I recently had some Tékumel maps framed.

These include the original maps from EPT and Jeff Dee’s nice-looking Kurt Hills map along with the city map of Katalál.

The maps were one of the most attractive elements of the original Empire of the Petal Throne. I still enjoy poring over them.

Original EPT maps are available on eBay for the same crazy prices as other Tékumel collector items these days.

Downloads of scans of the maps are available cheaply on DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/2061/Maps-for-Empire-of-the-Petal-Throne https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/2062/Jakalla-The-City-Half-as-Old-as-the-World

The Katalál and Kurt Hills maps are available on Deviant Art: https://www.deviantart.com/jeffdee/art/Katalal-Map-491623456 https://www.deviantart.com/jeffdee/art/Kurt-Hills-Map-628103433

There is a descriptive atlas that accompanies the Kurt Hills map written by “Talzhemir” (‘Manda Dee). The atlas is published by Lulu but I found Lulu had such horrible customer service that I would suggest just buying it on eBay or from Noble Knight, where it is often cheaper than list price.

It took me much too long to paint 68 of the gorgeous Tekumel Club figures for the Legion of Sérqu: Sword of the Empire. Once again, Howard Fielding has done an excellent rendering of the drawings from canon Tekumel as 28mm figures. There are three types of Archers, three types of troopers and five different command figures.

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Still more wonderful Tékumel figures from a Hero of the Age, Howard Fielding.

The Hláka are one of the most intriguing alien races on Tékumel. The Swords and Glory Sourcebook describes them as highly cultured but “one of the least humanoid” of the aliens, which seems odd. The Hláka are roughly anthropoid in appearance (essentially flying three-eyed monkeys). Though they are famous for being skittish, irascible, and somewhat oblivious to the ways of humans, they’d seem more humanoid than the foul, incomprehensible Ahoggyá, the insectoid Pe Choi, or the budding Páchi Lei.

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Howard Fielding’s Tekumel Club produces some beautiful figures of the Legion of the Lord of Red Devastation. I finished painting 30 troopers plus assorted officers, musicians, etc. Howard recently supplemented the original sculpts with another beautiful “Warrior Priest of Fire” figure that I don’t have (yet).

I painted some Hláka scouts from Howard Fielding’s Tékumel Club. These figures are first rate sculpts. In 2355 A.S., the Tsolyani army had two legions of Hláka: the Legion of Aerial Joy, 4th Imperial Light Flying Squadron; and the Legion of the Whistling Peak, 9th Imperial Light Flying Squadron. With their medium blue belts, these figures could serve as either legion. The Army Book says the straps and belts are “light blue” for the Legion of Aerial Joy and “dark blue” for the Legion of the Whistling Peak and in any case Hláka do not wear much clothing or equipment that might distinguish them from each other.

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I painted some Shen Warriors from Howard Fielding’s Tékumel Club.

I painted these figures as the Legion of Gr-Gá the Egg Layer, 5th Imperial Shen Auxiliary Heavy Infantry, The Army book says “This legion was started recently by an upstart Shen rebel who had to flee Shényu. Other Shen legions refuse to fight beside it. It has attracted some very tough troops, however.”

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Artist James Gifford recently ran a Kickstarter for a magical items deck. As part of that campaign, I ordered a custom Tékumel-themed card. James did a splendid job and really caught the mythos. This is not exactly a collectible item as I have the only one, but I thought there might be some interest.

I apologize for the long break between postings. Such is my life that I cannot control my own schedule.

So far in the blog I have focused on Barker and his group in the Twin Cities. However, Barker always ostensibly encouraged other players to make Tékumel their own. One enthusiastic player named Jim Roach in Downers Grove, Illinois did just that.

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The Languages of Tékumel

Overview

More than 40 years after the release of Empire of the Petal Throne (EPT), why do we still love Tékumel?  For me, it’s the deep mystery.  In other words: figuring it all out.  And nothing is more fun to figure out than the detailed invented languages and linguistic histories.

Languages were what most interested Barker himself about Tékumel from a young age.  In a 1984 interview published in The Space Gamer magazine, he said he first became interested in inventing languages when, as a child in St. Marie, Idaho, he played with Basque children who kept secrets in their native language, a rare isolate unrelated to other tongues. Barker had invented the Tsolyáni script by age 12, before learning any other languages.  He said he could not consciously remember any real-world influences on Tsolyáni and that the knowledge of his invented languages had “just come.”

The first Tékumel RPG work, EPT, included elaborately drawn inscriptions in Tsolyáni (and one snippet of Classical Tsolyáni), allusions to the modern and classical languages of all the five empires, a pronunciation guide to Tsolyáni, and a guide to the Tsolyáni script. Tsolyáni (and other) language texts and proper names also appeared in later source material, magazine articles, and short language studies. In all, Barker published grammars and word lists for five invented languages: Tsolyáni, Yan Koryáni, Livyáni, Engsvanyáli, and Sunúz.  In addition, he published articles on the scripts of six other Tekumel languages: Mu’ugalavyáni, Salarvyáni, Classical Tsolyáni, Bednálljan, Llyáni, and Thu’úsa. A few scattered words of these latter six languages appear in the Tékumel canon (e.g. EPT includes the Salarvyáni book title “Guppíshsha Hrakkúq Mazhzhátl” translated as the “The Book of the Fragrant Garden”), but no extensive word lists. Barker also published an article on the ideographic kázhra ve ngakóme script, which I have not read.

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I’ve been doing some research on Tékumel languages and will soon post something on that topic.  In the meantime, let me quickly note that I received a message clarifying something that had confused me in a previous post.

I had previously wondered why Professor Barker had written “786” in Urdu above his name in his copy of Dungeons & Dragons.  Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, Editor of the Islam and Science Fiction Project, wrote to tell me that “786” in Urdu, as in Arabic, signifies “In the name of God the most Merciful, the most Beneficent.”

A fuller explanation is here.

Barker had converted to Islam as a young man after hearing a recitation of the 99 names of God.  It makes sense that he’d make this religious gesture.

Thanks to Muhammad for pointing this out.