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Foroch

The Ice Bay and Cape of Forochel

Forochel (S: 'North-ice') was the name of that region of icy wastes of Forodwaith that lay north of Eriador, as well as the great bay and cape of the same name.

The Hûb Forochel (S: "Bay [of] Forochel", Q. "Hûpa Formenhellê"), or Icebay of Forochel, was an arm of the Belegaer which stretched from Forlindon to the Northern Waste north of Arthedain. The Ice Bay was frozen nine months of the year, but during the summer whales and seals could be seen from the rocky shores.

Cast Forochel (S: 'Cape [of] Forochel') was the name of the broad and remote cape that came down from the north to close the Icebay of Forochel from the Great Sea.[1]

Geography[]

  • Type: Tundra.
  • Area: 124.000 square miles.
  • Elevation: average: 300 feet; lowest point: sea level; highest point: Amon Losthoron (S. "Snow-eagle's Hill") 2,983 feet.
  • Climate: average annual precipitation: 40-55 inches; mean annual temperature: 30-45°F; average low: Ninui -20°F; average high: Ivanneth 75°F.
  • Composition: The icy wastes north of Arthedain are a barren shelf of granite, worn smooth by the passage of great sheets of ice. Little mineral wealth can be found in the region, and the harsh climate discourages prospectors from exploring further.
  • Notes: Only the hardy Lossoth live in this desolate region throughout the year. Occasionally. Orc-tribes or Men seeking rare herbs will risk the elements, but these rarely stay for long. No trees grow in Forochel; only stubby grasses and scrawny shrubs exist to feed the herds of Losrandir.

Regions and Bodies of Water[]

North

Regions of Forochel

Aanaar Aanetton Meri Aeglir Arvethed Bay of Cracking Ice Bay of Whales Bein Delin Bleak Mountains Caew-i-Cheldolath Canadras Cape Forochel Cirith-i-Nudevyn Craggy heights Din Lug Dor Bendor Edge of the World Mountains Eithel Morgoth Emyn Nimbrith Ephel Angmar Ered Muil Ered Rhivamar Ered Uma Ered Umarth Eryn-in-Erais Everdalf Everhir Fainin Sataya Felldale Fen Tundra Fire Tundra Forochel Bay Forovirkain Frozen Waste Gondalf Gulf of Snow Haamokat Helectil Herd Tundra Hithaelin Hûb Beriannen Hûb Ereb Hûb Falthol Hûb Helcharaes Hûb Helchui Hûb Lostas Hûb Rochdol Hunter's Isle Icy Hills Imlad Dirnen Jä-kuru Järvimaa Karhu Jarvi Karhunaska Korela Korkea-Järvi Lakelands Lindalf Linnarthurras Lódalf Lokosir Estuary Lossothlann Lost Sea Metsastajoino Saari Mewlip Marshes Minheldolath Musastajöiden Saari Nan Everhir Nan Lhuchir Narthalf Naur Firnen Pieni Satama Pitkämiehen Saari Pitkat Sormet Pitkayon Vuoret Pitkämienen Saari Pitkävesi Rammas Forod Rast Losnaeth Ruaival Island Sad Hills Sarchbel-i-Fannath Sormi Vaguot Stone Tundra Tahtivalo Talath Oiohelka Talath Uichel Tallman Isle Talvi-mûri Taur Orthon Thangorodrim Thorenaer Tobel Mallen Tol Ely Torogmar Uichith Umip Rydystaja Under-forges Urdalf Vevenibhen Satama Wash Tundra Whalebone Isle White-rubble Hills White Sea

Settlements and points of interest[]

Forochel4

Southern Forochel in TA 3019

Forochel3

Southern Forochel locations


Aamukau Achrond Amon Amlug Annuthad Arathras Barad Gaurhoth Bernastath Bottomless Forges Canadras Culsee Dîn Lhug Dol Cembereth Dol Gormaen Dwarf channels Ei Missä Eithel Morgoth Evermist Garth Helegof Fahamgathol Finarthurias Forrving Gondring's Lair Haunted Berg Hemmastus-Pesä Helloth Hirta Homela Hylje-Leiri Hyvät Kalat Hyvät Kyvät Iceberg of the Ocean of Silence Icebreaker Mines Icebridge Icereave mines Itämâ Itämuurit Ivory Hill Jä-Reitti Jääkylat Jäävuori Jänis-Leiri Jotunstath K'eleklat Karu-Leiri Kauppa-Kohta Kibilzahar Kingscrag Kissa-Sari Kivi-Vuori Kukkakylä Kuru-Leiri Kylmätalo Laegirith Länsi-Mâ Leijona-Kotin Leiri Linnathurras Ligr Wodaize Berne Lintulum Lossadan Cairn Lucun Meri Kylä Metstästa-Sija Minas Eldanaryon Mindil Kepich Molgolodh's Cave Mornost Mulkan Kaupunk Mustanoi Stuuden Kaupunki Naky-kolo Norsu-Hauta Norsu-leiri Orod Certhas Pendrath na-Udûn Pitkakon Vuoret Pitkäranta Pohjoinen Täti Puolihmisten Satama Pynti-Leiri Pynti-Peldot Reodh Fuil Ringrod Round Rock Ruskea Vene Sarchbel-i-fannath Shipwreck of Arvedui Siida Siminen Tomu Sinikäden Kuolema Reiki Sininen Tomu Sûri-Kylä Talven Muurit Talven Satama Thauraug Thaurung Thilgon's Tomb Tori Kaupunki Túli-Máit Uitilth Vasaran Ahjo Veistyt Muurit Vesi-Pastä Voi-Teltta Whalebone Isle Zigilgund

History[]

Forochel

Southern Forochel

The part of the Northern Waste that bordered Eriador was created out of the rubble of the Iron Mountains by the relentless power of wind, ice, and flowing water; it was uninhabitable for the first centuries of the Second Age. As a drainage pattern emerged from the rocks and mud, cut by summer streams trying to reach the Bay of Forochel, soil collected. Seed and spore drifted from the south to provide the country with its first plant cover. Reindeer, mice, ptarmigan, and waterfowl followed the flora; then wolf, fox, and hawk arrived to prey on the grazing beasts. Fish swam up the streams and rivers as the waters stabilized and cleared; otter and mink followed the fish along the coasts from Lindon and Numeriador, and Eriedain Rivermen eventually traveled north for pelts. The Lossoth migrated west a few centuries later, tracking reindeer from somewhere in north-central Endor. They spread out across the granite platform that once underlaid the northern ice cap and picked a way across the rubble plain until they reached the Bay of Forochel. There they met the Rivermen, who stayed only for the summer months, and established the most tentative of trading links. During the early years of Arnorian history, travel to the northern frontier was left to the Riverman trappers. After the division of Arnor, this practice changed. Amlaith, the first King of Arthedain, sent explorers into the north country attempting to find new trade routes that did not run through his brother Thorondur's realm of Cardolan. An attempt to build a road through the Waste to the Bay of Forochel failed; the tundra was simply too treacherous and the route too costly for caravans. A path over the Iron Pass of the Misty Mountains succeeded for a time, but drove Orcs from the mountains into Forochel. There, they troubled the inland Lossoth and drove many westward towards the great bay. Amlaith, by way of apology, sent Rangers north to hunt down the worst of the Orcs; along the way, they explored much of the country as far as the great northern sea and produced maps that would be the only source of knowledge on the Forodwaith for millennia to come. Amlaith also declared a protectorate over the Lossoth — a provision of which most never heard and the rest soon forgot. The only reminders of his promise in later reigns were a few medicine bundles. Each was made of feather, bone, and fur, inscribed with the King's declaration in Sindarin and Adunaic. The Lossoth could not read the words scratched onto the hide covering the bundles, but they knew the Elenriss — the six-pointed Ranger's star adorning each bundle — was the symbol of a warrior who would fight evil wherever it arose. Every so often, years and centuries later, a strange figure would appear in the streets of Annuminas or Fornost, wearing exotic furs and bearing a hide-wrapped bundle, lost and frightened by the great buildings and the masses of tall men all around him. Someone would locate a scholar who spoke Labba, while another located a book of ancient laws. Then the fur-clad Losson hunter would receive, as his right, a personal audience with the King of the North. Finally, one of the Feryn Aran would be commanded to learn new skills and languages and to undertake a mighty journey. No Lossoth ever took the trip south unless dire peril afflicted his people; and even after the fall of the Dúnadan kingdoms, none ever returned home without aid.

Although they were scarcely aware of the severity of the threat, the fall of Angmar and the warming of the northern weather probably saved the Lossoth from extinction. A centuries-long decline in numbers and health ended; hunting grounds once overrun by Orcs and Trolls could be reoccupied. The Snowmen lived more or less peacefully for the rest of the Age, grateful for the lack of fuss and trouble coming from the lands to the south. In the Fourth Age, King Elessar appointed a Warden of Northwatch to clean up his frontier and rid the southern bay of Forochel of the ages-old problems of Snow Trolls and white wolves. After F.A. 47, Frodo Gardner, son of the Shire-Mayor Samwise Gardner, became the Warden's chief advisor; he began a program of tree and shrub planting along the streams of Forochel to stabilize their banks and "tame" them. This was an extension of a similar program that reforested a goodly portion of the Rammas Formen and the Emyn Uial by the end of the century. It was intended to take advantage of the waning of the ancient evils and, Master Gardner said, to allow the land to bloom, as he believed the Valar once intended.

The Region in T.A. 1640-1650[]

Northheat

Forochel and the Frozen Lands

  • Political Organization: Tribal Groups.
  • Rulers: Betimrin, a prominent chieftain.
  • Administrative Organization: Purely clan-based, with the Elders and chieftains holding authority. All goods are considered communal: hoarding is punishable by exile.
  • Population: 400.000 Lossoth
  • Military: 4000 Hunters.
  • Products: Oil, hides.
  • Symbol: None.

In a land where most Men could not live for a few hours without protection from the elements, the Lossoth of the North thrive. They lead pure and simple lives, relying upon the sparse bounty of their homeland for survival, but they are hardy and do not want for much in the way of luxury. They refuse to move to warmer climes, preferring the violence of the northern wastelands to the wars of their neighbors to the south. They take no sides in the conflicts between the Witch-king and the High Men but they are no friends of Orcs and have offered aid to lost Dúnadan travellers in need of help. The Lossoth are a people distantly related to the Dunlendings. None knows of their precise origins, and they were apparently present in Forochel long before the first Númenóreans landed on the shores of Middle-earth. They shun contact with other groups, although a few enterprising traders of Arthedain have won their confidence and occasionally make seasonal expeditions to acquire whale oil. hides, and ornaments of worked bone. The Lossoth live in small and widely scattered villages which are centered around strong ties of kinship. In the winter months, they build their homes out of blocks of ice and seem as comfortable in these dwellings as a Hobbit does in his smial. No chief rules over all of the tribes, though occasionally a single chief will grow strong enough to unite the efforts of several clan groups. Within the communities, the Lossoth freely share all of their possessions, working together to ensure their group's survival. The Lossoth are a migratory people, moving their entire village when they exhaust the resources in a given area. They hunt whales and the sturdy Losrandir, following the huge herds around for months at a time. They are careful to preserve the integrity of their environment, and look with suspicion upon those who despoil the land.

A few villages of Umli lie scattered around the frozen waste of Forochel. The Umli may be distantly related to the Dwarves, though none truly know from whence they came. Their origins are even more obscure than those of the Lossoth. The Umli are a dying race, victims of raiding Orcs, the Plague, and an unforgiving climate. Those Umli who live in Forochel are splinter groups of the main Umli population to the East in the cold lands of Urd and Uab, whom natural disasters and warfare drove to seek a more peaceful existence in the West. While the Lossoth manage to survive though sheer willpower, the Umli in Forochel give way to introspection and despair, for their new home is no less harsh than their old one, and it lies within the grip of the Witch-king. For reasons known only to themselves, they dare not return to their homeland and will not speak of the matter to outsiders. -Drôgil of Fornost

Dangers in Forochel[]

Forochel2

Orcs of Angmar were a constant evil in the Forochel, especially after the Witch-king had begun sending his frontier tribes into the foothills of the Rammas Formen to secure bases for raids south into the Emyn Uial. White wolves and Snow Trolls were a dominant threat in winter months, and the changing weather made those winters longer as the years went by. More exotic creatures, like the Demon-whale, were remnants of the First Age and the magical armies of Morgoth. The Demon-whales themselves prowled the waters of the Bay of Forochel, but they were rare. Fanged creatures of both fur and scale wandered into Forochel from the mined lands to the north, along with cold-breathed, white-skinned giants, slithering ice-drakes, bizarre skinchangers, and howling wind-spirits. The Lossoth and their Wise men, more so than the folk of the tamer southern lands, routinely practiced a variety of minor defensive magics against supernatural intruders. Tribal conjurers kept careful track of the omens and signs that appeared around them to indicate the mood of the spirit world. While the typical Lossadan tribal magician, like village healers in the southern lands, utilized only a limited number of magical spells and rituals, a few were possessed of a natural "gift" for contacting "spirits." It was a dangerous ability. Some of the "spirits" were the souls of Losson, Adan, and Elvish hunters and healers, lost for a time in the swirling Essence winds caused by the wreck of Angband and Beleriand, hopeful of eventual escape beyond the Walls of the World. Others were Maiar, Feahini, Elementals, and Demons, whose needs and desires were less obvious. A Lemeynen (L. "Spirit-namer") could do enormous good or terrible evil, depending on how skilled, sensitive, and responsible she was. When a talent such as this revealed itself, the eldest of a clan's conjurers would be assigned to instruct the gifted in the ways of wisdom. Tales told of entire Lossadan clans ruined by "Namers" seduced by Demons in the guise of benevolent spirits. Yet, Orc-bands numbering a thousand or more had been slaughtered when they troubled a seemingly harmless village with a Lemeynen who was on speaking terms with the powers behind the north wind. The most spectacular of the dark powers of the North was the Eloeklo, an evil spirit of the north wind who appeared in many Losson fables. The Eloeklo had once been a great cold-fire Demon serving Morgoth. He was bound to the winds by a Noldo Magician during the siege of Angband in the First Age. Cursed to remain merged only with winds of a certain degree of coldness, he had for three Ages been doomed to perpetually drift, his fana spread through the upper airs. The Eloeklo regained some semblance of his true form only when summoned by sorcery or when a natural concentration of Essence — such as an unusually intense blizzard or magical battle — allowed his consciousness and substance to coalesce in one location. Due to the Noldo curse, he was no longer able to fully solidify his body in Middle-earth. He appeared as either a shapeless mass of wind and snow, the size of a small castle, or as a semi-transparent giant some three times the height of a man, bearing grotesque, snarling features and wielding a whip of freezing wind. In either form, he was immensely powerful, but almost blind to the creatures and objects around him. Men witnessing a manifestation of the Eloeklo had simply thrown themselves to the ground and been passed over, while others who had screamed and fled were caught and crushed. The Eloeklo, while powerful, was only rarely a threat to mortals. The Lossoth considered him a primary source of the worst and most deadly blizzards, but their magicians told them to speak his name softly, and never to curse or rave against the storm when out in the elements. The Eloeklo, they said, was always listening, waiting for his chance to return to the world and take vengeance upon its people.

Peoples[]

Characters[]

Ainur: Eloeklo Vesi-henki

Elves:

Men:

T.A. 1640-1650: Betimrin
T.A. 1975: Hyrd
T.A. 3018-3019: Dogrib Er-Annath Jûoma Voteli

Hobbits: Hyra Ruoka

Flora[]

Birch Blackberry Fir Fur-grass Hawthorn Keihäänlehti Keltakukka Larch Mustakuu Pine Punasaliwa Sinätähti Unikukka Willow

Fauna[]

Bats Bees Bighorn Sheep Biting Flies Black Bear Black Mink Blue Otter Butterflies Cave Bears Death Shrews Deer Dire Wolves Ducks Elk Ermine Fell Bears Fell Turtles Fox Gnats Gorcrows Great Moose Great Whales Grey Wolves Gulls Hawks Hummerhorns Humpback Whales Killer Whales Lemmings Lynx Marsh Snakes Mice Mink Mosquitoes Mountain Eagles Musk Oxen Norsu Otter Ptarmigans Rabbits Reindeer Seals Snow Bears Snow Eagles Snow leopards Sperm Whales Susi Terns Tundra Mosquito Walruses Wargs Wasps Waterfowl White Hart White Wolves Wild Dogs Wild Sheep Wolverines Wolves

Other: Cave Trolls Cold-drakes Corpse Candles Corpse Lanterns Demon Whales Ghosts Ghouls Hill Trolls Ice-drakes Marsh-drakes Mewlips Skeletons Snow Elementals Snow Trolls Stone Trolls Water-drakes Wights Wind Spirits Winter Giants

References[]

  1. "The cape is not shown on the maps that accompany The Lord of the Rings: it lay to the north of the region shown there, and was some three hundred miles in length. It was the main home of the snow-people known as the Lossoth, who lived along the cape protected from their enemies by the cold waters of the Icebay." -The Encyclopedia of Arda - Cape of Forochel
  • MERP: Arnor
  • MERP Fan Modules: A Traveler's Guide to Lindon, by Jeff J. Erwin
  • MERP: The Northern Waste
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