Tuesday 28 December 2010

The Encyclopaedia Hyboriana: A Reference Guide to Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age of Conan the Cimmerian



Ever since I got really into Robert E. Howard after my second gateway via Conan, I've wondered just why there isn't a counterpart to Robert Foster's Middle-earth Encyclopaedia.  Here, I thought, was a world rich in atmosphere, facination and delight, with all the characters, places, events, relics and wonders one could possibly want. It seemed every line of exposition was pregnant with a story in itself. A character who appeared in a single sentence would have the foundations of their entire history encapsulated within a few words.  A mere phrase opened up whole worlds of possibilities.

So where is that Hyborian Age Encyclopaedia?

Well, Deuce let the Smilodon fatalis out of the bag over at the REH Forums, so I figure there's no time like the present to announce The Big Secret.  All those wondering what happened to Conan: Total War and the many other projects I've been working on can finally know the truth: all my effort over the past year has been put into a reference book for the Hyborian Age.



Actually, it's been far more than the past year.  In fact, I'd been gathering notes, formulating theories, researching past scholarship, and seeking out scraps of information for years now.  In the beginning, this was for Conan: Total War, but as numerous technical issues and general burnout took their toll, work on the mod started to dwindle almost to a crawl.  But the search for information, the challenging of presuppositions, and the sheer thrill of excavating the Hyborian Age as if I was Jeff Shanks out on a dig never truly left.

Since those beginning days of me being a wet-behind-the-ears pup barking in the company of wolves, I've grown seasoned and more experienced.  My time on The Cimmerian has been invaluable, and I've just recently started pubishing my first 'Zine in REHupa (more to come on that later). I'd even been nominated for a Venarium Award.  I'd come a long way in that short space of time, though of course, I still have a long way to go.  Still, even after five years among the online Robert E. Howard Fandom, there hasn't been a reference guide for the Hyborian Age, certainly not one that eschews pastiche and original material.  With the new film coming out, the time seemed ripe for such an opportunity to bring the true majesty of Howard's work to the fore, to show that yes, despite the gulf in sheer volume, the Hyborian Age is just as full of magic and imagination as Tolkien's Middle-earth. Yet no encyclopaedia.

And so I wondered... maybe I should do the Encyclopaedia...

Initially, I was going to make it a website, modelled after the magnificent Encyclopedia of Arda. Crom knows there are plenty of great resources for the comics and pastiches, like Thulsa's Hyborian Age D20 resource, Dale Rippke's Gazetteer Hyboria, and the Conan Wiki, but to the best of my knowledge, there isn't a resource out there that has only Howard.  Then I thought: why stop at a website, when I could do a book?  I think I have enough momentum to go further, and get the book published.  Of course, there are copyright considerations, but by Jove, I think I can make a case for it.

The Encyclopaedia Hyboriana will be a catalogue of the names, people, places, events, weapons, treasures, religions and fauna of the age of Conan, using only Howard's work as a source.  Of course, the Conan stories, drafts, fragments and synopses will be the primary source material, and additionally those non-Conan stories which deal with the Hyborian Age in some manner, such as the Kull and James Allison tales, "The Haunter of the Ring," and select Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn tales.  No pastiches, no comics, no video games, not even works by contemporaneous writers like Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft.  This is pure Howard, and the only supposition and theorizing therein will be clearly delineated as such.  This isn't a book-length version of the Hyborian Age Gazetteer: just the facts, and any reasonable hypothesis.

The aim is for the book to be informative without being too dry, and just detailed enough to be interesting without swamping the reader with too much information.  The setup shall take after several other encyclopaedias, with a few tweaks for the purposes of the setting.

Here's an example of an entry regarding a place, kingdom or country, colour-coded and annotated:


Abombi
A city on the black coast, ruled at one time by King Ajaga. Conan sacked the city during his time as chief of the Black Corsairs. Conan met two chiefs in the ensuing battle, one of whom he killed, while the other escaped with his life. After his capture and incarceration in the dungeons beneath the Scarlet Citadel, one of Strabonus’ black guards revealed himself to be the chief who fled, and the brother of the chief Conan slew.
*Possibly from Abomey, the capital of the West African kingdom of Dahomey. Abomey is well known for the earthen royal palaces built in the mid-17th Century by the Fon People, and a mud wall with a six-mile circumference encircling the settlement. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985.
(Note: Since neither Bêlit or the Tigress are mentioned during the conversation, it can be inferred that the sack of Abombi takes place during a speculative later period of Conan’s life, as chief of the Black Corsairs.)
See Black Corsairs; Black Coast, The; Kush; Scarlet Citadel, The; Shukeli
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, “The Scarlet Citadel,” p.99

Name
Description of appearance, history and culture
Possible etymological, mythological or cultural derivation
Notes on continuity, implications, thematic resonance, differences in draft or other stories, or similar items of interest
Other entries relevant to discussion in the Encyclopaedia
Volume and page number reference

The format for people & things would be similar, though the blue section would be "appearance, biography and personality" for people, "appearance, natural history and individual encounters" for animals, "appearance, history and use" for objects, and so forth:


Ajonga
One of three Black Corsairs Conan reckognized from his Black Corsair days. Some time prior to the resurrection of Xaltotun, Ajonga was captured, and set to galley work on the Argossean trading ship Venturer. He was freed by Conan in the ensuing mutiny. The fate of Ajonga, as well as the other blacks of the Venturer after Conan retrieved the Heart of Ahriman, is unknown.
*Possibly from the same source as Aja and Ajaga, or the Yoruba name Ajani, “he who fights for possession,” Wajanga in southern Libya as alluded by Rosita Forbes, or ajoga (“wizard”) of the Lango people of Uganda.
(Note: Ajonga is not mentioned in “Queen of the Black Coast,” and the final voyage of the Tigress had no survivors save Conan. Either Ajonga was on the Tigress at some point and left before the journey up the Zarkheba, or he was one of Conan’s shipmates during a speculative later time among the Black Corsairs.)
See Aja, Ajaga, Amra; Black Corsairs; Laranga; Venturer; Yasunga
The Bloody Crown of Conan, “The Hour of the Dragon,” p.191
 
Ape, Gray
Large, carnivorous, forest-dwelling primate. Also called the “gray man-ape,” the gray ape was indigenous to the mountains and hills that border the eastern shores of the Vilayet, and the lost jungles of Khitai. It was not unlike a human in general outline, but its face was clearly ape-like: close set ears, flaring nostrils, thick lips, tusk-like fangs, a bullet-shaped head, and small black eyes. Its huge body and limbs were covered in shaggy gray hair, sometimes flecked with silver. It walked in a bipedal motion on short bowed legs, with long, knotted arms, whose huge hands nearly reached the ground. Despite its size, the gray ape was tremendously agile and fast-moving. It had incredible vitality and strength, being capable of hurling rocks to a range comparable to siege engines.
The gray ape is a nocturnal creature. It typically dwells in the deepest and darkest part of the forest. It does not typically emerge into the open, only doing so when threatened or provoked. A curious aspect of the creature is that it is mute: it seems incapable of vocalization. The gray ape is carnivorous, and is known to strip a carcass to the bone, even breaking them lengthwise to access the marrow. Normally the gray ape was hostile to man, and became figures of fear and terror to the Hyborians, their memory passing into myth and legend as goblins and ogres. The gray apes of Khitai featured in unusual ceremonies among the adherents of Yogah: they dance to the pipes of the priests. The significance of the ceremony, and how it was accomplished, is unknown.
Yogah of Yag spoke to Conan of gray apes very briefly, though the Cimmerian later encountered a dislocated gray man-ape on the isle of Iron Statues. Conan was nearly slain in the ensuing fight, and only survived by dismembering and disembowelling the beast with his scimitar. Conan encountered a second gray ape in the dungeons of Belverus.
* The Gray Ape is most likely inspired by the many dangerous primates of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ canon, particularly the Tarzan tales. It could also have been inspired by the race of white apes in Lovecraft’s “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family,” itself possibly inspired by Burroughs’ The Return of Tarzan and Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. There is another possible inspiration in Am Fear Liath Mor – “The Big Grey Man” - a Scottish supernatural being that haunts Ben MacDhui, which first reported by Professor Norman Collie in 1891. The story attracted much media attention in 1925, when Collie recalled his experience.
(The gray ape may be related to the man-apes of the mountains east of Zamora, or simply a case of convergent evolution.)
See Lost Jungles of Khitai; Man-Ape; Vilayet.
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, “The Tower of the Elephant,” p.94
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, “Iron Shadows in the Moon,” p.202-203
The Bloody Crown of Conan, “The Hour of the Dragon,” p.113-115



Akbitanan SteelMaterial or technique used in the production of swords, originating in Akbitana. Swords forged with Akbitanan steel were considered to be unbreakable.
*See Akbitana.
(There are metals or alloys developed in history that have almost mythical qualities ascribed to them. Weapons forged with Damascus steel were said to cut through inferior swords, and even stone: the technique and formula has been lost for centuries, encouraging and advancing the legend.)
See Akbitana; Aquilonian steel; Hyrkanian steel.
The Conquering Sword of Conan, “The Servants of Bit-Yakin,”  p.34

For ease of browsing, I'm also wanting to make a small symbol beside each entry that indicates what the entry is: a coin would refer to a person, a coat-of-arms refers to a country, a mountain refers to a geographical feature, a sword refers to a battle, a book refers to... a book.  I'd love to have illustrations: battle plans, maps, diagrams, that sort of stuff.  I'm reluctant to include any commentary on pastiche at all, be it on the Uberboreans, Aquiromans or Special Sword, but there might be one or two occassions where something has to be stated.  As with the theories, they would go in the brackets.

As of now, my notes, drafts, snippets and finished entries amount to over 900 entries comprising some 50,000 words(!), though a colossal amount of tidying-up remains, as well as rewriting into a readable format.  Most of them are culled from various scraps I've cobbled from my own research, previously written work like the Hyborian Age Gazetteer, and extrapolations from journals, websites, forum posts and emails.  I haven't even finished finalizing the letter A yet!

Work on the Newcomer's Guide has taken a decent chunk of my time of late, though I think it's just as important.  Basically, I got sick and tired of waiting for a decent Robert E. Howard reference guide to come along, and until something better comes along, I might as well do it myself.

16 comments:

  1. I'm in.

    Hardback.

    Tex
    (and it shall go next to my Wandering Star editions)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is an excellent idea. With all these "unofficial" guides to Middle Earth appearing without blessing from the Tolkien Estate, I'm sure you can push a Hyborian Age - themed book through without too much quibble from license holders. Though preferably without "Unofficial" shoe-horned into the title, since that immediately conjures up images of David Day and the drek he's been spewing for the past how many years (the only good thing he did was "The Tolkien Bestiary", and that mostly because of the non-Lee/Howe illustrations, which were amazing, as opposed to the text itself, which was not).

    ReplyDelete
  3. *Furthermore, while I support this project, I still have dibs on writing "Solomon Kane and His World: History and Fantasy in the Works of Robert E. Howard".

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm in.

    Hardback.

    Tex
    (and it shall go next to my Wandering Star editions)


    I'm deeply honoured, my man!

    This is an excellent idea. With all these "unofficial" guides to Middle Earth appearing without blessing from the Tolkien Estate, I'm sure you can push a Hyborian Age - themed book through without too much quibble from license holders. Though preferably without "Unofficial" shoe-horned into the title, since that immediately conjures up images of David Day and the drek he's been spewing for the past how many years (the only good thing he did was "The Tolkien Bestiary", and that mostly because of the non-Lee/Howe illustrations, which were amazing, as opposed to the text itself, which was not).

    Cheers, Taran! I have the Bestiary, and... yeah, some eyebrow-raisers in there. The reception for Day's work only encouraged me to make sure there's a clear line between what Howard said, and what I or others suggest (I'll be pointing in the directions of those who came up with certain ideas, mostly Dale Rippke and other Hyborian Scholars). I do love those illustrations.

    *Furthermore, while I support this project, I still have dibs on writing "Solomon Kane and His World: History and Fantasy in the Works of Robert E. Howard".

    While there might be some very minor overlap with, for example, Negari and the Akaanas, I'm sticking strictly with the antediluvian world. So your dibs on Kane are safe - from myself, at least!

    ReplyDelete
  5. holy shit al,you have been hard at work!this is awesome,i want my copy autographed!!-Mario

    ReplyDelete
  6. Right on, Mario!

    Hell, man--I'm gonna send him my copy (with return postage included, natch) just to get it inscribed!

    Tex
    (Al, this book has been needed for a loooooong time)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awesome Al, this is a job you were born to do. I'll be one of the first in line to buy a copy.

    I haven't looked much into Paradox' claims over everything REH, and you allude to copyright: could this be an issue?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great idea, where are you drawing the line with regards it being a Hyborian guide.
    You have Kull loosely linked via "The Hyborian Age" essay, Kull appears in "Kings of the Night" with Bran Mak Morn who in turn is connected to Black Turlogh via "The Dark Man". I always read REH's fantasy and some of the horror yarns as existing in the same literary universe.
    If it was me I would expand into the Thurian Age, Picts, Thoth-Amon's ring, where the James Allison stories fit in the Howard fictional timeline etc.
    So are you going to index the Kull stories for instance alongside, or just any information that can be gleaned from them that impacts on the time of Conan?

    ReplyDelete
  9. holy shit al,you have been hard at work!this is awesome,i want my copy autographed!!-Mario

    Consider it done, Mario!

    Hell, man--I'm gonna send him my copy (with return postage included, natch) just to get it inscribed!

    You guys are too kind.

    (Al, this book has been needed for a loooooong time)

    I agree. We've had encyclopedias for Middle-earth, Narnia, all of Burroughs' worlds, more modern creations like Westeros and Harry Potter's world. Even freaking Alagaesia. There are some excellent sources, but to the best of my knowledge, nothing that just sorts everything according to list. The closest I can think of are the Mongoose Conan RPG sourcebooks, and they're full of pastiche material - and crucially, it's sometimes difficult to tell what's pastiche and what isn't. I just want an encyclopedia that's free from Brythunian raptors, Aquilonian satyrs and the Spider Thing of Poitain.

    Awesome Al, this is a job you were born to do. I'll be one of the first in line to buy a copy.

    Mitra bless you, Brian! I hope I live up to expectations.

    I haven't looked much into Paradox' claims over everything REH, and you allude to copyright: could this be an issue?

    My main concern is not to step on Paradox's toes, and work with them. A number of Conan stories are still under copyright, after all, and they retain the Conan trademark. I'm new to the whole publishing thing.

    Great idea, where are you drawing the line with regards it being a Hyborian guide.

    You pretty much have it nailed down as I see it. However, I'll only be dealing with the Hyborian Age in any detail with their own entries: anything that doesn't directly relate to the Hyborian Age will be incidental. For example, I would mention the Akaanas, flying fiends, harpies, bird-men and other winged beasts in the "Winged One" (from "The Garden of Fear") entry, rather than each having their own entries.

    That could change, however: if things go better, I might well expand into the Thurian Age, though I think that deserves its own book. I will say that everything with even the slightest connection to the Hyborian Age will be in, at least in some fashion.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Chalk up another reader who thinks this is a great idea - I've long enjoyed encyclopedias of fictional universes, especially when written, as your entries seem to be, partially "in-universe". Best of luck in getting it published!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm taking the "Encyclopaedia of Arda" approach. To copy & paste their paragraph on context with Tolkien replaced with REH:

    The content of the Encyclopedia is written in the same context as Howard himself used; he presented himself simply as a chronicler, rather than originator of the tales. Hence, we try to describe his world from a 'historical' rather than a literary perspective, though this isn't always possible. Where relevant, you'll also find references to Howard's life or opinions, and to real historical or mythological parallels to events in his universe.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am really looking forward to this book.

    I enjoyed your Hyborian Age Gazetteer entries as well. Are you going to include information from discarded Conan drafts as well? Like “Cthulhu, Tsathogua, Yog-Sothoth, and the Nameless Old Ones” in the first draft of "Phoenix" or Skuthus, a necromancer from draft a of "Hour"?

    Including maps is a great idea. Simon Sanahujas also has some maps in his Frnech book about Conan.

    Are you planning to include a chronology of the Hyborian Age (starting from the race of winged men with their colossal green-stone city from Queens) or the life of Conan himself?

    This is one the most anticipated books I have heard about in my life.

    elegos7 (Karoly)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Al, this book has you destined for godhood.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I enjoyed your Hyborian Age Gazetteer entries as well. Are you going to include information from discarded Conan drafts as well? Like “Cthulhu, Tsathogua, Yog-Sothoth, and the Nameless Old Ones” in the first draft of "Phoenix" or Skuthus, a necromancer from draft a of "Hour"?

    I'm unsure of exactly how to include them, but I do feel they're worthy of consideration. For those names that are changed in the drafts - Khoraspar to Khoraja, for instance - they will just be included in the main entry. Cthulhu, Tsathoggua and Yog-Sothoth likely won't have their own entries, but included in the Nameless Old Ones entry.

    Including maps is a great idea. Simon Sanahujas also has some maps in his Frnech book about Conan.

    Ideally I'd include Howard's own maps, but I don't know how to go about doing that/getting permission to do so. I've drawn my own wee version of the map (as you can see in the background of this 'ere blog), but I'd love to do a proper cartographically sound one.

    I really need to get that, it looks lovely.

    Are you planning to include a chronology of the Hyborian Age (starting from the race of winged men with their colossal green-stone city from Queens) or the life of Conan himself?

    Ah, now a chronology in both regards will be quite difficult. While Howard was very consistent, there are also quite a few kinks to account for like Acheron and the compressed Hyborian timeline.

    As for a Conan chronology, I'll probably offer a more broad outline than a list of the stories: this way certain tales wouldn't be tied to a certain period. I'll still likely include all the previous chronologies, for completion's sake.

    This is one the most anticipated books I have heard about in my life.

    Eep! Well, I just hope it lives up to expectations.

    Al, this book has you destined for godhood.

    Vengeful god or loving god? (sorry, been watching too much Simpsons lately. I can't be watching TV, I have a freaking book to write!)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sounds exciting, and very time consuming! Good luck Al! I would need to have one of course as soon as one became available. Don't forget us Yankees on the other side of the pond when this gets published. Please make it a reasonable price instead of some extravagant collectors edition. Best Amra_The_Lion Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sounds exciting, and very time consuming! Good luck Al! I would need to have one of course as soon as one became available.

    Cheers, Jeff!

    Don't forget us Yankees on the other side of the pond when this gets published. Please make it a reasonable price instead of some extravagant collectors edition. Best Amra_The_Lion Jeff

    How could I do a book about a quintessential American author and not get it published over the pond? 'Twould be unforgivable! If I can get away with it, I'd do both a "no-frills" and "frills to the gunwhales" edition, though if given the choice, it'd be the former.

    ReplyDelete