Here is the map for my story "Etude of Singing Sands", which will be a part of the larger series "Lament for the Fallen." Although this map is most useful for EoSS.
The coastal cities are named in quenya because of the Black Numenorean influence in these lands. Havens of Umbar were taken by Herumor and Fuinur took over Kipura and named it Tar Liduinos. There are of course many more human settlements across the coast, but I did not named them as they are mostly small cities and villages. The coast is rocky and it is quite hard to grow any crops which would support a large population. So people of these lands are mostly fishermen and traders, transporting goods by sea from South. I suppose there should be a large kingdom at the riverbank, but I still need to think about that for sure.
The native people of coastal lands were killed, enslaved or ran to the desert with the coming of Black Numenoreans. I suppose they took man of their women as unwilling wives too.
The people of desert are divided to two categories ā these who lived there as default and these who escaped the invasion. The divide is quite important because these two groups do not like each other much. There are not many resourcas in desert and when the men of the coast ran, they also invaded the desert dwellings. It had been thousands of years of course and many tribes merged with each other, but the two groups are still quite distinct. The people of sea who call themselves Yawith regards Kipura and Achniwt (Umbar) as nearly legendary heavenly place of their origin. Before the War of the Ring begins, Sauron's lieutenants promise them these lands in exchange for military help. These people do not see any difference between Gondorians and the Black Numenorean usurpers and so they fight for Sauron.
One of the smaller coastal city states is Falmos, a merchant city, they specialise in trade with dwarves of Isteniwt who are mining diamonds, but they also bring other goods from South as well. As I said Isteniwt is one of the two dwarven cities, the other being Ketedhut at the oase of Palisor. The dwarves of Isteniwt are mainly jewelsmiths and jewellers, mining precious stones and gold. The mountains at Palisor are rich in iron and so Ketedhut make swords, shields and also items of ordinary use, but they are great at enchantment and also mine salt. Ketedhut has good relationship with Gwirhaed, but the ties with Eiracha went sour. From Gwirhaed they export their spider silks through Isteniwt and Falmos. These two cities are connected by a tunnel as you can see. The tunnel is not entirelly artificial. The black desert of Erumorna was formed by volcanic action and there still is active volcano, although two more were awakened during the War of the Ring. These volcanoes formed many caves under the desert and these run very deep and were even more deepened by dwarvish explorations. Dwarves mapped Erumorna very well and they are great friends of the desert's maia of the same name.
There is probably mannish kingdom at the sea of Palisor for sure, but let's talk about Eiracha. Eiracha is a city of many stairs, it's heart floats on a great underground lake and there the palace was build. The caves are filled with the dwellings of Hisildi who are one of the Kinn-lai. There are many hot springs and it is said by some that it's waters are holy and mortal flesh could not touch them for they would boil in the water, on the other hand men believe that those who drink the water gain eternal youth and some even said that bathing in some river will make them untouchable. Eirachini do not sell the water and it can only be given as a gift.
What I know about the people of the sea of Palisor is that they used to be friends of Eirachini, but over time grew more bitter and ultimatelly stood with Ketedhut (which was also much more important for them due to trade) in the conflict and so their ties were severed. Palisor is kind of lonely and less open to visitors than Gwirhaed. Any information regarding Gwirhaed would be probably spoiler so I'll say neigh of it!
Saebwaha is offiicially under the rule of Umbar (Achniwt) but there are many factions and semi-autonomous city states which constantly fight for their rights and lands, they would very much like to free themselves of umbarian rule. The lands of Near Harad are also sparsely populated by smaller colonies, mostly farmers and herders, they breed horses which are rare comodity in South as they are not very suited for caves nor living in the searing hot desert and only the rich can transport and care for horses in Tar Liduinos, Falmos and other smaller merchant cities where horses are a symbol of wealth and the families are very proud of their steeds lineages. Sadly the populations of these horses were decimated during the War of the Ring and only few remained preserved by the people who refused to ally with Sauron and drove their herds away to the desert where only few of the people and horses survived.
What I omissed are the goats. Goats are very important animals, they are not native to Erumorna but over ages they assimilated. These goats live in caves and mostly eat mushrooms and lichens which they lick with their long tongies of the rocks and crevices, they of course also graze on mosses and epiphytes which may grow in some caves. As you can imagine these goats spend most of their life licking stones. They have very big ears aiding them in thermoregulation. Otherwise the cave goats are quite small and lanky, since the caves are still active and eruptions of gases may occur as well as earthquakes and gas capsules, they are very sensitive to these things and excellent predictors. Their navigation ability is also superior to all creatureÅ”
However the dwarves of Isteniwt crossed the desert goats with more studry mountain breeds and created the royal goat line. These dwarven goats are taller and more sturdy with elegant long bodies and legs they resemble more a gazelle. They can drive a cart or carry some supplies for their are strong in despite of their delicate appearance. The royal goats are very proud and opinionated too and may refuse to be sold or given away, their trust must be earned.
I am still not sure how to name the island or who lives there..
