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Nemedia was the eastern neighbor and main rival to Aquilonia. Their lengthy histories include several wars against each other, but each has failed to achieve complete victory.

The capital was Belverus, situated among a fertile agricultural area. The Road of Kings and another major caravan highway meet in Numalia, which served as the second major center of the kingdom.[1]

History

Origin[]

The area of Nemedia was once part of an older empire, Acheron. 3,000 years before the Age of Conan, the Hyborian tribes invaded Acheron from the north. They destroyed Acheron and set up new kingdoms over its ruins. Nemedia is one of the oldest of these Hyborian Kingdoms.

The Nemedians did inherit certain elements of Acheronian civilization. They received and nurtured a tradition of scholarship and intellectual research. The leading Hyborian historians and philosophers were all Nemedians. The Nemedian Chronicles would become the main source for an otherwise forgotten era of human history.[1]

King Bragorus' rule (circa 10,900 BC)[]

900 years before the the Age of Conan, Nemedia was ruled by King Bragorus. He invaded Aquilonia but was driven back.[2]

Age of Conan (10,000 BC)[]

Circa 10,000 BC (8,000 years after the Great Cataclysm), Nemedia had become the second most powerful Hyborian monarchy.[3]

In a Nemedian village, Conan and Fafnir saved a young girl named Giselle who had been sold to Gargantax, the champion of Baron Alain Mort-Pointard: she did not love the giant and had fled from him, and the Baron's soldiers sought to return her. While the Cimmerian onan left with Giselle in an effort to take her to safety, Fafnir refused to flee, the Vanir stayed in town and was soon hired by Mort-Pointard's men for the yearly challenge of champions to maintain the rule, assuming the one-armed man would be no match for Gargantax, and thus no threat to baron's rule. Both Fafnir and the intervening Conan were quickly overpowered by Gargantax, but Giselle rushed down in the arena to stop the giant from killing his opponents, distracting him enough so that Conan could wound and then skewer and kill Gargantax.[4]

Conan and Fafnir were then recruited by Countess Noirelle, who had maintained her youth for a thousands years with the white of an egg from a certain giant, winged creature, and needed them to help her obtain a fresh supply, as her last millennium's worth was rapidly wearing off. Rather than attempt to fight the monstrous creature, Noirelle had them first obtain a sample of the rare Yellow Lotus to drug it into slumber. After having hijacked a pouch of yellow lotus, Noirelle went off with Conan to show him her gratitude, while Fafnir went off to the local tavern, quaffed a few ales, and picked up a tavern wench. Fafnir bragged to the wench of his battle prowess, including his theft of the lotus, and while he slept, she switched his pouch for one filled with sand. When they approached the nest, the creature swooped down to attack them. Fafnir went for his pouch and only then realized that he no longer had the Lotus to drug the creature. The creature attacked Conan, but Fafnir, taking responsibility for his mistake, drew the creature to attack him instead. It swatted him backwards, and Fafnir fell back onto its egg, shattering it and covering himself in its fluid. The creature then swooped down again and knocked Fafnir off of its nest, and off of the cloud-covered mountain which they had climbed to reach it. Noirelle, desperate for the egg's fluids, leapt off after him.[5]

Conan searched for the valley below the mountain for Fafnir and Noirelle, to no avail. He then ran across Alhambra, who was captured and sold to a freakshow slaver. Conan eventually had her released and fought with her the Ur-Xanarrh hunting party; Alhambra, instead of leaving with the Cimmerian, preferred to stay together with Villardo, a hairy, beast-like human.[6]

Facts[]

Religion[]

The worship of Mitra was state-endorsed, but the academic focus of Nemedia led to a liberal atmosphere, and thus to a tolerance of a large number of religious sects, including the philosophical Skepicts, a cult of Ishtar, and followers of the Stygian Serpent god Set.[1]

Circa 10,000 BC, in the town once known as Red Tree Hill, some of the townsfolk came to worship the Cimmerian god Crom when an inquisitor tried to execute captive Conan after having slain a priest of Mitra, and was struck by lightning after Conan shouted "Crom damn you!" to his face.[7]

Law and Justice[]

The legal courts are credited with trying to both convict the guilty and to set free the wrongly accused. Like all "civilized" nations of the Hyborian World, Nemedia has a population of slaves. Several of them being former criminals or people unable to pay their debts. However, Nemedia is unique in that it has set certain protections for the slaves into law. The armed law enforcement force of Nemedia is charged with offering protection to nobles, freemen, and serfs alike.[8]

Circa 10,000 BC, by royal edict, all Acheronian artifacts, including gold coins, were property of the crown.[9]

Points of Interest

Residents

See Also

Links and References

References

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