In the First Age of the Sun, after the two young men Ermon and Elmir had taught the Hildor that had awakened in the Murmenalda the arts of speech and thought which they had learned of the Avari, Men were approached by a different figure: a speaking serpent who appeared among them, and taught them many strange arts. He instructed them to fell the trees of their land; and Elmir and his wife Wê harkened to his fell voice. They subjugated their own people, and under the Serpent's instruction, they built a great temple to him and revered him as a god. Elmir's Men bowed before the Serpent, and his priests brought him cruel human sacrifices. But the people of Ermon refused this dark worship, and refused to follow the cruel orders of the powerful being. Thus came to pass the Battle of Palisor, in which Men, Dwarves, and Elves, as well as Orcs in the Serpent's service, took part. Men fought on both sides, and afterwards were sundered into two groups: those who fled the battlefield under Ermon's lead and wandered westwards were called the Lintanoi; while those under the rule of Elmir's descendants, who chose to stay in the east, were known as the Arabnoi (Av. "Fully-lawless people"; Q. Arhávanórë) or Asrabi.
In the later ages the Asrabi spread in the eastern lands and even came to the South of Middle-earth. The Easterlings and Haradrim of the Third Age were believed to descend from these tribes.
Family-tree of the Asrabi[]
- Abarrimbi (Men of the Far East)
- Líner (men of the South-east)
- Mornârim (men of the far North)
- Narne (Men of the South)
- Haradrim or Men of Haradwaith
- Fariyim
- Haruzani
- Apysani or southern haradrim
- Adena
- Ayten
- Bellakaze
- Bellanarûd (intermixed with Black Númenóreans)
- Bôzishnarûd
- Covshek-Pûst
- Drêl
- Magri
- Narûdbriyig
- Pel
- Sîranians or Sîrani
- Rivermen of the Sîrayn
- Muratatai
- Yôpi
- Ts'dan
- Haradrim or Men of Haradwaith
- Talataerim (Men of the central Plains or Easterlings)
Notes[]
Original form in MERP: Aravador → Asrabi → Arabnoi
The Asrabirin languages, made up the the ICE authors, were spoken mainly in eastern Middle-earth and are loosely based on proto-Indo-European vocabulary.
Other changes:
- Eve = Wê