Cardolan: Second Kingdom of Arnor

The lands of Cardolan, like its people, are quite diverse. Within its borders one can find deep and ancient forests, rocky coasts, rolling hills arrayed like lines of massive, ruddy warriors, and some of the richest farmland in all of Eriador. However, most of the landscape is dominated by slowly rolling, treeless grassland, a bleakness offset only by the teeming city of Tharbad, the Queen of the North. The Kingdom of Cardolan encompasses all of the lands between the Rivers Brandywine, Greyflood, and Hoarwell (all known by their Elven names: Baranduin, Gwathló, and Mitheithel) as far as the Great East Road as it passed south of Bree and Amon-Sul. This forms an area roughly six hundred miles long by one hundred and fifty across. The Old North Road, or Iaur Men Formen, cuts down across Cardolan from Fornost, turning southeast to reach Tharbad. The Redway, or Men Ceren, enters Cardolan at Sarn Ford and joins the North Road at Metraith. Taking the road from Sarn Ford to Tharbad one actually follows the edge of the Eriadoran upland, barely discernible here as it merges with the coastal hills and river flood plains. It divides Cardolan fairly neatly into two geographic zones: Minhiriath (S. "Region of the Streams") to the southwest and Mintyrnath (S. "Region of the Downs") to the northeast.   In the Elder Days, Cardolan was covered by the Taur Druinod, the primordial forest that then spread over all of southern Eriador and beyond. The Eriadoran coastal plain extended considerably farther to the south and west to become the southern most extension of ancient Beleriand. When these lands sank beneath the ocean at the end of the Elder Days, all that was left of this mysterious, magichaunted region was the Dark Cape (S. "Rast Vorn") and its Dark Woods (S. "Eryn Vorn"), the Old Forest (S. "Taur Iaur") on the middle Baranduin, and the less enchanted woods that still spread over most of Minhiriath. The great forests of Minhiriath were destroyed during the Eriadoran-Númenorean wars of the mid-Second Age, and the subsequent erosion turned the land into much bleaker silvan woodland and moors. The most fertile areas of Cardolan in later years were those that were regularly renewed by the annual flooding of its great rivers, and it is there that most of the population came to live.   THE RIVERS   On the whole the geography of Cardolan is dominated by the great river valleys on its borders. The Baranduin (S. "Long Gold-brown River") traces a lazy path down from Arthedain to the sea, forming much of the northwestern border of Cardolan. It gets its color, and hence its name, from the rich earth along its banks. The Baranduin is an old river, wide and slow; but it is also shallow, so there is little commerce on its waters and no major ports of note. The Mitheithel (S. "Grey Spring") on Cardolan's eastern frontier is born in the snows and springs of the highlands of Rhudaur. A raging narrow torrent, it is only partially subdued when it is joined by the river Bruinen at the apex of the Angle in southern Rhudaur, where both rivers leave the highlands. It continues on down to the Nin-in-Eilph, the Swanfleet Marshes, just above Tharbad. There the Mitheithel joins the River Glanduin coming out of Eregion, giving birth to the Gwathló (S. "Shadowy River from the Fens"). The Mitheithel can be navigated with difficulty from Tharbad to the Angle, but it is virtually unfordable for its entire course. The Gwathló, on the other hand, is broad and slow river like the Baranduin except during the spring floods. It is deep and can be navigated by ocean-going ships as far as Tharbad. The winds on the Gwathló are predominantly westerly, and the river is full of evershifting mud-banks, so smaller ships and barges ply most of the trade. This trade is considerable, for the sea route to Gondor is much faster than the land route. It has made Tharbad the center of most of the mercantile traffic coming out of the north. The annual flooding on the Gwathlo is much more serious than that of Cardolan's other rivers, especially along its northern bank. After a severe winter, Tharbad may become a virtual island for several weeks during the spring.   THE LANDS AND BORDERS Minhiriath, the southwestern half of Cardolan, receives its name for its myriad streams and minor rivers that empty into the Baranduin, the Gwathló, and the sea. Minhiriath can be further divided into four geographic districts: Eryn Vorn (S. "Dark Woods"), the central plain or Saralainn (Du. "Exalted Land"), the Ginthlin Highlands that parallel the south bank of the Baranduin to form the northern rim of the Saralainn, and the Gwathló basin. The Eryn Vorn covers the Rast Vorn, a large peninsula lying to the south of the mouth of the Baranduin. The wood is an ancient forest; the trees themselves seem to share the malice of its aboriginal inhabitants, the Beffraen, both anachronistic survivors of the Elder Days. The Eryn Vorn has remained relatively unexplored throughout the history of Arnor. The central plain, Saralainn, is rolling and relatively featureless, save for its countless rivulets. Areas near streams are reasonably fertile, but most of the country is moorland, fit only for raising sheep. The name Saralainn is attributed in folklore to a particularly glib Dunnish Bard who was promoting settlement in the area and named the land "exalted" as one might name an icy wasteland "green." The highlands of Girithlin rise several hundred feet above Saralainn and the Baranduin valley in a series of gently rolling ridge lines, but aside from sharply sculpted erosion features that seem strangely reminiscent of desert landscapes, they are not distinguishable from the plains. The Gwathló Basin comprises the region that is subject to flooding by that river. It is very narrow nigh to the sea and irregularly spreads until it is almost eighty miles across near Tharbad. The floods are an inconvenience to the region's inhabitants, but the silt endows the floodplain with the richest farmlands in the North. The Gwathló basin serves as the breadbasket of Eriador, though most of its surplus goes to feed Tharbad. Mintyrnath is technically the highland portion of Cardolan. Its most populated region is nonetheless a part of the river valleys around which life in Cardolan has always centered. A substantial chunk of the Gwathló basin extends upriver from Tharbad, where the Mitheithel has carved a narrow floodplain out of the southern edge of the Eriadoran upland. This arable stretch of valley, known to soldiers as the Marches or, more formally, as the Hoarwell Marches, extends up into Rhudaur; it is the traditional path of travel and warfare between the two countries. Above the valley and on the edge of the upland, there is an extensive series of massive, south-facing, rocky bluffs, the Tyrn Hyarmen (S. "South Downs"). The western extension of the South Downs, beyond where the Old North Road runs through the Gap of Andrath towards Bree, is the Tyrn Gorthad, the Barrowdowns, sacred to the Dúnedain as the burial place of the Arnorian kings and their Edain ancestors of the First Age. In the time of the Great Plague, the barrows were cursed and taken over by Barrow-wights, evil spirits summoned by the magic of Angmar. The shepherds and religious communes that once flourished here now make war on the unholy that now festers in thier tombs. Along the Baranduin just upriver from Sarn Ford lies the hilly plateau of the Pinnath Ceren, the red hills that give Cardolan its name, an ancient mining center still a stronghold of Eriadoran independence. Upriver from the Pinnath Ceren, tucked into the northwest corner of Cardolan between the Barrow-downs, the Great East Road, and the Baranduin, is the Old Forest. Like the Eryn Vorn, this is a dark and dangerous place where the trees seem to remember and hate those who destroyed their once innumerable cousins. The home of the mysterious spirit known as Tom Bombadil lies within these woods. He is more commonly known as Orald to the people of Cardolan, though he plays small part in their affairs. The coast of Cardolan around the mouth of the Baranduin is generally rocky, with a kind of rugged beauty recognized only by its inhabitants. There are few harbors of any sort, but the area is fairly well protected from storms, and its resources, primarily shellfish and small whales, are extensively utilized.     Cardolan abuts Arthedain on the north, the En Eredoriath on the northeast, Rhudaur along the river corridors leading up into the Trollshaws, and Eregion and Enedwaith on the southern banks of the Mitheithel and Gwathló. Cardolan has, overall, far more agriculture and population and slightly fewer other resources than its sister-realm of Arthedain, One redeeming feature is the set of amber beds found along the south bank of the Baranduin near its mouth. They have provided the ruling house of Girithlin with a steady income for centuries. The Ginthlin Highlands, where they fade into the Eriadoran upland along the Redway, include a major ridge line called the Pinnath Nimren (S. "White Ridges"), named for its many exposed marble faces. It is the best source of quality building stone in southern Eriador. A more important resource is found in the Pinnath Ceren (S. Red Ridges"). Along with providing the paving stones for the Redway, the various ores that provide this color were extensively used for metals by the Northmen who inhabited the woods of Eriador before the return of the Númenóreans. It became a center of resistance to Númenórean colonization efforts because the Pinnath Ceren were the only source of a rare (and now mined out) alloy of tin and cobalt that could be used in the relatively primitive smelters of the Northmen to make Cardolan Brass, a red metal that could almost stand up to the High Steel of Númenor.   CLIMATE Although the landscapes of Cardolan may seem monotonous at times, the weather provides plenty of variety. Cardolan has a humid mid-latitude climate which is mild on the average, but which is subject to some of the most severe weather in all of Endor. Minhiriath and Mintyrnath have distinguishable weather patterns, however. As a general rule, Mintyrnath runs about 5 degrees cooler. Both regions have cool, wet springs, summers that are usually dry and moderately hot, cool wet autumns, and cold winters. The weather patterns are dominated by warm, wet air coming off the ocean, and the cold, dry air of the Misty Mountains and Forochel. In the late spring and early summer these air masses are prone to collide with often disastrous results. Most of the damage is done by severe thunderstorms, but these can very easily escalate into hail and tornadoes. The latter are most prevalent in central Cardolan, particularly during the month of Norm. Less frequent, but more devastating, are the hurricanes that spin out of the equatorial seas and strike the coasts. In the early fall of every third year, fierce gales hit the shores; about one storm per decade will wreak widespread havoc; and one per century will be a monster. Old folk might still speak, for instance, of the "Ireful Storm of 1081." The predominant normal wind direction in Cardolan is a strong westerly (wind out of the West) that tends to complicate navigation of the Gwathló. With its limited forest cover, temperature tends to increase sharply in Cardolan during the day and drop just as quickly at night. It is not unusual for the temperature to vary thirty-five degrees in a twenty-four hour period, especially during the summer and at higher elevations. The average temperature in Cardolan has been dropping very slightly over the past two centuries; this change has made more difficult the task of Cardolan's farmers, who cannot easily afford to battle the late killer frosts in spring or to lose a few days off their growing season in the fall.