The Hyborian Age Ideas/Images/Inspiration for March 2015 Challenge

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"Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia,Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold.  But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west.

Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the earth under his sandled feet."

- The Nemedian Chronicles

 

 

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The Hyborian age is a universe full of mysteries and dangers; Dark cults, pre-human horrors, ancient ruins, etc.


It's not like typical D&D settings. It's a "low level" fantasy universe, magic is quite less common than in D&D, magic is mysterius and unkwon for most mortals, it's usually require mystic rituals, and usually have a price. Mytical mosters are also less common than in D&D, and often they are unique creatures.

 

 

Hyborian age article at Wikipedia:

 

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Hyborian_Age

               
               

               
            

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The Hyborian Age in RPGs

 

The Hyborian Age Have been adapted early to RPGs by AD&D and the GURPS system

 

 

TSR AD&D

 

 

GURPS system

 

 

However the most recent D20 campaign setting "Conan RPG" by "Mongoose Publishing" is considered the official Conan setting, and also the most complete:

 

 

 

D20 Rules are basically the same rules used by the 3rd Edition of D&D and Neverwinter nights. So I highly recommend to use de D20 Conan RPG manuals as reference for anyone interested in bringing the Hyborian age to NWN.

 

Here is a link to a quite complete website dedicated to the D20 Hyborian age campaign:

 

http://www.hyboria.xoth.net/index.htm

               
               

               
            

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The World of the Hyborian Age

 

 

Nations of the hyborian age link:

 

http://hyboria.xoth....eer/nations.htm

 

 

 

Kingdom, Region, or Ethnic Group And their Possible Analogue(s) from Wikipedia:

Acheron


A fallen kingdom corresponding to the Roman Empire. Its territory covered Aquilonia, Nemedia, and Argos. In Greek mythology, Acheron was one of the four rivers of Hades (cf. "Stygia").

Afghulistan


Afghanistan. Afghulistan (sometimes "Ghulistan") is the common name of the habitat of different tribes in the Himelian Mountains. The name itself is a mixture of the historical names of Gulistan and Afghanistan.

Alkmeenon


Delphi. Its name derives from the Alcmaeonidae, who funded the construction the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, from which the oracle operated.

Amazon


Mentioned in Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age essay, the kingdom of the Amazons refers to various legends of Greek Amazons, or more specifically to the Dahomey Amazons. In classical legend, Amazonia was a nation of warrior women in Asia Minor and North Africa. The legend may be based upon the Sarmatians, a nomadic Iranian tribe of the Kuban, whose women were required to slay an enemy before they might marry.

Aquilonia


A cross between the Roman Empire and Carolingian Empire. The name is borrowed from Aquilonia, a city of Southern Italy, between modern Venosa and Benevento; it is also an ancient name of Quimper and resembles that of Aquitaine, a French region ruled by England for a long portion of the Middle Ages. The name is derived from Latin aquilo(n–), "north wind".

Argos


Various seafaring traders of the Mediterranean. The name comes from the Argo, ship of the Argonauts; or perhaps from the city of Argos, Peloponnesos, reputedly the oldest city in Greece, situated at the head of the Gulf of Argolis near modern Nafplion. Also, hints of Italy in regards to the indigenous population's appearance, names and culture. Howard labels the populace of his Argos as "Argosseans", whereas the folk of the historical Argos are known as "Argives". In Hyborian Age cartography, Argos takes on the shape of a "shoe" in its border boundaries as compared to Italy appearing as a "boot". The coastal city of Messantia/Massantia derives its name from Massalia, the name given to Marseilles by its Greek founders.

Asgard


Dark Age Scandinavia. Ásgard is the home of the Ã� sir in Norse mythology. Howard states that the Baltic Sea would, post cataclysm, divide his fictional Asgard into the modern Norway, Sweden and Denmark according to The Hyborian Age essay.

Barachan Islands


The Caribbean Islands. The pirate town of Tortage takes its name from Tortuga.

Border Kingdoms


Geographically located over the modern German Baltic Sea coast. A lawless place full of savages, Conan once traveled through the Border Kingdom on his way to Nemedia. He befriended Mar the Piper and the King of the Border Kingdoms. He helped save the kingdom before returning to his quest to reach Nemedia.

Bossonian Marches


Wales, with an overlay of colonial-era North America. Possibly from Bossiney, a former parliamentary borough in Cornwall, South West England, which included Tintagel Castle, connected with the Matter of Britain.

Brythunia


The continental homelands of the Angles and Saxons who invaded Great Britain, which is the origin of the name. Semantically, the name Brythunia is from the Welsh Brython, "Briton", derived from the same root as the Latin Brito, Britannia, although Howard stated that the name was kept by the Ã� sir and Nemedians that settled there. The land is depicted geographically over modern Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

Cimmeria


Howard states in The Hyborian Age that "the Gaels, ancestors of the Irish and Highland Scots, descended from pure-blooded Cimmerian clans." He correlates Cimmeria to the Cymric people, the Cimbri, the Gimirrai, the Cimmerians and the Crimea. Geographically located over the modern Ireland, Scotland and England, since during the cataclysm which would mark the end of the said Hyborian Age, Cimmeria is said (according to the essay "The Hyborian Age" by R.E.Howard) to partially sink, surrounded by what would be the North Sea, its mountains dislocating into the British Isles.

Conajohara (Aquilonia)


The name may have been based on Canajoharie.

Corinthia


Ancient Greece. From Corinth (Korinthos), a rich city in Classical Greece. Possibly suggested to Howard by the Epistles to the Corinthians, or by the region of Carinthia.

Darfar


Howard derived this name from the region of Darfur, Sudan, in north-central Africa. Darfur is an Arabic language name meaning "abode (dar) of the Fur", the dominant people of the area. In changing the name to Darfar, Howard unwittingly changed the Arabic meaning to "the abode of mice". The original Darfur is now the westernmost part of the Republic of the Sudan.

Gunderland


Possibly from Gunderland of Hesbaye, a count in the Merovingian court, or from Gelderland a province in The Netherlands or from Gunther (Gundicar), King of Burgundy or Gunderic, King of the Vandals.

Hyperborea


Finland, Russia and the Baltic countries (Hyperborea) was a land in "outermost north" according to Greek historian Herodotus. Howard's Hyperborea is described as the first Hyborian kingdom, "which had its beginning in a crude fortress of boulders heaped to repel tribal attack".

Hyrkania


Mongolia, Hyrcania. In classical geography, a region southeast of the Caspian Sea or Hyrcanian Sea corresponding to the Iranian provinces of Golestan, Mazandaran and Gilan. The name is Greek for the Old Persian Varkana, one of the Achaemenid Empire satrapies, and survives in the name of the river Gorgan. The original meaning may have been "wolf land". In Iranian legend, Hyrcania was remarkable for its wizards, demons, wolves, spirits, witches and vampires.

Iranistan


An eastern land corresponding to modern Iran. Historically, the name of the country is derived from the Iran + the Persian istan, estan, "country".

Kambuja/Kambulja


The original name of Cambodia, now Kampuchea.

Keshan


The name comes from the "Kesh", the Egyptian name for Nubia.

Khauran


The name perhaps derives from the Hauran region of Syria.

Khitai


China. The name is derived from the Russian name for China, "Kitai" (Китай), which is related to the English word "Cathay" and Marco Polo's Cathay (kăthā'). Khitai is an ancient empire which is always at war with Kambuja to the south. The people of Khitai are yellow-skinned and of medium height. Khitai is ruled by a God-Emperor whose decisions are greatly influenced by The Scarlet Circle, a clan of some of the most powerful mage lords in all of Hyboria. Khitan laws flow from the overlord of the city-state. The culture of Khitai is similar to that of ancient China. The most prominent feature of Khitai is its Great Wall (similar to Great Wall of China) which protects it from foreign invasions from the north. The cities of Khitai are Ruo-Chen, Shu-Chen, Shaulum and the capital Paikang which contains the Jade Citadel, from where the God-Emperor rules over all of Khitai.

Khoraja


Constantinople and the Etruscans. and possibly the associated Principality of Antioch, County of Edessa and County of Tripoli, collectively known as Outremer. The name itself was inspired by the references of Sax Rohmer to the fictional city of Khorassa in The Mask of Fu Manchu novel.

Kosala


From the ancient Indo-Aryan kingdom of Kosala, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Oudh.

Kozaki


Semi-barbaric steppe-dwelling raiders analogous to the Cossacks.

Koth


From the ancient Hittites (the name Koth may come from the fact that the Hittites are called in the Bible the children of Heth, and the Egyptians called their land Kheta); The Kothian capital of Khorshemish corresponds to the Hittite capital of Carchemish. Perhaps from The Sign of Koth in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft. There is a town of Koth in Gujarat, India, but the connection is doubtful. Howard also used the same name in his interplanetary novel Almuric.

Kusan


Probably from the Kushan Empire.

Kush


From the kingdom of Kush, Nubia, North Africa.

Meru


Tibet. In Hindu mythology, Meru is the sacred mountain upon which the gods dwell.


NOTE: Meru is not an original Hyborian Age country and was created by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter for "The City of Skulls".

Nemedia


A cross between Rome and Byzantium. Nemedia was the rival of Aquilonia (which corresponds to The Carolingians), and depended on Aesir mercenaries for their defence (as the Byzantine Empire hired Vikings as the Varangian Guard). The name comes from Nemed, leader of colonists from Scythia to Ireland in Irish mythology; perhaps the name is also meant to allude to Nemea, home to the Nemean Lion of Greek mythology. The name may also be suggestive of various names for Germany in Slavic languages, e.g. Czech Německo.

Ophir


Ancient Ophir, a gold-mining region in the Old Testament, possibly on the shores of the Red Sea or Arabian Sea (e.g. western Arabia), though clearly Howard saw it as situated somewhere in Italy.

Pathenia


Greenland or Mongolia. The name comes from the Greek word Parthenia meaning "virgin" or "untouched" since Pathenia is a forbidden country and its landscape has largely remain untouched from any human activity. It contains the dreaded snow apes and Yahlgan, the sacred city of Erlik, the flame-god.


NOTE: Pathenia is not an original Hyborian Age country.

Pelishtim


Philistines (P'lishtim in Hebrew). The Pelishti city of Asgalun derives its name from Ashkelon. The Pelisti god Pteor or Baal-Pteor derives its name from the Moabite Baal-Peor.

Picts


Pre-Columbian America, with an overlay of North America during the European colonization of the Americas, possibly even colonial-era New York. Howard bestows names from Iroquoian languages on many of his Hyborian-Age Picts (but not the quasi-historical Picts featuring Bran Mak Morn). Note that the name "Pict" comes from the Latin language term for "painted one", which could be applicable to a number of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The historical termed Picts were a confederation of Celtic tribes in central and northern Scotland which bordered Roman Britain.

Poitain


A combination of Poitou and Aquitaine, two regions in southwestern France. From the 10th to the mid-12th century, the counts of Poitou were also the dukes of Aquitaine.

Punt


The Land of Punt on the Horn of Africa. A place with which the ancient Egyptians traded, probably Somaliland.

Shem


Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Arabia. In the Bible, Shem is Noah's eldest son, the ancestor of the Hebrews, Arabs and Assyrians; hence, the modern "Semite" and Semitic languages (via Greek Sem), used properly to designate the family of languages spoken by these peoples.

Stygia


Egypt. The name comes from Styx, a river of the Greek underworld in Greek mythology. In earlier times the territory of Stygia included Shem, Ophir, Corinthia, and part of Koth. Stygia is ruled by a theocracy of sorcerer-kings.The people are dark skinned. Most of the common people are descendants of the various races across the world. They worship the serpent god Set. Stygia's terrain is a mix of mountains, desert, plains, and marshes. The Styx river flows through Stygia into the sea.

Turan


Persian name for Turkestan. A Turkish land, possibly referring to the Gokturk Empire, the Timurid Empire, or the Seljuk Empire. The name derives from Turan, the areas of Eurasia occupied by speakers of Ural–Altaic languages. The names of the various Turanian cities (e.g. Aghrapur, Sultanapur, Shahpur) are often in Persian language. King Yezdigerd is named after Yazdegerd III, ruler of the Sassanid Empire. The name of King Yildiz means star in the Turkish language. The city of Khawarizm takes its name from Khwarezm, and Khorusun from Khorasan.

Uttara Kuru


From the medieval Uttara Kuru Kingdom at the north and central of Pakistan.


NOTE: Uttara Kuru is not an original Hyborian Age country.

Vanaheim


Dark Age Scandinavia. Vanaheim is the home of the Vanir in Norse mythology

Vendhya


India (the Vindhya Range is a range of hills in central India). The name means "rent" or "ragged", i.e. having many passes.

Wadai (tribe)


The Wadai Empire in present-day Chad.

Wazuli (tribe)


The Waziri tribe in northwest Pakistan.

Zamora


The Romani people. The name comes from the city of Zamora, Zamora province, Castile-León, Spain, alluding to the Gitanos of Spain (see Zingara for discussion); or possibly it is based on the word "Roma". There may also be some reference to southern Italy, as Zamorans dance the tarantella in honor of their spider-god (variously known as Omm and Zath). Also hints of ancient Israel and Palestine.

Zembabwei


The Munhumutapa Empire. The name comes from Great Zimbabwe, a ruined fortified town in Rhodesia, first built around the 11th century and used as the capital of the Munhumutapa Empire. Oddly, this is the same root as the modern name for the Republic of Zimbabwe.

Zingara


Spain/Portugal. Iberian Peninsula as a whole. Zingara is also Italian for "Gipsy woman"; this may mean that Howard mixed up the source names of Zingara and Zamora, with Zingara originally meant to apply to the Roma kingdom, and Zamora to the Spanish kingdom.

Zuagir (tribe)


The name is perhaps derived from a combination of Tuareg and Uyghur.

Other Geographic Features


Amir Jehun Pass


Takes its name from a combination of the Amu Darya river and the Gihon river (Jayhoun in Arabic), which has been identified by some with the Amu Darya. Perhaps corresponds to the Broghol Pass, which is near the headwaters of the Amu Darya in Wakhan.

The Himelian Mountains


Take their name the Himalayas but correspond more closely to the Hindu Kush or Karakoram ranges.

The Karpash Mountains


The Carpathian Mountains.

The Poitanian Mountains


The Pyrenees, which are just south of the Aquitaine region of France.

The River Styx


The river Styx runs northward through Stygia, following the course of the historical Nile river. Then it turns and runs westward through Shem, following the historical Mediterranean Sea, finally emptying into the western ocean. Styx in classical mythology, is the River of the Dead, and this symbology is used in The Hour of the Dragon.

The River Alimane


Alamana river, (present Spercheios) in Greece. It may also be a reference to the Alemanni.

Vilayet Sea


Geographically, the Caspian Sea. The name comes from vilayet, the term for administrative regions in the Ottoman Empire.

Zhaibar Pass


The Khyber Pass which has been the traditional borderline between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Zaporoska River


The Dnieper river and/or the Don and/or the Volga. The river's name was probably influenced by Zaporizhian Sich, a settlement of the Ukrainian Cossacks in Zaporizhzhia (region). It was situated on the Dnieper river, below the Dnieper rapids (porohy, poroz.a), hence the name, translated as "territory beyond the rapids".

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shemsu-Heru]

               

People of the hyborian Age

 

 

 

As I have said the Hyborian age is a world of men; There is no demihumans races available. Well maybe one could use ape-men or serpent-men as playable races in some campaigns but they still are rare in comparison with the human population. However in the RPG depending of their ethnicity an culture humans have different racial bonuses.

Here is a link with the main human races in the hyborian Age and their racial bonuses:

 

http://www.hyboria.x...human_races.htm

 

 

 

Samples of Hyborian people:

 

Argoseean

 

Black Kingdoms tribesmen

 

Bossonian

 

Cimerian

 

Corinthian

 

Hyrkanian

 

Iristani

 

Khitani

 

Nemedian

 

Nordheimer

 

Pitt

 

Shemite

 

Stygian

 

Turani

 

Vedyhan

 

Wazuli

 

Slaves

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shemsu-Heru]

               

Adventure gear and equipment

 

As I have been showing. there is many different cultures in the Hyborian age. So, armors, weapons and equipment, can be quite different from one region to another. The pictures below are just examples, they are from the official "Conan RPG corebook 1st edition".

 

Armors

 

 

 

Clothes

 

 

 

Weapons

 

 

 

 

Adventure gear

 

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shemsu-Heru]

               

Religion in the Hyborian age

 

The Hyborian world knew as many cults and religions as it knew tribes folk and peoples, and religious practices and beliefs were as often the result of superstitious dread and sorcerous practices as of exalted spiritual yearnings and theological understanding.

 

 

Religion in the Hyborian age D20 campaign Link:

http://www.hyboria.x.../gods/index.htm

 

Gods and demons of the Hyborian Age, D20 Link:

http://www.hyboria.x...t/gods/gods.htm

 

Gods and Worship, D20 Link:

http://www.hyboria.x...ods_worship.htm

 

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Magic in the Hyborian Age

 

As I have said before magic is quite less common in the Hyborian than in a classic D&D campaign. Only known by selected scholars, it usually implies mystical rituals, components or even pacts with dark entities...

 

Sorcery and magic in the Hyborian age D20 campaign Link:

http://www.hyboria.x...rcery/index.htm

 

Sorcerous Societies of the Hyborian Age, D20 Link:

http://www.hyboria.x...s_societies.htm

 

Artifacts and Relics of the Hyborian Age, D20 Link:

http://www.hyboria.x..._and_relics.htm

 

Magical Items of the Hyborian Age, D20 Link:

http://www.hyboria.x...gical_items.htm

 

 

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shemsu-Heru]

               

HYBORIAN BESTIARY

The hyborian age is a low level fantasy universe. So mythic and fantastic creatures are quite less common than they usually are in most D&D campaigns. Also in the hyborian age this kind of creatures usually are unique monsters. Most of the time a hyborian adventurer have to face human enemies instead of monsters. However this kind of creatures still exist. The list below have been taken from the oficial "conan rpg - 2nd edition - bestiary of the hyborian age"; And their official D20 stats can be found in that manual.




Concerning Hyborian Demons

Demons are variously said to come from hell, Earth or the Outer Dark. Most adventurers leave such speculations to the scholars who attempt  to study demons and the sorcerers who summon them up. Who cares where these horrors come from, after all, so long as one knows whether he  needs a powerfully swung sword or fire and silver to kill them?






Aaryx

The aaryx is a crane-like bird with a very broad and sharp beak used for shearing through earth and eggshells to get at their prey.

A typical aaryx stands about five feet tall on its black, spindly legs, and has a wingspan of roughly eight feet. Their plumage ranges from a dull grey on the females to brown speckled with crimson on the males. Both sexes have bright orange beaks shaped and sized similarly to a

short sword atop their slender but muscular necks.




Bestial Things of Yb

The collective race of beings called the ‘bestial things of Yb’ are humanoid ape-like men that are frequently mutated by evil sorceries. They live in and around the ruins of Yb, an ancient city destroyed by a demon god in times long past. These bestial things are the cannibalistic descendants of the original people of Yb, twisted into animalistic monsters by the horrible energies that exist beneath the crust of the ruins.





Black Fiend

Black fiends are commonly called up either as infernal assassins or to teach scholars a portion of their bountiful magical knowledge. At a distance or in the dark – their favoured environment in any case – they could pass for human, being of a similar size and general build. Up

close, their vile demonic features, horns, and pointed ears make their true nature clear. Some wear cowls or cloaks to better hide their features until it is far too late for their unfortunate target.





Black Lotus

Black lotus plants have a strange, semi–sentient life wrapped in their fl owering vines, which can be very dangerous for travellers that accidentally come across them.

Black lotus plants are deep green in colour, with a dark black flowering bud at the end of every vine–like stalk. Although they are known for their stretching vines, these stalks are what are truly important; they can reach up to 12 feet in height.





Black Ones

The black ones are a specifi c type of demon that were called in large numbers ages ago to an island off the coasts of Argos and Zingara that has been dubbed unsurprisingly ‘The Isle of the Black Ones’....

the shadows and wade through the flooded canals.

Black Ones are black–skinned, slightly reptilian demons with fishlike features and elongated arms that end in vicious talons. They are covered in rippling muscles and a cold fire burns in their eyes, which reveals their ferocity and hunger for human flesh. Where the black ones tread, little survives.





Black Spawn of Jullah

Summoned by the high priests of the Cult of Jullah, these hulking black apes are powerful demons that exist to perpetuate the cult’s stranglehold on their surroundings. They are covered in black fur that constantly weeps human blood, giving them a sticky, matted look and a sickly coppery smell. They emerge from sulphurous portals to obey the will of the cult, but are empowered by a lust that must be sated with a female virgin – else it will turn upon the summoner(s) as unworthy.





Blooded Stones

The Stones have been summoned by priests of the Hungry God many times over the centuries to protect holy sites and temples, feeding on the blood of the sacrifices made to these gigantic slab-like statues. When they are left dormant too long, they eventually stop waiting for sacrifices and go venturing out in search of the blood they need to exist.





Bodiless Slimer

This horrible demon lurks in the dark places, waiting for the chance to maim and destroy at the whim of its dark masters. The bodiless slimer is invisible, making it hard to see. It is also at least partially intangible, though a strong sword will cut it easily enough. It constantly drips unpleasant, sticky slime and mouths obscenities just below conscious hearing but which are audible in the back of the mind. Its fiery breath burns its enemies in combat, making it more difficult to battle than a simple bandit.





Brylukas (Bat-Demon)

A creature pulled from Zaporoskan legend, the brylukas is a spindly demon that bears the features of a man, beast and bat. They exist solely to destroy and soar the night on wings of black leather from the place of their summoning to the target of their rage. When the bat-demons have been placed upon the trail of their prey, or the prey of their summoner, nothing will stand in their way.

Brylukas are slightly smaller than a man in height, but have thin and leathery wings that stretch wide behind them. Their faces are a twist of bat and mannish features, with long and savage teeth in their jaws, glowing red eyes and fringed ears. Their sinewy bodies are covered in greasy thin fur, and their blood is as black and thick as tar.





Chakan

Chakans are very primitive primates that live deep in the Pictish Wilderness and similar locales around Hyboria. They stalk their prey like any other predator, using their speed and strength to bring it down.

These jungle humanoids are well-muscled and covered in supple brown or black fur, giving them a very ape-like appearance at first glance. Their chinless jaws are filled with sharp teeth and their hands end in black bestial claws. Small feral eyes lurk deep below a thick brow, and pointed ears sweep back from the sides of their heads. They are caught somewhere between a savage ape and a cunning tribal man, with the ferocity and cunning of both.





Child of the Dark

Also known to scholars as the ‘waif of outer space’, the child of the dark appears rather like an ancient mummified sorcerer, though in fact it is a demon of the Outer Dark. All children of the dark have a powerful connection to shadows, and much of their magic is based on that connection. They are creatures of the eternal night, and even the unholy light that shines in their eyes seems somehow dark.





Children of the Night

Children of the Night are a diminutive race of reptilian humanoids with fanged mouths and scaly fl esh that live in secret places deep below the surface of the world. They are well–muscled and wiry, able to infl ict terrible and deadly wounds with primitive flint and bone weaponry. In the dark, where the children live, their yellow eyes glow with a natural feral light.





Crawler

A mystical beast that is a gigantic cross between worm, serpent and water elemental, crawlers seem to exist solely in places where warmth is hard to come by. Deep dungeons that never see the light of day, the frozen plains of Hyperborea or Nordheim, or similar places might be home to a single crawler. These creatures have a multi–hued texture that shimmers like oil upon water; going from violet to blue to black and even light grey as it slithers in search of prey.





Demon of the Deep

Composed of brackish water and tangled weeds, the demon of the deep is summoned from the Void

by sorcerers that have little care for their own lives as well as the lives of their enemies. This ancient entity takes the shape of whatever it desires, always made from grey-green water, but normally chooses to be nothing more than a mass of water and whipping seaweed. No matter what shape it assumes, its six bright green glowing eyes shine like lanterns upon the surface of the ocean.





Dinosaurs

Gigantic reptiles from ancient times, dinosaurs exist in the deepest parts of the Hyborian wilderness. They all have a pebbly skin texture, thick hide and corded muscles that can move their large bodies fast enough to be the predators of the lost world. They are an image of the world before mankind, and where these beasts roam mankind trembles.





Dragon

Nearly extinct, the scaly dragons that once prowled Hyboria are now relegated to the deep wilderness where mankind cannot hope to find them.

Dragons are massive creatures, roughly thirty feet in length from their tusk–fi lled mouth to their stinger–tipped tails, and they are voracious carnivores that will eat anything they can kill and tear apart – which is nearly every creature in Hyboria. When a dragon is on the hunt, nothing is safe.





Dragon, Aquatic

Heralds of the time when the Atlanteans were young, the aquatic dragons live in the deepest parts of the unreachable areas of ocean and are said to rise when the ocean needs to claim a life for its watery gods. In actuality the ‘dragon’ is just an enormous reptile that evolved the ability to breathe water instead of air. These creatures have egg–shaped bodies with thin flippers, a long serpentine neck and tail, and a mouthful of razor–sharp fangs capable of shearing a man in two.



Elementals, Hyborian

The most powerful of sorcerers call up elementals to perform tasks for them, such as destroying large structures or transporting them across distances of hundreds of miles. These creatures are not truly alive, as they are gathered and animated by the powers of magic from the naturally inert substances of the world.




Air Elemental

The air elemental is an enormous flying creature with a 40-foot wingspan. It is not quite either bird or bat but is highly intelligent nonetheless.




Earth Elemental

Earth elementals appear like massive, squat, thickly muscled humanoids. Their skin seems to be made from solid brown or grey rock and their bodies are extraordinarily strong and powerful. When an earth elemental speaks, it sounds like the cracking and splitting sounds caused by a mighty earthquake.




Fire Elemental

Fire elementals resemble enormous, flame-red salamanders, the lizards said to live in volcanoes. Their bodies are constantly wreathed in flame.  A  fire elemental’s eyes resemble liquid pools of fire and no discernable pupil or any other feature is visible in the flames. When a fire elemental speaks, its voice resembles the roaring of a great fire.




Water Elemental

This weird-looking and ugly creature is clearly amphibious but does not appear to be either a giant frog or great newt exactly. It has a deep, croaking voice like a louder version of a frog’s call. A water elemental’s skin is patterned with swirling dark blues and greens.






Emerald Lotus

Emerald lotus is an iridescent green plant with a sharp, musky odour. Its vine-like sections are dotted with very sharp thorns, and it grows only with the blood of its victims – withering away to a husk in just a few weeks if it cannot feed.

               
               

               
            

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Foaming Blasphemy


These sad and horrible creatures are the result of coming into contact with the mutating energies surrounding the denizens of Hell. A foaming blasphemy’s bodily dimensions vary from moment to moment, but they tend to be a vaguely humanoid shape of tendrils, claws, eyes and mouths that cannot be thought of as human any longer.





Forest-Devil

Forest-devils are six to sixand-a-half foot tall bestial humanoids with long arms and powerful muscles, covered in wiry brown fur and leathery skin. They bear dozens of small spurs of horn-like material on the backs of their hands and forearms that are used in dominance fighting in their mobs.






Frost Giant (hyborian)

The frost giants once ruled Nordheim and the northern reaches in the age of Atlantis, but their heavy footfalls have been leaving trails through the snow for centuries. As the rise of mankind pushed them further and further north, the giants became embittered toward mankind.

They began to equate humans with skittering little vermin, and the frost giants began to target them for raids, rape and murder.

Frost giants are between twelve and fifteen feet in height and easily weigh over 2,000 pounds. They seem made of solid muscle and iron-hard bones, towering over even some of the white bears of the north. They tend to have sloping features and thick, reddish hair and beards that they keep in braids and dreadlocks. Although not strictly carnivorous, frost giants tend to have oversized and angular teeth for smashing up bones and frozen vegetation, allowing them to make a meal out of nearly anything they can get their thick-nailed hands upon.






Frost Worm (Snow-Devil, Dragon of the Mountains)

Known to exist in glacial tunnels in the farthest reaches of the North and occasionally surfacing in the frozen peaks of the Eiglophians, frost worms are enormous eel-like beasts that were called to earth from some otherworldly place of cold and ice ages ago and have managed to thrive in their icy lairs.

Frost worms are gigantic beasts, their boneless bodies covered in silky white fur. At one end it has a stubby and rounded tip of a tail; the other end is dominated by a smooth, jawless head filled with fearsome teeth and topped with two phosphorescent green eyes. The creature

emanates cold from its bluish-white skin, even bleeding a thin fluid that freezes anything it touches. Forty feet or more in length, meeting a single frost worm can be the end of any mountain exploration – and only the bravest of fools would ever seek to hunt one willingly.





Gelid Abomination

Gelid abominations are twisted masses of flesh that slightly resemble a cross between an octopus and a frog, but given a human woman’s shrill and panicked voice. They are horrible creations of magic and infernal curiosity that cause fear in all who look upon them, drawing questions

from some scholars as to where these things originally came from – if anywhere at all.





Ghost, Haunting

Some sentient beings that are killed in times of duress or great emotional pain will cling to the last fragments of life they have in order to become a spiritual anchor to the earthly plane. These apparitions are tied to a specific location, most often their home or location at which they died, becoming a reoccurring threat to any and all who come to their haunting place. They are wispy images of their former selves, blue or greyish white in hue, that float around their haunt in an effort to get vengeance on others for having what they could not keep–life.





Ghost, Spontaneous

A spontaneous ghost is formed when a human or other intelligent creature dies with a task unfi nished, with the knowledge that a loved one is about to die, or another extremely emotional and traumatic desire in their hearts.





Ghost Whale

Once a frequent sight to Atlantean ships, the titanic ghost whales were a pleasant omen in that era. Now their colossal skeletons lurk in the impossible deeps, preserved, animated and driven mad by the sorceries the Atlanteans used to summon and control them. They are now monsters

of the deep, preying on ships unfortunate enough to cross paths with the pale skeletal behemoths.





Ghoul (Hyborian)

Ghouls are misshapen, grey humanoids of enormous strength and vitality. They eat human flesh.

               
               

               
            

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Giant Bat

Giant bats are roughly the size of large dogs, three feet in length from snout to clawed feet, with ten to twelve foot leathery wingspans. They have brown to black fur over their lithe bodies and upturned snouts that curl upward to reveal a row of razor sharp fangs. Giant bats are a fearsome sight, but are thankfully disinterested in attacking humans without due cause.





Giant crocodile, Stygian

The older and wilier a Stygian crocodile gets, the larger it grows. In just a few years a good example of an adult will be around twelve feet in length, while some who have been reported to have lived for decades can easily grow as long as thirty feet in length! These ancient examples move away from the colonies of their lesser kin in favour of open waters or secluded marshland where they can live out their years like a lurking dragon.





Giant Eagle (Great Hawk)

These wondrous and magnifi cent beasts were common in the age of Atlantis, but most were hunted to extinction or killed by weather changes throughout Hyboria.

A typical giant eagle stands about 10 feet tall, has a wingspan of up to 20 feet and resembles its smaller cousins in nearly every way except size. It weighs about 500 pounds. Giant eagles are extremely scarce during Conan’s time but are often used by sorcerers as a form into which to shape shift. Giant vultures are another favourite option for certain types of sorcerer (often Oriental Magic practitioners) and should be treated as giant eagles.





Giant Jellyfish

Giant jellyfish come from a myriad of different individual species, but they all have soft and gelatinous bodies with circles of tentacles hanging from their undersides. These tentacles are covered in miniscule stingers that inject hundreds of pin-pricks worth of toxin into their victims.





Giant Mantid

These insects are three or four feet long from the ends of their wings to the tip of their triangular heads, and range in colour from green to brown. They all have folding foreclaws that make up their front legs, which they use to slice and capture prey to be devoured.





Giant Octopus

Giant octopi are intelligent, voracious and deadly creatures that sailors and coastal fishermen have learned to try and avoid rather than battle. Too many men have gone to their deaths in the coils of their tentacles or bled out from the slash of their beaked bites.





Giant Slug

Giant slugs are huge slabs of mucous-laden invertebrate fl esh that range in colour from black to various shades of green. They are seven to eight feet in length, weigh nearly six hundred pounds, and can stretch out their bodies to a surprising length when they need to lash out with their puckered mouth.





Giant Tick

Giant ticks are large, shield-shaped arachnids with flat bodies and eight long segmented legs. They range in colour from black and brown to a deep forest green, having evolved specifically to hide in foliage and shadows long enough to get their legs onto a victim unseen. Once fed, the giant tick bloats up and swells with stolen blood, looking almost spherical and taking on a reddish hue under its stretched chitinous skin.

 

 

Giant White Ram (Eiglophian Warden Sheep)

A giant white ram is the size of a draft horse, covered in white wool, and sports a pair of extremely thick and curved ivory-hued horns. The animal is wary at all times, having evolved around tribes of hunters, and always has its twitching ears and darting blue eyes ready to alert it to the presence of a possible threat.





Giant-kin

When the frost giants of the far north began to turn their vicious attentions on the men of Nordheim, Cimmeria and Hyperborea, many villages were raided by their kind. Frost giants are not known for their pleasantries and many violations of villagers – particularly women – took place. The resulting offspring of these unions, which kill the mother in childbirth every time, are called giant-kin.

Giant-kin are hulking humans, eight to ten feet tall on average, with thick hair and pale skin. They are thickly muscled even as a child, and bear an instinctual capacity for violence and bloodshed that often makes them pariahs of their communities – if they are allowed to survive at all. Those giant-kin who reach adulthood are frequently mountaineers and wilderness hermits, living out their years much like their monstrous parent.





Golden Jungle Monkey

The golden jungle monkeys of the Barachan Isles are a constant problem for the sailors and tribals in the jungles and marshes around Tortage. Their bodies are covered, except for their blue faces, by yellow and orange fur. This covering is long and soft, making them into flashes  of colour as they cavort through the thick tree canopy. They are remarkably intelligent and travel in large numbers in order to distract and misdirect travellers in order to steal food and shiny objects to decorate their communal lairs.





Gorgon

Unnaturally beautiful she-demons, gorgons are lithe and seductive beings with dark brown hair and a perfectly shaped body. They are so gorgeous as to be distracting, and only through the midnight gaze of their jet black third eye can anything be noticed as otherworldly. Gorgons are normally summoned to act as sensual playthings or demonic assassins, using their feminine wiles to get close enough to a target to drain them of life and leave them petrified husks.





Great Ape

Some apes and gorillas grow to very large sizes, gathering together to form families of their own kind in the woods and wooded foothills of Hyboria’s mountains. They occasionally lead companies of smaller apes, or even join groups of grey apes, but are far more commonly found living in their own territories – which they defend fi ercely.





Great Bear

In the deep wilds where man dreads to dwell, there are giants of muscle and fur that make the largest of grizzlies tremble when they pass. Massive bears, twelve feet at the shoulder when on all fours, live in these wild places without fear of predator or hunter. A single swipe of their short sword–long claws can turn a man to pulp, and nothing can withstand more than a few moments between their gigantic forelegs.





Great Shark

There was once a time when twenty foot long sharks were commonplace in the blue waves of the ocean, but now they can only be dredged up by the casting of powerful sorceries. Engines of death and violence that exist solely to hunt, kill and breed, great sharks are called from the gloom of the deepest ocean trenches to do one thing – feast.





Grey Ape

These powerful omnivores resemble gorillas but are far more aggressive; they kill and eat anything they can catch. An adult male ape stands well over 7 feet tall, even in its usual knuckle-dragging crouch, and weighs 400 to 500 pounds. Unlike other apes, they have large bestial tusks that enable them to make gore attacks.





Grey Devil (Servant of Bit-Yakin)

These demons are made of hairy fl esh and sinewy muscle, standing slightly taller than a man with a bestial but human-like face. Their arms are oversized and drag upon the ground when not extended, ending in a fistful of deadly black talons that are hooked like the beak of a buzzard. Their most unique and otherworldly feature is the yellowed glow in their eyes, which puts a chill fear in the hearts of the strongest of warriors who look upon them.





Guardian Ape of Jullah

Large and hulking apes raised by the cultists of Jullah to watch over holy shrines and temples, the guardian apes are larger than normal apes and are trained to have a savage lust for human fl esh. They are captured by the cult at infancy and taught to be ruthless killing machines in the name of the ape–god.

 

               
               

               
            

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Hydragon

This beast is the result of an ancient curse that has survived throughout the ages, transforming the unlucky into hulking reptiles. The hydragon has a body similar to a dinosaur with a long tail and neck, humanoid hands with opposable thumbs, and clawed limbs used to pull apart their meals. The beast’s massive head is similar to that of a serpent: a distending jaw filled with fangs capable of shearing meat as it disappears down into the hydragon’s throat.





Hyena Lord

The hulking shapes of packs of hyena lords, hooting and calling to one another in the dead of night, have forced men to the ground in the deserts of Stygia and Shem and the jungles of Darfar for many generations. These monstrous beasts are as large as a warhorse, twice as strong, and have jaws that can crush plate mail into unrecognisable heaps of metal. However, it is their frightening, predatory intelligence that makes them most dangerous.





Hyena-men (Jamankh`s Cursed)

Created through the sorcerous curses of the hyena demon-god Jamankh, the hyena-men are a race of evil creatures that exist solely to roam the savannahs of Punt and Shem in search of prey for all of their dark appetites.


Hyena-men are well-muscled and slightly hunched, bearing a thick mane of spotted or striped fur on their necks and shoulders that grows down their spines the older they get. Their skin tone is always very dark, almost chocolate in hue, and is frequently dotted with dozens of raised marks caused by ritual scarring. Their most distinguishing feature is that of a great hyena’s head in place of a human one, but bearing the intelligent eyes of a man instead of the feral glint of a beast. Their muzzles are filled with thick, sharp teeth that they bare almost constantly while they let out their hideous and unsettling hoots and howls.





Iron Shadow

Created through sorcery and animated to serve, iron shadows are humanoid golems of solid iron that are animated when moonlight strikes their polished surfaces.





Jaguar-Men (Chosen of Arensnuphis)

Living in treetop villages above the jungles of Kush is a race of animalistic feline men that are the holiest and most pious of servants to the hunting god Arensnuphis.

Jaguar-men are lithe, dark-skinned men with yellow and black splotches on the backs of their arms, neck and shoulders. They have thin-ingered hands that end in sharp white claws, and padded feet good for climbing. Their faces are extremely feline, including a split cat’s palate covering long and sharp teeth, golden predatory eyes, and pointed ears that twitch at the slightest sounds. In the right light they might

pass for human, but a closer look would reveal them for what they truly are.





Khitan Dragon Lizard

A single dragon lizard is around ten feet in length and three or so wide, with a widemouthed head filled with sharp teeth at one end and a tapered tail at the other. They tend to be grey or greenish in colour with little to no markings upon them, making them very effective ambush predators for a beast their size.





King Scorpion

Stygian king scorpions are an enormous sub-species of giant scorpion that has evolved a frighteningly cunning mind capable of setting ambushes, tracking prey, and even solving simple problems. Coloured black as the deepest night with tiny violet blotches, the beasts’ exoskeletons are angular, less dense but sharp like a knife at creases and focal points. The most disconcerting fact about the king scorpion is that it is so poisonous that even the fatty fluids flowing within its carapace are toxic to any come into contact with them – including those who are forced to battle it in melee!





Kraken

Called by powerful sorcery or priestly devotion to the sea gods, the kraken is an ancient and mighty squid that comes to the surface of the dark waters to reach up and snatch sailors from the decks of ships. It is said that the kraken only chooses sinful souls to drag down into the deep. In truth, however, no one is safe from its suckered grasp when a kraken is summoned.

               
               

               
            

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Lamia

The lamia are a breed of seductive demons with the lower body of a serpent and the upper body of a voluptuous naked woman. They have glassy violet eyes that cannot blink, always looking for another soul to corrupt and bodies to drain.

A typical lamia is eight to nine feet tall with its thick, black, serpentine body coiled underneath it, Fully extended they can reach up to 20 feet in length and weigh around 700 pounds. They have long fangs that fold up into their sensual mouths, only revealing them when they decide to strike.





Lotus-thing

Created by twisted wizards who wanted ambulatory guardians for their lotus groves, the lotus-things are demonically possessed bodies infested with a black lotus plant cutting. The final result is a shambling mass of lotus pollen and vines wrapped around a dark form with glowing eyes that is constantly searching for fresh kills to fertilise its plant parts.





Man-Ape

The deadly and greatly feared man-ape has close to human intelligence and is almost as tough as a grey ape, making them terrifying foes in all respects. Man-apes are actually descended from ancient Atlanteans, having degenerated from their human state to a more primitive one, rather than being some kind of ‘missing link’. An adult male man-ape is 8 to 9 feet tall and weighs around 350 pounds.





Man-Brute (Ogre)

Massive men with piggish features and overly hairy limbs, man-brutes have existed for ages in servitude to others. They are somewhat of a mutant species of human, likely from the cross-breeding of demons, and are instinctively subservient to the purer race. They cannot fight against a stronger will than theirs, and thrive in a state of servitude as if it were their natural order.

Each man-brute is likely to be slightly different than the rest of his kin, but they all stand around eight feet tall and have rippling muscles and heavy girths. Their faces are somewhat bestial, and they speak with the lisp of having teeth too large for their palates.





Man-Serpent (Child of Set, Apophistine, God in the Bowl)

The hideous Stygian man-serpents are a very rare and powerful variety of demon. It is said that Set himself saw their creation of in the ages before mankind. They are enormous black snakes covered in strange and twisting colour patterns, ending not in a serpent’s head but the fanged face of a man.

Behind their statuesque faces of emotionless flesh unfurls a twenty to thirty foot long serpentine body that shimmers when it moves like oil on top of water. Frequently found buried in the gilded offerings of Set cultists and sacrifices, it is not uncommon for a man–serpent to only allow its face to show before uncoiling its thick body to crush its prey.





Maneless Lion

Maneless lions are exactly as they sound – a big lion with no sign of a mane at all. Unlike the females of normal lion species, who have no manes, these beasts have thick corded necks that are covered in short hair the same mottled brown colour as the rest of their bodies. Some claim that these creatures are the wandering gods of the lions but they are mortal creatures and can be slain – with diffi culty – by common steel.





Manticore (Hyborian)

A dark and distant relative to the sphinx, the manticore is a twisted combination of different creatures into one body. Behind the shark–toothed face of a bearded man curls two black rams’ horns. The beast is made up of the sinewy body of a lion, its paws tipped in ebony claws as dense as iron, and ending in a thick, segmented scorpion’s tail. Surrounding the deadly stinger of the tail is a cluster of wiry hairs like that found all over a tarantula, which the beast can hurl into the air when threatened.





Monstrosity from Hell (Zug, The Dweller Below, Elder Darkness)

The monstrosities from hell are indescribable beasts of pure chaos and eternal darkness called up from the depths of the Outer Void to be worshipped by the most depraved of fools. They are a mass of slithering tentacles, mouths, eyes and disembodied voices speaking in tongues older than any human spoken word. These demons, for lack of a better term, are as old as the world and exist only to bring about the end of all things.





Mummy (Ta-Neheh)

Traditional mummies, also known as the taneheh, are reanimated embalmed corpses wrapped in specially prepared funerary materials brought back to protect the tombs of their superiors.





Mummy, Living Ka

The ka is the part of the spirit where personality is housed and given form, sometimes leaving the dying body of a person in order to find a more suitable host of flesh. Any separated ka can find the mummified remains of a vessel and possess it if the proper rituals and conduits are performed.

Living ka mummies look just as they did in life, except they radiate some small amount of timelessness in their eyes from their time in the lands of the dead. Unlike the cursed mummies of rags and decay, living ka mummies often can exist in plain sight and no one would be the wiser until they reveal their eternal might.

               
               

               
            

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Naga (Whores of Set)

The naga are an ancient race of all-female Setworshippers that once were human, but gave their bodies over to the dark god in sacrifi ce to become powerful creatures.

Each naga is roughly fi fteen feet in length, with a supple and attractive feminine torso atop the coiled trunk of an asp. Their eyes are an unearthly green with golden slits, their teeth hide a pair of small fangs, and the ends of their fi ngers are wickedly sharpened talons of bone.





Night-Weird

These rubbery bat-winged humanoids are a demonic presence from the inner reaches of the darkest souls, called forth by sorcerers to wing fallen souls back to the Outer Dark. They are mainly human in shape and size, but have no distinguishable facial features – save for a thin crease that could serve as a mouth if it were to scowl or grin.





Nordwolf

These massive beasts are five to six feet at the shoulder, nearly two-thirds that length wide, and sometimes eight feet from nose to tail. They are coated in thick white or grey fur, have piercing blue eyes, and a maw filled with curved teeth as long as a man’s hand. When a nordwolf pack comes to hunt in the area, only the bravest of warriors or hunters dares confront them with anything short of a militia behind them.





Orisha

The orisha are an ancient race of primitive humanoids that lurk in the peaks and valleys of many mountain ranges, but have been attributed specifi cally to the Ogun range. These carnivorous ambushers have a lupine cast to their woolly bodies, with long limbs that end in savagely long claws. These claws are just as useful for scaling mountain cliffs as they are for puncturing armoured targets, allowing the orisha to move freely in their home territory and dispatch their prey with little worry.

These grey and shaggy humanoids are rarely seen due to their strange and violent aversion to light (even moonlight), but their long and haunting howls to one another can be heard for miles at night on the mountain trails. Between their inherent fear of light and their instinctual ambush tactics, it is often too late to notice an orisha when it attacks.





Riders of Ollam-Onga

The riders of Ollam-Onga are black-clad horsemen riding demonic steeds of jet black in service to the demonic lord of Gazal. They are made up of fl owing cloaks of black that only show skeletal black claws and flickering eyes of fire from under their billowing cowls. Even when the riders’ steeds are running at full speed, their cowls do not fall back to their shoulders. In fact, the faster they ride the more their cloaks open up to look like batwings behind them. Although they are roughly human sized and shaped, their bodies cannot be shown in detail.

There are only seven riders of Ollam-Onga and they have a personal connection to the archdemon – performing his every wish and request, even serving his powerful priests and worshippers if told to do so...





Risen Dead

Sorcerers and demons have been calling the recently dead to walk again and fight on their behalf for centuries, leaving teeming masses of the risen dead in temples, caverns and grave sites all over Hyboria. They are not terribly effective warriors, but they are the personifi cation of resilience.





River Lion

A large and powerful prehistoric cousin to the river otter, river lions are sleek and muscular mammals that glide through the rivers and lakes of Argos, Zingara and Aquilonia in search of sizable prey to sate their fast metabolism. With sharp claws and tusked jaws, a single river lion can be a deadly surprise for swimmers or boaters. A single river lion is roughly seven feet in length from its tapered, tusked snout to the end of its slender tail. Covered in oily tan fur, they sun themselves on rocks and shores for much of the morning before lunging into the water in search of drinking deer, swimmers and other possible targets for their bloody ambushes.





Sabre-Tooth

Sabre-tooths resemble tigers or other big cats in form but have minimal markings (their fur is typically a sandy colour all over) and extremely powerful forequarters in comparison to other big cats. Even their hindquarters are more powerful than those of a lion. This makes them very strong but their bulk makes them slower than most big cats and contributes to their quick and savage hunting style. Their most distinctive feature, though, is the pair of vast teeth that give them their name. These are huge curved fangs, bigger than daggers and capable of inflicting the most devastating injuries. Though these fangs are enormously powerful weapons, they are far more brittle than smaller fangs and older sabre-tooths often have one or both of their great teeth broken off.

               
               

               
            

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Sea Fire

The demon known as sea fire is a strange and bodiless being that cannot actually be seen unless it is dancing in and out of the waves at night as it plays with the unfortunate sailors it leads to their deaths. They are utterly invisible during the day, and come to glowing life at night in order to call forth the minions of the sea to catch the sailors that they lure to the foamy water.





Serpopard

An ancient beast from the age of Set, the serpopard is a strange creature that has been seen on many Stygian engravings from the origins of their religion. It is a beast with the body of a great cat topped with a long and serpentine neck that ends in a draconic or crocodilian head filled with savage teeth.





Servitor of Quf-jushke`een

Created by the demon-god of the monstrous ghouls, Qufjushke’een, these hideous demons are hulking lumps of toad-like flesh that are covered in thorny protrusions. Equipped with a maw of fangs and crooked teeth, three sets of red, glowing eyes, and a mass of slimy tentacles acting as forelimbs, the servitors of the ghoul-god are horrors that exist to serve their foul master and feast upon the flesh of all who stand before them.





Shambling Boar-Thing

The shambling boar-things look as though they might be a demon or sorcerous creation made from man and boar. Much to the opposite, these hulking masses of muscle and fur are actually an ancient throwback to the times when beasts and men were much one and the same.

Shambling boar-things are fi ve to six feet tall at their bent shoulders, covered in tufts of wiry black hair, and have the long arms of an ape or baboon. Their heads are that of oversized boars, with feral yellow eyes darting from under bony brows in search of prey. Two curving tusks sprout from their upper jaws, but many of their teeth are pointed and dense for the tearing of flesh and plant matter alike.





Siren

Sirens are humanoid demons that have a naked female form covered in light green or blue scales, webbed fingers and toes, and glittering, slitted eyes. They are summoned to be the sexual playthings of twisted sorcerers but can often found seducing sailors to their deaths on the foaming shores of Hyboria.





Smoke-Serpent

Smoke-serpents are one of the more unusual demons to be summoned to Earth, with bodies composed of living smoke. They are usually blue in colour, though shades of green and purple have also been known.





Snake-men (Serpent-men, Children of Set)

Ancient beings from the age before men, snake-men are humanoid beings with the necks and heads of gigantic serpents growing from between their shoulders. They have lived in the shadows of the world since the age where they ruled from their towers and cities. These abominations have tried to enslave the souls of mankind for generations upon generations from their secret lairs throughout Hyboria, mastering sorceries that only they have access to. From their ancient origins in the shadow of Yig and Set, the snakemen are the truest children of the serpent gods.





Spider Thing

A sorcerous hybrid of demons and spiders, spider things are black-skinned monstrosities. They have demonic upper bodies topped with curling horns and sharply pointed ears behind a scowling human face framing glowing red eyes. Their lower bodies are that of a shining black spider, marked with yellow splotches and stripes.





Starved One

The starved ones are an ancient type of demonic spirit that can be summoned forth into a husk made from a mostly whole corpse by removing the corpse’s spirit and trapping it in its liver.

Always retaining a certain amount of features from the host husk, the starved one also takes on the physical properties of anything it anages to devour. The strength, the resilience, even the physical look of the flesh  (before it was rent and chewed of course) becomes a part of the starved one. This is why it constantly eats certain pieces of certain targets depending on what the body is in need of at that time. Should the starved one ever reclaim its husk’s liver (and therefore spirit) it will regain control over itself as it did once in life.





Stygian Scarab

Stygian scarab beetles are housecat-sized insects that live a nocturnal cycle of seeking out fleshy meals to stave off the desert thirst. Although they are capable of rapid and well-controlled flight, they rarely do so due to the cost in energy, preferring to wait in burrows and sinkholes for nightfall before venturing out and trying to overtake sleeping travellers or their mounts.

Stygian scarabs come in three distinct varieties: emerald, gold and midnight. Emerald scarabs have a brilliant green hue to their exoskeletons and almost solely live underground in Stygian tombs and catacombs.





Swamp Demon, Lesser

A sick cross between beast, man and demon, the lesser swamp demons are actually the result of a demonic entity mating with a swamp denizen – oftentimes a willing cultist or worshipper. They are horrid creatures with red eyes, vicious claws, and a layer of mud and slime that clings to them like a second skin. A thick mist of swamp steam seems to follow them wherever they go.





Swamp Devil

Swamp devils are tall reptilian humanoids wreathed in a nimbus of green fire, hiding their true form from any that they do not choose to reveal themselves to. They have flaming red eyes that bulge out of their bestial face, and a sloped brow that makes them seem almost rimate-like. They have pointed ears and lipless mouths, giving them a wolfi sh grin when pleased with their dark actions. The rest of their form is lithe and angular, covered in scales and sinuous muscle.

               
               

               
            

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Bat Swarm & Spider Swarm

Swarms are a general classifi cation of creature that is actually comprised of animals that normally would not be much

of a threat on their own but, as a dense mass, can be very dangerous to anything they come into contact with.





Tentacle Spawn

Tentacle spawn are minor demons that are the ‘feelers’ for many types of dark gods and archdemons who are being summoned to Earth.

As a portal to the Outer Dark is opened and maintained by a sorcerer, a swarm of these faceless, mouthed tentacles erupt from the portal to seek out sacrifices to help draw out their master. These beings also protect the sorcerer during the summoning.





Titan Snake (Dragon-viper, Worldworm)

One of the largest beasts to exist in (or under) Hyboria, the titan snake is a semi-mystical creature created from

the forbidden pairing of serpent and demon. They live in tunnels below the surface of the world, slithering at remarkable speeds in search of worthy prey to sate their gluttonous hungers. They take decades to grow to full size, but can reach lengths of over 80 feet. They have yellowish scales that are slightly raised and barbed, flashing golden eyes, and a mouthful of sword-length fangs that secrete deadly venom at all times. For its size, the titan snake is blindingly quick, striking and killing a foe long before it ever has a chance to react.





Uncanny Steed

This demon can take the form of either a camel or a horse but is always extremely muscular in form and stark black in colour. Unless it sometimes sprouts ragged wings, there is nothing save its colour and strength by which to tell it apart from an ordinary camel or horse. It also has a knowing and intelligent look in its eyes, which can unsettle those who look into them expecting an animal’s return gaze.





Vampire


Vampires are created when the foolish elect to undergo certain transformations hinted at in the fabled Book of Skelos, courting darkness in the shadowy places beneath the Earth, seeking death willingly in order to find eternal life.

Vampires appear just as they did in life, though their flesh is cold and hard like marble. Their gaze, too, may appear a little too steady and wide-eyed to be entirely human. There are only a few certain means of identifying a vampire save by magic or by allowing it to bite you, making them a deadly enemy to have. The only clear indicator is that their eyes give off a golden glow in the dark, but even this might as easily be achieved with a prestidigitation spell.

               
               

               
            

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Were-Beast

Were-beasts are humanoids who can transform themselves into animals, or who have been permanently transformed into animals by way of a powerful curse. In its natural form, a were-beast looks like any other members of its kind, though natural were-beasts and those who have been afflicted for a long time tend to have or acquire features reminiscent of their animal forms. In animal form, a were-beast resembles a powerful version of the normal animal, but upon close inspection its eyes (which often glow red or yellow in the dark) show a faint spark of unnatural intelligence.





Wild-men

Primal throwbacks to a time where men were learning how to walk upright, wild-men are timeless primitives that lurk in the deep rain forests and frozen peaks of Hyboria. They live in families and clans that decorate themselves with identifying tribal patterns – anything from a single ritual scar to an elaborate series of tattoos or paints. From the deadly Blackjaws of the Eiglophian mountains to the Bloodscalp Marauders of the Westermarck, these hulking brutes are a threat to anyone who dares to step into their territories.





Wind Ghosts

Wind ghosts are minor air elementals that often do the bidding of storm or wind deity faiths. They are intangible in their natural state but their summoning binds them into a physical form – usually a collection of detritus organised into a fl oating face or humanoid figure. While thus bound the wind ghost can be destroyed by smashing this form. Unfortunately for would-be banishers, wind ghosts are far from defenceless. They can summon intense winds in a localised area and use these simultaneously to keep assailants away from their vulnerable form and to batter opponents with thrown objects.





Winged Ones

‘The winged ones’ is the only name for an ancient race that has been nearly extinct in Hyboria for centuries. They are powerful sorcerers and physical combatants with huge leathery wings, clawed paws and horned heads and they worship gods older than time itself. Their hairy limbs propel them along the ground like an ape when they have no room to spread their twenty foot wingspan.





Winged Serpent (Quatzyl, Cloud Python)Winged serpents are thick snakes with the colourful wings of a macaw attached to their multi-coloured body. They are twenty to thirty feet long with a wingspan of over fifteen feet, but they manage to weave their coils around obstacles with breathtaking deftness in order to set upon their prey.





Yaggite

Yaggites are green-skinned men with lithe bodies and the tusked heads of an elephant, linking them to the development of that species here on Earth in some way. Away from Earth the Yaggites have large, angelic wings; but for some reason these features do not appear here. Something about Earth’s atmosphere causes the wings to vanish as if they did not exist, even though they will sprout anew when they leave.





Yizil (Desert Ghoul)

The yizil are desert ghouls, instinctual tomb robbers and the gnawers of bones. They avoid the open desert, especially during the day. Like jackals, they prey upon what they can fi nd in long-abandoned tombs, living a twisted and horrible existence in the desert catacombs. Their mocking laughter is not unlike a hyena’s, filling the air with screeches like that of a jackal. They oftentimes dress in the funerary trappings and baubles they find in the tombs, parading the spoils of their scavenging.