So let's speak about the once & future Hyperboreans beyond the North Wind shall we. The Hyperboreans tales pick up after the departure of Iceland in AS&SH. Into their declining decades long kingdoms in Zothique just before the appearance of the Silver Death in Clark Ashton Smith's Isle of the Torturers.
"Between the sun's departure and return, the Silver Death had fallen upon Yoros. Its advent, however, had been foretold in many prophecies, both immemorial and recent. Astrologers had said that this mysterious malady, heretofore unknown on earth, would descend from the great star, Achernar, which presided balefully over all the lands of the southern continent of Zothique; and having sealed the flesh of a myriad men with its bright, metallic pallor, the plague would still go onward in time and space, borne by the dim currents of ether to other worlds."
Clark Ashton Smith Isle of the Torturers.
This isn't the only evil star in Lovecraft's circle of writers in fact there's dozens of celetial objects that cause untold amounts of destruction let's use Ramsey Campbell's Ghroth (the Harbinger) as an example;
"A] nineteenth century British cult believed in [a] comet-god who sang to the stars and planets as it passed by them in its orbit. They said it destroyed those worlds it passed, by waking up demons or ancient gods ... who slept on each world.
—Kevin A. Ross, "The Music of the Spheres"
Ghroth (the Harbinger) resembles a small, rust-colored planet or moon with a single, gigantic red eye which it can close to avoid detection. Ghroth drifts throughout the universe singing its siren song, the Music of the Spheres. As it swings by a planet, any Great Old One or Outer God sleeping there is awakened by the song. This usually results in the extinction of all life on the planet or perhaps even the utter destruction of the planet itself.[2]
This isn't the first cycle of rebirth & destruction associated with the Hyperboreans because these are a fated peoples;
"Hyperborea is the ancient location mentioned in Ancient Greek Mythology. Descriptions of the land mention immortal beings that never age, huge valleys and forests inhabited by fairies and elves. The only way to get to Hyperborea is through huge swans. It said that no north wind blows there and its tresures are protected by griffons. A mystical land that Zeus created for no apparent reason, that only grows questions to Apollo. Mount Voormithadreth, the abode of Tsathoggua, is located in Hyperborea."
Hyperborea itself is intertwined with the Cthulhu Mythos by Clark Ashton Smith in his Hyperborea cycle; " "supposed to have corresponded roughly with modern Greenland, which had formerly been joined as a peninsula to the main continent" — in Miocene times ("Ubbo-Sathla", Clark Ashton Smith). We get the actual purpose of the Lovecraftian Old Ones to end one cycle of time & begin another epoch within the Hyperborean cycle:
- Coming of the White Worm, The (1941)
- Door to Saturn, The (1932)
- House of Haon-Dor, The (1989)
- Ice-Demon, The (1933)
- Lament for Vixeela (1953)
- Muse of Hyperborea, The (1929)
- Seven Geases, The (1934)
- Tale of Satampra Zeiros, The (1931)
- Testament of Athammaus, The (1932)
- Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles, The (1958)
- Ubbo-Sathla (1933)
- Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932)
- White Sybil, The (1932)
Just before the events of Ragnarok the Hyperboreans are making preparations for their return. Across the globe of Earth the ancient Lovecraftian cults are growing. People are turning to the worship of the ancient gods & agents of the Hyperboreans are sewing the seeds of destruction. Where were the Hyperboreans all this time in the far future of Ragnarok?! They've been under the Earth in hidden grottoes & caverns planning their 'holy' come back.
The Hyperboreans use perhaps a natural pole reversal of the Earth or solar flare that produces a world wide magnetic pulse & mankind's technology is cast into ruins. A strange new world rises from the old one. But even Zothique has its time with the Silver Death as does Hyperborea in AS&SH with its Green Death. But while Hyperborea & Zothique are at their height there are extra solar colonies;
"There was no time to flee from the strange, inevitable scourge. Dreadfully and quickly, beneath the clear stars, it breathed upon Yoros; and few were they who awakened from slumber at dawn. Fulbra, the young king of Yoros, who had but newly suceeeded to the throne, was virtually a ruler without a people.
Fulbra had spent the night of the plague's advent on a high tower of his palace above Faraad: an observatory tower, equipped with astronomical appliances. A great heaviness had lain on his heart, and his thoughts were dulled with an opiate despair; but sleep was remote from his eye-lids. He knew the many predictions that foretold the Silver Death; and moreover he had read its imminent coming in the stars, with the aid of the old astrologer and sorcerer, Vemdeez. This latter knowledge he and Vemdeez had not cared to promulgate, knowing full well that the doom of Yoros was a thing decreed from all time by infinite destiny; and that no man could evade the doom, unless it were written that he should die in another way than this.
Now Vemdeez had cast the horoscope of Fulbra; and though he found therein certain ambiguities that his science could not resolve, it was nevertheless written plainly that the king would not die in Yoros. Where he would die, and in what manner, were alike doubtful. But Vemdeez, who had served Altath the father of Fulbra, and was no less devoted to the new ruler, had wrought by means of his magical art an enchanted ring that would protect Fulbra from the Silver Death in all times and places. The ring was made of a strange. red metal, darker than ruddy gold or copper, and was set with a black and oblong gem, not known to terrestrial lapidaries, that gave forth eternally a strong aromatic perfume. The sorcerer told Fulbra never to remove the ring from the middle finger on which he wore it — not even in lands afar from Yoros and in days after the passing of the Silver Death: for if once the plague had breathed upon Fulbra, he would bear its subtle contagion always in his flesh; and the contagion would assume its wonted virulence with the ring's removal. But Vemdeez did not tell the origin of the red metal and the dark gem, nor the price at which the protective magic had been purchased."
Isle of the Torturer - Clark Ashton Smith
So why would the Hyperboreans be on Mars?! Because Great Old One of many names & incarnations is back in the era of Zothique . It goes by 'The Dweller in the Gulf ', 'Vulthoom', & especially its nom de plume of 'The Seedling of Mars'. All created by Clark Ashton Smith himself. But each of these entities are aspects of the same Great Old One. And you can bet your behind that the Hyperboreans are going to have a cult dedicated to it. Why ?! Because they want to reap the sweet rewards that are promised in CAS's Mars Cycle:
Yeah I'm going with the alternative background & most folks would be thinking that oh here he goes again for the usual Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea connection. And they would be right except for the fact that actually I'm going for a Castles & Crusades campaign aspect here. Not only is there a portal to a lost Hyperborean valley on Mars but its within Kraggoth Manor. Kraggoth Manor is from The Beasts of Kraggoth Manor an adventure that I've recently run using Castles & Crusades even though its designed for AS&SH.
The Hyperboreans I'm speaking of here are not your average AS&SH PC. Instead these are fanatical devotees of the Lovecraftian & CAS gods. These examples are the vile aspects of the lowest royal denominators of the Hyperboreans. These folks are connected genetically with one of the most dangerous races of Mars & I'm speaking of the cult of the Holy Therns;"The Holy Therns were a vicious Martian cult populated by the therns. Inhabitants of the Valley Dor, they worshipped the "living goddess" Issus (who is actually merely an ancient Black Martian woman), and sought to keep her happy with human sacrifices. For centuries, they enthusiastically promoted the idea that the Valley Dor is the gateway to Martian Heaven and decreed that any Martian who had reached 1,000 years of age or merely tired of living should travel to the valley to either spend the rest of eternity in paradise or be reborn. When the unsuspecting pilgrims reached the valley, they found a beautiful land where fruit and water were plentiful... which also happened to be heavily inhabited by white apes and plant men. Those who survived those creatures ended up enslaved by the Holy Therns, who would work them to death before feeding them to Issus or the Tenth Cycle. The Holy Therns' downfall came in 1886, when John Carter suddenly returned to Mars."
And the connection is the entity behind the cult of the Valley of Dor & that is the progenitor of the planet men on Mars 'Vulthoom'. The children of this god have been devouring the Martians of centuries. But their god has been preserving his holy Therns between cycles of destruction & resurrection. Could 'Vulthoom' be connected with the Martian tree of life!? Possibly an aspect of it.
A more Earth wizard who would have knowledge of these connections & their roles across space & time is strongly connected with both Earth & Mystara. The wizard-noble Stephen Amber (Etienne d'Amberville) has been using his knowledge of these cycles of destruction & resurrection to take full advantage of the body of mystic & occult knowledge to make war upon his enemies across space & time.
To say that Jason Vey isn't a prolific son of a gun is doing a disservice to him, & someone over the weekend pointed out that Jason had done his free Warriors of Mars booklet for OD&D. And that's fine but I'm looking a mix of Castles & Crusades & Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Why?! Because of the fact to quote an internet source, "The shared lineage and resulting similarity in rules between Dungeons & Dragons, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Hackmaster, and Castles & Crusades simplifies conversion of rules and statistics between the games". Usually 1d4 Chan is all about making fun of & mocking rpg's. Not this time & this sets up my reasoning behind my campaign move.
Surely there's no way of getting that usual classic Mars/Barsoom style feel with Castles & Crusades?! Right well no there is actually. The dungeon master can use a little book that takes several systems for combining & using classes as need in the Siege System. I'm talking about C&C's Expanding Classes here & its a very different set of systems then the usual AD&D & D20 multiclassing, enhanced classes and switching classes.
Here the systems are used in a very solid way, Alexander L. does a fantastic job taking on the character class options from C&C's Expanding Classes book ;
:So let’s talk about the five options that you have here in Expanding Classes:
1) Multi-Classing. This is where, instead of having a single class, say Fighter or Cleric, you have two classes like Ranger/Druid or Assassin/Bard. There’s a nice little cross-reference chart so you can see which of the thirteen classes can multi-class together. This means you can’t do a Paladin/Assassin or Barbarian/Wizard, but there is always wiggle room if you have a good reason and a willing Castle Keeper. The downside to multi-classing if you advance a lot slower as you have two classes you are trying to level up, and some classes may have weapon/armor/spell restrictions that hinder your second class. Essentially this is the same as old school AD&D multi-classing
2) Enhanced Class. This is essentially an “enhanced” and deeper version of the “Class and a half” idea that is briefly mentioned in the PHB after multi-classing. Again, there is less than a page for this there. With Expanding Classes, you get a lot more detail and depth on the topic. An Enhanced class gives you a few aspects of a second class, but not all of them. This is great if you have a character who say, went to Wizard school but flunked out and has a little to show for his time spent there. There are over two dozen supporting class options, and again, a chart to cross reference so you can see if your idea is legal or not. Each of these supporting classes has its own XP chart to show you what you get at each level. Essentially your cost to level up your supporting class is only half of what a full class would cost, but you only get a fraction of the abilities and advance much slower.
3) Class Plus. This adds the zero level abilities from another class to your character for a permanent 5% tithe of all experienced earned. That may or may not be worth it to you, as at higher levels, that is a lot of experience to give up just to have access to cantrips or 1d3 unarmed Monk attacks but hey, more power to you if you want to go this route. Class Plus is the weakest of the options in Expanding Classes and I doubt many will make use of it. Hell, even Troll Lord Games doesn’t put much stock in it, giving the idea less than half a page in this supplement.
4) Dual Classing. This is very different from the AD&D version of Dual Classing. A character is a single class until some pivotal moment in their adventuring career and then they decide to switch completely to another class. Maybe they were a Barbarian who found God and became a cleric. Maybe they were a Ranger but went blind and decided to become a Diviner instead since they couldn’t track anymore. There are lots of reasons why a second class might be added later in life instead of starting off via multi-classing. Once the second class is chosen, XP is evenly divided between the two and you level up as usual. The catch is that the character only gets new Hit Points when it gains a level in its original class. This doesn’t sound or seem too bad unless you are really high level. After all, if you are a level 16 Fighter/Level 1 Bard, you will have a ways to go before you see an increase in your HP. At least you’ll get some spells and Legend Lore out of it!
5) Reclassing. This is where a character abandons their original class completely and takes up something new. OD&D fans will recognize that this is the TSR version of Dual Classing and Troll Lord is simply calling it “reclassing” for Castles & Crusades since they are using Dual Classing in a different fashion. It’s not an exact port from AD&D to C&C as you lose a level (and HD) for doing this but otherwise, it’s similar down to the 10% XP penalty for using skills/abilities from the previous class in an adventure. Although the name change may confuse or annoy older games, calling this Reclassing actually does make more sense than calling it Dual Classing., so I’m fine with it." So I'm I fine with it & you can read more at Alex Lucard's article here.
What kinda Mars I'm I going for?! The type where mankind has fled Earth & is on the run in the solar system. Hyperborea has appeared in the skies of Earth along with a giant Saturn & Jupiter has become its own sun. Alien life forms have appeared thanks to Clark Ashton Smith's The Dweller In The Gulf & its twin Vulthoom . Mankind has no idea of the depths of Martian Hell that it might find itself in. In fact what I'm looking at for inspiration right now is a short story published in September 1951 issue of Planet Stories magazine by D. B. Lewis called Vengeance on Mars as adventure inspiration. “Vengeance on Mars,” a short Sci-Fi story penned by Jerome Bixby under the pseudonym D. B. Lewis.
"In the dim Water Temple, where the dead grinned down on the dead, Hale met his D-day. Should he give an ex-comrade to the torturing Lhrai or chance the massacre of Terrestrial thousands?"
Many of the systems (but not all) that are in the C&C's Expanding Classes book would later on be incorporated into the Amazing Adventures! rpg Companion. But what about Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerer's of Hyperboreans?! Are they on Mars in this campaign?! The answers are coming up tomorrow.
Gothic literature is something I was very late to the game getting into in high school or college because it crosses over and back with the weird tale and is even used as a source for sword & sorcery literature. Jack Shear of the Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque blog has released a fifty page chap book and overview of the Gothic literature genre. I have to preference this by saying that this isn't a game but its an extremely useful tour of Gothic literature writers and their works with Professor Shear's witty commentary and remarks scattered throughout.
According to the Heretical Sexts website;" in its pages, scholar Jack Shear covers the history, key themes, and
major books in the Gothic movement from its inception through the
current day. It's a love letter to this often misunderstood and
under-appreciated form of entertainment." And that's exactly what you get a guided tour of the literature and all its trappings in one quick and easy to use. Scattered throughout are the text which is designed by Tenebrous Kate are featured illustrations by Dana Glover, Becky Munich, and Carisa Swenson.
You get all of the conventions, ideas, setting material and more broken down and deconstructed by the writer and then an overview of the literature wit:h recommendations such as :"Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (1764)
Since Walpole's Otranto is widely regarded as the origin of the Gothic novel, start here if possible. Otranto will surprise you; although it does have the expected conventions of specters,
prophecies, and a maniacal villain, the novel is also quite absurd and humorous in places. There's something decidedly Monty Python-esque about a book that begins with a giant helmet falling from the sky to crush a twerpish character we've just met.
It's not surprising that the Surrealists posthumously adopted Walpole as one of their own because of The Castle of Otranto.
Pay attention to: the way Theodore is described early on in the novel, the novel's insistence that Manfred is “naturally humane” despite his evil actions, the fact that heaven's use of power and authority often seems to be as arbitrary as Manfred's abuses
What to read next: Sophia Lee, The Recess; Clara Reeve, The
Old English Baron; Horace Walpole, The Mysterious Mother"
This is the type of quality your going to get scatted throughout this chap book and the author knows his material like the back of his hand. He's been teaching Gothic literature and running table top rpg's for a long while and it shows. He knows his business and its no nonsense. Simple, clear cut, and concise Morbid Fantasies is a must in my humble opinion for the newbie or the connoisseur of Gothic literature. Originally released from the Heretical Sexts website for eighteen dollars, Mr.Shear has released it as a free pdf just in time for Halloween.
Watch the Heretical Sexts website for more title and chap books from Jack Shear. Anyone playing any horror old school rpg or retroclone such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Dark Albion, Call Of Cthulhu, Chill, etc. should grab a copy of this book. Five out of five in my humble opinion and very well done.
Happy Halloween & Thanks Jack Shear for the Treat!
GRAB IT RIGHT HERE
