Crom's History of Conan

Know this, O Prince, I am Crom. I am heartless and merciless. I give men the will to fight and nothing else. Those who follow me, I ignore until they prove thier worth to me. Prayers do not concern me, offerings do not sway me.

In Hyboria, I breathed a will into a Cimmerian 18,000 years ago. His name was Conan, but he came to be known by others. This is his Saga.

In the northern hills and mountains, in a land called Cimmeria, so-called barbarians lived and survived in a climate none thought habitable. They were called barbarians by the southern lands who viewed them as unthinking, brutish, uncultured people. However, Cimmerians were underestimated by the "civilizations" of the Hyborean world. Their leaders did not dress in golden robes but in bear skins. Power was not measured by wealth but by the honor in a name and the strength of a clan.

Clans and family units were the equvilants of nations and armies. They were brutes, but only strong hardened people could call those bitter cold mountains home. Kings thought themselves civilized only to turn on a close friend if it served his purpose. Civilization is not pageantry, but honor. (At least from a Barbarian's point of view). In an ironic twist, some Cimmerians considered the southern kings as barbarians.

But let the tale continue....

A cimmerian clan was raiding a vanir camp many years ago. It was pleasing me to watch the battle. I long for the days of valor. The land was soaked red with the mixed blood of Cimmerian and Vanir. Strewn about one particular hill were a dozen vanir dispatched by a lone woman. A lone woman about to bear a child nonetheless. In the midst of that courages battle she dropped and began to give birth to the babe. What babe could be born on a field of honor without my notice? I gave the babe will as I do all. This was the beginning of Conan.Conan's youth was spent in Cimmeria.

He was strong and fierce. His courage flowed from with power that inspired men. Even at that early age, he was respected by his patriarchs. But his spirit could not be contained and his thirst for adventure to quench that which I gave him could never be found solely in Cimmeria. His leaders knew this as well.

In his adolesence, he was captured during a Aesir raid and was sent to the slave pens. Shortly, thereafter, he escaped and was on his way to meet the Thing In The Crypt.

Conan spent many years as a thief in Zamora and Nemedia. He survived with the meager gold that theivery offered him.Growing tired of that precarious life, he soon enlisted in the army of Turan, east of Zamora. Archery and horsemanship were his to learn, and like a born warrior, he became proficient in the native weapons of those people.

After deserting the Turanian Army due to an unconfirmed rondeveous with the Commanding officer's woman, he sought wealth and fame in the west and at sea. When he was captured by the woman who would be his first true love, Belit of the Black Corsairs. The two were the scourge of the Black Coast as they raided many ships and coastal outposts.

But soon Belit died and again Conan wandered alone.

Many times did he hire himself out as a mercenary to armies and kingdoms. He became known for his fierceness in battle and devout loyalty to his comrades. Even I noted the bond that existed between Conan the Cimmerian and Juma the Black. Honor and terror followed the barbarian through the civilized lands like a shadow that covered the land.

Conan had many adventures that carried him all across Hyborea. He made many allies, and deadly enemies. Even Thoth Amon and that accursed Set, who lent his foul reak to stagnate Stygia with black magic, paused and took notice of this man, Conan.

But soon, Conan's destiny sent him to lead a revolt against King Numedides in Aquilonia who, before, had improsoned Conan in his dungeons. Conan won his crown and fulfilled his destiny to be King by his own hand.

But this is not the end of his story. It is just the beginning of his legend.