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diff --git a/42182-0.txt b/42182-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d2d24d --- /dev/null +++ b/42182-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,885 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42182 *** + + THE HYBORIAN AGE + + By Robert E. Howard + + [Transcriber's Note: This etext was first published in The + Phantagraph February, August, and October-November 1936 issues. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + + (Nothing in this article is to be considered as an attempt to + advance any theory in opposition to accepted history. It is simply a + fictional background for a series of fiction-stories. When I began + writing the Conan stories a few years ago, I prepared this 'history' + of his age and the peoples of that age, in order to lend him and his + sagas a greater aspect of realness. And I found that by adhering to + the 'facts' and spirit of that history, in writing the stories, it + was easier to visualize (and therefore to present) him as a real + flesh-and-blood character rather than a ready-made product. In + writing about him and his adventures in the various kingdoms of his + Age, I have never violated the 'facts' or spirit of the 'history' + here set down, but have followed the lines of that history as + closely as the writer of actual historical-fiction follows the lines + of actual history. I have used this 'history' as a guide in all the + stories in this series that I have written.) + + * * * * * + +Of that epoch known by the Nemedian chroniclers as the Pre-Cataclysmic +Age, little is known except the latter part, and that is veiled in the +mists of legendry. Known history begins with the waning of the +Pre-Cataclysmic civilization, dominated by the kingdoms of Kamelia, +Valusia, Verulia, Grondar, Thule and Commoria. These peoples spoke a +similar language, arguing a common origin. There were other kingdoms, +equally civilized, but inhabited by different, and apparently older +races. + +The barbarians of that age were the Picts, who lived on islands far out +on the western ocean; the Atlanteans, who dwelt on a small continent +between the Pictish Islands and the main, or Thurian Continent; and the +Lemurians, who inhabited a chain of large islands in the eastern +hemisphere. + +There were vast regions of unexplored land. The civilized kingdoms, +though enormous in extent, occupied a comparatively small portion of the +whole planet. Valusia was the western-most kingdom of the Thurian +Continent; Grondar the eastern-most. East of Grondar, whose people were +less highly cultured than those of their kindred kingdoms, stretched a +wild and barren expanse of deserts. Among the less arid stretches of +desert, in the jungles, and among the mountains, lived scattered clans +and tribes of primitive savages. Far to the south there was a mysterious +civilization, unconnected with the Thurian culture, and apparently +pre-human in its nature. On the far-eastern shores of the Continent +there lived another race, human, but mysterious and non-Thurian, with +which the Lemurians from time to time came in contact. They apparently +came from a shadowy and nameless continent lying somewhere east of the +Lemurian Islands. + +The Thurian civilization was crumbling; their armies were composed +largely of barbarian mercenaries. Picts, Atlanteans and Lemurians were +their generals, their statesmen, often their kings. Of the bickerings of +the kingdoms, and the wars between Valusia and Commoria, as well as the +conquests by which the Atlanteans founded a kingdom on the mainland, +there were more legends than accurate history. + +Then the Cataclysm rocked the world. Atlantis and Lemuria sank, and the +Pictish Islands were heaved up to form the mountain peaks of a new +continent. Sections of the Thurian Continent vanished under the waves, +or sinking, formed great inland lakes and seas. Volcanoes broke forth +and terrific earthquakes shook down the shining cities of the empires. +Whole nations were blotted out. + +The barbarians fared a little better than the civilized races. The +inhabitants of the Pictish Islands were destroyed, but a great colony of +them, settled among the mountains of Valusia's southern frontier to +serve as a buffer against foreign invasion, was untouched. The +Continental kingdom of the Atlanteans likewise escaped the common ruin, +and to it came thousands of their tribesmen in ships from the sinking +land. Many Lemurians escaped to the eastern coast of the Thurian +Continent, which was comparatively untouched. There they were enslaved +by the ancient race which already dwelt there, and their history, for +thousands of years, is a history of brutal servitude. + +In the western part of the Continent, changing conditions created +strange forms of plant and animal life. Thick jungles covered the +plains, great rivers cut their roads to the sea, wild mountains were +heaved up, and lakes covered the ruins of old cities in fertile valleys. +To the Continental kingdom of the Atlanteans, from sunken areas, swarmed +myriads of beasts and savages--ape-men and apes. Forced to battle +continually for their lives, they yet managed to retain vestiges of +their former state of highly advanced barbarism. Robbed of metals and +ores, they became workers in stone like their distant ancestors, and +had attained a real artistic level, when their struggling culture came +into contact with the powerful Pictish nation. The Picts had also +reverted to flint, but had advanced more rapidly in the matter of +population and war-science. They had none of the Atlanteans' artistic +nature; they were a ruder, more practical, more prolific race. They left +no pictures painted or carved on ivory, as did their enemies, but they +left remarkably efficient flint weapons in plenty. + +These stone-age kingdoms clashed, and in a series of bloody wars, the +outnumbered Atlanteans were hurled back into a state of savagery, and +the evolution of the Picts was halted. Five hundred years after the +Cataclysm the barbaric kingdoms have vanished. It is now a nation of +savages--the Picts--carrying on continual warfare with tribes of +savages--the Atlanteans. The Picts had the advantage of numbers and +unity, whereas the Atlanteans had fallen into loosely knit clans. That +was the west of that day. + +In the distant east, cut off from the rest of the world by the heaving +up of gigantic mountains and the forming of a chain of vast lakes, the +Lemurians are toiling as slaves of their ancient masters. The far south +is still veiled in mystery. Untouched by the Cataclysm, its destiny is +still pre-human. Of the civilized races of the Thurian Continent, a +remnant of one of the non-Valusian nations dwells among the low +mountains of the southeast--the Zhemri. Here and there about the world +are scattered clans of apish savages, entirely ignorant of the rise and +fall of the great civilizations. But in the far north another people are +slowly coming into existence. + +At the time of the Cataclysm, a band of savages, whose development was +not much above that of the Neanderthal, fled to the north to escape +destruction. They found the snow-countries inhabited only by a species +of ferocious snow-apes--huge shaggy white animals, apparently native to +that climate. These they fought and drove beyond the Arctic circle, to +perish, as the savages thought. The latter, then, adapted themselves to +their hardy new environment and throve. + +After the Pictish-Atlantean wars had destroyed the beginnings of what +might have been a new culture, another, lesser cataclysm further altered +the appearance of the original continent, left a great inland sea where +the chain of lakes had been, to further separate west from east, and the +attendant earthquakes, floods and volcanoes completed the ruin of the +barbarians which their tribal wars had begun. + +A thousand years after the lesser cataclysm, the western world is seen +to be a wild country of jungles and lakes and torrential rivers. Among +the forest-covered hills of the northwest exist wandering bands of +ape-men, without human speech, or the knowledge of fire or the use of +implements. They are the descendants of the Atlanteans, sunk back into +the squalling chaos of jungle-bestiality from which ages ago their +ancestors so laboriously crawled. To the southwest dwell scattered clans +of degraded, cave-dwelling savages, whose speech is of the most +primitive form, yet who still retain the name of Picts, which has come +to mean merely a term designating men--themselves, to distinguish them +from the true beasts with which they contend for life and food. It is +their only link with their former stage. Neither the squalid Picts nor +the apish Atlanteans have any contact with other tribes or peoples. + +Far to the east, the Lemurians, levelled almost to a bestial plane +themselves by the brutishness of their slavery, have risen and destroyed +their masters. They are savages stalking among the ruins of a strange +civilization. The survivors of that civilization, who have escaped the +fury of their slaves, have come westward. They fall upon that mysterious +pre-human kingdom of the south and overthrow it, substituting their own +culture, modified by contact with the older one. The newer kingdom is +called Stygia, and remnants of the older nation seemed to have survived, +and even been worshipped, after the race as a whole had been destroyed. + +Here and there in the world small groups of savages are showing signs of +an upward trend; these are scattered and unclassified. But in the north, +the tribes are growing. These people are called Hyborians, or Hybori; +their god was Bori--some great chief, whom legend made even more ancient +as the king who led them into the north, in the days of the great +Cataclysm, which the tribes remember only in distorted folklore. + +They have spread over the north, and are pushing southward in leisurely +treks. So far they have not come in contact with any other races; their +wars have been with one another. Fifteen hundred years in the north +country have made them a tall, tawny-haired, grey-eyed race, vigorous +and warlike, and already exhibiting a well-defined artistry and poetism +of nature. They still live mostly by the hunt, but the southern tribes +have been raising cattle for some centuries. There is one exception in +their so far complete isolation from other races: a wanderer into the +far north returned with the news that the supposedly deserted ice wastes +were inhabited by an extensive tribe of ape-like men, descended, he +swore, from the beasts driven out of the more habitable land by the +ancestors of the Hyborians. He urged that a large war-party be sent +beyond the arctic circle to exterminate these beasts, whom he swore were +evolving into true men. He was jeered at; a small band of adventurous +young warriors followed him into the north, but none returned. + +But tribes of the Hyborians were drifting south, and as the population +increased this movement became extensive. The following age was an epoch +of wandering and conquest. Across the history of the world tribes and +drifts of tribes move and shift in an everchanging panorama. + +Look at the world five hundred years later. Tribes of tawny-haired +Hyborians have moved southward and westward, conquering and destroying +many of the small unclassified clans. Absorbing the blood of conquered +races, already the descendants of the older drifts have begun to show +modified racial traits, and these mixed races are attacked fiercely by +new, purer-blooded drifts, and swept before them, as a broom sweeps +debris impartially, to become even more mixed and mingled in the tangled +debris of races and tag-ends of races. + +As yet the conquerors have not come in contact with the older races. To +the southeast the descendants of the Zhemri, given impetus by new blood +resulting from admixture with some unclassified tribe, are beginning to +seek to revive some faint shadow of their ancient culture. To the west +the apish Atlanteans are beginning the long climb upward. They have +completed the cycle of existence; they have long forgotten their former +existence as men; unaware of any other former state, they are starting +the climb unhelped and unhindered by human memories. To the south of +them the Picts remain savages, apparently defying the laws of Nature by +neither progressing nor retrogressing. Far to the south dreams the +ancient mysterious kingdom of Stygia. On its eastern borders wander +clans of nomadic savages, already known as the Sons of Shem. + +Next to the Picts, in the broad valley of Zingg, protected by great +mountains, a nameless band of primitives, tentatively classified as akin +to the Shemites, has evolved an advanced agricultural system and +existence. + +Another factor has added to the impetus of Hyborian drift. A tribe of +that race has discovered the use of stone in building, and the first +Hyborian kingdom has come into being--the rude and barbaric kingdom of +Hyperborea, which had its beginning in a crude fortress of boulders +heaped to repel tribal attack. The people of this tribe soon abandoned +their horse-hide tents for stone houses, crudely but mightily built, and +thus protected, they grew strong. There are few more dramatic events in +history than the rise of the rude, fierce kingdom of Hyperborea, whose +people turned abruptly from their nomadic life to rear dwellings of +naked stone, surrounded by cyclopean walls--a race scarcely emerged from +the polished stone age, who had by a freak of chance, learned the first +rude principles of architecture. + +The rise of this kingdom drove forth many other tribes, for, defeated in +the war, or refusing to become tributary to their castle-dwelling +kinsmen, many clans set forth on long treks that took them halfway +around the world. And already the more northern tribes are beginning to +be harried by gigantic blond savages, not much more advanced than +ape-men. + +The tale of the next thousand years is the tale of the rise of the +Hyborians, whose warlike tribes dominate the western world. Rude +kingdoms are taking shape. The tawny-haired invaders have encountered +the Picts, driving them into the barren lands of the west. To the +northwest, the descendants of the Atlanteans, climbing unaided from +apedom into primitive savagery, have not yet met the conquerors. Far to +the east the Lemurians are evolving a strange semi-civilization of their +own. To the south the Hyborians have founded the kingdom of Koth, on the +borders of those pastoral countries known as the Lands of Shem, and the +savages of those lands, partly through contact with the Hyborians, +partly through contact with the Stygians who have ravaged them for +centuries, are emerging from barbarism. The blond savages of the far +north have grown in power and numbers so that the northern Hyborian +tribes move southward, driving their kindred clans before them. The +ancient kingdom of Hyperborea is overthrown by one of these northern +tribes, which, however, retains the old name. Southeast of Hyperborea a +kingdom of the Zhemri has come into being, under the name of Zamora. To +the southwest, a tribe of Picts have invaded the fertile valley of +Zingg, conquered the agricultural people there, and settled among them. +This mixed race was in turn conquered later by a roving tribe of Hybori, +and from these mingled elements came the kingdom of Zingara. + +Five hundred years later the kingdoms of the world are clearly defined. +The kingdoms of the Hyborians--Aquilonia, Nemedia, Brythunia, +Hyperborea, Koth, Ophir, Argos, Corinthia, and one known as the Border +Kingdom--dominate the western world. Zamora lies to the east, and +Zingara to the southwest of these kingdoms--people alike in darkness of +complexion and exotic habits, but otherwise unrelated. Far to the south +sleeps Stygia, untouched by foreign invasion, but the peoples of Shem +have exchanged the Stygian yoke for the less galling one of Koth. The +dusky masters have been driven south of the great river Styx, Nilus, or +Nile, which, flowing north from the shadowy hinterlands, turns almost at +right angles and flows almost due west through the pastoral meadowlands +of Shem, to empty into the great sea. North of Aquilonia, the +western-most Hyborian kingdom, are the Cimmerians, ferocious savages, +untamed by the invaders, but advancing rapidly because of contact with +them; they are the descendants of the Atlanteans, now progressing more +steadily than their old enemies the Picts, who dwell in the wilderness +west of Aquilonia. + +Another five centuries and the Hybori peoples are the possessors of a +civilization so virile that contact with it virtually snatched out of +the wallow of savagery such tribes as it touched. The most powerful +kingdom is Aquilonia, but others vie with it in strength and mixed race; +the nearest to the ancient root-stock are the Gundermen of Gunderland, a +northern province of Aquilonia. But this mixing has not weakened the +race. They are supreme in the western world, though the barbarians of +the wastelands are growing in strength. + +In the north, golden-haired, blue-eyed barbarians, descendants of the +blond arctic savages, have driven the remaining Hyborian tribes out of +the snow countries, except the ancient kingdom of Hyperborea, which +resists their onslaught. Their country is called Nordheim, and they are +divided into the red-haired Vanir of Vanaheim, and the yellow-haired +Æsir of Asgard. + +Now the Lemurians enter history again as Hyrkanians. Through the +centuries they have pushed steadily westward, and now a tribe skirts the +southern end of the great inland sea--Vilayet--and establishes the +kingdom of Turan on the southwestern shore. Between the inland sea and +the eastern borders of the native kingdoms lie vast expanses of steppes +and in the extreme north and extreme south, deserts. The non-Hyrkanian +dwellers of these territories are scattered and pastoral, unclassified +in the north, Shemitish in the south, aboriginal, with a thin strain of +Hyborian blood from wandering conquerors. Toward the latter part of the +period other Hyrkanian clans push westward, around the northern +extremity of the inland sea, and clash with the eastern outposts of the +Hyperboreans. + +Glance briefly at the peoples of that age. The dominant of Hyborians are +no longer uniformly tawny-haired and grey-eyed. They have mixed with +other races. There is a strong Shemitish, even a Stygian strain among +the peoples of Koth, and to a lesser extent, of Argos, while in the case +of the latter, admixture with the Zingarans has been more extensive than +with the Shemites. The eastern Brythunians have intermarried with the +dark-skinned Zamorians, and the people of southern Aquilonia have mixed +with the brown Zingarans until black hair and brown eyes are the +dominant type in Poitain, the southern-most province. The ancient +kingdom of Hyperborea is more aloof than the others, yet there is alien +blood in plenty in its veins, from the capture of foreign +women--Hyrkanians, Æsir and Zamorians. Only in the province of +Gunderland, where the people keep no slaves, is the pure Hyborian stock +found unblemished. But the barbarians have kept their bloodstream pure; +the Cimmerians are tall and powerful, with dark hair and blue or grey +eyes. The people of Nordheim are of similar build, but with white skins, +blue eyes and golden or red hair. The Picts are of the same type as +they always were--short, very dark, with black eyes and hair. 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. The Shemites are generally of medium height, though sometimes +when mixed with Stygian blood, gigantic, broadly and strongly built, +with hook noses, dark eyes and blue-black hair. The Stygians are tall +and well made, dusky, straight-featured--at least the ruling classes are +of that type. The lower classes are a down-trodden, mongrel horde, a +mixture of negroid, Stygian, Shemitish, even Hyborian bloods. South of +Stygia are the vast black kingdoms of the Amazons, the Kushites, the +Atlaians and the hybrid empire of Zembabwe. + +Between Aquilonia and the Pictish wilderness lie the Bossonian marches, +peopled by descendants of an aboriginal race, conquered by a tribe of +Hyborians, early in the first ages of the Hyborian drift. This mixed +people never attained the civilization of the purer Hyborians, and was +pushed by them to the very fringe of the civilized world. The Bossonians +are of medium height and complexion, their eyes brown or grey, and they +are mesocephalic. They live mainly by agriculture, in large walled +villages, and are part of the Aquilonian kingdom. Their marches extend +from the Border Kingdom in the north to Zingara in the southwest, +forming a bulwark for Aquilonia against both the Cimmerians and the +Picts. They are stubborn defensive fighters, and centuries of warfare +against northern and western barbarians have caused them to evolve a +type of defense almost impregnable against direct attack. + +Five hundred years later the Hyborian civilization was swept away. Its +fall was unique in that it was not brought about by internal decay, but +by the growing power of the barbarian nations and the Hyrkanians. The +Hyborian peoples were overthrown while their vigorous culture was in its +prime. + +Yet it was Aquilonia's greed which brought about that overthrow, though +indirectly. Wishing to extend their empire, her kings made war on their +neighbors. Zingara, Argos and Ophir were annexed outright, with the +western cities of Shem, which had, with their more eastern kindred, +recently thrown off the yoke of Koth. Koth itself, with Corinthia and +the eastern Shemitish tribes, was forced to pay Aquilonia tribute and +lend aid in wars. An ancient feud had existed between Aquilonia and +Hyperborea, and the latter now marched to meet the armies of her western +rival. The plains of the Border Kingdom were the scene of a great and +savage battle, in which the northern hosts were utterly defeated, and +retreated into their snowy fastnesses, whither the victorious +Aquilonians did not pursue them. Nemedia, which had successfully +resisted the western kingdom for centuries, now drew Brythunia and +Zamora, and secretly, Koth, into an alliance which bade fair to crush +the rising empire. But before their armies could join battle, a new +enemy appeared in the east, as the Hyrkanians made their first real +thrust at the western world. Reinforced by adventurers from east of +Vilayet, the riders of Turan swept over Zamora, devastated eastern +Corinthia, and were met on the plains of Brythunia by the Aquilonians +who defeated them and hurled them flying eastward. But the back of the +alliance was broken, and Nemedia took the defensive in future wars, +aided occasionally by Brythunia and Hyperborea, and, secretly, as usual, +by Koth. This defeat of the Hyrkanians showed the nations the real power +of the western kingdom, whose splendid armies were augmented by +mercenaries, many of them recruited among the alien Zingarans, and the +barbaric Picts and Shemites. Zamora was reconquered from the Hyrkanians, +but the people discovered that they had merely exchanged an eastern +master for a western master. Aquilonian soldiers were quartered there, +not only to protect the ravaged country, but also to keep the people in +subjection. The Hyrkanians were not convinced; three more invasions +burst upon the Zamorian borders, and the Lands of Shem, and were hurled +back by the Aquilonians, though the Turanian armies grew larger as +hordes of steel-clad riders rode out of the east, skirting the southern +extremity of the inland sea. + +But it was in the west that a power was growing destined to throw down +the kings of Aquilonia from their high places. In the north there was +incessant bickering along the Cimmerian borders between the black-haired +warriors and the Nordheimir; and the Æsir, between wars with the Vanir, +assailed Hyperborea and pushed back the frontier, destroying city after +city. The Cimmerians also fought the Picts and Bossonians impartially, +and several times raided into Aquilonia itself, but their wars were less +invasions than mere plundering forays. + +But the Picts were growing amazingly in population and power. By a +strange twist of fate, it was largely due to the efforts of one man, and +he an alien, that they set their feet upon the ways that led to eventual +empire. This man was Arus, a Nemedian priest, a natural-born reformer. +What turned his mind toward the Picts is not certain, but this much is +history--he determined to go into the western wilderness and modify the +rude ways of the heathen by the introduction of the gentle worship of +Mitra. He was not daunted by the grisly tales of what had happened to +traders and explorers before him, and by some whim of fate he came among +the people he sought, alone and unarmed, and was not instantly speared. + +The Picts had benefited by contact with Hyborian civilization, but they +had always fiercely resisted that contact. That is to say, they had +learned to work crudely in copper and tin, which were found scantily in +their country, and for which latter metal they raided into the mountains +of Zingara, or traded hides, whale's teeth, walrus tusks and such few +things as savages have to trade. They no longer lived in caves and +tree-shelters, but built tents of hides, and crude huts, copied from +those of the Bossonians. They still lived mainly by the chase, since +their wilds swarmed with game of all sorts, and the rivers and sea with +fish, but they had learned how to plant grain, which they did sketchily, +preferring to steal it from their neighbors the Bossonians and +Zingarans. They dwelt in clans which were generally at feud with each +other, and their simple customs were blood-thirsty and utterly +inexplicable to a civilized man, such as Arus of Nemedia. They had no +direct contact with the Hyborians, since the Bossonians acted as a +buffer between them. But Arus maintained that they were capable of +progress, and events proved the truth of his assertion--though scarcely +in the way he meant. + +Arus was fortunate in being thrown in with a chief of more than usual +intelligence--Gorm by name. Gorm cannot be explained, any more than +Genghis Khan, Othman, Attila, or any of those individuals, who, born in +naked lands among untutored barbarians, yet possess the instinct for +conquest and empire-building. In a sort of bastard-Bossonian, the priest +made the chief understand his purpose, and though extremely puzzled, +Gorm gave him permission to remain among his tribe unbutchered--a case +unique in the history of the race. Having learned the language Arus set +himself to work to eliminate the more unpleasant phases of Pictish +life--such as human sacrifice, blood-feud, and the burning alive of +captives. He harangued Gorm at length, whom he found to be an +interested, if unresponsive listener. Imagination reconstructs the +scene--the black-haired chief, in his tiger-skins and necklace of human +teeth, squatting on the dirt floor of the wattle hut, listening intently +to the eloquence of the priest, who probably sat on a carven, +skin-covered block of mahogany provided in his honor--clad in the silken +robes of a Nemedian priest, gesturing with his slender white hands as he +expounded the eternal rights and justices which were the truths of +Mitra. Doubtless he pointed with repugnance at the rows of skulls which +adorned the walls of the hut and urged Gorm to forgive his enemies +instead of putting their bleached remnants to such use. Arus was the +highest product of an innately artistic race, refined by centuries of +civilization; Gorm had behind him a heritage of a hundred thousand years +of screaming savagery--the pad of the tiger was in his stealthy step, +the grip of the gorilla in his black-nailed hands, the fire that burns +in a leopard's eyes burned in his. + +Arus was a practical man. He appealed to the savage's sense of material +gain; he pointed out the power and splendor of the Hyborian kingdoms, as +an example of the power of Mitra, whose teachings and works had lifted +them up to their high places. And he spoke of cities, and fertile +plains, marble walls and iron chariots, jeweled towers, and horsemen in +their glittering armor riding to battle. And Gorm, with the unerring +instinct of the barbarian, passed over his words regarding gods and +their teachings, and fixed on the material powers thus vividly +described. There in that mud-floored wattle hut, with the silk-robed +priest on the mahogany block, and the dark-skinned chief crouching in +his tiger-hides, was laid the foundations of empire. + +As has been said, Arus was a practical man. He dwelt among the Picts and +found much that an intelligent man could do to aid humanity, even when +that humanity was cloaked in tiger-skins and wore necklaces of human +teeth. Like all priests of Mitra, he was instructed in many things. He +found that there were vast deposits of iron ore in the Pictish hills, +and he taught the natives to mine, smelt and work it into +implements--agricultural implements, as he fondly believed. He +instituted other reforms, but these were the most important things he +did: he instilled in Gorm a desire to see the civilized lands of the +world; he taught the Picts how to work in iron; and he established +contact between them and the civilized world. At the chiefs request he +conducted him and some of his warriors through the Bossonian marches, +where the honest villagers stared in amazement, into the glittering +outer world. + +Arus no doubt thought that he was making converts right and left, +because the Picts listened to him, and refrained from smiting him with +their copper axes. But the Pict was little calculated to seriously +regard teachings which bade him forgive his enemy and abandon the +warpath for the ways of honest drudgery. It has been said that he lacked +artistic sense; his whole nature led to war and slaughter. When the +priest talked of the glories of the civilized nations, his dark-skinned +listeners were intent, not on the ideals of his religion, but on the +loot which he unconsciously described in the narration of rich cities +and shining lands. When he told how Mitra aided certain kings to +overcome their enemies, they paid scant heed to the miracles of Mitra, +but they hung on the description of battle-lines, mounted knights, and +maneuvers of archers and spearmen. They harkened with keen dark eyes and +inscrutable countenances, and they went their ways without comment, and +heeded with flattering intentness his instructions as to the working of +iron, and kindred arts. + +Before his coming they had filched steel weapons and armor from the +Bossonians and Zingarans, or had hammered out their own crude arms from +copper and bronze. Now a new world opened to them, and the clang of +sledges re-echoed throughout the land. And Gorm, by virtue of this new +craft, began to assert his dominance over other clans, partly by war, +partly by craft and diplomacy, in which latter art he excelled all other +barbarians. + +Picts now came and went freely into Aquilonia, under safe-conduct, and +they returned with more information as to armor-forging and +sword-making. More, they entered Aquilonia's mercenary armies, to the +unspeakable disgust of the sturdy Bossonians. Aquilonia's kings toyed +with the idea of playing the Picts against the Cimmerians, and possibly +thus destroying both menaces, but they were too busy with their policies +of aggression in the south and east to pay much heed to the vaguely +known lands of the west, from which more and more stocky warriors +swarmed to take service among the mercenaries. + +These warriors, their service completed, went back to their wilderness +with good ideas of civilized warfare, and that contempt for civilization +which arises from familiarity with it. Drums began to beat in the hills, +gathering-fires smoked on the heights, and savage sword-makers hammered +their steel on a thousand anvils. By intrigues and forays too numerous +and devious to enumerate, Gorm became chief of chiefs, the nearest +approach to a king the Picts had had in thousands of years. He had +waited long; he was past middle age. But now he moved against the +frontiers, not in trade, but in war. + +Arus saw his mistake too late; he had not touched the soul of the pagan, +in which lurked the hard fierceness of all the ages. His persuasive +eloquence had not caused a ripple in the Pictish conscience. Gorm wore a +corselet of silvered mail now, instead of the tiger-skin, but underneath +he was unchanged--the everlasting barbarian, unmoved by theology or +philosophy, his instincts fixed unerringly on rapine and plunder. + +The Picts burst on the Bossonian frontiers with fire and sword, not clad +in tiger-skins and brandishing copper axes as of yore, but in +scale-mail, wielding weapons of keen steel. As for Arus, he was brained +by a drunken Pict, while making a last effort to undo the work he had +unwittingly done. Gorm was not without gratitude; he caused the skull of +the slayer to be set on the top of the priest's cairn. And it is one of +the grim ironies of the universe that the stones which covered Arus's +body should have been adorned with that last touch of barbarity--above a +man to whom violence and blood-vengeance were revolting. + +But the newer weapons and mail were not enough to break the lines. For +years the superior armaments and sturdy courage of the Bossonians held +the invaders at bay, aided, when necessary, by imperial Aquilonian +troops. During this time the Hyrkanians came and went, and Zamora was +added to the empire. + +Then treachery from an unexpected source broke the Bossonian lines. +Before chronicling this treachery, it might be well to glance briefly at +the Aquilonian empire. Always a rich kingdom, untold wealth had been +rolled in by conquest, and sumptuous splendor had taken the place of +simple and hardy living. But degeneracy had not yet sapped the kings and +the people; though clad in silks and cloth-of-gold, they were still a +vital, virile race. But arrogance was supplanting their former +simplicity. They treated less powerful people with growing contempt, +levying more and more tributes on the conquered. Argos, Zingara, Ophir, +Zamora and the Shemite countries were treated as subjugated provinces, +which was especially galling to the proud Zingarans, who often revolted, +despite savage retaliations. + +Koth was practically tributary, being under Aquilonia's 'protection' +against the Hyrkanians. But Nemedia the western empire had never been +able to subdue, although the latter's triumphs were of the defensive +sort, and were generally attained with the aid of Hyperborean armies. +During this period Aquilonia's only defeats were: her failure to annex +Nemedia; the rout of an army sent into Cimmeria; and the almost complete +destruction of an army by the Æsir. Just as the Hyrkanians found +themselves unable to withstand the heavy cavalry charges of the +Aquilonians, so the latter, invading the snow-countries, were +overwhelmed by the ferocious hand-to-hand fighting of the Nordics. But +Aquilonia's conquests were pushed to the Nilus, where a Stygian army was +defeated with great slaughter, and the king of Stygia sent tribute--once +at least--to divert invasion of his kingdom. Brythunia was reduced in a +series of whirlwind wars, and preparations were made to subjugate the +ancient rival at last--Nemedia. + +With their glittering hosts greatly increased by mercenaries, the +Aquilonians moved against their old-time foe, and it seemed as if the +thrust were destined to crush the last shadow of Nemedian independence. +But contentions arose between the Aquilonians and their Bossonian +auxiliaries. + +As the inevitable result of imperial expansion, the Aquilonians had +become haughty and intolerant. They derided the ruder, unsophisticated +Bossonians, and hard feeling grew between them--the Aquilonians +despising the Bossonians and the latter resenting the attitude of their +masters--who now boldly called themselves such, and treated the +Bossonians like conquered subjects, taxing them exorbitantly, and +conscripting them for their wars of territorial expansion--wars the +profits of which the Bossonians shared little. Scarcely enough men were +left in the marches to guard the frontier, and hearing of Pictish +outrages in their homelands, whole Bossonian regiments quit the Nemedian +campaign and marched to the western frontier, where they defeated the +dark-skinned invaders in a great battle. + +This desertion, however, was the direct cause of Aquilonia's defeat by +the desperate Nemedians, and brought down on the Bossonians the cruel +wrath of the imperialists--intolerant and short-sighted as imperialists +invariably are. Aquilonian regiments were secretly brought to the +borders of the marches, the Bossonian chiefs were invited to attend a +great conclave, and, in the guise of an expedition against the Picts, +bands of savage Shemitish soldiers were quartered among the unsuspecting +villagers. The unarmed chiefs were massacred, the Shemites turned on +their stunned hosts with torch and sword, and the armored imperial hosts +were hurled ruthlessly on the unsuspecting people. From north to south +the marches were ravaged and the Aquilonian armies marched back from the +borders, leaving a ruined and devastated land behind them. + +And then the Pictish invasion burst in full power along those borders. +It was no mere raid, but the concerted rush of a whole nation, led by +chiefs who had served in Aquilonian armies, and planned and directed by +Gorm--an old man now, but with the fire of his fierce ambition undimmed. +This time there were no strong walled villages in their path, manned by +sturdy archers, to hold back the rush until the imperial troops could be +brought up. The remnants of the Bossonians were swept out of existence, +and the blood-mad barbarians swarmed into Aquilonia, looting and +burning, before the legions, warring again with the Nemedians, could be +marched into the west. Zingara seized this opportunity to throw off the +yoke, which example was followed by Corinthia and the Shemites. Whole +regiments of mercenaries and vassals mutinied and marched back to their +own countries, looting and burning as they went. The Picts surged +irresistibly eastward, and host after host was trampled beneath their +feet. Without their Bossonian archers the Aquilonians found themselves +unable to cope with the terrible arrow-fire of the barbarians. From all +parts of the empire legions were recalled to resist the onrush, while +from the wilderness horde after horde swarmed forth, in apparently +inexhaustible supply. And in the midst of this chaos, the Cimmerians +swept down from their hills, completing the ruin. They looted cities, +devastated the country, and retired into the hills with their plunder, +but the Picts occupied the land they had over-run. And the Aquilonian +empire went down in fire and blood. + +Then again the Hyrkanians rode from the blue east. The withdrawal of the +imperial legions from Zamora was their incitement. Zamora fell easy prey +to their thrusts, and the Hyrkanian king established his capital in the +largest city of the country. This invasion was from the ancient +Hyrkanian kingdom of Turan, on the shores of the inland sea, but +another, more savage Hyrkanian thrust came from the north. Hosts of +steel-clad riders galloped around the northern extremity of the inland +sea, traversed the icy deserts, entered the steppes, driving the +aborigines before them, and launched themselves against the western +kingdoms. These newcomers were not at first allies with the Turanians, +but skirmished with them as with the Hyborians; new drifts of eastern +warriors bickered and fought, until all were united under a great chief, +who came riding from the very shores of the eastern ocean. With no +Aquilonian armies to oppose them, they were invincible. They swept over +and subjugated Brythunia, and devastated southern Hyperborea, and +Corinthia. They swept into the Cimmerian hills, driving the black-haired +barbarians before them, but among the hills, where cavalry was less +effectual, the Cimmerians turned on them, and only a disorderly retreat, +at the end of a whole day of bloody fighting, saved the Hyrkanian hosts +from complete annihilation. + +While these events had been transpiring, the kingdoms of Shem had +conquered their ancient master, Koth, and had been defeated in an +attempted invasion of Stygia. But scarcely had they completed their +degradation of Koth, when they were over-run by the Hyrkanians, and +found themselves subjugated by sterner masters than the Hyborians had +ever been. Meanwhile the Picts had made themselves complete masters of +Aquilonia, practically blotting out the inhabitants. They had broken +over the borders of Zingara, and thousands of Zingarans, fleeing the +slaughter into Argos, threw themselves on the mercy of the +westward-sweeping Hyrkanians, who settled them in Zamora as subjects. +Behind them as they fled, Argos was enveloped in the flame and slaughter +of Pictish conquest, and the slayers swept into Ophir and clashed with +the westward-riding Hyrkanians. The latter, after their conquest of +Shem, had overthrown a Stygian army at the Nilus and over-run the +country as far south as the black kingdom of Amazon, of whose people +they brought back thousands as captives, settling them among the +Shemites. Possibly they would have completed their conquests in Stygia, +adding it to their widening empire, but for the fierce thrusts of the +Picts against their western conquests. + +Nemedia, unconquerable by Hyborians, reeled between the riders of the +east and the swordsmen of the west, when a tribe of Æsir, wandering down +from their snowy lands, came into the kingdom, and were engaged as +mercenaries; they proved such able warriors that they not only beat off +the Hyrkanians, but halted the eastward advance of the Picts. + +The world at that time presents some such picture: a vast Pictish +empire, wild, rude and barbaric, stretches from the coasts of Vanaheim +in the north to the southern-most shores of Zingara. It stretches east +to include all Aquilonia except Gunderland, the northern-most province, +which, as a separate kingdom in the hills, survived the fall of the +empire, and still maintains its independence. The Pictish empire also +includes Argos, Ophir, the western part of Koth, and the western-most +lands of Shem. Opposed to this barbaric empire is the empire of the +Hyrkanians, of which the northern boundaries are the ravaged lines of +Hyperborea, and the southern, the deserts south of the lands of Shem. +Zamora, Brythunia, the Border Kingdom, Corinthia, most of Koth, and all +the eastern lands of Shem are included in this empire. The borders of +Cimmeria are intact; neither Pict nor Hyrkanian has been able to subdue +these warlike barbarians. Nemedia, dominated by the Æsir mercenaries, +resists all invasions. In the north Nordheim, Cimmeria and Nemedia +separate the conquering races, but in the south, Koth has become a +battle-ground where Picts and Hyrkanians war incessantly. Sometimes the +eastern warriors expel the barbarians from the kingdom entirely; again +the plains and cities are in the hands of the western invaders. In the +far south, Stygia, shaken by the Hyrkanian invasion, is being encroached +upon by the great black kingdoms. And in the far north, the Nordic +tribes are restless, warring continually with the Cimmerians, and +sweeping the Hyperborean frontiers. + +Gorm was slain by Hialmar, a chief of the Nemedian Æsir. He was a very +old man, nearly a hundred years old. In the seventy-five years which had +elapsed since he first heard the tale of empires from the lips of +Arus--a long time in the life of a man, but a brief space in the tale of +nations--he had welded an empire from straying savage clans, he had +overthrown a civilization. He who had been born in a mud-walled, +wattle-roofed hut, in his old age sat on golden thrones, and gnawed +joints of beef presented to him on golden dishes by naked slave-girls +who were the daughters of kings. Conquest and the acquiring of wealth +altered not the Pict; out of the ruins of the crushed civilization no +new culture arose phoenix-like. The dark hands which shattered the +artistic glories of the conquered never tried to copy them. Though he +sat among the glittering ruins of shattered palaces and clad his hard +body in the silks of vanquished kings, the Pict remained the eternal +barbarian, ferocious, elemental, interested only in the naked primal +principles of life, unchanging, unerring in his instincts which were all +for war and plunder, and in which arts and the cultured progress of +humanity had no place. Not so with the Æsir who settled in Nemedia. +These soon adopted many of the ways of their civilized allies, modified +powerfully, however, by their own intensely virile and alien culture. + +For a short age Pict and Hyrkanian snarled at each other over the ruins +of the world they had conquered. Then began the glacier ages, and the +great Nordic drift. Before the southward moving ice-fields the northern +tribes drifted, driving kindred clans before them. The Æsir blotted out +the ancient kingdom of Hyperborea, and across its ruins came to grips +with the Hyrkanians. Nemedia had already become a Nordic kingdom, ruled +by the descendants of the Æsir mercenaries. Driven before the onrushing +tides of Nordic invasion, the Cimmerians were on the march, and neither +army nor city stood before them. They surged across and completely +destroyed the kingdom of Gunderland, and marched across ancient +Aquilonia, hewing their irresistible way through the Pictish hosts. They +defeated the Nordic-Nemedians and sacked some of their cities, but did +not halt. They continued eastward, overthrowing a Hyrkanian army on the +borders of Brythunia. + +Behind them hordes of Æsir and Vanir swarmed into the lands, and the +Pictish empire reeled beneath their strokes. Nemedia was overthrown, and +the half-civilized Nordics fled before their wilder kinsmen, leaving the +cities of Nemedia ruined and deserted. These fleeing Nordics, who had +adopted the name of the older kingdom, and to whom the term Nemedian +henceforth refers, came into the ancient land of Koth, expelled both +Picts and Hyrkanians, and aided the people of Shem to throw off the +Hyrkanian yoke. All over the western world, the Picts and Hyrkanians +were staggering before this younger, fiercer people. A band of Æsir +drove the eastern riders from Brythunia and settled there themselves, +adopting the name for themselves. The Nordics who had conquered +Hyperborea assailed their eastern enemies so savagely that the +dark-skinned descendants of the Lemurians retreated into the steppes, +pushed irresistibly back toward Vilayet. + +Meanwhile the Cimmerians, wandering southeastward, destroyed the ancient +Hyrkanian kingdom of Turan, and settled on the southwestern shores of +the inland sea. The power of the eastern conquerors was broken. Before +the attacks of the Nordheimir and the Cimmerians, they destroyed all +their cities, butchered such captives as were not fit to make the long +march, and then, herding thousands of slaves before them, rode back into +the mysterious east, skirting the northern edge of the sea, and +vanishing from western history, until they rode out of the east again, +thousands of years later, as Huns, Mongols, Tatars and Turks. With them +in their retreat went thousands of Zamorians and Zingarans, who were +settled together far to the east, formed a mixed race, and emerged ages +afterward as gypsies. + +Meanwhile, also, a tribe of Vanir adventurers had passed along the +Pictish coast southward, ravaged ancient Zingara, and come into Stygia, +which, oppressed by a cruel aristocratic ruling class, was staggering +under the thrusts of the black kingdoms to the south. The red-haired +Vanir led the slaves in a general revolt, overthrew the reigning class, +and set themselves up as a caste of conquerors. They subjugated the +northern-most black kingdoms, and built a vast southern empire, which +they called Egypt. From these red-haired conquerors the earlier Pharaohs +boasted descent. + +The western world was now dominated by Nordic barbarians. The Picts +still held Aquilonia and part of Zingara, and the western coast of the +continent. But east to Vilayet, and from the Arctic circle to the lands +of Shem, the only inhabitants were roving tribes of Nordheimir, +excepting the Cimmerians, settled in the old Turanian kingdom. There +were no cities anywhere, except in Stygia and the lands of Shem; the +invading tides of Picts, Hyrkanians, Cimmerians and Nordics had levelled +them in ruins, and the once dominant Hyborians had vanished from the +earth, leaving scarcely a trace of their blood in the veins of their +conquerors. Only a few names of lands, tribes and cities remained in the +languages of the barbarians, to come down through the centuries +connected with distorted legend and fable, until the whole history of +the Hyborian age was lost sight of in a cloud of myths and fantasies. +Thus in the speech of the gypsies lingered the terms Zingara and Zamora; +the Æsir who dominated Nemedia were called Nemedians, and later figured +in Irish history, and the Nordics who settled in Brythunia were known as +Brythunians, Brythons or Britons. + +There was no such thing, at that time, as a consolidated Nordic empire. +As always, the tribes had each its own chief or king, and they fought +savagely among themselves. What their destiny might have been will not +be known, because another terrific convulsion of the earth, carving out +the lands as they are known to moderns, hurled all into chaos again. +Great strips of the western coast sank; Vanaheim and western +Asgard--uninhabited and glacier-haunted wastes for a hundred +years--vanished beneath the waves. The ocean flowed around the mountains +of western Cimmeria to form the North Sea; these mountains became the +islands later known as England, Scotland and Ireland, and the waves +rolled over what had been the Pictish wilderness and the Bossonian +marches. In the north the Baltic Sea was formed, cutting Asgard into the +peninsulas later known as Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and far to the +south the Stygian continent was broken away from the rest of the world, +on the line of cleavage formed by the river Nilus in its westward trend. +Over Argos, western Koth and the western lands of Shem, washed the blue +ocean men later called the Mediterranean. But where land sank elsewhere, +a vast expanse west of Stygia rose out of the waves, forming the whole +western half of the continent of Africa. + +The buckling of the land thrust up great mountain ranges in the central +part of the northern continent. Whole Nordic tribes were blotted out, +and the rest retreated eastward. The territory about the slowly drying +inland sea was not affected, and there, on the western shores, the +Nordic tribes began a pastoral existence, living in more or less peace +with the Cimmerians, and gradually mixing with them. In the west the +remnants of the Picts, reduced by the cataclysm once more to the status +of stone-age savages, began, with the incredible virility of their race, +once more to possess the land, until, at a later age, they were +overthrown by the westward drift of the Cimmerians and Nordics. This was +so long after the breaking-up of the continent that only meaningless +legends told of former empires. + +This drift comes within the reach of modern history and need not be +repeated. It resulted from a growing population which thronged the +steppes west of the inland sea--which still later, much reduced in size, +was known as the Caspian--to such an extent that migration became an +economic necessity. The tribes moved southward, northward and westward, +into those lands now known as India, Asia Minor and central and western +Europe. + +They came into these countries as Aryans. But there were variations +among these primitive Aryans, some of which are still recognized today, +others which have long been forgotten. The blond Achaians, Gauls and +Britons, for instance, were descendants of pure-blooded Æsir. The +Nemedians of Irish legendry were the Nemedian Æsir. The Danes were +descendants of pure-blooded Vanir; the Goths--ancestors of the other +Scandinavian and Germanic tribes, including the Anglo-Saxons--were +descendants of a mixed race whose elements contained Vanir, Æsir and +Cimmerian strains. The Gaels, ancestors of the Irish and Highland +Scotch, descended from pure-blooded Cimmerian clans. The Cymric tribes +of Britain were a mixed Nordic-Cimmerian race which preceded the purely +Nordic Britons into the isles, and thus gave rise to a legend of Gaelic +priority. The Cimbri who fought Rome were of the same blood, as well as +the Gimmerai of the Assyrians and Grecians, and Gomer of the Hebrews. +Other clans of the Cimmerians adventured east of the drying inland sea, +and a few centuries later mixed with Hyrkanian blood, returned westward +as Scythians. The original ancestors of the Gaels gave their name to +modern Crimea. + +The ancient Sumerians had no connection with the western race. They were +a mixed people, of Hyrkanian and Shemitish bloods, who were not taken +with the conquerors in their retreat. Many tribes of Shem escaped that +captivity, and from pure-blooded Shemites, or Shemites mixed with +Hyborian or Nordic blood, were descended the Arabs, Israelites, and +other straighter-featured Semites. The Canaanites, or Alpine Semites, +traced their descent from Shemitish ancestors mixed with the Kushites +settled among them by their Hyrkanian masters; the Elamites were a +typical race of this type. The short, thick-limbed Etruscans, base of +the Roman race, were descendants of a people of mixed Stygian, Hyrkanian +and Pictish strains, and originally lived in the ancient kingdom of +Koth. The Hyrkanians, retreating to the eastern shores of the continent, +evolved into the tribes later known as Tatars, Huns, Mongols and Turks. + +The origins of other races of the modern world may be similarly traced; +in almost every case, older far than they realize, their history +stretches back into the mists of the forgotten Hyborian age.... + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hyborian Age, by Robert E. Howard + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42182 *** |