possibly as many as six) other books about Kane were in the planning stages
by Wagner, but never completed. What follows is a look at those phantasmal
tomes.</span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">
<span style="color: cyan; font-size: medium;"><b><u>
</u></b></span></span></b><br />
<div align="justify" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="color: cyan; font-size: medium;"><b><u style="color: blue;">Black Eden</u> </b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">This book would have been the first novel in a trilogy
examining who and what Kane actually was. This book would have been the story of
Kane's origin. From information gleaned from the published saga it appears that
it probably would have contained the creation of Mankind by its creator-god and
it's placement in Paradise, Kane's rebellion and his murder of Abel, the
aftermath (mankind scattered across the Earth) and Kane's recreation into the
Bane of Man. The novel also would have possibly dealt with the rebellion of the
Angels and Kane's role in the revolt, in large part a retelling of Milton's
<b>Paradise Lost</b>. It would have ended with Kane's escape to Earth in a
flying saucer, although this part may have actually been a part of the beginning
of <b>In the Wake of the Night</b>. There are no written parts of this book in
existence.</span></div>
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</b></u></span><br />
<div align="justify" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>In the Wake of the Night</b></u></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">This book would have been the second novel in the trilogy
examining who and what Kane actually was. Planned to be about 150,000 words, it
was primarily concerned with Kethrid's voyages of discovery aboard the
<i>Yhosal-Monyr</i>. Kane, for the first time, would not be the lead character
in the book; Kethrid took that honor. He sailed around the oceans of Earth's
dawn, searching for the ruined cities and lost technologies of the vanished
races of Elder Earth. Kane, who has recently crashed on the Earth in a
spacecraft, joins Kethrid on his voyages of discovery. Kane has decided that he
must leave the Earth, find and kill his creator. The book was going to end in
the (unsuccessful) launching of mankind's first spacecraft from the city of
Carsultyal. Occasionally during sci-fi fantasy conventions Wagner would tell his
friends one of several differing versions of the tale. Though at least several
chapters of the book were written, all that remains today is an excerpt from the
preface of <b>In the Wake of the Night </b>and a poem called <b>Kethrid's
Dream</b>.</span></div>
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</b></u></span><br />
<div align="justify" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Silver Dagger</b></u></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">This was to have been a collection of revenge-themed short
stories and novelettes that take place during several periods of history over
Kane's immortal lifespan. Only two tales originally targeted for this proposed
book exist, <b>The Other One</b> and the excellent <b>Misericorde</b>.
</span></div>
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</span><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><u><b>
</b></u></span><br />
<div align="justify" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>The Midnight Sun</b></u></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">This is a conjectural book. While a book of this title was
never actually planned by Wagner, it would have eventually existed due to its
contents. It would have been a collection of all of the modern-era horror tales
featuring Kane. This collection probably would have taken its title from a poem
within it by the same name. Besides <b>The Midnight Sun</b> there are several
published short stories that would have appeared in it. There are two
psychodramas, <b>Lacunae</b> and <b>Deep in the Acme Warehouse</b>. Another
story called <b>The Gothic Touch</b>, which featured Michael Moorcock's Elric of
Melniboné would have been part of this collection.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">
</span><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><u><b>
</b></u></span><br />
<div align="justify" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>At First Just Ghostly</b></u></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">This book would have been the third and final novel in the
trilogy examining who and what Kane actually was. Planned to be about 100,000
words, only the first fifth of it was ever written. The book would have revolved
around a war between Kane and the hostile forces of evil lead by Sathonys
(Satan), as seen through the eyes of<b> </b>a man named Cody Lennox. Presumably
at some point in the novel we would have learned how Kane was able to kill his
creator. A novelette also called <b>At First Just Ghostly</b> comprises all that
is left of what should have been the coda to the Kane Saga.</span></div>
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</span><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><u><b>
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<div align="justify" style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Kane</b></u></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">
</span><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">Not much information is known about this book. A publishing
contract was made with Wagner in the early 80's commissioning this Kane novel.
The book was never started and the content of it was never made clear. It's
entirely possible that it is simply the work-in-progress title for <b>Black
Eden</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Phantasmal Tomes essay
Copyright 2001-2012 by Dale E Rippke</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-size: small;">All rights reserved</span></div>
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</span>Darkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435546190918724035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-75164345400026261452010-12-11T15:08:00.001-06:002015-02-24T20:54:22.812-06:00The Blue East<b>Cartographic Curiosities of the Hyborian Age, part 3</b><br />
<b>By Dale E Rippke</b><br />
<b>This article originally appeared in REHupa # 201</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7PIikxl3UrEHaQ04Mf8wNiCmaU9BKitYy8wR7bld_9cptmP3QSmdqo8qdrdXIjFuFWPt8nFo8Gc5XJZ5iuJZ_BWTKGX64tK-vMnGIngfeLu4VzBlc597Ay2VEvH9mhIZp2LhovBM9Hds/s1600-h/Blue%20East%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="Blue East" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmkb4W46dvGTEmJC0AyO4SQaU8H2wntxokdq9YW51ra0Q1MJbzDQaUkie6o_YT-2MhRFtIDR56FBEj4iR9JT9UNmfXFvnWtpjpYJ-MBU1Y558irwjiN8nLfGknGAT7SepaJu1SpvrE-Gs/?imgmax=800" height="200" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Blue East" width="244" /></a><br />
<b><u>THE BLUE EAST</u></b><br />
<u> researched and created by Dale E Rippke</u><br />
<br />
Seventy odd years ago, author Robert E. Howard created a fantastic world that he termed the Hyborian Age. It was set in our world, thousands of millennia ago, before the last great ice-age. The hero of these Hyborian Age tales, Conan the Cimmerian, traveled far and wide across the lands of his age. Howard drew several maps showing the nations of the “European” region. He left the rest of the world to our imaginations.<br />
Howard wrote a letter to P. Schuyler Miller on March 10, 1936 in which he explained his view of the regions south of Stygia and east of the Vilayet Sea: <i>“I've never attempted to map the southern and eastern kingdoms, though I have a fairly clear outline of their geography in my mind. However, in writing about them I feel a certain amount of license, since the inhabitants of the western Hyborian nations were about as ignorant concerning the peoples and countries of the south and east as the people of medieval Europe were ignorant of Africa and Asia. In writing about the western Hyborian nations I feel confined within the limits of known and inflexible boundaries and territories, but in fictionizing the rest of the world, I feel able to give my imagination freer play. That is, having adopted a certain conception of geography and ethnology, I feel compelled to abide by it, in the interests of consistency. My conception of the east and south is not so definite or so arbitrary.”</i><br />
Howard refused to pin himself down on the layout of the East during his lifetime, but after his death in 1936, this area became fair game to all. His imagination had become fixed, like a fly in amber.<br />
The first map of the eastern regions that I recall was published in 1975 in a graphic magazine called the Savage Sword of Conan. In issue #9, artist Tim Conrad plotted out a new map of the Hyborian continent from its western to eastern edges. His black & white map was based on the Lancer/Ace version of the Conan saga, adding the material created by Lin Carter and L. Sprague DeCamp into the mix, which is a blessing or a curse depending on your point of view. He made a couple of deductive placements. All in all, it was a great, moody map.<br />
This was quickly followed up by the stunningly beautiful Starmont House map of Hyboria a few years later. The full-color Starmont map showed the East in greater detail than the Conrad map. It followed Conrad’s lead by leaving his placements intact. Unfortunately, it was marred by a faulty placement; Howard’s Mu IS NOT the continent of Australia.<br />
The next important Hyborian world map appeared in the GURPS Conan role-playing game. It was a black & white map like Conrad’s, and is, in all honesty, nothing really special. Its importance derives from it being the basis of every professional Hyborian map that has been produced since, from the map produced in Marvel Comic’s <b>Handbook of the Conan Universe</b> to the gorgeous Conan’s world gaming maps currently produced by Mongoose Publishing.<br />
I decided a long time ago to break with tradition and produce a map of the East that corresponds only with Howard’s writings; no pastiche material need apply. An accurate map of the Hyborian world should really only reflect Howard’s agenda and intent. This requires an examination of the Conan material with an eye to determining what lands that lie within the “Asian” region of Howard’s continent. I figured, since there isn’t a great deal of information about this area, that it would be an easy exercise; treading ground already traversed by others.<br />
Boy was I wrong…<br />
The East, as described in Howard’s tales, is a somewhat different place than the recent maps of the area convey. Facts and clues, when placed in context, refused to neatly arrange themselves into the patterns determined by the prior cartographers. Amazingly, I found something wrong in nearly every single country that I examined.<br />
***<br />
<b>THE BLUE EAST</b><br />
The key to understanding the area is to try to see it as Howard imagined it. The Hyborian Age geography is extremely similar, and its climate doesn’t appear to be markedly different from that of today. From the few stories set in the eastern regions, it gives the impression of being a thinly disguised Asia; Khitai as China, Vendhya as India, etc. However it isn’t this simple, and this is where the previous cartographers went wrong.<br />
In order to properly understand the area, the various relationships between the countries need to be ascertained and understood. These relationships, in several cases, are culturally and racially intertwined. The history of each country, where given, has to factor in. Another point to consider is that it all has to fit within the clues that Howard has provided. It needs to make sense in context. <br />
From a plate-tectonics standpoint, the Eastern continent suffers from a complex series of interactions between it and the surrounding plates. It will be necessary to simplify this somewhat. From Howard’s writing we know there is pretty impressive uplift present in the lands to the southwest (the Red Sea and Persian Gulf are above sea level). The lands in the west and northwest are depressed and partially submerged (the Vilayet Sea). There are also signs of uplift in the southeast as a region to the south of Khitai is in evidence. So what can we deduce from this?<br />
Assuming that the Eastern plate is fairly rigid, then the regions in opposition should reflect a positional opposition (in this simplified model). This means that the northeast should be depressed, while some uplift is present in the east. The only regions not accounted for are the north and south parts, and we can use logic to understand those parts. For instance, since the southwest and southeast are uplifted, then it stands to reason that the southern position should either be in uplift or at the least in a neutral position; it should not be depressed. That means the north region is either depressed or neutral. I’m going to average out those regions so that the south (Vendhya) is mildly uplifted, while the northlands are mildly depressed.<br />
With that in mind, let’s proceed to map this out.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxcH8mNDVKBgnAK8Mcvo4OFNzPdaXWIFF2ly_DfP6wjd53taGl0IXb4mY91vCCdyL0SXsx1RtoaZPY1Bk0dyDVCePPr6QrNAiNQEUtvoczD7Tm2n08iqZxV-mGbwqqy-kXZDLKDs38SeY/s1600-h/Vilayet%5B2%5D.jpg"><img alt="Vilayet" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKVXJYHCHrHsxuVn_2VoUYxQxk8yAGg3m27_IMAFhc7R3_EdG4rI8Qka7aLnvHD9X6KVDABgTLMQOgvxrq0h8iqxOXthb2CkAWcDm5ALw6WDxwuyOf-nR58JcNiwQ1IbL9SEbJMNxSKzI/?imgmax=800" height="197" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Vilayet" width="244" /></a><br />
<b><u>Turan and the Vilayet (Inland) Sea</u></b><br />
<u> The eastern sections of the 3 Hyborian Age maps drawn by Robert E. Howard</u><br />
<u>Left: 1932-rough map - Turan is shown in its correct position, although the Vilayet is enlarged.</u><br />
<u>Center: 1932-final map - Turan isn't shown, and the Vilayet is in its final configuration.</u><br />
<u>Right: 1936 map - Turan is shown in a different configuration than the actual stories suggest.</u><br />
<u></u><br />
<b>TURAN</b><br />
The first land that I’m exploring is the Hyrkanian kingdom of Turan. It is a nation with lands originally extending primarily along the southwestern reaches of the Vilayet Sea; imperial ambitions caused it to expand dramatically during Conan’s lifetime. Howard’s stories show it expanding as far west as the Zamoran border and the Shemitish city of Shushan, southward to the city of Zamboula, as far north as Hyperborea, and eastward into Hyrkania and Ghulistan. Turan was founded relatively recently, perhaps a thousand years or so prior to Conan’s reign. A Hyrkanian tribe skirted the southern edge of the Vilayet and established the new nation on the sea’s southwestern shore. The capital of the nation is the great port-city of Aghrapur. Other major cities of Turan include Sultanapur, Khawarizm, Shahpur, Khorusun (Khurusun), Zamboula, and purple-gardened Akif.<br />
The people of Turan are a Lemurian race of southern Hyrkanian ancestry. They are dark-complected, tall and slender, with dark hair, dark eyes, and straight features. Turan’s gilt-helmeted swordsmen and horsemen wear silvered chain mail and are considered by Howard to be the most skilled archers in the Hyborian world.<br />
Turan is the only nation of the Blue East to be represented on Howard’s actual Hyborian Age maps. It first appears on his 1932-rough map, although it is depicted as a modestly-sized nation hugging a portion of the southwestern shore of a much enlarged Vilayet Sea. Turan doesn’t appear at all on Howard’s other 1932 map; instead the map just shows an undefined region under the catch-all name “Hyrkanians”. His third and final 1936 map depicts the standard Turanian nation that has appeared on every map until the late 70’s and on about half of the maps made since then. The 1938 LANY map produced by P. Schuyler Miller and John Clark is the first map to show several Turanian locations provided in the Howard stories, most notably Aghrapur, Khawarizm, and the Zaporoska River. Other maps since that time have added cities and rivers until we have reached the state of the current Hyborian-world maps.<br />
Interestingly enough, the information that Howard relates about Turan in his <b>The Hyborian Age</b> (written in early 1932), <b>Iron Shadows in the Moon</b> (written late 1932) and <b>The Devil in Iron</b> (written early 1933) conforms far closer to his drawing of Turan on the 1932-rough map version than to the depiction on his later 1936 map. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise, since this map is what Howard had to work with at the time he wrote the stories. Examination of the inconsistencies between the stories and the two maps can be revealing. <b>The Hyborian Age</b> states that the Hyrkanians established the nation of Turan on the southwestern shore of the great inland sea. The 1932-rough map shows this to be true, while the 1936 map really stretches the meaning of southwest to depict a nation that covers the lower 2/3rds of the entire western coast of the Vilayet. In <b>Iron Shadows in the Moon</b>, Conan describes his plan to escape Turan by rowing a boat from a point near the mouth of the Ilbars River: “<i>The southwestern shore is held by the Hyrkanians for hundreds of miles. We still have a long way to go before we pass beyond their northern boundaries. I intend to go northward, until I think we have passed them. Then we’ll turn westward, and try to land on the shore bordered by the uninhabited steppes</i>.” This plan is perfectly reasonable the way the Turanian nation is drawn on the 1932-rough map. Using the national borders from the 1936 map makes Conan look like he’s ignorant of the geography, since he now needs to row his boat over TWICE AS FAR to clear the boundaries of Turan by going northward instead of southward. Finally, Howard’s physical description of the southern Vilayet Sea in <b>The Devil in Iron</b> shows that the nation of Turan does not appear to extend all the way to the southernmost point of the sea. This is exactly the way Turan is depicted on the 1932-rough map; the 1936 map shows the nation’s southern boundary extending to the southern tip of the Vilayet. <br />
I’m torn between two positions on this issue. On one hand, Turan should be depicted on a map the way it’s described in the stories. On the other hand Turanian expansion during Conan’s lifetime makes Turan’s boundaries a moving target and in reality a moot point. The only real way I can reconcile the problems arising between stories and maps is to try to graft the 1932-rough map’s Turan onto the much smaller Vilayet Sea of the 1936 map. It’s not the perfect solution, but it’s the one that best serves the actual stories.<br />
The next step in mapping Turan is to define the course of the two major Turanian rivers; the Ilbars River from <b>Iron Shadows in the Moon</b> and the Zaporoska River from <b>The Devil in Iron</b>. From the stories it appears that the Zaporoska is the southernmost river and the Ilbars lies to the north of it.<br />
The Zaporoska River does not appear in its proper position on any map of the Hyborian world that I’ve ever seen. It was first depicted on the 1938 LANY map produced by P. Schuyler Miller and John Clark as being a Hyrkanian watercourse that drained into the extreme southern Vilayet Sea. Examining the internal evidence from <b>The Devil in Iron</b> does show the Zaporoska as emptying into the southern Vilayet, but from the Turanian side. This is how I see the case for a Turanian placement laying out.<br />
<b>The Devil in Iron</b> shows that Howard placed the Yuetshi homeland as being "<i>along the southern shore of the Sea of Vilayet since time immemorial</i>". He also describes the area around Xapur; "<i>The adjacent coast of the mainland was uninhabited, a reedy marsh given over to the grim beasts that haunted it. The (Yuetshi) fisher's village lay some distance to the south, on the mainland. A storm had blown his frail fishing craft far from his accustomed haunts, and wrecked it in a night of flaring lightning...</i>" So what this tells me is that the isle of Xapur lies to the north of the southern edge of the Vilayet, adjacent to either the western or eastern coast. While it is described as laying "<i>some distance</i>" and "<i>far</i>" from Yuetshi lands, it can really only be as far away as a small boat can be blown over the course of a single night. So it possibly lies within a hundred miles of the northern end of the Yuetshi homeland, but it is much more realistic to place it within fifty miles. Howard describes the lower reaches of the Zaporoska River as a “<i>wilderness of reeds</i>” and a “<i>swampy jungle</i>”. The "<i>reedy marsh</i>" adjacent to Xapur is the same area as "<i>the lower reaches of the Zaporoska</i>", since Conan was set to flee from the isle "<i>across the blue waters to the distant camp at the mouth of the Zaporoska</i>".<br />
Furthermore, <b>The Devil in Iron</b> relates that the role of the governor of Khawarizm is to "guard the frontier". This implies that the city is near the outer border of Turan, not near the heavily settled center of the nation. When Octavia escapes from Khawarizm, she steals a horse, rides all night to the edge of the sea, and swims out to Xapur. So Khawarizm isn't on the sea coast, and it isn't all that far from Conan's war camp on the Zaporoska River, either.<br />
Howard describes the Kozaki raiders as a force that bedevils the western frontiers of Turan: "<i>On the broad steppes between the Sea of Vilayet and borders of the easternmost Hyborian kingdoms, a new race had sprung up in the past half-century</i>…” It is important to note that Howard describes the location of the Kozaki in two stories: <b>The Devil in Iron</b> and <b>Iron Shadows in the Moon</b>. Both stories place these brigands in the same location; along the western borders of Turan. There is not one mention of the Kozaki either to the south or the east of the Sea of Vilayet. The site of Conan’s war camp seems ideally placed as an interface between the Kozaki to the west and the Hyrkanian pirates he deals with on the sea to the east. Textually, it seems reasonably certain that the Zaporoska River empties into the southern reaches of the Vilayet that lies within the land of Turan. Why the 1938 LANY map doesn't reflect this I can only guess. <br />
The Ilbars River is mentioned in <b>Iron Shadows in the Moon</b>, but the story doesn’t describe the course of the river at all. Its debut on a Hyborian map was on the modified David Kyle map that appeared in the Conan series published by Lancer Books. That map shows the Ilbars’ source lying far to the south in an Iranistani mountain range. Its course runs northward, paralleling the southeastern Vilayet for hundreds of miles before finally turning eastward and emptying into the sea near Aghrapur. Unfortunately, this placement conflicts with the details of Howard’s stories. <br />
The Ilbars River watercourse can’t be the way it’s depicted on the Lancer map because it would run into the Zaporoska River long before it got far enough north to make its eastward turn toward the Vilayet. The source of the Ilbars can only be the uplands to the west of Turan; in “<i>the mountains that fringe the eastern frontiers of Zamora</i>”. <br />
It seems fairly easy to reconstruct the nation of Turan using Howard’s descriptions. In a large part, its geography is defined by the western portion of the Vilayet Sea. The first thing I would do is draw Turan at the proper scale to the Sea of Vilayet. Turan is about a thousand miles long, according to the 1932-rough map, while Howard shows the Sea of Vilayet as being 2400 miles from its southernmost to northernmost points on his other two maps. The Turanian border would start around 300 miles from the southern tip of the Vilayet and extend in a rough arc northward, ending on the shore of the sea at a point 1,000 miles from where it began. This aligns it with the description given in the stories. In the far north of Turan, along the seacoast, would lie one of the nation’s major cities, which I believe would be Shahpur (if <b>The Devil in Iron</b> lists them in the order of importance). Along the coast to the southwest of that port-city would lie a huge swampland; the center of which is the estuary of the Ilbars River. The city of Akif would lie along the Ilbars River at the point where the fertile coastal plains turns into the western steppe. The source of the Ilbars would be the mountains to the west in Zamora. South of the swampland, on the westernmost bulge of the sea, would lie the second-greatest Turanian port, Sultanapur. South of that city would be the heartland of Turan; the fertile coastal plains between it and the opulent capital city of Aghrapur (the first city founded by the Hyrkanian settlers from the south). West of this heartland, on the boundary between the western steppes and the desert is the Turanian outpost of Vezek. I would make part of the southwestern shore of the Vilayet below Aghrapur another massive swampland; placing the estuary of the Zaporoska River in the center of it, adjacent to the Isle of Xapur and directly to the north of the city of Khawarizm. I would make its source be the eastern uplands of Koth (it’s the river that Conan observes while crucified on the cross that forms the southern boundary of Khauran) and its watercourse would roughly parallel the southern edge of the steppes, beyond which lies the southwestern desert lands. I would place Khawarizm on the coastal plains southwest of the swamp, near the edge of the desert. Fort Ghori lies to the northwest of the city, on the edge of the steppes. The Yuetshi homeland would lie to the south of the swamplands, in the coastal wastelands outside of Turan’s borders. The other two major Turanian cities lie outside of the nation’s official borders; Zamboula in the Kharamun Desert and Khorusun in Hyrkania.<br />
Historically, Turan was the Old Persian name for Turkestan. The nation was featured in the Persian Book of Kings, the <b>Shâhnâmeh</b>. Turan was continually trying to conquer ancient Iran and was constantly thwarted in its attempts by the Iranian hero, Rustam.<br />
<b>THE SEA OF VILAYET</b><br />
The Sea of Vilayet is a huge body of water that separate Howard’s Hyborian lands from the nations of the East. It is sometimes referred to as the Inland Sea and once as the Blue Sea. The sea is presumably a fresh-water sea, since it has no direct oceanic outlets (Hyrkanians rode around the north end as easily as the south end). The Sea has two rivers that are known to empty into it; the Ilbars and the Zaporoska. They are a myriad of uninhabited isles that dot the great Inland Sea. The southwestern (Turanian) coast is covered in reedy marshlands, while to the west lies grassland steppes and in the extreme north and south, deserts. The eastern coast is described as mountainous, with forested hills haunted by grey apes. The Sea was formed during the lesser cataclysm that shook the world five hundred years after the Great Cataclysm ended the Thurian world. The earliest known nation of the Vilayet was the city-state of Dagon on the isle of Dagonia (Xapur), destroyed, “<i>lost and forgotten before the conquering Hyborians had ridden southward</i>”. In Conan’s time the nation of Turan lies on its southwestern edge, while the land of Hyrkania lies to its east.<br />
The first map to show the Vilayet (Inland) Sea is the 1932-rough map that Howard drew. It shows a Vilayet that is nearly twice the size of the ones drawn on Howard’s other two maps. It encompasses the basins of both the Caspian and Aral Seas and it southern region is part of the Persian Gulf. Its northern end lies at about the same latitude as the nation of Hyperborea. Howard’s other 1932 and his 1936 maps both show a much smaller Vilayet Sea. The sea is now just an enlarged version of the Caspian Sea, and it no longer encompasses the Aral Sea, or the Persian Gulf. This version of the Vilayet Sea is 2400 miles long north to south and 500 miles east/west at its widest point. It is depicted on pretty much every map of the Hyborian world drawn since 1936.<br />
Historically, the Caspian (Mazandaran) Sea was also known as the Hyrcanium Mare. The closest approximation to the “Vilayet Sea” that I could discover was that it was called the Vaurukesh in Avesta (the old Persian language). The name Vilayet is the Turkish word for “province”.<br />
<b>HYRKANIA (HYRCANIA)</b><br />
The land of Hyrkania is far and away the largest political entity of the blue east. Hyrkania isn’t a nation as much as it’s a cultural region of nomadic horse-warrior clans and small independent city-states scattered across the country. It stretches from the mountainous eastern coast of the Inland Sea of Vilayet eastward to “<i>the very shores of the eastern ocean</i>”. It lies to the north of Iranistan, Ghulistan, the Himelian Mountains and Khitai. It is a land of semiarid prairie, steppes, tundra, and deserts. Interestingly, nearly every physical description of the land by Howard mentions its mountainous terrain. The forested hills of the mountains along the Vilayet are haunted by carnivorous grey apes. Hyrkanian ports lie to the south of the mountains along the southeast coast of the Vilayet Sea. The Hyrkanians are the descendants of Lemurian refugees that were enslaved by a race called the Khari. After thousands of years of brutal servitude, and approximately one thousand years after the Lesser Cataclysm, the Lemurians overthrew the Khari. The slaves were “<i>savages stalking among the ruins of a strange civilization</i>.” Hordes of these savage, former slaves spread up onto the fertile plains to the north of the destroyed Khari nation, forming the hunter/gatherer style culture that eventually became known as Hyrkania. During this time they domesticated the horse, learned mastery of the recurved bow, and perfected metallurgy to the point where they could design intricate silvered chain mail armor. After a period of several millennia in the Far East, nomadic Hyrkanians tribes began spreading westward into the heart of the continent, a process that lasted over the next several centuries. Their westward expansion was briefly obstructed by the impediment of the Vilayet Sea. The Hyrkanians finally entered into the western lands with the founding of the Hyrkanian nation of Turan on the western shores of the Vilayet, a thousand or so years prior to the reign of King Conan. The nomadic nation flowered around five hundred years after the death of Conan, when the fractious Hyrkanian tribes were united by a great chief who came riding from the very shores of the eastern ocean, and joined with Turan in destroying the eastern Hyborian nations in an irresistible surge. <br />
There are two types of Hyrkanian people described by Howard; “<i>The Hyrkanians are dark and generally tall and slender, though a squat slant-eyed type is more and more common among them, resulting from mixture with a curious race of intelligent, though stunted, aborigines, conquered by them among the mountains east of Vilayet, on their westward drift</i>.” <br />
The only actual Hyrkanian city mentioned by Howard in the Conan texts was the city of Khorusun (Khurusun). Thought to lie on the southeastern coast of the Vilayet Sea, the city sent troops on an invasion of Vendhya. It is interesting to note that Khorusun is listed in <b>The Devil in Iron</b> as one of five major Turanian cities, since it lies outside of Turan proper. It is my belief that Khorusun is the original home city-state of the Hyrkanian tribe that founded Turan. Most Hyborian world-maps also show the cities of Secunderam and Bhalkhan as Hyrkanian, but this is in error as they are Turanian-controlled cities of Ghulistan.<br />
Historical Hyrcania was the Greek name of Varkâna, a satrapy of Achaemenid Persia. The land lay on the southeastern coast of the Caspian (Hyrcanian) Sea.<br />
Personal note: After I first posted this essay, I realized that the Hyrkanians had been living on the fertile plains of northern China for something like 2,000-2,500 years before expanding into western Hyrkania. This implies that if there is a heavily settled, cultural center to the Hyrkanian nation, an "Old Hyrkania" as it were, it is in the east, along the shore of the Eastern Ocean and not in the west along the eastern edge of the Vilayet Sea. Nearly all of the pastiche works about Hyrkania and even the Mongoose role-playing game present Hyrkania's cultural region as being centered around the Vilayet Sea and the east as relatively undeveloped. I think that's the wrong way to look at it. <br />
I think a good model would be to view Hyrkania as something like the USA during the mid-19th century. Most of the US population lived along the eastern seaboard, and even though California and Oregon (think Turan) were settled in the west, nearly everything in between was lightly settled at best, with hunter-gatherer tribes roaming the wilder areas (though in this case they are nomadic Hyrkanian tribes).<br />
<b>IRANISTAN</b><br />
Howard provided practically no information on the nation of Iranistan in his Conan tales. Basically, we are told that that the nation is a monarchy and that the Iranistani people are the root race for the people of Ghulistan. That means that the Iranistani are a dark-eyed, white-skinned race. They have a dark-complexion (swarthy) and are excessively hairy. This is important because of the way that it impacts the regions around the nation within a historical context. <br />
The geography of Iranistan is completely unknown; Howard didn’t describe it at all. We can, however, make a few educated guesses based on what we know about how cultures evolve. Nearly every important ancient civilization makes its start along the floodplain of a permanent watercourse; Iranistan should be no different. The question is “Where does it start?” The regions lying to the west of Iranistan are for the most part desert. To the north lies the Sea of Vilayet and the lands surrounding it. If the river of Iranistan drained into the Vilayet Sea, then the nation would have eventually spread out along the Inland Sea. This would have seriously impacted the history of Turan as written by Howard. That means the river of Iranistan must drain into the ocean lying to its southeast. This implies that there needs to be a substantial mountain range lying to the north and possibly to the west of Iranistan to collect the moisture that serves as the source of the water for the river. These mountains are also important as they serve as a shield protecting Iranistan from the imperial ambitions of Turan.<br />
The Iranistani race is apparently tribal in nature, and as population pressures grew along the river, migrating tribal groups would head out in search for a new place to call home. The most promising directions to travel were south and east along the coasts of the ocean. This worked out well, as the Iranistani race spread itself eastward as far as Vendhya, northeast into Ghulistan and southern Hyrkania, and southward onto the grasslands north of Zembabwei. Eventually, a great charismatic leader arose in one of the cities along the river and consolidated the tribes into the nation of Iranistan. Building a nation wouldn’t have been easy and there is evidence of prior inhabitants being displaced and moving away; the Sons of Shem early on and possibly the Tlazitlans much later.<br />
The nation of Iranistan is an economical powerhouse. It acts as a crossroads, receiving trade from both the Black lands to the south and the nations of the East and channeling them to the west into Stygia and north to Turan. Turan has recently usurped Iranistan’s role by capturing the Stygian city of Zamboula; it now controls all major trade routes to the West.<br />
There are no specific Iranistani locations mentioned in Howard’s Conan saga, however I believe it’s likely that Ghaza is located between the Iranistani river and the (possibly volcanic) western mountains. <b>The Man-Eaters of Zamboula</b> describes the selling of cheap Ghazan wine in the city of Zamboula, and it makes more sense that this cheap wine is produced locally instead of fifteen-hundred to the west in the meadowlands of Shem. According to apocryphal texts, the capital of Iranistan is called Anshan.<br />
The only mention in Howard's corpus of stories of a possible Iranistani city appears in his oriental adventure story, <b>The Blood of Belshazzar</b>. In the tale, Howard describes a sunken city lying far below the surface of the Green Sea (the Persian Gulf). Since Howard's maps show the Persian Gulf region to be above sea level during the Hyborian Age, this sunken city most likely dates from that era. The unnamed city is described as being built of marble and lapis lazuli, and Iranistan was certainly advanced enough, and wealthy enough, to construct such a place. The pearl diver that discovered the lost city also found a huge ruby of rare beauty in the talons of a monstrous, mummified king sitting upon a jade throne. This implies that the Iranistani placed some import on publicly displaying the remains of their cultural leaders. What is interesting is that the dead king is described as being both monstrous and mummified; features that tenuously link Iranistan to Old Stygia, and its Giant-Kings. Food for thought, at least...<br />
Historically, the ancient country of Aryānām was renamed Persia until recently, when it became known as Iran.<br />
<b>GHULISTAN AND THE HIMELIAN MOUNTAINS </b><br />
Ghulistan is a mountainous land that lies to the southeast of Turan and to the northwest of Verndhya. According to Howard’s synopsis of <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>, Ghulistan isn’t just a wilderness region as most people believe, but an actual nation. His synopsis states that “<i>The armies of Turan had marched through their valleys but had not conquered the hill tribes. The chief cities, Hirut, Secunderam, Bhalkhan, were in the hands of the Turanians but Khahabhul, where dwelt the king of Ghulistan, whose rule the tribes seldom acknowledge, was free, and the Turanians made no attempt to tax or otherwise oppress the mountain tribes</i>”. <br />
As far as I can determine, Howard’s depiction of Ghulistan in <b>The People of the Black Circle</b> isn’t far removed from the description in the synopsis. Ghulistan in the actual story is presented as a nation that has been torn asunder. The governor of Peshkhauri relates that the Turanians are stirring up the Ghulistani hill-tribes into raiding the borders of Vendhya and have “<i>established themselves in Secunderam and the other northern cities, though the hill tribes remain unconquered</i>”. The synopsis shows that Secunderam and Bhalkhan are cities of Ghulistan, not Hyrkanian cities as they are usually depicted on most other maps. There is even evidence that Ghulistan has a capital. The synopsis states that the capital is named Khahabhul. When Howard wrote <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>, he apparently changed the name from Khahabhul to Khorbhul, since it is obvious that both names are phonetic variants of Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul. It is interesting that the city of Khorbhul is not specifically named as being Ghulistan’s capital in <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>, but rather is supposed to become the capital of the Himelian empire that Gitara fantasizes about. The city is firmly located in Ghulistan, however, since Khemsa’s hired army was supposed to capture the city, drive the Turanians out of the surrounding hills, and then turn and conquer the kingdoms to the south. This makes for a reasonable assumption that Khorbhul is the capital of Ghulistan.<br />
It’s actually pretty easy to reconstruct the nation of Ghulistan. In a large part, its geography is defined by the western portion of the Himelian Mountains. Westward from the Zhiabar region the massive ramparts break into two long ranges, although both are still identified as being part of the Himelians. The southern range (proto-Karakorum range) runs to the southwest and is the western border of the land of Vendhya and possibly the northern border of other unidentified nations. The higher northern range (proto-Hindu Kush range) runs nearly straight west, bisecting the nation of Ghulistan. North of the northern range is the region where the Turanian-controlled cities of Hirut, Secunderam, and Bhalkhan lie. There are two accessible passes across the northern range. The easternmost one is called the Shalizah Pass and it lies nearly directly north of the Zhiabar region of Ghulistan. The westernmost pass is called the Amir Jehun Pass and it lies high on the south end of the Gurashah valley astride the main road from Secunderam to the Afghulistani region of Ghulistan. The bulk of southern Ghulistan lies between the two arms of the Himelian Mountains; a western lowland region known as Afghulistan that contains the capital city of Khorbhul and a broken, untamed eastern region populated by fractious hill tribes. The main part of <b>The People of the Black Circle</b> is set in the eastern hill region where men lived by the law of the knife. The northeastern tribes are the Dagozai, who abide in the area around Shalizah Pass. The southeast is home to the Zhiabari hill tribes, who naturally live in the region on the north side of Zhiabar Pass. In the valleys to the west of the Zhiabari live the Wazuli tribes of Khurum, Khojur, and Jugra. North of the Wazuli region lies the tribes of the Galzai, who live within sight of Mount Yimsha to the northwest in the northern range. The westernmost part of this hill-country is dominated north to south by the fierce Afghuli tribes. Conan’s base of operation is in the Afghuli hill-country at a place called Ghor. A final tribe of Ghulistan is mentioned in the story called the Khurakzai. Their location is not specifically given, although they live near the Afghuli tribes. I believe that they abide in the hills to the west of Amir Jehun Pass on the south side the northern range.<br />
The inhabitants of Ghulistan are derived from the same racial stock as the people of Iranistan. They are hairy, swarthy-skinned white people with dark eyes. I believe that the first Iranistani migrants into the Ghulistan region founded a nation called Afghulistan in the southwest. The nation eventually expanded, incorporating the unaffiliated tribes to the east as well as moving onto the plains north of the Himelians. They renamed their country Ghulistan to reflect the mixed tribal status.<br />
In historical Asia, this area would be considered Afghanistan, with its capital of Kabul and the Khyber Pass. Interestingly enough, a real-world version of Mount Yimsha exists; Tirich Mir, the highest mountain in the Hindu Kush range. The inhabitants used to avoid it because of all the Jinns, demons, witches and fairies who lived up there.<br />
<b>VENDHYA</b><br />
Vendhya is the wealthiest of the “<i>golden kingdoms</i>” that lie to the south of the Himelian Mountains. It figures quite prominently in the Howard tale, <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>. Vendhyans wear distinctive robes made of filmy, gossamer silk, and their religion involves the worship of their principle deity, the god Asura.<br />
The best described part of the nation is the northern province around the city of Peshkhauri. According to Howard, Peshkhauri is located where “<i>the hot Vendhyan plains meet the crags of the Himelians</i>”. The foothills of the Himelian Mountains, an hour’s ride to the north and west of the city, are cleft by the famed Zhiabar Pass, beyond which lies the land of Ghulistan. Hill-tribes of the Irakzai make their abode in the lower Himelian foothills and the river valleys to the south of the Zhiabar Pass. The area to the south of Peshkhauri is where the geology of Vendhya created by Howard seems somewhat at variance with the way that the previous cartographers have presented it. All of the prior map-makers have shown the nation of Vendhya as encompassing the entire Indian sub-continent. That doesn’t track with the way Howard presents Vendhya. First of all is the location of the Jhumda River. Most cartographers show it as a proto-Indus River, running from Peshkhauri along the western border of Vendhya to the sea. Howard’s synopsis of <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>, describes the Jhumda River as lying somewhere to the south of Peshkhauri. Beyond the river, further south, lies Ayodhya, the capital of Vendhya. Ayodhya, according to Howard, lies within the nation’s “<i>southern provinces</i>”. Combine this with Howard’s description of Yasmina as having been “<i>born in the hot, luxuriant southern plains</i>”, and it becomes apparent that the southernmost provinces of Vendhya are located on the plains of the northern Indian sub-continent. It certainly isn’t described as extending very far into the jungle regions of the southern sub-continent, if at all. One further location is mentioned in <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>; Jhelai, a place in Vendhya with caves beneath it. Its location isn’t certain, however it most likely lies in the south since Yasmina visited the place prior to her journey to Peshkhauri.<br />
The inhabitants of Vendhya are a race that resembles the olive-skinned people of old Kosala, according to the Conan story, <b>Red Nails</b>. The rulers of Vendhya are the Kshatriyas, the dark-eyed, white-skinned race that make up the warrior nobility. The Kshatriyan rule of Vendhya extends back into antiquity, since the traditions of “<i>a thousand generations of sovereignship</i>” were the heritage of the Devi Yasmina, described by Howard as being the “<i>daughter of</i> <i>a thousand proud emperors</i>”. It seems fairly obvious that the Kshatriyas are another branch of white-skinned Iranistani stock, although far removed by time. The Devi Yasmina was effectively disguised as a Ghulistani hill-woman by replacing her distinctive Vendhyan robes with simple Galzai garments. Also, part of the Devi’s royal education was learning the language of Iranistan and the kindred tongues of Ghulistan, which implies that those people hold some import to the Kshatriyan nobility.<br />
Howard’s Vendhya seems to call to mind on an ancient Hindu text, the <b>Ramayana</b> and its legends of the empire of Rama and his glittering capital city of Ayodhya in an archaic India long since vanished.<br />
Historically, the name Vendhya comes from the Vindhya Mountains of India. Howard’s fictional nation seems to parallel the ancient Indus-valley civilization of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, which covered all of Pakistan and much of northern India. First discovered in 1856 and finally excavated starting in the 1920’s, almost no information about this civilization existed in Howard’s day.<br />
<b>KOSALA (KHOSALA)</b><br />
The nation of Kosala is one of the kingdoms that lie to the south of the Himelian Mountains. Howard never actually showed Conan visiting the country; most of what we know is second-hand information. A short description of the people and history of Kosala is given in <b>Red Nails</b>. The original inhabitants of Old Kosala apparently have “Lemurian” roots, since they were “<i>slender, olive-skinned men and women with finely chiseled, exotic features</i>”. They wore filmy robes and many delicate jeweled ornaments. The powerful nobility of Old Kosala included wizards, steeped in the necromantic arts, wielding powerful magical weapons. Even so, the people of Old Kosala seem to prize peace greatly. A number of them were eventually driven into exile when the present-day inhabitants came up from the south and took over the nation. The exiles wandered westward into the black kingdoms, founding the city of Xuchotl. While <b>Red Nails</b> doesn’t tell us what these present-day inhabitants of Kosala look like, a description of one can be found in <b>The Man-Eaters of Zamboula</b>. A Kosalan, Baal-Pteor, is described as being brown-skinned, with black hair and black eyes. He was a Strangler of Yajur, a priest in the Kosalan city of Yota-pong. Thus, it’s logical to assume that Kosala is racially diverse; brown-skinned people from the south mixing with the olive-skinned “Lemurian” stock.<br />
The first map to show the location of Kosala was Tim Conrad’s back in 1975. His map placed Kosala west of Vendhya, south of Ghulistan, and east of Iranistan. While I don’t know what his actual reasoning was for this placement, I imagine it had to do with Conan claiming that his familiarity with Kosalan physiology occurred during his stint as an Afghuli war-chief. The Cimmerian planned to raise a horde to plunder the kingdoms to the south. So Conrad decided that Kosala must be one of those kingdoms south of Ghulistan. Even though his placement of Kosala seems reasonable, it is hardly compelling. Conan’s familiarity with the Kosalan people could be due to his looting of their caravans instead of his pillaging the nation’s villages. Even so, every single Hyborian world-map from 1975 to present mirrors Tim Conrad’s placement of Kosala. <br />
The Conrad placement is troublesome because it is inconsistent with what little we know about the nation from Howard’s descriptions. <b>Red Nails</b> states Kosala was invaded by a race from the south, but Conrad’s placement shows an un-named sea to the south. Assuming that the invasion came from the southwest or the southeast also presents problems. An invasion from the southwest would be from Iranistan, a desert nation of swarthy-skinned white people. An invasion from the southeast would have to come from Vendhya, a land with two racial components as described by Howard; the white-skinned Kshatriyans and a race resembling the olive-skinned people of old Kosala. Any invasion by Vendhya would be a Kshatriyan invasion, since they constitute the warrior caste. Which means that, from either direction, the new Kosalan overlords would be white, not the brown-skinned race described in <b>The Man-Eaters of Zamboula</b>. It’s also troubling that Kosala isn’t described by Howard as having a white-skinned racial component, since Conrad has it surrounded by nations that are either completely (Ghulistan, Iranistan) or partially (Vendhya) white. <br />
The Kosalan invasion was described by Howard in his final Conan story, <b>Red Nails</b>. He had to have known where Vendhya and Kosala lay in relation to each other, since both nations had been previously mentioned in several earlier tales. If Vendhya was the invading nation, why didn’t Howard just say so? If he intended for Kosala to be one of the “<i>golden kingdoms</i>” south of Ghulistan, and to use an un-named Vendhya as the invasion source, why didn’t he state that the invasion came from the east instead of the south? Another point to consider is that an invasion of Kosala from southland nations beyond either Iranistan or Vendhya would pose the problem of why neither nation was overthrown by the brown-skinned invaders prior to their settling in Kosala. A successful large-scale invasion by sea, while not impossible, seems rather unlikely. All of these irksome problems do nothing to recommend Kosala being one of those kingdoms south of Ghulistan. So where is it?<br />
In <b>Red Nails</b>, Conan comments that the friezes of Xuchotl resemble Easterners; either Vendhyans or Kosalans. This suggests that the land’s original populations derived from a common source and that the two nations border on each other. The geography of <b>The People of the Black Circle</b> makes it clear that Kosala doesn’t lie to the north of Vendhya, and the evidence of Howard’s own writings pretty much discounts that it could lie to the west, either. There is quite a bit of circumstantial evidence to support a placement to the east of Vendhya. First of all, the name of the Kosalan city of Yota-pong sounds far-eastern, almost as if it were from the Indo-China region (like Hong Kong or Ha Long Bay, or the Mekong River, for examples) of Asia. Another point of evidence revolves around the use of the mineral jade. In <b>Red Nails</b>, Conan speaks of looting Khitaian caravans of their jade, so it seems reasonable that the use of jade is a unique part of the Khitaian cultural landscape. Yet, the Kosalans also show the same affinity toward jade, since the exiles from Old Kosala used jade as the primary building material when building Xuchotl. Both of these examples show the effect of cultural cross-pollination between Old Kosala and Khitai. <br />
One subtle point of evidence revolves around the king of Vendhya’s relationship with the Kosalan princess. In <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>, Howard writes that the princess of Khosala loved Bhunda Chand vainly. She asks him for a lock of his hair as a token of remembrance, which he provides. Agents for the Black Seers steal the lock of hair. Howard writes: <i>“Then the genuine lock travelled by camel-caravan up the long, long road to Peshkhauri, thence up the Zhaibar Pass, until it reached the hands of those for whom it was intended.”</i> A trip from the capital of Kosala to Mount Yimsha really isn’t much more than a couple of hundred miles, if the country was located as per Tim Conrad. However, a trip from the eastern part of the Vendhyan sub-continent to Mount Yimsha covers nearly a thousand miles and would definitely qualify as a “<i>long, long</i>” journey. Finally, there is the historical location of Kosala. <br />
In historical India, the land of Kosala existed as part of King Asoka’s empire in the time of the Buddha (circa 500 B.C.). It was located on the fertile plains of the Ganges River on the East Indian subcontinent and its capital was the city of Ayodhya (Saketa).<br />
It seems fairly obvious that Kosala must lie to the east between Vendhya and Khitai. This leaves the southern jungles of the Vendhyan subcontinent free to be the homeland of the brown-skinned race that invaded Kosala and aligns the region with Howard’s imagination. It resolves all of the niggling inconsistencies.<br />
Personal note: In my essay, <b>The Mystery of the Green-stone Cities</b>, I speculated that Old Kosala was founded by migrants from the dissolution of the empire called “Lemuria of the East”. My moving Kosala from the west of Vendhya to the east has no real effect on my theory. If anything, it’s made it more interesting, since a case can be made that conflict between Old Kosala and the Khari nation may have weakened the Khari to the point that a successful Lemurian slave rebellion was inevitable. I also like the notion that the archaic magical traditions of “Lemuria of the East” were the building blocks for the wizards of the East becoming more powerful than those in the West. It seems a reasonable assumption that Kosala is the foundation of Eastern magical practices, since a Kosalan, Baal-Pteor, attempts to use mesmerism magic against Conan in <b>The Man-Eaters of Zamboula </b>and <b>The People of the Black Circle</b> has Howard stating that most Eastern magic is illusion based on hypnotism (mesmerism).<br />
<b>KHITAI</b><br />
Khitai is a mysterious Far-Eastern nation referred to in several of Howard’s stories. Khitians are an ancient yellow-skinned race, ranging from powerful wizards plumbing the “<i>deeper gulfs of cosmic sorcery</i>”, to kindly jungle-folk. The people wear colorful robes made of silk. The history of Khitai is complex and intriguing. Originally, this region was inhabited by the Khari, a dusky-skinned race from across the sea. When the Great Cataclysm occurred, yellow-skinned refugees from the island nation of Lemuria fled to the lands of the Khari hoping to find shelter. Instead, they were enslaved by the ancient race and forced into brutal servitude that lasted for millennia. Eventually, the Lemurians, who had been reduced to a brutish level by the harshness of their slavery, rebelled and completely destroyed the Khari civilization. Howard wrote that the Lemurian slaves were “<i>savages stalking among the ruins of a strange civilization</i>.” It is at this point where Howard leaves a large gap in the history of these people; further history requires a bit of extrapolation. Apparently some of the yellow-skinned savages settled in the jungles while a large number spread up onto the fertile plains to the north, forming a hunter/gatherer style culture that eventually became known as Hyrkania. The brutishness of their slavery had eradicated all trace of their own Lemurian culture; they were a people who had lost their past. Fortunately, an ancient civilization espousing Lemurian values existed to their immediate west; the land of Old Kosala. They raised the jungle-folk up from their ignorance and reminded them what it was to be Lemurian. The newly formed nation of Khitai owed a great deal to their western partner. They regained their culture, their style of magic, even their love of jade - the revered mineral that reminded them of their oceanic origins. Unfortunately they also inherited the propensity for devil-worship, “<i>owning no gods save the demons of the Outer Gulfs</i>”. This is how Yag-kosha came to dwell as a god among the ruined temples of jungle-lost Khitai, “<i>where the grey apes danced to the pipes of the yellow-skinned priests</i>”. Another interesting point is that Khitaian galleys were visiting the lands of the Unknown West approximately 1500 years prior to Conan’s reign, according to <b>Marchers of Valhalla</b>. Khitai must be a pretty robust maritime nation; understandable given its Lemurian origins.<br />
Every single Hyborian world-map portrays the nation of Khitai as occupying the entire land of China, starting with the 1975 Tim Conrad map. This is a bit at variance with the way that Howard describes the county in his Conan stories. Every single description shows Khitai to be a “<i>jungle-lost</i>” land; a place of “<i>haunted, forbidden jungles</i>”. Some understandably exotic foliage grows in those Khitaian jungles; black lotus and a living Tree of Death. Even the nation’s capital lies amid the jungle, since the wizard that rescued Salome took her to “<i>purple-towered Paikang, its minarets rising amid the vine-festooned jungles of bamboo</i>”. I determined in an earlier essay that the earth’s climate during the Hyborian Age isn’t really much different from our present climate. For Khitai to exist as a jungle land, it needs to lie much farther to the south, in the present day regions of Southern China and Indo-China (South East Asia). <br />
Historically, Khitai was the Tartar name for China.<br />
<b>***</b><br />
<b>TERRA INCOGNITO</b><br />
<b>GOLDEN KINGDOMS SOUTH OF THE HIMELIANS</b><br />
The Conan story <b>The People of the Black Circle</b> implies that a number of “<i>golden kingdoms</i>” lie on the plains to the south of the Himelian Mountains of Ghulistan. The size and number of these nations are unknown, however the easternmost one was Vendhya and Iranistan is probably the westernmost. A small amount of information can be inferred about homogeneous nature of this region from the clues Howard gives us. Howard claims that the rulers of these kingdoms were considered little short of divine. This implies that the nations share a very similar set of religious values, if not a common religion. Part of the Vendhyan Devi’s royal education was learning the language of Iranistan and the kindred tongues of Ghulistan. There is no mention of the languages spoken in these southern kingdoms, which implies that they probably speak Iranistani. Since Iranistani settlers populated this region, it’s a fairly safe theory that the “<i>golden kingdoms</i>” were once provinces and/or city-states that broke away from their motherland. The southern kingdoms figured prominently in the plans of several characters in <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>. Conan came into Ghulistan with the express purpose of raising a horde to plunder the kingdoms to the south. The same nations, situated to the south of Khorbhul, were to be the building blocks in Gitara’s fantasy of empire. Conan makes reference to the political nature of these lands when he speculates that Yasmina’s fate is to “<i>marry some withered old king of the plains</i>”.<br />
From a purely speculative standpoint, I imagine that the names of these small kingdoms reflect their Iranistani heritage; they would most likely be “Howardized” versions of actual historical Persian provinces. One example would be Bakhtrish (Bactria), because its capital could be Bakhaurus, a city that Howard refers to in a couple of stories; it makes those impressive Bakhauriot (Bakhariot) belts and girdles. Another interesting name would be Kherdistan.<br />
There is mention of one of these “<i>golden kingdoms</i>” in one of the apocryphal writings. According to the text in question, there is a small nation named Venji that lies directly to the east of Iranistan, to the south of a mountain range. Its capital of Tarqheba lay on the county’s seacoast. The text stated that the Turanians invaded the country and renamed it Venjipur. The text also states that the land is a rainy, jungle country, which really isn’t possible for this region.<br />
<b>REGION SOUTH OF VENDHYA/KOSALA</b><br />
There is a region that lies to the south of the hot Vendhyan plains; the rain-forested part of the subcontinent. In the tale <b>Red Nails</b>, Howard explains that the ancestors of the people dwelling in present-day Kosala came up from the south and drove the original inhabitants of Old Kosala into exile. The Old Kosalans were olive-skinned people, while <b>The Man-Eaters of Zamboula</b> describes a different ethnic type of Kosalan; one having a dark brown-skin tone. It seems logical to conclude that the southern part of the Vendhyan subcontinent is inhabited by a brown-skinned folk.<br />
It is unknown whether there are nations, city-states, or unaffiliated tribes inhabiting the area. It could be some of them; it could be all of them. While Howard doesn’t actually place a specific group of people into this area, he does describe a member of a group that may fit the bill nicely. In the city of Zamboula, Conan ogled a handsome, brown-skinned woman at the Sword-Maker’s Bazaar. Howard called the woman a Ghanara. Several of the Conan gazetteers tend to equate the Ghanara with another people called the Ghanata; treating the name as a variant spelling. This is wrong for two reasons: Ghanara have brown-skin and Ghanatas are described as black-skinned. Also, she is referred to as a Ghanara, which means that she’s a member of the Ghanar tribe. Ghanatas are members of the Ghanata tribe. They are two different peoples. Since there is no mention of where the brown-skinned Ghanara make their home, I think that it is perfectly reasonable to assume that they live in the jungle region to the south of Vendhya and Kosala – in the land of brown-skinned people.<br />
Another group of people presumably living in this area are a small enclave of Picts. According to <b>Marchers of Valhalla</b>, the Picts were living “<i>among the jungle-clad hills of a far land that marked the easternmost drift of his race</i>…” and were discovered by a wandering horde of Æsir. The trail of the Æsir led to a land whose description sounds very much like the Vendhyan subcontinent; “<i>the land of palm trees and elephants</i>”. From Vendhya, their travels led to the eastern coast of ancient Asia and then northward toward Beringia. The only jungles that the Æsir would have traversed would have been on the Vendhyan subcontinent and in the lands of Kosala and Khitai. Since the Picts are so irrepressible, it seems less than likely that Kosala and Khitai would have tolerated them in their countries; thus a placement in the jungles south of Vendhya.<br />
<b>REGION NORTH OF HYRKANIA</b><br />
Howard, in a 1936 letter to P. Schuyler Miller wrote about a land that lay north of Hyrkania: “<i>(Conan) travelled widely, not only before his kingship, but after he was king. He travelled to Khitai and Hyrkania, and to the even less known regions north of the latter and south of the former.</i>” While we will never know exactly what Howard meant for this region to entail, it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s a different cultural milieu than that of Hyrkania. If I were to hazard a guess, I believe that the people of this region are probably related to the intelligent, slant-eyed aborigines of the western Hyrkanian mountains, most likely the ancestors of present-day East Asians. The region would be located somewhere to the north of either central or eastern Hyrkania, since northwestern Hyrkania stretches to the northern tip of the Sea of Vilayet. Howard never placed anything in this region, although the apocryphal texts claimed that the land of Pathenia lay far to the north of Khitai.<br />
<b>REGION SOUTH OF KHITAI</b><br />
In the same statement referenced in the previous entry, Howard wrote about a little known land that lay to the south of the nation of Khitai. Intriguingly enough, the most likely candidate for this region would be the long-lost Southeast Asian subcontinent of Sundaland. Due to tectonic activity and rising sea-levels, Sundaland broke up shortly after the end of the Ice Age into the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. An area larger than India, Sundaland is considered by experts to be the homeland of the Austronesian peoples. One thing is certain; the region would have provided unique challenges to anyone making his home there. Sundaland’s coastlines were extremely low-lying and prone to frequent flooding and the lands would have been racked by violent volcanic and seismic events.<br />
Unfortunately, we have no real way of knowing what Howard’s conception of the region would have actually entailed; whether there were civilized kingdoms or a wilderness area. The only location in this area that he mentions is from <b>Rogues in the House</b>. The story describes a place lying beyond the land of Khitai called the Swamps of the Dead. The insanity-inducing gray lotus grows in this swamp. It makes sense to place it here since Sundaland would, in large parts, be a swampy, tropical rainforest.<br />
<b>***</b><br />
My map is going to follow in the tradition of my Stygia/Black nations map and appear in much the same way that Howard’s handmade maps appeared. It won’t be all-inclusive and show every point of interest; only the nations and a few land formations are shown. I will save the more inclusive map for a later time. All in all, I think that this exercise worked out really well; I really feel that the most accurate cartographic excursion of the region that I’ve seen. It fits with literally everything that Howard wrote on the subject of the “Blue East”. That was, after all, the entire reason for doing it.<br />
<br />
<b>T</b>he Blue East essay and map, Copyright 2006-2010 Dale E. Rippke<br />
All rights reservedDarkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18275846242078447111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-250805321787386322010-12-11T14:58:00.001-06:002011-12-11T07:11:54.895-06:00To the Styx and BeyondCartographic Curiosities of the Hyborian Age, part 2<br />
By Dale E Rippke<br />
<br />
<b>This revised article originally appeared in two parts as:</b><br />
<h3>
<b>Stygia and the Black Kingdoms, part 1 (REHUPA #189)</b></h3>
<h3>
<b>Stygia and the Black Kingdoms, part 2 (REHUPA #193)</b></h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgppxyGvQuiREs1gRvWmBdzsxf8y_iwC7t5KbwC0e4HzOzi1ABbyk5912LXTs-NiEh74MqwzFy_xJcrkHe2WqSv4-rLllJow-pXCgTTcUEyuCiDP36kAT84BYtGn1xsdFdeRVF7hg5xpE/s1600-h/Africa1%5B2%5D.jpg"><img alt="Africa1" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicPrB6YVOPC52-69I5YbUbQW_NFHuIK6N8U4IQ63Mi4Q_uA67wZc-CkCRHqUMbiFoeFAIHq83OD5Ghvmqk6JjRMdWQ5OX002S5yPlAelTyi82UJ_VReaBEznJr3QcqkRUUbGVH2RjQROw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Africa1" width="218" /></a><br />
<b><u>Stygia and the Black Kingdoms of Kush</u></b><br />
<u> researched and created by Dale E Rippke</u><br />
<br />
It was with great anticipation and a modicum of enthusiasm that I finally cracked opened my copy of Del Rey’s THE COMING OF CONAN THE CIMMERIAN. The long wait had ended; I finally got to see the two maps of Hyboria drawn by the hand of Robert E. Howard, the world’s creator, in 1932.<br />
Both maps were drawn by hand, over what appears to be a tracing of a Mercator projection of Europe/North Africa. While I have no way of positively knowing which map was drawn first, the map on page 425 seems somewhat more “roughly sketched” than the map on page 423. This impression is reinforced by the recent identification of a third Howard-drawn map published in Starmont’s A GAZETEER OF THE HYBORIAN WORLD OF CONAN, published during the late seventies. This third map, which Howard sent to P. Schuyler-Miller in 1936, is a more detailed copy of the page 423 map, and tends to confirm the notion that the page 425 map was Howard’s rough draft.<br />
The two maps, 1932-rough (page 425) and 1932-final (page 423), while largely identical, contain several interesting differences. The two maps are drawn at slightly different latitudes. The 1932-rough map shows part of the southern nation of Stygia while relegating the northern nations (Nordhiemr and Hyperborea) to mere border areas. The 1932-final map reverses this showing the northern nations in full (for the most part) while dropping nearly all of Stygia off map with the exception of its northern border, the River Styx. Other differences include the size and location of Turan and the Inland (Vilayet) Sea, as well as the border areas between Argos, Koth, and Shem, and the border areas between Zingara and Pictland.<br />
In 1936, Howard received a fan letter from P. Schuyler-Miller containing a Hyborian world map that he and Dr. John Clark had created. Howard claimed that their map was surprisingly accurate considering how vague the data incorporated into it was. Having drawn quite a few maps in my time, I feel pretty safe to say that the accuracy shown by the two fans was mostly due to the cartographic relationships between the various Hyborian countries and not so much as to the actual size and shape of each nation. It would be enlightening to actually examine this fan-produced map; unfortunately it seems to have disappeared with Howard’s death.<br />
Howard addressed the matter of the fan-map and his take on the cartography of the Hyborian world in his return letter to Schuyler-Miller: “<i>I have the original map - that is the one I drew up when I first started writing about Conan-- around here somewhere and I'll see if I can't find it and let you have a look at it. It includes only the countries west of Vilayet and north of Kush. I've never attempted to map the southern and eastern kingdoms, though I have a fairly clear outline of their geography in my mind. However, in writing about them I feel a certain amount of license, since the inhabitants of the western Hyborian nations were about as ignorant concerning the peoples and countries of the south and east as the people of medieval Europe were ignorant of Africa and Asia. In writing about the western Hyborian nations I feel confined within the limits of known and inflexible boundaries and territories, but in fictionizing the rest of the world, I feel able to give my imagination freer play. That is, having adopted a certain conception of geography and ethnology, I feel compelled to abide by it, in the interests of consistency. My conception of the east and south is not so definite or so arbitrary.” </i><br />
It appears that Miller/Clark’s cartographic depiction of Kush disturbed Howard, since he felt the need to explain his vision to them: “<i>Concerning Kush, however, it is one of the black kingdoms south of Stygia, the northern-most, in fact, and has given its name to the whole southern coast. Thus, when an Hyborian speaks of Kush, he is generally speaking of not the kingdom itself, one of many such kingdoms, but of the Black Coast in general. And he is likely to speak of any black man as a Kushite, whether he happens to be a Keshani, Darfari, Puntan, or Kushite proper. This is natural, since the Kushites were the first black men with whom the Hyborians came in contact - Barachan pirates trafficking with and raiding them.</i>” It would be interesting to see what the fans had wrong about Kush’s cartography. It sounds like they that they had just made the nation of Kush a far bigger place than Howard imagined it to be.<br />
Howard responded to the fan letter by sending P. Schuyler-Miller an updated version of his Hyborian world map (the page 423 final map), detailing the locations of a number of cities, as well as adding a couple of countries (Khauran and Khoraja). He also showed the direction of several off-map cities and countries by the use of pointers. This is the map that was incorrectly identified as being the map created by John Clark and P. Schuyler-Miller in A GAZETEER OF THE HYBORIAN WORLD OF CONAN. <br />
<b>THE LANY MAP</b><br />
Two years after Howard’s death in June 1936, the LANY Corporation published a booklet titled THE HYBORIAN AGE. Its contents included Howard’s essay, “The Hyborian Age” as well as “A Probable Outline of Conan’s Career” by P. Schuyler-Miller and Dr. John Clark. The booklet also contained a map of the Hyborian lands, drawn by Miller and Clark, and based on the map that Howard had mailed them. The LANY map was the first Hyborian Age map that the general public had ever seen, and has since become the basis for all of the maps that have been produced over the decades.<br />
So how accurate is it?<br />
For the most part, it’s pretty darn close. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they traced Howard’s map, the differences between the two are really minimal. The LANY map doesn’t show the world as far north as the Howard map does, but it does show various rivers, as well as the nation of Stygia and the lands to its south, something the Howard map lacks. In essence, Miller and Clark conjured the southern section of the map out of clues and hints in the texts and grafted the result onto their map. By claiming that the LANY map was based on a map prepared by Robert E. Howard, they gave the impression that every feature on their map had its origin on Howard’s map, an impression that is simply not true.<br />
So once again the question seems to be “How accurate is it?”<br />
The answer would seem to be “Fairly close, but there seem to be some serious problems with it”.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMlhuDDI1IeTMr45YvZ5Q5_63o399BRFRGG74v2Q_z0wq0lOrfGtDHaujlpgrWxkrv30mL8UZk_WMDWPBhsAzZdeW-EhXdyvnJ8PTUB5rC02xAWkEbHTQeFSKFaH35UWkOOORgsn4NNBw/s1600-h/LanyStygia1%5B2%5D.jpg"><img alt="LanyStygia1" border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAmIxUfHEOUaL9YS_JdZKziUXDJUcy9s8FOkqORCJDOHASa-bseaU57rLGhVf5UG-LLTaD0BNQq7_dRhIHdbsz6M17IsKlfVopk7l2I0GVwvqleqbSdecTMQls8oOE_1ZJzMjvKeH7CA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="LanyStygia1" width="244" /></a><br />
<b><u>Stygia and the tier of Black Kingdoms</u></b><br />
<u>A portion of the 1938 LANY map drawn by P. Schuyler-Miller and Dr. John Clark </u><br />
<br />
The biggest problem with the LANY map seems to be along the southern border of Stygia. Miller and Clark show a tier of nations comprised of (west to east) Kush, Darfar, Keshan, Punt, and Zembabwei. A careful reading of the Conan tales will pretty much dispel the notion that the relationships between these nations are laid out this manner. Curiously, they seem to have even ignored Howard's own letter to them in which he stated that Kush was the northern-most of the black nations.<br />
I would speculate that the reason Miller and Clark created the tier was twofold. First, they were running out of space at the bottom of the map to show those nations’s proper relationship. Second, they felt the need to display on their map all of the black nations that Howard had showcased in his Conan saga. In my opinion, the tier of black nations was the obvious solution to these two problems; killing two birds with one stone.<br />
When Howard told P. Schuyler-Miller that their fan-map was surprisingly accurate, he was really referring to the Hyborian lands, since he noted that their version of Kush had problems. At the time of the fan-map “Red Nails” hadn’t seen publication, so it wasn’t a source of information. “The Vale of Lost Women”, the “Drums of Tombalku” fragment, and the “Snout in the Dark” fragment weren’t available for study. The bulk of their information would have had to come from “Queen of the Black Coast”, Black Colossus”, “The Slithering Shadow”, “The Jewels of Gwahlur”, and “Shadows in Zamboula”. The other Conan tales contain bits and pieces of info about the Black lands, but no real geographical data. We know that the black lands on the Miller/Clark fan-map were wrong because of the problems that Howard had with the way they presented Kush. That means that the re-worked tier of Black nations appearing on the LANY map is based on incomplete information, and was never actually approved by Howard in any meaningful sense.<br />
Robert E. Howard left behind quite a bit of unpublished information about the relationship between Stygia and the black Kingdoms. Since Miller and Clark lacked access to this material and didn’t incorporate it into their map, I am going to examine this material with an eye geared toward resolving their cartographic problems. With any luck, I can get this part of his Hyborian world closer to what Howard envisioned.<br />
*****<br />
<b>THE SOUTHERN SUB-CONTINENT</b><br />
The key to understanding the cartographic relationships between Stygia and the Black Kingdoms to the south can only arise from an understanding of how Robert E. Howard viewed the area in his mind. The modern continent known as Africa looked far different during Howard’s Hyborian Age. Yet in other aspects, it isn’t all that different.<br />
From the perspective of plate tectonics, during the Hyborian Age the western edge of the African plate was depressed, submerging almost the entirety of West Africa. Since the continental plate is fairly rigid, any depressed edge should result in a corresponding uplift along the opposite edge. And in fact, we see evidence of eastern uplift in Howard’s map; the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Persian Gulf do not exist as the area appears to be above sea level. In addition, the northern edge of the African plate is shown experiencing extreme uplift; the Mediterranean and Black Seas are completely above sea level. It stands to reason that the southern edge of the African plate is depressed to a corresponding degree. While Howard never actually visits this area, he does mention island groups that lie far to the south of Kush in this region.<br />
From the prospective of climate, the sub-continent to the south of the Hyborian lands isn’t really all that different from modern-day Africa. Roughly, Africa has a belt of rainforest that lies 10°on either side of the equator, two bands of grassland/savannas about 10° wide lying to the north and south of the rainforests, with deserts lying to the north (and to a lesser degree) and south of the grasslands. There is a bit of variation, but overall, Howard’s Stygia and the kingdoms of Kush reflect this reality.<br />
It is pretty obvious from reading Howard’s Conan tales that the majority of the black nations of Kush are located at various places along the great grasslands that lie to the south of Stygia. It is the relationship between those nations that defines the cartography of Kush and is the next step on our journey.<br />
*****<br />
<b>STYGIA</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSbVkpGsnBQTQ9zGJy1qP-wkMqm6Q6u-6uyd7H7a6dH60Vpo809sNIAKB8LhdNMTzp1FPawa4UpcNxOg1rU6lBiCl0-Frgr1ZM_xFE6kwjJi2a0PMtaaiyFaFgJ_kSL8qRcABq4w9KxkE/s1600-h/Stygia%5B2%5D.jpg"><img alt="Stygia" border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiER4p5xeuBhyphenhyphen39T75XxmoCKSebsWDaoHvnHEMql9adHrnOJb_msu6U0NmGb4Gbag3wArzmjU6YLRpvideWB1VjKfGbjAcfo0Lrz3Bwd30gEsYDSVnzgNm7wNC0FhrHpO2TLl1SCfo56Lc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Stygia" width="244" /></a><br />
<b><u>The Stygian portion of the 1932 rough-draft map, as drawn by Robert E. Howard </u></b><br />
The best place to begin is with the 1932-rough map. A comparison of this map with the LANY map, shows that Howard’s version of Stygia is wider, extending from the modern-day cities of Tunis, Tunisia in the west, to the Gaza Strip in the east, a distance of around 1350 miles. The LANY map has the northern and eastern borders of Stygia ending within the floodplain of the River Styx, while Howard’s map has Stygia’s eastern border extending eastward about 200 miles past the southern bend in the river. The LANY map shows that Stygia is pretty much a rectangular nation, averaging around 400 miles north to south. The 1932-rough map doesn’t show the southern border of Stygia at all, and what it does show is a nation that extends southward at least 600 miles, well into the area occupied by the tier of Black nations on the LANY map.<br />
This fits pretty well into the way Howard described Stygia in the Conan stories. <b>“The Hour of the Dragon”</b>, <b>“Black Colossus”</b> and <b>“The Hyborian Age”</b> essay all describe Stygia’s northern border (in Conan’s lifetime) as beginning at the River Styx. The only real discrepancy that I’ve found between the map and Howard’s stories is in <b>“The Hour of the Dragon”</b>; Howard describes the Styx as flowing westward past the great bend for “some hundreds of miles”. On the map the river flows westward for about a thousand miles. Whether this is a discrepancy or not depends on how you interpret the term “some hundreds”.<br />
Stygia’s eastern border is a little murkier. <b>“Shadows in Zamboula”</b> describes the desert trading-city of Zamboula, which lies to the east of Stygia. The city was built by the Stygians and at one time was the easternmost outpost of their empire carved from the Kharamun Desert, until the city was overrun and annexed by the riders of Turan. The Stygian boundaries were thrust back when they lost Zamboula, but Howard never claims that the Stygians withdrew beyond the River Styx. The eastern extension of Stygia past the southward bend of the Styx probably still existed at the time of Conan’s life. It makes sense that the Stygians would want to keep both banks of Styx in this region under their control, since it would be a trading highway into the Black Kingdoms. The 1932-rough map shows the eastern extension runs roughly parallel to the Styx gradually narrowing the further south it goes. While we will never know with absolute certainty, it seems logical to think that the extension runs as far as Stygia’s southern border, although perhaps only fifty miles or so eastward past the River Styx.<br />
My next step would be to try and discern the overall shape and extent of Stygia’s southern border. The Conan stories only make mention of two lands lying on the grasslands of the southern Stygian border; the kingdom of Kush and the region known as Darfar. Kush lies along the western part of Stygia’s southern border, sharing a frontier of at least 400 miles. The part of Stygia’s border that lies adjacent to Darfar is a bit of a puzzle, but a careful reading of <b>“Red Nails”</b> provides a few clues. <br />
Valeria spent several weeks (presumably less than a fortnight) in flight after leaving the border garrison of Suhkmet, crossing a range of blue (blue implies forested) hills to arrive at the primitive forest near Xuchotl. Compare this with an earlier flight to Xuchotl.<br />
In southern Stygia lies Lake Zuad, near (not on) the border of Kush. Residents of the lake, a mongrel Stygian race called the Tlazitlans, rebelled against the Stygian king and were forced to flee southward for <i>many weeks</i>, wandering over first grasslands, then desert hills, coming at last to a great forest; the same forest of Darfar that lies just to the south of the Stygian city of Sukhmet. Now it seems pretty apparent to me that a journey of <i>many weeks</i> could at the very least, cover several hundred miles. Also, the southern part of Stygia along Darfar's frontier lies within the grassland region, since Howard states that Sukhmet lies amid the level grasslands. All of this serves to make the Stygian border with Darfar lie quite a bit farther south than the border it shares with Kush. The LANY map that shows Kush and Darfar sharing a border is wrong!<br />
The southern Stygian frontier seems to follow the border with Kush, turns southward and skirts a great desert that lies upon the western grasslands, and then resumes its eastward bearing until it ends in the deserts beyond the River Styx. Darfar lies to the south of this eastern section of the border.<br />
Stygia doesn’t exist in historical Africa, although it is modeled extensively on ancient Egypt. It appears to incorporate the modern lands of Libya, Egypt and northern Sudan. If you can imagine the Stygian border city of Sukhmet as an ancient version of Khartoum you wouldn’t be far off…<br />
<b>KUSH (CUSH)</b><br />
Howard describes Kush as being the northernmost, as well as the westernmost of the grassland kingdoms. Its capital is Shumballa, which lies amid the nation’s great grassland plains. Kush is second nation listed of the four “vast black kingdoms” lying to the south of Stygia, so it is probably the second largest of the black kingdoms. The Kush of Conan’s day is but a remnant of a far larger Kushite nation that was formed when competing Stygian tribes invaded and occupied the western grasslands and desert. Eventually, the Stygians were unable to exert the constant control that the region needed to keep it from falling into anarchy, and the nation dissolved. Kush is now considered a black kingdom, although its aristocracy is Chaga, of Stygian descent. From the stories set in Conan’s time, it appears that its Kush’s northern border extends in a narrow strip parallel to the Stygian border from a forested coast on the Western Sea eastward at least 400 miles or so. To the south of the eastern segment of this strip lies a huge desert. The nation extends southward along the coast until it reaches the rain forests of the region. Its eastern border isn’t really defined, although its southeastern border lies in the grasslands within raiding distance of the jungle town of Bakalah. I believe that Kush’s eastern border most likely ends at the edge of the great desert that lies to its east. <br />
In historical Africa, Cush was another name for the ancient kingdom of Nubia that existed in what is now northern Sudan.<br />
<b>KORDAFAN</b><br />
Kordafan is an independent black kingdom, mentioned in the synopsis for “<b>The Snout in the Dark</b>”. When L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter finished the story for the Lancer books, they renamed the nation Kordafa, even though Howard had spelled it Kordafan. The nation’s cartographic placement isn’t given, although its people are described as having a dusky skin tone. This implies that the country has, at the least, a Stygian component. Kordafan is probably a remnant of the original Stygian occupation of the western grasslands, perhaps a part of Stygian Kush. <br />
In historical Africa, Kordofan (Kordufan) is a former province of central Sudan. <br />
<b>THE SOUTHERN DESERT</b><br />
This vast, desolate desert lies to the east of Kush and covers a great expanse of the western grassland region. Howard used the desert as the setting of “<b>Xuthal of the Dusk</b>”, placing the lost city of Xuthal deep within its western region. The desert took stage again in the unfinished fragment that would eventually become known as the “<b>Drums of Tombalku</b>”. Kothic exiles built the city of Gazal on an oasis in the eastern part of the desert, while far to the southwest lay the politically divided city of Tombalku. It is also the home of tribes of desert nomads; the Ghanata in the east and the mask-wearing Tibu far to the south. The total extent of this desert is a bit nebulous. Howard, in his “<b>Drums of Tombalku</b>” fragment, has the Aquilonian warrior Amalric (who has been roaming the desert for months, but is currently encamped at a palm-bordered spring) expressing disbelief that there is a city nearby, stating that he thought there was only desert for a thousand miles. This is a pretty incredulous statement, since it seems to imply the possibility that the desert is somewhere between one thousand to two thousand miles across (depending where he is camped upon it). This seems to be patently impossible since it would make the desert be twice as wide as the nation of Stygia. Honestly, a two thousand mile wide desert would stretch from Kush eastward to the ocean off Iranistan, not to mention completely displace the region of Darfar. While I believe that Howard intended for this desert to seem huge, my opinion is that Amalric is engaging in a fair bit of hyperbole. The desert seems to be encompassed by Kush to the west and north, Stygia to the northeast, Darfar and Amazon to the east and a segment of grassland to the south inhabited by various black tribes, members of the empire of Tombalku.<br />
<b>TOMBALKU</b><br />
The empire of Tombalku was formed when riders from the semi-mythical city of Tombalku subjugated the tribes of the southwestern part of the Southern Desert and the black races of the steppes to the south. Subject tribes comprising the Empire include the Tibu, Bagirmi, Mandingo, Dongala, Bornu, as well as other tribes to the south of the desert. It doesn’t appear that Tombalku really borders on any other major kingdoms, with the exception of possibly Kush. <br />
In historical Africa, Timbuktu, located in Mali, is a major commercial center in the western Sudan.<br />
<b>DARFAR</b><br />
On the grasslands south of eastern Stygia, lies the region of Darfar. The actual cartographic location of Darfar seems to be quite a ways removed from the nation of Kush. Like Kush, it is described as being part of the grassland region; however the southern part of eastern Stygia also lies on the northern part of those grasslands (the frontier-town of Sukhmet lies amid the level grasslands). Northwestern Darfar seems to be part of the grasslands, followed by a hill-range and then forest as one heads southward. The forest at the point where Valeria crossed it doesn’t seem to be terribly deep, north to south. It began upon leaving the hills; she could still see them when she looked to the north. That means the forest is at most thirty to thirty-five miles deep where she crossed it, since it ended a bit south of her vantage point. Amid the southern part of the forest lies the lost city of Xuchotl. West of the forest lies open savannas where black tribes graze their cattle. “<b>Shadows in Zamboula</b>” also describes the inhabitants of Darfar as being “swamp-bred black men”, so I imagine that a huge part of eastern Darfar is swampland and marshes. I also find it interesting that neither Conan nor Valeria believe that the Darfari could have built the city of Xuchotl (although I gather that they did under duress), but instead expected to see beehive huts or cliff dwellings; i.e. villages. Southern Darfar is also referred to in the tale as an unexplored region. This adds to the feeling that Darfar may not be a civilized nation, but instead is a wilderness region inhabited by a dominant cultural group like Cimmeria or the Pictish Wilderness. I also feel that the River Styx either flows through or marks the eastern border of Darfar. The large numbers of slaves from Darfar ending up in Zamboula would also make sense, since it would be a relatively short trip down the river. <br />
In historical Africa, Darfur is a region and former sultanate in western Sudan. Howard’s Darfar also shares another feature with a part of southern Sudan; the Sudd, considered by many to be the “most formidable swamp in the world”. It is vast and impenetrable, and at its greatest extent covers 130,000 square kilometers in area.<br />
<b>AMAZON</b><br />
Amazon is only referenced in Howard’s “<b>The Hyborian Age</b>” essay. It is the first nation listed of the four “vast black kingdoms” lying to the south of Stygia; it could very well be that Amazon is the largest country of the black lands. The essay also states that, at the end of the Hyborian Age, the armies of Hyrkania defeated a Stygian army on the Nilus (Styx) and “<i>overran the country </i>(Stygia)<i> as far south as the black kingdom of Amazon, of whose people they brought back thousands as captives</i>”. This implies that the nation of Amazon lies, if not adjacent to the southern border of Stygia, than relatively close! Amazon as described by L. Sprague DeCamp in his pastiche, <b>CONAN THE BUCCANEER</b> lies too far south to be faithful to Howard, since the Hyrkanians would have had to cross the entire width of the equatorial rainforest in order to invade the country. I feel that to be true to Howard, the best placement for Amazon is would be directly to the south of Darfar. Its western edge would be the southeastern part of the Southern Desert extending down into the rainforest. From north to south, its eastern edge would be the River Styx. Its southern edge is probably buried deep within the equatorial rainforest.<br />
Historical legends usually place the Amazon homeland near the Black Sea. Interestingly enough, a Greek scholar, Diodorus Siculus, who compiled a history of the Bronze Age world, detailed an account of an Amazon army helping Egypt successfully deter a Libyan invasion. The Amazon army then went on to conquer and settle in the North African nation of Hesperia (thought to be located in Morocco). Today, Moroccan Berbers still tell legends of the people of Azoun, great women warriors who conquered North Africa thousands of years earlier. The Tuareg people also believe that a race of white women warriors lived in the Ahagghar Mountains of Algeria. So Howard placing an Amazon nation in his fictional version of Africa seems to have some basis, albeit legendary.<br />
<b>KESHAN</b><br />
Keshan is a barbaric kingdom lying in the eastern hinterlands of the continent, where the vast grasslands merge with the rainforest. Its royal city is called Keshia. Although it has conquered a couple of tributary nations, Keshan is a fairly minor kingdom and is considered mythical to the northern and western civilizations. A careful reading of the Conan tale “<b>The Jewels of Gwahlur</b>” belies the notion advanced on the LANY map that Keshan lies in the northern grasslands and shares a border with Stygia. The nation is described as primarily lying in the southern grasslands, its southern part contained within the equatorial jungles that roll up from the south. The only border that it has defined within Howard’s writings is its eastern frontier with Punt, although we are told that Zembabwei lies both to the east and south of Keshan. It seems to me that Keshan’s western frontier may well end at the River Styx, since a location in the “eastern hinterlands” implies that it is located in the grasslands east of that important watercourse. Another point to consider would be the sacred subterranean river that courses beneath Alkmeenon in southern Keshan would have to flow “under” the River Styx if the country was located like it is on the LANY map, since its source is in Punt. A Keshani placement east of the River Styx alleviates this problem, as the underground river merely becomes another tributary of the Styx.<br />
Howard’s Keshan was most likely derived from the Egyptian word Kesh, which was their name for the ancient kingdom of Nubia that existed in what is now northern Sudan.<br />
<b>IRANISTAN</b><br />
Iranistan, while shown on the map, is really part of Howard’s “<i>Blue East</i>”, and as such will be dealt with when I examine that area in a future article.<br />
<b>PUNT</b><br />
Punt really isn’t all that well described in the Conan saga. It is a mountainous kingdom that lies in the eastern part of the blacklands. The inhabitants of Punt worship an ivory goddess and wash gold out of their rivers in wicker baskets. There is a lake where the people of the Puntish highlands throw their dead; it empties into a subterranean river that flows beneath southern Keshan. Punt appears to be an insular nation, warring frequently with Keshan and provoking Zembabwei by disrupting their trade routes. Punt shares its western border with Keshan and its eastern and southeastern borders with Zembabwei. It also probably shares it northeastern frontier with the eastern nation of Iranistan. <br />
In historical Africa, Punt was an ancient land located to the south of Egypt, presumably along the Somali coast. Howard’s Punt seems to have features in common with the modern nation of Ethiopia; it is mountainous and sacred Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile.<br />
<b>ZEMBABWEI</b><br />
Zembabwei is described in the stories as the great trading nation of the Black kingdoms. It is a “hybrid” kingdom, which I take to mean that its ethnic population is racially mixed; a black kingdom with strong Iranistani and Shemite components. The last nation listed of the four “vast black kingdoms” lying to the south of Stygia; Zembabwei is most likely the fourth largest country of the black lands. Commerce is of the utmost importance, and the nation builds trading fortresses along the caravan routes of foreign nations like Punt. Zembabwei is well situated to maritime trade with foreign nations like Kosala and Vendhya and possibly as far east as Khitai. Zembabwei shares its northern border with Iranistan, its northwestern border with Punt and possibly part of its southern frontier with Atlaia. <br />
In historical Africa, Zimbabwe was a ruined walled city, believed to be the biblical Ophir. It is located in the modern nation of Zimbabwe.<br />
<b>ATLAIA</b><br />
Atlaia is only referenced in Howard’s “<b>The Hyborian Age</b>” essay. Since it is the third nation listed of the four “vast black kingdoms” lying to the south of Stygia, the possibility exists that Atlaia is the third largest country of the black lands. The fact that the nation isn’t mentioned in the Conan saga leads me to believe that it wasn’t accessible by the Hyborian maritime nations. This would also be an arguement against a northern grassland placement (presumably between Darfar and Iranistan), since it should be well known by Stygians and others. Therefore, I’m placing it in the veldts and lake region to the southeast of Kush’s equatorial rainforest, adjacent to southern Zembabwei. This area isn’t defined at all by Howard and it is ancient, showing the first traces of man’s development at Olduvai in Africa. So it seems reasonable to place Atlaia in what is the region’s most ancient and continuously populated area.<br />
As far as I can tell, Atlaia isn’t a part of historical Africa, and the name is apparently Portuguese. L. Sprague DeCamp believes that its name derives from the name Atlas. Since Howard used the name in an African setting, the most logical choice would be the Atlas Mountains of northwestern Africa. In a bit of serendipity, the region that I placed Atlaia on my map was under Portuguese control during the 16<sup>th</sup> century; not that it matters.<br />
<b>THE BLACK COAST</b><br />
The Black Coast is a term used by Hyborian sailors to describe the coastline of the Western Sea lying to the south of Stygia, similar to their practice of calling the entire southern sub-continent Kush. It consists of two regions, the northern being the nation of Kush proper and the southern, forested coastline being the actual “Black Coast”. If there were any developed nations or empires along the southern stretch, Howard failed to write of them. He did mention a couple of city-states lying upon the Black Coast; Abombi, a city sacked by Conan and Bêlit, and Suba, a city friendly to the black corsairs. These city-states most likely served as the commercial interface between the primitive towns and villages of the equatorial rainforest and sea-traders from Stygia, Shem, and the Hyborian nations. But taken as a whole, the Black Coast and its interior rainforest is really just a huge wilderness area.<br />
Howard’s Black Coast seems to reflect the reality of historical Africa, as the western coasts were relatively undeveloped compared to the Muslim (later Portuguese) commercial colonies of Africa’s eastern coast.<br />
<b>THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS</b><br />
The Southern Islands are home to a number of island kingdoms, and provide the impetus and manpower behind the infamous Black Corsairs. The inhabitants of the isles developed in isolation and are not of common Negroid stock; they are described as having straighter features and hair, as well as being rangier and cleaner limbed than the average Kushite. The Black Corsairs are described in “<b>The Jewels of Gwahlur</b>” as being the <i>wolves of the southern coasts</i>, which imply that they raid the southern and southeastern coasts as well as the infamous Black Coast in the west. The islands are located in both “<b>Queen of the Black Coast</b>” and “<b>Hour of the Dragon</b>” as lying far to the south of Stygia. I believe that Bêlit’s mention the “<i>fires of the ultimate south</i>” refers to the volcanic nature of the islands. While most maps place the islands in the Western Sea off the southern Black Coast, I believe that they are actually located to the south of continental Kush due to the southern part of the African tectonic plate being submerged.<br />
Although there isn’t any historical truth to the islands, they appear on my map as the tops of the submerged Drakensberg Mountain range.<br />
<b>NEGARI</b><br />
The one country that you will not find on the map of Hyborian Age Kush is the kingdom of Negari. Negari is detailed in Howard’s Solomon Kane epic, “<b>The Moon of Skulls</b>”. The nation was once a colony of the empire of Atlantis, existing into the modern era, so on the face of it Negari should have existed during the Hyborian Age. This view is somewhat problematic, since it contradicts much of what is assumed about that era. First of all, Thurian Age Atlantis was a rude, barbaric kingdom that never reached the heights of civilization related in the Solomon Kane story. Also, Negari is described as lying inland from the western Slave Coast of Africa; an area that was submerged beneath the sea during the Hyborian Age. The only way to resolve this inconsistency is by understanding that there are actually two versions of Atlantis proposed by Howard; one being a continent that was destroyed at the end of the Thurian Age, and the other was a civilized island nation that existed during the upheaval that accompanied the Ice Age subsequent to the end of the Hyborian Age. Negari was not a part of Kush until well after Conan’s lifetime.<br />
*****<br />
The final step in this article is to produce a map of the southern regions that accurately reproduces Stygia as it appears on Howard’s 1932-rough map and place the nations of Kush in their proper position as deduced from the stories. The end result is the map that accompanies this article.<br />
I realize that some people may be disappointed that this isn’t an all-inclusive map showing every single point of interest that Howard described in the Conan saga. The truth is it was never intended to be. My map is a direct reflection of Howard’s own maps of the Hyborian lands; only set in the lands to the south of it. While I may produce a more detailed map in the future for my website, I really wanted this first map to be presented in much the same style that Howard used for his hand-drawn maps; the logical extension of how Howard envisioned his world. While one can never be 100% positive that this is exactly how Howard viewed the lands south of Stygia, I am absolutely sure that this map more accurate than the Miller/Clark LANY map and its many children. And in the end, that’s the whole point.<br />
<br />
<b>To the Styx and Beyond</b> essay, and map Copyright 2005-2010 Dale E. Rippke<br />
All rights reservedDarkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18275846242078447111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-32837993781714336322010-12-11T14:42:00.002-06:002011-12-11T07:08:27.431-06:00Ciudad de Ladrones, a.k.a. City of Thieves<b>Cartographic Curiosities of the Hyborian Age, part 1</b><br />
<b>By Dale Rippke</b><br />
<b>This article originally appeared in REHUPA #191</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvj2sjXKsBC103DpD1ohXKlsutgW0P7z6leRDGC_nmkov_IlnAgJx6rfhFsVg4M5QNwsIQzaCF12w1YC_UP5KIEmzrm9PSNyEDI08SvfkYNviEVof-PEAfbTFZ1bVxXJDTvKUk_U9PzWk/s1600-h/Zamora%5B2%5D.jpg"><img alt="Zamora" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fFYrCntHxb2hKCOOtkwvF18wdt4Yf6k502eamH0X1hLE5JmSvZNgkHOVDhyphenhyphenqcWr-KomvTEz2dWJ-5Z4A6X3FRFdiCjJlEuTEJZbZvooq4nvFKEzQW0Z3Y-Vq3PMLLSIel19y-y8zd00/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Zamora" width="182" /></a><br />
<b>Zamora, </b>featuring my proposed placement of Howard's "City of Thieves"<br />
<br />
A few weeks ago, I was approached by a fan of my <b>HYBORIAN HERESIES</b> book with an interesting challenge. He didn’t believe that the location shown for the Zamorian City of Thieves on any of the Hyborian world maps corresponded to the clues that author Robert E. Howard had provided in his tale “<b>The Tower of the Elephant</b>”. The challenge was that I was to attempt to provide a definitive location for the city.<br />
The City of Thieves first appears under the name of Arenjun in the extreme southeastern corner of Zamora on the Lancer Book’s Hyborian map. Its name and placement came, not from Howard, but as a result of the pastiche writings of L. Sprague DeCamp, specifically, a story titled “<b>The Bloodstained God</b>”. This yarn was adapted by DeCamp from an unsold Howard story called “<b>The Trail of the Blood-Stained God</b>”, which was laid in modern-era Afghanistan. DeCamp decided, for whatever reasons, to place Arenjun along Zamora’s eastern frontier. Other pastiche authors have since added further baggage to the proceedings.<br />
Now in practice, I am a Howard purist, so I won’t use the information provided in the pastiche stories to address to problem of the city’s location. I can only rely on the clues Howard provides us in “<b>The Tower of the Elephant</b>”. So how well does the pastiche information fit together with the clues found in Howard’s story? Actually, not too well…<br />
There are two concrete facts that Howard provides us with in “<b>The Tower of the Elephant</b>” as to the location of its city. The first supports the DeCamp placement; the second does not.<br />
The first is that the City of Thieves lies on the Zamorian frontier. Howard regales the reader with the exploits of a Kothian rogue who plans to deliver his kidnap victim across the border by dawn. It is fairly late at night when he states his plan, and it really isn’t possible to move that fast and far in the dark, especially if you plan for the night to conceal your activities. It is obvious to conclude that the city is laid very close to a border. <br />
Zamora is shaped like a triangle; it has a southern border it shares with Koth and an eastern and western border that meet at a point in the far north of the nation. The eastern frontier faces Turan, while the western border is shared between Brythunia in the north and Corinthia in the south. The city could appear anywhere along one of those borders.<br />
The second clue comes when Howard states that the kidnapper “<i>came up from distant Koth</i>”, which he then reiterates by pointing out that Koth “<i>lay far to the south, on the borders of Shem</i>”. This eliminates the southern border as a possible location and deals a real blow to the DeCamp placement, since all the maps I’ve seen places it in the southeast corner of the kingdom. It simply can’t be located near the border with Koth and remain true to Howard. I would go so far as to eliminate the southern third of the eastern and western borders of Zamora as well just to keep distant Koth far to the south of the City of Thieves.<br />
One problem with placing the City of Thieves along Zamora’s border in the east has to do with Howard’s description of Koth laying to the south of the city. Khauran and the Eastern Desert of Shem lies directly to the south of Zamora’s eastern border. Koth as a whole would lie southwest of an eastern-located City of Thieves; it lies to the west-southwest of where DeCamp placed Arenjun on the map. Very little of Koth would actually lie to the south of a city located anywhere along that frontier. A western location wouldn’t encounter this problem.<br />
Now we need to narrow down the possible locations available to the city and since Howard didn’t provide us with any other concrete evidence of its placement, we must attempt to use common sense in an effort to ascertain a location. Common sense can take us a long way toward resolving this dilemma. <br />
The kidnapping of the daughter of a “<i>better class</i>” Brythunian and her planned removal to a caravan across the border can help in this regard. It appears that the kidnapper had wandered the Zamorian border cities for several weeks before he settled on his victim. Why would he do this? The most likely reason is because it would be easier to steal a foreign woman from Zamora than it would be to steal her from her home in Brythunia. The Zamorians certainly wouldn’t investigate her disappearance with the same diligence that the law in Brythunia would. Common sense would also imply that the best chance for finding a Brythunian woman in Zamora would be to wander the cities of the western Brythunian/ Corinthian border area, since such women should be more common in that area than in other parts of Zamora.<br />
A kidnapper intent on eliminating his risk would try to arrange things so that it is limited on both ends of the deal. So it seems reasonable to assume that the caravan awaiting the kidnapped woman wouldn’t be waiting within the nation of Brythunia, since it would raise its risk dramatically if they were discovered with her. This alone would seem to reduce the chance of the Brythunian stretch of Zamora’s western border as a practical candidate for the location of the City of Thieves. The risk to a caravan waiting in Turan or Corinthia would be practically nonexistent by comparison.<br />
Since the story implies that the caravan does not enter Zamora, the route that it would take to get to Ophir from an eastern border location would be problematic. It would literally have to travel around Zamora to get to its destination. This would be a huge waste of money unless the caravan has a number of places that it goes to before ending up in Ophir. The trip from a location along Zamora’s western border could be pretty much a straight shot through to Ophir. That makes it much more believable from a financial point of view.<br />
And then there is the mystery of all the foreigners in “<b>The Tower of the Elephant</b>”. Have you ever noticed that with the exception of Yara that there really aren’t any Zamorians in the story? Practically all of the “atmosphere” people described in the yarn are outsiders to the City of Thieves. We are told about a Hyperborean renegade, a Shemitish counterfeiter, a Gunderman deserter, his Brythunian girlfriend, a Kothic kidnapper, a female Brythunian kidnap victim, a count of Ophir, and, of course, Taurus of Nemedia and his partner in crime, Conan of Cimmeria. The Zamorians are relegated to the outer edges of the story; as non-descript barflies, philosophers, and guardsmen. Compare this with “<b>The God in the Bowl</b>” where all the characters except Conan (and two off-stage Stygians) are Nemedians from Numalia. In “<b>Rogues in the House</b>” all of the characters are Corinthian with the exception of Conan (and his late Gunderman partner-in-crime). While this may ultimately mean nothing, it tends to make the City of Thieves feel like a very cosmopolitan burg. It also has the effect of placing the location of the city along Zamora’s western (Hyborian) border, since common sense would indicate that the foreigners of an eastern border city should be comprised mostly of Turanians and Hyrkanians. It should also be noted that there aren’t any of these eastern outsiders mentioned in the story.<br />
Though the Zamorians take inordinate pride in their thieving abilities, I really feel that the unnamed city’s nickname is probably of Hyborian origin. The city does contain a heavier population of thieves than is usually normal, but Howard makes it clear that it is the entire race that is renowned for their thieving abilities, not just the city’s inhabitants. So “The City of Thieves” shouldn’t really be all that special a place to them. Combine that with the sheer number of unsavory Hyborian rogues listed above though, and one begins to see why the city bears its nickname. There is probably a prosaic reason why so many Hyborian outlaws and renegades end up there. The city’s nickname most likely draws them to it, plus Zamora is probably a safe-haven from Hyborian justice.<br />
A big question then arises; if the City of Thieves contains such a huge criminal component, then why would anyone want to live in a place like that? Common sense would dictate that the answer would have to be liquidity; a great deal of wealth flows through the city.<br />
One thing to consider is that Howard made a point in various Conan stories to paint the Zamorians as a wicked, decadent people with “<i>exotic habits</i>”. Easy access to that decadence could be a big draw to the people of Hyboria; tourism would make for one component of that wealth.<br />
At this point, I also want to remind you that Howard had a caravan parked across the border from the city. Now a caravan waiting out in the middle of nowhere could possibly bring unwanted attention upon itself. But if The City of Thieves was a caravan city, then no one would think that there was anything unusual about it; it wouldn’t draw attention to itself. Thus it becomes fairly obvious that the city must lie on a caravan route. Since there are more thieves in this city than in normal Zamorian cities, it stands to reason that the City of Thieves has a huge amount of wealth pouring through it, attracting the thieves, as well as making it the preeminent Zamorian “Port of Entry” to the nations of the West.<br />
In my opinion, the evidence shows that Zamora’s City of Thieves lies somewhere along the northern section of the border that it shares with Corinthia. It lies along the Road of Kings (Hyboria’s principle caravan route) and is the western point of entry into the nation of Zamora. Its location provides easy access to rogues and outlaws fleeing justice and to decadent Hyborians wishing to sample Zamora’s exotic habits. Its nickname could refer to its trading practices as well as its population of Hyborian and Zamorian thieves. You would do well to consider it the Hyborian Age version of Tijuana. <br />
This isn’t really a weird claim to make…<br />
In February of 1932, Howard took a vacation in southern Texas, wandering around the little border towns along the Rio Grande. He claims that he spent most of his time consuming tortillas, enchiladas, and Spanish wine. It was during this same trip that the conception of Conan grew up full-blown in his mind. It is interesting to speculate on how much influence the setting he found himself in at the time had on his fertile imagination.<br />
Howard’s trip to the Mexican border didn’t really reflect itself in the first three Conan stories that he worked on. It does make a recognizable appearance in the fourth Conan tale, “<b>The Tower of the Elephant</b>”. That story’s bar scene between the Kothic kidnapper and Conan seems to draw on Howard’s border visit and as a result it resonates like a real place.<br />
And the Mexican/Zamorian refection really isn’t just a bar scene. Howard’s Zamorian society, history, and motifs find a mirror across the Mexican border.<br />
Howard describes the Zamorian race as “<i>dark-skinned and dark-eyed</i>”; a description that fits the average Mexican well.<br />
Howard claims that there are more bold thieves in Zamora than anywhere else in the world. Racial prejudice during Howard’s time stereotyped the Mexican people in much the same light.<br />
Howard claims in his essay “<b>The Hyborian Age</b>” that the Zamorian race is the result of the co-mingling of two separate peoples; one group descended from an ancient civilized empire, the other were an unclassified tribe of invaders. Modern-day Mexicans are also the result of two separate cultural groups combining; native people descended from several ancient Meso-American civilizations (Aztecs, Toltecs, Mayans) mixing with colonizing Spanish invaders.<br />
Howard’s Zamora is “<i>spider-haunted</i>”. Mexico’s deserts are similarly haunted by spiders; a saucer-sized hairy arachnid called the tarantula. <br />
Over the years, several theories have arisen among Howard scholars concerning the origin of the name “Zamora”. L. Sprague DeCamp believes that Howard got the name from the Spanish province of Zamora, and Patrice Louinet believes that Howard derived the name from Bullfinch’s Mythology, changing Zumara into Zamora. Both theories have merit, although neither has a Mexican connection.<br />
I’m going to throw my hat into the ring and relate what I feel to be the most likely origin of the name “Zamora”. I mentioned earlier the spider connection between Zamora and Mexico. Well, the most well-known region of Mexico containing the tarantula spider is the desert of Sonora. I believe that Zamora is really just a homonymous derivation of the name Sonora. Speak both names aloud. They sound practically the same.<br />
These are most of the reasons that I would place Howard’s City of Thieves were I did. If, however, I were hard pressed to come up with a name for the city, then I guess it would have to be Ciudad de Ladrones.<br />
Ciudad de Ladrones essay Copyright 2005-2010 Dale E. Rippke<br />
All rights reservedDarkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18275846242078447111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-30664768296675775572010-12-11T14:30:00.001-06:002011-12-11T07:07:09.875-06:00The Frozen Landscape of Reality<b>By Dale E. Rippke</b><br />
<b>This essay originally appeared in REHUPA #203, February 2007</b><br />
<b>This essay is dedicated to the late Robert Anton Wilson, who taught me that “<i>Reality is what you can get away with</i>”.</b><br />
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I tend to find the study of the Conan series written by Robert E. Howard an absolutely fascinating look into the nature of psychology. I’ve read many scholars expound at great length on the merits of who the character of Conan is and how he will respond in any given situation. The conventional wisdom created by this doesn’t really seem to me to accurately reflect the information relayed by his author.<br />
That conventional wisdom is probably founded in the way that we perceive “heroes” and the very nature of “heroic action”. Our perception of what it means to be a hero tends to run in certain predetermined channels (i.e. Archetypes) and that hero’s actions outside of our expectations seem to engender a fair bit of psychological resistance and discomfort for the reader. It is the mental conflict between our currently held beliefs and “reality”. This conflict is a psychological phenomenon described as <i>cognitive dissonance</i>. We naturally attempt to alleviate our mental discomfort by attempting to rationalize and explain away the conflict. This in turn leads us to project our own biases onto the material at hand; we “read into” the story things that aren’t necessarily there.<br />
I’m going to attempt to show how the conventional wisdom in a typical Conan yarn may be due more to how we wish to perceive the story, than to its actual reality. The tale I will use is <b>The Frost-Giant’s Daughter</b>.<br />
Chronologically the first Conan tale, <b>The Frost-Giant’s Daughter</b> features a teenaged Cimmerian in his first real run-in with the supernatural. The wounded last survivor of a band of northern warriors, Conan encounters a dazzlingly beautiful girl who goads him into pursuing her. <br />
Conventional wisdom takes the line that Conan is not, at heart, a rapist and that Atali drove the young Cimmerian into the madness of extreme lust through some type of spell or enchantment. It also takes the position that the tale takes place in the reality of Conan’s world and that the yarn’s strangeness is all due to Atali’s spell. A specific reading of the story in particular and the Conan series in general shows that this is not necessarily the case.<br />
First, I want to touch briefly on the notion that Conan’s pursuit of Atali was “out-of-character” and the result of Atali’s spell. That is completely and undeniably false. Several Conan stories feature the Cimmerian in pursuit of a woman, complete with sexual subtext (<b>The Devil in Iron </b>and <b>The Vale of Lost Women</b>). But far and away, the most damaging to the “out-of-character” notion is the events at the beginning of <b>Red Nails</b>. That yarn describes a pursuit sequence not unlike the events of <b>The Frost-Giant’s Daughter</b>. In that story, Conan is a bored mercenary soldier that has taken a completely sexual interest (Howard is explicit about that) in the new girl in town, Valeria. When she flees town because of a murder rap, he decides to pursue, due to his interest in her. According to the tale, the chase lasts several weeks before Conan catches up to her. He makes it clear once again that his interest in her is sexual, and that Valeria’s refusal of his advances don’t really change matters all that much to him. While the story doesn’t feature a rape scene, Howard clearly implies that Conan’s intentions weren’t all that honorable. <br />
The point of all of this is to illustrate that if a sex-obsessed Conan is determined enough to pursue a woman for weeks without being under the influence of a spell of any kind, then his jaunt through the snow in pursuit of Atali isn’t remotely out of character.<br />
Next, I’ll deal with the notion that this is all due to a spell or enchantment, because I don’t really buy into it. The idea of Atali enchanting Conan makes no sense when examined logically. First big red flag is that there is absolutely no mention by Howard of Atali doing ANYTHING to Conan other than some talk and fleeing from him. Secondly, we supposedly have a demi-goddess who can magically make herself invisible to all but her intended victims, as well as magically inflaming their lust, who has been doing this for many years, yet is completely unable to save herself by dispelling her enchantment or just making herself invisible to Conan after everything goes pear-shaped. Howard was not writing the “<b>Sorcerer’s Apprentice</b>” here. Powerful magic-user one minute and weak, helpless woman the next doesn’t mix particularly well.<br />
I’ve studied this story closely and it is my belief that something completely different is going on in this story. I finally discovered the key to understanding the story when I realized that Howard is writing this story entirely from the perspective of Conan’s consciousness. Conan passes through three distinct levels of consciousness in this story, yet he as the observer doesn’t realize it; it’s all reality to him as its occurring. I believe that Howard intuitively created a powerful meditation on the nature of reality. This is what I think is going on in The Frost-Giant’s Daughter.<br />
"Heimdul roared and leaped, and his sword flashed in deathly arc. Conan staggered and his vision was filled with red sparks as the singing blade crashed on his helmet, shivering into bits of blue fire. But as he reeled he thrust with all the power of his broad shoulders behind the humming blade. The sharp point tore through brass scales and bones and heart, and the red-haired warrior died at Conan's feet.<i></i><br />
<i>The Cimmerian stood upright, trailing his sword, a sudden sick weariness assailing him. The glare of the sun on the snow cut his eyes like a knife and the sky seemed shrunken and strangely apart. He turned away from the trampled expanse where yellow-bearded warriors lay locked with red-haired slayers in the embrace of death. A few steps he took, and the glare of the snow fields was suddenly dimmed. A rushing wave of blindness engulfed him and he sank down into the snow, supporting himself on one mailed arm, seeking to shake the blindness out of his eyes as a lion might shake his mane</i>."<br />
There are various methods to achieving an altered state of consciousness; dancing, chanting, drugs, exhaustion, and extreme pain. Conan is exhausted and has taken a blunt-force trauma to the head. His brain isn’t working as it normally does; his neutrons are shorting out and misfiring. He is the perfect candidate for what is about to befall him. While the default setting of his brain usually receives cable channel 3 (the mundane reality), it now has switched to channel 4 (where the supernatural resides). He has entered the twilight zone world of altered consciousness.<br />
It is interesting in that Howard plays with the idea of nested realities. This first appears in the 1928 Kull yarn, <b>The Screaming Skull of Silence</b>. In it, Howard expounds on the nature of reality: “<i>All is illusion, all outward manifestations of the underlying Reality, which is beyond human comprehension, since there are no relative things by which the finite mind may measure the infinite. The One may underlie all, or each natural illusion may possess a basic entity</i>..” The supernatural world is usually invisible to the mundane world, while the supernatural incorporates the mundane world into its reality. The supernatural world, however, isn’t exactly the same; its appearance is somewhat strange; it shimmers and its colors are heightened. The supernatural realm is a magical fairyland of enchantment. And it has its own denizens; beings that are usually unable to interact with the creatures of the mundane world. Atali and her brothers.<br />
When Conan’s consciousness starts channeling the supernatural reality, it seems that the influx of information flooding into his brain from both realms causes his brain to try to shut down into unconsciousness. This manifests itself as blindness and he attempts to shake it off through sheer willpower. He becomes aware of Atali through hearing her laughter; presumably she is happy because she has found a victim. He is aware of the strangeness of the world, but has decided to ignore it. He is having problems seeing Atali clearly, though. He can’t tell if she has red or golden hair; it blinds him with its brightness. He is struck by her extreme beauty and has a physical reaction to her; the blood starts pounding in his temples. Conan ignores his reaction and he and Atali chat a bit. He then begins to use his rational mind to worry about his comrades and whether Atali lives close by. Conan’s rationality will eventually present a problem, since it will reject the supernatural reality and kick it back into the mundane world, given half a chance. Atali would lose him, so she can’t let this happen; she asks him pointedly “<i>Am I not beautiful, oh man?”</i> <br />
She does this so that he really takes a good look at her. She needs to inflame his physical and emotional reaction to her for one good reason. Atali needs for Conan’s rational mind to be swamped and swept out of existence by his desire for her. She needs to do this because it will effectively anchor him to her supernatural reality. He won’t be able to slip back into the mundane world.<br />
I want to touch for just a moment on whether Atali uses a spell on Conan. She doesn’t ever obviously cast a spell on him, but then Howard doesn’t really need her to. Conan is in an altered state of reality. The rules of the mundane world no longer apply. His passions could be inflamed due to the nature of the enchanted world he is in, due to her killer pheromones, or simply because she is the most desirable woman he has ever seen. Atali doesn’t need to use magic on Conan; her effect is innate to her character. It’s what she is. Conan isn’t ensorcelled so much as he is enthralled by Atali.<br />
So anyway, she anchors Conan to her reality by appealing to his lust, but she also has an agenda; she needs to lure him away from the battlefield. So she enrages him by flat-out stating that he’s not “man” enough to follow where she leads. It all comes together, the lust, the rage, and the diminished capacity for rational though brought on by the head trauma and Conan experiences a type of strange madness; the compulsion to rape the icicles off of this taunting frost-princess. He arises due to sheer strength of will; almost mind over matter.<br />
So they take off across the enchanted landscape (it should be noted that she does leave footprints in her reality, but just barely), Conan forging deeper into the Supernatural Realm. Howard describes the realm in fantastic terms; an aurora glowing fantasyland. He has bought completely into Atali’s reality. It doesn’t even faze him when he is beset by her brothers; the two ice-giants. Conan dispatches them after a brief struggle; now he’s really enraged.<br />
Now this is the point where Atali, if she actually had any magic, would use her spells to become invisible or strip her enchantment from Conan. She doesn’t do that because she can’t; she has no magic. Atali doesn’t control anything. She is just a supernaturally enhanced girl in way over her head and caught by her own trap. Left to her own resources, she does the only thing she can; she runs.<br />
Actually, it’s not a half bad idea. Conan is fixated on her, and that is keeping him anchored to the supernatural realm. If she gets far enough away, he will lose his fixation and exhaustion, coupled with his head trauma should drop him back into mundane reality. Howard describes Conan’s fixation on Atali in the final chase and the effort it takes for him to accomplish her capture in grim detail. <br />
Conan captures Atali and she writhes out of his grasp, stripping herself in the process. She beseeches the god Ymir, her father, to save her. He does; she disappears in a flash of light and a clap of thunder. As an aside, I love how Ymir doesn’t actually inhabit the Supernatural realm; Howard makes the supernatural world itself a nested reality of a larger invisible God’s-world. Howard’s view of reality is that it has layers, like an onion.<br />
When Atali disappears, Conan is cut off from his anchor in the Supernatural world and Howard describes the Cimmerian’s vertigo, as fatigue and trauma pitch him headlong back toward the mundane world and unconsciousness;<br />
<i>“Then suddenly the borealis, the snow-clad hills, and the blazing heavens reeled drunkenly to Conan’s sight, thousands of fire-balls burst with showers of sparks, and the sky itself became a titanic wheel which rained stars as it spun. Under his feet the snowy hills heaved up like a wave, and the Cimmerian crumpled into the snows to lie motionless..”<b></b></i> <br />
If the previous paragraph wasn’t proof enough that the story is being told from the perspective of Conan’s conscious perceptions, then the next one positively does, since Howard details what Conan experiences while unconscious.<br />
<i></i> <br />
"In a cold dark universe, whose sun was extinguished long ago, Conan felt the movement of life, alien and unguessed. An earthquake had him in its grip and was shaking him to and fro, at the same time chafing his hands and feet until he yelled in pain and fury and groped for his sword..”<b></b><br />
Conan comes to, back in the mundane world and his rational mind begins to convince him that he experience some type of dream. He makes a statement: <i>"A strange madness fell upon me when I looked at her, so I forgot all else in the world. I followed her. Did you not find her tracks? Or the giants in icy mail I slew?" </i>Now, I have seen people use this statement as the rational that Conan was under a spell, but all a “<i>strange madness</i>” really signifies is that he was suffering from a type of mental aberration that he had never encountered before. Any idea that this implied a spell is simply reading something into the statement that isn’t there. Also, Conan’s statement reiterates Howard’s depiction of reality being a series of nested worlds. The Supernatural realm contained the mundane world, but the people in the “<i>real</i>” world are completely unable to see Atali’s track or the dead giants. They aren’t “<i>real</i>” to them.<br />
The only Aesir that believes Conan is Gorm. He saw Atali when he was wounded in battle as a youth. Like Conan, he had taken a sword blow to the head, which seems to be the consistent way to experience her appearance. Unlike Conan he was unable to follow her, although he howled like a dog because he couldn’t.<br />
The story ends with a twist, where Conan discovers Atali’s garment in his hand. Conan brought it back with him because she was so real that he incorporated her into his reality paradigm. His belief was enough to make the garment real. This is Howard’s way of telling us that reality is an illusion made concrete by the application of consciousness.<br />
One final thought; some people might think that this theory of “<i>altered-consciousness</i>” is kind of “<i>out there</i>”. Just remember that Conan experiences states of altered reality several times during the Conan saga. In fact, in the story that Howard wrote just prior to this on, <b>The Phoenix on the Sword</b>, Conan is in an altered state (dream state) when he talks to Epemitreous and that the sage places the symbol of a phoenix on Conan’s sword, and like Atali’s garment, it appears in the mundane world. Howard was consistent in the way he handled reality in Conan’s world.<br />
I don’t expect to convince everyone that my way of looking at this story is the correct way. I do feel that my theory makes more sense than conventional wisdom allows although I understand that I may simply be projecting my own biases onto the material. In the end, I’m really only providing food for thought.<br />
<br />
The Frozen Landscape of Reality essay Copyright 2007-2010 Dale E. Rippke<br />
All rights reservedDarkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18275846242078447111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5138225016517963582.post-31320020680799363022010-12-08T18:14:00.001-06:002011-12-11T07:05:26.374-06:00The Tao of Conan<b>Why everything you think you know about Conan is probably wrong</b><br />
<b>By Dale E. Rippke</b><br />
<b>This essay originally appeared in REHUPA #199, June 2006</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>He was not merely a wild man; he was part of the wild, one with untameable elements of life; in his veins ran the blood of the wolf-pack; in his brain lurked the brooding depths of the northern night; his heart throbbed with the fire of blazing forests.</i></b><br />
<i>-Excerpt from <b>BLACK COLOSSUS</b>, by Robert E. Howard</i><br />
<b><i></i></b><br />
The single most frustrating aspect of being a fan of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian is the myriad of reader’s subjective opinions as to the values that Howard’s character embodies. It’s not as if he wrote the Conan stories to be so opaque that any interpretation could be considered valid. I’m positive that Howard knew exactly what Conan’s character traits and motivations were and thus described him acting in a reasonably consistent manner across the entire series.<br />
So what happened? Why is there so much confusion as to who and what Conan was?<br />
The single biggest contributor to this confusion is the absolute plethora of pastiche material that has been added to the Conan saga since Howard’s suicide in 1936. The first pastiche offerings by L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter set the tone for all the subsequent works, since they were incorporated into the Conan mythos as having equal standing to Howard’s own yarns. The DeCamp/Carter stories moved away from Howard’s vision by offering their own sanitized version, emphasizing Conan’s “heroic” qualities (like his “rude chivalry” toward women) and minimizing his more distasteful aspects. They also tended to present Conan as being more cerebral than Howard’s instinctual barbarian. However, they were just novices compared to what was to come next.<br />
The biggest offender in almost every way was Marvel Comics. Their version of Conan was almost a completely different character than Howard’s vision. Oddly enough, quite a bit of this came about because of an agenda forced upon Marvel Comics by being a member of the Comics Code; they had to present Conan as a positive role-model. This presented writer Roy Thomas with a bit of a tightrope to walk in order to keep Conan somewhat true to what Howard envisioned. Conan still killed his enemies (something other Comic Code heroes weren’t allowed), but it was always shown as self-defense; he wasn’t allowed to murder anyone, anymore. Some people may argue that this wasn’t a big change, but it completely altered Conan’s personality and motivations. Other changes to the Conan character came about by Thomas taking bits of history, events from stories, and throwaway character quirks and spinning them into a consistent, homogenous whole. To add to the confusion, Thomas was eventually allowed to adapt the DeCamp/Carter stories into the Marvel series, with wildly varying degrees of success. Soon after Thomas left the series, it rapidly fell into a static, bland mess that slowly shifted Conan into the role of a defacto superhero; a veritable Hyborian Age boy scout. Even Thomas’s return late in the series couldn’t prevent it from running off the rails and collapsing under it own gigantic mythology.<br />
In the meantime, dozens of pastiche novels of wildly varying quality were released, as well as a couple of motion picture that further confused the issue. Is it actually any wonder that people don’t know who Conan really is?<br />
The other main contributors to this confusion are the consumers of Howard’s yarns, from casual fans to Howard scholars. The casual fan is generally uninterested in Robert Howard, considering him to be just the first in a growing number of Conan scribes; all equal in their eyes. It really doesn’t matter if they are reading Dark Horse Comics, Marvel Comics, or any of the pastiche authors. All they are really interested in is the adventures of the Conan character.<br />
At the other end of the spectrum are Howard fans and scholars. They want to discover the true nature of Conan solely through the writings of Robert Howard (a position I absolutely endorse). The weird thing is, even limiting the playing field to Howard doesn’t seem to make the confusion go away. This seems to be due to one main reason; there is a pre-existing bias that exists due to reading the comics or pastiche material first. This has a tendency to contaminate and eclipse Howard’s characters and world with the ideas from the earlier readings, thus leading to inaccurate comprehension of the material. <br />
What perplexes me is that most people seem to be wholly ignorant with this state of affairs, and usually tend to project the blame out onto Howard’s stories; citing inconsistencies, opaque motivations, and the general belief that Conan is “everything to everyone”. This is something that nearly every Howard scholar (myself included) is guilty of. It’s also human nature to try to create order in our own minds out of all of this sometimes contradictory information. Frequently, the end result is a type of myopia; you literally can’t see the forest because of all the trees. We all project personal bias and become locked into a subjective paradigm of belief that is extremely hard to discard.<br />
To some degree this essay is a direct example of the paradigm of belief. I came to Conan through the agency of Marvel Comics. I was happy living this delusional existence; happy in my belief of all things Conan. Then I joined the Robert E. Howard United Press Association (REHUPA). It didn’t happen right away, but slowly the scales fell from my eyes and I was able to perceive Conan in a truly different light. There were real, tangible differences between Howard’s barbarian and the guy in the comics. It was almost as if some of Conan’s more heroic aspects had gotten pushed out to the most extreme positions possible. Several of the Marvel Conan's noblest qualities didn’t exist or were seriously muted in the Howard stories. Some of the more egregious differences are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Conan has an iron code of morality that he lives by.</li>
<li>Conan only preys on people who deserve it. </li>
<li>Conan protects the poor and the innocent from bad people.</li>
<li>Conan would never, under any circumstance, kill a woman or harm a child.</li>
</ul>
This is just a small sampling of some of the facts that people argue are central to the character and mystique of Conan. The only problem is; there is almost no evidence of any of this in Howard’s writings other than that which people project onto it.<br />
Let’s examine, as an example, the fanciful notion that Conan would never kill a woman. There are only about four references given by Howard over the course of the Conan series that address this issue. Examining these four passages, using Occam’s Razor and a bit of common sense should illuminate Howard’s intentions.<br />
First clue is mentioned in <b>Queen of the Black Coast</b>. The ship that Conan is passenger on comes under attack by the black corsairs led by Bêlit. Conan decides to feather the pirate ship with arrows, and as it closes, spies Bêlit: “<i>Conan drew the shaft to his ear – then some whim or qualm stayed his hand and sent the arrow through the body of a tall plumed spearman beside her</i>.” On the face of it, it can be used to support the notion that Conan won’t kill women. It only real problem is that Howard shows it to be the result of a “<i>whim or qualm</i>”, which seems to be too unpredictable to easily fall in line with the rational that he would never, ever harm a woman.<br />
The second comes from <b>Xuthal of the Dusk</b>. Conan’s woman Natala has been kidnapped by Thalis and is going to be killed, so that the Stygian can have Conan to herself. Natala points out the flaw in Thalis’ plan: “<i>‘He will cut your throat,’ answered Natala with conviction, knowing Conan better than Thalis did</i>.” This should actually kill that notion that Conan would never kill a woman. Howard doesn’t write that Natala hopes he will kill her or imagines that he will kill her; he states that she KNOWS he will kill her. Conan WILL KILL a woman under certain provocations. The murder of a girl under his protection is reason enough.<br />
The third comes from <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>. Conan needs to camouflage the Devi and decides to take the clothes of a young woman nearby. The Devi worries that he is going to kill the girl for them. “<i>‘I don’t kill women ordinarily,’ he grunted; ‘though some of the hillwomen are she-wolves.’</i>” There are a couple of interesting facts gleaned from reading that statement in context. First of all he is implying that under extraordinary circumstances he might consider killing women. Secondly, that circumstance has to do with women who intend violence upon his person. For the sake of argument I’m going to limit it to those women that he would find himself hard-pressed to defeat in battle or that have him at a disadvantage. We theoretically would have seen this happen in <b>Red Nails </b>if Valeria had been unable to kill Tascela; it would have fallen to Conan to try to try to take her out without becoming fried by her magic laser wand. It really only takes common sense to realize that Conan isn’t going to let himself be killed by a woman, even if he is adverse to killing them.<br />
The fourth comes from <b>Rogues in the House</b>, and it seems to be the main evidence that people use to advance the idea that Conan will not kill a woman. In the story, Conan’s woman has betrayed him to the authorities, who have captured and incarcerated him. Conan escapes, and makes his way back to his ex-lover’s apartment. Instead of killing her, he takes her atop the building and drops her into the cesspool behind it. The main argument that Conan won’t kill women comes from the notion that “If she didn’t deserve death at his hands, then really, who does?” The problem is one detail that tends to mitigate this argument somewhat. There is an interesting passage that occurs during the scene that sheds light on Conan’s motivation. Conan enters the room and faces the girl. She begins to beg for her life as he stands there with a bloodstained knife in his hand: “<i>Conan did not reply; he merely stood and glared at her with his burning eyes, testing the edge of his poniard with a calloused thumb. At last he crossed the chamber</i>…” Howard uses this passage to illustrate Conan’s motives during his encounter with the girl. The overwhelming sense I get from it is that Conan entered the room fully intending to kill her and paused to collect himself for a moment. While she begs for her life, he is wrestling with his impulse to murder her outright (<i>testing the edge of his poniard with a calloused thumb</i>). In much the same way that he couldn’t bring himself to kill Bêlit due to a “whim or qualm”, Conan can’t bring himself to murder his punk either. He assuages his need for vengeance by chucking her into a cesspool, instead.<br />
According to Howard, while it really isn’t in Conan’s nature to kill women, he will kill them under certain circumstances; if he is hard pressed in battle with one or if a woman murders someone under his protection being the two that we know about. While the girl in <b>Rogues in the House</b> certainly betrayed him, Conan escaped death, so she doesn’t really fall into either category of “women he would kill”. She instead lucked into a Cimmerian version of “no harm, no foul”, although it was a pretty near thing. Anyone who still believes that Conan would never, ever kill a woman is projecting his own bias. Howard frankly implies that Conan WILL kill women, given the right provocation.<br />
All of which leads us back to the general theme of this essay. Since most people have a skewed idea of who or what Conan is maybe we should take a look at what Howard was attempting to tell us about his Cimmerian. It is my contention that Conan’s character is consistent across the breadth of the series and that Howard had a very clear conception of the character to draw upon.<br />
Howard claims that he modeled his character after various men he knew; oilfield workers and the like. Each provided traits that made up the amalgam called Conan the Cimmerian. While this is a true statement on the face of it, the Conan character also contains elements that are pretty iconic, if not downright archetypal.<br />
Arguments have been made in the past concerning the allegorical nature of the Conan stories; its overarching theme of civilization versus barbarism, collectivism versus individualism; the hooks that Howard hung his Conan tales upon. Stating the allegory in those simple terms does it much injustice. When you get down to it, true barbarism is not the antithesis of civilization. Barbarism is really nothing more than a simplified version of civilization. Howard’s idealized view of barbarism has nothing to do with reality. It goes down deeper. It goes back to a debate that is one of the oldest in the Western philosophical tradition, between <i>Nomos</i> and <i>Physis</i> (<i>Fusis</i>). <br />
The principles of <i>nomos</i> were the bedrock of civilized Greek society. They consisted of artifice, order, rationality. Every civilized society, including most barbarous cultures, adheres to the concepts of <i>nomos</i>. Artifice is the imposition of man’s will upon the world around him, while order is the tool of control, and rationality is the explanation of why things work the way they do. All civilized societies that we know of operate out of a <i>nomos</i> paradigm. The <i>nomos</i> worldview is pretty much always collective, in that we generally all share the same outlook.<br />
Howard’s view of the <i>nomos</i> reality was that since humans were flawed, then it stands to follow that any civilization based upon their perceptions would be equally flawed. The Conan stories plays upon the artifice of civilized culture and always presents it as being corruptible and in decline due to either the disparity between components of the culture (the power of haves over the have-nots) or because the security of the collective brings about a sort of ennui that attempts to fulfill its desires through decadence. This decadence brings about a weakness in the race that hastens it inevitable downfall. Civilization’s adherence to rationality also leads to its own destruction through dogma and a false sense of moral superiority.<br />
Howard shows civilization in an entropic light. It always has a sense of decay, a whiff of corruption. He states in <b>Beyond the Black River</b> that: “<i>Barbarism is the natural state of mankind. Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstances. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph</i>.” In a very real sense, what this means is that civilization becomes so entrenched within its artificial laws and dogma, that it is unable to respond to the challenge presented by barbarism. Barbarism embraces the chaotic, the unpredictable, and the creative. It attacks civilization in ways that are impossible to prepare for as well as defend against. Civilization is limited by its own perceptions, while barbarism has no limitations at all.<br />
In the Conan saga, the Cimmerian is nearly always presented as the catalyst that shakes things up; he drives the adventure to new places. He is the antithesis of civilized behavior, so it should come as no surprise that Howard seems to have based Conan upon the “Wild”; upon the principle of <i>physis</i>. It consists of nature, chaos, and irrationality. Conan definitely exhibits all of those traits. Howard plays up the nature angle by comparing him to different types of wild animal in nearly every story he wrote. He shows Conan exhibiting chaotic behavior, operating according to whims and describes him as “<i>turbulent</i>”. He proclaims Conan basic irrationality every time he operates instinctively. The character is practically a poster child for <i>physis</i> behavior.<br />
A character operating out of a <i>physis</i> paradigm would have to be anti-collective. Conan is an individual, not a part of the collective, and doesn’t buy into civilization’s laws and bullshit. By definition, Conan is completely amoral and self-centered. He functions as a law unto himself and even though he preys on civilization wholesale, he doesn’t come across as especially evil, since his victims are essentially corrupt. This tends to color him as a bright ray of light in a very dark world.<br />
The biggest problem in making Conan a sympathetic character is that his motivations seldom come across as altruistic, and usually appear pretty self-centered. Howard needed to give the individualistic Conan a set of values that could supplant those of typical <i>nomos</i> behavior, yet not appear too amoral and self-serving. He tried to solve this by taking the <i>physis</i> model of the rugged individualist and moving it to its logical extreme. In my mind, Conan is based on the idea of the Alpha-male. The interesting thing to me is that it isn’t the human “top-dog” type of alpha-male, but one based on the way animals actually behave in nature (the Wild). He exhibits several different traits that belong to the “alpha-male of a pack” model.<br />
The most obvious trait is that Conan always attempts to rise to the leadership role of any group that he is a part of by direct conflict with the group’s current leader. We see excellent examples of this in his fights with Sergius of Khrosha in <b>Iron Shadows in the Moon</b>, and with Zaporavo in <b>The Pool of the Black One</b>. The best example of this trait occurs in <b>A Witch Shall Be Born</b>. Conan usurps the command of the Zuagir tribesmen from Olgerd Vladislav in a scene that conjures the best elements of being the alpha-male of a pack of animals, right down to Conan’s statement that “<i>There’s no room for a fallen chief on the desert. If the warriors see you, maimed and deposed, they will never let you leave the camp alive</i>.” The apex of this trait is, of course, Conan strangling King Namedides to take the throne of Aquilonia.<br />
Another trait Conan exhibits is his absolute refusal to ever submit to another person’s will. The man, in the entire saga, never once surrenders to an antagonist. He always goes down swinging, even when it seems to be in his best interests not to. He may leave a fight by tactical withdrawal, but he never submits or surrenders. In nature this would be considered “baring your throat” and its something an alpha-male would never do. He’d rather die first.<br />
A third trait concerns the alpha-male’s responsibility to protect the members of his “pack” from outside dangers. Anyone who accepts Conan’s leadership status becomes a member of his “pack” and he will protect them to the point of laying down his life for them. This trait is most obviously illustrated by how fiercely he protects his women satellites, but also shows in his refusal to abandon his beleaguered tribesmen in <b>The People of the Black Circle</b>, even though they are howling for his blood. It even manifests itself in <b>The Hour of the Dragon</b> when Conan recognizes his responsibility toward protecting “his subjects” from the depravations of the invading Nemedians. This is an important trait in viewing the Conan character; he isn’t the king of the nation of Aquilonia as much as the people of Aquilonia are members of his “pack”.<br />
The final trait is in regards to how Conan relates to the women of his “pack”. In nature, the alpha-male has the right to mate with any female of his choosing that enjoys his protection. And we sort of see Howard broach this issue several times in the series. The most obvious example is Octavia in <b>The Devil in Iron</b>. Conan protects her from Khosatral Khel and afterwards considers her to be “his woman”. Even the fact that she was only playing at being enamored of him doesn’t really faze him much; he still expects to have sexual relations with her. A similar scene appears in <b>The People of the Black Circle</b> after Conan rescued the Devi Yasmina from the seers of Yimsha and reestablished his protection. They eventually realize that she is no longer useful as a hostage, so Conan decides to keep her as “his woman”, and states quite frankly that she doesn’t have any choice in the matter. Even <b>The Vale of Lost Women</b> alludes to this a bit when Conan realizes that Livia doesn’t want to play by “his” rules and so gallantly kicks her out of the country because of the rationalization that she isn’t “<i>the proper woman for the war-chief of the Bamulas</i>”. <br />
Conan also exhibits a <i>physis</i> trait by acting in an appropriately chaotic manner in any number of situations. Howard knew that the Conan character needed to be unpredictable; He alludes to it all the time: “<i>Barbaric men did strange inexplicable things</i>”. The earlier argument about Conan killing women is a case in point.<br />
When Conan decided, through a whim or a qualm, not to shoot Bêlit, it was an act of unpredictability (it also skirts the edge of irrationality, since Bêlit was the corsair’s leader and her death might have ended the fight). Chaos means unpredictability. Howard presented the scene between Conan and his punk in <b>Rogues in the House</b> as an act of unpredictability, since he wrote it to appear that the Cimmerian intended to kill her, only to change his mind at the last second. And lest we forget, in <b>Black Colossus</b>, Amalric describes Conan as being “<i>the most turbulent of all my rogues!</i>” Turbulent means wildly or violently unpredictable. It seems clear that Howard intended Conan to behave in such a manner.<br />
Irrationality is the other <i>physis</i> trait that Conan exhibits and this one is a bit harder to pin down, mainly because the word itself has negative connotations to the current way of thinking. Irrationality in the true sense means that the character exhibits thinking that has no logical basis as its source. Howard describes Conan as acting instinctively, putting action before reflection. In the Howard story <b>The Devil in Iron</b>, Ghaznavi of Khawarizm points out that the crafty Conan exhibits traits that are more aligned with “<i>wild animal instinct than through intelligence</i>”. Howard links Conan’s irrationality to his emotional state. He flees in horror from the decapitated body of the Son of Set that he slew in <b>The God in the Bowl</b>. His escape attempts in both <b>Queen of the Black Coast</b> and <b>The God in the Bowl</b> are set into motion by first slaying unarmed men who have pissed him off, rather than the more rational and logical choice of the armed men in the room.<br />
It seems pretty clear to me that Howard intended Conan to be the antithesis of civilized behavior. He operates out of a completely different paradigm than the worldview of the civilized nations he wanders through. He interacts with the civilized mindset, but he never actually embraces it; he usually expresses disdain toward it. His rejection of the civilized worldview come straight out of <b>The Vale of Lost Women</b>: “<i>Customs differ in various countries, but if a man is strong enough, he can enforce a few of his native customs anywhere. And no man ever called me a weakling!</i>”. Conan is not <i>nomos</i>. He is <i>physis</i> through and through.<br />
Conan left Cimmeria, according to Howard, because of his intense curiosity to see the world and to experience life to its fullest extent. That is pretty much his mandate throughout the entire series. Conan isn’t about an unexamined life; its about the desire to “<i>Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content” </i>and “<i>I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and I am content</i>.” <br />
Conan deals in death, but his reality is that he is constantly moving toward life. It seems like a paradox, but that’s really when he’s viewed from the <i>nomos</i> perspective. Conan is so enamored of living his life that he is will to risk it by flirting with death at every opportunity. Like any war veteran can attest; People only just exist – you don’t actually live life until you’ve laid it on the line. Conan lives his life like it’s nothing less than a dance with death.<br />
One thing always perplexed me about the Conan saga was the fact that his becoming king seems to fly in the face of his <i>physis</i> paradigm. Even Howard himself seems to acknowledge problem in <b>Hour of the Dragon</b>, when Conan rides disguises himself as a Free Companion and rides through Zingara in pursuit of the Heart of Ahriman: “<i>And more than looking the part, he felt the part; the awakening of old memories, the resurge of the wild, mad, glorious days of old before his feet were set on the imperial path when he was a wandering mercenary, roistering, brawling, guzzling, adventuring, with no thought for the morrow, and no desire save sparkling ale, red lips, and a keen sword to swing on all the battlefields of the world</i>.” It seems that he is moving toward <i>nomos</i> worldview and perhaps he is to a degree. The important thing to keep in mind is the context. Conan becoming king of a civilized land is nothing less than Howard’s main theme of civilization versus barbarism written on a more personal scale. Barbarism is so potent that just one guy can upset the order of the civilized world.<br />
All of this leads us back to the original point of this essay. The reason that people, authors and fans alike, don’t really “get” Conan is because they tend to look at him through <i>nomos</i> eyes. They feel the need to categorize him; to plug him into pre-existing pigeonholes. They change him to fit their comfort zone. DeCamp and Carter make Conan more rational; a <i>nomos</i> trait. Roy Thomas takes Conan’s unpredictable behavior and constructs a veritable iron code of behavioral traits; the very essence of <i>nomos</i> belief. And people buy into it.<br />
Conan isn’t <i>nomos</i>. Howard certainly didn’t write him that way, or he wouldn’t have had to power to capture our imaginations the way that he did. Conan, when you get right down to it, fires up our imaginations because he is his own man. He doesn’t buy into civilizations bullshit; it doesn’t concern him much at all. He only exists to live his life on his own terms; live free or die. That is the real Conan.<br />
Why is this important? On the overall scheme of things it’s probably too late to change people’s perceptions of Conan due to the flood of pastiche material out there. But at one time, a long time ago it was important enough that a Texan writer took the time to figure out how to present the ultimate icon of human freedom. It’s important to me to honor his vision of what was important to him.<br />
I don’t really expect to change anyone’s mind by this essay. The reality is that it’s just my point of view. But I believe that it makes a valid point based on solid evidence. All I really want is to make you consider it for a bit. It’s the least I could do for Bob…<br />
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The Tao of Conan essay Copyright 2006-2010 Dale E. Rippke<br />
All rights reservedDarkstorm Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18275846242078447111noreply@blogger.com2