Category:Hyperborean



HYPERBOREAN "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."– The Hyborian Age Hyperborea, the first of the Hyborian kingdoms, stands aloof and unknown in the far north, fighting wars or raiding for slaves in the lands of the Nordheimer (Aesir & Vanir), the Cimmerians, the Brythunians and the Hyrkanians. It's a cold, windy land to the east of Asgard with a population approaching perhaps two million souls.

The landscape of Hyperborea varies considerably. Close to the Border Kingdom, Hyperborea takes on a sinister, mist-shrouded aspect of mires and wastelands. Further north, Hyperborea is a land of dark pines and rolling ridges that eventually give way to sub-arctic tundra and arctic wildernesses. Hyperborea borders the Eiglophian mountains and the Snow Devil glacier. At the north-east end of the Border Kingdom, this curious monument marks the entrance into Hyperborea. Massive knolls define the border and a pass cuts through the ramparts. Set within one of the huge hills is a massive, human-like skull. In actuality it is the skull of a mammoth. Without its tusks the skull looks strangely like the skull of a giant. Across the brow of the skull are painted, in Hyperborean, the words, "The gate of Hyperborea is the Gate of Death to those who come hither without leave."

Description
They are tall and gaunt, with pale eyes and hair despite the foreign blood in many of them. Hyperboreans are a cruel people, given to torture to create fear in others. Given their height and alien appearance and their reputation for cruelty, most people prefer to give wandering Hyperboreans a wide berth. Hyperboreans know how to move through the pine forests and survive in the wild for days. Many Hyperboreans go on extended wilderness forays, even going so far as to visit other countries.

Clothing
A Hyperborean woman usually wears a horn shaped cap, a long laced bodice, a hip-length jacket and a broad striped cloth skirt. Aprons are worn as well, as are warm cloaks for outdoor travel. Girls wear silk or linen headbands instead of hats. Noble girls wear thin tiaras or more elaborate headbands. A Hyperborean man wears a simple shirt, long trousers, a jacket or coat, a hat or cap, and often a scarf about his neck during the long, cold winters. The men usually wield broadswords or axes. Stone weapons still see use in the backwoods, isolated areas of an already isolated nation.

Behavior and Notable Oddities
Taciturn - Hyperboreans are slow of speech but are not necessarily dim or foolish.

Slavers - The Hyperboreans are noted slavers.

Tall and gaunt - Hyperboreans are extremely tall and rugged but centuries of oppression by their overlords has made them a people that are not strong in character or personal, inner strength. Still, they are physically strong, malicious and aggressive.

Religion

 * Bori
 * Louhi and the Sorcerer Gods of Hyperborea
 * Ancestor Worship
 * Worship of Spirits
 * Shamanism

Isolated and aloof, the Hyperboreans missed the religious revolution that enveloped in the Hyborian kingdoms that converted them to Mitra worship. Likely the worship of Bori is some form of ancestor worship. Still a primitive culture, at least by Hyborian standards, the Hyperboreans probably still worship their ancestors rather than some more complex, ritualized religion. Shamanism usually co-exists with blacksmithing, so the town blacksmith may be considered vested with near-magical powers in strongly shamanistic areas.

Most Hyperboreans still worship the old Hyborian god-hero Bori. They also pray to spirits that inhabit the natural world, such as individual trees, rivers, mountains or even the forests as a whole. Some influences from slaves have also added foreign deities to Bori’s pantheon, such as Ymir and the skygods of the Hyrkanians.

Only the Witchmen worship the death-goddess Louhi, a goddess that is incarnated in mortal form, usually an ancient crone or a sorceress. Likely this religion is one of blood sacrifices and vile rites, judging from the character of Louhi. In addition to the death goddess, they worship a whole host of demons and avatars.

Those Hyperboreans that practice sorcery, and there are many in their grim land, are known as Witchmen. They rule from many of the bleak fortresses that squat horribly on the tops of cleared knolls and wooded ridges. They serve sorcerous queens and kings, dressing solemnly in black with white, faceless masks.

Many of the Witchmen worship a death-goddess and often choose a powerful sorceress as her living incarnation. The Witchmen are also known as the White Hand, which is their symbol. The White Hand is a weird cult of pale wizard-assassins that holds power in Hyperborea through the terror of their horrible arts. Those who serve in the White Hand undergo strange mortifications of body, mind and will. They are considered the deadliest fighters in the world, immune to fear and pain. In addition to the death goddess, they worship a whole host of devil-gods and avatars.

Government
Hyperborean nobles live in great stone castles, aloof and distant from the serfs who live beneath them in stone-walled villages. Most Hyperborean nobles dabble in magic or multi-class into scholars. They tend to be languid and bored, slow of speech and lacking in strength of character. The culture does not support the social mechanisms for true knights. Few Hyperborean nobles have the drive to learn to fight as soldiers for an army. That is the purview of the lesser Hyperboreans. However, some of the border nobles have learned to fight nomad invaders and do call themselves knights. They wear mail shirts under scale hauberks with helmets stolen from Æsir, Cimmerian, Hyborian or Hyrkanian invaders. They carry lances into battle while crouching behind teardrop shields and use Æsir broadswords when their lances break.

Hyperborea is not a populous kingdom, despite its large size. The warmer climes to the south were inviting to the original clans and most pushed southward. Those that remained were a stubborn breed that loved the ridged hills and dark forests. The small population is often not enough to do the necessary work for the various lords in their stone citadels, so the Hyperboreans use slave labor extensively and are harsh taskmasters. The use of slaves in Hyperborea eventually gave way to the lords of that kingdom treating all people, even Hyperborean serfs, as slaves of a sort.

Economy and Common Professions
Hyperborea’s early economy was based on herding and rye agriculture. Great swaths of dark pine were burnt to clear land. When Hyperborea built their stone keeps, they found they lacked the means to really patrol the areas they controlled. The commoners who herded their animals could not identify borders nor did they care too. Thus rose an idea of common access. Everyone in Hyperborea is allowed to wander the forests of the land at will, regardless of the ownership of the land in question.

The Hyperboreans still hunt wild animals, herd domesticated animals, gather meager berries and pick pale mushrooms to supplement their sparse gardens of grains and vegetables. Their culture, although prosperous at first, became introverted, shunning most outside trade contact, so the Hyperboreans have minimal industry. Still, the Hyperboreans are skilled at woodcraft and stonework. Common Hyperboreans know how to move and survive in the wilds for extended periods of time, many go on extended wilderness forays, even going so far as to visit other countries.

Common professions:
 * Hunter
 * Peasant
 * Shaman
 * Slaver
 * Sorcerer
 * Warrior

Sex Roles and Marriage
A hyperborean marriage is based on an agreement between two families, not founded on romantic considerations but rather on economic arrangements. An engagement is confirmed with a handshake and the wedding seals the link between the two families. Property changes hands and ties between families are strengthened through marriage. Parents have much influence on the choice of a spouse. Weddings provides an opportunity to display wealth and social status.

Slavery
Hyperboreans are well-known and feared slave-takers. Hyperborean slave raiders plague the neighboring lands — Border Kingdom, Brythinia, Asgard and even Cimmeria. This is one of the main reasons for hereditary enmity with various neighbors. It was Hyperborean slavers who captured Rann, the daughter of Njal, chief of the Æsir, and later led Conan and Æsir captives to slavery.

Hyperboreans take slaves mostly not to sell them outside their land, but to provide a cheap labor force for the homeland. Hyperborean scholars, who live lives of luxury and decadence, depend upon their slaves for all their basic needs. Some Hyperborean scholars are capable of corrupting creatures, remolding them in the vats of life to create gurnakhi, giant slave soldiers.

Influences
Architectural influences: Medieval.

Hyperborean nobles live in great stone castles, aloof and distant from the serfs who live beneath them in stone-walled villages in homes made out of horsehide. The Witchmen rule from many of the bleak fortresses and keeps that squat horribly on the tops of cleared knolls and wooded ridges in. Theses are made of cyclopean stones with but a few windows and several arrow slits.

''Tip: Common Hyperboreans find little interest in building large bulky structures, they are more practical and survivalist oriented (or plain lazy). Witchmen on the other hand build large keeps and castles up on icy mountain peaks.''

More Information
RPGS:
 * Return to the road of Kings (Hyperborea, p 105-108)
 * Faith and Fervour (Hyborian Bori - Religion of Gunderland and Hyperborea p 47-48. Hyperborean Heresies, p 49-50)