Hyperborea

Hyperborea was a legendary continent in the Arctic. Before it was overwhelmed by the advancing ice sheets of the Pleistocene age, Hyperborea was warm and fertile with lush jungles inhabited by the last remnants of the dinosaurs. A race of yeti-like bipeds known as the Voormis once populated Hyperborea, but were wiped out by the pre-human settlers that migrated here from the south. These pre-humans built the first capital of Hyperborea at Commoriom. Later they moved to Uzuldaroum when prophesies foretold of Commoriom's doom.

Hyperborea is featured chiefly in Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborean cycle (see below), which mixes cosmic horror with an Iron Age-style setting. Adding to the peril is the rapidly approaching ice age, which threatens to wipe out all life on the Hyperborean continent. A host of other deities play important roles in the cycle; foremost is the toad-god Tsathoggua, who dwells in Mount Voormithadreth.

Hyperborea also features in Robert E. Howard's Conan stories.

Hyperborea may correspond to modern-day Greenland.

Gods worshipped in Hyperborea include Tsathoggua and Yhoundeh.

Cities

Commoriom

Commoriom was the first seat of power in Hyperborea, established by the pre-human migrants from the south. In its heyday, Commoriom was a grand city, built of marble and granite and marked by a skyline of altitudinous spires.

Legend has it that the populace fled Commoriom when the White Sybil of Polarion foretold of its destruction. However, Athammaus, headsman of Commoriom, disputes this claim and attributes the abandonment to the increasingly loathsome depredations of the horrid outlaw Knygathin Zhaum.

Uzuldaroum

According to Smith's "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", Uzuldaroum became the capital of Hyperborea after the populace left Commoriom. The city lies a day's journey from the former capital. It was the last population center in Hyperborea before glaciers overwhelmed the continent.

In H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, the city of the Elder Things is called "a Palaeogaean megalopolis compared with which the fabled... Commoriom and Uzuldaroum... are recent things of today--not even of yesterday".

Geographical locations

• Eiglophian mountains
• Mount Voormithadreth

Notable denizens

• Athammaus
• Eibon
• Satampra Zeiros
• Voormis
• The White Sybil of Polarion

References

Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborean cycle

• "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros" (1931)
• "The Testament of Athammaus" (1932)
• "The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan" (1932)
• "The Door to Saturn" (1932)
• "The House of Haon-Dor" (1933) [story fragment]
• "The Ice-Demon" (1933)
• "Ubbo-Sathla" (1933)
• "The Seven Geases" (1934)
• "The White Sybil" (1935)
• "The Coming of the White Worm" (1941)
• "The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles" (1958)

Other fiction

• Robert E. Howard - "The Frost Giants Daughter"

Non-fiction

• Daniel Harms (1998). The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana
• Laurence J. Cornford - "[A Hyperborean Glossary]". The Eldritch Dark. Retrieved on July 16, 2005.
• Chris Jarocha-Ernst - "[Clark Ashton Smith connections to the Cthulhu Mythos]"