No, the model for Howardâs Pict arenât the historical Picts who lived in northern Scotland. Obviously you never read any Conan stories by Howard to say that. Anyway whatever Howardâs model for Picts is, he didnât place their land in a cold area like Scotland. Look at the map of the Hyborian lands to see that most of the Pictish land is hot or warm temperate and only a tiny part bordering Cimmeria and Asgard is cold.
The Picts live mostly along the Western Ocean coast and in the temperate forest toward the middle and south, and the boreal (hence Scotland like) in the north. They are not based on the historical Pict, but the historical Pict would be descended from them. Like the Cimmerians are descended from Atlanteans, and the Celts of mainland Europe are descended from the Cimmerians (Last few paragraphs of REHâs Hyborian Age essay cover this).
As for âPicts live in ice-cold countries, full of snow and frostâ, I cannot see what REH written source lead you to that. âBeyond the Black Riverâ, the fragments of âThe Black Strangerâ, and âWolves Beyond the Borderâ take place in the temperate regions in parallel to the Aquilonian marsh lands of their southern and western borders. With the Picts described as only wearing loincloths and war paint. The Pictish wilderness to the west of Aquilonia is more the Ho Rainforest of the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
As for beast, that would serve for skins in the Pictish wilderness. Well, largest would be the gorillas and sabertooths of the deeper primordial forest, way further in among the Wolf confederation territory. Then there would be the Ghost Snakeâs skins. But all that would be very rare. However panthers, leopards, bears, and other large mammals like exist in the Pacific Northwest of now could most likely be found rather commonly.
Based on what we see of the Pict, in their native environment, and also has mercenaries in the southern areas toward the east (Black Colossus), Iâd imagine they are better predisposed to dealing with hotter climates than cold ones, if I had to pick between the two sources.
Best source would be Robert E. Howardâs âHyborian Ageâ essay for who he saw the Picts in the Hyborian time as, as well as their much earlier in prehistory role in the King Kull stories where they were far more civilized as another source for a deeper back story.
But before the great cataclysm, much of the Picts lived on islands, that were heaved up with the cataclysm to become the new western coast and some mountain regions while Atlantis sank.
Turan are an Hyrkanian tribe that settled south of the Villayet sea, there no sans hot desert there. I didnât read anything asking that to be changed. Obviously it doesnât bother anybody that Hyrkanian armour is against cold not heat. Then why are you so mad the Turan armours, just Hyrkanian people who get dedicated armours, are protecting against cold too?
Itâs perfectly logical and fits the lore. Thereâs no reasons for the Turan to change their armours design just because amongst all the land they conquered to build their empire, some are hot sand desert. Especially since they donât really control those sand deserts where Zuaguirs nomads roam.
If turan na your opinion Hyrkanian why then do not wear Hyrkanian armor ???
No, their armor is Arbaisch / Persich made for the desert
Why is the robber armor for the desert? because she is silk
eg. The Mongols have adapted to their new home. eg Persia, China, Indin etc.
Turan = desert people
@DethosThePict
Robert E. Howardâs was very historical
You can tell that in books
Because of that, I would say Picts are in the cold to moderate climate at home
I replied with the source on the issue with REHâs specific writings on the Picts. What âbooksâ are you refering to? Also he was inspired by history, and liked writing historical fiction. That said he wrote his Hyborian Age essay to establish his rules and established lore for his Hyborian Age works. You can see this going through his letters with H.P. Lovecract and other Weird Tales authors when he comments why he found writing historical fiction frustrating at times.
Again, if you take âBeyond Black Riverâ, and the fragments of âThe Black Strangerâ, âWolves Beyond the Borderâ you have the deffinative writings of REHâs Picts. Along with the Hyboran Age essay you do not have the vision of the Picts as Arctic or Boreal region dwelling people.
Iâve read all Robert E. Howardâs Conan stories, including the fragments and concepts he wrote that were never published during his lifetime, and iâm reasonably certain that âConan im Piktenlandâ is not one of them. Considering that Howard created his Hyborian Age with attention to detail, it would be unlikely that he wouldâve written such a break in his own continuity and in-world logic.
However. Before creating his Conan the Cimmerian, Howard did write some barbarian fiction, including at least one with a character called Conan. I havenât read that one, but would it be possible that the story you refer to would be one of these pre-Conan Conans?
I must say Iâm a little skeptical, though: what museum would archive a German translation of Howardâs Conan stories?
I just went through the bibliography of Robert E. Howard that has been translated into German and found no mention of such a story. I also googled âConan im Piktenlandâ with no matches.
I admit, my German is somewhat rusty so I may have missed something. Perhaps you could find a source to support this claim?
It might also be that even if the book is a correct genuine one, the translation couldâve deviated from the original message (due reasons), more or less accidentally causing a different universe (timeline shift) to be born in German distribution at that time. Mistakes happen and sometimes creative freedom is a necessity, but this specific situation would be quite something to behold.