Horseclans

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Horseclans was a science fiction series by Robert Adams, set in a North America that had been thrown back to a medieval level by a nuclear war.

The books mainly concerned the doings of the "Horseclans", a nomadic people originating from the "Sea of Grass"—the Great Plains from present-day southern Canada to central Texas, and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, post-apocalyptically. The Horseclansmen were portrayed as fierce, noble and often gifted with telepathy, which came in handy for their dealings with their horses and "cats"—sabertoothed tigers that had been revived by scientific means in the years before the nuclear war.

Some people, including the Horseclans' founder and mentor-figure, Milo Morai, were "Undying"—effectively immortal or at least unaging and almost impossible to kill by means other than suffocation. The Undying were also sterile, which was a source of anguish for some of them.

The Horseclans looked down on "dirtmen", or farmers, and by extension all non-nomads, although they later resettled on the east coast. Many "Dirtman" communities were descended from odd, out-of-the-mainstream groups of Americans, and often had religious beliefs that were unpleasant at best. The main civilization in North America during most of the books is that of the "Ehleens",—a conglomeration of Greek-speaking Mediterranean peoples that had invaded the eastern half of North America and set up kingdoms. The main Ehleen kingdom, Kenooryos Ehlas (New Greece), was dominated by a thoroughly corrupt, debased version of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Other peoples the Horseclans dealt with were "Ganiks", "Mehikuns", and "Ahrmenee". The "Ganiks" were degraded descendants of hippie communes, whose religion of "Orghanikonservashun" (organic-conservation) forbade them to eat animal meat (but not human meat; Ganiks were enthusiastic cannibals), bathe, or hot-work metal. "Mehikuns" were descendants of present-day Mexicans. "Ahrmenee" were descendants of present-day Armenians living in the Appalachian Mountains.

The novels of the Horseclans series are the following:

1. The Coming of the Horseclans, (1975)
2. Swords of the Horseclans, (1976)
3. Revenge of the Horseclans, (1977)
4. A Cat of Silvery Hue, (1979)
5. The Savage Mountains, (1979)
6. The Patrimony, (1980)
7. Horseclans Odyssey, (1981)
8. The Death of a Legend, (1981)
9. The Witch Goddess, (1982)
10. Bili the Axe, (1982)
11. Champion of the Last Battle, (1983)
12. A Woman of the Horseclans, (1983)
13. Horses of the North, (1985)
14. A Man Called Milo Morai, (1986)
15. The Memories of Milo Morai, (1986)
16. Trumpets of War, (1987)
17. Madman's Army, (1987)
18. The Clan of the Cats, (1988)

In addition to the novels, there are two short story anthologies containing stories by both Robert Adams and others set in the Horseclans setting, Friends of the Horseclans, (1987) and Friends of the Horseclans 2 (1989)

The GURPS system had a worldbook (GURPS Horseclans) and a solo adventure, (GURPS Bili the Axe - Up Harzburk!), devoted to the series.

[edit] Cover Art

The original series, published by Signet, featured artwork by fantasy illustrator Ken Kelly. The entire series was later published by Futura in the United Kingdom with new cover art by Luis Royo. Mundania Press are planning on re-publishing the entire series, the first of which (The Coming of the Horseclans) features artwork by Stacey L. King. At some point there were also covers done by Carl Lundgren of 60's psychedelic album-cover fame and Christos Achilleos for UK-only editions.