Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker (born Phillip Barker, November 3, 1929 – March 16, 2012) was an American linguist who was professor of

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

n Studies and created one of the first

roleplaying games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

, ''

Empire of the Petal Throne ''Empire of the Petal Throne'' is a fantasy role-playing game designed by M. A. R. Barker, based on his Tékumel fictional universe. It was self-published in 1974, then published by TSR, Inc. in 1975. It was one of the first tabletop role-play ...

''. He also wrote several

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

novels based in his associated world setting of

Tékumel ''Tékumel'' is a fantasy world created by American linguist and writer M. A. R. Barker over the course of several decades from around 1940. In this imaginary world, huge, tradition-bound empires with medieval levels of technology vie for control u ...

Early life

Born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, descended from ancestors who had originally settled in America in 1626, Barker's childhood was spent around Washington and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. As a youth he had an interest in "fairy stories, history and literature" which would be further influenced by such films as '' The Thief of Bagdad''; all of which helped to turn his casual "wargames" with toy soldiers more towards fantasy. From this his fictional lands of Tsolyanu and others, in what was later to become

, emerged and were embellished further in middle and high school years during which time he commenced construction of armies of hand-carved figures to represent his creations. Also at an early age, Barker's interest in languages was piqued by neighboring children of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

origin who were able to exclude others from their secret conversations in their native tongue.

Academic life and creative networking

In, and just before 1950, while Barker was studying at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

under

Melville Jacobs Melville Jacobs (July 3, 1902 – July 31, 1971) was an American anthropologist known for his extensive fieldwork on cultures of the Pacific Northwest. He was born in New York City. After studying with Franz Boas he became a member of the faculty ...

, he became involved with small press publications, writing articles, short stories and contributing reviews to ''Fanscient'' and the local clubzine ''Sinisterra'',Barker's world, later known as Tékumel, was placed as the fourth planet in th
''Sinistra''

system A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...

. the latter of which contained his review of, and content from,

Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names. ...

relating to his recently published book, ''

The Dying Earth ''The Dying Earth'' is a collection of fantasy short fiction by American writer Jack Vance, published by Hillman in 1950. Vance returned to the setting in 1965 and thereafter, making it the first book in the ''Dying Earth'' series. It is retitled ...

''. Also at this time, Barker corresponded with other authors who contributed to those same publications, including

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. L ...

in whose writings and linguistic experiments he took an interest and with whom he finally put to paper the story line of his own created world. He received a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in 1951 to study the

languages of India Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians, both families together are sometimes known ...

and on his first trip to India that year converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

"for purely theological reasons. It seemed like a more logical religion", according to Fine, although Barker himself admitted at the time to an " nimaginablefeeling of awe and religious ecstasy" upon hearing the recitations of the

99 Names of Allah Names of God in Islam ( ar, أَسْمَاءُ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ , "''Allah's Beautiful Names''") are names attributed to God in Islam by Muslims. While some names are only in the Quran, and others are only in the hadith, th ...

at the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

Later academic studies and career

Barker attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

for graduate studies, writing a dissertation on

Klamath language Klamath (), also Klamath–Modoc () and historically Lutuamian (), is a Indigenous languages of the Americas, Native American language spoken around Upper Klamath Lake, Klamath Lake in what is now southern Oregon and northern California. It is th ...

, collecting traditional myths, legends, tales, and oral histories and later publishing a grammar and dictionary on the language. (21 Klamath myths collected in 1955-1957) He taught at the Institute of Islamic Studies at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

from around 1958/59 until 1972 and became active in the development of Urdu and Baluchi instruction materials for English-speaking students following a period of two years from 1960 when he was attached to Punjab University. Some of these were still recommended university course study materials as of 2010. From 1972 he moved to teach at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, where he chaired the Department of South Asian studies until his retirement in the early 1990s, a few years after that department was disbanded due to reduced funding.

Tékumel

While at Berkeley, Barker had not set aside his world creation project. Indeed, despite stepping back from an active role in the

science fiction fandom Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

, he had commenced "proto-gaming" with a group of like-minded science fiction fans including fellow linguist Bill Shipley and Victor Golla, producing elaborate documents to support the exploration of that shared world. Having watched the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' games started by Mike Mornard, one of the original testers for D&D, when he moved to Minneapolis from

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Lake Geneva is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Walworth County and situated on Geneva Lake, it is home to an estimated 8,105 people as of 2019, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is located about 40 miles southwest of Milwa ...

, Barker resolved to create his own ruleset based on his own created world and the game mechanics from D&D. After six weeks, this was self-published in August 1974 as ''

'' and play commenced forthwith, including such occasional members as

Dave Arneson David Lance Arneson (; October 1, 1947Minnesota Department of Health. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known ...

– who singled out Barker and Tékumel as being his favorite Dungeon Master and roleplaying game, respectively – from early days.(English translation)
/ref> Once

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

's attention had been drawn to Barker's work, it was decided that TSR would publish a revised version of the game mechanics along with a condensed version of his

campaign setting A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A ''campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and ca ...

. TSR's ''Empire of the Petal Throne'' was published in 1975 for

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

VIII, making it TSR's third role-playing game to be published. In a December 1976 editorial for '' The Dragon'' magazine, editor Tim Kask drew comparisons between the world of Tékumel and

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...

not in terms of literature created, nor that his work was derivative of Tolkien's, but rather regarding the in-depth detail in the setting, mythos and linguistic backgrounds and concluded that "In terms of development of detail, I think EPT mpire of the Petal Thronehas it over Middle Earth in the matters that most concern gamers" since it had been developed by a "wargamer", whereas Tolkien had no such background and having died prior to the release of D&D was thus unable to address this new pastime personally. Barker disliked the limited support given to the setting, and after 1977 he took his world of Tékumel from TSR and ultimately moved it on to a succession of additional publishers: Imperium Publishing (1978),

Adventure Games An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based me ...

(1981),

Gamescience Gamescience is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements. History Gamescience Corp. was started by Phillip E. Orbanes in 1965. In that year, the company published the wargame Vietnam which was reviewed in iss ...

(1983–1984), Tékumel Games (1983–1986),

Different Worlds Publications Different Worlds Publications is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements. History Tadashi Ehara used ''Different Worlds'' as the basis of a new company, Different Worlds Publications, although he only put out ...

(1987–1988), TOME (1991–1994), Tita's House of Games (1997–2002), Zottola Publishing (2002–2003), and

Guardians of Order Guardians of Order was a Canadian company founded in 1996 by Mark C. MacKinnon in Guelph, Ontario. The company's business output consisted of role-playing games (RPGs). Their first game is the anime inspired ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth''. In 2006 Gua ...

(2005). Due to Dave Arneson's personal friendship with Barker, Adventures Games released several Tékumel-related books, including army lists, maps and other general reference material. Barker's RPG novel '' The Man of Gold'' (July 1984), set in Tékumel, was published by DAW. Despite having had a head start on other in-depth campaign settings and seeing his game released no less than four times with various supplements and magazine articles, many which he contributed to, and having authored five books using the same setting, Barker's Tékumel in both roleplaying and literary domains is still well known to only a relatively small audience, leading German magazine ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' in 2009 to publish an article on Barker's life entitled "" ("The forgotten Tolkien"). The article quotes friends and acquaintances who posit that this may be, at least in part, due to the unfamiliarity of the setting compared with Western society, echoing Fine's observations from 1983, and possibly even that Tékumel was released to the gaming world too early on, when players had only just started to experiment with their own invented worlds rather than fitting their play into preconfigured, non-literary domains with novel backgrounds. In 2008, Barker founded the Tékumel Foundation along with many of his long-time players "to support and protect the literary works and all related products and activities surrounding isworld of Tékumel and the Empire of the Petal Throne." The Foundation acts as his literary executor. Barker died in home hospice on March 16, 2012. He is survived by his wife, Ambereen.

Neo-Nazi/white supremacist work

Barker wrote a sixth novel, ''Serpent's Walk'', under the pseudonym Randolph D. Calverhall (likely a play on "Randolph de Caverhall", a supposed ancestor). The novel was published in 1991 by National Vanguard Books, which published white supremacist and neo-Nazi material including ''

The Turner Diaries ''The Turner Diaries'' is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce, published under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald. It depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, a nuclear war, and, ult ...

''. ''Serpent's Walk'' features an

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...

where SS soldiers begin an underground resistance after the end of WWII, with their descendants rising up a century later to take over the United States of America with the "tactics of their enemies", "building their economic muscle and buying into the opinion-forming media". The back cover of the book states "The good guys win sometimes. Not always, of course. They lost big in the Second World War. That was a victory for communists, democrats, and Jews, but everyone else lost." It continues, "A century after the war they are ready to challenge the democrats and Jews for the hearts and minds of White Americans, who have begun to have their fill of government-enforced multi-culturalism and 'equality.'" Between 1990 and 2002, Barker also served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee of the ''

Journal of Historical Review The ''Journal of Historical Review'' was a non-peer reviewed, pseudoacademic periodical focused on advancing Holocaust denial. It was published by the Institute for Historical Review (IHR), based in Torrance, California. It ran quarterly from 19 ...

'', an advocate of Holocaust denial and revisionist pseudohistory. In March 2022, the Tékumel Foundation confirmed Barker's authorship of ''Serpent's Walk'' and association with the ''Journal of Historical Review''. While the Foundation had no involvement with ''Serpent's Walk'' and receives no royalties or other profits from its publication, the Foundation repudiated Barker's views in the novel and apologized for not acknowledging its authorship earlier.

Partial bibliography

Language texts

Barker studied various languages academically and helped author and co-author various publications relating to some of those, including the following: Published by the

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

: * Klamath Texts (1963) * Klamath Dictionary (1963) * Klamath Grammar (1964) Published by the

McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies The McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies and the Islamic Studies Library were established in 1952 by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, and since 1983 both have been housed in Morrice Hall on McGill's campus in downtown Montreal, Quebec. McGill's ins ...

: * A Course in Urdu (1967) * An Urdu Newspaper Reader (1968) * A Reader of Modern Urdu Poetry (1968) * A Course in Baluchi (1969)

Roleplaying

Tékumel has spawned five professionally published roleplaying games over the course of the years. It was also reportedly a major influence on other creations such as ''

Hârn Hârn is a campaign setting for fantasy role-playing games, designed by N. Robin Crossby and published by Columbia Games since 1983. In 1998 Crossby founded Kelestia Productions (KP), an electronic publishing e-company. KP and CGI now independe ...

'' and the ''

Skyrealms of Jorune ''Skyrealms of Jorune'' is a science-fantasy role-playing game that was first published in 1984 through SkyRealms Publishing. The game is set on the fictional alien planet of Jorune above which float levitating islands. The second edition was p ...

''. * ''Empire of the Petal Throne'' (1975) as a boxed set by

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been ...

following earlier self-publication in 1974, and reprinted later as a single book by

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Ru ...

in 1987. * ''Swords & Glory'' (1983/4) in two volumes by

. * '' Gardásiyal: Adventures on Tékumel'' (1994) by

Theatre of the Mind Enterprises Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

; with Neil R. Cauley. * ''Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne'' (2005) by

; by various, with M.A.R. Barker. * ''Bethorm: The Plane of Tékumel'' (2014) by UNIGames; by Jeff Dee and M.A.R. Barker.

Novels

Barker wrote five novels set in the world of Tékumel - in chronological reading order these are: # '' The Man of Gold'' (1984) # ''

Flamesong ''Flamesong'' is a 1985 science-fantasy novel written by M. A. R. Barker and published by DAW Books. It is the second novel to take place on the fictional planet of Tékumel, also featured in Barker's role-playing game ''Empire of the Petal Thron ...

'' (1985) # ''Lords of Tsámra'' (2003) # ''Prince of Skulls'' (2002) # ''A Death of Kings'' (2003)

Novels (non-Tékumel)

# '' Serpent's Walk'' (1991)

Notes and references

External links

Official Tékumel websiteBrett Slocum's Tékumel Site (last updated 2013)Tékumel Discussion Group - participants include Prof. Barker and regular players in his "Thursday Night Group"
*
Bibliography
on SciFan
Bibliography
on SFBookcase.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, M. A. R. 1929 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American fantasy writers Linguists from the United States American male novelists American neo-Nazis American Muslims Converts to Islam Linguists of Klamath Role-playing game designers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Constructed language creators Science fiction fans Fulbright alumni