#lothlann

[mnimeresponding]

Snippet Someday

Thank you for tagging me @balrogballs and @ffigwit I honestly love these. (Even if I never get to them on the day mentioned)

I've got one fic right now that has taken over. (Apart from the exchanges I'm involved in)

This is another snippet for The Thralls Trauma.

It's a multi-chapter fic about a slave who escapes Angband. He swears loyality to Maedhros, who helped him when captured. I don't even have the first chapter up yet. (Soon I promise) The part that has taken over all my personal writing will actually be a few chapters in. However it is the most fleshed out. So here is another snippet involving the Easterlings:

Lord Maedhros had called him in. “I require you to go to Lothlann and invite the Easterlings to the Union I am establishing.”

“My Lord, surely you have someone of more noble birth to send?”

“I require you to go as you speak their language. No other is as fluent as you are.”

Nilmodur did not point out, he only spoke two of the languages. Fortunately, one of them was what the Easterlings currently living in Lothlann spoke. 

“Perhaps I can serve as interpreter to a greater lord?”

Maedhros handed him a missive. “We are stretched thin in this. You speak Easterling. You are my best choice.”

Nilmodur bowed his retreat. He hoped that getting this message from someone they knew to be just a guard would not be a perceived insult.

The first thing he heard, upon arrival, was a derogatory slur directed at him. The slur was so insulting that it froze him to the spot.  Last time he heard it, he was scrubbing some horrific mess he did not want to think about. 

The older chieftain came over and greeted him in Quenya, soothing his fear and returning him to the present. The younger chieftain had laughed, but Nilmodur was unsure if that was directed at the slur, or something else.

He handed the older man the letter. The chieftain thanked him and then turned to say something to one of his clan.  His language was a different dialect to which Nilmodur knew.  He suddenly felt self-conscious.  He knew a slight mispronunciation could be seen as an insult. He defaulted to Quenya, knowing he would not be upset by their attempts. The chieftain offered to show him around the camp that had been created since his last visit.  

Nilmodur was amazed at the inverted canvas structures that had sprung up. Rain collectors, it was explained to him.

“The air provides what the land does not.”

He was horrified to learn they still had no water. After taking their promise to attend the Union, well some of them, he rode to Caranthir’s halls.

The lord received him and he quickly explained the issue of the waterless plain.

Caranthir frowned. “They'll be fine. There's a stream that goes across that plain.”

Nilmodur held his face neutral. “My lord, there was no stream, nor evidence of one, when I crossed that plain.”

“Streams come back,” Caranthir snipped. 

He really did have his father’s temper. How did Nilmodur know that?

“My lord.”

“No. They are desert people. They'll find water I'm sure.”

He blinked at that. Desert yes, but Nilmodur had met Easterlings who spoke of hills and mountains; who offered giant, sweet fruit from their trees. Hot maybe. But all desert?

The glare kept his mouth shut. It was easier to agree and be spared the punishment.  Even if the lash was of the tongue.

When Nilmodur returned to Himring, he worried about the treatment of the second born. Lord Maedhros was busy with his Union, so he did not bother him. However, these men came to help them and they were treated less. When he next signed the provisions list for them, he tripled their water. Rationing was better than dying by thirst.

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Maglor’s Gap and the plains of Lothlann

I recently completed my world building post for the birds of the Gap and Lothlann so I wanted to make a board

x x x x x x x x

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Map of Beleriand

"The Silmarillion" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[tenth-sentence]

But they overwhelmed the riders of the people of Fëanor upon Lothlann, for Glaurung came thither, and passed through Maglor's Gap, and destroyed all the land between the arms of Gelion.

"The Silmarillion" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[mtiziart]

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Mammals of Maglor’s Gap and Lothlann

Now that I’ve finished world building posts on birds for each Fëanorian realm pre Amon Ereb, I’m going through mammals next! Mammals of the March of Maedhros can be found here and my environmental world building Masterlist is here!

Maglor’s Gap was the widest break in the mountains and cliffs dividing Beleriand and the lands to the north. It lay between the blue mountains to the east and the March of Maedhros to the west. Lothlann was a wide expanse of plains to the north of the Gap. The rivers greater and little Gelion ran around the western and eastern borders.

Forest steppes: wild goat, wood bison, southern white breasted hedgehog, gray marmot, ground squirrel, dormouse, woolly hares, long eared hedgehog, gray shrews, northern hog badger, sable (rare), steppe mouse, lesser noctule (bat), wildcat, red fox, red deer

Bordering mountain fences: Caucasian Tur, mouflon, chamois, alpine pika, pond bat, marbled polecat, saiga antelope, steppe polecat, mountain weasel, ibex (rare), argali

Plains: goitered gazelle, steppe wolf, wild horse, northern water vole (by the rivers), snow vole, grey dwarf hamster, common hare, common rabbit, striped field mouse, ural field mouse, harvest mouse, mountain hare, field vole (also primarily by rivers), wild horse

World building notes:

The horse based cavalry of Maglor is one of the few details we have about this region. I headcanon that the horses in question are a mixture of the descendants of the Valinor born horses brought by the Fëanorian host as well as wild horses from Estolad, Himlad, Lothlann and the other plains regions of Eastern Beleriand.

Sheep and goats provide the majority of milk and cheese products in the Gap. Some of these species are imported from other regions like sheep from Thargelion.

Domesticated bovine are rare in Eastern Beleriand outside Thargelion and parts of Estolad. There are however wild and semi domesticated bison such as the wood bison, especially on the borders of forested and forest steppe regions. Fur, skin and bones from bison are used by both Noldorin and Avarin elves for clothing and other materials.

Wild hamsters, rabbits, hares and voles were used by a select few of Maglor’s cavalry as companions and even spies.

A regiment of foot based scouts had the sigil of a hare in the form of a light silhouette upon a black background.

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Birds of Maglor’s Gap and Lothlann

This completes my series on birds of the Fëanorian realms pre Amon Ereb!!

March of Maedhros, Himlad, Thargelion, Estolad

Flora, Fauna, geography and environment of Arda Masterlist

Maglor’s Gap was the widest break in the mountains and cliffs dividing Beleriand and the lands to the north. It lay between the blue mountains to the east and the March of Maedhros to the west. Lothlann was a wide expanse of plains to the north of the Gap. The rivers greater and little Gelion ran around the western and eastern borders.

Steppes and plains: Daurian, see see partridge, yellowhammer, black grouse, grey necked bunting, great rosefinch, imperial Eagle, steppe eagle, golden eagle, Mongolian ground jay (rare), greater short toed lark, upland buzzard, Pallas’s sandgrouse, laughing dove, great bustard, bush quail, gray, black and painted francolin, snowcock, little bustard, merlin, cheer pheasant, crested lark, painted sandgrouse, scrubfowl, common quail, brown accentor, ring necked pheasant, grey partridge, black bellied sandgrouse, common buzzard, black kite

By greater and little Gelion (stream/river): black faced bunting, Pallas’s bunting, pin tailed sandgrouse (summer only), white throated dipper, brown dipper, common kingfisher, hobby, swamphen

World building notes

--Laughing doves appear on the sigil of some of Maglor’s host who are particularly skilled in the use of song in battle

-Many of Maglor’s cavalry hunt or fight with birds including golden, steppe and imperial eagles.

-Game birds of the prairie steppes such as partridge make up much of the meat that the cavalry and scouts eat, along with hares.

-Most of the cavalry have horse hair plumes but some of the lieutenants and generals have feathers from pheasants or eagles.

-Emu are actually domesticated in some parts of the world and I love the idea of them being kept in both the Gap and Himlad as well as by peoples East of the Ered Luin. They have a huge variety of uses including leather, oil, eggs and meat. And the chicks are very cute 💙

-I am a huge proponent of prehistoric and extinct animals living throughout Arda, as per Tolkien’s comments about “all creatures which walk or have walked the earth”. I really like the idea of small brush moas living near the mountain borders of the Gap

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The Northern Realms (Not Counting the Ered Engrin which will be its own post)

This is a resource for etymology and geography as well as important landmarks or topographic features.

Many have complete geographic and environmental posts on this masterlist:

Flora, fauna, geography and environment of Arda Masterlist

As always please feel free to ask more. I always want to cover places in more detail

I’ll do Beleriand in Two Parts next

Hithlum (Sindarin: Mist Shadow. The Quenya was Hísilómë)

Hithlum was a region North of Beleriand, specifically located slightly Northeast of Nevrast. It was a cool region with a mild climate during the spring and summer and fertile ground.

It was bordered by the Ered Wethrin (Sindarin: Mountains of Shadow) on the South and East and the Ered Lómin (Sindarin: Echoing Mountains) on the West

On the Northwest corner of Dor-lómin, there is the Cirith Ninniach or Rainbow cleft which connected Hithlum by a ravine to the Firth of Drengist, a bay. I go into this area in some more detail on my first geography post for Dor-lómin

Dor-lómin (Sindarin: land of echoes) is in the Southwest of the region of Hithlum surrounded on all sides except the North by mountains. The Ered Wethrin border the South, the Mountains of Mithrim on the East and the Ered Lómin on the West.

Mithrim (Gray Host) is an area of Hithlum in its Southeast surrounded on the East and South by the Ered Wethrin and the West by the Mountains of Mithrim which divided it from Dor-lómin. The Lake Mithrim was located in the North of the region and was connected to three unnamed rivers and one unnamed stream.

Dorthonion (Sindarin: Land of pines)

Dorthonion lay West of the March of Maedhros, Northeast of Gondolin and the Encircling Mountains and the Crissaegrim which along with the river Sirion and the Ered Wethrin separated it from Hithlum. Directly South of Ladros was Dor Dínen and Southeast lay Himlad.

It was a land of coniferous forests and steep, craggily hills.

Rivil’s Well was the source of the stream or River Rivil, the Northernmost tributary to Sirion as well as one of the smallest. It was located in central West Dorthonion . From here Rivil flowed North and then Southwest to meet Sirion at the Fens of Serech in the Pass of Sirion, a passage between the Ered Wethrin and the Encircling Mountains.

The meaning of Rivil is unclear but there is speculation that it is connected to the prefix rip which appears in several elven languages, specifically connected with rushing rivers.

Ladros (unknown, speculated as Sindarin: plain of dew)

Ladros was a section of Dorthonion located in the Northeast. It was home to the Bëorian people until Dagor Bragollach.

The Southern edge of Ladros was a shallow and flat pass where Tarn Aeulin, a clear blue lake was located. Interestingly, Tarn is not a Sindarin word but rather an archaic English word meaning a mountain lake, usually a small one. Aeulin means blue.

In the Southwest of Dorthonion there was the Pass of Anach, a passage between the Encircling Mountains and the Ered Gorgoroth.

North of Dorthonion was Ard-Galen (Sindarin: Green Home). It was South of the Ered Engrin

During the Dagor Bragollach, rivers of flame sent from the Thangorodrim destroyed the land entirely and it became known as Anfauglith or the gasping dust due to the lingering clouds of poisoned air and inhospitable earth

Somewhere in the Anfauglith there was the Haudh-en-Nírnaeth, a giant mound of bodies and armor of elves and men who fell during the battle created by the orcs of Morgoth at his command.

Despite this, the crude memorial became the only part of the gasping dust to regain greenery.

Lothlann (Sindarin: wide and empty) was the plain North of Maglor’s Gap and the March of Maedhros at the Southeast side of Ard-Galen.