*Z*

Zabhela:---a city on the coast of Kush. Caravans left there for interior points, including Sukhmet. (Red Nails)

Zaheemi:---a clan living on the southern edge of the Kothian Escarpment, charged with guarding the eastern caravan route to Khoraja through Shamla Pass. (Black Colossus)

Zahmann:---a Corinthian city-state lying in the Karpash Mountains between Koth and southern Corinthia. A Kothian exile named Zahmann built a fortress upon a mountain pass that lies between Koth and Corinthia. Although several leagues to the north, it is the closest city to the pass leading from Ophir to Zamora. (Conan the Barbarian #250, "Chaos Beneath Kuthchemes", by Roy Thomas)

Zalgara, Hills of:---a range of rounded highlands marking the eastern and part of the northern boundary of Valusia. (Shadow Kingdom, Skull of Silence, Riders Beyond the Sunrise)

Zamanas Mesa:---a high, flat plateau located in the hills of southern Koth. The mesa has a most ancient and evil reputation. Two dolmans of pale stone are found at the center of the mesa. The mesa is actually a gigantic, chultholic rock-lizard. (Conan the Renegade)

Zamatra:---a city of Zamora, it lies 30 leagues north of Arenjun. (Conan the Barbarian #216, "Shape in the Shadow", by Gerry Conway)

Zamballa:---a small tribal nation south of Darfar. Conan's warrior-mage friend, Zula, was a prince of this tribe. (Conan the Barbarian #85, "Of Swordsmen and Sorcerers", by Roy Thomas)

Zamboula:---a major trading center situated in the Kharamun Desert. When Stygian invaders first came to it, it was a small oasis. The Stygians built it into a great city, peopling it with their own citizens, transplanted Shemites, and Kushite slaves. Turan later conquered it and in Conan's time was the westernmost outpost of the Turanian Empire, ruled by a satrap. Zamboula lay within a ring of oases and served caravans from all directions. (Shadows in Zamboula, Black Tears, Treasure of Tranicos)

Zamindi:---a village on the road from Shadizar to Yezud, in Zamora. It is famous for the horses it breeds. (Conan and the Spider God)

Zamora:---an eastern kingdom founded by the ancient Zhemri people several thousand years before the Age of Conan. (The elephant-being, Yag-kosha, said the Zamoran race was pre-Cataclysmic.) The nation was southeast of Hyperborea, east of Brythunia and Corinthia, north of Koth, and west of the Turanian steppe. On its eastern boundary were the Kezankian Mountains, beyond which were marches nominally subject to Zamora but increasingly nibbled away by Turan. The Karpash Mountain range lie on the western border and a small, worn range rose on the southern border. Their passes were usually blocked by snowfall and spring rains. Zamora always placed a crude fort at the approaches to its mountain passes for tariffs and protection. The capital of Zamora, Shadizar, was on the Road of Kings, principle trade-route of the Hyborian world. Zamora was an ancient and peculiar kingdom. It was an absolute despotism in young Conan's time, the king dominated by a sorceror. The main religious faith was the cult of the Spider-God Zath, centered at Yezud. Zamora was founded by the Zhemri about the time that Hyperborea the Elder was overthrown by the Ęsir. Hyborians conducted slave raids into Zamora in the early days, but they never managed to seize the government. After the Age of Conan, Turan conquered Zamora; then the Aquilonians drove the Hyrkanians out, assumed control, and levied increasing amounts of tribute. After the Aquilonian debacle, Hyrkanians once again overran Zamora. This time they consolidated their gains by settling refugee Zingarans as a loyalist element among the conquered People of the Spider-God. (Hyborian Age I-II, Tower of the Elephant, Hall of the Dead, Queen of the Black Coast, Shadows in the Moonlight, Black Sphinx of Nebthu, Road of Eagles, Bloodstained God, Hand of Nergal, Black Colossus, Conan and the Spider God, Conan and the Amazon et al.)

Zamorian Marches:---lands on the border between Zamora and the Eastern Desert, nominally subject to Zamora but eventually conquered by Turan. (Hand of Nergal)

Zaporoska River---a major watercourse flowing westward from the interior of Hyrkania to the Vilayet Sea. Its mouth lay amid thick swamps just north of Yuetshi lands. It is presumed that the Zaporoska had its sources in the western heights of the Talakma and Himelian ranges. Denizens of the Zaporoska Valley were sturdy folk who wore fur caps. They were friendly to Vilayet pirates, who sailed up the river to defend their settlements from Hyrkanian raiders. A major pirate stronghold was hidden in the reeds where the Zaporoska met the Vilayet. (Road of Eagles, Devil in Iron, City of Skulls, Conan of the Isles)

Zaporozhets River:---a shallow Hyrkanian river. (Conan - Scourge of the Bloody Coast)

Zardas:---located at the crossing of two roads just north of the border between Koth and Khauran. Built next to a small river, it is a large cattle market. (Conan and the Amazon)

Zarfhaana:---a minor pre-Cataclysmic kingdom, lying east of Valusia. (Delcardes' Cat, Riders Beyond the Sunrise)

Zariri:---a tribe of the southwestern Iranistani desert. They are bitter ancestral foes of the Kaklani. (Conan and the Shaman's Curse)

Zarkheba River:---flowed into the Western Ocean in southern Kush. Its waters were poisonous. The City of the Winged One stood on its bank. (Queen of the Black Coast)

Zati:---also known as "Stone Island", Zati is a sheer pillar of rock jutting out of the Southern Ocean. It lies to the west of the island of Arawu. It is on Zati where the Kezati Hordes nest in large caves. Nothing living grows on this island because of the Kezati. (Conan and the Shaman's Curse)

Zelata, Cave of:---a cavern in eastern Aquilonia inhabited by a seeress, Zelata. It was situated just west of the Nemedian border on the rough southern pass route to Tarantia. (Hour of the Dragon)

Zembabwei:---or Zimbabwe, a powerful black kingdom lying south and east of Punt. It was ruled by Twin Kings and had everglade flatlands in the north, merging into thick tropical jungle toward the south and east. The upper Styx formed its western boundary; a large river in the northeast and barren plains in the south are presumed to delineate other frontiers; while in the east its lands stretched to the Southern Ocean shore. Zembabwei's Northern Capital was its major trading center. To the south stood Forbidden City or Old Zembabwei, a religious and administrative center closed to foreigners. Zembabweans were great traders and potential empire builders among their weaker neighbors to the west, who were justifiably suspicious of the glittering entrepreneurs who built fortresses at the same time as trading posts. The Zembabweans worshipped Set, the Serpent-God under the name of Damballah until Conan interfered in their affairs. (Jewels of Gwahlur, Black Sphinx of Nebthu, Red Moon of Zembabwei, Shadows in the Skull)

Zhagg of the Black Desert:---an ancient city that existed at a time when Atlantis was a chain of unvegitated, smoking volcanoes. It is located on the site of present day Shahpur. (Conan and the Manhunters)

Zhaibar Pass:---an important gap in the Himelian Mountains through which goes the road leading from Peshkhauri in Vendhya towards Mount Yimsha and Hyrkania. (People of the Black Circle)

Zhaibari:---a tribe of Ghulistan living in the region of the Zhaibar Pass. They were allied to the Kshatriya warriors of Vendhya and defended the pass against Wazuli bandits. (People of the Black Circle)

Zhamakand:---an onion-domed city in the foothills of the eastern Colchian Mountains, this Hyrkanian city is rumored to be the site of a legendary hidden treasure. (Conan the Savage #5, "Swords of Zhamakand", by Roy Thomas)

Zheman, Fort:---the site of a Turanian garrison that lies between the foothills of the Ilbars Mountains and the hills north of Haruk. (Conan the Valiant)

Zhemri:---a very ancient remnant people of non-Valusian origin, perhaps Grondarian, first evident about 500 years after the Cataclysm, when they lived among the low mountains of the Southeast. About the time that the Hyborians began to move southward, the Zhemri had become a hybrid race through intermarriage with unknown peoples, most likely Dagonian refugees. They prospered and multiplied, eventually establishing the kingdom of Zamora sometime before the overthrow of Hyperborea the Elder. Later, the Zamorians intermarried with the Hyborian Brythunians; but they resisted encroachment by Hyborian kingdoms around them and were a firm despotism by the time of Conan. (Hyborian Age I, Tower of the Elephant, Hall of the Dead)

Zhurazi Archipelago:---a group of islands in the eastern Sea of Vilayet consisting of two main islands plus many smaller islets. They were said to lie southeast of Aghrapur. There was a long, narrow strait between the two large islands. The archipelago had an evil reputation and was supposed to be the haunt of demons. On the northern island, yellow-skinned natives worshipped a lizard-god. The ragged coastline of the eastern mainland lay fairly close to the Zhurazis. (Return of Conan)

Zikamba River:---a watercourse of the Black Coast, flowing into the Western Ocean. Its mouth lay almost directly east of the Nameless Isle. (Conan the Buccaneer)

Zimgas, Cave of:---home of a magical creature called a "watcher", it lies in the Rabirian Mountains of northern Argos. (Conan the Guardian)

Zingara:---a non-Hyborian (according to Howard) nation situated south of the Bossonian Marches of Aquilonia and Pictland, west of Poitain and Ophir, and north of the panhandle of Argos. The Black and Thunder Rivers flowed through Zingara and emptied into the Western Ocean along the Zingaran coast. The shallow Alimane River formed the border with Poitain. Along the Pictish frontier there were thick woodlands and a spur of the Poitainian Mountains. The Rabirian Mountains ran along the Alimane and separated eastern Zingara from the kingdom of Argos. A ghoul-haunted forest, with an ancient, ruined city, divided Zingara from Argos in the south. There were also "fiend-haunted swamps". The nation was founded by people who were an admixture of Zingg Valley folk (said by Howard to be possibly of Shemite origin), invading Picts, and Hyborian tribes. Most historians place the Zingarans among the Hyborian peoples. The Zingarans were apparently agricultural, maritime, and pastoral, ruled by petty princelings only nominally subservient to the capital of Kordava. During Conan's time, Zingara was torn by civil war. Conan commanded a privateer of Zingara for a time, before becoming king of Aquilonia. His royal successors had no trouble annexing the nation, but the proud Zingarans never ceased to rebel. They threw off Aquilonian rule when the Empire was distracted by wars with Nemedia. Later, invading Picts conquered Zingara, only to be displaced in turn by Nordheimr swarming south during the last great glaciation. (Hyborian Age I-II, Queen of the Black Coast, City of Skulls, Hawks Over Shem, Road of Kings, Witch Shall Be Born, Black Colossus, Beyond Black River, Hour of the Dragon, Red Nails, Treasure of Tranicos, Scarlet Citadel, Conan the Buccaneer, Conan of the Isles)

Zingg Valley:---a fertile area between the lower Black and Thunder Rivers, protected by mountains, first home of the ancestral Zingarans. (Hyborian Age I)

Zothique:---also called Mayapan, the continent that lies to the west of Antillia. Zothique possesses a level of civilization comparable to the Hyborian kingdoms, although it is rumored to enjoy a higher level of necromantic sorcery. (Conan the Savage #10, "The Necromancers of Na'at", by Roy Thomas)

Zotoz:---a village of the uplands of Argos, it lies on a small river across from the city of Athos. (Red Sonja vol.1 #3, "Games of Gita", by Roy Thomas and Clara Noto)

Zuad, Lake:---a body of water in northern Kush, near the border with Stygia. It was the first home of the Tlazitlans. (Red Nails)

Zuagir:---a numerous and aggressive Shemitic nomad tribe of the Eastern Desert. They were accustomed to raid the caravans moving from Hyborian lands to the south and east, and even penetrated into Khauran. Conan led a band of them when he was about 30. Among the bands mentioned are the Dniri, Duali, Kharoya, and Qirlata. (Bloodstained God, Hawks Over Shem, Witch Shall Be Born, Flame Knife, Red Nails, Shadows in Zamboula, Return of Conan, Conan the Marauder, et al.)

Zuagros:---a city of the desert west of Zamboula, mentioned as Conan's destination in the first draft of Shadows in Zamboula, but discarded by the final draft. (Hyborian Names)

Zucarla:---a city-state that lies in the mountains of southern Zamora. (Red Sonja vol.3 #3, "Siege", by Tom DeFalco)

Zug:---a presumed place in the Far East that was the center for the fearsome worship of the Yezmite god Zug. (Flame Knife, Black Colossus)

Zumba:---a dark and hardy tribe living on the Great Savanna. They farm the land and raise goats. Their villages are small and mean, but their songs and dances are excellent. (Conan and the Treasure of Python)

 

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10/23/98