War of the Burning Steppe

The War of the Burning Steppe (in Rhûnic “Shataj bui tal kheeriin dain”, in Varadja “Yonayotgan cho'lning urushi”) was a conflict that occurred in the lands of Rhûn and Khand at the end of the Third Age between the united tribes of the Kul-Ahar, and the alliance between the Khudriagate of Khand and the Great Khaganate. However Hazga and Núrniag mercenaries, and orcs of Mordor also participated in the battles liberated in the central steppe of Middle-Earth. The war occurred at a decisive moment for the forces of the Great Khaganate to end up allying themselves with the cause of Sauron in the ensuing War of the Ring.

Background
Beyond the Talathrant, a young man named Thargaark of the Kargarim tribe murdered his father and took control of his nomadic Khanate which was the most numerous of Kargagis Ahar. The Kargarim were a very warlike people although little organized by the numerous tribal conflicts. The next twenty years, this vigorous leader took control of the different and scattered groups of nomads of the plain of Palisor, either by means of sword or persuasion. In 15 years Thargaark managed to control all Dalpygis, Rycolis , and the northern area of ​​Kargagis Ahar, becoming the Sey of the Ahar, a title that had not been used in almost 1500 years since the liberator Parlenien Sey expelled the Variag invasors from Dalpygis, Chey Sart and Relmether.

The hard and ruthless policies of the Aharian tyrant did not bring good results for the people in general; the minor Khanates ended up paying tribute without receiving anything in return, and the distribution of goods was very unfair. Numerous were the rebellions that Thargaark had to suppress as Sey of the Ahar. To counteract a total revolution, the Sey set his sight on the west and launched a campaign of conquest against two rising powers trying to improve its political image.

The Great Khaganate of Rhûn had expanded beyond the Talathrant in the north by defeating the Hazga Realm while the Khudriagate of Khand enjoyed a relative peace in controlling the hydraulic trade through the Nóz Peka, and the terrestrial trade across the road through the Ered Harmal.

The strike of the Kul-Ahar
On April 4 of the year 3017 of the Third Age, a large contingent of Ahar horsemen marched through Dalpygis. It is believed that near the Hills of Elpynir Thargaark divided his armies into small groups and crossed the known fords of the Talathrant River during the night, escaping the eye of the well-guarded eastern border of both nations.

The advance of the Kul-Ahar hosts in Rhûn through the Vales of Kolomok and the rolling hills of Kykurian Kyn was unopposed and they destroyed many of the nomad camps and burned the farms of the rural population of the Great Khaganate looting what they could.

The bulk of the army led by the same Thargaark Sey attacked the east of the Khudriagate of Khand, taking by storm the port city of Relerindú, former capital of the Kingdom of Relmether on April 14. Upon hearing the news of the attack, the Khudriag Ûvatha sent a long host of horsemen led by Ôsvoda Vrônkhar from the caves of Ôlbamarl, but these were intercepted by an even greater host of Ahar horsemen on the road near the temple of Kondri Odchi, decimating the Variag army and forcing them to retreat. This allowed the Kul-Ahar to take possession of the easternmost city of the Khudriagate.

Five days after the city was taken, Thargaark Sey returned to the front of his army and entered with a large host in Eastern Khand ravaging the small rural communities that inhabited that steppe zone. The Khudriag Ûvatha, who was in Ammu Khand resolving diplomatic and military treaties on the monitoring of the Middle Passes of the Ered Harmal to Chey Sart, alerted by the imminent foreign invasion and concerned about their unusual battle tactics, was forced to put himself on commanding his army summoning the Orodriag (Princes) and their respective Osvodeg (Warlords) to battle. At the same time, Thargaark again divided his forces; a quarter of his army, captained by himself, marched northward, towards the very birth of the Ered Lithui and set up a siege on the city-tower of Vaarfest, the former bastion of the Asdriag tribe.

The Battle of the Iron Tombs
The command of the army that marched south was in the hands of the Kul-Ahar captain Khurkakr who took the offensive capturing the mining town of Nebûrkha in Khand-Khûrvesra (Upper Khand). The Variag garrison there did not put up much resistance since they were clearly outnumbered. Khurkakr acquired a considerable amount of new weapons and armors that were manufactured there thanks to the iron wells that the city exploited.

The Orodriag of the Caves of Ôlbamarl and the cities of Ûbesésh and Kyzilkûm, acceded to the requests of the Khudriag and marched north to meet the Kul-Ahar who were already moving back to the south. A contingent of 4,000 Variag soldiers arrived to face 5600 Kul-Ahar horsemen at Khandu Prakhod (Gap of Khand), near the village of Lagari Ôrath which had been ravaged by the Aharian cavalry.

In the prelude to the battle there was a prolonged stalemate in which neither side attacked. The reasons for this dead time were mainly tactics and were given by similar situations: the Variags did not want to risk being flanked by the Ahar cavalry, while the light infantry of the Ahar did not hold much hope in the attack on the well-defended positions of the enemy. In the end, the time-winning tactic of the Osvodeg Khîonvad “black tongue” took effect as the Khudriag was on its way from Ammu Khand with a large number of elite horsemen known as The Brotherhood of the Sword.

Seeing that the Variags’ hosts were widening, Khurkakr sent his riders before the Variag infantry, who resisted the assault formidably. The fight was fierce and lasted long enough for the Khudriag to march to the rear of the Kul-Ahar army. There Ûvatha killed Khurkakr by throwing a spear from more than 25 meters that knocked him from his horse. Without a leader to command the forces, the Ahar fled north. The Variags, who had scarcely suffered casualties, piled the corpses of horses and humans alike and covered them with the exorbitant amount of armor and swords that the Ahar had stolen from the mines of Nebûrkha and incinerated them leaving scorched bones and rust, a fact that it served to baptize the conflict as The Battle of the Iron Tombs.

The Variag riders pursued their defeated enemies northward with the idea of ​​expelling them from the Variag Realm only to find that their allies of the Great Khaganate were suffering the same hardships, as the Kul-Ahar deserters joined the siege of Thargaark Sey in Vaarfest, but the arrival of the Variag army plus a host of soldiers from the mines of Kurvasagh in the west forced the leader of the Ahar to abandon his intentions, and he fled west, towards the Vales of Kolomok where they regrouped.

The response of the Great Khaganate
In the east, the incursions of the Kul-Ahar to the small nomadic villages of Kykurian Kyn and southern Lotan increased daily. The Lôke-Khan Margöz counted on the disadvantage of having very disorganized and dispersed his army, which was concentrated mainly in the north of the kingdom, in the new territories conquered after the fall of the Hazga Realm, and placating the last rebels for finish annexing that area to the Great Khaganate. Anyway, the Lôke-Khan gathered a considerable host of Lôke-Nar Rim and tribal mercenaries in the cities of Kelepar and the Tower of Cirantir, to these were added a small amount of infantry soldiers (it is believed that only about 250 men) from the mouths of the Kól and marched in search of the Ahar harashers.

The Ahar scouts alerted the rest of their fighters to the imminent arrival of the Great Khaganate’s soldiers and took advantage of the situation by regrouping and waiting for their belligerents in the upper terrain of Kykurian Kyn. The geographical advantage helped the Kul-Ahar not to suffer such a bulky defeat and causing heavy casualties to the enemy. The result was a Pyrrhic victory for the Great Khaganate; while the Ahar retreated and regrouped in the Vales of Kolomok, the local army could not move forward.

It was then that the Dark Lord himself took advantage of the situation and sent his emissaries to the great steppe before the imminent threat of the eastern border of the Khaganate. Those infamous beings were known as the Black Crows of Mordor, and only carried with them words of tempest. It was thus that the Lôke-Khan saw tempting the offer of The Lord of the Rings and an alliance was born between the Shadow of Mordor and the united peoples of Rhûn; a union that the free peoples of the west and the north paid dearly and still weep.

The Battle of the Cut Braids
Around 6000 Núrniag mercenaries and orcs from Gorgoroth marched to the plains of Lótan along with the regrouped bulk of the Golden Army of Rhûn led by the very Lôke-Khan Margöz. Thargaark Sey meanwhile directed his armies to the north where the terrain was higher and took position over two hills that circled a small valley. On the other side of the gap, the Lôke-Khan forces raised their camp.

When the night came, the battle began. The Lôke-Khan Margöz knew that he was at a numerical disadvantage, so he sent the contingent of Nurniags mercenaries under an unnamed captain to take the eastern hill where an important position of enemy infantry rested. Using felt in the boots of the soldiers, the darkness of the night and silence were their allies for the ambush to take effect. It was not until the dawn that Thargaark Sey realized of the night attack, and saw the legions of Lôke-Gamp Rim and the orc mercenaries stationed down the valley ready for battle.

It is said that Thargaark tried to use all the strength of his riders to break with the ranks of orcs that were at the center of the enemy line and thus be able to split the halberdiers of the Golden Army in two, and they almost succeeded. The resistance of the halberdier’s flanks was formidable, and allowed the Núrniag mercenaries to attack downhill and flank the enemy. Trapped between the hammer and the anvil, the Kul-Ahar tried to retreat to the high ground, but were intercepted by the heavy cavalry of the Lôke-Khan who had ridden to the left flank of the Ahar horsemen, breaking into the ranks of the invaders and marking a decisive victory.

Most of the Ahar captains were taken as prisoners that day until Thargaark Sey agreed to parley with the Lôke-Khan Margöz. As a price for the life and freedom of his generals, Thargaark Sey agreed to the requests of the Dragon-Ruler: 1) The Kul-Ahar would not cross the Talathrant again; 2) A tribute of horses of the steppe of Rycolis that allowed to raise one of the most effective strains of horses for war, only comparable with the Rohirric Mearas; and 3) the safe-conduct for the pilgrims of the Lôke-Egleria in the Aharian tribal lands. For this last point to be respected, the Lôke-Khan Margöz took the son of the Sey as a hostage.

The Ahar generals were released, but not before being stripped of their multi-colored dyed braids, in a sign of defeat. These trophies of war are exhibited in the palace of the city of Mistrand until today. The Kul-Ahar retreated to their native lands, although the fate of Thargaark Sey is uncertain.

The retaking of Relerindú
After the break of the siege of Vaarfest, the Khudriag Ûvatha IX of Khand sent messengers to Mistrand about his future plans. While the Lôke-Khan Margöz would attack the Kul-Ahar in the north, the leader of the Variags would attack the only bastion taken by the eastern invaders: The city of Relerindú.

Dividing his army on the way, Ûvatha IX marched by land to the gates of the port city, while another large contingent of Variags soldiers led by the Osvodeg Khîonvad “black tongue” went to the port on the shores of Lake Nennûrad. There the Khandish army sailed downstream and blocked the ports of the city controlled by the Kul-Ahar by cutting off the escape routes of the invaders. The city was reconquered in a few hours since most of the enemy army was in the north battling against the Great Khaganate. Unlike the Lôke-Khan Margöz, Ûvatha did not offer any term to the surrendered occupants, and they all died by the sword without mercy. Thus Khand reconquered their eastern territories.

Aftermath
The final numbers are not entirely clear but it is estimated that around 15,000 Kul-Ahar soldiers died in combat against about 9,000 of the alliance between the Great Khaganate and Khudriagate of Khand. At the same time both nations recovered the territories conquered by the Kul-Ahar and further strengthened their defenses by building fortresses along the Talathrant River.

In this way the War of the Burning Steppe was concluded and Mordor gained a new ally for the ensuing War of the Ring that would be unleashed a year later.