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.

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.

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.

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