To most of the peoples of the West, it is Rhûn – simply, “the East.”
It is whence the Balchoth and the Wainriders came in days of old to plague the upright folk of Rhovanion and Gondor. It is the homeland of Khamûl, the only Ringwraith ever known to the Wise by his proper name. It is the mysterious reaches into which the two Blue Wizards vanished in millennia past, never again to be seen in the lands held “civilized” by the descendants of Númenor.
To the scores of distinct peoples who inhabit these lands, however, it is much more than that. It is home to dozens of nations of Men, and to untamed wilds, also, unclaimed by any king. It is the place wherein the Elves first awakened at the dawning of the world, and in which the Avari – those who refused the call of Valinor – yet dwell, in their ever-dwindling numbers. It is where the mountain holds of proud and ancient Dwarf-clans stand. Even the humble Hobbits are said to have their origins somewhere in broad plains and rolling hills unknown to the West, and some of their distant kin remain here, still.
In the Kingdom of Tëm Nadûm, unrest grows. King Zalagir VII fights in the West at the direction of Sauron, leaving his land in the hands of his daughter, Princess Šešmurnárzah, with whom the “alliance” with Mordor has never sat well. From the island-city capital of Kûzekál, near the eastern shores of the Zan Apûl – what the Western world knows as the Sea of Rhûn – the princess resolves to throw off the shackles of Barad-dûr, even in defiance of her father’s treaty with the self-proclaimed Lord of Middle-Earth. The timely arrival from out of the further East of a wise old stranger in blue, wielding powers beyond the ken of ordinary mortals, cements her plan, as he comes bearing knowledge critical to her perilous ambition.
This supremely dangerous endeavor calls for the intervention of a small band of heroes, who must go forth under the cover of Šešmurnárzah’s rebellion, to assassinate the triumvirate of Sauron’s servants controlling the comparatively small Uruk army “reinforcing” King Zalagir’s remaining forces in mainland Tëm Nadûm. In order to see this task done, the princess will call upon champions among her subjects, as well as emissaries to her father’s court from among other kingdoms of Men, the reclusive forest nations of the Avari, the holds of the Blacklock and Stonefoot clans of Durin’s folk, and perchance others, still.
If Sauron’s lieutenants in Tëm Nadûm fall, so, too, does his hold in that land, and perhaps other neighboring kingdoms will see that the power of the Lord of the One Ring is not absolute, and that he can be defied and potentially even defeated.
Hosted and narrated by:
Stephen Michael DiPesa (Nocturnalchemy)
Started 03/06/19.
Scenes played: 0
License: Community License
