Hyrkanian

A people of Lemurian ethnogeny who moved into the arid eastern center of the world-continent long after their chain of islands sank during the Cataclysm. They freed themselves from servitude in ancient Khitai and began to dominate the steppes and deserts west of the Great Wall. Eventually, some of these northern Lemurians invaded the western reaches of the continent and became the ancestors of the Acheronians. Others stayed in the Hyrkanian steppe, apparently living in enclaves among the many aboriginal tribes, until after the establishment of the Hyborian Kingdoms. Then a southern Hyrkanian clan migrated around the southern end of the Vilayet Sea and established the kingdom of Turan. Other Hyrkanians made periodic forays around the northern end of the Vilayet to harry the outposts of Hyperborea; but their raids did not amount to much until after the era of Conan.

In Conan's time, citizens of the Turanian Empire were proud of their Hyrkanian heritage and likely to refer to themselves as Hyrkanians. Wizardry was admired and respected by its inhabitants. They were horse warriors and shrewd traders, defending their caravan cities against all comers and completely dominating the Vilayet Sea. They maintained close ties with the Hyrkanian tribes east of the Vilayet, who were at least nominally part of the Empire of Turan. The Hyrkanians that Conan met were mostly tall, dark and slender. A second racial type was short with epicanthic folds; it resulted from an admixture of the original Lemurian genes with those of aborigines native to the mountains of the northeastern Vilayet shore and the northern taiga. We may also assume that the Hyrkanians shared the genes of other nomadic tribes of the interior, and also those of Khitai. Hyrkanian warriors, who rode sturdy steppe ponies, and majestic Turanian warhorses, were masters of the double-curved bow.