There are four main gods that are worshiped throughout Hyboria. These four as the following:

DERKETO -----

The Goddess Derketo - 'They will put her through paces she never dreamed of! She is too soft to endure what I have thrived on. I am a daughter of Luxur, and before I had known fifteen summers I had been led through the temples of Derketo, the dusky goddess, and had been initiated into the mysteries'. – The Slithering Shadow, R. E. Howard

A goddess of fertility and lust originally worshipped in Shem, Derketo can be found among the pantheons of many southern kingdoms, particularly Stygia and Kush. In Stygia, Derketo is a decadent, licentious deity, serving as the religious counterpoint to the strict and humourless devotions of Set, the Great Serpent.

Nearly every Stygian city contains a grand temple to the goddess, where young girls are initiated into the erotic mysteries of Derketo. Initiates of Derketo often serve as courtesans to Stygian nobles and high priests, while priestesses of the temple practice the arts of pleasure with devotees in return for contribution to the temple coffers.

Followers of the goddess celebrate the harvest and the equinox with wild, wine-soaked orgies that invoke Derketo’s life-giving powers. Though the arch-priests of Set frown upon the wanton rituals of the temple and some would like nothing better to see the religion driven from their kingdom, they know that the noble families and the merchant class would never permit it.

The sign of Derketo is the fish, representing her powers of fertility and life, and in Shem she is frequently associated with the life-giving river Styx. In Kush, however, she is worshipped as Derketa, the malevolent Queen of the Dead.

MITRA -----

"Mitra would have folks stand upright before him-not crawling on their bellies like worms, or spilling blood of animals all over his altars."
-The Black Colossus, Robert E. Howard


Plain and unadorned in comparison to the lavish display of Ishtar's shrines, there was about it a simplicity of dignity and beauty characteristic of the Mitran religion.

The ceiling was lofty, but it was not domed, and was of plain white marble, as were the walls and floor, the former with a narrow gold frieze running about them. Behind an altar of clear green jade, unstained with sacrifice, stood the pedestal whereon sat the material manifestation of the deity. Yasmela looked in awe at the sweep of the magnificent shoulders, the clear-cut features-the wide straight eyes, the patriarchal beard, the thick curls of the hair, confined by a simple band about the temples. This, though she did not know it, was art in its highest form -the free, uncramped artistic expression of a highly esthetic race, unhampered by conventional symbolism.

"This is but the emblem of the god. None pretends to know what Mitra looks like. This but represents him in idealized human form, as near perfection as the human mind can conceive. He does not inhabit this cold stone, as your priests tell you Ishtar does. He is everywhere - above us, and about us, and he dreams betimes in the high places among the stars. But here his being focusses. Therefore call upon him."
-The Black Colossus, Robert E. Howard


Mitra is the most common god worshipped in Hyboria, and is the chief deity in almost all Hyborian kingdoms, including Aquilonia, Ophir, Nemedia, Brythunia, Corinthia, and even Zingara.

The worship of Mitra is a monotheistic one. There are a host of saints, but there must be no other god than Mitra. His followers are fervently suspicious towards other gods and religions, especially the worship of Set and of the Pictish animal gods.

As opposed to Crom and Set, Mitra is a kind god, although he holds his followers to high standards. The theology is based on justice and a very strong sense of right and wrong. His followers are expected to strive for justice and are encouraged to forgive.

There is a huge clergy associated with the worship of Mitra, and one can find temples in his honor everywhere his influence is spread. Mitra's temples are conspicuously free of ornamentation. They are supposed to reflect the pious and ascetic ideal he holds over his subjects. Mitra doesn't need precious metals and elaborate ornaments in his honor. He wants dedication and prayer, not superfluous sacrifice; and he abhors the ritual of human sacrifice prevalent in many other Hyborian religions.

CROM -----

Crom was their chief, and he lived on a great mountain, whence he sent forth dooms and death. It was useless to call on Crom, because he was a gloomy, savage god, and he hated weaklings. But he gave a man courage at birth, and the will and might to kill his enemies, which, in the Cimmerian's mind, was all any god should be expected to do. - The Tower of the Elephant, Robert E. Howard

Crom is the head of the Cimmerian pantheon of cruel gods, sending forth dooms and death from his seat on the great mountain of Mount Crom, or Ben Morgh, the holiest place in Cimmeria.

To pray to Crom is a pointless task, as it will only invoke his anger. Prayer is a sign of weakness, and Crom has little patience for the weak. Cimmerians prefer to not attract his attention, and if his name is muttered, it is invariably in the form of an oath or a curse.

Nominally, every Cimmerian is a follower of Crom, but there is no established clergy devoted to him, he doesn't inspire any rituals, and the people bid him no sacrifice besides using the strength he granted them to take what they want from life and to cleave the skulls of their enemies.


"Their chief is Crom. He dwells on a great mountain. What use to call on him? Little he cares if men live or die. Better to be silent than to call his attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune! He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul. What else shall men ask of the gods?"
- Queen of the Black Coast, Robert E. Howard

SET -----

Under the caverned pyramids great Set coils asleep; Among the shadows of the tombs his dusky people creep. I speak the Word from the hidden gulfs that never knew the sun- Send me a servant for my hate, oh scaled and shining One! -The Phoenix on the Sword, Robert E. Howard

Set, the Old Serpent, is Mitra's arch-enemy, and the ancient god revered and worshipped mainly in Stygia, and is known and worshipped as Damballah in the Black Kingdoms.

He is a cruel, jealous god who demands constant sacrifice from his subjects, and his priests are only too willing to comply as they bring naked virgins screaming to his altar to appease his blood-lust. In Stygia the snake is holy and to kill a snake is a mortal sin. If a snake slithers into the cities or to the streets, Set's subjects will lay prostrate before him, hoping to be found worthy of his bite.

His priests are almost as frightening as the god himself, and they terrify their own people almost as much as they terrify their enemies. Stygia is a theocracy, and the mad and corrupt clergy run the country on fear and wonder, as well as an indiscriminate willingness to sacrifice their own people.