Sharaeki



Short and stocky, these hill-men of the Dûshera and Geshân resembled Rather big Dwarves than any mannish race nearby. Once a tall and proud people in their youth, they had earned the ire of the Court of Ardor, and so the brunt of the power of the Ardan Council fell upon them. The devastation wrought upon Geshân was even greater than the Court could summon alone, though the final calastrophe could not have come at a more convenient time (except of Course for the fact that the Court as well suffered a severe setback with the downfall of their master, Morgoth himself). Indeed, near the end of the First Age, when most mortal men were disorganized, those of later Geshân, under the tutelage of the Three of Ty-Ar-Rana, were arising into a culture of comparative power and sophistication. This potential threat to their dominance the Court could not permit, and so they bent all of their powers (especially formidable while they still could tap the resources of the Black Enemy) upon them. Even before the cataclysm which turned later Geshân into an uninhabitable mire, and altered the ecology of later Dûshera, the effects of the Ardan manipulations could be seen despite the best efforts of the Three to combat them. The government became increasingly corrupt, their worship of "Eru" became tainted with fear of punishment for any transgression; interaction with other races became strained, especially the immortal Elves - who they learned to envy. By the end the people even feared the Three as they had never before, and were suspicious of their motives. Then came the changing of Middle-earth with the fall of Beleriand and Thangorodrim: the "punish- ment" they had all feared. The temples of Tyar were closed, and the people were without organised leadership. Since then it had been a sad tale of steady decline for this race, even genetically suffering as their nutrition and breeding habits changed, a limited diet and severe inbreeding due to lack of travel and trade. Only near the mid of the tjird age their descendants had come to trust the Elves at all, with the passage of so many years. The Kirani too they began to interact with, though warily, for they feared (with good reason) the warlike Mûmakani, and had trouble differentiating between the two races. The Sharaeki were still very superstitious, having altered (in their minds) the personalities of many of the "Valar" into vengeful, ritual-demanding minor gods, who must constantly be appeased. In the way of clothing the hill-men wore (relatively) poorly made items of wool, with some hide overgarments. They were swarthy of complexion, the men frequently wearing beards, and their hair was usually dark brown, their eyes brown or grey.