Lûrmsakûn
A realm of river valleys and oases bythe Óde Pézar river in the north and the Rysis river in the south,the easternmost land of the true Haradrim, Lûrmsakûn (Har."Basin of Flowing Waters", arch."Ûloramthakhôra") was blessed by great wealth and cursed by its place in the world, on the borders of the violent realms of the Variags and Khêy. Established by the Kibíc in 1,033 S.A. it was still considered part of eastern Near Harad. Although it lay next to Lower Khand) the people of Lûrmsakûn were mainly Harûze or spoke Harûze, a language shared by their brethren living in cities and farming villages as far west as the Sundering Sea in distant Harondor. The Harûze, as they were fond of reminding their neighbors, were a sophisticated trading race even before the "Pogánin" primarily the ´Númenóreans and Variags, came to trouble them in the mid-Second Age. Oft-conquered and ravaged Lûrmsakûn still had cities of immense beauty, surrounded by lush, irrigated fields of grain, melons, wine-grapes, and dates. The land was the draining basin for the rivers of Khand and the western Southern Gold Mountains. Three river basins were the center of Lûrmsakun's life and trade: The Rill-basin of the Óde Pézar, the Arysis of the River Rysis, and Sîakan, the vale of the Óde Sîak. The Óde Pézar ran westward to the Sundering Sea, eventually becoming the River Harnen, the contested frontier between Gondor and Umbar. The Rysis and the Sîak flew from the snow-touched peaks of the Southern Gold Mountains southwestward to vanish into the lifeless salt marshes of the Kréf Másar, one of the more hellish of the wastelands of the Haradwaith. The river valleys of Lûrmsakûn formed a great contrast with the deserts, consisting of lush belts of greenery supporting teeming hordes of peasants and shrewd traders and merchants, otherwise it was very hilly and semi-arid. Arysis lay south of Sturlurza Khand, royal seat of Khand, and sat squarely astride the caravan routs connecting western and central Middle-earth. Its largest city, Hamat Marêsh, was the greatest city of the Endorian interior in any era in which the Khandians were not draining its wealth into their own lands. Sîakan, naming itself "the Jewel of Mountain and Sun", controlled trade between southern and western Middle-earth. Lûrmsakûns Harûze rulers had been the easternmost lords of Men to swear allegiance to Gondor at the height of its power, though the Dúnedain never had officially claimed Lûrmsakun as an integral part of their realm, much in the same way that they exerted their political influence in the upper vales of Anduin. Its lords and kings, however, were oft conquered by the more warlike Variags, Khy, Khêy, and Ahâri peoples living just beyond its frontiers. For most of the Third Age, these lands were contested mostly by their own kings and those of the Khêy and Variags.
Places of Note[]
Brafenas Enmahadh Feah Kref Masár Krúk Boyadla Krúk Datmen Krúk Mahûr Layotam Maresh Mikarin Péh Ôvatharak Parzee Sturlurza Khand Talazhan Trihja Peh Zhaneen
Name[]
The term "Lûrmsakûn" had undergone numerous semantic transformations across the ages—"Ûloramthakhôra", "Ûloramthakôr", "Ûlûramthakûr", "Lûramzakûr", "Lhûramzakûn", "Lhûrmazakûn", "Lhûrmasakûn", "Lûrmsakûn", "Sakûnri", and other variations still echoing its core. Originally, it referred to a river crossing, a riverine valley, a landscape, a tribal realm, a principality a kingdom and sub-kingdom or province. Even into the early Fourth Age, dwellers south of Mûrithan—known in older chronicles as Mordor—called themselves the "Sokhûri", a name still deeply rooted in the ancient lineage of Lûrmsakûn.
References[]
- LARGE MAP GAZETEER, Written by Gabriele Quaglia and Eric Dubourg, Edited for the Guild Companion by Joe Mandala.
- MERP Fan Modules: UMBAR & NEAR HARAD GAZETTEER
- MERP: Southern Gondor The Land