I recently succeeded in luring Michael Lung over to the house for a miniatures battle and discussion of Tékumel.  If you haven’t heard of Michael, he is one of the Kings of Tékumel miniatures; he owns thousands of figures, brilliantly painted, many that he designed and sculpted himself. He also happens to be a fantastically nice guy.

I have dreamed of fighting a battle like the Battle of the Temple of Chánis with my own painted Tékumel miniatures since I first received Empire of the Petal Throne as a gift as a teenager. This past Saturday, 40+ years later, for the first time, I achieved that goal. At my age, the journey to fulfill a youthful dream is often a hazardous pilgrimage that detours into disappointment. The session with Michael, however, exceeded my high expectations. He crafted a balanced, exciting scenario.  And he was a patient, fair-minded explainer of his home-brew rules, based on the Wargods of Aegyptus system, but fully injected with Tékumel content.

The initial furor over the March revelations that the creator of Tékumel, M.A.R. Barker, wrote a vile anti-Semitic novel and served on the advisory committee of a journal dedicated to Holocaust denial, has passed. Fans of Tékumel are again posting pictures of their miniatures and other photos and comments related to the mythos on Facebook and the handful of other Tékumel fan sites. Victor Raymond, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Tékumel Foundation, announced on May 6 that he would be running three Empire of the Petal Throne games at the North Texas RPG Con, June 2-6. There’ve been no further updates to Raymond’s March 23 announcement that the Foundation would be “coordinating with Jewish organizations,” “including information about Prof. Barker’s anti-Semitism on [its] website and in all material for sale,” and revising [its] guidelines to explicitly reject anti-Semitism and Nazi beliefs.”

A lot of what was written immediately after the revelations was misguided. Serpent’s Walk is not just a regular book of fiction, as some maintained. With all due respect to Dave Morris, whose work on Tékumel I respected, publishing an anti-Semitic novel including the most vile content with the most notorious U.S. Neo-Nazi publisher, while at the same time serving on a committee of a journal dedicated to Holocaust denial is not like writing The Man in the High Castle. On the other hand, claims that Barker often spouted anti-Semitism and that the Tékumel mythos is riddled with anti-Semitic content are also not true. There’s a reason fans were so surprised to learn of Barker’s inexcusable beliefs.

So what is the upshot of the recent revelations? Barker’s memory is certainly tarnished. Those who used an association with Barker as a reputational asset no longer will be able to do so. A significant fraction of Tékumel fans simply left the hobby, not able to stomach Tékumel given what they know about Barker. That said, fears that Neo-Nazis would somehow “take over” an abandoned Tékumel, which always seemed a little far-fetched, have not panned out. People posting on the various forums are by and large the same familiar names that have long posted on the forums. Tékumel is almost certainly dead as a commercial property – there will be no movie, video game, or major rerelease as an RPG. In short, a niche hobby with just a few fans is now even more of a niche hobby with even fewer fans.

The area that I am most qualified to discuss, the state of the market for Tékumel collectibles, is interesting. I have no statistics from Amazon etc. but impressionistically, based at looking at eBay and online comments, there does seem to have been a small burst of buying just after the revelations, presumably out of fear that items like the novel reprints sold on Amazon might be withdrawn from the market. Since that time, however, sales of collectibles have slowed and prices have been limp. For example, eight sets of Old Guard miniatures in the original packaging sold on May 15 for $199.00, less than they would have just a few months ago.

After a great deal of reflection, I will be continuing my own interest in the hobby (and will soon be posting my own pictures of miniatures). If I come across something in Tékumel that bothers me, then I can reassess. I do this without making any attempt to apologize for Barker, who had repugnant beliefs, we now know.

I can’t keep up with all the social media that discusses Barker so perhaps some already cited the following. I found this link, which dates from December 2014, on the Your Dungeon is Suck blog. A pseudonymous poster says Barker was “pretty much a Nazi.” (I apologize for the ethnic slur in the following — it was in the original.)

Begin Quote

Coxzucker., December 10, 2014 6:43 am: As long as we’re discussing Barker, it’s worth pointing out that he was pretty much a Nazi, too. At least, he struck the pose for shock value. Of course, he married a Paki, so who knows how seriously he took it.

Xartan Tsathoggua, December 10, 2014 12:16 pm: Nazi? Where’s your source for that?

Coxzucker, December 10, 2014 1:07 pm: I game with several guys who, at one time or another, were members of his “Thursday Night” Tekumel group.

Xartan Tsathoggua, December 11, 2014 6:15 am: Holy shit! I guess he was from northern Idaho.

bad wolf, December 11, 2014 6:38 am: Not really sure what you’re referring to as ‘Nazi’. It’s hard to see any racial angles on Tekumel. The world more or less has one racial type, and it’s definitely a non-aryan olive skinned black hair look. A posthistorical mixing of everyone that wasn’t wiped out in a nuclear war, ie. north America and Europe (No blondes! No blue eyes!).

[Unrelated post deleted]

Coxzucker, December 11, 2014 10:45 am: ‘Taint Tekumel I’m talkin’ ’bout. Barker had a bizarre fascination with Holocaust Revisionism and other unseemly White Powery sort of deals. You should have seen the catalogue list for his “WW2 Collection” when they liquidated his books.

End Quote

(The above is slightly edited for format.)

Seems the Thursday Night Group was talking about Barker’s Nazi tendencies almost eight years ago.

(Note: I am a little late to this partly because I have a deliberative style but mostly because I have had to redraft as new information has emerged.)

In the last several days it has become widely known that M.A.R. Barker, creator of Tékumel, authored an anti-Semitic novel. The Tékumel Foundation has confirmed that Barker wrote Serpent’s Walk, which was published in 1991 by the neo-Nazi publisher National Vanguard Books under the nom-de-plume Randolph Calverhall. It has also come out that Barker served on the Editorial Advisor Committee of a notorious holocaust-denying organization from 1989-2002.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: this is no “Man in the High Castle” (as I have seen some suggest). This is a vile book of unalloyed hate that includes Holocaust denial, glorified violence against Jews, and white supremacism. It ends with this passage: “At last Lessing could let go. The Thousand Year Reich had gone off the track, derailed for a space of a hundred and forty-four years, but now it was back on and chugging along strong. It looked as though this Reich would last awhile. Hopefully forever.“ There is no excuse, rationalization or “contextualization” that justifies Barker’s anti-Semitism.

Anyone who reads this blog knows I am a big fan of Howard Fielding’s Tékumel Club figures, which are well sculpted, well cast, and fairly priced. However, I am very excited that a new company, Ral Partha Legacy, has begun producing some of Ral Partha’s old Tekumel miniatures. Specifically, Ral Partha Legacy’s “Atlantean” range includes the Mu’ugalavyáni figures sculpted for Ral Partha by Tom Meier, including a sculpt that Ral Partha never put into production. In addition, Ral Partha Legacy’s “Insect” line includes the beautiful Ral Partha armored and unarmored Pe Choi figures, as well as an armored Ssu figure. Ral Partha Legacy also has a good selection of metal spears in the Tekumelyáni style.

My shipment of these figures recently arrived and I can confirm that they are beautifully cast, with crisp detail and no flash. Since Howard does not produce Mu’ugalavani, Pe Choi, or Ssu figures, the new lines are a great addition to the Tékumel universe. I urge everyone to check out Ral Partha Legacy.

A couple of weeks ago I posted on the crazy prices for Tékumel collectibles on ebay.

Then came this:

While the Sro is one of the rarest Tékumel minatures and this is the only one I have ever seen still in the original packaging, this still boggles the mind. I can only assume at least two independently wealthy collectors are determined to buy rare items almost no matter the cost.

Kokomo Toys recently sold off a large Tékumel collection on eBay, which gave an opportunity to assess the market for Tékumel collectibles. Reviewing the data, it seems some prices for classic items have climbed down slightly from the heights achieved last year as Covid hit. However, some rare items are still bid up to extraordinary levels. The market does still go bonkers but selectively so.

[Translator’s Preface:  The following excerpt is from “A Simple Soldier’s Complicated Journey through Peace, War, Treachery, Revolution, Retribution, and, Again, Peace” by Elalitáni hiVisúrte” of the Golden Bough Clan.  The manuscript of this long memoir is available at the Temple of Karakán in Bey Sü.  However, noble travelers can call on Elalitáni at his estate outside Jakálla and hear him recount many of the same stories.

In the early war with Yan Kor, Elalitáni, a Dritlán of the First Legion of Ever-Present Glory, served as an assistant to General Kéttukal on the northwest front.  Despite his fervent faith in Karakán, Elalitáni later joined the entourage of the flame-worshiping Prince Mirusíya during the Civil War, for which he was well rewarded after Mirusíya ascended the Petal Throne.  Now Elalitáni has semi-retired, affecting a love for farming but spending most of his time writing the autobiographical elegy that aristocratic followers of Karakán bequeath to their heirs.  

The contemporary style of elegiac writing (which is a revival of a First Epoch Engsvanyáli style) uses florid and lengthy honorifics to introduce notable characters and invoke the Gods. For example, Elalitáni’s initial invocation in praise of Karakán runs over 400 words.  In deference to the impatient Terran reader, the translation below abbreviates these passages, marking them with ellipses. End Preface.]

In the name of Karakán the Just Warrior, the Resolute Protector, the Stern Commander of Lord Hnálla’s Mighty Legions, the Hero of Dórmoron Field […] 

As is written in the epics, “old age slows the mind but loosens the tongue.”  Like many a retired general I enjoy sharing my experiences with younger comrades, who listen politely while quietly snapping their fingers, anxious to fight their own battles. Yet, as I reflect on my lost youth, it is not battles I remember, but the small acts of self-sacrifice and generosity of those I fought beside. I have lived through an age of courage and of cowardice, of glory and of tragedy, of victory and of death.  However, my most vivid memory of noble action is not of swordplay nor of statecraft, but rather a simple dinner of coarse dna and wild game prepared by an army cook.  

Hear my tale.

Tékumel’s creator M.A.R. Barker (“Phil Barker” at the time), Barker’s friend Miles Eaton, and science fiction author Lin Carter conducted a three-way correspondence from 1949 to 1950 when Barker was an undergraduate at the University of Washington. One hundred thirty-four pages of Eaton’s and Barker’s letters are preserved in Carter’s papers. (Carter apparently did not keep carbons of his outgoing letters.) Much in this correspondence is of interest to the Tékumel fan.  

The monster response to my last post showing a few Tékumel maps that I had gotten framed has prompted me to think about the history of Tékumel maps a little more systematically. Here’s a deeper dive, but please note that, as usual, a lack of time has led to sloppiness and my not being adequately thorough.

The original Empire of the Petal Throne (EPT) included two beautiful one-sided color maps each measuring 34″ x 22″ as well as a 28″ x 22″ map of the city of Jakálla. In addition, the EPT box cover was a stylized map of the capital of Tsolyánu, Bey Sü. In the rulebook (Section 1200 on page 65 of the original TSR EPT) there is a partial description of several of the places marked on the big map. EPT’s rear pages include a key to the Jakálla map. I am not aware of a key to the Bey Sü map, though some description is here and pages 6-7 of Theatre of the Mind’s later Adventures on Tékumel Part Two/Volume One: Coming of Age on Tékumel also might help situate you.