Backstory II
Conan the Adventurer
The saga of 'Conan the Adventurer', which was
popular in Aquilonia during the early days of Conan's ascent to the throne of Aquilonia, is woven from diverse
strands of Conan's earlier careers in and beyond the Hyborian lands. Although it is not an accurate account of Conan's
rise to Kingship, the tales it drew from are mostly true though often altered or presented out of sequence and, more often
than not, out of context to better support the integrity of the saga.
The core of the tale focuses on Conan's second confrontation
with the sorcerer Hissah Zul. These events transpired nearly two decades prior to Conan's actual Kingship of Aquilonia. Conan,
with a handful of faithful Companions, the services of a few ambitious sorcerers and the support of small local militias,
was able to defeat Hissah Zul and thwart his ambitions for global conquest.
Instrumental to Conan's success was the
Skull-That-Talks, a defeated rival of Hissah Zul who was forced to serve the sorcerer as an Oracle from beyond the
grave. The Skull-That-Talks, on discovering that Hissah Zul never intended to allow him to earn back his life through devoted
service, began to support Conan's rebellion, at first covertly. It was the Skull-That-Talks' machinations that led
to Conan's beheading of Hissah Zul with the fabled Sword of Atlantis.
Though Hissah Zul was presumed dead, there
have been numerous instances of his influence interfering in Aquilonia's affairs of late.
The Skull-That-Talks was entrusted to Akiro,
who was unable to help him. They both assisted Conan during his campaign to liberate Aquilonia. On Akiro's retirement the
Skull-That-Talks was brought to Aquilonia for safe keeping, provided with a fortune in rubies by King Conan and allowed
to retire to the Inner Realms where he could work on restoring himself to life.
It has been proposed that the 'Conan the Adventurer'
cycle was commissioned by King Conan himself to celebrate his earlier Companions, all of whom assisted him in his later march
to the throne, and to strengthen Aquilonia's domestic stability by drawing attention away from Numedides' recent depradations
and the blind eyes of the Mitran priesthood during the last king's bloody reign of terror.
