Goodman Games

I'm wondering if any of you have noticed connections between the many tropes of Appendix N pseudo-history and the teachings of Theosophy. You can, in my opinion, clearly see such analogues in Howard's Hyperborea: the fall of Atlantis, various relict races, etc. I'm just curious if anyone else has noticed and explored these.

mattstaggs wrote:I'm wondering if any of you have noticed connections between the many tropes of Appendix N pseudo-history and the teachings of Theosophy.

I always thought Michael Moorcock's fantasy showed the Anthroposophical influence of his Steiner/Waldorf education.

--Tonik

I must not have been paying attention in English Lit class somewhere along the line. The words mostly look familiar but I have no idea what any of it means.

Tropes are styles or patterns or stereotypes, I think. What is "Theosophy"?

My best guess is that you're wondering if many Appendix N stories use a history similar but not exactly the same as ours?

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that Howard's Conan word was "Hyboria", not Hyperborea. (As in "The Hyborian Age.") There was a nation of Hyperborea somewhere in the NE section of the map but the world was Hyboria, unless my brain has totally cramped up on me.

mattstaggs wrote:I'm wondering if any of you have noticed connections between the many tropes of Appendix N pseudo-history and the teachings of Theosophy. You can, in my opinion, clearly see such analogues in Howard's Hyperborea: the fall of Atlantis, various relict races, etc. I'm just curious if anyone else has noticed and explored these.

Good call Mattstaggs!

The first time I came across the word theosophy was in a Clark Ashton Smith letter. I never really thought much about it, but now that you mention it, it might be worth taking a cursory look at it for inspirational purposes.

mattstaggs wrote:I'm wondering if any of you have noticed connections between the many tropes of Appendix N pseudo-history and the teachings of Theosophy.

Definitely. Chaosium even published a volume of Blavatsky as part of its Call of Cthulhu Fiction series: