OSR Campaign Commentary - Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea, The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932), & The Hyperborea rpg

 "Give, give, O magnanimous and liberal lord of the poor," cried the beggar.

Avoosl Wuthoqquan, the richest and most avaricious money-lender in all Commoriom, and, by that token, in the whole of Hyperborea, was startled from his train of reverie by the sharp, eerie, cicada-like voice. He eyed the supplicant with acidulous disfavor. His meditations, as he walked homeward that evening, had been splendidly replete with the shining of costly metals, with coins and ingots and gold-work and argentry, and the flaming or sparkling of many-tinted gems in rills, rivers and cascades, all flowing toward the coffers of Avoosl Wuthoqquan. Now the vision had flown; and this untimely and obstreporous voice was imploring for alms.

"I have nothing for you." His tones were like the grating of a shut clasp.

"Only two pazoors, O generous one, and I will prophesy."

• Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932) By Clark Aston Smith 
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   Today on the blog I wanted to revisit Clark Aston Smith's Hyperborean cycle. Which we covered back in May 27,23 on this blog. And one of Clark's best tales Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932) & how it could relate to the Hyperborea rpg. The implication in the tale is that the doomed money lender is very much a part of the cycle of destruction of Hyperborea that the rest of the tale's cycle covers. We get a guided tour of the hot volcanic & humid jungles of Hyperborea. And the implication is that fool's doom is sealed outside of the borders of Commorium. 
  Hyperborea is the seat of far older species then humans and this of course is the realm of the Great Old One Tsathoggua. Because this is exactly the sort of entity that Avoosl Wuthoqquanruns into and meets his doom with. 
  And it begs the question, did the Hyperboreans who settled within the borders of Hyperborea during the Miocene times on purpose? Simply take over a rich & fertile  area that had been the home of elder entities that was now at the end of it's cycle? Or did the gods plan Hyperborea as a part of a grander cosmic cycle?And where does this leave adventurers if the Hyperboreans fled thier old world of Hyperborea?
  Is the gateway of Sarnath actually a gate back to the frozen waste lands of Hyperborea now guarded by demons of  the Great Old One Tsathoggua & far worse entities? The frozen wastes could hold incredible riches that are claimed by the frozen monsters and horrors that hold them. 
  And this is the realm of the White Worm and it's pethora of horrors. These places could hold occult secrets and spells from the heyday of Hyperborea. This is a place rife with adventure possibilities. 

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  The Hyperborean wastland corrisponds to the ancient map of Hyperborea. Where ancient cities's ruins lay waiting for fools to venture in. 
  And then there's the fact that the gods or demons will seek back thier former offerings as our Avoosl Wuthoqquanruns found out. 
  The lure of adventure however along with the riches could prove far to much of a temptation. 
  And there there is the possibility of time travel with the spice of magic where the adventurers travel back in time to the heyday of Hyperborea. This could also prove diasterous as the doom of Hyperborea will not be denied. So thier own doom may come sooner then later. So the  Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932) could act as a primer in the doom of those adventurers who seek the shores of Hyperborea. 

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OSR Commentary On Clark Ashton Smith's Clark Ashton Smith's White Sybil, The (1932)

" Tortha, the poet, with strange austral songs in his heart, and the umber of high and heavy suns on his face, had come back to his native city of Cerngoth, in Mhu Thulan, by the Hyperborean sea. Far had he wandered in the quest of that alien beauty which had fled always before him like the horizon. Beyond Commoriom of the white, numberless spires, and beyond the marsh-grown jungles to the south of Cornmoriom, he had floated on nameless rivers, and had crossed the half-legendary realm of Tscho Vulpanomi, upon whose diamond-sanded, ruby-graveled shore an ignescent ocean was said to beat forever with fiery spume."

"He had beheld many marvels, and things incredible to relate: the uncouthly carven gods of the South, to whom blood was spilt on sun-approaching towers; the plumes of the huusim, which were many yards in length and were colored like pure flame; the mailed monsters of the austral swamps; the proud argosies of Mu and Antillia, which moved by enchantment, without oar or sail; the fuming peaks that were shaken perpetually by the struggles of imprisoned demons. But, walking at noon on the streets of Cerngoth, he met a stranger marvel than these. Idly, with no expectation of other than homely things, he beheld the White Sybil of Polarion."
We're going to pick this right up from here on the blog Clark Ashton Smith's White Sybil, The (1932) is one of the most important tales of the Hyperborea Cycle because it shows us an avitar of the death, and destruction of  the Hyperborean Age. Tortha, the poet is exactly the type of bardic character whose come across the influence of a Lovecraftian and deadly entity that will come to mark the end of an era. Tortha's pursuit of the White Sybil of Polorian is the pursuit of madness and insanity almost at his own destruction. This entity will come to mark the coming of the White Worm later on and the end of the Hyborean era. Tortha is a perfect bardic NPC before or during his pursuit. Because of the fact that he's seen and been around so many marvels of the Hyperborean age PC's could seek him out in his current condition or in the ages before his pursuit to gain his wisdom. 
For Stormbringer rpg parties of adventurers Toritha is a perfect off beat NPC that could offer to guide the PC's to some of the marvels he's seen on CAS's  Hyperborea. 

For the Hyperborea rpg itself he's a great NPC to impart some piece of forgotten lore or bit of mythos about this once great kingdom now lost too the ice. And Tortha represents the madness that one finds in the pursuit of Lovecraftian horrors. And make no mistake that the White Sybil is exactly that an avitar of the White Worm made from the souls of the descarded citizens of a thousands lands of the ice. 

OSR Commentary On Clark Ashton Smith's Clark Ashton Smith's The (1932) Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan

So we've been reading through the Hyperborean cycle by Clark Ashton Smith through those sweet Ballintine collection. And a few Sword & Sorcery thoughts occur in my head. 

Let's pick the Hyperborean thread from back in May on the blog & let's get back to the back of beyond and the frozen lands of CAS's Hyperborea. Here's a pro tip give the beggar a dollar or a good tithe because you never know when it can come to bite you in the end. That begger in the street may be far more then he seems or at least he is in the CAS story; ""Give, give, O magnanimous and liberal lord of the poor," cried the beggar.

Avoosl Wuthoqquan, the richest and most avaricious money-lender in all Commoriom, and, by that token, in the whole of Hyperborea, was startled from his train of reverie by the sharp, eerie, cicada-like voice. He eyed the supplicant with acidulous disfavor. His meditations, as he walked homeward that evening, had been splendidly replete with the shining of costly metals, with coins and ingots and gold-work and argentry, and the flaming or sparkling of many-tinted gems in rills, rivers and cascades, all flowing toward the coffers of Avoosl Wuthoqquan. Now the vision had flown; and this untimely and obstreporous voice was imploring for alms.

"I have nothing for you." His tones were like the grating of a shut clasp.

"Only two pazoors, O generous one, and I will prophesy."

Avoosl Wuthoqquan finds this out exactly in Clark Ashton Smith's Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932). For our purposes the money lender found out exactly what kinds of unholy horrors dwelt within the jungles and temples of CAS's Hyperborea. And there is a certain sardonic wit and wisdom to his ea erm meeting with the Smithian god within the story. The take away reminds me of Michael Moorcock's demons and dieties within the Eternal Champion mythos. What Clark Ashton Smith's Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932) is establish that the lands of Hyperborea are ripe with the divinity of the Lovcraftian gods of the Hyperborean cycle.
And the other thing is that the Lovecraftian gods of the Hyperborean cycle are very active taking vengence and sacrifice quite nicely on thier own. And this makes the old school versions of adventures set on CAS's Hyperborea all that more deadly. Accepting strange jewels from strangers can be indeed very deadly and dire. 
Avoosl Wuthoqquan is an interesting character unto himself. He's not simply a money lender but one of 'the' money lenders of Hyperborea. He's immesily corrupt and slightly guillible but at the same time obviously a very ruthless character. He'd make a Hell of an NPC before the events of The (1932)  Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan. There's a lot that CAS implies within the story. There are networks and guilds of thieves throughout Hyperborea and they have taken a heavy toil that calls the gods themselves to take a hand within events. 
And for a Stormbringer rpg party this opens up the opportunities to actually have a few adventures within CAS's Hyperborea. Just a bit of food for thought. 

So not only could this work out for a Stormbringer rpg campaign set up similar to what we spoke about on the blog here.  Could there be a time travel element that could really screw with OSR Hyperborea rpg players as well?! Hmm 

OSR Campaign Commentary - Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea & North Wind Adventures Hyperborea rpg

 So yesterday I was gone most of the day travelling between places and I ran into a friend of mine down in West Hartford at his bookshop. We hadn't seen each other since 2017 at one of the private Cons at a friend's home. There we played in DM Steve's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerer's Hyperborea rpg campaign mini game. Paul runs a small Science Fiction and Fantasy book shop in between botique shops there. What he had for me was a rare copy of the Smith, Clark Ashton (1971). Lin Carter (ed.). Hyperborea. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-02206-8.. The Ballatine edition is excellent for a number of reasons but it really plugs into the Iron age cosmic horror hardcore. And why well the wiki entry on CAS's Hyperborean cycle covers it thus:"The Hyperborean cycle is a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that take place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. Smith's cycle takes cues from his friends, H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard and their works. Lovecraft wrote to Smith in a letter dated 3 December 1929: "I must not delay in expressing my well-nigh delirious delight at The Tale of Satampra Zeiros [Smith's short story]... [W]hat an atmosphere! I can see & feel & smell the jungle around immemorial Commoriom, which I am sure must lie buried today in glacial ice near Olathoe, in the Land of Lomar!".^[1] Soon afterward, Lovecraft included Smith's Tsathoggua (which originally appeared in "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros") in the story "The Mound", ghostwritten for Zealia Bishop in December 1929. Lovecraft also mentioned Tsathoggua in "The Whisperer in Darkness", which he began on February 24, 1930,^[2] and in "At the Mountains of Madness" a year later, along with the Hyperborean cities of Commoriom and Uzuldaroum. Because Smith in turn borrowed numerous Lovecraftian elements, the cycle itself may be regarded as a branch of the Cthulhu Mythos. In a letter to August Derleth dated 26 July 1944, Smith wrote: "In common with other weird tales writers, I have ... made a few passing references (often under slightly altered names, such as Iog-Sotot for Yog-Sothoth and Kthulhut for Cthulhu) to some of the Lovecraftian deities. My Hyperborean tales, it seems to me, with their primordial, prehuman and sometimes premundane background and figures, are the closest to the Cthulhu Mythos, but most of them are written in a vein of grotesque humor that differentiates them vastly. However, such a tale as "The Coming of the White Worm" might be regarded as a direct contribution to the Mythos.".<sup>[3]"



"The Hyperborean cycle mixes cosmic horror with an Iron Age setting. Adding to the peril is the rapidly approaching ice age, which threatens to wipe out all life on the Hyperborean continent. A host of other deities play important roles in the cycle; foremost is the toad-god Tsathoggua, who dwells in Mount Voormithadreth."
"</sup>Hyperborea is a legendary continent in the Arctic. Before it was overwhelmed by the advancing ice sheets of the Pleistocene age, Hyperborea was a warm and fertile paradise, with lush jungles inhabited by the last remnants of the dinosaurs. A race of yeti-like bipeds, known as the Voormi, once populated Hyperborea, but were wiped out by the pre-human settlers who migrated here from the south. These pre-humans built the first capital of Hyperborea, at Commoriom. Later they moved to Uzuldaroum, when prophesies foretold of Commoriom's doom."

So essentially the continant is completely frozen and still out there the world of Hyperborea. What if adventurers stumble upon the frozen country  as a part of the Hyperborea rpg?! They have no idea of the signifiance of this 'lost and legendary' land.. And while Jeffrey Talanian, has a brand new Hyperborea map kickstarter going on. The fact is that reading through the Hyperborea collection last night actually got my imagination fired up. This map here is from the 1971 Ballintine collection when paperbacks actually carried such maps. Now this campaign idea isn't new Chris Kutalik of the Hill Canton's blog fame proposed such an idea here.  Mind you this blog entry was back in 2011. So I don't think anything was done with it. 

That idea sure had some legs in my mind especially given the cross pollenization of Lovecraft & Smith using story and adventure elements. 
Such a frozen continent under the control of the inhuman  voormis might require some really interesting back & forth with clerics or headsmen of the god Tsathoggua. There is a ton of potential for adventure in such a frozen wasteland  continent. According to the CAS's mythos: " "Hyperborea was 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)"
This frozen wasteland could be the homelands of the once proud and decident Hyperborean races of the Hyperborea rpg. Only the ill regarded Voormis may know the answers. But what does this mean to the other ancient Hyperboreans still within their dungeon vaults?  

 The first thing to do is to read through the cycles of Clark Ashton Smith's stories to get an understanding of the place of Hyperborea within the CAS setting itself. And this cycle goes like this according to the Eldritch Dark site: 

• 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)

And this brings up the perhaps since the Hyperboreans fled to the Hyperborean continant that there might be far more at stake then they realize. What happens if the doom that came to the frozen land isn't done?! There's a lot of unanswered questions that CAS's Hyperborea cycle brings to the table top. Even though I know that Michael Moorcock wasn't happy with CAS there are certainly Pulp pivot points between the mythologies of Elric and the doomlands of Hyperborea.