Hyboria - WordPress.com - Yggdrasil Distro

Stygian
"Occasionally a bronze chariot rumbled along the flags, and there was a brief glimpse of a tall, hawk-faced noble,
with a silk cloak wrapped about him, and a gold band with a rearing serpent-head emblem confining his black
mane; of the ebon, naked charioteer bracing his knotty legs against the straining of the fierce Stygian horses."
- Robert E. Howard: "The Hour of the Dragon"
Known as the "Serpent of the South", Stygia is a decadent theocracy and is characterized by being
xenophobic, inscrutable, and obsessed with the subjects of death and immortality. To the Hyborian races,
Stygia represents a sinister, sorcerous menace, a black land of nameless horror whose cult of the fanged
serpent god, Set, is looked upon with cold dread. To the Stygians, the Hyborians are heathen fools.
Stygia came into being when the ancestors of modern Stygians drove westward and conquered the land
from the snake men who built the black pyramids and the haunted tombs beneath the pyramids.
Contemporary Stygians are a mysterious people whose society is
strictly organized in a class system dependant, by and large, upon
physical types. The royalty and the most ancient nobles are
relatively tall people with black hair and fair skin. Below these, the
ruling elite of aristocrats and a powerful middle class are duskyskinned,
hawk-nosed men, haughty of mien. The lowest classes are
peasants and slaves of hybrid stock, a mixture of Kushite, Shemite,
Hyborian, and Stygian ancestry.
Stygian society is dominated by the priesthood. The chief god of
the Stygians is Set, the Serpent God, whose influence has stretched
from the lands of Stygia into nearly all other lands. The population
is notably small, for, despite its size, there is little arable land, and
that is mostly along the banks of the River Styx (also called Nilus).
Rarely will a Stygian venture from his own lands. Even more
rarely will an outsider enter his, as it is death for one who is not a
Stygian to enter a Stygian city. Any wanderers found inside
Stygian territory are killed. This may be done unceremoniously, or
it may involve a sacrificial ritual. The Stygians have never been
known to allow captured trespassers to live. The only exception to
this rule is the harbor-city of Khemi, where foreign merchants are
allowed entry during the day, but must return to their ships at
night. Stygian Archers
The Stygians have developed an economy based on nomadic herding, fishing, and harvesting the palm
date; major industries include the production of sorcerous charms and amulets, as well as drugs and
pharmeceuticals for both medicinal and magical use. Silk and steel arms are also manufactured here and
are sought after for trade by the merchants who travel the numerous caravan routes across the nation.
The Stygians are less effective with iron than the cultures of the west and far east, but they are great
masters of bronze and ivory. Their treasures are ancient, and tell of a time when Stygia was far grander
than the dusty ruins found today reveal. Their land is one of forgotten mystery, but it is known that their
31