Early Hyperborean History

[Scott Alexander]

Also exceptional among early Hyperborean Elders was Riyon Karus, who in S932 launched the most successful and important project in the history of the civilization, the colonization of maroka'Volusan (lit. Island of the Volsaarns, current name Baffin Island). The Hyperboreans had for a long time been anxious to explore the world, but been hindered by a lack of timber, the only supply being in the rapidly diminishing areas of boreal forest near Kalen. Riyon and his successors launched a flotilla to Baffin Island, where timber was abundant, and built two major cities, Vanam and Tirag. The colonies began to come into conflict with the Native Americans living to the south, and Riyon's successor, Taran Dayun, resurrected the old battalions of Nirus, polished them up with more advanced weapons and strategems, and created a small but extremely effective band of peacekeepers/warriors, the vebedhala'Volusan, or Paladins of Volsung. While the majority of the Paladins remained on Baffin Island to defend the colonies, a sizeable number remained in Hyperborea proper as police forces and as guides and rescue teams for those traveling the generally empty spaces between the cities.

[Scott Alexander]

After the foundation of the two Volsaarn colonies, the Hyperboreans experimented with various ship designs and explored the North American region to Alaska as well as reaching Greenland, the British Isles, and Scandinavia in the other direction. It was the Elder Mikal Zanor in the third millennium after Kadham who finally built and assembled the great fleet that would be necessary for further world exploration.The so-called Vuselalewinen, or White Fleet, departed Tirag in 3289. Over the next fifteen years, five different expeditionary forces explored most of the world's surface in a maritime venture not equalled until the time of Zheng Ho in China. The First Fleet sailed down the east coast of North America, making contact with the ancestral Olmecs in Mexico. Docking near the mouth of the Amazon, a number of smaller sailed up the great river. However, almost everyone involved in this expedition was lost due to inability to cope with the jungle conditions, and the ships were eventually forced to sail back to Tirag. A small embassy was left behind in Mexico, but died of disease.The Second Fleet sailed to Alaska and then down the west coast of Canada and the United States. After being caught by a tropical storm off of Baja, the fleet retreated to present-day Southern California to regroup, spending the winter there and leaving behind a few people there to set up a supply camp.. The next year they continued southward and evenutally reached Peru, where they landed among the Andes and communicated with the ancestral Moche civilization there. A somewhat larger embassy was left in Peru than anticipated due to the extremely favorable conditions on the Andean plateau. The expedition stayed in the area three years gathering information and specimens and then returned to Southern California and the next year to Tirag.The Third Fleet sailed to Northern Europe. Here the Hyperboreans attempted to set up colonies, with one being constructed in present-day Scotland and another in present-day Finland. The fleet visisted the British Isles, Tartessus in Spain (with whom they got along extremely well and signed a trade pact), the Baltic area, in which they disliked the natives and left after only a short time, Denmark and Northern Germany, and Iceland, which was at this point uninhabited. After five years crisscrossing the North and Baltic seas, they returned to Kalen and then Tirag.The Fourth Fleet suffered from some preliminary misinformation on the size of Africa. It had been assigned to sail the Mediterranean and contact the civilizations of Southern Europe, Africa, and the Near East. It reached the Mediterranean on schedule and arrived in Greece, presenting gifts to the great temple at Delphi in an event recorded by Herodotus and others. The Greeks and the Hyperboreans hit it off right away, and agreed to a mutual exchange of ideas. The Hyperboreans established a colony on the north shore of the Black Sea and then docked in Cyrene to begin their exploration of Africa. This did not turn out well. Most of those involved died, and almost no information about the continent reached Thulel. Plans to contact the Assyrians were revoked on account of the intolerable behaviour of the latter, and although some preliminary contact was made with the Egyptians, some sort of diplomatic faux paus occurred ending with both civilizations politely distancing themselves from one another. Weakened miserably, on the sixth year of the expedition the Fourth Fleet returned to Kalen.The Fifth Fleet suffered from similarly bad intelligence - a miscalculation as to the width of the Pacific Ocean. Its orders were to cross the Pacific and make contact with the lands on the other side. The first part took two years and ended with the tattered remnants of the ship limping onto the Russian island of Sakhalin, where they stayed for a summer trying to rebuild. From there, however, the fleet, under the daring leadership of its captain Yalen Shenakh, became by far the most amazingly successful of all the expeditions. It contacted China and found both nations shared similar interests and beliefs, with copies of many important Chinese texts being taken on board the Fleet for return to Hyperborea and many Hyperborean texts being given the Chinese in return (which were destroyed during the Qin dynasty, but not before they could influence Lao Tze, among others). They then sailed to India, where, in a favorable coincidence, captain Yalen was able to hold a personal meeting with Siddhartha "Buddha" Gautama, an occasion which later gave rise to the Indian legend of Shambhala. Loaded with gifts from the two kingdoms, the Fifth Fleet sailed for three years before returning to Tirag.The colonies founded by the Hyperboreans had various levels of success. Those in Mexico and California quickly petered out or mingled with the native population. The rather larger one in the Andes syncretized with some of the local culture and became the influential city of Tiahuacano, leaving behind a number of mysterious ruins. The colony in the British Isles was attacked by barbarians and mostly destroyed, but a number of the colonists survived and gave birth to the Druidic tradition. The two in Finland and the shores of the Black Sea prospered until being destroyed by Scythian barbarians in the fourth century BC, and continued their trade with Greece. It was from the Black Sea colony that Abaris, the Hyperborean philosopher who taught Pythagoras, originated.

[Scott Alexander]

(also from the Radarasilikan)&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The nation of Hyperborea flourished in the four millennia before Christ in the south of what is now Greenland. It is uncertain at exactly what point in human history people first came to Hyperborea, but it seems likely it was during the last Ice Age, ending around 10000 BC. Their origin is unknown, and Hyperboreans do not belong to any of the classically accepted races of people – although they share some European and some Asian features, their skin color is neither white nor dark but a very pale shade of lavender.&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The proto-Hyperborean culture was focused on fishing, agriculture, and aquaculture, and developed a language possibly distantly related to the Nostratic group, a number of confusingly entangled religions, and a persistent culture. The region’s first cities grew around 5000 BC, around the time similar developments were taking place in Mesopotamia. By the year 4000, these various towns had coalesced into seven major centers of power: Sidhal, Taras, Midhoth, Kalen, Tasir, Ridin, and Kashar. The wars and power struggles between these cities make up Hyperborea’s heroic and mythological age, which ended (in theory, although much of what comes later is probably pretty mythical as well) when Nirus, king of Midhoth and a military genius, conquered the other six cities and became the first King of Hyperborea. Nirus was a totalitarian despot and was much despised by everyone; however, the few rebellions attempted during his rule were quickly put down by the elite warriors he had trained. Twelve years into the reign of Nirus, Mt. Yaanek, a massive volcano in the center of the Hyperborean lands, began an eruption, devastating the area. Nirus called upon all the priests of the land to appease the volcano god, but none were successful. In desperation, he sent envoys to the wisest and holiest man in Hyperborea, Kadham, a priest from Tasir who, after speaking out against Nirus’ reign, had suffered attempts on his life and fled to the Cold Waste. Kadham categorically refused to help Nirus, saying that the eruption was divine justice against his brutal regime. Nirus, in desperation, offered to abdicate the throne in Kadham’s favor if he could stop the eruption. Kadham agreed. Journeying with two acolytes to the foot of the mountain, Kadham left them at its base and entered the volcano through a hidden cave. There, he navigated a terrible labyrinth until he arrived at the Heart of Yaanek, a massive natural cavern in the center of the mountain where the volcano god’s presence was strongest. When the mountain heard Nirus’ promise, it immediately promised to stop the eruption. Further, it gave Kadham the Tablets of the Law, which would create Hyperborean society for the next four millennia, and gave him the honorific Ragum, meaning Lord of the Stone. The year in which this occurred is designated as S1, the beginning of the Hyperborean year system, and corresponds to 3898 BC.Upon returning to Midhoth, Kadham forced Nirus to make good on his promise, and banished the despot to the Cold Waste, where he eventually repented of his ways shortly before his death. Kadham then completely reorganized Hyperborean society. He denied requests from the cities to regain their independence, but destroyed the position of King, replacing it with the Elder and tempering it with the Council. He set a strict but open moral code – punishing corruption without being puritanical – and enforced it with grim determination. In the last few years of his life, Kadham directed the construction of a new capital at the foot of Mt. Yaanek, which he named Thulel. Aside from the creation of the government, Kadham is also credited with inventing writing, composing the classic Hyperborean script which has seen few variations to the present day.