Mu?

[gonzofighter]

Ok what is in that place in the very southeast corner of the map. Is there any info at all on that place or is the GM free to make up what he pleases.

 

[VincentDarlage]

Not much is known about Mu. Mentioned in a pair of King Kull stories, almost nothing is said about them. They sent mercenaries to Valusia is about it. Mu appears again in a Solomon Kane story ("The Moon of Skulls"). Mu's crimson walled capital was swallowed beneath the waves when Atlantis sank. Another Howard story ("The Isle of the Eons") reveals that there were twenty cities on the land-mass with millions of people. The capital is shown to be Karath, the Shining City. The people of Mu are shown to be related to Lemurians (who became Khitans) in terms of language and alphabet. A religious war took place between Poseidon and Xultha before it sank, leaving only mountain tops. The last city of Mu, Na-Hor, fell into ruin near the end of the Hyborian age.

Anything else is fair game to just invent, I would guess.

A site about the Cthulhu mythos (http://clare.ltd.new.net/KLOB/webpages/nexi.htm) has this to say about Mu:

A sunken land mass once made up of the continents of Lemuria, R'lyeh, K'naa, Ponape, and Yhe. It was the home of the Cthulhi before the sinking of R'lyeh; it was also the home of the first true human civilization of Theem'hdra. It was inhabited by lloigor and the Elder Things, and entities such as Cthulhu, Iod, Shub-Niggurath, Byatis, Vorvadoss, Zoth-Ommog, Ghatanotha, and Ythogtha walked openly throughout the land. The latter three remain imprisoned along with Cthulhu when the continents sank. The only remnants that exist are the islands of Ponape, Nan-Matol, and Easter. Fugitives, human and otherwise, escape to Atlantis, Leng, and subterranean K'n-yan.

Another site (http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/robertehoward/kull1.html) says this:

One of those islands was Valla, upon which was the city of Na-hor, apparently a region of high altitude during the time of Mu. The story of the "Crimson Kingdom", as it was called, is recounted in Howard's aborted novel, The Isle of the Eons.

A manuscript found in that story details a history of the world up through Kull's time. This manuscript was written by the priest, Nayah, who later went mad; so parts of it can be assumed to be inaccurate.

Using this, brief references in "The Hyborian Age", evidence found in some of the Kull stories, and some guesswork it is possible to reconstruct a picture of the world during and prior to Kull's time.

Mu was apparently the seat of civilization and certainly the most advanced country of its heyday. Mu was a large continent (with at least 20 "great cities", whatever that meant) in what is now called the Pacific Ocean.

They had a pantheon of gods, including two whom Kull frequently swore by: Valka, revealed here as the god of fertility and growth, and later, of sea and land; and Hotath, the god of war. Other gods were the Moon-Woman and her sisters (referred to as the Star Maidens); Zukala, the disposer of souls (about whom Howard wrote a series of poems); and the Strange God, the god which is Unknown. However the first god worshipped appears to be Xultha the ape-man. Later he was replaced by Poseidon (with whom I'm sure most readers are familiar). By now some civilization has spread throughout the world. The human race had reached what was later to become known as the Thurian Continent (modern Eurasia). At this time the bulk of modern-day Africa was under the seas, as was the Americas except for their top-most peaks which were islands upon which the Picts lived. The human beings on these lands were still savages and were engrossed in the waging of great wars to throw off the yoke of hideous creatures that ruled the lands before the human advent: winged humanoids (referred to by gender as either harpies or bat-men), werewolves and various others referred to in "The Shadow Kingdom" as demons and goblins. As these wars were nearing an end, Nyulah the usurper seized the throne of Mu and, aided by the priest, Nayah, replaced the worship of Poseidon with that of "The First God", Xultha. Under the guidance of Nayah and his minions the worship of the ape-god spread throughout the known world except for a region on the main continent already known as "Valusia" where mankind had not yet rose to challenge their masters, the serpent people, whom they even worshipped. Already the northwestern section of that continent was referred to as "The Seven Empires," a name carried on into Kull's day. This may be why it is so difficult to ascertain which of the nations of Kull's time constitutes the seven empires as apparently this is a name that went on to represent the Thurian civilization as a whole.

It was soon after this that Mu sank leaving only its highest peaks above the water. These peaks became known as the Lemurian Isles (though even in Kull's time these were still sometimes referred to as "Mu").

With this sinking, the worship of Xultha waned, though other gods of the Mu pantheon, especially Valka and Hothath, were worshipped; or at least sworn by.

After the sinking of Mu, their settlements on the mainland were soon overthrown by wandering barbarians. On the northwest quarter of the continent these nomads, the Thurians, settled and took control of this area from the Elder Race of Mu. Under Thurian control these countries grew slowly into great civilizations. The serpent people were finally beaten (or so it appeared) at this time.

Just looking around the internet about the mythological Mu, there is evidence to connect them with the Mayan culture, they had a developed psychic potential and stored information in crystals, burying them before the land sank beneath the waves. They also used snake people as scribes (record-keepers) and it is they who programmed knowledge into the crystals.

 

[SkyMarshallBiff]

That is useful information, but it doesnt explain the huge continent of MU on the Conan maps, for it is hardly sunk beneath the waves.

I plant to use the continent of mu as a strange, evil land and use lots of Cthulhuish gods and monsters to make it scary. It might have a human empire still remaining, although making the cities deserted and crumbling would be spookier. I might make the survivors of this civilization into vampires or Deep One hybrids.

 

[VincentDarlage]

That is useful information, but it doesnt explain the huge continent of MU on the Conan maps, for it is hardly sunk beneath the waves.

Well, it also doesn't explain why it is on the wrong side of the continent either, but no one is mentioning that. (the Thurian continent, on which the Hyborian age thrives, lay to the east of Atlantis and Mu lay to the southwest of Atlantis)

 

[Sutek]

Wikipedia.org is your friend:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_%28lost_continent%29

 

[Seeker]

If you are thinking of running a Conan scenario in Mu, you might want to look at the following for inspiration:

1) The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (Film 1975?)

2) The Gods of Bal-Sagoth (Story, REH)

Whilst they don't specifically describe Mu, they do cover voyages to similar islands and could provide some walled city ideas, monsters and NPCS.

I will be using them in a scenario with my PCs when they get to Vendhya.

Cheers

 

[slaughterj]

That is useful information, but it doesnt explain the huge continent of MU on the Conan maps, for it is hardly sunk beneath the waves.

Well, it also doesn't explain why it is on the wrong side of the continent either, but no one is mentioning that. (the Thurian continent, on which the Hyborian age thrives, lay to the east of Atlantis and Mu lay to the southwest of Atlantis)

Well, since the world is round, I can picture Mu being southwest of Atlantis, even with Atlantis being west of the Thurian continent and Mu being east of the Thurian continent - sure, there might be the pre-Americas in-between though

 

[blacksagelobo]

I always thought the Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai took place on Mu.

 

[VincentDarlage]

I googled those titles (thinking they were Howard short stories I didn't know about) and only got some sort of computer/video games by those names. I haven't played any video games since the old Atari system (exception: I did play some kind of Godzilla game on a GameCube a couple of years ago; I was impressed with how graphics have advanced since Space Invaders and Missile Command), so I have no idea if those games were set on Howard's Mu or not.

 

[DasClay]

Now I remember posting about Mu when I first started this forum, and all I got was a bunch of jokes, and laughed at. But now at least I have a answer to my quesiton... well some of it. Vincent, what would you make of the people of Mu. Warriors, or Socialites?

 

[SkyMarshallBiff]

what would you make of the people of Mu. Warriors, or Socialites?

I would imagine Mu would be like Stygia, a strongly evil theocracy. Lovecraft states that Mu was destroyed by one of the Great Old Ones, Ghatanathoa. Perhaps they were worshiping it and, being an incomrehensible being, crushed them, or perhaps they were interrupted trying to make him manifest, were foiled by a hero, and it then destroyed Mu.
I am going to make Mu a ghost land, haunted by demons and undead, and loaded with loot.

 

[VincentDarlage]

Vincent, what would you make of the people of Mu. Warriors, or Socialites?

Some of both, I would imagine. I'd make it a pre-Mayan, pre-Olmec, pre-Inca culture. I would also add surreal, nightmarish atmosphere.

 

[sabathiel]

i just want to say thank you for some one finally get an answer to this region and its people

 

[carandol]

I plant to use the continent of mu as a strange, evil land and use lots of Cthulhuish gods and monsters to make it scary. It might have a human empire still remaining, although making the cities deserted and crumbling would be spookier. I might make the survivors of this civilization into vampires or Deep One hybrids.

Don't forget the kangaroos! (Well, it's in the right place...)

 

[Raven Blackwell]

In the 'Conan and Cthulhu' thread there was am idea to adapt the Call of Cthulhu adventure "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" and set in Mu. The idea was that Mu will later become Antartica and the city of the 'Elder Ones' stands in its interior. Played in Hyborian Age, you might even rule that some degenerated Elder Ones and their remnants [*ahem*- shoggoths- *ahem*] still linger as well as treausre and forbidden lore their cyclopean city.

Raven

 

[The King]

Ok what is in that place in the very southeast corner of the map. Is there any info at all on that place or is the GM free to make up what he pleases.

I think you can also find useful to read the Thongor saga from Lin Carter. If I remember well, this 6 or 8 book's story took place in Mu.

 

[Fernando]

I plant to use the continent of mu as a strange, evil land and use lots of Cthulhuish gods and monsters to make it scary. It might have a human empire still remaining, although making the cities deserted and crumbling would be spookier. I might make the survivors of this civilization into vampires or Deep One hybrids.

Don't forget the kangaroos! (Well, it's in the right place...)

Agreeing with Dale Rippke, at http://www.dodgenet.com/~moonblossom/Cmuse18.htm and http://www.rehupa.com/rippke_precataclysmic.htm Mu is not Australia.

 

[kintire]

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Aeons

This link is to a Lovecraft tale which has references to Mu. Howard and Lovecraft were linked, but not so strongly that this can be considered Conan canon in any way. still, it may be interesting!