HYPERBOREA / The Lamia's Heart Inspiration Question

**Posted by Jay_NOLA** 4/16/2021 6:24 am

I'm trying to figure out what story or stories are the inspiration for elements in the Lamia's Heart

I know that Rats In the walls was inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's story of the same name, and it looks like The Brazen Bull drew some inspiration for the Simon Whitechapel story of the same name or from the historical brazen bull.

The Simon Whitechapel story was a Clark Ashton Smith tribute story and is available online on the Eldritch Dark website, which is a Clark Ashton website. Link bellow is for the story.

http://www.eldritchdark.com/tributes/short-stories/41/the-brazen-bull

Note: If you look in the Tribute Short Stories section of the Eldritch Dark you can find Simon's other stories, like the Return of the Cryomancer

Link to Wikipedia for the historic brazen bull.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazen_bull

So what was the story or stories was used for inspiration for the Lamia's Heart?

Poul Anderson · **Posted by Eirvit** 4/16/2021 11:53 am

The pretty straightforward go-an-get-em thief story (which I’m about to use, slightly reskinned, in a Conan 2d20 game) doesn’t mind me of any immediate precedents, but the sought-after Lamia’s Heart does suggest to me the equally admirable Star of Khorala, though the Lamia’s Heart, as written, doesn’t possess any bewitching powers.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_of_Khorala

**Posted by Ghul** 4/16/2021 1:24 pm

No particular source inspiration for this one. Just a fun little thiefly adventure, though with some possible implications of getting caught up in the political machinations of the city, because the job is for an upstart guild in defiance of the officially recognized guild. Enjoy!