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Nearly half a century before the arrival of Conan, one man and his small, ragged army of mercenaries stormed the gates of a tiny, insignificant city on the western meadow lands of Shem. Together, this man and his followers slit the throats of the city's royal family, imprisoned the dissidents, and established a brutal totalitarian rule: thus was born the city-state of El Shah Maddoc, which was annexed to neighboring Koth. The new city grew in stature under the leadership of his conqueror, King Maddoc I: both socially and militarily, it became a force to be reckoned with in the borderlands of Shem.

Nearly five summers before Conan's coming, beneath a devil's blood-red moon, King Maddoc was spirited away from his bedchamber and his son, Maddoc II, became king. Alongside Keiv, Conan came to El Shah Maddoc and presented himself to King Maddoc II, telling him that only by honoring Conan, holder of the amulet, could he save his city from Imhotep. Advised by his prophetess, Swan, Maddoc agreed, making Conan his new warlord after Conan rescued his father, Maddoc I, from the tower in which he had been long imprisoned.[1]

After a few weeks, Maddoc II sent Conan and Shapur with untrained troops (prisoners released from the cells) to battle the savage M'Gai tribe.[2] While the Cimmerian was away, Tetra enslaved King Maddoc II and was planning to kill Conan.[3]

Conan returned to the city and led his troops to assault Maddoc's castle. After a brutal battle, Conan slew Maddoc. Afterwards, "Tetra" confronted Conan, Keiv, and Imhotep, and Imhotep recognized her as Pathir; she suddenly blew up the entire castle.[4]

After Conan agreed to be her lover, Tetra transported Conan back to the castle and then followed his instruction to return Keiv back to his human form. Forcing Tetra to accept that she actually was a demonic creature that had just taken Tetra's form, Conan broke her spirit and then slew her. Imhotep saved Conan from falling to his death as Tetra/Pathir's tower collapsed, and Conan gave him the Amulet of Pathir. Departing to return to his brothers in the void, Imhotep dropped Conan a short distance to the ground and told him that if they ever met again it would not be as allies.[5]

Conan then tried to secure Jahli's future as the legitimate heir to the throne, building a circle of trusted allies to protect him.[6] As ordered by the Devourer of Souls, Jahli was eventually killed by Ybn. Conan and his allies avenged his death by slaying him and his entire army of assassins in the city arena.[7]

When the Devourer of Souls unleashed a massive fireball over the Southern Kingdoms, which impacted on a hill nearly a hundred leagues away, not far from the city-state of El Shah Maddoc, the land erupted into a great wave of rock and soil, barreling forth toward the city and eventually annihilating it.[8]

Points of Interest

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