Hyborean Religions

Mitra

Mitra, Lord of Light, God of the Hyborians, is worshipped in Aquilonia, Argos, Corinthia, Nemedia, Ophir and Zingara. Mitra is a benevolent god, believed to be all-pervasive and without form, although he is often pictured as a tall man with wide-set, piercing eyes, curly hair and a patriarchal beard (SHD). Mitra takes no living sacrifices, although the temple takes extensive tithes in money and services.

According to Mitraic belief, each person is called to a virtuous life. It is the obligation of each individual to follow the tenets of the faith of Mitra, which include truthfulness, honor and trustworthiness. In Mitra's tenets, telling a lie or betraying a friend are mortal sins.

Mitra holds his priests to even more strict behavior. Priests of Mitra must remain celibate and must abstain from all alcohol and mind-altering drugs. In addition, they must never perform sorcery, rather trusting totally in Mitra.

One of Mitra's most potent aspects is as the Defender, protecting Hyborians from evil sorcery, most specifically from his ancient enemy, the serpent-god Set. In his battles with Set, Mitra prefers working through mortals, so that those who are called to be his champions can both defeat Set and act as living proof of the validity of his cult's tenets.

In a magical aid campaign, priests of Mitra cannot cast any sorcery without losing all benefits of the Clerical investment (treat this as a Vow; major penance is required to restore Mitra's blessing).

Set and the Stygian Pantheon

Religion in Stygia is dominated by the worship of Father Set and his pantheon. No other religion is tolerated. Temples to other sects are forbidden, and worship of other gods is considered treason.

The tenets of Set worship are difficult and sheathed in many layers of dogma. Principally, the temples profess that Father Set is the most potent of gods, a powerful friend and a terrible enemy, and that it is the fate of mankind to serve. Apostates who have learned some of the inner knowledge have reported that Set also offers eternal life in the tomb to those who serve him faithfully. This promise, perhaps more than fear, has brought the people of Stygia to Set's service.

Set's greatest opponent is Mitra, Lord of Light. According to the priests, Mitra is perhaps as powerful as Set, but lacks the strength of heart to use his power to rule. Thus, Mitra is ever doomed to failure; no matter how many times he succeeds, Set need only prevail once.

Priests of Set must deny themselves all ordinary material pleasures (including wine, women and song) in return for power.

Damballah

Damballah is what Set is usually called in the Black Kingdoms. He is worshipped throughout the Kingdoms; even Juma the Kushite, Conan's friend, swore by Damballah (CTM).

Derketo

Derketo, Goddess of Lust, is a servant of Set. She represents the seductive nature of the flesh, and the desire for life which Set offers to maintain eternally. Derketo is commonly worshipped among the peasantry of Stygia, who find Set's ascetic demands too restrictive.

The Hawk-God of Harakht

The Hawk-God of Harakht is another lesser member of the Stygian pantheon. According to Set's doctrine, the Hawk-God of Harakht hovers over Stygia, watching all that occurs, and when the sun passes the western horizon, he wings his way to Set and tells him all that transpired during the accursed day.

Erlik and Living Tarim

Erlik the Flame-Lord is a god of Pathenia, in northern Hyrkania. As such, Erlik would be a minor god (and listed among the others below) were it not for the prophet known as Living Tarim. Tarim brought Erlik worship from Pathenia to a group of Hyrkanian tribes who, with the strength of their religious fervor, swept down and founded the Turanian empire.

Erlik is a harsh god, who believes in the tempering of the soul through trials and deprivation. His tenets, as revealed by Tarim, forbid fornication, the consumption of alcohol and usury. However, even most of his priests ignore these precepts.

The Shemitish Pantheon

Unlike Mitra worship, which uses the altar only as a focus, Shemites believe that their gods actually inhabit their omnipresent brass idols. These idols are caricatures: the swollen breasts and belly of Ishtar and the equally enlarged sexual characteristics of Adonis appear repulsive to the more refined worshippers of Mitra. Every home has a tiny shrine to the Lovers, and usually small statues of the other gods, including Bel, whose protection is invoked against his servants. Only Set is excluded from the tableau.

In the temples, the idols of the Shemites are enlarged to incredible size. The huge brass images are hollow, and their enlarged bellies serve as sacrificial furnaces where sandalwood blazes. Sheep, goats, valuables and occasionally people are cast into the flame to feed the Shemitish gods.

Adonis/Pteor and Ishtar

Shemitish religion is based on the myth of the male sky god, known as Adonis or Pteor, and his courtship of the Earth Mother, Ishtar. This myth is central to Shemitish belief, and variations on the basic tale are heard around the campfires of the nomads and in the taverns and temples of the city-states.

Set

One common theme in the original myth is the intercession of the god of jackals, who attempted to prevent the two Lovers from consummating their marriage and creating the world. Although this deity at one time had many names, modern Shemitish theologians universally identify this jackal-god with Set, the serpent-god of the Stygians.

Ashtoreth

Ashtoreth, handmaiden to Ishtar, represents purity and chastity, and the revitalization of spring. She appears in the tale as a go-between for the Lovers, and at one point rescues Pteor from the clutches of Set by merely touching his bonds.

In order to maintain their abilities, the priestesses of Ashtoreth must remain virgin.

Bel

Bel, god of thieves, appears in some versions of the Shemitish myth-cycle, and his rather peripheral episodes are thought to be later additions to the myth. Bel is worshipped, however; the Zuagir nomads and the thieves of Asgalun point to his exploits to prove that their nefarious acts are blessed by the gods.

Derketo

Derketo is probably of Stygian origin. In Shemitish myth, she is the Temptress; she represents wanton lust, and Set tricks her into enticing Adonis from his bride. Derketo is not evil according to the Shemites; rather, her elemental passions are unconcerned with the niceties of the struggle between Ishtar and Set. When she discovers Set's deception, she joins the Lovers in their battle.

The Golden Peacock of Sabatea

One aberrant cult of Shem is the Cult of the Golden Peacock of Sabatea. This group worships a demonic being covered in elaborate feathers who requires continual human sacrifice. The Sabatean cult resembles the Katari of Vendhya and the Yoggites of Darfar in that the cult captures victims for its sacrifices; over the centuries the cult has developed stealth techniques unknown elsewhere, which it uses to train its "procurers."

The Vendhyan Pantheon

Asura

Most Vendhyans worship Asura, who teaches that life is illusory and the only final truth comes after death, in the light of the soul. The cult devotes itself to "penetrating the veil of illusion of life."

Asura's doctrines reveal that all beings reincarnate, and that the purpose of life is the paying of the karmic debt against the soul. Each evil act extends the cycle of reincarnation; each good act shortens it. Those who suffer earned their trials in previous lives; they are not to be pitied.

The cult of Asura has spread throughout the Hyborian empires. However, its secretive nature combined with its odd (to Hyborian minds) doctrines, has kept it distrusted and persecuted. In modern Aquilonia King Conan allows its practice without interference. Many Aquilonians believe Asuran rituals include human sacrifice, cannibalism and worship of snake-gods, but no temple of Asura has ever been found engaging in any of these practices. Indeed, Asuran temples are rarely found at all, given the priests' skill at concealing them.

Katar

One other sect in Vendhya captures the attention of Hyborians: Katar, Goddess of Death. Katar is the judge of souls, and determines the form each soul should take in its next life to most quickly purge its karmic debt.

The temples of Katar hold secret power in the form of the Katari assassins. These incorruptible warriors will assassinate anyone for whom they are paid, although they do it in their own way, and at their own time. They are potent warriors, and are known for their suicide missions, committing assassinations in places offering no hope for their own escape. They are encouraged in this by the promise of eternal life in Katar's paradises if they die while performing their "holy" task. Even the devi is not immune to their efforts, although her corps of bodyguards constantly watches for the Katari's stealthy approach, and the head of more than one would-be assassin rots outside the palace.

The Animal Gods

The Picts and the tribes of the Black Kingdoms worship many different gods which are anthropomorphic representations of the power of animals. Each Pictish tribe selects one of these totem spirits to serve, from whence they take their names.

Both types of shaman must swear never to harm one of their totem animals (all animals for a priest of Jhebbal Sag); harming such an animal revokes the shaman's powers permanently.

Gullah

Gullah the gorilla-god (or Jullah, as he is known in the Black Kingdoms) is worshipped by the Picts and the commoners in Kush. Little is known of Gullah worship, as few scholars have been permitted in the temples, but the god requires occasional human sacrifice, and the temple is decorated with the skulls of victims.

Hanuman

One "civilized" animal cult is that of Hanuman the ape-god, worshipped in Zamboula. Hanuman's priests are feared rather than loved, but worship of the ape-god is still supreme in Zamboula. One unusual ritual of the cult is the Dance of the Cobras, in which a young girl is made to dance between four live cobras, dodging their venomous fangs until, inevitably, she tires and falls to her death.

Jhebbal Sag

The most commonly worshipped Pictish deity is Jhebbal Sag, Master of Beasts. According to Pictish legend, all animals, including man, once worshipped Jhebbal Sag. Now, most have forgotten, and only the largest, smartest and strongest animals remember the earliest days. Those who remember are bound together, however, and can be controlled by one who serves Jhebbal Sag. Jhebbal Sag is the leader of the Animal Gods and all of the other animal totems serve him.

Jhil

Jhil the Merciless, King of the Ravens, is worshipped primarily by the Picts, the Ghanatas and their allied tribes. Jhil promises freedom to the strong and slavery to the weak. This theology provides the Ghanatas with the justification for their slaving.

Nature Worshippers

Nature worshippers are scattered throughout the Hyborian lands. These groups have many aspects in common, but are separately organized and sometimes mutually hostile.

The Ligureans

Early in the days of the Hyborian drift a group of Acheroneans fled deep into the Pictish Wilderness. They called themselves Ligureans. Exactly who and what they were is a mystery, but some of them were accomplished sorcerers.

Most of the Ligureans have forgotten their origins and have become savage tribesmen, distinguishable from the Picts only by their lighter skin. The druids, priests of the Ligureans, are another matter. They worship nature personified as a goddess, and otherwise seem impartial among the feuding cults. The symbols of the druids are the oak and the golden sickle. What vows they take are a mystery; they certainly are not ascetics and some are notably fond of wine or of the druids' own potent honey mead. They oppose any magic that disturbs the natural order of things, and this usually means that they oppose Set and the servants of Set. Many of the druids are powerful mages; their support can be valuable.

The druids have no temples. Their places of worship are oak groves deep in the wilderness of Pictland. Even the most savage Pictish chief or the most arrogant Aquilonian governor walks warily around the white-robed druids and their places of power.

The greatest druids are not only mages, but recipients of divine aid.

Wiccana

The nature goddess Wiccana is worshipped by rural Brythunians. Like Ligureans, Wiccana worshippers revere the oak and the mistletoe (although both are rarer in Brythunia than in Pictland). Their symbol is the golden sickle, and they are devoted to healing.

However, the two religions are not identical. First, Wiccana only accepts priestesses; men may not directly serve the goddess. The priestesses are celibate (though not necessarily virgin), and vow never to cut their hair. Secondly, priestesses reside in the villages, rather than secluding themselves in private sanctuaries.

Gods of the North

Atali

Atali, daughter of Ymir, is a spirit in the shape of a beautiful woman. It is said that she entices wounded men to follow her into the wild, where they die in the snow from exhaustion or under the axes of her giant brothers.

Crom

Crom, the Cimmerian god, lives on Ben Morgh. The Cimmerians seldom pray to him; they believe it is usually best not to attract his attention. The Cimmerians believe, however, that Crom breathes the strength to strive and slay into a man at birth. "What else shall men ask of the gods?"

After death, the Cimmerians believe their souls go to "a grey misty realm of clouds and icy winds, to wander cheerlessly for all eternity" (QBC). Hyborians maintain that such grim beliefs explain much about Cimmerian temperament.

Ymir

The Nordheimr worship Ymir, the Frost Giant, Lord of Storm and War, who lives (according to legend) in Valhalla, his castle in far northern Vanaheim. According to Nordheimr shamans, the souls of warriors who fall in battle go to Valhalla to feast and fight forever. This belief makes Nordheimr warriors terrible in battle, as they fight with no regard for their own safety, preferring to take an honor guard with them to Valhalla.

Ymir provides his shamans with the ability to cast Water spells as if they were mages.

Ancestor Worship

Primitive peoples across the Thurian continent practice ancestor worship. There are ancestor worship cults in the Black Kingdoms, Hyrkania, Khitai, Nordheim and Turan.

Most ancestor worship consists of telling sagas of ancestors on ceremonial days, and possibly using a litany of ancestors as an introduction. However, in some cultures (notably the Hyrkanian Erlikites and the Nordheimr), ancestor spirits are seen as intermediaries between living men and the gods.

Demon Worship

Various tribes worship demons, either summoned by the shamans or remaining in the land from prehistoric times. Among these are the demon of the Vale of Lost Women and the slithering shadow of Xuthal.

Xotli

The Antillians worship Xotli, Lord of Terror, a great demon from the Elder Night. Hundreds of people are sacrificed each month atop the Great Pyramid in Ptahuacan. The demon hovers over the Pyramid in the aspect of a large, tentacled black mass (like a giant black kraken) with a single central eye. The sacrifices are marched up the pyramid and bound to the Altars of Ultimate Night. Their hearts are cut out, their body goes to feed the dragons inside the Pyramid, and their soul goes to feed Xotli. With such a powerful manifestation, there is little need for abstract theology in Antillia.

The priesthood is led by the Hierarch of the Sacred Mysteries of Xotli, a direct descendant of the first Hierarch. Xotli's priests shave their heads and wear full-length feathered robes. Beneath their robes, the priests wear platform shoes, in-creasing their height, and golden finger-rings, neck-hairs, and bracelets on wrists, arms and ankles.

Xotli originally provided his priests with the ability to learn many types of spells. However, as his power over them has grown, he has withdrawn these benefits.

Other Gods

The remaining gods do not fit into any particular pantheon. Belief in one of these gods implies nothing about a character's opinions of the remainder.

The Gods of Iranistan

The Iranistani gods comprise a myriad of tribal deities and heroes mixed with ancient sects of Hyborian or Vendhyan gods. There is no "state religion" in Iranistan; the temple district of Anshan is a confusing maze of tiny hut-shrines beside huge stone temples. The strength of a given cult is directly tied to the associated tribe's favor with the king.

Kulamtu Tree

The Amazons revere the carnivorous kulamtu tree, which they raise in closed courtyards and feed with slaves and captives. It is not known whether the Amazons believe the trees to be their gods, or whether they are merely the tools the Amazonian gods use to accept sacrifices.

Nebethet

Nebethet, the Ivory Goddess of Punt, is worshipped primarily there, although some Shemitish scholars equate her with Derketo. Her traditional image is of a voluptuous woman with the head of a skull, although recent visitors to the shrine report that the original statue has been replaced by one appearing more human.

Yajur

The most famous (or infamous) deity in the bewildering Kosalan pantheon is Yajur, the god of Yota-Pong. The head of this religion is the Prefect of Yota-Pong, ruler of the city-state, a masked figure who is reputed to be eternal. Most visitors to the state believe that the Prefect of Yota-Pong is just a man and that upon his death the post is filled from the highest ranks of the priesthood.

Yajur's priests sacrifice humans by strangulation. The sacrifice is offered by specially trained servants of the temple, who strangle the victim with their bare hands. These servants are trained from young childhood, strangling a victim each day until they become extremely strong and adept at crushing the life from anyone.

Yama

The Meruvians worship Yama, king of the devils of Vendhya. Yama is portrayed as a six-limbed demonic being with a beast's head, and is credited with the creation of the Cup of the Gods.

According to the priests of Yama, should the people ever revolt against the theocracy, Yama will destroy the Cup of the Gods, and thrust the Seven Sacred Cities back into the snow and ice of the Roof of the World.

The Yezmites

One other cult within the borders of Drujistan is the Yezmites, or the Sons of Yezm. This cult has its roots in the pre-Cataclysmic Society of the Hidden Ones, a sect of assassins who used their dreaded Flame Knives to sway the destiny of empires.

According to scholars, the Sons of Yezm have influence in cults across the continent. It is said that their followers include members of all the nations of the world, and that sub-sects of such disparate religions as Mitra, Set, Derketo, Ishtar, Gullah and Erlik secretly serve the Magus of the Sons of Yezm.

Yezmite assassins are blamed for the deaths of King Yildiz of Turan, King Satish of Vendhya (father of Bhunda Chand and the Devi Yasmina) and Kobad Shah of Iranistan. Their acts are marked by the stealth of their assassins and the poisoned daggers they use. The daggers have blades shaped like a many-tongued flame.

The Sons of Yezm maintain their headquarters in the hidden city of Yanaidar in Drujistan. They defend their city through a combination of secrecy, discipline and superstitious awe. The latter is enforced not only by the evil reputation of the city, but by the use of huge, mournful horns to frighten would-be explorers and bands of warriors to kill those more determined to approach. These bizarre practices of the Sons of Yezm have contributed significantly to superstitions about Drujistan.

Yog

Yog worship dates back to the Khari invasion. Ryborian scholars speculate that Yog may be a demon of the Elder Night, like those worshipped by ancient Atlantis.

Yog's doctrine is simple. Worshippers may only eat meat, never plants of any kind. They must consume human flesh at least once per month, and those who fail are considered ritually unclean until they have done so.

In Darfar itself, bodies for the cannibalistic rituals come from raiding other tribes. Outside of Darfar, however, the Yoggites band together and take what they can get. Where there are many Darfar slaves, wandering bands hunt and kill anyone who leaves shelter at night.

Although most city residents fear the Yoggite ceremonies, they permit the Yoggites to practice their religion, as without this concession they are rebellious and violent.

For proper sacrificial power, the victims are clubbed unconscious and thrown into fire-pits. Dead sacrifices are considered inferior, as are those who have been cut, so the Yoggites do not use knives or swords. One adult can feed as many as thirty or forty Yoggites, as only a token consumption is required to meet Yog's requirements.

For obeying these strictures, Yog promises strength in battle and victory over the worshipper's foes. Such promises might hold more weight were Darfar slaves uncommon in the southern lands. Even so, Yoggites are devout enough to practice their religion wherever they go.

Zath

The most famous of the Zamoran divinities is Zath, the spider-god of Yezud. Zath's worshippers believe that the great spider-god walks the earth, and must be served by humankind. Indeed, the giant spiders which have occasionally been seen in the hills near Yezud are testaments to Zath's power.

Priests of Zath do not drink alcohol or fornicate, and those laymen in the service of the temple must also abide by these strictures. Even more guarded are the temple virgins, who dance for the spider-god on holy days. There are rumors of extensive caverns beneath the temple, where hundreds of giant spiders reside, fed cattle (and occasionally humans) by the priests of Zath. The cattle come from enforced tithes demanded from the steadings which surround Yezud; it is said that the priests would loose these spiders on the countryside if the king did not permit them their grisly worship.