I would compare them to refugee Romanovs, or members of some other aristocracy that no longer exists. They are still arrogant and have elevated ideas about themselves, but they're not very numerous and nobody else cares. I see them pretty much forced to deal with other races of men, and not very happy about it (much like those same Romanovs and other so-called "royals" when forced to deal with peons, peasants, and assorted hoi polloi such as ourselves).

There may also be some pure enclaves of Hyperboreans hidden in (for example) the Spiral Mountains, but I doubt those are very numerous. It could make for an interesting adventure - perhaps such an enclave has gotten their hands on an ancient magical or technological weapon and is planning to turn it on Khromarium ("If we can't have it, no one can!").

Blackadder23 wrote:

I would compare them to refugee Romanovs, or members of some other aristocracy that no longer exists. They are still arrogant and have elevated ideas about themselves, but they're not very numerous and nobody else cares. I see them pretty much forced to deal with other races of men, and not very happy about it (much like those same Romanovs and other so-called "royals" when forced to deal with peons, peasants, and assorted hoi polloi such as ourselves).

There may also be some pure enclaves of Hyperboreans hidden in (for example) the Spiral Mountains, but I doubt those are very numerous. It could make for an interesting adventure - perhaps such an enclave has gotten their hands on an ancient magical or technological weapon and is planning to turn it on Khromarium ("If we can't have it, no one can!").

This is where I fall on the question.  Though many of my Hyperboreans also dwell in secret vaults under the old city section of Khromarium. They strive and plot for the ultimate return of their great race to rulership over Hyperborea.
 

Blackadder23 wrote:

I would compare them to refugee Romanovs, or members of some other aristocracy that no longer exists. They are still arrogant and have elevated ideas about themselves, but they're not very numerous and nobody else cares. I see them pretty much forced to deal with other races of men, and not very happy about it (much like those same Romanovs and other so-called "royals" when forced to deal with peons, peasants, and assorted hoi polloi such as ourselves).

There may also be some pure enclaves of Hyperboreans hidden in (for example) the Spiral Mountains, but I doubt those are very numerous. It could make for an interesting adventure - perhaps such an enclave has gotten their hands on an ancient magical or technological weapon and is planning to turn it on Khromarium ("If we can't have it, no one can!").

Dang BA, you are spot on as far as I am concerned. I cast the Hyperboreans much the same in my own campaign, with Melnibonean eccentricity and arrogance, I imagine Hyperboreans who adventure are comparatively rare; when possible, they prefer to adventure in coteries with members of the same House along with an entourage of slaves and servants. It's hard for me to imagine many of them wanting to adventure with "subhumans" as an equal and not a leader so the ones that do are often forced to by circumstances.

I also took the idea of hidden Hyperborean enclaves and ran with it. I dropped B4 The Lost City in the Diamond Desert as the lost city of Xuthas populated with a long lost race of subterranean Hypeboreans and their mutant slaves replacing Cynidiceans and goblinoids. 

Last edited by Brock Savage (6/29/2019 5:00 pm)