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Cimmerian
"Conan's low laugh was merciless as the ring of steel. 'You fool!' he all but whispered. 'I think you never saw a man
from the West before. Did you deem yourself strong because you were able to twist the heads off civilised folk, poor
weaklings with muscles like rotten string? Hell! Break the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull before you call yourself
strong. I did that, before I was full-grown-man - like this!' And with a savage wrench he twisted Baal-pteor's head
around until the ghastly face leered over the left shoulder, and the vertebrae snapped like a rotten branch."
- Robert E. Howard: "Shadows in Zamboula"
Known for their strength and ferocity throughout the western world, the Cimmerians are barbarian
tribesmen to whom war is the only known way to survive amidst empire and kingdom. Few Cimmerians
leave their homelands, but those who venture into the world to the south soon learn that the civilized
races do not follow their own codes of honor or loyalty.
Cimmeria is an unremittingly somber land, "all of hills, darkly wooded, under skies nearly always gray,
with winds moaning drearily down the valleys" and its inhabitants are wont to be moody, taking on the
cast of their gray skies. The people are the direct descendants of vanished Atlanteans. They are tall and
powerful, with dark hair and blue or gray eyes. They live in small, isolated tribes which herd cattle, grow
oats and raid one another for cattle and resources.
Cimmerian tribes existed contemporaneously with Atlantis, intermarrying with Atlantean colonists on the
Thurian continent prior to the Cataclysm. Cimmerians of Conan's time are a hunting and gathering
culture, living in villages deep in the humid forests. The people use iron weapons and have borrowed
other elements from the empires to the south.
Cimmerians respect strength and little else. This belief is best represented by their
chief god, Crom, who breathes life into humans when they are born, and gives them the
strength to conquer all which they must face. Afterwards, men and women may rely
only upon their own skills to carry them through life. Magic, they believe, corrupts
the soul, and extracts a terrible price from those who practice it.
Men can expect little pity from a Cimmerian. A man or woman who cannot fend
for him or herself is usually left to die. Even the sick are rarely helped unless
they are of the Cimmerian’s own tribe or clan. Those children born deformed
are left on the snows to die. Invaders are slain outright. Any companions
captured by the enemy are considered dead. In this way the Cimmerians
remain strong and are not weakened by pity or remorse.
In Cimmeria, a youth is considered an adult when she
has killed in battle. For most Cimmerians, this comes before the
sixteenth birthday, either in clan-feuds or in battle against the
Vanir, Aesir or Hyperboreans. After this time, the Cimmerian
is obligated to uphold custom like all adults. Few Cimmerians live
to old age. Gray hair is a mark of respect, as it indicates that the elder has
been skilled enough to survive.
18
Conan the Cimmerian