Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars.
Thither came Conan, a reaver, a slayer, to tread on the jeweled thrones of the Earth beneath his sandaled feet.
C O N A N
Thief
Warrior
Barbarian
Mercenary
King
Truly, Conan is the most famous figure to come out of the Hyborian Age. Sired by Nial, borne of Maeve, Conan is a barbarian raised in the cold rocky clime of Cimmeria. His father, a blacksmith gifted with the secret of steel, and Conan’s grandfather, a southern clansman of mixed blood, trekked north, across the width of Cimmeria, in the wake of a vicious blood feud, settling with a clan in the mountainous north-western region.
CIMMERIAN
There, Conan is born. He is a warrior from birth. As Maeve fights the pains of labor, horsemen from neighboring Vanaheim attack the Cimmerian steading. Conan’s first breath is taken on a battlefield. In five winters, Nial begins Conan’s training with the sword, teaching his young son rudimentary tactics.
Conan The Barbarian
Chapters 1-3
L. Sprague de Camp
Lin Carter
Just as Conan sees 9 snows, Vanir raiders again make war against the Cimmerian villagers. Nial and Maeve are killed in the massacre. Conan is taken north, into Vanaheim, where he spends the rest of his childhood and his first adult years as a slave, working the wheel of the grain mill in the village of Thurdvang.
Conan grows into a youth of immense size and strength. A Hyrkanian Pitmaster passes through Thurdvang, promoting pit fights—a favored spectator sport among the peoples of the north. Ever watchful for new recruits for his bloody games, Conan is caught in the Pitmaster’s sight. This man, Toghrul, opens his purse to the Vanir slave master, and thus, Conan is sold.
Conan’s next years take him across the northern lands of the Hyborian world, through Vanaheim and Asgard, across Hyperborea, and far east into Hyrkania. He becomes an undefeated pit fighter—because all pit fights are fought to the death. Word of the champion Conan spreads throughout Nordheim. Vanir and Aesir alike flock to the Cimmerian’s fights, all eager to watch Conan down another foe.
One stormy night, Conan becomes a man with a noblewoman who has paid Toghrul to bed the champion. That very night, the Earth shakes and the ground cracks open. Crom’s shaking of the world allows Conan to break bars and win his freedom. The Cimmerian, who has not yet seen 15 winters, escapes south, finally returning home to Cimmeria.
But, Conan’s return is short lived. Though his village is gone, Conan lives and hunts with his clansmen—Cimmerians from neighboring villages. During Conan’s absence, Gundermen from northern Aquilonia push past Cimmeria’s border, establishing a frontier post at Venarium. It is an attempt to colonize Cimmeria’s southern marches.
For the first time in history, the warring, feuding tribesmen of Cimmeria band together as a great horde, sweeping out of the mountains with both sword and torch. Conan is a member of this howling, blood-mad force bent on repelling the invaders, and his blade is blooded in the engagement that has become forever known as the Sack of Venarium.
After the plunder of the Aquilonian outpost, Conan returns for a time to his clan, but all that he has seen in his young life burns wanderlust into his soul. His young years—his time as a slave, as a gladiator—has changed him.
He ventures forth, a free man, beyond the borders of his homeland, west into the wilderness of the Picts. Though it is not clear what befalls Conan on this first sojourn, he staggers back to Cimmeria, barely alive, falling into a near coma in the care of a Cimmerian family.
Conan The Bold
John Maddox Roberts
This adventure takes him across Hyboria and far from his homeland, south through Aquilonia, into Ophir, before Koth and Shem, and across the mighty river Styx into Stygia.
His travels are lengthy, but eventually he turns north again, toward his homeland.
Drifting from place to place, staying for a time in some places, traveling on when he comes to others, He finds himself at a point of rest, in Pirogia, the capital of Brythunia.
Conan The Hunter
Sean A. Moore
From eastern Brythunia, Conan moves south, through the Kezankian Mountain Range, into the deserts of Shem, and returns to Pirogia.
Having seen more of the world in his young life than even the most high-born of Hyborian peoples, Conan longs for a return to his native northern clime. He departs Brythunia to mingle among those of his clan, but leaves Cimmeria yet again, this time trekking north into the cold lands known as Asgard.
Legions of the Dead
~ Conan The Swordsman ~
Lin Carter
L. Sprague de Camp
Traveling with a band of Aesir, raiding into Hyperboria, Conan is captured, chained, and taught the sting of the slavers’ whip a second time. But, Conan has vowed to never again be slave to any man. Late at night, he works on his length of chain, which does break under the weight of the Cimmerian’s fierce determination.
The Thing in the Crypt
~ Conan ~
Lin Carter
L. Sprague de Camp
~ and ~
Conan The Barbarian
Chapter 4
L. Sprague de Camp
Lin Carter
A new, ancient broadsword in his hands, and the slave chain behind him forever, Conan runs south, through the Kezankian Mountains.
Conan The Defiant
Steve Perry
And he stands at the desolate juncture where the lands of Brythunia, Corintha, and Zamora come together.
Conan The Indomitable
Steve Perry
A massive cave complex runs beneath the Kezankians. Upon Conan’s return to the surface, he resumes his trek into Zamora.
Conan The Free Lance
Steve Perry
Much time is spent in and around the vast range of mountains known as the Kezankians. As the mighty barbarian continues his trek south, he cannot know that he will venture many times more into these environs in the seasons ahead.
Conan The Formidable
Steve Perry
On the path in the valley between the Kezankian and Karpash ranges, Conan’s sandaled feet tread on the road best traveled, until his eyes finally fall on the Hyborian kingdom of Zamora.
Conan The Barbarian
Chapters 5-17
L. Sprague de Camp
Lin Carter
NOTE: Conan's early life finds the Cimmerian struck with wanderlust. Far are his travels. Long are his journeys. But, his wanderlust is quinched, for a bit, as the barbarian makes a life for himself in the Hyborian kingdom of Zamora, in the city of Shadizar, called The Wicked. Although Conan is very young, he has seen more of the world than many of the high-born from the richest Hyborian kingdoms.
This chronicle of Conan's early life is complete but for the tale told in Harry Turtledove's CONAN OF VENARIUM--a tale that will easily fit in this chronology (once I've read Turtledove's book!).
The first phase of Conan's life is complete--his wanderings; his time as a slave and pit fighter; and his sojourns in and around his native land of Cimmeria. As Conan matures (justapproaching twenty years!), his focus turns to learning a craft, and his chosen field is thievery.
In the next phase of the barbarian's life, he will call Shadizar home, and slowly learn the trade to a point where other thieves call him master.
In the mood for a CONAN story? Check Item #8330161091 and Item#8330156495 on eBay ...but they'll be gone in a week.
Thither came Conan, a reaver, a slayer, to tread on the jeweled thrones of the Earth beneath his sandaled feet.
C O N A N
Thief
Warrior
Barbarian
Mercenary
King
Truly, Conan is the most famous figure to come out of the Hyborian Age. Sired by Nial, borne of Maeve, Conan is a barbarian raised in the cold rocky clime of Cimmeria. His father, a blacksmith gifted with the secret of steel, and Conan’s grandfather, a southern clansman of mixed blood, trekked north, across the width of Cimmeria, in the wake of a vicious blood feud, settling with a clan in the mountainous north-western region.
CIMMERIAN
There, Conan is born. He is a warrior from birth. As Maeve fights the pains of labor, horsemen from neighboring Vanaheim attack the Cimmerian steading. Conan’s first breath is taken on a battlefield. In five winters, Nial begins Conan’s training with the sword, teaching his young son rudimentary tactics.
Conan The Barbarian
Chapters 1-3
L. Sprague de Camp
Lin Carter
Just as Conan sees 9 snows, Vanir raiders again make war against the Cimmerian villagers. Nial and Maeve are killed in the massacre. Conan is taken north, into Vanaheim, where he spends the rest of his childhood and his first adult years as a slave, working the wheel of the grain mill in the village of Thurdvang.
Conan grows into a youth of immense size and strength. A Hyrkanian Pitmaster passes through Thurdvang, promoting pit fights—a favored spectator sport among the peoples of the north. Ever watchful for new recruits for his bloody games, Conan is caught in the Pitmaster’s sight. This man, Toghrul, opens his purse to the Vanir slave master, and thus, Conan is sold.
Conan’s next years take him across the northern lands of the Hyborian world, through Vanaheim and Asgard, across Hyperborea, and far east into Hyrkania. He becomes an undefeated pit fighter—because all pit fights are fought to the death. Word of the champion Conan spreads throughout Nordheim. Vanir and Aesir alike flock to the Cimmerian’s fights, all eager to watch Conan down another foe.
One stormy night, Conan becomes a man with a noblewoman who has paid Toghrul to bed the champion. That very night, the Earth shakes and the ground cracks open. Crom’s shaking of the world allows Conan to break bars and win his freedom. The Cimmerian, who has not yet seen 15 winters, escapes south, finally returning home to Cimmeria.
But, Conan’s return is short lived. Though his village is gone, Conan lives and hunts with his clansmen—Cimmerians from neighboring villages. During Conan’s absence, Gundermen from northern Aquilonia push past Cimmeria’s border, establishing a frontier post at Venarium. It is an attempt to colonize Cimmeria’s southern marches.
For the first time in history, the warring, feuding tribesmen of Cimmeria band together as a great horde, sweeping out of the mountains with both sword and torch. Conan is a member of this howling, blood-mad force bent on repelling the invaders, and his blade is blooded in the engagement that has become forever known as the Sack of Venarium.
After the plunder of the Aquilonian outpost, Conan returns for a time to his clan, but all that he has seen in his young life burns wanderlust into his soul. His young years—his time as a slave, as a gladiator—has changed him.
He ventures forth, a free man, beyond the borders of his homeland, west into the wilderness of the Picts. Though it is not clear what befalls Conan on this first sojourn, he staggers back to Cimmeria, barely alive, falling into a near coma in the care of a Cimmerian family.
Conan The Bold
John Maddox Roberts
This adventure takes him across Hyboria and far from his homeland, south through Aquilonia, into Ophir, before Koth and Shem, and across the mighty river Styx into Stygia.
His travels are lengthy, but eventually he turns north again, toward his homeland.
Drifting from place to place, staying for a time in some places, traveling on when he comes to others, He finds himself at a point of rest, in Pirogia, the capital of Brythunia.
Conan The Hunter
Sean A. Moore
From eastern Brythunia, Conan moves south, through the Kezankian Mountain Range, into the deserts of Shem, and returns to Pirogia.
Having seen more of the world in his young life than even the most high-born of Hyborian peoples, Conan longs for a return to his native northern clime. He departs Brythunia to mingle among those of his clan, but leaves Cimmeria yet again, this time trekking north into the cold lands known as Asgard.
Legions of the Dead
~ Conan The Swordsman ~
Lin Carter
L. Sprague de Camp
Traveling with a band of Aesir, raiding into Hyperboria, Conan is captured, chained, and taught the sting of the slavers’ whip a second time. But, Conan has vowed to never again be slave to any man. Late at night, he works on his length of chain, which does break under the weight of the Cimmerian’s fierce determination.
The Thing in the Crypt
~ Conan ~
Lin Carter
L. Sprague de Camp
~ and ~
Conan The Barbarian
Chapter 4
L. Sprague de Camp
Lin Carter
A new, ancient broadsword in his hands, and the slave chain behind him forever, Conan runs south, through the Kezankian Mountains.
Conan The Defiant
Steve Perry
And he stands at the desolate juncture where the lands of Brythunia, Corintha, and Zamora come together.
Conan The Indomitable
Steve Perry
A massive cave complex runs beneath the Kezankians. Upon Conan’s return to the surface, he resumes his trek into Zamora.
Conan The Free Lance
Steve Perry
Much time is spent in and around the vast range of mountains known as the Kezankians. As the mighty barbarian continues his trek south, he cannot know that he will venture many times more into these environs in the seasons ahead.
Conan The Formidable
Steve Perry
On the path in the valley between the Kezankian and Karpash ranges, Conan’s sandaled feet tread on the road best traveled, until his eyes finally fall on the Hyborian kingdom of Zamora.
Conan The Barbarian
Chapters 5-17
L. Sprague de Camp
Lin Carter
NOTE: Conan's early life finds the Cimmerian struck with wanderlust. Far are his travels. Long are his journeys. But, his wanderlust is quinched, for a bit, as the barbarian makes a life for himself in the Hyborian kingdom of Zamora, in the city of Shadizar, called The Wicked. Although Conan is very young, he has seen more of the world than many of the high-born from the richest Hyborian kingdoms.
This chronicle of Conan's early life is complete but for the tale told in Harry Turtledove's CONAN OF VENARIUM--a tale that will easily fit in this chronology (once I've read Turtledove's book!).
The first phase of Conan's life is complete--his wanderings; his time as a slave and pit fighter; and his sojourns in and around his native land of Cimmeria. As Conan matures (justapproaching twenty years!), his focus turns to learning a craft, and his chosen field is thievery.
In the next phase of the barbarian's life, he will call Shadizar home, and slowly learn the trade to a point where other thieves call him master.
In the mood for a CONAN story? Check Item #8330161091 and Item#8330156495 on eBay ...but they'll be gone in a week.
