1. POLITICAL and GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS

THE AERIES:

This wind-blasted island group is laired by a plethora of legendary beasts, including chimæras, gorgons, griffins, harpies, hippogriffs, manticores, minotaurs, pegasuses, stirges, and wyverns. Only the brave or foolish would dare set foot on the shores of these islands. Notwithstanding, tales speak of a weathered old hermit who dwells here. Those who make his acquaintance are soon beguiled by his rime and verse concerning a mariner of Old Earth whose vessel crossed the North Wind into lost Hyperborea. A most beneficent creature (an archæopteryx) shewed the way to safe return. Whilst the crew rightly praised the creature, the mariner responded most untowardly: He shot it with his crossbow. Still went the mariner’s ship on a red-painted sea, and when his crew began to succumb to hunger and thirst, they forced the mariner to bear the dead reptilian bird on a chain from his neck. Then the mariner was cursed to watch his crew die, one after one, under Hyperborea’s star-dogged moons.

ALUS MERCURY:

This small, mountainous island is dominated by an extinct volcano for which the island is named. Presently Alus Mercury is best renowned for its profusion of yellow, white, and purple poppies, which thrive from mid-Renaissance to mid-Twilight. In days of yore, when Hyperborea was still a mystical continent beyond the North Wind of Old Earth (and contemporary with Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu), here lay a fabulous city of marble and stone where throve the ancient Hyperborean race. It is told that the sorcerer-king of Alus Mercury oversaw the construction of a grand temple dedicated to Hermes, despite the admonitions of other Hyperborean kings who had abandoned such faith in favour of the toad god, Xathoqqua. Legends say that when the grand temple was completed and the first service held, the volcano erupted, killing every Hyperborean man, woman, and child who there dwelt. Men of learning say this disaster was amongst the first portents presaged by the sibyls of Hyperborea, who warned of the advent of the Ashen Worm. The ruins of the old city are said to be buried under the basalt, a subterranean maze of untold mysteries.

ANLATES ISLES:

These small, lush isles are home to hundreds of renegade Amazons and (as some purport) Ixians, wholly submitted to savagery. Naked they live as beasts do, roaming the wild, wroth and terrible to behold. The bestial howling of these madmen can be heard from the decks of ships miles offshore. Sages of Fazzuum have suggested the people of the Anlates Isles to be infected with a contagious species of madness, or perhaps a rare form of lycanthropy.

ATLANTICA:

This trio of islands lies at the edge of the realm and is perhaps the last place in Hyperborea where Atlanteans congregate. A dying race, most Atlanteans have moved on to other places, such as the City-State of Khromarium, regardless that they are no longer sexually compatible with the other races. The wizardry of their ancients, the sorceries and sciences, are all but lost to the Atlanteans of Atlantica, and the people live as humble f isherfolk and whalers. Furthermore, Atlanteans of Atlantica present the most advanced (or regressed, by some points of view) aquatic traits: neck gills, webbed digits, and clammy skin. Atlantica is reputed to be rich in iron ore deposits and dense magnetic stones of grey-black colour.

BLACK FOREST INLET:

This inlet is met by an ancient coniferous forest that is remarkable for its 300 foot spruces. Mythic beasts are reputed to dwell within the confines of this ancient woodland: chimæras, cockatrices, griffins, harpies, hippogriffs, lamiæ, nagas, owl bears, stirges, giant weasels, and wyverns. Too, apes, bears, elk, mammoths, sloths, tigers, and other beasts inhabit this region. Tales speak of wild, cannibalistic men who roam the Black Forest, living naked as beasts do; sages posit their behaviour to be consistent with certain lotus chewers, for their madness is punctuated by bouts of extreme melancholia. The inlet itself is treacherous to penetrate, as it is significantly glaciated, icebergs breaking off with regularity. In olden times the Viking King Omo conquered this region; some men of learning suggest the madmen of the Black Forest to be descendants of his people.

BLACK WASTE:

Betwixt the Barrier Mountains and the Leng Plateau lies the Black Waste, a blasted heath of ash and soot, riddled with craters within which stand oblong star stones said to be the menhirs of a cyclopean race of otherworldly supermen. Presently the windswept Black Waste is no home to men, though certain half blood Pictish tribes exile criminals to this merciless desert, a death sentence even the hardiest Kimmerian can scarcely survive. Half-blood Pictish wise men say the Black Waste is home to lost spirits and banshees, for when night settles, a cacophony of howling voices sound; too, liches of indistinct purpose are said to wander the ashen desert of the Black Waste. Where the Black Waste meets the Plain of Leng, the ice is grey-black; here dwell fearsome arctic monsters.

BRIGAND’S BAY:

This inlet is lined with the petty holdings of thieves, outlaws, and other villainous men. These holdings emerged at the end of the Dark Age. Each is its own fortress of some 500–1,000 individuals. Each is walled, is mounted with siege engines, and boasts two or more warships. The rulers fancy themselves dukes or kinglets, but the ruling elite of Khromarium scoff at such conceits. Territorial disputes are bloody and frequent. History shews that single dukes have managed to assume authority of two or even three holdings, but such dominions scarcely endure, and never have all the holdings of Brigand’s Bay been united under one banner. Unscrupulous men of both Khromarium and Port Zangerios maintain business connexions with Brigand’s Bay, trafficking in all manner of stolen goods, illegal commodities, slaves, and so on. Racial diversity is the norm in Brigand’s Bay; hence, racial admixtures are quite common, with strains of Kelt, Viking, Pict, Kimmerian, and Esquimaux evidenced.

BROKEN COAST:

This region is noted for its deep fjords, carved by glaciers spawned by the Ashen Worm. Here the glaciers appear to rise from the sea like the walls of an otherworldly castle. Largely barren of human occupation, this coast is hazardous to navigate: Icebergs break off with great tumult, and shoals lie under the water’s surface. During the winter years, ice sheets extend into the sea, a cause for further navigational concern.

CAPE CALENCIA:

This forested horn is peopled by mixed-blooded Picts no longer associated with either the tribes of the Savage Boreal Coast or the pure-blooded Picts of New Pictland. Their village is built on 40-foot stilts from which they remain ever vigilant to the threat of ape-men. The people of Calencia are expert weavers and rope makers. Although their customs (particularly their eating habits) are rather eccentric, they are generally regarded as an hospitable folk.

CRAB ARCHIPELAGO:

This chain of islands is populated by crab-kin, men who idolize and are vassals to the subaqueous, otherworldly species known as the crab-men. Various towns and villages dot the archipelago. At the base of the chain, these villages are composed of Pictish crab-kin, whilst the end of the chain comprises Esquimaux crab-kin; of course, each race believes itself to be superior. Regardless, the towns and villages of the Crab Archipelago engage in activities that serve the requirements of their alien overlords: mining (of copper, iron, and gems) and other menial labour. Crab-kin aspire to emulate their otherworldly masters. With pigments they dye their skin red or blue (these being typical crab-man colours), and they gird themselves in all manner of eccentric embellishments so as to appear more crustaceous. Figures of authority (the seventh of seven crab-kin ranks) are empowered to wear the moulted shells of adolescent crab-men. Such figures are also granted the right to journey to the subaqueous cities of the crab-men for further enlightenment. Crab-men might be found amongst the crab-kin villages of the Crab Archipelago, typically to oversee the progress of their human subjects. Crab-kin behave guardedly in the presence of other men; in general they are disgusted by the ignorance of men who refuse to acknowledge and submit to the supremacy of their alien overlords.

DAGON BAY:

Few villages dot this bay region. The men who dwell here are of dubious ancestry; some sages suggest hints of Lapp or Yakut blood, whilst others argue that the inhabitants of this region present traits wholly inconsistent with any race of man. Regardless, the customs of the people of Dagon Bay are strange, and many folk exhibit physical deformities unspeakably repulsive; a similar phenomenon is manifest at Port Greely, many leagues distant. Dagon Bay is bountiful with fish and shellfish; however, the waters are known to house fearsome sea monsters (enormous hydras, octopuses, and squids). Poets and madmen insist that the subaqueous cities of the fish-men (deep ones) lie below the waters of this bay, but no concrete proof is shewn; furthermore, some even suggest that sleeping Kthulhu lurks in those impossible deeps, ever dreaming in lost R’lyeh.

DEATH VALLEY:

Sages posit that this cold, dark rent in the realm is bottomless and that it in fact opens to the illimitable Black Gulf. Ecclesiastics suggest that it accesses netherworldly Underborea, where fire giants, salamanders, and dæmons dwell—and perhaps the great Dæmon Lord, Thaumagorga. On occasion, otherworldly agents emerge from the depths of this place; in other instances they appear to be coughed up or rejected, and so Death Valley and its surrounding terrain are rightly feared. Tales persist of adventurers who have sojourned into Death Valley, most never returning, others afflicted with a strange species of madness, and a scant few emerging with untold riches.