The Hyborian Age

The essay reconstructs a fictional prehistoric epoch in which advanced Thurian civilizations coexist with Atlantean, Lemurian, and Pictish peoples; a catastrophic cataclysm sinks continents, reshaping coastlines and isolating peoples. Survivors scatter: some civilizations perish, others regress into stone-age cultures or become enslaved by older races. Geography shifts create jungles, lakes, and mountain barriers, producing ape-like savages and new barbarian nations. Over centuries, former empires crumble, barbarism spreads in the west while isolated remnants persist in the east and south, and varied human and pre-human groups evolve divergent societies that form the patchwork setting for later tales.