"The Empire of the Necromancers" by Clark Ashton Smith

9 months ago
18

The legend of Mmatmuor and Sodosma shall arise only in the latter cycles of Earth, when the glad legends of the prime have been forgotten. Before the time of its telling, many epochs shall have passed away, and the seas shall have fallen in their beds, and new continents shall have come to birth. Perhaps, in that day, it will serve to beguile for a little the black weariness of a dying race, grown hopeless of all but oblivion. I tell the tale as men shall tell it in Zothique, the last continent, beneath a dim sun and sad heavens where the stars come out in terrible brightness before eventide.

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0:00:00 Chapter 1
0:10:34 Chapter 2

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Cincor is the homeland of Xeethra, although obviously the story by that name must have been set well before its desolation depicted in this story. In the story "Xeethra", the titular character travels to the realm of Calyz, which was already utterly desolate in Xeethra's time. One can only imagine that whatever laid waste to Calyz must have been creeping gradually westward over Zothique to engulf the whole land in desert. But it's still early in the cycle, perhaps we will find out better what is happening as we go along. Cincor and Calyz are along the southern coast of Zothique, and it sounds like Tinarath may not yet be a desert wasteland, at least not so utterly desolated as Cincor, and Tinarath is just the next realm north of Cincor, so whatever is laying waste to the continent is, at the time of this story, seemingly still just along the south coast.

contumely: insolent or insulting language or treatment

arrogate: take or claim without justification

The picture used is an illustration by T. Wyatt Nelson for the story from Weird Tales

To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/61/the-empire-of-the-necromancers

The last story (Necromancy in Naat) was mostly about the every day life of a couple of necromancers, now we have a story that tells us something of the every day "life" of the undead raised by necromancers! D:

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