The Stygians are an ancient, decadent people, born of a culture more than fifteen hundred years older than any of their neighboring kingdoms to the north. Dominated by a ruthless theocracy dedicated to the worship of the serpent-god Set, the Stygians are masters of occult secrets and diabolic lore. The scholarship is legendary and their mastery of the magical arts is without equal anywhere in the known world. Stygians are also the only race in Age of Conan that lets players become a member of the Mage archetype.

(read more...)

Sitting on the south shore of the River Styx joining with the Western Sea, Khemi is a stark vision of black walls and looming citadels. It is the priestly capitol of Stygia, making it essentially the most powerful city in the entire nation. It is a major seaport for the serpent kingdom, but keeps only a sparse navy in its docks. Few would ever try to war with Stygia from the sea, as their connection with the dark god Set is paramount and fear-inspiring.

(read more...)

The famed "ships of the desert", camels are large, ungainly-looking herbivores whose strange bodies are uniquely adapted to allow them to thrive in the harshest desert wastes. Standing up to eighteen hands at the shoulder, the camel has a tall “hump” of fatty tissue that the animal can draw upon for energy when traveling through regions where food and water are scarce. Camels are also obtainable by players to serve as mounts!

(read more about the Camel and Python)

Funcom is proud to present the Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures comic magazine! Created by the talented people over at Dark Horse Comics, it tells a story that ties into the game perfectly. The magazine has been produced in several hundred thousands copies, mostly bundled with various gaming magazines, and we will now start putting them onto our website. We’ve added eleven pages to the PDF so far (including the front page), and we’re adding another three pages today – making it a total of fourteen pages so far!

(read the updated comic book here!) (PDF)

Every month website MMORPG.com will interview one of the many talented people that work on Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures here at Funcom to create a developer profile, which is then posted on their website. For February, Designer Jason Stone is featured. MMORPG.com sat down with him to pick his brain about everything from his childhood to what he does at Funcom.

(read the developer profile)

Every month we try to bring you some selected press coverage from
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. If you find something you would like to tell us about, please drop us an email. This is some of the coverage over the last couple of weeks:

19.02.07 — Interview at CVG.co.uk (part 2)
13.02.07 — Interview at CVG.co.uk (part 1)
28.01.07 — Interview at Onlinewelten.com
27.01.07 — Interview at Vandal.net (Spanish)

More news on the Community Site!

Every week we give you an update on Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures by posting our special Friday Update on the community website. Here are some of the Friday updates we’ve published recently:

16.02.07 — Class preview: Herald of Xotli
09.02.07 — Class preview: Lich
02.02.07 — Class preview: Druid of the Storm

More news on the Community Site!

This month we’re featuring an in-game location video from Khemi. Take a look at this quick flyby that will give you a sneak-preview on what to expect once you are able to enter the city in the desert yourself. It is said that the Stygian residents who live within the city do not take kindly to visitors, so be sure to watch your back when exploring!

(The video will be available exclusively at Gamespy, Jeuxvideo, Gamigo, InsideGamer, Goha and Juegaenred until next week when it will be posted on the community site)

Take a look at this month’s exclusive screenshots! We’ve added seven screenshots from the Khemi, showing off this great and mysterious port-city of Stygia. From the sprawling market where merchants from all over Hyboria haggle over their wares, to the mighty black walls of the Great Pyramid --- the priestly capitol of Stygia often finds itself visited by travelers seeking passage into the dangerous desert that lies beyond.

(check out the new screens)

This month we bring you an exclusive wallpaper themed according to this newsletters’ primary focus: Khemi. The wallpaper comes in four different sizes.

(check out the new wallpaper)

Just because we are such incredibly kind people here at Funcom, we have decided to give away free loot every month. All you need to do is send us an email and hope for the best. Every month we pick out three people who will be sent a bunch of exclusive loot such as inflatable Conan swords, the Age of Conan comic, games and even hardware.

These three people will also receive a guaranteed place in the
Age of Conan beta test!

If you want to be one of the lucky three who gets Funcom loot delivered in the mail, you will need to send us an email and include your full name, your home address, and your telephone number in order to be eligible. You must also keep the subject of the email "Age of Conan February Newsletter Sweepstakes". Those who enter and get picked out will have the opportunity to receive one or more exclusive prizes such as:

•  Concept Art print signed by the artist
•  Dreamfall: The Longest Journey PC game
•  Full-colored Age of Conan comic book
•  Inflatable Age of Conan toy swords

Send us an email by March 26th and you might get lucky!

No purchase necessary. Prizes are three (3) inflatable swords, three (3) comic books, three (3) copies of the Dreamfall PC game and one (1) Concept Art print signed by the artist. Odds of winning dependant on number of entries. Competition open to residents of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, U.K., and U.S. (except Rhode Island and Puerto Rico). Drawing will be made by random draw in Oslo Norway one day after the entry deadline. Any applicable taxes or customs fees are responsibility of winner.
Entry to this competition is void where prohibited by local laws.

This month’s community site is a Spanish site that is a part of the Juegaenred network, ageofconan.juegaenred.com. By keeping an updated news listing and maintaining a solid information database on Age of Conan, they are giving all Spanish players a place to go when they need to find information concerning the game. The site excels when it comes to posting frequent news updates, but they also provide Spanish readers a translation of the entire newsletter content the very same day it goes live in English, proving this fan site invaluable to all Spanish-speaking followers of Age of Conan.

Visit ageofconan.juegaenred.com

Have a suggestion for Community site of the Month? Email us now!