Except for the one line in the old Dragon Annual. That one I know.
Cheers
Nell.
Per Zavoda's index, you've found the only official reference.
There are about 20-ish references in Morgan's Greytalk archive.
According to google at http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=hyperborea+greyhawk&btnG=Google+Search the only fan stuff looks like it was on the Codex of GH. There are some other pages and what-not among the 37 search results, but most seem to be references to PC games, CAS' Hyperborea, and some DVDs and MUDs.
Lastly, you may find some of the discussion over here (about Conan's Hyboria and Hyperborea) of vague interest, too: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158333
Cheers!
Nell.
:-)
Nell.
Could you quote that article here? It doesn't sound like one I've read :D
A Brief Overview of Hyperboria
by Jim Lanter
The northern continent of Hyperboria is a harsh environment. The weather is never truly warm and can be cold enough to freeze a person in minutes during the deepest part of evernight (as the time without sun is known). Geography of this northern land is bizarre. Along the coast, in a some places are icy beaches where during the warmer months, the landscape thaws and becomes a verdant tundra, a serengeti of sorts. More than half of the coastline consists of treacherous cliffs where the glaciers of the interior meet the ocean. Most of the interior is locked in the grip of an ice age and is a vast sea of rolling snow dunes. Winds here can top 100 miles per hour in the dead of winter, for in the center of the continent, at the north pole of Oerth, is Vinterhuld, the abode of the North Wind. This vast sea of snow and ice is pierced in many places by mountain-cloaked valleys known as the rifts. These can range in size from only a few miles in length and half a mile wide to broad areas equal in size to some of the countries of the eastern Flanaess.
Coastal Plains
As noted above, these wind-swept icy expanses become the bread-basket of the continent during the "summer" months. These areas hold the largest forests and the widest grasslands on the continent. Consequently, in the warm times, large numbers of animals wander the territories, feeding and being fed upon.
It should be noted that these are not the creatures found in most of Oerth, but rather throwbacks to a previous epoch, a time before humanity had awakened and the elves were young. As such, beasts long extinct in most of the world that dwarf their modern day descendants such as woolly mammoths and mastodons, giant sloths and gargantuan hairy rhinos can be found in abundance. Let the curious and adventuresome be warned that their ancient predators like cave bears, hyenadons and saber-toothed tigers also abound. In the winter, some of these predators and a majority of their prey hibernate; the remaining beasts are driven by hunger to attack anything edible (in game terms, morale = 16-18).
The plains are really the only places visited by neighboring lands of the Oerik Continent and Fireland. Even these excursions are infrequent; in the winter, the place is inhospitable and stalked by desperate predators. With the warming comes a great increase in the number of icebergs, even the smallest of which can grind a ship to tinder.
The Interior
The Ice Sea as the interior known is a challenging milieu. Nevertheless, this harsh landscape is far from lifeless. During the period of the midnight sun, herds of the ice divers comb in a whale-like manner the vast fields of algae and micro-organisms that thrive under the unrelenting light. When the sun is at its apex, hibernating groups of fish known as shiversides (similar to the lungfish of Earth) awaken to feed and reproduce. Groups of larger herbivores occasionally emerge from the rifts to browse the short-lived fields of highsun roses and slow root that blossom during this period. Birds migrate from the south to take advantage of both the abundant flora and fauna. However, only the ice divers forage the equally numerous fields of fungi that prefer the darkness of evernight. As ever-present as the 'divers are the muklings, rodent scavengers who build large, termite-like complexes in the Snow sea. A wide variety of predators cull the herbivore population including saber tooth cats, inland polar bears and winter wolves.
In the icy badlands, few sentient creatures are known to dwell. Among them are the legendary uldra, gnomish servants of the Wind and their companions and mounts, gargantuan Arctic deer. Somewhere in the icy wastes is said to lie the homeland of the Snur Olve, the reclusive Snow Elves. Contact with these fey beings is a perilous proposition for they are the masters of their harsh environment and, with the exception of the Uldra, have little love for other children of Oerth. The greatest peril of this gods-forsaken region are the marauding bands of Durkloks, twisted part-humans who offered themselves into the service of the Dark One, Tharizdun and forever forfeited their souls. They are the masters of stealth and hate all who do not share their damnation, slinking about in the dead of night, searching for victims back to drag back to their subterranean lairs for a cannibalistic orgy.
The Rifts
These regions actually reach the ocean shores, but are cut off from the outside world by glacial floes. The climate here is more clement, being mediated by the proximity to the ocean and a small amount of geothermal activity and these valleys support a wide variety of plant and animal life.
Plants in these regions range from "normal" vegetation to weird plant-fungus symbiotes and carnivorous menaces. Like the coastal plains, much of the indigenous fauna are from a bygone era (see above) and "normal" animals such as deer, antelope, badgers, etc. are rare.
Some realms have found a tenuous hold among the rifts. Communication and trade between these holdings is limited and relies on roving bands of Uldra whose deer-drawn sleds are the only vehicles able to withstand the difficult conditions "topside". During the months of darkness, in addition to diminished food supplies, these communities are subject to raids from desperate predators and marauding Durkloks. Life is indeed difficult for the cultures that have sprung up in these isolated areas and those that dwell here are among the toughest, most self-sufficient in all Oerth.
Originally posted by abysslin
Here you be Grodog. The below is entirely credited to Mr. Jim Lanter. Good work, really.
Thanks abysslin! Well-worth the read!
Ever since Dragon 68 was published, I've itched to run an artic/ice age campaign.
Frost & Fur, a fantasy sourcebook to be published by Monkey God next month, looks nice, too, if you're into these artic environs: http://www.monkeygodenterprises.com/Frost&Fur.html
Originally posted by grodog
Thanks abysslin! Well-worth the read!
Frost & Fur, a fantasy sourcebook to be published by Monkey God next month, looks nice, too, if you're into these artic environs: http://www.monkeygodenterprises.com/Frost&Fur.html
Hey, sorry I didn't post that earlier Gro -- I didn't get a notice there was another message.
I've had my eye on that book for sometime, but I notice the website has it coming out Fall 2004 -- are you sure it's coming out this month?
Cheers
Nell.
/boggle
Originally posted by Gnarley_Woodsman
Bucked!!, Swiped, pilfered, pocketed and in all other ways stolen.
Originally posted by abysslin
Woodsman, are you saying Lanter's or Monkeygod's work is not original?
/boggle
Or was that a statement of your intention to incorporate the whole deal into your campaign, lock, stock and barrel? (I know that I quite freely "borrow" things like this that will fit into my campaign . . . )
I have have read about these snow elves before, does anyone use them in their campaign? Is there any canon reference to them, or is this all just from fans?
I have thought about using them, not as a PC race but as the source of where the valley elves originally came from.
Originally posted by Nellisir
Hey, sorry I didn't post that earlier Gro -- I didn't get a notice there was another message.
No problem.
I've had my eye on that book for sometime, but I notice the website has it coming out Fall 2004 -- are you sure it's coming out this month?
In their message boards, they said it was on preorder @ Amazon @ http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0972819754/michaeltrescaA/102-4021469-0452932
which lists the release date as Feb 2004 :D
Why don't you tell us how you really feel about canon? Gotta say, I love your attitude... :D
Just as there are canon references that I discard (see: Philidor thread) I still attempt to remain pretty true to what the designers envisioned for the setting in general.
If I find a write up that makes a realistic case for "snow" elves living in Hyperborea then I'll probably use it. My inclination is to treat them like grugach that look different, and they won't be available as a PC race.
Several people have placed snow elves on Oerth, and I think the original article gave their place of orign as the Corusks. I always believed they should be linked to the Valley elves (and later, the Rockseer elves) -- human or above human height in elves seems to be a trait endemic to the elven races that were less involved in the war between the drow and the surface elves. If so, the "snow elves" of the Corusk may be an entirely different grouping than the "snur olven" of Hyperborea.
Just thoughts
Nell.
Indeed. As the woodsman is a Ranger/Rogue who will not tell his unwitting adventurers where he procured the information.
Originally posted by abysslin
The article i have is on Shadow Elves, unfortunately.
There are snow elf articles; I'll see if I can't search them out and post links later tonight.
Heres the article from Dragon 155. Google is an amazing tool sometimes.
Here are 3e stats for the Uldra. :-) The original article was in Dragon 119.