During the first half of the third millenium before this Era, the Hyborians continue to spread over the West. This is neither a simple nor continuous process : it involves a series of waves, each overrunning or being assimilating by its predecessors, each wave conscious of its relationship to their forerunners, through the kinship of Bori, but also its rivalry.
This influx of Hyborians into the West inevitably brought them into contact with the Acheron Empire. The northern barbarians suffered greatly in the grisly hands of the necromancers of Acheron. Their constant vitality, however, allowed them to finally overcome their foes after a long series of bitter wars (circa -2950). The Heart of Ahriman, the only threat to the High Priests of Set in Python, and for that reason close kept by them, was stolen from them and turned against them by a Hybori shaman. The last High Priest, Xaltotun, was driven into exile in Stygia, where he was poisoned by jealous Stygian rivals. His followers mummified him and protected his body with the blackest magic.
The Hyborians also stormed over Kuthchemes like a tidal wave, washing the marble towers in blood, and that northern Stygian kingdom had gone down in fire and ruin.
This influx of Hyborians into the West inevitably brought them into contact with the Acheron Empire. The northern barbarians suffered greatly in the grisly hands of the necromancers of Acheron. Their constant vitality, however, allowed them to finally overcome their foes after a long series of bitter wars (circa -2950). The Heart of Ahriman, the only threat to the High Priests of Set in Python, and for that reason close kept by them, was stolen from them and turned against them by a Hybori shaman. The last High Priest, Xaltotun, was driven into exile in Stygia, where he was poisoned by jealous Stygian rivals. His followers mummified him and protected his body with the blackest magic.
The Hyborians also stormed over Kuthchemes like a tidal wave, washing the marble towers in blood, and that northern Stygian kingdom had gone down in fire and ruin.
Although it has been put down to a freak of chance, it seems likely that contact with Acheron played a key role in a major cultural shift. A Hyborian tribe seeking protection against invading kin, build a crude fortress of heaped bolders of stone, and realised by this gesture a significant change in their way of life. This tribe, named the Hyperboreans, 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 the Elder, whose people turned abruptly
from their nomadic life to rear dwellings of naked stone,
surrounded by cyclopean walls (circa -2500).
After Nemedia, another important Hybori kingdom, that of Koth, was founded circa -2100 on the ruins of Acheron, bringing the Hyborians into contact with the pastoral nomads. These, in future centuries, will be known as Shemites, and will owe as deep a cultural debt to early Koth as they do to the Stygians to their South, their bitterest enemies. Through Koth, Hybori and Stygians are now also in contact, although the latter are a dreamy, inwardly focused culture but with undeniable force of attraction. Peoples akin to these Shemites, probably before the founding of Koth, also move into the broad valley of Zingg, protected by great mountains, and develop an advanced agricultural system.
It soon transpires that the Hybori were not the only peoples to flee into the North, as indeed their own legends hint. Blond savages of the far north have grown in power and numbers, pushing yet another wave of northern Hyborian tribes southward. In their wake, the blond Aesir bring about the downfall of Hyperborea the Elder (-1750). The conquerors retain, however, the old name, and the kingdom they found is hencewith known as Hyperborea.
The Hyborians have also encountered the Picts, whose clans have so far seemed impervious to the rise and fall of civilisations around them. No longer, as they are driven into the barren lands of the west, an ill portent as from there they will constantly threaten the Hyborian kingdoms throughout the millenia of their civilisation, all hopes of assimilation forever lost. Contact has also been made with the descendants of the Atlanteans, who have, however, forgotten everything of their past. They dwell in a land that they call Cimmeria and hail to a distant and unloving god named Crom.
After Nemedia, another important Hybori kingdom, that of Koth, was founded circa -2100 on the ruins of Acheron, bringing the Hyborians into contact with the pastoral nomads. These, in future centuries, will be known as Shemites, and will owe as deep a cultural debt to early Koth as they do to the Stygians to their South, their bitterest enemies. Through Koth, Hybori and Stygians are now also in contact, although the latter are a dreamy, inwardly focused culture but with undeniable force of attraction. Peoples akin to these Shemites, probably before the founding of Koth, also move into the broad valley of Zingg, protected by great mountains, and develop an advanced agricultural system.
It soon transpires that the Hybori were not the only peoples to flee into the North, as indeed their own legends hint. Blond savages of the far north have grown in power and numbers, pushing yet another wave of northern Hyborian tribes southward. In their wake, the blond Aesir bring about the downfall of Hyperborea the Elder (-1750). The conquerors retain, however, the old name, and the kingdom they found is hencewith known as Hyperborea.
The Hyborians have also encountered the Picts, whose clans have so far seemed impervious to the rise and fall of civilisations around them. No longer, as they are driven into the barren lands of the west, an ill portent as from there they will constantly threaten the Hyborian kingdoms throughout the millenia of their civilisation, all hopes of assimilation forever lost. Contact has also been made with the descendants of the Atlanteans, who have, however, forgotten everything of their past. They dwell in a land that they call Cimmeria and hail to a distant and unloving god named Crom.
Other forces are in movement. The Zhemri, "a race of devils" have left their refuge to found the kingdom of Zamora (circa -1600), which neighbours Koth to the east. Unlike the other peoples of the Hyborian Age, the Zamorans remember, albeit vaguely, the pre-Cataclysm era, as is evident in their worship of a spider-God, and this sets them apart. Zamora is hence both a brilliant and strangely unpleasant entity.
Around the same time, Pictish tribes penetrated into the Zingg Valley and, for some unknown reason, managed to dwell there in relative harmony with the advanced Shemite-related civilisation occupying it. When Hyborian tribes conquered the region shortly afterwards, the kingdom of Zingara was born (circa -1300).
Around the same time, Pictish tribes penetrated into the Zingg Valley and, for some unknown reason, managed to dwell there in relative harmony with the advanced Shemite-related civilisation occupying it. When Hyborian tribes conquered the region shortly afterwards, the kingdom of Zingara was born (circa -1300).
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