THE BALCHOTH

Luke Potter: 7145 Nicole Ln, Largo, FL 33771-4772, USA ([email protected])

©1996 Luke Potter; first published in Other Hands 12.

In the year 2510 of the Third Age, Gondor and its allies together confronted and overcame a great peril from the East. Spurred on by Sauron himself, great numbers of Easterlings gathered on the Talath Harroch in southern Rhovanion with the intention of overrunning Gondor and seizing its lands for their own. Following much the same path as their Wainrider predecessors, this new wave of Easterlings first persecuted Gondor's Northman allies along the East Bight of Mirkwood and later assaulted Calenardhon itself. It was only through the timely arrival of the Éothéod cavalry that disaster was averted and Gondor saved. In gratitude for their valor, Cirion the Steward granted the fields of Calenardhon to the horse-lords, and thus was born the Riddermark.

These events are described in Appendix A of The Return of the King. A similar (though not identical) account can be found in "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan" which is part of Unfinished Tales. Unfortunately, these are the only two primary sources I have been able to locate in my construction of a campaign setting for my players. The two accounts are very simple and sometimes contradictory. Undaunted, I used a little common sense, a little creative license, and all the help I could find in past and current ICE publications to recreate the military campaign itself as well as the events preceding and resulting from it. I hope that the information that follows will help other GMs open a new period of Middle-earth's history for their players.

The History of the Balchoth

This tale begins in TA 2063, when Gandalf went to Dol Guldur in an attempt to discover the true identity of the Necromancer. Because he wanted his strength to be greater before declaring himself, Sauron abandoned Dol Guldur and withdrew into the East. Since the Battle of the Camp, in which the Wainriders were utterly defeated, there had been no great stirring in Rhûn, and it was at least partly for the purpose of finding new allies that Sauron fled in that direction. Far beyond the Sea of Rhûn, the Dark Lord came upon a plain-dwelling, tribal people that named themselves the Pults. Revealing himself to them in a time of great peril as Maladûm, their traditional god of war, Sauron personally delivered them from their peril, cementing his position among them.

Until his return to Dol Guldur in 2460, Sauron repeatedly sojourned with the Pults amid his other journeys in the East, gradually centralizing political authority in the hands of a king (the Bôm), enhancing the prestige of Sauron's own cult there (the Sarshen Meltek, or "Crimson Order"), and increasing the size and power of the Pultic military. By 2203, this once-tribal culture had brought under its authority many of the weakened wain-tribes to the west of it. In 2300, the Pults had grown from their original twenty-three tribes into an Easterling empire of over sixty tribes, many of which were wain-tribes that had once belonged to the Wainrider Confederacy.

It was around 2300 that Sauron, having returned from a foray into the Far East, found the state of his new empire not to his liking. Many of the Pultic conquests had occurred more than a century before; and Sauron perceived that as long as these tribes enjoyed economic success in their homeland, they would never move west in significant numbers and, thus, would never come to challenge the Dúnedain of Gondor. Sauron then began a great sorcery that changed the wind and precipitation patterns of the plains, causing the gradual onset of a terrible drought. Keeping his presence a secret, he observed the Pults, determining what next to do.

As the years passed and the climate steadily worsened, many began to say that Arud, their ancient goddess of agriculture, and Pael, god of the hunt, had become angry with the tribes' singular devotion to Maladûm. The counsels of ancient and long discredited shamans of Pael and Arud were sought by the Bôm. Being angered by this unlooked-for reaction to the drought, Sauron began a series of visitations upon the people.

Thus, in 2341 began the years of the Prophecies of Maladûm. Sauron appeared to individuals both within and outside his cult, breaking their minds with his terrible presence. The prophecies he handed down to those he visited told of an ancient and glorious kingdom of stone, where vast and fertile fields were left untilled and yet guarded jealously against others. These fields were the gifts of Arud and Pael to their new peoples, for they had deserted forever the Pultic tribes. Maladûm, however, had not deserted them; and if they properly dedicated themselves to him, he would grant them victory on the field of battle and thus deliver to them the lands they coveted.

In later prophecies, Sauron (in the guise of Maladûm) also said that he had a gift for the Men of Middle-earth. This was the very gift that Sauron had always used to snare the hearts of Men—that of unending life. He said that the people of Gondor once enjoyed this gift, but had lost it when they shunned Maladûm. He foretold that the Pultic empire would one day destroy the over-proud men of Gondor and would thus claim the gift of Maladûm, taking their rightful place as lords of Men. Sauron also devised a script for their language and taught it to his cultists; and they, in turn, delivered it to the tribes as the first gift of their dark god. Later, Sauron would add his requirements of dark ritual and sacrifice to the cult's literature. As the words of Sauron took root in the hearts of the people, the drought peaked and the tribes began to look west.

In 2370, the Bôm launched a new age of fire and war, renewing his campaigns against those wain-tribes that remained unconquered. In 2392, the Pultic armies reached the eastern shore of the Inland Sea of Rhûn. There they fought a thirty-year war with the Logath tribes. When peace was brokered between these two peoples in 2426, the Pultic armies turned south to the lands of Khand and Nûrad. The first war with Khand lasted from 2441 to 2445, and ended with an uneasy peace between the two nations. This was also the period when Pultic scouts first reached the plains of the Talath Harroch.

When war once again broke out with Khand in 2450, the empire found itself stretched too thin and suffering grievous losses. The northern frontier with the Logath was deserted, the western armies pulled back, and the people moved to the plains south of the Inland Sea. Khand could withstand the full strength of the Pults for only one season of war, before it was forced to sue for peace in 2457.

The second peace with Khand was an earnest one, and relations with that nation gradually normalized. In later years, the Pults would welcome mercenary cavalry units into their ranks, thus in some manner renewing the ancient pact between the Wainrider kingdom and Khand. After the second war with Khand, the strength of the Pultic armies was low. The Bôm then called a halt to the advance of his armies until 2468. During this decade, the Pultic military received renewed strength from Variag, Logath, and Sagath recruits. In the Pultic empire, many young Easterling men saw the promise of glory that their grandfathers had once seen in the Wainriders. In the blood of these people an ancient enmity for the Men of the West stirred again. The prophecies of the Sarshen Meltek, the lies of Sauron, rang true in their ears.

In 2469, the principally Sagath town of Kravod (formerly Gondorian Tirith Thoron) welcomed the armies of the East, and thus began the long rule of the Pultic empire on the Talath Harroch. By 2473, the westernmost Pultic army had reached the Anduin, and was advancing north towards the Gladden Fields. The main populace of the empire had migrated to the Talath Harroch, and Kravod became its new capital. A newly crowned Bôm ruled the combined Easterling peoples from an old Gondorian watchtower in the hills east of Kravod. The priests of the Sarshen Meltek walked among the people and were both feared and profoundly respected. Word of this new Easterling threat spread through the Gramiska Northman settlements from the East Bight all the way to Esgaroth and Dale. The Northmen named this new force from the East the Balchoth or "Terrible Host" (a word half common speech and half Sindarin in origin).

The Men of the West

The Wainrider Wars of TA 1851-1899 and 1940-1944 had left many lasting imprints on Gondor and Wilderland. The losses among Gondor's Northern Army were serious enough to have a long-term impact on the overall strength of the South-kingdom in its coming trials. Because the numbers in the Northern Army were only sufficient for a full garrison at Angrenost, Tirith Anduin and Tirith Limlaith (the hill-forts that the Undeeps) had to be unmanned. The forces available to the Ruling Stewards had been insufficient in 2475 to stop a host of black Goblins of Mordor from smashing Osgiliath, while southern Gondor was in constant fear of attacks from the Corsairs of Umbar and their Haradrim allies, and could rarely spare any strength for military efforts outside its own regions.

On the plains of Rhovanion, the oppressive rule of the Wainrider kingdom drove the large majority of Northmen either into the Grey Mountains or Mirkwood. Only the hardiest refugees survived to settle again in the upper vales of the Anduin with the remainder of the Ehwathrumiska tribes to form a new nation, the Éothéod. Here they lived in relative seclusion from even their old allies, gradually adapting to the pressures of their new environment.

Those Northmen that persevered through the harsh rule of the Wainriders revolted and helped to defeat the Easterlings. The towns that were left along the East Bight in the wake of the Wainrider defeat were of mixed Northman (Grama) and Easterling (primarily Sagath) population. These people had no formal communications with the realm of Gondor, though merchants undoubtedly continued to trade.

The Talath Harroch between the forest, the Inland Sea, and the Ash Mountains was a grave and constant worry to the Ruling Stewards of Gondor. As long as there was no buffer population on the plains, the fields of Calenardhon would be open to attack from that direction. Certainly the Stewards meant to strengthen their army in that quarter, but constant threats from other directions kept them from doing so.

This was the strategic situation Gondor faced when Boromir the Steward died in 2489, his life shortened by the lingering effects of a Morgul-knife wound received fourteen years before. Upon succeeding him, Cirion immediately sent spies and scouts into Wilderland to validate rumors he had heard regarding a new people from the East. He also sent skeleton garrisons to reopen the old hill forts of the Anduin and to guard the Undeeps. It was only through these small, cautionary steps that Gondor's peril was realized and the certain disaster of a surprise invasion of the Calenardhon prevented.

The Organization of the Balchoth

In their eastern homeland, the Pultic nation comprised twenty-three large and closely related tribes. Of these, the Pultai was the largest and most influential. The empire was led by a council consisting of two patriarchs from each tribe, with a senior representative (the Bôm) presiding as head of state. The religious pantheon of the Pults consisted of four major deities: Arud, Pael, Maladûm, and Kol—the lords of agriculture, hunting, war, and the River Kol (Talathrant) respectively. Each tribe had a shaman devoted to the deities that were considered most important to them. Arud and Kol were goddesses—the former married to Pael, the latter perpetually opposed to Maladûm.

The first additions to the empire had little impact on its organization. These were small tribes along the west bank of the Kol. It was at this time that Sauron first appeared as Maladûm and led the tribes to victory. Given their enemy's devotion to (and dependence on) Kol, these first wars (later called the Wars of Formation) had profound ramifications on the cosmology of the conquered people. The river-tribes were integrated as lesser subjects, and Kol fell out of favor among the original tribes. Maladûm, who had personally led the armies in battle, was suddenly chief deity of the empire and personal patron of the Bôm.

As wain-tribes were either converted or conquered through the policies of the Bôm and the blessing of Maladûm, the nation was taken by an expansionist and martial fervor such that none of the tribal patriarchs dared challenge the Bôm on any issue. The emerging Pultic empire would be ruled by a monarch with explicit divine sanction. This authority structure would last until the Pultic defeat on Parth Celebrant in 2510.

After the years of visitation and prophecy (TA 2341-2345), the cult of Maladûm was established as the one true religion of the empire. In 2344, the division of the cult into three houses was established. The first and smallest house was that of the monks. These were scholars and recorders of the prophecies, decrees, and laws of Maladûm.

The second house was that of the healers. These were certainly not the quality of Gondor's healers, being probably closer to those of the Goblins. Their methods emphasized quick healing, and were little concerned with pain or scarring. They were surgeons and herbalists, and their services were intended only for the politically or socially important, members of the cult itself, and other military personnel.

The last house was that of the priests—givers of the dark benedictions of Maladûm, seekers of blasphemy, and oftentimes wielders of black magic channeled directly from Sauron. Day to day internal decisions were made by a single High Priest, who was elected from among the ranks of the third house. All of his efforts were directed towards the basic needs and objectives of the cult. The highest ranking cult official was the Primate. Decisions on cult theology and other sensitive issues were made by the Primate exclusively. He could always be found advising the Bôm on the will of Maladûm, who kept the Primate in his closest councils, desiring to carry out the will of his dark god in all things. The Primate was appointed by the Bôm, and was always of pure Pultic descent.

The Pultic military fluctuated between one and five armies during the history of the empire.1 The original army was called the Keshak (Pu. "Great Fire"), and was commanded by the Bôm himself. This was the army to which Sauron first appeared, and at one time it numbered in the tens of thousands. During the Wars of Formation, the Darmin Belen (Pu. "Army of the Falcon") was formed of partisans and trainees. After the conquest of the river-tribes, the Naidan Belen (Pu. "Army of the Serpent") was founded and sent west to conquer the wain-tribes. In the formation of these two armies the Keshak was greatly reduced in numbers, many of their soldiers becoming officers in the new armies.

During the initial campaigns of the Wain-tribe Wars, a fourth army was created, the Tolig Belen (Pu. "Army of the Ox"). This was made primarily of wain-tribe recruits, and the remainder of the young officers of the Keshak. Thereafter the Keshak was no longer considered an army, but instead a personal guard unit for the Bôm, committed to battle only at the discretion of the Bôm and never sustaining a defeat until Parth Celebrant. Service in the Keshak was a reward for long years of service and valor, and was seen by young officers as a period of formal training in the doctrine of Maladûm and a fast track to a Belen command position.

Each Belen was composed of two or three tomens of 10,000 men, excluding commanders. (The Tolig Belen once had four tomens during the height of wain-tribe recruitment.) Each tomen was subdivided into ten manghins of 1,000 men each. The manghins were further subdivided into five scout and five war jigons. A war jigon had six light irbins and four heavy irbins, each consisting of ten men and a commander. A scout jigon had four scout irbins, four light irbins, and two heavy irbins, each also comprised of ten men and a commander.

The Pultic armies were always poorly armed and armored. Initiates served in the scout irbins, and were trained only in saber and composite bow use. They carried no shields and wore no armor in battle. More seasoned warriors served in the light irbins, which made up the vast majority of the Pultic troops. These wore a jerkin of soft leather, carried wooden shields, and were trained to use the battle spear and throwing javelin in addition to saber and bow. Distinguished veterans fought in the heavy irbins, and were given leather helms to distinguish their rank. In addition, they were trained to wield the battle mace, a weapon considered sacred by the Pults.

Officers carried large black shields that bore in red the device of their unit as well as the insignia of their rank. Competent manghin commanders were selected for the guard unit of their respective armies, from which they could hope for a promotion to the Keshak. The guardsmen wore black rigid leather armor with silver studs. Their maces were of higher quality than the rank and file, with a pommel of polished obsidian. Members of the Keshak carried bright red shields, and their maces had pommels inset with garnet. The dress of tomen and Belen commanders was more individually determined, but all bore a shield with their rank upon it, as well as their choice of the best weapons of the Bôm's armory.

What the Pultic armies lacked in weapons and armor they made up for in organization and sheer numbers. The older units were well drilled in large unit maneuvers and inter-unit support. They brought discipline to the battlefield, and that in itself was enough to defeat many of the wain-tribes they faced on the eastern plains. They were also exclusively infantry. Being mobile, their culture depended on horse, cattle, and oxen as draft animals. They could not afford to lose large numbers of animals on the battlefield. This fighting style may have saved Gondor in the end, for many a potential Sagath, Logath and Variag recruit was discouraged by the thought of fighting on foot. The only instance in which the Bôm authorized the use of cavalry on the battlefield was in 2510, when 2,000 Variag mercenaries were deployed.

The Years Prior to the Invasion of Calenardhon

As has been already told, the formal occupation of the Talath Harroch began in 2473, with the occupation of Kravod by the Bôm and the main body of the Pults. The Darmin Belen and the Keshak then became the Kravod garrison, and the Army of the Serpent was sent west to occupy the Vale of Anduin, both in the Wold and north all the way to the Gladden Fields. The Army of the Ox took position north of Kravod, and sent scouts into the Northman and Sagath settlements along the East Bight of the forest.

The Bôm was content to rest here for ten years, concentrating on further recruitment of the Sagath population of the plains. In 2483, he formed the Leptek Belen (Pu. "Army of the Great Cat") from units that had been added to the various armies as the popularity of Pultic rule increased. A year later, under advice from the leader of the Tolig Belen, units of that army began moving north into the lands of the Northmen. Once again, the move was made in the interest of attracting further allies, but this time met with less fervor and more hostility.

The towns along the East Bight were inhabited principally by people that traced their heritage to the Ehwathrumiska tribes of old and the hardy Northmen of Esgaroth and Dale, people that honored their ancient tradition of friendship with Gondor. These were also a people whose grandfathers had endured long years of oppressive Easterling rule under the Wainriders. They were not well disposed to the call to arms issued by this new wave of eastern invaders, and many spoke of armed resistance against them. Within this population, however, was a minority of Sagath descent whose ancestors, after the fall of the Wainriders, had come back to settle among the Northmen. To these, the prospect of renewed Easterling rule promised redress for the prejudiced policies of Northman town rulers.

What was intended to be a slow and peaceful occupation of northern lands soon spiraled into an armed invasion. The old rifts between townsfolk reopened. Northman rebels organized in the hills, or in towns not yet taken by the invaders, while townsmen of Easterling descent welcomed the Pultic army, and many young males joined them. With each season of war, another town was occupied, and those Northmen with a mind to fight soon found themselves pressed against the Celduin and the eastern eaves of the forest. In 2492, the leader of the Tolig Belen abandoned the notion of recruiting among the Northmen, and began an offensive designed to annihilate the rebels and secure the north frontier against any future attacks on the rear of columns, which were then forming for an invasion across the Anduin.

By 2495, the Northman rebels had been broken and driven out of their lands. The Tolig Belen continued the recruitment and training of the Easterling population until in 2505, when their numbers were judged sufficient between the East Bight and the Talath Harroch to organize a fifth army, the Kelten Belen (Pu. "Army of the Horse"). This new army then traveled south with the Tolig Belen for the general mustering of the armies. In the north the Tolig Belen was replaced by units from the Army of the Great Cat, which would stay behind on the Talath Harroch and serve as a rearguard for the empire.

In 2507, the Army of the Serpent, having thoroughly scouted the eastern Wold and both banks of the Anduin, made large lumber camps along the southern edge of the forest. For the next two years they would build great barges upon which the whole of the Pultic armies would cross in secret and come upon the fortresses of Gondor without warning. The invasion of Calenardhon had been set for the spring of 2510, and all was now ready.

The Machinations of Sauron

All plans of the Necromancer had seemingly come to fruition in 2510. His new Easterling allies were poised along the Anduin to strike a great blow against the South-kingdom. His servants were once again occupying the citadels of Mordor in strength. The last King of Gondor had been slain by the Lord of the Nazgûl, who had captured Minas Ithil. The once proud city of Osgiliath lay in ruin, and Gondor's greatest captain, Boromir the Steward, had been himself wounded by Morgul-blade and his life shortened. Now, at a time when they would face their greatest test, the Gondorians were ruled by a young and inexperienced steward. This was seemingly Sauron's master blow, yet some lingering doubt still troubled the Dark Lord.

Whether he still judged his own personal might insufficient to face the White Council or he foresaw the events of 2510, none can tell; but something prevented Sauron from committing his assembled strength against Gondor. The Orcs of the Red Eye were conspicuously absent from the invading forces of Calenardhon. Whatever his reasons, Sauron thought this a bad time to openly declare himself, and sought to disguise the part he had played in the invasion. Instead, he involved Durin's Bane, the Balrog of Moria.

The Balrog was a mighty spirit of flame, among the active servants of Morgoth second in might only to Sauron himself. Much of Sauron's former power, however, had been diminished by the loss of his Ring, and the Balrog must have sensed this. It is probable that from his throne in Moria, Durin's Bane judged himself to be the chief servant of Darkness in the world, and sought some way to assert his dominance. What Sauron may have lacked in personal strength, however, he more than made up for in subtlety of mind. He perceived the thought of the Balrog, and used this to his own design.

The Balrog had gathered a great host of Orcs and Trolls to himself in the years since his awakening. The majority of these Orcs had migrated from the northern reaches of the Misty Mountains, where they had once served the Witch-king in his wars against Arnor. A few among these still served the Dark Lord as spies among the Moria host. Thus, Sauron was able to plant the rumor of the coming invasion of Calenardhon in such a way as to seem a piece of intelligence gathered abroad by the Balrog's own spies. Further, the idea was planted that by sending an army to aid these invaders, the Balrog might share in the plunder of Gondor and assume his place as chief enemy of the Free Peoples. In this way, Sauron strengthened the invaders, causing further harm to Gondor, while concealing his actions from the Wise.

The Strength of Gondor and its Allies

When vigilance along the Anduin was renewed and its forts reopened, it soon became apparent that a large population of Easterlings had occupied the plains just to the east. These new Easterlings either remained some distance off or were careful not to show themselves, for the garrisons of the hill-forts learned little from within their own walls. It soon became apparent that spies would have to be sent east for the situation to be made any clearer. In 2490, scouts were first sent onto the Talath Harroch to discover the intentions of these new arrivals. Little, however, was learned, since few returned. It was not until the spring of 2493, when the first refugees from Northman rebel bands made their way through peril to the Undeeps, that Gondor received some hint of the intentions of this new people, whom the fugitives named "Balchoth." At the time, this was only a warning of the presence of large armies and gathering strength.

News of the persecution of the Northmen reached Cirion, and though grieved at this maltreatment of valued allies in the north, strength could not be spared to intervene. In 2496, he did begin a general strengthening of the garrisons of Angrenost and the fortress-towns of Calenardhon with troops mustered at Calmírië, but could do little else. It was not until the winter of 2509, when spies returned from the east with a translation of the prophecies of Maladûm, that Cirion truly realized the intentions of the Balchoth and the immediacy of Gondor's peril. He then issued a general call to arms throughout the realm and took counsel with his generals.

Throughout the winter months of 2509 and continuing into the new year, preparations were made and troops gathered. Slowly, companies began trickling into Minas Tirith from the southern fiefs. Even Cirion agreed, however, that a large portion of their strength would have to be held in reserve in case of some attack from Umbar. Though early in the season, there had already been probing attacks on the southern coasts. As more solid intelligence began to arrive on Easterling numbers in Rhovanion, Cirion realized that the available strength of Gondor would probably be insufficient to protect Calenardhon.

It was in the early days of Gwaeron (March) that Cirion resolved to seek aid from Gondor's ancient allies in the north, the Éothéod. Cirion knew that the Vales of the Anduin were patrolled by the scouts of the eastern enemy, so he sent six pairs of messengers. Each rider was a valiant warrior and had committed to memory the steward's message to Eorl, the young Althegn of the Horse-lords. The first pair rode on the 10^th day of the month, and another pair set out each day thereafter for five days. On the same day that the last pair rode (the 16^th of Gwaeron), the Southern Army of Gondor, led by Cirion himself, left Minas Tirith for Calmírië, where it would meet the gathered Northern Army.

The various companies of the Northern Army had marched four days prior and, on the 17^th, met the main of the garrison of Angrenost at Dunlostir. Strengthened by a large company of conscripts from the surrounding countryside, the combined army marched for Calmírië. On the 25^th they reached that town, and again their strength was augmented by a large company of conscripts. There they waited, and were joined by Cirion's Southern Army at mid-day of Tuilérë, the quarter-year festival day. On the 1^st day of Gwirith, the combined strength of Gondor marched for the Brown Lands. There they planned to hold the line of the Anduin against invasion.

On the very same day that the Northern Army reached Calmírië, the lone survivor of the twelve messengers of Cirion reached Eorl's capital of Framsburg. He was Borondir Udalraph, one of the first pair to be sent on the journey, and had ridden hard for fifteen days. The story of his conversation with Eorl, and the subsequent mustering and journey of the éoherë, has been told elsewhere in full and will not be repeated here.2 Suffice it to say that the éoherë rode, fully 7,000 strong, on the 6^th day of Gwirith, for the North Undeeps.

The Battles of the Wold

The assembled might of the Pultic armies was vast. Between the Armies of the Falcon, Ox, Horse and Serpent, the Bôm had ten tomens of full strength (100,000 troops). The Army of the Great Cat (two tomens) would serve in a rear guard capacity, and would cross the river with the Pults once the conquest was complete. Scouts of the Naidan Belen had long since mapped out much of the western Wold, and the Pultic battle plan was drawn up.

On the 4^th of Gwirith, the forces of the Bôm crossed the Anduin in two places. The main host, comprising all but one tomen of the Naidan Belen, crossed thirty miles north of the southern boundary of the Wold, where a rough path left the western shore and wound its way through the hills going west. It followed this path for a day and a half, after which it took a sharp bend southwards. Here the Bôm made camp, waiting for word of the movements of his enemies. The other tomen of the Naidan Belen crossed roughly forty miles further north, just north of a sharp westward turn in the river. From here they picked their way through the hills along a well-scouted course winding northwest, with the intention of coming upon Tirith Limlaith from behind.

On the 8^th of Gwirith, mounted scouts arrived at the camp, having sighted the approaching columns of Gondor two days earlier. The Bôm then sent the second tomen of the Naidan Belen on a great looping march to the south and then west. This army was then to turn north, and cut the enemy off from an organized escape. On the 10^th, the armies of the Bôm were drawn up in order and advanced west to meet the enemy.

It was also on the 8^th that the columns of Gondor entered the Wold from the west, making a straight line for Tirith Limlaith. Not having received any warning of the enemy's crossing, they marched under the assumption that the Easterlings were still on the east side of the river. Cirion's mounted scouts had reached the fort two days earlier and had since returned to the column, reporting no sign of the Balchoth.

On the 11^th, the northern tomen of the Naidan Belen fell upon Tirith Limlaith, completely sealing its garrison within its walls. A three-day assault on the fort began, which culminated in its burning and the complete destruction of the men trapped within. Word of the fort's demise didn't reach Cirion until it was too late.

In the early hours of the 13^th, the army of Gondor crossed the lowest shoulder in a ridge of hills to find the valley beyond filled with the armies of their enemy. Drawing up in a dirnaith or assault wedge, they drove into the forwardmost ranks of the Darmin Belen, but were halted by the Darmin guards. Here the battle reached a standstill until the green troops of the Kelten Belen charged into the fray, reinforced from behind by arriving veterans of the Tolig Belen. Demoralized by the sheer numbers of their enemy, the Calenardhon conscripts broke, and Cirion ordered a slow withdrawal back over the ridge to land more favorable to the defensive battle he realized he would have to fight.

It was in the midst of Cirion's withdrawal over the ridge that the southern tomen of the Naidan Belen fell upon his forces from the south and west. At this point Cirion realized that his army had fallen into a trap carefully laid by his enemies. For though small, this new southwestern force would slow down his withdrawal enough to prevent separation from his enemies in the valley. Resolving to break out of this trap and find a battlefield more advantageous to his men, he committed his own guards, strengthened by a company of mounted knights from Belfalas, against the extended right wing of his enemies. Punching through and rolling back the enemy's line, they turned east and held the flank, while the main body of troops began a retreat to the north.

The day was now growing late, and Cirion drove his columns hard through the hills. Throughout the afternoon and evening the main host of Gondor picked their way north, while Cirion and his guards fought in the rear, holding the enemy back. At nightfall the enemy broke off their pursuit, but Cirion still drove his troops north, and climbed up through a final canyon and onto the floodplain of the Limlaith river. There, just on the northern edge of the Wold, they halted. On the horizon to the east, a dull glow told them of the burning at Tirith Limlaith.

Early on the morning of the 14^th, scouts were sent east to gather news of Tirith Limlaith. As they approached the charred ruins, however, they sighted the northern tomen of the Naidan Belen forming up and marching west. The scouts returned to Cirion and gave their news. Seeing an opportunity to catch a portion of his enemy separated from support, Cirion ordered an eastward march, and battle was joined. Anger and the desire for revenge was hot in the blood of the Dúnedain, and they smashed the single Balchoth tomen, but not before the armies that had defeated them the day before had gained the southern edge of the plain, advancing in good order.

Thus, at mid-day of the 14^th, a second battle of the Wold was fought in sight of the North Undeeps. Though they fought valiantly through the day, by afternoon it was clear that the Balchoth armies enjoyed a greater advantage in numbers than was originally thought, and the men of Gondor began to give ground. By late afternoon, Cirion's men had their backs to the southern bank of the Limlaith, and were utterly cut off from escape in any other direction. So once again, the most veteran companies of the army held the shore while the rest fled over the river. Many men were lost in the crossing and many more in holding the shore, but in the end, Cirion and much of his guard unit crossed during the night and reorganized on Parth Celebrant.

Parth Celebrant

The 15^th of Gwirith dawned grey and cold. Much of the night had passed in confusion, with Cirion's men trying to find their companies. Though they had made it across the Limlaith, most of their gear they had left on the further bank or, more commonly, had thrown into the river, rather than let the enemy have it. Such was the state of Cirion's men: tired, cold, hungry, demoralized, and now more poorly equipped than the enemy that pursued them. And still they were hopelessly outnumbered.

By first light, most had found their units—and just in time; for a great fog rose out of the river in the early hours of the morning, further confusing things. In these first hours of dull light, the Balrog's Orc-host found the men of Gondor. Their attack was met with much confusion, and many men died looking for their weapons. The Easterlings were using the fog's cover to cross the river and forming up again when sounds of the battle reached them. Confused in the fog and thinking that part of his own force had joined in battle with the enemy, the Bôm ordered the units that were already across the river to attack while the others crossed. Thus the Balchoth arrived on the battlefield piecemeal and confused.

It was also in these first hours of light that the éoherë broke its camp and covered the last few miles to the North Undeeps. Seeing the charred ruins of Tirith Limlaith on the opposite bank, the Éothéod hastened across the ford and onto the western bank of the river. There they met a few men of Gondor who had somehow floundered in the night's crossing and ended up getting washed by the river down to the Anduin where they had reached the western bank. From these men they learned tidings of all that had happened in the Wold, and also of the disposition of the enemy and how best to come behind it.

They turned north immediately and crossed the Limlaith near its confluence with the Anduin. Once across, they used the river fog to conceal their advance until they came to the battlefield. Engaged from the first by the Orc-host, the Dúnedain had not been able to contest the enemy's crossing of the Limlaith. The Orc-host had slowly driven them east toward the Vale of Anduin. Now joined by units of the Balchoth from the south, the Orcs were hemming them in and—as Cirion realized—ensuring the ultimate doom of his army. And this was the turning point of the battle.

The day being now hours old, the sun burned through the fog and suddenly shone bright on the battlefield. The Orcs cringed and shielded their eyes, and their chieftains began to think of withdrawing until evening, when they could return and finish off whatever enemies the Easterlings might not defeat. The Bôm, however, was enheartened by the change of weather and directed his Keshak to help put in order the Kelten Belen which had just crossed the river. They were in the midst of reforming the lines of the green Kelten Belen troops when the first charge of the Éothéod took them by complete surprise.

In the initial charge of the northern cavalry, what little of the Kelten Belen that had survived the Wold was wholly broken and driven from the field. Casting away their weapons, they were the first to run back into the Limlaith, making easy targets for Eorl's horse-archers. The Keshak, which were scattered here and there, trying to put the Kelten Belen's ranks in order, were unable to properly defend the Bôm, and the éoherë drove straight through its ranks to the Bôm's standard. There the Bôm was ridden down and pierced by the lance of Eorl, throwing the Keshak into complete disarray.

Eorl and his men continued through the rear ranks of the Balchoth and onto the battlefield that the Orcs, Dúnedain, Darmin, and Tolig Belens were fighting upon. Being in the rear of the committed Balchoth armies, the soldiers of the Tolig Belen heard the battle cry of the éoherë and turned to meet their charge. But seeing the tall horse-lords with their long lances, the Orc-captains ordered their companies to break off the attack and retreat from the field. The Dúnedain were rallied by this sudden change of fortune and forgot their weariness, charging into the ranks of the Darmin Belen and crushing its guard—the very unit that had turned them back in the Wold.

The Balchoth units now began to rout in mass. Word of the Bôm's death spread through their ranks, further demoralizing them. The éoherë pursued them to the river, where archers shot the fleeing enemies as they swam. The Horse-lords and what remained of the knights of Belfalas pursued the Orcs across the plains until the afternoon turned to evening. There, upon the Parth Celebrant in the evening of the 15^th of Gwirith, Eorl and Cirion met, and their friendship was begun.

What Followed

A very thorough account of what followed between Eorl and Cirion is given in Unfinished Tales. They took great oaths upon hallowed ground, and both peoples were greatly strengthened. This was the end of the Balchoth, but certainly not the end of the Pultic tribes or even their warriors.

Many of the Easterlings that fought at Parth Celebrant made it across the Limlaith and took refuge in the Wold. There they were led by commanders and great warriors who had also escaped, and were joined by more than half a tomen from the Naidan Belen which had not advanced over the Limlaith. Instead of further challenging the Dúnedain and their newfound allies, the Pults and their allies made their way back to their camps and later their rafts, eventually returning to the Talath Harroch, where waited the Leptek Belen and the tribefolk.

After the failure of its prophecies, the Cult of Maladûm fell into disfavor with most of the populace. The monks, being the keepers and chief promoters of the prophecies, were seen by many as the root of the people's problems. Many died at the hands of cruel mobs wanting revenge for their lost husbands, sons, and fathers. Most of the priests found themselves outcasts among their people and were eventually drawn to Dol Guldur, where they entered the service of their master. The healers, being farthest removed from the cult's teachings and possessing the most practical skills, continued to find a use for their talents among the general populace.

Having heard tidings of the victory at Parth Celebrant, many Northman rebels made their way back to old homes and families along the East Bight. Thereafter there was a great friendship between these men and the men of Dale and Esgaroth. Easterling and Northman gradually relearned the art of coexistence on the plains.

Along the East Bight and elsewhere in Rhovanion, life returned to normal; but the Talath Harroch had been changed forever. Many of the tribes of the former Pultic empire melted back into the East. This was especially true of the western wain-tribes, whose lands had not been devastated by drought. For the original Pultic tribes, as well as for those which originated in lands further east, there could be no return. These people stayed in the drear hills around Kravod. The land here was poor, however, and they were ever casting an envious eye toward the rich fields of Calenardhon.

It was not until many years after Parth Celebrant that these tribes began to make raids into the lands of the Riddermark. Crossing the Anduin by the Wold, they would come infiltrate the plains and raid the fortified towns and homesteads of Rohan, burning and looting as they went. It was in a reprisal foray into the Wold against these very Easterlings that Eorl was slain.

The Balchoth invasion might be seen as an brief episode in the history of Middle-earth ending in 2510 at Parth Celebrant. The Pultic migrations into the lands south of Mirkwood, however, constitute an important and long-term change in the cultural geography of Wilderland.

Footnotes
1. The basic organization of the Balchoth armies was given in ICE's Riders of Rohan adventure setting. I have used and expanded upon that material.
2. Full accounts are given in Unfinished Tales and ICE's Riders of Rohan.