(The Original) The Hyborian Age (The 'Conan' Stories)

Excerpt:


(Nothing in this article is to be considered as an attempt to advance any theory in opposition to accepted history. It is simply a fictional background for a series of fiction-stories. When I began writing the Conan stories a few years ago, I prepared this 'history' of his age and the peoples of that age, in order to lend him and his sagas a greater aspect of realness. And I found that by adhering to the 'facts' and spirit of that history, in writing the stories, it was easier to visualize (and therefore to present) him as a real flesh-and-blood character rather than a ready-made product. In writing about him and his adventures in the various kingdoms of his Age, I have never violated the 'facts' or spirit of the 'history' here set down, but have followed the lines of that history as closely as the writer of actual historical-fiction follows the lines of actual history. I have used this 'history' as a guide in all the stories in this series that I have written.)
Of that epoch known by the Nemedian chroniclers as the Pre-Cataclysmic Age, little is known except the latter part, and that is veiled in the mists of legendry. Known history begins with the waning of the Pre-Cataclysmic civilization, dominated by the kingdoms of Kamelia, Valusia, Verulia, Grondar, Thule and Commoria. These peoples spoke a similar language, arguing a common origin. There were other kingdoms, equally civilized, but inhabited by different, and apparently older races.
The barbarians of that age were the Picts, who lived on islands far out on the western ocean; the Adanteans, who dwelt on a small continent between the Pictish Islands and the main, or Thurian Continent; and the Lemurians, who inhabited a chain of large islands in the eastern hemisphere.


More Reading:
In The 'Conan' Stories Series by ADB Publishing
(The Original) The Phoenix on the Sword (1932)
(The Original) The Scarlet Citadel (1933)
(The Original) The Tower of the Elephant (1933)
(The Original) Black Colossus (1933)
(The Original) The Slithering Shadow (1933)
(The Original) The Pool of the Black One (1933)
(The Original) Gods of the North (1934)
(The Original) Rogues in the House (1934)
(The Original) Shadows in the Moonlight (1934)
(The Original) Queen of the Black Coast (1934)
(The Original) The Devil in Iron (1934)
(The Original) The People of the Black Circle (1934)
(The Original) A Witch Shall be Born(1934)
(The Original) Jewels of Gwahlur (1935)
(The Original) Beyond the Black River (1935)
(The Original) Shadows in Zamboula (1935)
(The Original) Red Nails (1936)
(The Original) The Hour of the Dragon (novel) (1936)
(The Original) The Hyborian Age (1938) (This Book)