MAP OF FOROCHEL
Wesley J. Frank: 949 N Humphrey Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302-1417, USA ([email protected])
©1995 Wesley J. Frank; first published in Other Hands 10/11.
The youngest and rawest of the lands of Middle-earth, Forochel began its existence as the rubble-strewn remains of the Iron Mountains and the rest of Morgoth's domains in the frozen north. Arda has, in its own way, healed the scars of that ancient catastrophe, but in the Northern Waste has not done so in a way that favors the needs of mortals. Plants and animals that could survive in a land of nearly year-round winter came to Forochel early in the Second Age, followed by the Lossoth and the Umli, peoples of north central Middle-earth, both races fleeing westward from ancient wars. Few among the free peoples troubled them, and they were content to be forgotten by the powers of the world.
In the Third Age, knowledge of this frozen northland is rare in the civilized lands to the south, kept mainly in Elvish memories and a few Arthadan records. Few people of note in Eriador ever traveled in Forochel, save during the reign of Amlaith, first and greatest of the Kings of Arthedain. After TA 861, with the new kingdom of Cardolan cutting off his southern trade, Amlaith sent explorers into the north country seeking new means of contacting the outside world. His policies accomplished little, but all scholars and explorers of later times seeking knowledge of Forochel must begin by checking the records kept by his scribes.
The following notes describe the key regions and locations of interest in Forochel as understood by folk in TA 1640, along with items of lore of general interest to adventurers.
ANGHIR
(S. "Iron River")
A cold, winding river that leaves the Nan Angmar and wanders north across the Talath Uichel to the Hûb Helcharaes, with side portages leading to the Lúchir. Until the 13th century of the Third Age it was a primary trading route into the north country. Now the Angmarean keep at Mindil Kepich (Log. "Tower Forlorn") guards this water road. Raiders from Angmar use the Anghir to penetrate quickly into Forochel during the short summer months.
EMYN NIMBRITH
(S. "White-rubble Hills")
This dismal range of hills is essentially the broken wreckage of the ancient Iron Mountains. Bushes grow out of sheltered crevasses in the in summer, but never enough to change the hills' bleak, washed out, grey-white color. Broken pieces of a gigantic dragon are said to be buried in these hills, but they may just be stone carvings. The purpose of the carvings remains a mystery.
ERED MUIL
(S. "Bleak Mountains")
Utterly lifeless and said to be haunted by spirits of cold. At the top of one of its peaks stands the frozen corpse of a Second Age Noldorin lord. The face of another mountain at the north end of the range is said to be carved with runes revealing every spell of magic known in the world.
ERED RHÍVAMAR
(S. "Mountains of the Edge of the World")
These are not high peaks, but snow-capped all year round. Only musk ox and downy-hair caru find food here, along with creatures able to hunt them. This mountain range is also the home of unnatural things, some left over from the Elder Days and the dark enchantments of Morgoth. One or more Arthadan expeditions crossed the several centuries back, but records are sketchy. Carved on a rock slab overlooking the Hûb-i-Fannath is a message: I, Malgolodh, son of the son of King Amlaith, forbid any to pursue further my quest. I will entomb myself in the hills to protect happier lands from the evil which has devoured my companions. Searches ordered by the King produced no recorded results; Prince Malgolodh and the evil he feared remain buried at the edge of the world.
GONDALF
(S. "Stone Tundra")
This was once a granite plateau, scoured by glaciers in the Elder days, but brought down near to sea level during the War of Wrath. There is still little soil or life here. The Lossoth who wander this crevassed plain hunt and dwell mainly along the watercourse.
HÛB HELCHARAES
(S. "Bay of Cracking Ice")
The Lossoth dwell on both shores of this bay, taking whales, seal, and fish from it when they can. Umli (Half-dwarves) dwell on the eastern shore, around the estuary of the Lhúchir. Cardolandrim and Riverman whalers came here in the summer months before the Witch-king brought down cold from the north and made the voyages too dangerous. It is said that it was also the Witch-king who summoned the Fanrog (S. "Demon-whale") to plague mortals, but the Lossoth say that the Fanrog is older than any mortal magic.
The Lossoth of the northern shore of this gulf make their sod and snow huts close to its shores. A village of this people is immortalized by a parchment kept in the collection of the Kings of Arthedain: Late and sad it was that I learned this caution of the Homela Lossoth: no man is let out unguarded in snow weather in this season. All of our company are now lost to the ice woman save my husband. I have seen them standing uncloaked in the snow; pale, tormented, guarding their new mistress with her lace gowns and her fine white teeth. By the grace and guile of my ancestors, she will not have Thorluin while I breath. Arverethiel Forrómenya, the inscriber of the parchment, seems to have brought it back to Arthedain in the 12th century, but no further details are recorded.
HÛB-I-FANNATH
(S. "Bay of Whales")
There is a wealth of sea life in this gulf, brought up from Belegaer by a warming current. Whales follow the smaller life forms to the edge of the ice, and are hunted in their turn by Lossoth and Cardolandrin whalers in warmer years. The Lossoth dwell mainly along the Rast Naethlos on the eastern shores of the Hûb-i-Fannath, for fear of the Helneryth (S. "Ice Giants") and worse things that take fish from the western shore. The Cardolandrim once kept summer huts and stations along the Bay. The assumed reason for the abandonment of this practice was the increasing cold of the last few centuries; others know that the decision was made after a season marred by repeated incidents in which sailors drowned in the bay walked ashore and tried to break into the huts.
LINDALF
(S. "Wash Tundra")
This is formally part of the Talath Uichel, particularly that part lying north of Arthedain. The Lindalf has been smoothed by rivers and soil eroded from the Rammas Forod. It is better watered then most of Forochel and able to sustain scattered trees and shrubs in its stream-beds and bogs.
LHÚCHIR
(S. "Dragon River")
The greatest river of Forochel, passing through a thousand miles of the Talath Uichel and the Gondalf to reach the Hûb Helcharaes. It serves as the main east-west route for the few Lossoth and Umli who cross Forochel each summer, as well as an invasion route for Orcs of Gundabad seeking victims in the northlands. Great herds of Caru migrate yearly along this river, preyed upon by all other inhabitants of Forochel. Strangely, the two hundred mile-long estuary of the Lhúchir is deeper water than the Hûb Helcharaes it flows into. It is said that this great fissure in the Gondalf has no bottom, and that a man who cast a line far enough into its depths might catch a monster or hook a demon from beyond the bounds of the world.
LÓDALF
(S. "Fen Tundra")
This region is treacherously boggy all year round thanks to scattered hot springs. Monsters dwelling in the mud are an even greater danger. Water draining off the surrounding hard tundra drains slowly eastward into the Nen Rhívamar. This barrier keeps Ice Orcs and worse creatures of the farthest north from troubling the Lossoth.
NARDALF
(S. "Fire Tundra")
This is a volcanic basin set in the midst of icy hills, alleged to harbor demons and fire spirits. Some Arthadan explorers returned from here bearing precious gems and green leaves. No one who has gone in search of the gems ever returned.
NEN RHÍVAMAR
(S. "Sea on the Edge of the World")
An arm of the great northern ocean, this gulf is closed off by ice virtually year round and open to Umli fishermen only for a month or so of summer.
NÚMERIADOR
(Q./S. "West Empty Land")
A wild, broken country. Canoe travel and portage routes lead Northman trappers from Númeriador to the shores of the Hûb Helcharaes. This is the primary fur trading route into western Forochel. In warmer years ships from Cardolan compete with the Northmen, but warmer years have been rare since the rise of Angmar.
RAMMAS FOROD
(S. "Great Wall of the North")
A long, rock-strewn ramp separating the Arthadan highlands and the Talath Uichel. The practiced eye can still pick out the traces of the collapse of the Iron Mountains at the end of the First Age. Where the mountains went none can say for sure, but Elvish songs tell of fissures opening into the fiery Heart of the World and the Edge of the Void.
TALATH UICHEL
(S. "Plain of Eternal Cold")
This rubble-strewn tundra lies north of the Rammas Forod of Arthedain and the Grey and Misty Mountains. It gets drier as one travels east from Forochel, and shows less greenery in summer. During the five months the Talath Uichel is without snow, the traveler here is seldom out of sight of bogs, caru, and mosquitoes the size of a Dúnadan's thumb.