These are the basic Runequest Culture types.
These represent what one might find available to a starting character. Mostly it won't affect a starting character too much. Some are listed below
This describes non-civilized peoples who typically live as nomadic hunter-gatherers. These societies use stone, bone, wood, and animal products for tools, weapons, armor, and shelter, and live in non- hierarchical communities. Some are warlike, others are not.
Italicized entries are only present in metal-using primitive cultures, such as Cimmeria. Such cultures typically only use copper or bronze in making tools, but some iron may also be utilized. In metal-using primitive cultures, wooden, stone, and bone tools are still the norm.
Weapons
Short Self-Bows, Long Self-Bows, Recurve Short Self-Bows, Recurve Long Self-Bows, Primitive Crossbows, Wooden Arrows, Bamboo Arrows, Arrowcane Arrows, Stone-tipped Arrows, Bone-tipped Arrows, Blunted Bird-arrows, Wooden Bolts, Bamboo Bolts, Arrowcane Bolts, Stone-tipped Bolts, Bone- tipped Bolts, Stone Axes, Bone Axes, Stone Daggers or Knives, Bone Daggers or Knives, Wooden Spears or Javelins, Stone-tipped Spears or Javelins, Bone-tipped Spears, Primitive Tridents, Wooden Staffs, Wooden Clubs, Bone Clubs, Blowguns, Darts, Boomerangs, Bolas, Slings, Rocks and Stones, Nets, variety of Traps.
Metal Daggers or Knives, Metal Hand Axes, Metal Axes, Metal Short Swords or Machetes, Metal Long Swords, Metal Clubs or Maces, Metal Warhammers and Mauls, Metal Flails, Metal-tipped Arrows, Metal-tipped Bolts, Metal-tipped Spears.
Armor
Leather or Hide, Thick Leather or Hide, Studded Leather (bone, shell, or wooden studs), Plated/Scaled Leather (bone, shell, or wooden scales), Wooden Shields, Hide-covered Wooden Shields.
Studded Leather (metal studs), Rarely: Chainmail or Ringmail, Scalemail, small pieces of Platemail
Cultures
Asgard, Cimmeria, Darfar, Hyrkania, Keshan, Pictland/Pictish Wilderness, Vanaheim.
Copper Age/Bronze Age:
This refers to societies that have discovered metal working through copper. Some of these societies have also developed smelting, which allows them to make bronze, an incredibly strong and durable metal.
Weapons
All weapons in previous tech levels, Short/Long Self-Bows, Short Composite Bows, Crossbows, Slings, Blowguns, Small/Large Broadhead Arrows, Small/Large Bolts, Stones, Darts, Hand Axes and Adzes, Axes, Battle Axes, Daggers and Knives, Short Swords, Sickles and Sickle-swords, Staffs, Clubs, Maces, Flails, Spears, Poleaxes and Halberds, Scythes, Tridents, Throwing Knives and Axes.
Armor
All armor in previous tech levels, Leather, Thick Leather, Studded Leather, Chainmail/Ringmail, Scalemail, Platemail, Wooden Shields, Round Shields, Crescent Shields, Kite Shields.
Cultures
Kush, Punt, Shem, Stygia, Zembabwei.
Societies that are similar to ancient Greece and/or Rome culturally and socially. Sometimes these societies have iron working, but more regularly use bronze and copper.
Weapons and Armor
Same as Copper/Bronze Age Cultures, except that Iron weapons and armor are rare but present.
Cultures
Argos, Corinthia, Khauran, Koraja, Koth, Ophir.
Societies that are similar to the nations of medieval Europe, the Middle East, and/or Asia. These societies have discovered the use of iron, and sometimes smelt iron into steel.
All of the medieval/iron age cultures of the Hyborian Age are technologically equivalent to the Early Middle Ages of European history. Thus, unlike the Late Middle Ages, platemail, scalemail, and chainmail are still extremely rare, and there are no gunpowder weapons. This list below is almost identical to the list in the section above. This is because the weapons and armor found in Iron Age societies is almost identical to that of Copper/Bronze age societies, except that iron and steel and the dominant metals. Some specialty items may be found in certain societies that are more advanced, like rapiers in Zingara, on a case by case basis.
Weapons
All weapons in previous tech levels, Short/Long Self-Bows, Short/Long Composite Bows, Crossbows, Slings, Blowguns, Small/Large Broadhead Arrows, Small/Large Bolts, Stones, Darts, Hand Axes and Adzes, Axes, Battle Axes, Daggers and Knives, Short Swords, Sickles and Sickle-swords, Long Swords, Staffs, Clubs, Maces, Flails, Warhammers and Mauls, Spears, Poleaxes and Halberds, Scythes, Tridents, Throwing Knives and Axes.
Armor
All armor in previous tech levels, Leather, Thick Leather, Studded Leather, Chainmail/Ringmail, Scalemail, Platemail, Brigandines, Jack-of-Plate, Wooden Shields, Bucklers, Round Shields, Crescent Shields, Kite Shields, Tower Shields.
Cultures
Afghulistan, Aquilonia, Border Kingdom, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Iranistan, Kambuja, Khitai, Kosala, Kusan, Meru, Nemedia, Turan, Uttara Kuru, Vendhya, Zamora, Zingara.
Aquilonia, Argos, Brythunia, Corinthia, Iranistan, Kambuja, Khauran, Khitai, Koraja, Kusan, Meru, Nemedian, Ophir, Shem, Stygia, Turan, Uttara Kuru, Vendhya, Zamora, Zembabwei, Zingara
Afghulistan, Asgard, Border Kingdom, Cimmeria, Hyperborea, Kush, Punt, Vanaheim
Darfar, Keshan,Pictland
Hyrkania
Culture: Barbarian
Technology: Iron Age/MedievalDominant
Deities: Asura, Kali, others
Afghulistan lies in the southwestern foothills of the Himelian Mountains, north of Kosala and west of Vendhya. It is inhabited by warlike tribes of mountaineers who raid the northern reaches of Vendhya for spices and gold. Meant to represent Afghanistan
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Mitra, Asura, Ibis
Symbol of might in the Hyborian Age, Aquilonia with her legendary armies of Bossonian archers, Gunderland pikemen and Poitanian knights, wields indisputably the supreme military power of the Western world. More than any other kingdom, however, Aquilonia lies surrounded by grim and unrelenting enemies, especially those primitive peoples so ruthlessly oppressed by this empire. Aquilonia is modeled after medieval France.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Classical/Roman
Dominant Deities: Mitra, Bel
The major sea power of the Hyborian Age, proud Argos sweeps the western sea from Vanaheim to the Black Kingdoms. Wealthy beyond its size, Argos seldom lacks for funds either to war or to weave far reaching webs of intrigue as the situation dictates. Natural enemy of Zingara. Argos is modeled after the seafaring Mediterranean peoples of Classical times.
Culture: Barbarian
Technology: Primitive with metal working (mostly iron)
Dominant Deities: Ymir the Frost Giant
Blonde reavers of the icy north, the mailed warriors of the Aesir are held in check only by their equally ferocious kin the Vanir to the west, the grim Cimmerians southward, and by arcane Hyperborea to the east. Asgard is modeled after the Scandinavian/Viking societies of the early middle ages.
Culture: Barbarian
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Various gods
Serving as a buffer state between Nemedia and Brythunia and the more savage people of the north, the Border Kingdom was probably the last Hyborian nation to be founded. The country also served as a trade route for merchants trying to avoid the strict taxes of Nemedia. A sad wilderness with deserted, disconsolate marshlands. Meant to represent the German Baltic Sea Coast.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Mitra, Wiccana
Brythunia is a land of plains and horses, its people a culture of hunters and farmers, ranging their wide, flat lands ahorse and unfettered. The Brythunian army carries forward this heritage with a large contingent of disciplined cavalry regiments. Still, Brythunia is split and scattered into small, widely dispersed fiefdoms. Modeled after medieval Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
Culture: Barbarian
Technology: Primitive with metal working (mostly iron)
Dominant Deities Crom, Lir
Grim. Moody. Grey skied. This is the land of Crom amid hills and mountains. A warrior race, the Cimmerians are descendants of ancient Atlantis and only slowly being forced again into the ways of civilization after contact with the Hyborian kingdoms. Many Cimmerians hate civilization and defend their primitive way of life to the death. In battle the Cimmerians are unmatched in the darkly wooded hills of their homeland; few are the invading Aquilonian, Pictish, or Nordheim warriors who return from this grey land. A legacy of hatred runs strong amongst Cimmerians for their long time enemies, the Picts. Cimmeria is modeled after the Celts, Welsh, and Highland Scots of the Iron Age.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Classical/Roman
Dominant Deities: Ishtar, Pteor, Bel
Secure behind high mountain passes lie the city states of Corinthia. Corinthians are notable for their highly disciplined battle phalanxes and fearsome weaponry, including halberd and pike. Despite their prowess with polearms, the fractured city-states of Corinthia all pay tribute to mighty Koth. Classical mainland Greece inspired this nation.
Culture:Primitive
Technology: Primitive
Dominant Deities: Yog
The sharply filed teeth of the Darfar warriors haunt the dreams of even the boldest warriors who have faced them in battle. The Darfar are actually composed of a mix of various tribes, the Ghanata slave lords and the masked Tibu tribes foremost amongst them. Darfar gains its name from the scattered cannibalistic grassland tribes which most often provide the drive and leadership for Empire. Modeled after Sudan.
Culture: Barbarian
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Louhi, Bori
Cold and heartless, Hyperborea is ruled by grim, gaunt, albino nobles and by sorcerously powerful witch- women. Safe within their high stone keeps on the snowy Hyperborean plain, the Hyboreans wield power far beyond their meager resources and small army. This fortress of arcane power in the north is a spiteful foe to Aquilonia and quite possibly the most dangerous kingdom of the Hyborian Age. Modeled after Finland, Russia, and the Baltic countries of the middle ages.
Culture: Nomadic
Technology: Primitive with metal working (copper, some bronze, some iron)
Dominant Deities: Erlik, Tarim, ancestor worship
Nomadic horse tribes of the interior steppes, uncivilized in all but the arts of war at which they excel. The Hyrkanians move upon a shifting sea of unrest as turbulent as the fiery ponies upon which they ride. The Hyrkanian tribes war constantly amongst themselves, but when united under a great chief, they destroy armies as swiftly as their horse-archers can race across their endless flatlands. Trained from childhood in horse and bow, the Hyrkanian cavalry has been called with good reason the finest horse- archers in the world. Modeled after medieval Mongolia.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Various gods
The golden land south of the Ilbars mountains is widely, albeit sparsely inhabited. Ancient and rich, Iranistan uses the Afghuli and the Ilbars hillmen as border defenses to turn back the swift horse-archers of their long standing foes in Turan and Hyrkania. Iranistan is modeled after medieval Iran.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Ganesha
Ruled by the god-king of the Scarlet Circle, deep in the jungle-girdled city of Angkhor crouches the hungry kingdom of Kambuja. The Kambujans are forever locked in war with neighbouring Khitai, whose great wizards, the dragon-sons, also contest on an arcane level. The Kambujan host fields huge war elephants, relied upon to smash the formations of Khitai in battle. In reverence to these magnificent animals, the Kambujans pay tribute and worship to Ganesha, the great elephant-headed demon god. Modeled after Cambodia/Kampuchea.
Culture: Primitive
Technology: Primitive with strict hierarchy
Dominant Deities: Gwahlur, Dagon, Derketa
A kingdom of barbaric splendor, the Keshans are led by nobles and religious leaders who claim descent from the great people of Alkmeenon. Keshan also has a well-drilled army patterned after the Stygian military organization. Stygian troops often raid into northern Keshan for slaves and sacrificial victims. Punt is Keshan’s long standing and hereditary enemy. Modeled after Kesh, the area of Egypt around the Nile.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Classical/Roman
Dominant Deities: Shemitish Pantheon ( Ishtar, Pteor, Bel, Nergal, Set, Tammuz, Ashtoreth)
Rich in fertile meadowlands and at the center of trade in the Hyborian world, Khauran is a petty kingdom of abundant wealth. Khauran is well ruled by nobles of Kothic descent. The Khauranian nobles disdain the use of horse but hire mercenary cavalry troops as needed. Khauran is vassal to Koth. Modeled after Syria?
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Yun
An ancient empire, stronghold of the world’s greatest wizards and masters of the eastern world, Khitai has a powerful army and a strong leadership based in Paikang, Shu-Chen and Ruo-Chen. Khitai is forever at war with Kambuja to the south, whose god-kings vie with them for supremacy in the arcane mysteries of the Scarlet Circle. Modeled after feudal China.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Classical/Roman
Dominant Deities: Mitra, Ishtar
Blessed with excellent leadership, a highly diverse and well trained army, a fertile land, and a location central to the rich southern and eastern trade routes, Khoraja is powerful beyond its tiny size. Khoraja is a vassal to Koth. Modeled after the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Yajur
The Kosalans are an ancient race, decadent but not grown soft. They are devoted to the worship of the god Yajur and their armies are an arm of that god's religion. The Kosalans are aided by ancient magics and a fanatical if untrained populace, ever willing to fight and die in battle. Kosala shares old ties with Vendhya through intermarriage and treaty, and can expect no invasions from that quarter. Modeled after the ancient Indo-Aryan kingdom Kosala.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Classical/Roman
Dominant Deities: Ishtar, Bel, Set
Once the mainland of the forgotten empire of Acheron, Koth is now ruled by the mad Emperor Strabonus. While Khauran and Khoraja are historical vassals of Koth, Strabonus has also forced Ophir and Corinthia to pay tribute. It is whispered that the Emperor dabbles in forbidden magics to fulfill his ambition: to restore the fallen empire of Acheron. Modeled after the ancient Hittites.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Gods of Khitai
The westernmost Khitan kingdom, Kusan relies upon her excellent ambassadors and diplomats (easily the most adept politicians of the age) at least as much as upon her armies. Modeled after the Kushan Empire.
Culture: Barbarian
Technology: Copper/Bronze Age
Dominant Deities: Set, Jullah
Kush is a semi-civilized nation of pugnacious southerners. Proud Kush is seldom raided, the Stygians usually preferring to take their slaves from weaker Darfar or Keshan. Modeled after the kingdom of Kush, Nubia.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Yama
Meru is an isolated land in the heart of the Himelian Mountains, its origins known only through legend. The people are ruled by red-robed priests loyal to the demon-king Yama. Meant to represent Tibet.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Mitra, Ibis
Nemedia, the central pillar of Hyborian "culture" and civilization, stands ever in defiance to their habitual foes, mighty Aquilonia. The gleaming Nemedian knights are rightly proud for their army which is as diverse as it is deadly. Nemedia is one of the most oppressive forces of the Hyborian Age. Modeled after the Germanic Holy Roman Empire.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Classical/Roman
Dominant Deities: Anu, Ishtar, Bel
A kingdom of great beauty with gilded knights and high towered cities, Ophir is protected by natural boundaries of mountain and river on all sides but to the south, which the Ophirians have well fortified. However, kingdom lacks the will to fight dominant Koth and has been forced to pay tribute to its mad Emperor. Modeled after biblical Ophir, a gold-mining region.
Culture: Primitive
Technology: Primitive
Dominant Deities: Jhebbal Sag, Gullah (Jullah)
Persistently resistant to civilizing influences, the Picts inhabit the primal forest of the Pictish Wilderness. They are constantly slandered as violent, warlike, brutish, "savage" by the civilized peoples of the world, but much of this violence is defensive in nature. The Picts love their land and way of life, and fight to defend them. Modeled after Pictish Scotland as well as the indigenous peoples of North America.
Culture: Barbarian
Technology: Copper/Bronze Age
Dominant Deities: Nebethet
The splendor of the kingdom which is Punt is based upon the bright yellow gold washed down off the central hills. Hereditary enemies of Keshan, Punt also mistrusts the growing power of Zembabwei. If these two foes can be kept at bay, and if a trade route can be established to the gold-hungry markets of the Hyborian world, then Punt may well emerge as supreme among the Black Kingdoms. Modeled on the ancient Egyptian kingdom of Punt.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Copper/Bronze Age
Dominant Deities: Ishtar, Pteor, Bel, Nergal, Set, Tammuz, Ashtoreth
The city states of Shem lie between the mad ambitions of Koth and the malignant arcane power of Stygia. The western Shemish states form a loose knit nation with Asgalun dominating its politics. The eastern Shemish states stand in alliance with each other and also with western Shem, creating a friendly eastern border. The Shemish Asshuri and the famous Shemish archers make Shem’s armies very strong. Through mercenary service in over a dozen kingdoms of the western world, the Shemish generals have learned well the art of war. Based on ancient Mesopotamia.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Copper/Bronze Age
Dominant Deities: Set, Derketo, Hawk-God of Harakht
Slumbering in her desert retreats, protected behind the mighty and brooding Styx river, lies Stygia. The ancient culture of Stygia is in decline, revolving in malignance about itself, but it is also the source of a great and evil sorcerous knowledge which may yet gain mastery over the Western world. The Cult of Set is strongest here. This nation is based on ancient Egypt.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Erlik
Gleaming mailed and silken-clad riders, masters of the Vilayet Sea, Turan revels in sweeping the barely contested wastelands to the west and south. Turan, however, must bear the plague of a thousand frustrations arising from the seemingly indomitable and ever resurgent Kossaks, Zuagirs, and Vilayet pirates. Perpetually battling raiders and quelling revolts from a hundred pinpricking sources, the rulers of Turan pass their reign in unceasing watchfulness. Turan is a natural enemy to Iranistan and Vendhya, but stands in loose alliance with Hyrkania. Based on Turkestan.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Asura
Dismissed as a myth in most regions of the world, Uttara Kuru is a land of ancient magics, misty mountains, dense coastal forest, and the strange, haunting architecture of the city of Uttara Kuru. The people of this kingdom are fanatically loyal in defense of their homeland. Ancient enemy of great Vendhya. Based on the medieval kingdom Uttara Kuru in north and central Pakistan.
Culture; Barbarian
Technology: Primitive with metal working
Dominant Deities: Ymir the Frost Giant
The red-haired Vanir are isolated in the northwest and their mailed swordsmen therefore vent their warlike natures on their Asgardian kin to the east, the native Picts to the south, or less often upon grim Cimmeria to the southeast. Many a hero of the Hyborian Age was of the Vanir. Warriors of Vanaheim are known to be utterly fearless in combat. Modeled after Scandinavia in the early middle ages.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Asura, Kali
Vendhya is an ancient and proud kingdom, ruled by the Kashatriyan warrior caste, and strengthened by mystics adept with their own peculiar range of magicks. Vendhya is pent up in the north by the non- civilized and virtually unconquerable Ghulistan tribesmen. To the west lies Kosala, made unassailable by the well-forged intermarriages between the two kingdoms. To the east broods Uttara Kuru whose silver- tongued diplomats and arrogant wizards have long held the weight of Vendhya at bay. As the huge Vendhyan host continues to swell in size, like a bubble it must burst forth into empire and the day of Vendhyan glory. Based on India.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Bel, Zath, Omm (declining)
Zamora is a land of spider-haunted towers and master thieves. The Zamoran army is adequate, but it is their spies and wizards upon which Zamora relies. What king not departed from his sanity will risk the intrigues of Zamora, or worse yet, her assassins? Zamora may indeed follow a shadowy path to world mastery with the aid of spells long forgotten and knives which strike swiftly in the dark. Based on the Romani/Gypsy peoples.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Copper/Bronze Age
Dominant Deities: Damballah
A growing power in the southlands, Zembabwei is well-led and armed. The Zembabwei command the great flying reptiles (called wyverns) found only in the Zembabwei heartland. These soaring winged mounts strike terror into the hearts of all who behold them. Based on the Munhumutapa Empire.
Culture: Civilized
Technology: Iron Age/Medieval
Dominant Deities: Mitra, Ishtar, Bel
The most powerful sea raiders next to their Argossean rivals, the Zingarans are active supporters of the Zingaran buccaneers, pirates by any other name. Zingara is a proud and rich land, though often torn by civil strife and bitter feuds between powerful members of its nobility. Based on Spain/Portugal in the middle ages.