Arador of Erech

Tall and strong, dark-haired and fair of skin, grey-eyed and graceful, Morthond's Prince was cunning but not particularly bright. He led a cloistered and outwardly grief-stricken life, one colored by the con�troversies surrounding his rise to power.Young Prince Arador's disinterest in the life of his small realm had accentuated local disunity and spawned unsettling suspicions and apathy. Although the villages were supposed to bring their civil cases to the Prince of Morthond, the Prince shunned his duty, so most of the prac�tical judicial burden rested in the hands of the various town councils and guild boards.Actually, the local folk were not surprised that Prince Arador was incompetant. A vain, arrogant young man, he was never his father's first choice as heir (House Morthondost did not have a tradition of primogeniture). That honor and burden lay with his twin sister, Arawen, but she died in the Great Plague shortly after the passing of their father and mother.Many suspected that Arador ended up as heir only because his three living siblings were abroad in other provinces when the Plague struck. Too young to op�pose his initial claim, the eldest two were of age. It was likely that the dead Thorondor had intended one of them as heir if Aranwen had died, but no one dared asked to see the will. Arador spent most of his time hunting in the mountains or biding hours with his attractive but feather-brained wife, Malfinwe. The birth of his son Turgon III did nothing to make him any less irresponsible. Fortunately for Arador, no great enemies assailed him or his fief. The long-dead Daen Coentis manifested themselves only in rumor, or as Ghosts who haunted the hills, caves, and springs during the black of night. Centuries had passed since the Mountainmen migrated north�ward, assimilated, or took to hiding in the mountains. No foreigners resided anywhere nearby, and the piracy of the Corsairs of Umbar had not reached up the River Morthond. All of the surrounding ter�ritories belonged to Gondor which, despite being stung by the Plague that claimed it's Royal House, remains the mightiest power in western Middle-earth. Although the Morthond Fief was rich, neighboring Lords dared not usurp Arador's grant without petitioning the King. So, until King Tarondor took notice of his wayward subject Lord, Arador seemed safe. Some said that the real power was wielded by his Master-at-arms, Ragnor, a skilled warrior of mixed and un�distinguished lines.