User:Lid/early ithilien

Origins

In the time of Isuldur, during the settling of Ithilien’s vast, untamed wilderness, the Marches lent themselves into distinct regions, named each for the trees that most dominated their landscapes: Thawn, Ereg, Boron, Tathar, Brethil, Lalorn, and Tulus. To each was appointed wardens to oversee the protection and management of the peoples who migrated to the region in those times. Many were the families that chose to delve their homes out of the dense woodlands, forsaking the ways of those dwelling west of the Anduin. No less than half of those who settled were of Gondor’s military class, and in those days many young and brave men went forth to seek their fortunes upon the borderlands, eventually setting roots into the lands that they had helped to conquer.

More took the fertile lands of Ithilien as their homes, and soon the wardens became lords in their own right with hereditary title. For their prize, they owed allegiance only to the King… until that time known as the Kin strife, when afterwards their fates became entwined with that of the Sundered Mormegil, and oaths of binding were sworn. Still, for many centuries they remained free landowning men, and their prosperity grew. Yet they were by no means secure in their offices, and constant feuding lead to the gain and loss of lands and power by those who sought them. The seeds laid down by these early lords of Ithilien would soon evolve into the great border clans that would inhabit those lands for many generations after.

Now it happened upon a time that civil war broke out in Gondor, and Ithilien was not spared among its bloodiest battlegrounds. The volatility of the landscape merely compounded the circumstances, and the realm gradually bifurcated between the peoples of the coastlands, some few even under Castamir’s sway, and the peoples of the higher lands along the Ephel Duath, where Gondor’s fortresses kept vigilant watch over the shadow lands. Many of these outposts were the craft of the great House of Mormegil, and the influence of those lords was heavy within the borderlands. When it came to be that Elendar’s blood stained the Erui, and at last the Mormegil shattered, so too did the gem of Gondor’s vast empire. With the Carmayar granted domain of the North and the Cutahlion domain of the South, the many lords of Ithilien soon joined themselves to either side, unable to maintain indifference in the presence of such mighty lords. Many oaths were sworn, and unions forged, and though they remained in law free men, in truth they became bound to the Mormegil forever.

The Fall

When the time came for Sauron’s sudden conquest of Ithilien, its people were not altogether unprepared. For thousands of years they had lived on the very borderlands of Gondor, underneath the shadow of the Ephel Duath. In that time, they had witnessed Ithilien’s emergence from, first, a great city carved into the inhospitable wilderness of Isuldur’s Marches, into the military and commercial hub of an ever expanding empire. But as time passed, Gondor’s great domain began its undoing, and its decisive end would come with the sacking of proud Minas Ithil in the 2002nd year of the Third Age. What had always been a profiting contest well beyond Ithiliens borders would now become a desperate struggle within its very heart.

Ithilien became a contested region with its people vulnerable to constant attack. The folk there were of a hardy strain, though, and were of mind not to forsake their homes so easily. Families banded together, often under the guidance of the local lords who now once again became wardens of the marchlands. Travel throughout the realm was constrained to heavily armed convoys, operating under the command of regional wardenrys. Secret strongholds were constructed throughout the land, and a resistance movement persevered. But in the end it was realized that the Land of the Moon was now lost. The remnant of Ithiliens once proud inhabitants retreated across the Anduin in droves.

Exile

A great number of the people simply fled into westlands, absorbing into the existing villages and cities there. Of those remaining, however, were the now landless marcher lords and those folk who chose to follow them. They lead the bands of exiles West, through much hardship.

Among those bands, many bore the name Cuthalion but three in particular were greater in number and strength; great enough that they were seen as branches of House Cuthalion in their own right. There were others composed of that folk, too, but they were small and quickly faded into the communities among whom they settled. The three main group endured, however, and their leaders were dauntless men who had been at the vanguard of Ithiliens defense. They each hailed from one of the principle regions, and incorporated those names into their own: the Cuthalions of Tulus, the Cuthalions of Lalorn, and the Cuthalions of Tathar.

Cuthalions of Tulus

The Cuthalions of Tulus were the eldest as a formal clan. The heritage of their chieftains allegedly dates back to the early days of the conquest of Harendor, where they won great honor among those soldiers who in that time were known as the Paladins. Ever has the spirit of Gondor's once imperialist tradition persisted in their hearts. Whereas the vast majority of ancestral Mormegil (and those who would later take that name) were decidingly neutral in the contest of Faithful vs Kingsmen, the patriarchs of this clan adopted the ways of the Faithful during their adventures in the Southlands; and spread it far by the sword, in hopes of combating the brewing darkness taking root in those distant lands. After the Exile, they settled further West than the other clans, drifting as far as Anfalas and Morthond, with some even rumored to still dwell in the dry lands south of Gondor's borders.

Cuthalions of Lalorn

The Cuthalions of Lalorn were the most numerous folk to migrate, for they were joined by many of the coastlanders and their journey was only a short one across the width of the Anduin. Their history stems from the Sea-Lord days of House Cuthalion, when much of its strength was drawn from the prosperity of trade and their vast might ruled the waves. The folk of this clan took refuge in the port city of Pelargir, where their fortunes bought them considerable influence among the merchant lords who presided there. Many others settled in Tol Falas, and along the coastlands of Lebennin.

Cuthalions of Tathar

The Cuthalions of Tathar hail originally from the foothills of the Emyn Arnen, and through this proximity a close bond exists to House Hurin. It is for this reason that the Cuthalions of Tathar are found in great number within the ranks of the Company of Ithilien, and are among Faramir's most loyal followers. They are otherwise clannish in nature and mistrustful of outsiders. Priding themselves as accomplished woodsmen and fierce warriors, they were welcomed and acclimated well to the sparsely wooded foothills of the Ered Nimrais; within the realms of Lamedon and Lossarnach where they were granted minor lands and often took titles such as 'Master of the Hunt' under their new Fief Lords.

Present

to be completed...