Horseclans

[Mighty Darci]

GURPS Horseclans

GURPS Horseclans

GURPS Horseclans is a role-playing worldbook, one of the first that was published for the GURPS game system. Horseclans was a science fiction series by Robert Adams, set in a North America that had been thrown back to a medieval level by a nuclear war.

GURPS Horseclans is a GURPS supplement describing the milieu of the Horseclans, a postholocaust world of barbarian nomads. The book includes the history and background of the future world and the land of Mehrikah, plus rules for creation of Horseclans characters, numerous psionic abilities, and mass combat. This setting is based on Robert Adams' Horseclans novels.

Horseclans is set about a thousand years in a post-apocalyptic future after the collapse of our present civilization (apparently by a nuclear war). The setting's technology is primitive, but with some remnants of "magical" higher technology mostly in the hands of a cabal of pre-catastrophe technologists who have a way to transfer their minds from old bodies to new. They are opposed mainly by a small group of Undying, individuals who don't age and are very hard to kill.

GURPS Horseclans: Roleplaying in Robert Adams' Barbarian Future was written by Steve Jackson and Jerry Epperson, with a cover by Ken Kelly, and was first published by Steve Jackson Games in 1987 as a 96-page book.

GURPS Horseclans was one of the earliest licensed properties produced by Steve Jackson Games.

See also GURPS Bili the Axe - Up Harzburk! a Horseclans Solo Adventure Campaign.

Bili the Axe – Up Harzburk! is a solo scenario for use with GURPS Horseclans, in which the hero is warrior Bili the Axe, and the scenario follows him through four years of campaigning in the Middle Kingdom. The book includes new combat rules, including combat with animals.

Bili the Axe: Up the Harzburk! was written by W.G. Armintrout, with a cover by Ken Kelly, and was published by Steve Jackson Games in 1988 as an 80-page book.

Bili the Axe, as an adventure for GURPS Horseclans, was one of several adventures for the GURPS line, most of which were solo adventures, following the trends of MicroQuests for The Fantasy Trip.

Bili the Axe was recalled by the publisher due to an error that makes the scenario unplayable. The book is notorious for having been printed with a serious error in the numbering of the paragraphs, making it virtually impossible to play the adventure as designed. When Steve Jackson Games discovered the error, it recalled and destroyed all available copies. The adventure has never been republished, and the few copies that were bought in the brief period it was available have become rare collector's items.

[George Smith]

Horseclans

The books mainly concern the doings of the "Horseclans", a nomadic people originating from the "Sea of Grass"—the Great Plains from present-day southern Canada to central Texas, and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, post-apocalyptically. The Horseclansmen were portrayed as fierce, noble and often gifted with telepathy, which came in handy for their dealings with their horses and "cats"—sabertoothed tigers that had been revived by scientific means in the years before the nuclear war.

Some people, including the Horseclans' founder and mentor-figure, Milo Morai, were "Undying"—effectively immortal or at least unaging and almost impossible to kill by means other than suffocation, drowning and decapitation. The Undying were also sterile, which was a source of anguish for some of them.

The known Undying were:

Milo (who did not know his own age due to amnesia caused by a head wound in 1936),
Bookermann (once a German cavalry officer),
Mara (an Ehleen noblewoman who marries Milo),
Aldora (an orphaned Ehleen girl taken in by one of the Horseclans),
Demetrios (the Ehleen High Lord and the only Undying to perish during the course of the books),
Drehkos (Nobleman of Morguhn involved in the Great Rebellion),
Tim and Giliahna (the children of a Horseclans chief) and
Neeka (an Ehleen physician who later also marries Milo).
In addition, Bookerman mentions two other Undying, one of whom he claims is dead.[1]

Although not among the Undying, two other major characters are extremely long-lived, Hari Krooguh being almost two hundred years old when last mentioned in the books and Bili Morguhn, aka Bili the Axe, remaining active until his death from bear-inflicted injuries at the age of almost a century. In addition, both Hari and Bili possess extraordinarily strong mental powers of telekinesis and illusion (as does Aldora).

The Horseclans looked down on "dirtmen", or farmers, and by extension all non-nomads, although they later resettled on the east coast. Many "Dirtman" communities were descended from odd, out-of-the-mainstream groups of Americans, and often had religious beliefs that were unpleasant at best.

The main civilization in North America during most of the books is that of the "Ehleens"—a conglomeration of Greek-speaking Mediterranean peoples who had invaded the eastern half of North America and set up kingdoms. The main Ehleen kingdom, Kenooryos Ehlas (New Greece), was dominated by a thoroughly corrupt, debased version of the Greek Orthodox Church, and the conduct of whose rulers was, in some ways, also reminiscent of Hellenistic kings.

Other peoples the Horseclans dealt with were "Ganiks", "Mehrikans", and "Ahrmenee". The "Ganiks" were degraded descendants of hippie communes, whose religion of "Orghanikonservashun" (organic-conservation) forbade them to eat animal meat (but not human meat; Ganiks were enthusiastic cannibals), bathe, or hot-work metal (due to the pollution caused by burning coal).

"Mehrikans" were descendants of present-day Americans. "Ahrmenee" were descendants of present-day Armenians living in the Appalachian Mountains.

In a similar fashion to the world of Robert E Howard's Conan and of Jack London novels, civilization is seen as having a softening and corrupting influence in comparison to the hardy Ahrmenee and the Horseclans, although not to the extent that they outweigh the peace and prosperity that Milo and others work towards.

[George Smith]

The timeline of the series does not strictly follow the order of the series' publication, although there are times when the series sticks with the flow of the events for three or four books before going to another point in history. Several of the books consist mostly of flashbacks to earlier eras, including events prior to WWIII and even pre-WWII times. With few exceptions, no specific dates are given for events in the alternate history, although from time to time the author gives clues that allow reasonably certain dates to be calculated. The action appears to proceed along the following lines:[2]

1980: WWIII. The aftermath, and dwindling of the remnants of civilization, continue for decades. Over the course of the next fifty years, Milo Morai develops the Horseclans people and leads them from being bomb-shelter refugees through a stage of subsistence farming, leading eventually to self-sufficient nomadism. Milo encounters Clarence Bookerman (Horses of the North).

~2030: Morai and Bookerman part, after a dispute over the merits of Nazism. Bookerman gives Morai advice that enables him to awaken his latent mental talents (Horses of the North). Bookerman wanders throughout the former United States, travels to Europe, and there, believing the former US eastern seaboard to be mostly uninhabited, initiates the two Ehleenee invasions.

The Horseclans later encounter and ally with the prairiecats (The Clan of the Cats), and acquire the ability to communicate telepathically with their horses (Horses of the North).

The Horseclans develop into their final plains-dwelling form. During this period the events of A Man Called Milo Morai, The Memories of Milo Morai, and A Woman of the Horseclans take place.

~2370: Morai leaves the clansmen in order to find a rumored settlement of Undying.

~2570: After two centuries of searching worldwide, Morai concludes that there is no community of Undying anywhere on earth. He returns to the Horseclans, and finding them living as he had left them, leads them on their prophesied migration to Ehlai (The Coming of the Horseclans).

The clans cross the Mississippi river (Horseclans Odyssey).

2593: The political merging of the Horseclans with Kehnooryos Ehlas is completed, creating the Confederation (The Coming of the Horseclans).

Blind Hari Krooger, tribal bard for decades, departs the Confederation to live again on the Sea of Grass. He takes many of the prairie cats with him. While travelling, he encounters the Teenehdjook, who overcome their customary distrust of humans and help him, and in turn he awakens their powerful mental abilities.

~2633: A Witchman, taking control of High Lord Zastros of the Southern Kingdom, leads a massive army against the Confederation. The army is defeated, Zastros and the Witchman controlling him are slain, and the dukes of the Southern Kingdom agree to join the Confederation. The rampant corruption of the Ehleenoee Church is laid bare, and the High Lord of the Confederation breaks up its control (Swords of the Horseclans).

The dukes of the southern kingdom work to rebuild their duchies (Trumpets of War).

Another Witchman, in the body of a young Ehleenee man, gains control of the aging commander of the Southern Kingdom army, and through him almost brings the duchies to revolt. The commander is slain and the Witchman is forced to return to the Witch Kingdom (Madman's Army).

~2949: The Great Ehleenee Rebellion: Witchmen infiltrate the Ehleenee Church and through it cause an uprising. The uprising is put down (Revenge of the Horseclans, A Cat of Silvery Hue, The Savage Mountains).

~2950: The Witchmen foment discord between the Ahrmehnee and the Confederation, prompting the latter to invade. After consulting the Silver Lady, the Nakharah (chief) of the Ahrmehnee learns that warring against the Confederation will result in the virtual extirpation of the Ahrmehnee race. He wisely merges the Ahrmehnee stahn with the Confederation. According to the Silver Lady, this happens about 12000 moons (~970 years) after WWIII (The Savage Mountains).

Bili Morguhn and his mixed force of Confederation nobles and Freefighters, still in Ahrmehnee lands at the end of the brief war between the stahn and the Confederation, are cut off from the Confederation by a massive volcanic eruption caused by the Witchmen's meddling. They encounter and ally themselves with the Moon Maidens and some Ahrmehnee. They are then approached by the Kleesahks representing Prince Byruhn of New Kuhmbuhluhn, and soldier on his behalf, defeating bands of Muhkohee raiders and immigrating Skoshuhns. The Skoshuns and Kuhmbuhluners form a political union—a republic—with a Kleesahk as one of their chief advisors (The Death of a Legend, The Witch Goddess, Bili the Axe, Champion of the Last Battle).

~2980: The widow of the duke of Sanderz-Vawn tries to murder her stepson in order to have her son installed in his place. The plan is thwarted, and the stepson and his sister are found to be Undying (The Patrimony).

~3030: Bili Morguhn, Prince of Karaleenos, gets the bad end of an encounter with a bear while hunting. He lingers for several weeks, during which he re-lives the memories of his youth, and then dies (The Death of a Legend, The Witch Goddess, Bili the Axe, Champion of the Last Battle).

[George Smith]

It is a shame that Robert Adams died in 1990 at only 56 years old. He could have been writing for another 20 years if he reached the average lifespan.

[George Smith]

The Horseclans Page

Kingdoms and Peoples

The Ahrmehnee
are descended from the Armenian-American community in the Washington, D.C. region. They established a sovereign state of their own during the aftermath of WWIII, which kingdom had a period of great prosperity, then decadence and collapse. They were subsequently pushed into the Appalachians by the Ehleenee incursions. Their presence in the series is the result of RA's great respect for the Armenian people.

The Confederacy
is the result of the Horseclans invasion of Kehnooryos Ehlas in the first book of the series. Originally intent on taking territory for the Horseclans, Milo Morai discovers the Ehleenee High Lord to be an Undying, and instead they arrange for a political merger. Later the Southern Kingdom, after a disastrous attempt to conquer the Confederacy, merges with it instead. The Confederacy later gains the Grand Duchy of Kumbuhluhn as a member state, along with Karaleenos, the Isles of the Sea Lords and later still the Ahrmehnee territory. To make sure that the Confederation is less vulnerable to ethnic discord, Milo Morai purposefully encourages the mixture of the differing ethnic groups within the Confederation, and discourages the formation of political movements that strive for any concept of racial purity. He is also keeping technological progress between extremes, kicking it to run more quickly when innovation slows, but inhibiting the premature introduction of 20th-century inventions. At the end of the timeline in the series, the Confederation is comprised of over six hundred duchies, grouped into one hundred archduchies and a number of principalities. The duchies themselves are divided into counties of various size. There are vague hints that at some point in the future the Confederation will be cease to exist as a political unit due to some kind of disaster, with a second Confederation possibly being established on the West Coast, but if this is the case it is at a point in time far later than the events in any of the novels.

The Ehleenee
are a group of Greek-speaking peoples that colonized the eastern coast of North America in two separate landings, led by Clarence Bookerman. Initially a very martial people in the Homeric tradition, over time they (especially the nobility) became decadent, depraved, and corrupt, although a minority of Ehleenee maintain the old virtues. The Northern Ehleenee have one kingdom, known as Kehnooryos Mahkedohnya (New Macedon, located in the New England area), while the Southern Ehleenee dwell in several kingdoms, known as Kehnooryos Ehlas (New Greece), Karaleenos (probably the Carolinas), and the Southern Kingdom (Georgia and Alabama).

The Freefighters
are the main mercenary forces in the Horseclans novels, deriving their names from the fact that unless they are already under contract, the are free to be hired by anyone with enough cash to pay them. Most of them are gentlemen or commoners of the Northern Kingdoms. Many of them are initiates of the Sword Cult.

The Ganiks
also known as Muhkohee, are the descendants of some flower children who have converted the environmentalist viewpoint into a religion. They are divided into pacifist farmers and the thugs who prey on the pacifist farmers (and everyone else). They are depicted as savages, with cannibalism, incest, and mental instability being common. Evidently Robert Adams didn't like hippies very much.

The Horseclans
also known as the Kindred, are a tribe of nomads descended from some teenagers that Milo Morai adopted shortly after WWIII. As a rule the Kindred are lightly complected, small in stature and light in frame, have strong mindspeak, and are experts in archery and horsemanship. Their language is the Horseclans dialect of Mehrikan (American English). After a few centuries of guiding the Horseclans, Milo Morai left them and travelled the world, searching for a reputed enclave of Undying. After two centuries of fruitless searching, he returned to find the Horseclans essentially the same as when he had left them, and led them to the east coast of the former United States of America to establish a promised realm there.

The Kleesahk
are a race of hominids who are real instances of the Sasquatch/Bigfoot legend. Powerfully telepathic, they are associated with the Ganiks, and are often called such. The Kleesahks are actually a hybrid of human Ganiks with a hominid species known as the Teenehdjook; when the Kleesahks are first encountered by Bili, their leader is unaware of any extant pure-blood Teenehdjook. The Kleesahks are sometimes sterile, otherwise they are able to interbreed with humans.

The Middle Kingdoms
also known as the Burkers or the Northern Barbarians, are descendants of US citizens who survived WWIII. They occupy what seems to be the Pennsylvania area. There are several Burk kingdoms, including Pitzburk, Harzburk, Getzburk, etc. The Burkers are always fighting among themselves, which is the only thing keeping them from overrunning the entire continent...

The Moon Maidens
are a sub-group of Ahrmehnee who occupy a hold in a volcanic valley bordering on the main Ahrmehnee territory. Their society is a strict matriarchy (ruled by a Council of Grandmothers), in which men have been reduced to slavery. The women are either lesbian or celibate, having carnal relations with men only for reproductive purposes. After the Witchmen loot their hold and trigger a volcanic eruption that utterly destroys their entire valley, the Silver Lady instructs the Maidens to abandon both their lesbian and matriarchical ways, and marry into a group of Freefighters and Confederation soldiers that they encounter.

Prariecats
are the successful result of a 20th-century program to recreate the sabre-toothed tiger. They are strongly telepathic, and as a result are allied with the Horseclans.

The Sea Lords
are the descendants of a faction of Ehleens who, after coming out on the losing side of a civil war, took ship for the Bermudas and established a community from which they raid the Eastern Seaboard.

The Undying
are a group of human beings who are able to regenerate quickly from almost all injury, are immune to all diseases, and after a certain point in adulthood do not age at all. There are several known ways to kill them, but an Undying that is careful can avoid them and in theory live forever. The only other drawbacks to the Undying life are sterility (see Miscellaneous Information below), and the various effects of immortality on social relations with normal humans. During the novels that are set in the time frame of the Confederacy's existence, Undying are offered the position of High Lord or High Lady of the Confederacy, with the exception of Clarence Bookerman. All known Undying are of the Homo sapiens species, which is odd considering that animals outnumber humans by a few orders of magnitude, and also that the relative complexity of the human body would make it the least likely candidate for biological immortality.

The Witchmen
are a group of 20th-century humans who have managed to extend their lifespans by transferring their minds to young, healthy bodies as their current bodies grow old. They possess much of the knowledge that was lost in WWIII, but lack an industrial base of sufficient size to fully capitalize on this advantage. They are behind much of the political trouble that Milo faces throughout the series.

The Zartogahns
are the descendants of African-Americans who occupy a group of sovereign states called the Black Kingdoms that appear to be located in the Baltimore-Philadelphia-New York region. None of the military action in the book involves the Black Kingdoms, and the narrative suggests that none of the rulers of the Black Kingdoms have any apparent interest in ruling non-black peoples, or vice-versa. In the series medicine is practiced by a guild of Zartogahn physicians, and with one exception all of the Zartogahns encountered are members of the Physicians' Guild. They speak one or more daughter tongues of Arabic and are practicing Muslims.

[George Smith]

The Religions

Throughout the Horseclans novels there are several religions that spring up. Some are descended from modern-day religions, while others are innovations by Robert Adams.

The Blue Lady
is a religion of the Northern Kingdoms. Its tenets and practices are left undescribed, except that the worshippers are all women. It is a derivative of Catholic mariolatry.

The Ehleenee Church
is the descendant of the Greek Orthodox Church. Robert Adams portrays them in a manner not too different from the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages, both in the degree of corruption and the extent of political involvement. In Swords of the Horseclans and Madman's Army there are positive portrayals of Ehleen clergy, but for the most part they are presented as hypocrites, ideologues, fanatics, etc. Due to the rampant corruption in the Church, it is bereft of much of its secular holdings at the end of Swords of the Horseclans; the discontent this causes in the clergy makes them manipulable by the Witch Kingdom, which foments the Great Ehleenee Rebellion, using the Ehleenee Christians as tools. After the rebellion is put down the Ehleenee Church is outlawed.

Islam
is represented by the Zartohgahns, and especially by their guild of physicians. Robert Adams presents Muslims either neutrally or positively, but appears to know nothing about Islam beyond what is portrayed in popular media. Except for the jihad and the prohibition against alcoholic beverages, none of the tenets pertaining to Islam are mentioned in the novels, not even Ramadan or the five daily prayers, which are not trivial omissions by any means!

Organic Conservationism
is the religion (and way of life) practised by the Ganiks. It is 20th-century environmentalism taken to the extreme. Devout Ganiks do not bathe, eat the flesh of any warm-blooded animal (except humans), forge metal, etc.

Protestant Christianity
still survives in post-WWIII America, due to the large number of antebellum adherents, as well as a disproportionately high survival rate among some fringe sects. RA had a severe bias against Protestant Christianity; its spokesmen are never portrayed positively, and followers only when they are skeptical.

The Silver Lady
is the religion of the Ahrmehnee, including the Moon Maidens. The usual ceremonies involve raising the celebrant to an ecstatic vision, usually through the use of drugs; the celebrant (whether male or female) experiences carnal relations with the Lady, and then receives guidance from her. A lapse in the worship of the Silver Lady is given as the fundamental cause of the downfall of the original Ahrmehnee kingdom. In the novels the Silver Lady is an actual being of some sort, and claims to be a manifestation of the deity of all true religions (in which group Adams includes Islam and excludes Christianity). She is able to show the celebrant visions of the past, other places, and possible futures, depending on the choices taken by the viewer.

A correspondant informs me that the worship of the Silver Lady is also a derivation of the veneration of Mary; a bit of artistic license is involved here, as the Armenian church presently does not venerate Mary, and even if it did, going from present-day Mariolatry to the depicted form of worship is a greater leap than fifty generations of cultural evolution can naturally bring about. The pre-Christian rites practised by Armenians did resemble the Silver Lady cult to some degree, although Adams was not aware of this when developing the concept.

Sun and Wind
are revered by the Horseclans. Aside from cremation of the dead and a few expletives peculiar to the faith, there are no rituals associated with this reverence.

The Sword Cult
is the chief religion of the Northern Kingdoms, and especially of the Freefighters (a self-governing body of professional mercenaries). The cult is organized into lodges, enshrouds many of its practices in secrecy, and enforces a strict code of honor for its adherents.

[George Smith]

Mindspeak is the term applied in the series to the entire range of telepathic abilities. Mindspeak is highly regarded in some cultures, and in others it is regarded with fear. The abilities employed in the series include:

Mindspeak, when not referring to the entirety of telepathic powers, refers to direct mind-to-mind communication. It is the most frequently used power in the series, and in fact is used at some point or another in each of the novels. In the series, prariecats, horses, donkeys, killer whales, several species of mustelids, and both humanoid species are known to have mindspeak of greater or lesser degree.

Farspeak is the ability to speak telepathically over long distances. Milo Morai is considered to have weak farspeak ability, but is able to communicate up to ten miles.

Mind reading is available to virtually everyone with mindspeak ability.

Mind shield is the ability to block a mind reading attempt. A mindshield can be pierced against the will of the target person, but it takes a mind far more powerful than the target to accomplish this. Although a few individuals without mindspeak ability are taught how to erect mindshields, as a general rule people without mindspeak are easily read by mindspeakers of even minimal power. Attempting to read a shielded mind is described as like running head-first into a brick wall.

Fargather is the ability to detect nearby minds without any sensory assistance. It is an exceptionally rare talent.

Illusionism is the ability to cause another person to experience illusions that appear to be fully real to all five senses. Only a few people exhibit this ability in the series.

Merging allows two beings to merge their minds to a degree, allowing one to employ the telepathic abilities of another, or to experience what the other is seeing, feeling, etc.

Healing operates on the theory that the mind has greater control over the body than is generally believed, so that a properly-influenced mind can control and accelerate the healing processes. Only the Kleesahks exhibit this power during the series.

[mao]

Bump is also part of the extrazaganza