Bountîg

Bountig “The Golden”, was the first Lôke-Khan of Rhûn. He reigned during the years 2768 and 2801 of the Third Age.

He founded the Lôke-Egleria as a new religious sect of dragon worshipers, ruled by the Dragon-Priests who were in charge to chose the supreme leaders, to unite the tribes of the east under one banner, but the truth was he was just a puppet of Morinehtar the blue and his plan to throw away the darkness of Sauron from the easterlings forever (something that went wrong in the end). In the beginning, to gain the trust of the tribes, he wore a golden mask to not show she was a common man like the rest, some people even believed he was a God.

He was obsessed with gold, and golden and scarlet were his vestments, a tradition that every following Lôke-khan respected. That tradition trascended to the élite force, the Lôke-Rim (or Golden Army) too. The extraction of gold of Eryn Rhûnen of the eastern dwarves, the Ironfists, was on the top of its progress, and many times he sent riders and thieves, to sabotage the caravans of the dwarves who were trading with the Durin’s folk of the Iron Hills and Erebor.

During his reign, he managed to make join under the banner of the Great Khaganate, to the tribes of the remaining Sagath of Sagathavuld, The Urgath of Urgathavuld, the Gathmarig of the Bay of Mistrand (his own tribe) and the remaining and almost extinct Asdriags of Pustrava. He had not sons, even when he had four wives. The bad tongues said he was infertile.

Among his greatest achievements, was the fact that the Rhûnnish tribes, slowly started to left their nomadic primitive ways of life to rise settlements and great cities. Old ruins like Kelepar and Dilgul were refounded (the temple-cities of Tset-Habaor and Orint Orûna, respectively), while others like Burh Ermanarikis, the towers of Vaarfest or the mines of Khular, raised from the very ground. A new way of living evolved into a new kind of culture. Since many of the easterling tribes move from nomadism to semi-nomadism and later to a life in steady settlements in the fertile river valleys, some became farmers.

A new sort of ruling caste evolved too. Chieftains of the plainstribes, often of Igathig language, become wealthy cattle-barons, the so called ‘’Kazars’’. The Kazars prospect Fields and river vales, traditional nomads were forced back into the woodlands and hills. Conservative tribes who were once opressed by the Balchoth separated themselves from the Bozorgana (the inhabitants of the realm of Bozorganush, one of the three succesor realms of the Balchoth Empire. The other two were Narimanush and Rostamush), who were ruled by the Kazars, these still semi-nomadic tribesmen come to be known as the Hunkar.

Not many battles occured during his reign except for some frontier skirmish or the common clan wars between the tribes, but the arks of Rhûn were full with gold, silver and bronce like never before thanks to his obsession for wealth.

He died at the age of 59 of leprosy in the city of Mistrand, at the southern shore of the Sea of Rhûn.