men of middle-earth ⧎ easterlings and southrons ⧎ headcanon disclaimer
When the Race of Men first Awoke in Hildórien upon the rising of the Sun, they soon divided into several distinct groups. Many traveled westward, while others moved to the South, but some stayed in these eastern regions, calling their birthplace the Land of the Sun. Untouched by Valarin influence, these eastern peoples’ first contact with the Powers was when Túvon, an emissary of Melkor, swayed them to the service of his Master. At first Túvon seemed a generous lord, but when Melkor revealed himself in his full might, it became clear that the Dark Vala had cast his shadow upon the East, claiming it for his own, and his influence upon the Men of the Land of the Sun would linger through many Ages. Yet Melkor’s corruption was incomplete, and Men were ever prone to follow their own desires and be masters of their own will. Some, troubled by the conflict the Dark King stirred up in their homelands, embarked upon journeys to the West, seeking their kin who had gone before and lands free of Túvon and Melkor’s control. Though they were not to find the latter, these tribes led by Kulren and Pegmûl would make their way to Beleriand, and become entangled in the histories of that land. After Melkor’s defeat, for awhile the Men of the East were free of his oppressive darkness, but after a scant few centuries his surviving servants returned to their lands. Túvon established himself as a sorcerer upon the mount of Kalormë, the hill-crest over which the Sun rises, and ruled over the Sûhalar people in Mountains of the Wind, while his rival Thû conquered the region of Palisor and declared himself a God-King and the successor of Melkor. He manipulated the Men of Palisor, turning the horse-riding Khundolar tribe against their close kin the Chayasír, and built himself a castle in Khundoland from which he would rule. As Thû’s influence spread, he commanded many towns and walls of stone to be built, and supplied his Mannish subjects with weapons of iron, amassing an army and turning their hearts against the men of the North and West. He first turned his might against Túvon’s stronghold in the Walls of the Sun, hewing down mountains and laying siege upon his former fellow-servant of Melkor. After a long and bitter war, Túvon at last surrendered, and Thû made him his thane. With his enemy turned to his service, Thû took his leave of the Land of the Sun for some time, departing into the Westlands with orders for his armies to prepare for another war. When Thû returned some centuries later, he carried with him many Rings of Power, which he granted to the chiefest of his mortal servants: Khamûl, the regent of Khundolar, and Kullund, the pirate-queen of the Inland Sea. With these Rings they became fierce and powerful magicians, instilling terror upon their subjects and bending them ever to Thû’s will. These first of the Nazgûl led their Master’s armies against Eregion alongside orc-armies that poured forth from Mordor, and though eventually they were driven out of the Westlands, Thû kindled within the his eastern servants a hunger for the fertile lands west of the Sea. When besieged by the elves and Men of the West, Thû called upon his eastern armies to support him against the Last Alliance of his foes. Yet despite the valour of the Men of the East, Thû fell in battle and was lost, his Nazgûl lords fleeing. His defeated servants returned to the Land of the Sun, released from Thû’s tyranny, and slowly began to rebuild their lives. Túvon retreated back into his stronghold upon Kalormë, letting the tribes of Men do as they pleased, which was often engaging in battle against one another, or to harry the Dúnedain of Gondor. But Thû was not utterly defeated. His spirit, though much diminished, slowly pieced itself back together, and soon whispers were heard in the streets of Khundoland that the King of the Dark Castle stirred again. Thû’s influence was much subtler this time, and he whispered into the ears of Men rumors of Gondor’s wealth and the wildness of the Northmen, unjustly lording over lands they did not deserve. Thus the Men of the East were kindled to war, harassing Rhovanion and Eryn Galen all the way down to the Vales of Anduin, until they were driven out by the Northmen and Rómendacil II of Gondor, forced back to the Inland Sea of Tavukhor. Yet it was not long before Thû’s mightiest servants returned to him: Khamûl and Kullund, now only wraiths, marshalled their ancestral kindred into a confederation of Wainriders, leading them in a second conquest of Rhovanion and enslaving the Northmen. Their enemies had been devastated by a Great Plague, and proved easy to defeat, and even when King Calimehtar of Gondor gathered enough strength to strike back against them he was unable to reclaim the fullness of his former territory. Now Thû moved to ally the wagon-riding Easterlings with his vassals to the south. Under his guidance, the Wainriders conspired with the Variags of Khand and the Hasharin of Abrakhân to lead a two-pronged attack against Gondor, while Khamûl and Kullund’s superior the Witch-King of Angmar harassed Arnor in the north. Though ultimately the Wainriders were defeated, slaughtered by Eärnil II in the Battle of the Camp, their campaign brought an end to the royal line of Gondor, and would weaken their Master’s enemies irreparably. Thû moved the Witch-King to Minas Morgul, while Khamûl was relocated from Khundoland to Dol Guldur, where Thû had dwelt in the guise of a Necromancer in order to spread his Shadow throughout the forest now known as Mirkwood. With Arnor destroyed and Gondor dealt a heavy blow, Thû bided his time before making his next move. For some years, he allowed the Men of the East to recover, trading and farming and rebuilding their populations, but eventually he stirred them up once more into a second confederacy of Wainriders. When these folk, composed primarily of the Khundolar tribe with some soldiers of Jangovar descent, rode south to battle, their Gondorian foes named them the Balchoth, the “horrible horde,” and were shocked by the presence of many women among their troops. Allied with orcs, the Balchoth overran the fair plains of Calenardhon and were near to conquering the rest of Gondor, who were distracted by attacks by the Corsairs of Umbar in the South and could not mount a full defense. But just when victory seemed nigh, Éorl of the Éothéod rode to the rescue of Steward Círion, winning the Battle of the Fields of Celebrant and driving the Balchoth away. Yet some Easterlings lingered in the land, assaulting the newly formed Kingdom of Rohan and slaying Éorl in the Wold, their bloody conflicts providing a distraction that allowed Thû to reclaim the land of Mordor unnoticed. In the War of the Ring, Thû sent his Nazgûl to muster an army of every tribe of Easterling to attack his enemies in this his final campaign. Khamûl emerged from Dol Guldur and drew all his folk of the Khundolar onto their horses and wagons; Kullund arose from the depths of Tavukhor and rallied her people, the seafaring Jangovar, to battle against the kingdoms of Dale and Erebor; Túvon was dragged out of his stronghold by the threat of Thû’s growing power, and led the stout, dwarf-like Sûhalar tribe who dwelt in his mountains to battle with their axes and cannons. Only the Chayasír refused Thû’s call to war, for which they would pay dearly in time. At the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Sûhalar and Khundolar fought alongside the orcs and trolls, the Variags of Khand, and the Haradrim warriors of Yettafaz, Rûvashû, Abrakhân, and Sud Sicanna. They laid siege to Minas Tirith, and it took the combined might of all the Free-peoples of the West to drive them back to Mordor, where Thû gathered his armies and prepared for a final assault to pour forth from the Black Gate. Yet the Men of the West brought the fight to him, marching to Morannon with a challenge, and once more the Easterling armies fought against their Western kin. But this battle did not last long: near as soon as it began, it ended, for Thû’s tower fell and the land of Mordor crumbled beneath their feet as his power was ended in Middle-earth at long last, his Ring melted down in the fires of its making. The Men of the East and South fled, and in time were subdued by King Elessar of the Reunited Kingdom and King Éomer of Rohan, forced to pay tribute to the West until they could prove they would no longer harm their kingdoms. With Thû utterly defeated, never to rise again, the Men of the Land of the Sun were at last free of the Shadow that had hung over them nearly since their first Awakening. The Khundolar, Jangovar, and Sûhalar returned to their homelands much-diminished, reorganizing their settlements and governments and eventually finding a balance between the Three Tribes that allowed them to live in peace. But for the Chayasír, who alone had defied Thû’s might, their trials were just beginning. These folk, craftsmen and tradesmen who had no love for Thû and took no part in his War, were driven out from their homelands when their vengeful Master perished. On the very same day the One Ring was destroyed, Thû’s darkest designs were at last unravelled: their crops withered before their eyes, the corpses of their dead rose from their graves, and the earth shook beneath their feat. With his last breath, Thû had cursed his faithless followers, and the remnants of his Shadow seeped out of their lands as a living curse. The Chayasír fled the destruction and disease of their homeland, turning first to Túvon and the Sûhalar in the Mountains of the Wind for aid, but the Sûhalar remembered their betrayal and refused them succor. Túvon may perhaps have wished for more mortal servants, but he was much diminished from his part in the War, and had not the strength to overrule the chieftains of the Sûhalar, who had long ago bargained with him for an equal role in their governance. Thus the Chayasír embarked upon the long march into the West, the winds they once had loved turned sickly and sour at their backs. When at last they reached civilization, they were met with hostility from the dwarves of the Iron Hills and the Men of Dale, who had only just won a bloody war against the Jangovar of Tavukhor. The Chayasír did not hold themselves in kinship with the Jangovar, and even their ancestral ties to the Khundolar had long since been severed, but the northerners did not distinguish between the two Easterling clans and were openly hostile to the refugees. As the Fourth Age began and the Three Tribes of the Sun worked to rebuild their civilizations in a world without Thû’s tyranny, the Chayasír strove to integrate themselves into the society of the North. It would take the intervention of King Elessar to allow them to settle in the wilderlands once desolated by the dragon Smaug, and their existence would be hard and bitter for generations, but eventually the Sun their mother would smile upon the Chayasír again, and sweet winds would blow once more over their fields, rewarding them at last for their refusal to serve the evil will of Thû.