Men of Tantûrak
The Tantûraki (Mû. "High-born", later:"Dândurakâni"), 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. 1,800 as the most southerly such colony on the continent of Middle-earth proper. It was ruled by a Númenórean royal Barûn for 1,200 years, until the arrival of the "Magician of Tantûrak" who became the governor's adviser in 3,000 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.
Notes[]
The origins of the Names of the various Easterling or Haradron cultures and the languages of the Men of the East and Haradrim Languages in Middle-earth Role Playing remain uncertain. Since the Free peoples of the Westlands possessed little knowledge of societies beyond the Sea of Rhûnaer or Umbar, most of the forms used in MERP appear to be exonyms constructed from Quenya and Sindarin elements dating back to the Silmarillion era. The most plausible origins of such names may lie in archaic Avarin, or in Adûnaic influences in the Southwest. Unless otherwise specified, the name forms in the NNCA have been adapted to archaic Avarin/Primitive Quendian.
References[]
- The Tantûraki © Lowell R. Matthews, Version 2.0, May 27, 1997* Version 2.1, prepared for The Guild Companion, July 1999
Editorial Note: This entry contains speculative or fan-based material — such as fanon, fanfiction, or theory constructs — that may not be directly supported by canonical texts. Interpretations offered here are part of the NNCA’s speculative corpus and should not be mistaken for primary Tolkien sources.