Hyrkania is a vast land of prairies, forest, and tundra. Hyrkania is well known for its barren steppes where warriors on horseback, masters of the powerful double-curved bow, gallop across the rugged hills of their land. Living in tribal clans and led by Khans, these warriors ride on raids of plunder. They are "lean horsemen in sheepskins and high fur caps lashing their horses and loosing their barbed arrows".
In Conan's time, Hyrkania has many city-states, more or less firmly under the control of the Turanian Empire. Autonomous regions are situated along the northeastern shore of the Vilayet Sea and deep into the interior, with Turanian vassals along the southeastern coast and the eastern caravan routes.
The Hyrkanians are tall and slender, with hooked noses and brown or black hair. Their skin is naturally light, but is darkened by the sun and wind of the steppe to a deep brown, almost like a Zingaran. The men wear moustaches, and beards are not uncommon.
The Hyrkanians are a race of fearsome warriors. Their horsemanship, combined with their carefully made saddles and skill at their chosen weapons, makes them a powerful raiding force. They do not fight the "set piece" battles of the Hyborian argues; rather, they fight when and where they choose.
An entire cavalry of Hyrkanian warriors can travel nearly 100 miles in a single day, bringing four to five horses per rider, and ride into battle at the end of said day without resting. When traveling, Hyrkanians don't stop and change horses. Instead, the warrior vaults from horse to horse, taking his bow case and arrows with him.
Hyrkanian archery is considered legendary. Their re-curved composite bow are made from wood, horn, and sinew glued together, which take over a year to craft and season. The Hyrkanians get the bows from artisans who live in villages or the western slopes of the Mountains of Night in Khitai. The strength of one of these bows is rated by the number of men required to string it. Youths use a "one-man" bow, most warriors use a "two-man" bow, which can also be strung by one man with the aid of a special harness, and the strongest archers use a "three-man" bow. Since these bows cannot be left strung for more than two hours without cracking or losing resiliency, Hyrkanian warriors generally carry two bows.
The Hyrkanians don't take slaves, at least not adult male slaves. Sometimes, they capture young children or non-Hyrkanian concubines, but otherwise they kill those who stand in their way. "We do not want to rule over conquered peoples," say the Hyrkanians, "but over great pastures."
The Hyrkanians have little fixed territory to defend. Their nomadic way of life makes them immune to the territorial imperatives of more "civilized" lands.
There is one outstanding exception to this impermanence: each Hyrkanian tribe maintains a burial ground, called a kakaba, or City of Mounds, for its kagans and Ushi-Kagans. The kakaba is a secret field of barrows, often concealed in the most inhospitable regions of the steppe. As a sign of reverence for the dead, horse-riding is not permitted in the kakaba. Similarly, it's forbidden to fire arrows into the kakaba, for fear of striking the spirit a tribal ancestors. This makes it difficult to drive invaders from the kakaba. Although these kakabas constitute a weakness in the Hyrkanian defense, they are never exploited: the Hyrkanians ensure that no enemy who enters the kakaba is permitted to leave alive.
The Hyrkanians are ancestor worshippers, who respect the accomplishments of men and the Everlasting Sky. They have no gods, as Hyborians know the term, and whatever cultural influence the Khari had upon their religion has long since been rejected. Some of the westernmost Hyrkanians follow the deities of the Turanians.
Savage tribemens from the interior steppes, uncivilized in all but the arts of war at which they excel, the Hyrkanians travel upon a shifting sea of unrest as turbulent as the fiery stallions upon which they ride. The Hyrkanian tribes fight constantly among themselves, but when united under a great chief, they destroy armies as swiftly as their horse-archers can race across the endless hill which encompass them. Trained from childhood in horse and bow, the Hyrkanian cavalry has been called with good reason the finest horse-archers in the world.
The Geography of Hyboria | |
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North | Vanaheim - Asgard - Hyperborea - Cimmeria - Border Kingdom - Brythunia |
South | Black Kingdoms - Zembabwei - Vendhya - Kosala - Kush - Darfar - Keshan |
Punt - Stygia - Iranistan | |
East | Kambuja - Khitai - Uttara Kuru - Meru - Kusan - Hyrkania |
West | Zingara - Pictish Wilderness - Argos - Aquilonia - Ophir - Nemedia - Shem |
Koth - Khoraja - Corinthia - Khauran - Zamora - Turan |