Hello, I am new here. Has anyone ever compiled a list of the intelligent non-human races of the Conan stories? I know there weren't large non-human kingdoms that regularly interacted with humanity as in many fantasy settings, but I also know there there were many cretures of nearly human (or super human ) inteligence lurking in the dark bowers of man's domain.
11 replies to this topic
#2
RJMooreII
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Posted 24 April 2012 - 01:04 AM
You might be able to find a lot of information in the Conan RPGs.
http://hyboria.xoth....y/creatures.htm
http://hyboria.xoth....y/creatures.htm
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#3
Ironhand
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Posted 24 April 2012 - 03:49 AM
Actual races? I can only think of the serpent men. Oh, and the Servents of Bit-Yakin. And the winged men who degenerated into winged apes in QotBC.
Edited by Ironhand, 24 April 2012 - 03:50 AM.
"Did you deem yourself strong, because you were able to twist the heads off civilized folk, poor weaklings with muscles like rotten string? Hell! Break the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull before you call yourself strong. I did that, before I was a full-grown man...!" - Conan, in "Shadows in Zamboula", by Robert E. Howard
"... you speak of Venarium familiarly. Perhaps you were there?"
"I was," grunted [Conan]. "I was one of the horde that swarmed over the hills. I hadn't yet seen fifteen snows, but already my name was repeated about the council fires." - "Beyond the Black River", by Robert E. Howard
Read my Conan screenplays at The Scrolls of Ironhand (in particular my transcription of THE FROST GIANT'S DAUGHTER in Act II of "The Snow Devil") at
http://www.scrollsof...d.us/index.html or at
http://www.delicious...ic=ConanProject
"... you speak of Venarium familiarly. Perhaps you were there?"
"I was," grunted [Conan]. "I was one of the horde that swarmed over the hills. I hadn't yet seen fifteen snows, but already my name was repeated about the council fires." - "Beyond the Black River", by Robert E. Howard
Read my Conan screenplays at The Scrolls of Ironhand (in particular my transcription of THE FROST GIANT'S DAUGHTER in Act II of "The Snow Devil") at
http://www.scrollsof...d.us/index.html or at
http://www.delicious...ic=ConanProject
#4
Taranaich
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Posted 24 April 2012 - 06:03 AM
There are some groups of intelligent non-humans in the Conan stories which yet exist: Thak's people, the Iron Statues, the Servants of Bit-Yakin, and (in all likelihood) the Ghouls of Zingara have only small isolated communities. Some were wiped out over the course of the stories (the Black Ones), others only had one individual remaining (the Winged Ones, Yogah, etc). Then you have more arguable ones that are difficult to pin down. Swamp Devils are apparently abundant in the Pictish Wilderness, and if they're as intelligent as Jhebbal-Sag's twin, they could have communities too. You could also include ancient beings from Howard's other works which could have been around in the Hyborian Age, like the Akaanas, the People of the Black Coast, and whatnot. It's something I've been looking into lately.
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#5
Pictish Scout
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Posted 24 April 2012 - 01:55 PM
There are frost giants, big apes from Rogues in the House and Balck Colossus, serpent creatures from The God in the Bowl. There’s also the "baboon" from the Phoenix in the Sword.
The "mummified baboon demon" from Phoneix is called a "goblin", if I remember right. Maybe the word was used as generic name for weird legendary creatures. In the Hour of the Dragon there’s also a vampire.
From the same universe (IMO):
In Shadow Kingdom Brule talks about "the bird-women, the harpies, the bat-men, the flying fiends, the wolf-people, the demons, the goblins"… and the serpent men.
What about the Worms of the Earth? And the winged men in Solomon Kane, Garden of Evil…
The "mummified baboon demon" from Phoneix is called a "goblin", if I remember right. Maybe the word was used as generic name for weird legendary creatures. In the Hour of the Dragon there’s also a vampire.
From the same universe (IMO):
In Shadow Kingdom Brule talks about "the bird-women, the harpies, the bat-men, the flying fiends, the wolf-people, the demons, the goblins"… and the serpent men.
What about the Worms of the Earth? And the winged men in Solomon Kane, Garden of Evil…
Edited by Pictish Scout, 24 April 2012 - 01:57 PM.
#6
Kortoso
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Posted 24 April 2012 - 05:01 PM
A lot of those are "magical beings" such as the Frost-Giants.
#7
VenariumDisease
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Posted 24 April 2012 - 10:07 PM
Yeah I always got the impression that there are just the two frost giants, not a whole race. Ymir has a beautiful daughter and a couple of nasty sons was always the way I read it.
In the cases of the God in the Bowel, Yag-Kosha, the iron statues, and the winged ape from QotBC it seems they are all among the last of their "races". The rest of their kind wiped out by the cataclysm or otherwise. Thak is the only one off the top of my head that is part of a larger race still existing at the time of the story.
In the cases of the God in the Bowel, Yag-Kosha, the iron statues, and the winged ape from QotBC it seems they are all among the last of their "races". The rest of their kind wiped out by the cataclysm or otherwise. Thak is the only one off the top of my head that is part of a larger race still existing at the time of the story.
#8
Skullface
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Posted 25 April 2012 - 02:15 AM
Lets not forget all the "Gods" toad beast etc.
If you count all of the LSDC,lin Carter etc it is alot of critters.The god in the bowl might count too
If you count all of the LSDC,lin Carter etc it is alot of critters.The god in the bowl might count too
#9
Amra_the_Lion
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Posted 25 April 2012 - 02:31 AM
Here are a few of the monsters, legends, and supernatural beings mentioned, some are probably more animalistic than sentient rational beings but whether or not they constitute a non-human race I leave to you to decide. They all are mentioned in the Howard Conan stories some only in passing others encountered directly.
Sphinx
Were-hyena
Yogah or Yag-kosha
Child of Set (serpent with human head)
Basilisk
Wyvern
Huge bat-like creature (pteranodon)
Dragon
Bull ape
Gray ape
Gray man-ape
Servants of Bit-Yakin (Hairy hominids)
Thak (beastman)
Winged Ape-man
Black Ones (giant humanoids)
Living iron statues
goblin
Ogre
Giant vulture (were-vulture)
Phoenix
Fire-being
Devil
Demon
Baboon mummy nightmare
Black Stranger (semi-human demon)
Swamp devil
Flying devil from the outer dark
Living skeleton
Ghoul
Zombie
Ghost
Souls of the damned
Slimy invisible incorporeal being
Akivasha (vampire)
Vampire
Mummy (Xaltotun, Thothmekri)
Liche (Thugra Khotan)
Child of the dark (wraith)
Tittering monstrosity (octopus, jelly, frog-like)
Thog
Thaug
Here is a link to the Gods and Demi-gods that are not human mentioned in the Howard Conan stories:
Deities and Demi-gods of the Hyborian Age
Sphinx
Were-hyena
Yogah or Yag-kosha
Child of Set (serpent with human head)
Basilisk
Wyvern
Huge bat-like creature (pteranodon)
Dragon
Bull ape
Gray ape
Gray man-ape
Servants of Bit-Yakin (Hairy hominids)
Thak (beastman)
Winged Ape-man
Black Ones (giant humanoids)
Living iron statues
goblin
Ogre
Giant vulture (were-vulture)
Phoenix
Fire-being
Devil
Demon
Baboon mummy nightmare
Black Stranger (semi-human demon)
Swamp devil
Flying devil from the outer dark
Living skeleton
Ghoul
Zombie
Ghost
Souls of the damned
Slimy invisible incorporeal being
Akivasha (vampire)
Vampire
Mummy (Xaltotun, Thothmekri)
Liche (Thugra Khotan)
Child of the dark (wraith)
Tittering monstrosity (octopus, jelly, frog-like)
Thog
Thaug
Here is a link to the Gods and Demi-gods that are not human mentioned in the Howard Conan stories:
Deities and Demi-gods of the Hyborian Age
If life is an illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. Queen of the Black Coast 1934 Robert E. Howard
#10
thatericn
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Posted 25 April 2012 - 05:32 PM
... sounds like a band lineup at a metal music festival...
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#11
Almuric
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Posted 25 April 2012 - 06:28 PM
Black Colossus mentions vampires and werewolves, and The Hour of the Dragon features an actual vampire.
"It is more than a mortal sea. Your hands are red with blood and you follow a red sea-path, yet the fault is not wholly with you. Almighty God, when will the reign of blood cease?"
Turlogh shook his head. "Not so long as the race lasts."
--- The Dark Man, by Robert E. Howard
Turlogh shook his head. "Not so long as the race lasts."
--- The Dark Man, by Robert E. Howard
#12
Ironhand
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Posted 26 April 2012 - 03:26 AM
I would omit animals, demons (of otherworldly origin), and one-off monsters.
"Did you deem yourself strong, because you were able to twist the heads off civilized folk, poor weaklings with muscles like rotten string? Hell! Break the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull before you call yourself strong. I did that, before I was a full-grown man...!" - Conan, in "Shadows in Zamboula", by Robert E. Howard
"... you speak of Venarium familiarly. Perhaps you were there?"
"I was," grunted [Conan]. "I was one of the horde that swarmed over the hills. I hadn't yet seen fifteen snows, but already my name was repeated about the council fires." - "Beyond the Black River", by Robert E. Howard
Read my Conan screenplays at The Scrolls of Ironhand (in particular my transcription of THE FROST GIANT'S DAUGHTER in Act II of "The Snow Devil") at
http://www.scrollsof...d.us/index.html or at
http://www.delicious...ic=ConanProject
"... you speak of Venarium familiarly. Perhaps you were there?"
"I was," grunted [Conan]. "I was one of the horde that swarmed over the hills. I hadn't yet seen fifteen snows, but already my name was repeated about the council fires." - "Beyond the Black River", by Robert E. Howard
Read my Conan screenplays at The Scrolls of Ironhand (in particular my transcription of THE FROST GIANT'S DAUGHTER in Act II of "The Snow Devil") at
http://www.scrollsof...d.us/index.html or at
http://www.delicious...ic=ConanProject
