House Ephalkhir

House Ephalkhir
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Lord
Lands
Patriarch
Controllers

Origins

Long has House Ephalkhir populated the lands east of Numenor, even prior to its fall. Their realm there was oft ravaged by war, and such is the reason that there is no recorded history of House Ephalkhir that is not steeped in the tales of warfare. When Numenor fell, so would they remain in the east, untouched by the great perils that had befallen the might of Numenor until that time when darkness again rose in the East and the Last Alliance was formed. It was then that they would leave their ancestral lands to march with the new King of Gondor against the forces of the Dark Lord, solidifying their place in the Land of Stone. In the years following, a vigilant watch was set upon Mordor and its command entrusted to the Ephalkhir who manned the garrisons within. Eventually darkness returned to those lands and Gondor's watch waned, and so it was that the Ephalkhir removed themselves to new lands in Anorien. Since then they have served Gondor as the fiercest of warriors, maintaining their strict code of honour and duty in the name of Gondor.

Occupations

There is no question that if you are born a man of the Ephalkhir, you are born of warrior of Gondor. As such, there are few Ephalkhir men, save the scorned or lame, that are even allowed to seek professions elsewhere. Being a House of Arnorien, and one deathly loyal to the Steward of Gondor, it is most common to find them amongst the ranks of the Hosts. The women of the Ephalkhir are no different, and while they may be permitted professions of lore to help maintain and pass on the family history, it is most common to find them working as healers or other such professions that see them working directly to benefit Gondor's military.

Personality

Those of House Ephalkhir are rarely, if ever, described as jovial or light of heart. In fact, very much the opposite is true. It is from a young age that Ephalkhir children are educated of the history of the House, from its downfalls to its successes, and as such little time is spared for activities that most would consider typical for children. There is little doubt that this contributes to the near overwhelming number of Ephalkhir adults that remain morbidly serious and generally unpleasant, regardless of the occasion. Their serious nature is not to be mistaken for a lack of pride, however, as they are every bit as proud as any other House in Gondor, though their pride is most easily seen upon the field of battle.

Values

To the Ephalkhir, there is no greater ideal than to serve Gondor on the field of battle while upholding the most strict codes of honour and duty. They are a people that live truly for the next battle-- the next opportunity to prove their unyielding loyalty to Gondor-- and to those who can be counted amongst their ranks, no greater honour can be achieved than death in combat.

History

History remembers the name of Herucalmo, who was consort to Queen Tar-Vanimelde and later usurped the throne as Tar-Anducal. History less remembers his brother, Heruhuino, who was ever by his side as kinsman and loyal supporter. So it was that when Tar-Anducal died and his son finally ascended to his rightful place as Tar-Alcarin, he was none too pleased with his surviving uncle. Heruhuino was exiled from Numenor, and he went to Middle-earth and into the east, near Calenardhon, where he and his family lived among the wild men as lords, though ones far removed from the splendour of the Kings of Men. His son, who became the master of a land to the Anduin's east, named himself Gohenhir, Lord of the Penance, for he saw the error of his father as being the cause of their lot.

Years later, a descendant of Heruhuino took the name Rhunmegil and reaffirmed his allegiance to the Kings of Numenor through great service as a warlord. These were the days of the Dunedain as conquerers, not teachers, and Rhunmegil and his kin grew strong and influential through their deeds along the inland borders of Numenor's empire. The Penance of Heruhuino gained a new tone for them, however, for as the darkness of Mordor stirred so did the burden of holding it back, and they became accustomed to war; war against wild men and war against the foul servants of the Dark Lord.

The men of the Penance were not friends to Tar-Palantir, but when Ar-Pharazon marched against Sauron they were in his van, and gazed upon the Dark Lord. They remained in their landlocked territories afterwards, and in this way were spared the most terrible corruptions of Numenor's final days. After the Fall they maintained their independence from the new Kingdom of Gondor, but when the Last Alliance was gathered they joined their strength to it. When the great watch was set upon Mordor so that any future threat from that land might be checked, it was the Ephalkhir alone who would regard wardenship of these garrisons as an honor. From their seat in Castle Durthang, the Lords Ephalkhir kept a vigilant eye upon the barren vastness of Mordor, and became hardened to its inhospitable landscape.

As few beyond the Ephalkhir would willingly dwell in such a desolate place, it was the criminals and captives of war produced by Gondor's vast growing empire that would be sent to labor within these garrisons. There many would find the way of the Penance in the example lead by the Ephalkhir, becoming great warriors and finding redemption in service to Gondor. These became the Nardukan, the Soldiers of the Hold, named so for the prison-fortresses that kept them; the greatest eventually being Rhunmegil's Hold carved deep within the Ered Nimrais in Anorien.

In time the watch waned and its garrisons abandoned, the Ephalkhir were granted sanctuary in the Land of Stone and later gained plentiful holdings of their own in Anorien. They still follow the Penance as a strict code of honour and duty, and they are still governed by the grim survival instinct of their long years in the darker eastern lands; the Lords of the Penance are not accustomed to dying of old age, or of the pursuit of anything but war in the defense of Gondor.