Post by Morsereg Dîndaedel on Jul 26, 2005 0:53:46 GMT
These wild and unruly hills and fens cover much of the land between Rivendell and the northern reaches of the Misty Mountains. However, their influence stretches even further afield for, though no great civilisation has ever arisen upon the Ettenmoors, its inhabitants are such that no sane being would stray within their reach. As in many wild places, Trolls, Orcs and Wargs abound, eking out their savage existence far from the vengeful steel of Elvish and Mannish realms, but dangerous as such creatures are, it is other, older evils which make the Ettenmoors a deadly place. The dead rest uneasily in many parts of Middle-earth, remnants of earlier wars. The Dead Marshes on the borders of Mordor are such a place, as are some parts of Fornost in modern days. How these places come to be cursed can only be guessed at, but some malign sorcery is seemingly possessed of enough might to enslave creatures long after their mortal bodies can endure no longer. Such entities vary greatly in power and malice – some are no more than ghostly forms who can do little but frighten the living, while others are great and terrible apparitions whose very touch is enough to corrupt flesh and spirit.
The tale of the Witch-king's domination of the northern lands ultimately ended in the Ettenmoors, for it was to here that he fled when he was defeated at the battle of Fornost, but the association goes back further than that. As an unliving creature himself, the Witch-king surrounded himself with many lesser wraiths, able to bend them to his will by his very nature. As Angmar rose to power, the undead of the blasted regions of Eriador became agents of terror sent forth amongst the realms of Men. Some, such as the Barrow-wights that dwell on the borders of the Old Forest, remain to this day – a malign and rotten echo of the glories of the Angmar that was, and has become once again with the rise of Lord Morereg.
The tale of the Witch-king's domination of the northern lands ultimately ended in the Ettenmoors, for it was to here that he fled when he was defeated at the battle of Fornost, but the association goes back further than that. As an unliving creature himself, the Witch-king surrounded himself with many lesser wraiths, able to bend them to his will by his very nature. As Angmar rose to power, the undead of the blasted regions of Eriador became agents of terror sent forth amongst the realms of Men. Some, such as the Barrow-wights that dwell on the borders of the Old Forest, remain to this day – a malign and rotten echo of the glories of the Angmar that was, and has become once again with the rise of Lord Morereg.
