Introduction

INTRODUCTION Introduction

Shem, a nation split by two cultures but united by a common ancestry, is a non-Hyborian land of decadent despots in the west and fierce nomads to the east. This influential nation of over fifteen million people is a powerful commercial engine, drawing in wealth through overland trade via the well-travelled caravan routes that criss-cross the arid deserts and pastoral meadowlands. Trade is the life of Shem and the debauched city-states seem to specialise in their manufacture of goods, living off of the unending camel trains. The luxuriant kingdoms are constantly at war with each other, each trying to steal domination of various trade routes, trying to destroy competition in search of ever elusive monopolies in some good or another. This sourcebook for Mongoose Publishing’s Conan the Roleplaying Game has been researched using the Conan stories of Robert E. Howard first and foremost, followed by the best Conan and Hyborian Age stories by John C. Hocking, L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, Roy Thomas, Sean A. Moore and John Maddox Roberts. The early chapters of the book discuss what being a Shemite is all about, including details of appearance, the role of women, how property is acquired and the social strata of Shem.

The Shemite Military details information about the asshuri and military might of Shem. In the next chapter, Medicine & Health in Shem, sickness and healing in Shem, both for the nomads and the citydwellers, are discussed. This is followed by Shemite Religion which gives a précis on religion in Shem. Sorcery & Alchemy discusses the role of magic in this split nation. Information concerning government and politics, Shemite history, law, military as well as information on the inclusion of Shem in your games can be found in Governance & Law. After that is an expanded gazetteer, building upon the information found in Conan: The Road of Kings. A short chapter on new uses for skills and a few new feats follows. Foes & Fiends is a bestiary detailing Shemite monsters and threats from the stories. The following chapter gives the Games Master a plethora of Non-Player Characters to use in campaigns. The clues and statements about the various nations in the stories and books about Conan and the Hyborian Age serve as a springboard for the imagination. As even a casual perusal of the Hyborian Age shows, these are not stagnant cultures, forever framed by a single phrase in a story. These cultures and kingdoms should live and breathe. Borders should change and waver. Every Games Master should not fear to put a bit of themselves into this world. Take Howard’s seeds and see what grows from your own imagination. Not everyone’s Shem needs to be the same, with the same borders and culture. If you want Shem to wipe Stygia off the map, then do it. If you want Asgalun to burn to the ground, then let it burn.

As you know, good Alcemides, the countries of these barbarians are divided into a western meadowlands which stretch to the distant ocean, and in which rise the cities of the towndwellers, and the eastern deserts, where the lean nomads hold sway; there is incessant warfare between the dwellers of the cities and the dwellers of the desert.

Robert E. Howard, A Witch Shall Be Born