Hyperborea

This page merges many locations named Hyperborea, whose relation to each others is unrevealed (if any), and could be split in the future depending on the publication of new material (Discuss).

Hyperborea
Name	Hyperborea
Aliases	Elder Hyperborea (Age of Dragons name), Hyperborea the Elder (early Hyborian Age name)
Characteristics
Demonym	Hyperboreans
Religion	See "Religion in Hyperborea"
Location Details
Reality	Earth-616
Galaxy	Milky Way
Star System	Sol
Planet	Earth
Continent	Hyboria ; formerly Lemuria
Region	Hyborian Lands ; Hyborian Kingdoms
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas, Barry Smith
First	Conan the Barbarian #3 (February, 1971)
First	Conan the Barbarian #3 (February, 1971)

 The Gate of Hyperborea is the Gate of Death. 

Hyperborea was the name of many countries on Earth across the ages, from the land from where the Dragon Kings ruled Lemuria and Earth as a whole, before the rise of mankind, to the Greek myth of a people of blonde living way up north.

This page is mostly about Hyperborea, the first Hyborian kingdom (then known as Hyperborea the Elder), later conquered by Aesir, and visited at times by Conan of Cimmeria in the course of his adventures during the Hyborian Age, circa 10,000 BC.

Hyperborea was a northeastern kingdom, bordered at west by Asgard (presumably separated from it by the River of Death Ice whi had its source in the Eiglophian Mountains), at south by Brythunia and the Border Kingdom, and at east by Turan (a border vaguely delineated by low hills, some lakes, and a small river originated in the Graaskal Mountains).

History

Elder Hyperborea / Age of Dragons

Elder Hyperborea existed in Lemuria, at time where the Dragon Kings ruled the Earth.

Eibon's era / Pre-Cataclysmic Age

The Pnakotic Manuscripts were found back in Hyperborea during Eibon's era.

The Book of Eibon was written by Eibon's apprentice in Pre-Cataclysic Hyperborea.

After the Great Cataclysm

Rise of the Hyborians

After the Great Cataclysm, Hyperborea was originally inhabited by the savage snow-apes, until savages led by Bori repelled them into the Icy Wastes. That area became the Hyborian homeland.

Hyperborea the Elder

The Hyperboreans were the first Hyborian tribe to discover stonemasonry, and abandoned their primitive nomadic way to settle. The former nomads crafted huge stone-walled dwellings for themselves. Circa 16,000 BC, they founded their barbaric kindom, which began with a crude fortress of boulders that help them repel tribal attacks.

1500 years after Bori, the Hybori achieved a fairly high culture, and started to conquer and absorb weaker tribes until eventually establishing the first Hyborian kingdom: Hyperborea the Elder.

The Hybori tribes who resisted or rebelled against Hyperborea migrated southwards in an invading horde, that spilled into Acheron.

Hyborian Age

Hyperborea

The first kingdom of Hyperborea was overthrown by another tribe, the Aesir. The Aesir settled in the ruins, married and bred with the survivors and created a new kingdom, which retained the old name.

Lanjau was the furthest southern outpost of the Hyperboreans, but later found itself into western Corinthia.

The other Aesir and the Vanir eventually drove out of the snow-countries all the remaining Hyborians except for Hyperborea. Their country was called Nordheim).

Hyperborea suffered imperialistic attacks from Turan.

In the generation before Conan, Hyperboreans tried to subdue Cimmeria, only to be hurled back in their land.

Age of Conan / Vammatar's rule (10,000 BC)

During the Age of Conan, Vammatar was queen of Hyperborea, ruling from her castle of Haloga. It remains unknown whether or not she was the Finnish goddess Vammatar, a human host, a recipient for her power, a poseur, or simply coincidentally shared the same name. She was also allied with Louhi, the witch-queen of Pohiola, an Hyperborean citadel.

An ambitious under-king, King Tomar entered war with King Brian's Brythunia, to the south. The two kings slew each other, and the Hyperborean god Bori left the Earth plane afterwards.

Hyperborea invaded (9,500 BC)

Circa 9,500 BC, the Hyrkanians hordes (Hyrkanians and Turanians united under one great chief) stormed the west, sweeping first over Zamora, then Brythunia, Hyperborea, and Corinthia, going around the Vilayet Sea by the north, and conquering the kingdom.

After a short age, they were repelled by the Nordic-Nemedians, themselves fleeing the invasion of the Cimmerians and Nordics into Nemedia.

Antiquity

Sometime circa 1,300 to 1,100 BC, the Hyperboreans were (to the Greeks and Anatolians) a people of blonds who dwelt "beyond the North wind".

Facts

Geography and Fauna

The realm of Hyperborea contained gloomy mountains, desolate hills, and bleak plains. Wolves, cave bears, reindeer, musk oxen, and mammoths roamed the land, as well as Polar Tigers living in the White Woods.

Hyperborean race

The Hyperboreans were lean, and gaunt with pale skin, and white hair. Their most striking features were their unusual height of 7 feet (2,13 meters) and their sparkling, cat-like, greenish eyes.

The people of Hyperborea were originally Hyborians. After having invaded, the Aesir intermarried with the survivors. Later, by the Age of Conan, through the influx of the slaves, also added genetics from Hyrkanian and Zamorian stock.

Society and politics

Class divisions were rather rigid in Hyperborea. Most commoners were serfs who resided in huts and hovels. They struggled to farm the land and herd cattle in this cold land. The famed stone keeps of Hyperborea were reserved for the ruling class, which mostly consisting of powerful wizards and witches. The local magical organization was the White Hand. The Hyperboreans were led by a priestess-queen, living incarnation of their Goddess of Death.

Though Hyperborean armies seldom ventured far from their borders, the reach of Hyperborea in world affairs was not be underestimated. The rulers trained and employed highly effective assassins, an elite of their age. They took pride in leaving no mark on the bodies of their victims, making their work untraceable. Hyperborean slave raiders plagued the neighboring lands in an effort to provide a cheap labor force for the homeland, resulting in hereditary enmity with various neighbors, including Cimmeria.

Religion

At the time of Conan, the Hyperboreans worshiped the war god Borri, and they were led by a priestess-queen, living incarnation of their Goddess of Death (This statement could be about Vammatar, who was both the queen of Haloga, and a goddess of evil, misfortune, pain and suffering).

The oldest god of the Hyperboreans was the elder god Bardisattva the Very Old, or Bardis, the god of the Coya clan, while despised by the Clan Curgill. The Land of Bardisattva was forbidden to all but the Silent Followers, priests of the Coya.

In a possible version of the Age of Conan, the cult of Sodatha formerly occupied a city later inhabited by wild clans of Hyperboreans united into a legion by a witch queen.

Alternate Realities

Earth-90976

The cult of Sodatha formerly occupied a city who was later inhabited by wild clans of Hyperboreans, united into a legion by a witch queen.

Points of Interest

• Haloga
• Pohiola
• Sigtona
• Lord Krakanites's stronghold
• Unnamed city inhabited by Thonn, the hideous
• Icy Wastes

The Frozen River delimitated the border with Brythunia.

Along the years, Hyperborea lost some of its territory to other nations:

• Lanjau - Furthest southern outpost, in western Corinthia by the Age of Conan, circa 10,000 BC

Residents

• Queen Vammatar of Haloga
• Thonn, the hideous - Stranded demon
• Lord Krakanites - Wizard, stronghold ruler
• Tomar - Underking, enemy of King Brian of Brythunia
• Kormlada - Queen, wife of King Tomar

Notes

• Hyperborea was a mythical place in Greek mythology. The name literally means "Beyond the North Wind" in ancient Greek, and was the term used for the largely uncharted far north of the world.
• It was adapted by many Cthulhu Mythos and sword and sorcery authors:
  • It was adapted in fiction by Clark Ashton Smith in the series of short stories known as the Hyperborean cycle (1931–58). Some elements were also borrowed by H.P. Lovecraft.
  • Robert E. Howard also adapted it in his Conan stories (1932–36). This version of Hyperborea was featured in the essay "The Hyborian Age", and in the stories "The Thing in the Crypt", "The Lair of the Ice Worm", and "The Witch of the Mists".
  • Lin Carter also included it, as the homeland of the Dragon Kings, in "Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria" (a Conan pastiche).
• In Greco-Roman legends:
  • The kings of the Hyperboreans were the Boreades, descendants of the god Boreas and the nymph Chione. Boreas is a personification of the North Wind and Chione's name translates to "Snow".
  • Boreas, the supposed ancestor of the Hyperboreans, is one of the Anemoi (wind gods) of Greek mythology. He is the Greek god of the cold north wind and the bringer of winter. The Romans called him "Aquilo", identifying him with their own god of the North Wind. Boreas' siblings were Zephyrus/Favonius (the West Wind), Notus/Auster (the South Wind, personification of the sirocco), and Eurus/Vulturnus (the East Wind). Their parents were Astraeus (the "starry" one, one of the Titans, and identified as the god of dusk) and Eos/Aurora (the goddess of the dawn).
  • The unusual height of the Hyperboreans is likely based on their description in the works of Aelian, who estimated them to be 6 cubits in height. That would be 3 meters/10 feet.

See Also

• 16 appearance(s) of Hyperborea
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Hyperborea
• 2 minor appearance(s) of Hyperborea
• 41 mention(s) of Hyperborea
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Hyperborea
• 3 invocation(s) of Hyperborea
• 2 image(s) of Hyperborea
• 3 article(s) related to Hyperborea
• 8 citizen(s) of Hyperborea

Links and References

• Hyperborea on Wikipedia.org