The Hyborian Age | Page 4

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
AEsir 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 hi 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, AEsir 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,