Intro | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

This glossary was originally written to allow me to keep track of the characters, names and places in the Hyperborean tales as I added new tales. I felt that it might be of interest to other people, so I've made it available here. It might therefore seem a bit eccentric in places, and propose theories and connections which might not be to everyone's taste. As a Cthulhu Mythos fan I have probably emphasised the Mythos in the Hyperborean tales. I have revised the glossary to make it a more impartial list. I have used L. Sprague de Camp's Hyborian Names (Conan the Swordsman) as a style guide.

The format is something like this: Name - in bold: Story code; description; then in square brackets the creator's name(s). In this last the creator comes first, then anyone who has added substantially to it. If a name comes from another source the original inventor will be credited in brackets. So, for example, a lot of the names used in the pastiches are taken from lists of names made by C.A.Smith but often left unused at the time of his death (a few exceptions do exist, where Smith used names, but failed to cross them off his list and they were subsequently re-used by the likes of Lin Carter). These are credited to smith in the form "[L.Carter (C.A.Smith)]" which means Lin carter introduced them as Hyperborean names but Smith coined them. Some entries are listed as "Eibon, Book of:" rather than "Book of Eibon:".

I have listed all the Hyperborean Tales I know of, and assigned them a code which is used for cross referencing. Although all are listed, I do not have access to all the texts, while others have but newly appeared, so this glossary must needs be incomplete. (maybe a revised version will be needed, once The Book of Eibon is published?).

I have made a distinction between Smiths tales and the pastiches, by calling Smith's tales as "canonical". This is not to denigrate the other tales (I've written a few myself!), but as the original writer Smith's vision of Hyperborea must take precedence over other visions.

A number of creators are credited, but are not listed below. This is because their creations are not wholly Hyperborean. For example I incorperated Andy Bennison's book quote from his role playing adventure "In Your Small Back Corner" (Dagon no.20, 1987) into "The Alkahest", so I have credited his creations without feeling the need to list the adventure. This has happened with other "quotes" by Herber, etc. Likewise Gary Myers mentions the Hyperboreans in passing in a Dreamland tale.

One point: Lin Cater includes many other terms from the Cthulhu Mythos. I have not listed all of these, prefering the "Hyperborean" versions of names, so I'd prefer to use Kthulhut where Carter uses Cthulhu, Yok-Zothoth where he uses Yog-Sothoth. But many terms used by Carter have no known "Hyperborean" equivilant. In these cases I have either listed them or ignored them rather arbiterily. In other cases places from other myth cycles are mentioned, for example Zothique, Shaggai and other planets, the Vale of Pnath, Peaks of Thok and other Dreamland sites, etc. In these cases I have arbitarily left these names out. Anyone wishing to find out the meaning of such terms is directed to Cthulhu glossaries such as Daniel Harms' Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (Chaosium Books, 1995).

Canonical Tales

by Clark Ashton Smith

• CWW = "The Coming of the White Worm"
• DS = "The Door to Saturn"
• FTG = "The Family Tree of the Gods" (and related letters)
• ID = "The Ice Demon"
• MH = "The Muse of Hyperborea"
• SG = "The Seven Geases"
• TA = "The Testament of Athammaus"
• TNG = "The Theft of Thirty-Nine Girdles"
• TSZ = "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros"
• UB = "Ubbo-Sathla"
• WAW = "The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan"
• WS = "The White Sybil"

Non-Canonical Tales

by James Ambuehl

• CCF = "The Court of the Crystal Flame"
• SSG = "The Shadow of the Sleeping God"

by Lin Carter & Clark Ashton Smith

• DA = "The Descent into the Abyss"
• DT = "The Double Tower"
• FS = "The Feaster from the Stars"
• IVP = "In the Vale of Pnath"
• LP = "The Light at the Pole"
• PDW = "The Papyrus of Dark Wisdom"
• SC = "The Stairs in the Crypt"
• SH = "Shaggai"
• SM = "The Scroll of Morloc"
• SP = "The Secret of the Parchment"
• UA = "The Utmost Abomination"

by Lin Carter

• AF = "The Acolyte of the Flame"
• LE = "The Life of Eibon According to Cyron of Varaad"

by Laurence J, Cornford

• ALK = "The Alkahest"
• DR = "The Demon in the Ring"
• FFB = "The Face from Below"
• FL = "The Fear of Liqoimkh"
• HU = "The Haunting of Uthnor"
• OT = "The Offspring of the Tomb"
• SA = "The Sphinx of Abormis"

by Ian Davey

• WH = "The Torturers of Zykakis"

by John R.Fultz

• DSH = "The Devouring of S'lithik Hhai"

by John R.Fultz & Clark Jonathan Burns

• WH = "Wizards of Hyperborea"

by Robert M Price

• ABN = "Annotations for the Book of Night"
• AE = "Eibon Saith: The Apophthegmata of Eibon"
• BB = "The Burrower Beneath"
• GD = "The Green Decay"
• IA = "The Incubus of Atlantis"

by Clark Ashton Smith, Laurence J. Cornford & Richard L Tierney

• UT = "Utressor"