The Hyborian Age is the fictional universe created by American writer Robert E. Howard in the 1930s as the setting for the adventures of Conan the Cimmerian, chronologically situated around 10,000 BC on a continent called Thuria after the fall of Atlantis. Howard described in essays and hand-drawn maps a world where the Mediterranean is dry, the Nile becomes the River Styx marking the southern frontier, and kingdoms such as Aquilonia, Nemedia, Cimmeria, Hyperborea, Corinthia, Brythunia, and Koth dominate the western Hyborian lands. To the east lie Hyrkania, Turan, and Khitai; to the south, the Pictish lands and the jungle of Zembabwei; and to the north, the frozen steppes of Vanaheim and Asgard. In this Risk, Aquilonia is the central kingdom and strategic prize because of its military power and position, Cimmeria is the land of untamed barbarians in the north, and the borders between Hyborian kingdoms are zones of perpetual conflict over resources and prestige. Controlling the Aquilonia-Nemedia-Brythunia axis gives you dominance over the west, while Hyrkania and Turan are gateways to the exotic east, and the southern lands such as Stygia and Koth provide alternative invasion routes.