Men of Tantûrak
The Tantûraki (Mû. "High-born"), people of the land which bore their name, were the proud (indeed, often over-proud) descendants of the mighty mariners of Númenor and the indigenous Ûsakani, a people related to the Mûmakani. The nation of Tantûrak was founded as a Númenórean colony in about S.A. 1800 as the most southerly such colony on the continent of Middle-earth proper. It was ruled by a Númenórean royal Barûn for 1200 years, until the arrival of the "Magician of Tantûrak" who became the governor's adviser in 3000 S.A. (He was actually one of the Elven Lords of the Court of Aranórë.) Forty years later the royal governor declared independence for Tantûrak and proclaimed himself it's first king. Since that time the government of Tantûrak under the influence of the Magician had suffered a steady decline into corruption, while the spiritual condition of the Númenórean colonists, ever more intermingled with their Ûsakani subjects, shifted downwards from disdain to hatred and jealousy of the Elves and Kirani and an ever increasing embrace of the Dark Religion.
Prior to the Númenórean conquest, the Ûsakani were a primitive Mannish people closely related to the Mûmakani and of a similar nature and level of culture. Since the conquest, after which the Númenóreans formed the upper classes of Tantûrak, the two cultures and races mingled considerably into one more or less uniform Tantûraki culture. This process was accelerated by the Númenóreans' aloofness and voluntary relative isolation from the rest of the Mûmakan subcontinent, although trade flourished with many countries near and far, including at times as far as Gondor.
References[]
- The Tantûraki © Lowell R. Matthews, Version 2.0, May 27, 1997* Version 2.1, prepared for The Guild Companion, July 1999