Gobel Mirlond

Gobel Mirlond (S."Jewel haven-town"), aka Mirlond, Caras Mirilond, Zimralôni (Ad.), Kas Marzûk (Har.'Castle of the Ill-tempered').

Type: Coastal Town
Inhabitants: 80% Haradan, 20% Corsair
Population: 1,600
Origin: Settled by Gondorians around T.A. 932, occupied by Corsairs in T.A. 1448
Purpose: A mercantile center near the mouth of the Harnen; a base for Haradan raids against Gondorian holdings in Harondor
Symbol: A Sand Drake

Gobel Mirlond was the largest coastal settlement between Pelargir and Umbar, serving as the capital of the province and, later, territory of Harondor, and acting as one of the most important trade arteries along the River Harnen. It was also one of the most ancient Númenorean colonies along the Bay of Belfalas.This city is the capital of Harondor and is a very important trading post, it was founded by Tar-Ciryatan about the same time as Umbar. It is also the usual centre of disputes between Gondor & Umbar. The Haruze name was based on the Umbarean garrison commander who did not get along with Haruze.After TA 1940 the kings abandoned Harondor, the Umbareans rebuilt Mirlond. It was principally inhabited by Haruze who did not get along well with the Umbarean garrison commander. Because he seemed to be perpetually upset, the Haruze came to refer to the town as Kas Marzûk.

History[]

Gobel Mirlond was the largest coastal settlement between Pelargir and Umbar, serving as the capital of the province and, later, territory of Harondor, and acting as one of the most important trade arteries along the River Harnen. It was also one of the most ancient Númenorean colonies along the Bay of Belfalas, having been founded by Tar-Ciryatan during the noontide of Númenorean expansion in Middle-earth. Like its sister colony of Ramlond across the Harnen estuary, Mirlond had originally fallen under Umbarean jurisdiction, but later asserted its autonomy following the Downfall of Númenor. The favored jewel in the crown of Tarannon Falastur, Mirlond was captured by the legendary Captain of the Hosts in T.A. 754, and became the nucleus for his imperial vision of a new political order.

Tarannon granted township status to Mirlond upon his ascension in the year T.A. 830, renaming it Gobel Mirlond, and established it as the seat of royal government for the newly-constituted province. With the north bank of Ethir Harnen now secured, Gobel Mirlond became the front battle-line for Prince Eärnil's slow but irresistible advance into the Umbarean-held coastlands beyond.The haven remained an essential military stronghold tor the kings in their subjection of Umbar and the Haradwaith all the way upto Ciryaher's final victory in T.A. 1050, after which time a significant portion of Gobel Mirlond's garrison was relocated to the new frontiers. Throughout the era of the Ship-kings, the military strength of the haven brought it great prosperity as a center for landward and seaborne trade alike.

The fortunes of Gobel Mirlond continued to rise under the coastal supremacy of Calimehtar I of Gondor and his descendants in Pelargir, culminating in Castamir the Ursurper's ascension and brief reign (T.A. 1437-1-147). During this zenith of its prosperity, Harondor was governed by the Usurper's powerful uncle, Elendin, through whose patronage Gobel Mirlond was lavished with royal gifts and amenities. Since the town had achieved untold wealth and power under the Usurper and his family, it was not surprising that Castamir's defeat and death at the hands of Eldacar of Gondor in T.A. 1447 made little or no headway in shaking the confederate allegiance of Gobel Mirlond—and, therefore, of Harondor itself—for the next century.

In spire of the rebel withdrawal to Umbar in T.A. 1448, the citizens of Gobel Mirlond had little to fear, since Eldacar had no ships to attack them and because the principal zone of landward contention between Gondor and the newly-formed lordship of Umbar would lie far to the north their town. So long as their Umbarean allies controlled the sea and the Harnen corridor, their political power and economic prosperity would remain intact, liven the sudden and unexpected dethronement of Castamir by the Regency Council of confederate captains did little to threaten their preeminence; on the contrary, it meant that the power of Castamir's ousted descendants and supporters would now shift, to Gobel Mirlond itself.

Having established himself with his followers at Gobel Mirlond tn T.A. 1475, Castamaite commenced his piratical career, filling his own coffers and those of Gobel Mirlond with the plunder and spoil of southern Condor. Many of the haven's adventurous captains joined in this lucrative profession under Castamaite's- banner, eventually achieving the distinction for Gobel Mirlond as being the very first "Corsair" stronghold (though Castamaite s actions were not recognized by the Council of Captains until after Gobel Mirlond had been lost to Gondor).

Nostalgically remembered by its exiled citizenry as a golden age of swashbuckling adventure, Gobel Mirlond's era of independence from Gondor was brought to an end in T.A. 1540.

Enraged by the insolent (and highly successful) depredations of Castamaite, and having made significant headway in rebuilding the royal fleet over the ninery-three years since his father's seizure of Pelargir from rebel control, King Aldamir launched all of his might against the confederate strongholds of Harnendor, wrestling Gobel Mirlond from Castamaite s control in T.A. 1540. Although Aldamir himself was slain in the brief recapture of the haven by Castamaite's forces, the rebels were eventually forced to abandon the town in the face of vastly superior land and sea forces.

The sudden and violent reassertion of Gondorian rule on Gobel Mirlond was a traumatic event for the town and its inhabitants. Most of its prominent citizens, all of whom had fervently supported (and benefited from) Castamaites piratical behavior, were either slain in the capture of the haven or had abandoned it, beating a hasty retreat with Castamaite to confederate-held Ramlond. The remaining inhabitants of the once-greai haven, bereft of the power and wealth of their exiled leaders, now lost their political rights as well. Aldamir's successor Vinyarion stripped Mirlond of its township status, subjecting its inhabitants (along with the rest of Harondor) to the direct rule of a military governor.

Although Mirlond remained the largest settlement in Harondor for the next lour centuries, its economic supremacy was eclipsed by the growing instability of its political situation. The confederate retreat had severed the haven's all-important commercial link to Near Harad. which now passed through Ramlond instead.The political vacuum left in the wake of the defection of the town's elite in T.A. 1540 was filled by the new military hierarchy, which included both land and naval elements. As the frontiers of war solidified along the line of the Harnen, the garrison of the haven grew to equal the civilian population in numbers, necessitating an enlargement of the settlement and its fortifications. As new veterans, loyal to the kings, were settled on the land surrounding Mirlond, the ethnic character of the haven's inhabitants changed, especially with the advent of the many Northmen who had fought on behalf of Gondor since the reign of Eldacar.

Gobel Mirlond fell to the Corsairs in T.A. 1637, having been seized by Castamaite's grandson Sangahyandion, who established a short-lived domain along the north bank of Ethir Harnen centered upon Mirlond. Sangahyandion controlled Mirlond for the next eighty-four years while the Governor of Harondor with- drew his seat to Methir. Sangahyandion was slain in the Gondorian recapture of Mirlond in T.A. 1721, after which time the haven resumed its role as the military capital of Harondor (though it remained subject to enemy attack as long as Ethir Harnen remained contested ground). Mirlond recovered something of its former mercantile grandeur following Telumehtar's victory over Umbar in T.A. 1810, though by this time the overall scale of rule and commerce in southern Gondor had noticeably declined. The haven's garrison was reduced since the frontier of Gondorian control extended once more beyond die Harnen and because the realm's military resources had to be redirected northwards to Rhovanion, where the Wainriders were making threatening moves. In the absence of any immediate military threat, Mirlond's fortifications were badly neglected.

After the fall of Umbar in T.A. 1940, Mirlond again became a key position for Harondor's coastal defenses.Its civilians were evacuated to Lebennin, while the garrison was strengthened. In T.A. 1944, it was bypassed by the main Wainrider columns, which entered Harondor futher to the east (though a small detachment of the invading host screened Mirlond in order to block any attempts by the garrison to strike at the rear of the enemy) When Eärnil II of Gondor decided to abandon Harondor after the Second Wainrider War, the Mirlond fortifications were dismantled by Gondor's army, and the Settlement was set ablaze in order to deprive the Haruze of any spoils, The men of Umbar subsequently rebuilt Mirlond, which became a haven for raiders, and which served as one of the ramparts for later Umbarean attacks against southern Gondor. Bereft of its ships following the War of the Ring Mirlond was captured by Aragorn Elessar's fleet in F.A. 5, though it's military significance in the latters capture of Umbar in that same year was minor, since Ramlond had long since become the preeminent stronghold of the Ethir Harnen

Gobel Mirlond in T.A. 1640[]

Kas Marzûk was once a Gondorian town, but it now rests under the authority of Sangahyandion, a great Corsair overlord and a nephew of Admiral Angamaite of Umbar. The town fortifications have fallen into ruin ,but Sangahyandim has imposed a brutal tax to reconstruct them

References[]

Fanmodules:UMBAR & NEAR HARAD GAZETTEER
MERP:Southern Gondor:The Land