Posted by M'Koth  11/22/2017 5:34 pm | #1 |
Being a decades long WFRP game runner, I'm used to it's usual Medieval Renaisance architecture, but Hyperborea's architectural origins are older and significantly more diverse. I enjoy giving my player's visuals, so either I'll whip up an illustration or two for Roll20 games, or terrain for those in meatspace, and as Hyperborea has a unique feel and quite different from my usual, other than I'm more than indulgent in throwing Lovercraftian elements around all willy-nilly.
Primarily, my question(s) are if these ideas coinside with what you envision, and if they differ, then what are your ideas/suggestions? Unfortunately, I only have the boxed set and not the new massive 2nd edition tome (at this time), so if some of these questions are answered there already, I apologize.
Here are some thoughts/ideas, some from historical sources that don't really mean much in Hyperborea, but they can be a starting point for brain storming, and, to be frank, I haven't read REH Conan and Kull in a good decade, so I could probably use some literary reminders:
Khromarium/Hyperborean architecture: I'm thinking a more 'fantastical' architecture. A lot of long thin lines, circular structures, arches etc. However, I don't think sci-fi types of construction would be ruled out here, either. But since Khromarium is also a city long uninhabited with a much smaller population than it originally held, I imagine lots of delapitated easily-haunted ruins that I imagine has both a Gothic AND Lovecraftian vibe. Also, pre-Hellenic/Hellenic architecture, such as the ruins of Troy for the more 'modern' built structures.
Picts: Ancient architecture of Scotland, such as Scara Brae, crannogs, and Pict Stones.
Kelts: Megaliths and ring forts.Kimmerian: Cappadocian rock houses and stone-hewn dwellings cut into cliff faces.
Kor: Ape City from the original Planet of the Apes!!!
Vikings - the usual longhouses and such with their longships and close relationship to the seas and that which dwells beneath the waves in their cyclopean cities of stone...
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Posted by lige 11/22/2017 7:45 pm | #2 |
Some other real world examples that come to mind:
Amazons (and really almost anywhere since Hellenic is the baseline language): Ancient Greek Architecture
Savage Boreal Coast: Architecture of the Native peoples of the coast of the Pacific NorthWest - think massive wood long houses and carvings.
Ixians: I could see inspiration from ancient Mesopotamia, Persia and Egypt - pyramids, ziggurats, hypostyle halls
Though of course it would all be blended and changed from the earthly examples.
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Posted by Brock Savage 11/23/2017 6:13 am | #3 |
Both M'Koth and lige used examples which match how I envision Hyperborea.
I imagine that Kimmerian, Kelt, Viking, and Kimmeri-Kelt lands are littered with barrows, burial mounds, or kurgans. Naturally, many of these are full of grave goods and restless dead.
I feel you can't talk about Khromarium without mentioning the towers of black basalt. They were ancient when mankind was little more than chittering apes. Many have no obvious entrance while others have portals of alien size and shape. They are omnipresent- the citizens of Khromarium can avoid them no more than the air in their lungs. Most don't look up and walk a little faster when walking past one of these towers. Although some towers have been claimed by sorcerers or colonized by vagrants, adventurers don't bother with them. No one returns from the towers bearing gold, jewels, and magical treasure- they only find madness and loss.
As for the origins of the towers, they bear a strong resemblance to the "enormous dark cylindrical towers" in H.P. Lovecraft's Shadow Out of Time.
Last edited by Brock Savage (11/24/2017 2:13 am)
