*V*

Valadelad:---a coastal town of Zingara. Conan burned the town prior to the sinking of his ship by the Zingaran Navy. The town appeared in the first draft of Red Nails, but was subsequently discarded. (Hyborian Names)

Valamo:---located in the far eastern reaches of Hyperborea, on the distant borders of Hyrkania. A skillful teacher of swordcraft lives here. (Conan the Barbarian)

Valdover:---a remote Zingaran city-state nestled high amid the towering peaks of the Rabirian Mountains. The city is built along the shore of Lake Aoi. (Conan, "Return of Sturm", by Matt Nixon)

Valkia, Valley of:---a valley and presumed river in eastern Aquilonia, some 10 miles from the Nemedian border. It was the site of a great battle lost by Conan's army. More mountains lay west of it. (Hour of the Dragon)

Valbroso, Castle of:---a Zingaran fortress standing on the deserted short route from Poitain to Messantia. (Hour of the Dragon)

Valusia:---westernmost kingdom on the Thurian continent during the pre-Cataclysmic times, so called Land of Enchantment. It was apparently the wealthiest and most sophisticated of the continental nations of that era. Valusia was also the most ancient of the human pre-Cataclysmic kingdoms. It was young when Atlantis and Mu were mere islands of primitives. The ancestors of the Valusians came from the Far East, warred with a pre-human race of serpent-folk (the old ones), and set up their empire in western Thuria. By Kull's time, the nation was degenerate, ripe for a barbarian usurper. Eventually, Kull of Atlantis became its king. His capital city, also called Valusia, was known as the City of Wonders. Mountains stood on the southern frontier of Valusia, where a colony of Picts had been established to serve as a buffer "against foreign invasion". These became Kull's confederates. Valusia waged constant war against Commoria and its other neighbors. Nameless Isle, in the Western Ocean of Conan's time, is supposed to be a "remnant" of Valusia. It can hardly have been part of the mainland, but we may assume it was an island possession. Howard says little about the fate of the Valusians after the Cataclysm; yet the considerable population of this nation and its neighbors can hardly be assumed to have vanished utterly. We must assume that the post-Cataclysmic peoples, their civilization all but destroyed, became the "aboriginal tribes" whose genes mingled with those of the later migrants. Howard's declaration that the pre-Cataclysmic people descended to "apish savagery" may be construed metaphorically. Small groups of Valusians or other peoples, retaining some part of their erstwhile culture, may have served as the nuclei for the pre-Hyborian nations of Corinthia, Koth, and Ophir. (Hyborian Age I, Hand of Nergal, Castle of Terror, Conan the Buccaneer, Flame Knife, Conan of the Isles, Exile of Atlantis, Shadow Kingdom, Delcardes' Cat)

Vanaheim:---westernmost of the nations of the Far North, lying west of Asgard and North of Cimmeria and Pictland. It was a somber country, mostly a bleak tundra plain that was snow-covered through the long winters. Swampy taiga forests probably clothed its high southern regions thinly. Glaciers crept down from the Eiglophian Mountains in the south and the Blue Mountains on the frontier with Asgard. Far to the north were more mountains, crowned with a permanent ice cap that grew larger as the climate changed. Fierce storms came from the Western Ocean as well as the icy north. The most felicitous part of Vanaheim as far as human needs were concerned lay along the western coast. There were numerous villages there where the people eked out a living by beachcombing, fishing, and hunting marine and land mammals. Children collected seabird eggs from the rugged cliffs of the seacoast. The lands there were less barren of life than those of the interior were since the sea moderated the climate. The Eiglophian uplands of southern Vanaheim evidently harbored a considerable population, because Cimmerians and Ęsir conducted raids there. Legends said that Ymir, the frost giant, lived in the northern mountains of Vanaheim. He was the popular deity of the nation. By the end of the Hyborian Age, Vanaheim would be swallowed by the last great continental glaciation. Ultimately, it was submerged beneath the waters of the Norwegian Sea. (Hyborian Age I-II, Frost Giant's Daughter, Treasure of Tranicos, Phoenix on the Sword, Conan the Buccaneer, Return of Conan, Conan and the Treasure of Python)

Vanara:---a province of ancient Valusia. (Riders Beyond the Sunrise)

Vanetta:---a Brythunian village laying at the foot of the Karpash Mountains, beneath Neg's Temple. The locals tended to call it "Rain Town", though others further away called it Necromancer's Hold. (Conan the Defiant)

Vanir:---or Vanr, the people of Vanaheim. They were tall, brawny, blue-eyed and had mostly red hair, quite similar in type to their blonde eastern neighbors, the Ęsir. The Vanir were probably descendants of the people of pre-Cataclysmic Thule. Their god was Ymir, the frost-giant. In order to survive in their hostile environment the Vanir honed their aggressive tendencies to the ultimate, making a religion out of battle. Their economy was based on hunting and collecting; but the people were most expert at preying on other human beings. Although many of their villages were on the coast, they did not venture far out to sea. We may assume that they had skin coracles or kayaks; but the splendid long ships of the historical Norsemen had not yet been invented. The Vanir were always fighting with the Ęsir and the Cimmerians. The latter, whose territory abuts Vanaheim at the Eiglophian Mountains, endured constant Vanir predation. Conan was born on a battlefield during a Vanir raid on northwestern Cimmeria. The Picts, whose lands meet Vanaheim further west, apparently did not suffer so much from northern attacks. They stayed in their thick forests, which probably made the tundra-dwellers nervous. The Vanir were never as numerous as the Ęsir. Nevertheless, they took an active part in the Nordheimr invasions that occurred long after the Age of Conan, contemporaneous with the last continental glaciation. The Vanir helped enthusiastically in the dismemberment of the Pictish Empire. They rampaged along the Pictish Coast after the ice covered their fatherland, and reached Zingara. More Vanir adventurers moved southward to Stygia, where they led the slaves in a revolt. The redheaded Pharaohs of historical Egypt are supposedly descendants of these Vanir. Northern Vanir became the ancestors of the Danes. (Hyborian Age I-II, Frost Giant's Daughter, Queen of the Black Coast, et al.)

Varakiel, The:---an area of forest, grainfields, and pasturelands bordering the edge of the Varakiel Marshes in northeastern Nemedia. (Conan the Warlord)

Varakiel Marshes:---a great swamp that stretches from northeastern Nemedia towards the Brythunian steppe. It is impassable by foot, and is considered a desolate, legend-haunted place. (Conan the Warlord)

Varanghi:---a clan of Taia. (Conan the Rebel)

Vareth:---a province in eastern Koth, it lies to the east of Tantusium province. It contains the medium-sized garrison for a legion of Imperial soldiers. (Conan the Renegade)

Vargs:---a tribe of several midget clans living in Zamora off the Shadizar Road. They have mottled-green skin, and are cannibalistic swamp dwellers. (Conan the Formidable)

Varhia:---a border-village that lies between the city-states of Ghaza and Kyros in the meadowlands of Shem. (Conan and the Grim Grey God)

Velitrium:---a settlement in the Westermarck province of Conajohara, 19 miles from Fort Tuscelan. It was a market center and the site of a great battle fought by Aquilonia against the Picts in which Conan demonstrated his abilities as a general. (Beyond Black River, Treasure of Tranicos)

Venarium:---a frontier settlement of Aquilonia, built by Gundermen in the southern part of Cimmeria. Conan helped other Cimmerians sack it when he was about 15. (Thing in the Crypt, Beyond Black River, Return of Conan)

Vendhya:---an ancient and prosperous eastern kingdom having a tropical climate, situated approximately in the area of modern India. To the north was the titanic massif of the Himelian Mountains, its inhabited area known as Ghulistan to the Vendhyans. To the west was the minor kingdom of Kosala, dominated to a great extent by its larger neighbor. East of Vendhya were the mysterious lands of Uttara Kuru and Kambuja. To the northeast, beyond mountains and deep jungles, lay Khitai. Vendhya has wide expanses of rank forest where no man ventured lightly, and the few of those who did ever returned. It was a fairly self-contained land of great richness. It had a well-developed agriculture, a textile industry, and an abundant supply of precious minerals. It probably produced valuable spices, drugs and cosmetics. We may presume that its population was still within optimal bounds. In Conan's time the nation was ruled by a Devi, or queen, whose power base was a noble caste of warriors, the Kshatriya. Factions of sorcerors menaced the throne. Vendhya was also lusted after by the Turanians, who sent their Hyrkanian armies over the passes on occasion. (City of Skulls, Conan the Victorious, Conan at the Demon's Gate, Witch Shall Be Born, Flame Knife, Conan and the Shaman's Curse, People of the Black Circle, Return of Conan, Conan of the Isles)

Vendhyan Sea:---a little-known sea that lies between the southeastern world-continent and the Unknown Land. (Savage Sword #190-193, "Skull on the Sea", by Roy Thomas)

Vendishan:---a province and/or city of Ophir. (Conan the Rebel)

Venji:---the native inhabitants of the country of Venjipur. (Conan the Hero)

Venji River:---the main drainage system of the country of Venjipur, it runs from its source in the Colchian Mountains to its delta on the Gulf of Tarqheba. (Conan the Hero)

Venjipur:---the Turanian name for the remnants of the Venji Empire, Venjipur is a rainy, jungle country lying on the Gulf of Tarqheba. It is located east of Iranistan and south of the Colchian Mountains. Before the Turanian's abortive attempt to annex the country, Khitian immigrants dominated Venjipur politically and economically. The country's main export consists of trade in hemp and extracts of purple and red lotus. The main southern caravan route from west of Iranistan to Vendhya runs through here. (Conan the Hero)

Venjipur City:---the administrative center of the country of Venjipur, it lies on the Gulf of Tarqheba. Before the Turanian invasion, this city was the capital of the Venji Empire and it was named Tarqheba. (Conan the Hero)

Venzia:---a seaport of Argos, having canals. (Marvel Feature Red Sonja #6, "Beware the Sacred Sons of Set", by Roy Thomas)

Verulia:---a pre-Cataclysmic kingdom, adjacent to Valusia. (Hyborian Age I, Swords of the Purple Kingdom)

Verunians:---a tribe of Hyperboreans living in the Eiglophian Mountains of the Border Kingdom. They were constantly fighting off attacks from a cannibalistic tribe of relict pithecanthropoids who lived in caves among the heights. (Lair of the Ice Worm)

Vesci:---a peasant town of western Corinthia. (Conan Annual #11, "Bride of the Oculist", by James Owsley)

Vezek:---a Turanian outpost in the Eastern Desert, where caravans paid toll. We have placed it south of fort Wakla, on the cutoff route below the main road to Aghrapur. (Witch Shall Be Born)

Vidara:---a Hyrkanian city that lies in the hill-country between Dimmorz and Balkhana. It is populated by Corinthian expatriates. (Savage Sword #173, "A Tomb for the Living", by John Arcudi)

Vilayet Sea:---a landlocked body of water, presumed fresh, some 2000 miles in length and averaging 300 miles in width. It had numerous islands, especially in the north and south, mostly uninhabited. Among those treated in the Saga were the Isle of Iron Statues, Xaper, the Aetolian Islands, and the Zhurazi Archipelago. Four great river systems drained into the Vilayet. They included the Nezvaya in the northwest, the Ilbars in the west, the Zaporoska in the southwest, and the Yldrys in the east. Minor rivers emptying into the Sea included the Yelba in the southwest, the Akrim in the far southeast, and the Zaporozhets in the east. Streams from the mountains of the north and northeast, where aboriginal peoples and gray apes dwelt, must have also drained into the Vilayet. The shores of this sea were very mountainous in the north. But a corridor must have existed in the far north, which was passable to Hyrkanian horsemen--probably only in the winter when the swampy forest and tundra were frozen. After the Age of Conan, Hyperborea and other Hyborian nations were invaded from this region. Along the western Vilayet shore were the major Turanian ports-- Maypur, Sultanapur, Aghrapur, and Khawarizm. There were marshes north of the lower Ilbars. South of Aghrapur, the Misty Mountains stretched for some 500 miles, petering out in the hills of the Yelba valley around Khawarizm. Then the Colchian Mountains arose near the shore and curved around the southern end of the Sea. There were more marshes along the southern coast. The Akrim Valley was inhabited by the Yuetshi people. Northward, along the eastern shore, there were buccaneer retreats around the swampy mouth of the Zaporoska. Onagrul, originally a Turanian seaport, was a large pirate stronghold. The Turanian ports of Khorusun and Rhamdan serviced the Silk Road to the East. North of them were small Hyrkanian city-states that suffered depredations not only from Turan, but also from the hordes of the interior. There was some traffic from these northern ports across the Vilayet, but it was fraught with danger from both the pirates who ranged up and down the eastern coast and the sudden storms that seem to blow up out of nowhere. Turan was the mistress of the Vilayet Sea, but its navy continually had to beat off forays by the buccaneers. North of the Hyrkanian city-states the coastline is low, flat and featureless, with no shipping or sign of habitation. The coast is a labyrinth of estuaries, mudbanks, and tongues of sodden grass, beyond which lies the vast tundra of northern Hyrkania. Anciently, the Vilayet was a string of lakes formed at the time of the Cataclysm. Some time after the main geological revolution, a Lesser Cataclysm formed the basin of the Vilayet, which filled as the warming climate melted the ice of the Far North. The Vilayet shrank in the era after Conan, when the glaciers returned. The modern Caspian, which is salty, is a remnant of the once-mighty inland sea. (Hyborian Age I-II, Shadows in the Moonlight, Hawks Over Shem, Conan and the Red Brotherhood, Conan-Scourge of the Bloody Coast, Road of Eagles, Flame Knife, Devil in Iron, Beyond Black River, Hour of the Dragon, Return of Conan)

Vildar Keep:---a Corinthian stronghold stormed and sacked by Hundolph's Free Companions. (Conan the Renegade)

Virgin's Oasis:---a small waterhole in the desert north of Zamboula. (Conan and the Mists of Doom)

Volsino:---an Aquilonian town on the eastern frontier. (Conan the Bold)

Vos' Fort:---a border fort on Zamora's Eastern Marches. East and south of it lies steppe. Behind it lie the Kezankian Mountains. (Demon Night)

Votantha, Mines of:---a mine set high in the Southern Hills east of Shartoum. A green-glowing, highly radioactive ore is mined from three separate mine shafts spaced several hundred paces apart in the hill canyons. (Conan the Outcast)

 

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03/09/99