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Chyan

The Khyan lands

Arthanor (S. "Realm [of the] Sun") was a name given by Gondorian cartographers to the lands north of the Bay of Ormal that were tributary to Gondor during the 10-16th centuries TA, approximately the Khyan realms.It's proper indigenous name seems to have been Arûnandra (Ch.: "Sun-Kingdom").

Although the Númenóreans had started to divide into the King's Men and the Faithful as early as Tar-Atanamir's reign, the real prosecutions against those not adherent to the King started with the coronation of Ar-Adûnakhôr, who forbid Elven speech on Númenor. One of the Faithful was Anorion, lord of a medium-sized noble house from the southern part of Númenor. In fear for his family he equipped two great ships and – taking on board as much as the ships could carry, as well as all his relatives and servants who wanted to go with him – sailed towards the East.

He came to the shores of Middle-earth and, led by stars and charts, sailed around the southern tip of Dark Forests of the South. Thus he came to the Inner Seas and soon landed on the warm sandy shores where he found several Númenórean havens. In one of these havens he settled, and because of his wisdom and personality all of the nearby forts soon accepted him as their lord.

Led by his hand, those havens started to trade and communicate even more with the local Men, getting larger and turning into real port-towns. When an army consisting of Orcs from Mordor and Ioriag from Khaon tried to overcome the land behind those towns – bare hills separated with green, fertile fields and valleys, where lived peaceful farming Haradrim tribes – Anorion led an army of Númenóreans and Haradrim warriors, who used their superior weapons and strategy to rout and utterly destroy the army of the Darkness. The thankful people chose Anorion as their king, and thus was established a new kingdom, called Ardanar, "Kingdom of the Sun". After that first invasion, Sauron had unsuccessfully tried several more times, and in the time of King Anárnur, Anorion's great-grandson, he turned towards the imminent threat of Ar-Pharazôn.

The local Haradrim and the few Númenóreans of the former havens had gradually blended into a single people of specific culture, influenced by both the Haradrim legends and the lore of the Valar. Anorion had also introduced the Sun as a primary being, and it was ever since praised in the kingdom of Ardanar.When Gondor extended it's reign into Haradwaith in the eleventh century, the descendants of Ardanar approached them as their natural allies.In these days the Kingdom became known as "Arthanor" in Gondor.

After the rise of Castamir the Usurper, Gondor lost its control of Arthanor, and for a brief time a successor state emerged from the lands of the local liege-lords, formerly loyal to the Kings of Gondor. The last remnants of Arthanor were vanquished between TA 2339-2947, when Sauron's southern forces finally got control over the remaining Khyan lands. After centuries of war the formerly rich lands ended up ruined, poisoned, and emptied in large parts.

The Fourth Age saw the rise of the realm of Gorem on the northern shores of Ormal.

Notes[]

Original forms used by Incanus:

  • Arthanor = Ardanar = Arûnandra
  • Anorion = Anárion
  • Anordur = Anárnur
  • Khand = Khaon
  • Variags = Ioriags

The Númenórian Faithful however originally used Quenya, so an early Quenya name of this lands seems most likely, later on an indigenous form would have been more believable.If these lands were ever known as Sindarin Arthanor, then a later gondorian exonym seems most plausible.

References[]

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