#aquilonia

[surfingkaliyuga]

“Sack of Venarium” Charles Keegan 2002

[weissengel]

[foxiart]

Commission: Zenturia Cassia

[wanderingbarbarian]

King Conan by Tomas Giorello

[the-outer-topic]

Conan of Aquilonia - Chris Quilliams

[wanderingbarbarian]

The Hyborian Age (Part IV of VI) The Beginning of the End

“500 years after the time of King Conan, the Hyborian civilization was swept away while its vigorous culture was still in its prime. It was the greed of Aquilonia which indirectly brought about that overthrow. Wishing to extend their empire, her kings annexed Zingara, Argos and Ophir, as well as the western cities of Shem. Koth itself, with Corinthia and the eastern Shemitish tribes, was forced to pay Aquilonia tribute and lend aid in its wars. Nemedia, which had successfully resisted Aquilonia for centuries, now drew Brythunia and Zamora and secretly, Koth into an alliance against that western kingdom. But before their armies could join in battle, a new enemy appeared in the East. Reinforced by Hyrkanian adventurers, the riders of Turan swept over Zamora to meet the Aquilonians on the plains of Brythunia. Defeating the Turanians, the Aquilonians sent them flying eastward; but the back of the Nemedian alliance was now broken. The defeat of the Hyrkanians showed the nations the real power of Aquilonia.

Zamora was reconquered, but the people discovered they had merely exchanged an eastern master for a western one. Auilonian soldiers were quartered there, to keep the people in subjection as well as to protect them. In the North, there was incessant bickering along the Cimmerian borders between the black-haired warriors and their various neighbors, the Nordheimr, the Bossonians and the ever more powerful Picts. Several times, the Cimmerians raided Aquilonia itself, but their wars were less invasions than plundering forays.

But, by a strange quirk of fate, it is the growing power of the Picts in the West which is destined to throw down the kings of Aquilonia from their high places. At about this time, a Nemedian priest named Arus determined to go into the western wilderness and introduce to the heathen Picts the gentle worship of Mitra. He was not daunted by the grisly tales of what had happened to traders and explorers before him. Over the years, the Picts had benefited from contact with Hyborian civilization, but they had always fiercely resisted that contact. They dwelt in clans which were generally at feud with each other, and their customs were bloodthirsty and generally inexplicable to a civilized man such as Arus of Nemedia.

Arus was fortunate in meeting a chief of more than usual intelligence, Gorm by name, who gave him permission to remain among his tribe unbutchered. This was a case unique in the history of the Picts; and better for the flower of Hyborian civilization if Arus had been speared instead. Having learned the Pictish tongue, Arus harangued Gorm at length, expounding rhe eternal rights and justices which were the truths of Mitra. Being a practical man, Arus appealed to the savage's sense of material gain. He pointed out the splendor of the Hyborian kingdoms as proof of the power of Mitra. Arus spoke of wealthy cities and fertile plains, of jeweled towers and glittering armor. And Gorm, with the unerring instinct of the barbarian, passed over his words regarding gods and their teachings, and fixed on the material riches he so vividly described. There, in the mud-floored wattle hut, where the silk robed priest droned on the dark-skinned chief crouched in his tiger-hides, were laid the foundations of the Pictish Empire.”

Original text by Robert E.Howard from the essay The Hyborian Age. Adapted by Roy Thomas for the Savage Sword of Conan series Artwork by Walt Simonson (Savage Sword of Conan #15)

[the-outer-topic]

Conan King - Nestor Redondo

[the-outer-topic]

Conan king - Joe Jusko

I love this artist technique and use of color, and some of the compositions are great as well, but I cannot fail to notice that in typical with the art of the 1980s, they were obsessed with muscles back then. Justified in the case of Conan the Barbarian, of course, but I like women not so athletic, these are attractive bodies, of course, but a bit too thin, I like women more curvy and feminine, the way they were depicted in art of the 1950s-70s, Frank Frazetta women, case in point. I think the whole paradigm of female beauty underwent a major change in the 1980s and I think aerobic and fitness mania is to blame.