Theosophy and Appendix N
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- mattstaggs
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Theosophy and Appendix N
I'm wondering if any of you have noticed connections between the many tropes of Appendix N pseudo-history and the teachings of Theosophy. You can, in my opinion, clearly see such analogues in Howard's Hyperborea: the fall of Atlantis, various relict races, etc. I'm just curious if anyone else has noticed and explored these.
- thogard
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Re: Theosophy and Appendix N
I always thought Michael Moorcock's fantasy showed the Anthroposophical influence of his Steiner/Waldorf education.mattstaggs wrote:I'm wondering if any of you have noticed connections between the many tropes of Appendix N pseudo-history and the teachings of Theosophy.
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Re: Theosophy and Appendix N
I must not have been paying attention in English Lit class somewhere along the line. The words mostly look familiar but I have no idea what any of it means.
Tropes are styles or patterns or stereotypes, I think. What is "Theosophy"?
My best guess is that you're wondering if many Appendix N stories use a history similar but not exactly the same as ours?
Oh, and I'm pretty sure that Howard's Conan word was "Hyboria", not Hyperborea. (As in "The Hyborian Age.") There was a nation of Hyperborea somewhere in the NE section of the map but the world was Hyboria, unless my brain has totally cramped up on me.
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Tropes are styles or patterns or stereotypes, I think. What is "Theosophy"?
My best guess is that you're wondering if many Appendix N stories use a history similar but not exactly the same as ours?
Oh, and I'm pretty sure that Howard's Conan word was "Hyboria", not Hyperborea. (As in "The Hyborian Age.") There was a nation of Hyperborea somewhere in the NE section of the map but the world was Hyboria, unless my brain has totally cramped up on me.
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DCC Minister of Propaganda; Deputized 6/8/11 (over 11 years of SPAM bustin'!)
DCC RPG playtester 2011, DCC Lankhmar trivia contest winner 2015; OD&D player since 1975
"The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own."
-- Gary Gygax
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!"
-- Dave Arneson
"Misinterpreting the rules is a shared memory for many of us"
-- Joseph Goodman
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Re: Theosophy and Appendix N
Good call Mattstaggs!mattstaggs wrote:I'm wondering if any of you have noticed connections between the many tropes of Appendix N pseudo-history and the teachings of Theosophy. You can, in my opinion, clearly see such analogues in Howard's Hyperborea: the fall of Atlantis, various relict races, etc. I'm just curious if anyone else has noticed and explored these.
The first time I came across the word theosophy was in a Clark Ashton Smith letter. I never really thought much about it, but now that you mention it, it might be worth taking a cursory look at it for inspirational purposes.
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Re: Theosophy and Appendix N
Definitely. Chaosium even published a volume of Blavatsky as part of its Call of Cthulhu Fiction series:mattstaggs wrote:I'm wondering if any of you have noticed connections between the many tropes of Appendix N pseudo-history and the teachings of Theosophy.
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