Note: This map shows the regions inhabited by tribes descended from the Talatherim tribes of the First Age. In the Third Age, these lands were known under the name Rhûn, Khand, Palisor, and Gulf of Ûtum. All these regions are part of the great plateau of Central Middle-Earth. The names and their geography of this regions were developed by Iron Crown Enterprises for MERP and Loremaster, therefore, they are not part of the canon of the Tolkien Legendarium.
Who were the Talatherim?
The Talathaerim (Av. "Plains-people", S. "Talathrim") or simply Talath were a primitive Easterling-culture of the First Age. They were nomads from Hildorien who wandered throughout Palisor and became the indigenious population of the vast steppe-lands of Central Middle-earth. The Talatherim were not a unified people but a collection of many different peoples. Most were herders, often swarthy, relatively small and stocky and close relatives to the Bórians and Uldorians of Beleriand, though one of their groups, the Tyr, were noticed for being exceptionally tall and fair-haired and were often guessed to be lost eastern relatives of the Hadorians.
Near-Rhûn (S. "East") was a vast region of nearly 500,000 square miles. Most of it is open territory - covered grasslands of varying quality. Western Rhûn was dominated by mountains, rolling hills, and river vales near the Inland Sea of Rhûn (S. "Rhûnaer"). Numerous rivers - including (clockwise from the northwest) the Celduin, Kug, Sûrûbeki, and Warwater - fed this great sea, which was the largest inland body of water in all of Middle-earth. The Taur Rómen (S. "Eastern Forest") covered the entire Kug Valley. Nearly 200 miles across, it stretched over 100 miles northeast of the Nen Rhúnen.
Near-Rhûn was home to myriad peoples. Ulgathig-speaking tribes typically occupied over half the area, including the eastern and central reaches. Ioradja-speakers usually dominated the southern steppe-lands. A mix of groups, of which the Dorwinrim were predominate, lived along the northern and western shores of the Inland Sea.
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Khand (earlier "Kha-on") stretched between the southeastern flank of the Ephel Duath and the northwestern edge of the Ered Harmal. It occupied the semi-arid plateau bordering northeastern Harad and thus commanded the great Khand Gap, the 100-mile wide pass facing southern Rhûn and eastern Mordor. Nûrad lay in the hills to the northeast.
Hot, dry, and windy, Khand was an unforgiving locale. Its flat, lowland areas afforded few means for stable settlement. Scrub and desert abound throughout Lower Khand. Here, horse herders moved their lightly-encumbered bands around a circuit of periodic shelters and encampments, their routes dictated by the location of springs, seasonal pools, and intermittent streams. The only permanent settlements lay along the broad, shallow Knife River, a tributary of the Harnen.
Upper Khand, which comprised the eastern and northern quarters of the region, enjoyed a bit more rainfall and cooler temperatures. The more numerous tribes of the area were generally richer and more settled than their brethren to the west and south.
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Palisor (Primitive Quenya: "Flat Land") or The Great Plain was an ancient term for the vast Lands of central Middle-Earth. Palisor encompassed the far Lands between the Great Greenwood in the west and the Orocarni in the east and included the vast Inland Sea of Helcar, the Mountains of the Wind with the Land Hildorien and the Murmenalda and the Lands of Cuivienen.
In the second and third Age most knowledge about eastern Middle-earth was lost and when Gondor conquered the lands surrounding the Rhûnaer they were astonished by the beauty of the Sea of Flowers in the east, why they called the unknown lands east of the Rhûnaer Menelothriand.
Palisor was believed to have been the birthplace of Elves and Men (and probably Hobbits) and the place of the Awakening of the four eastern Dwarf-Tribes. It was still inhabited by the various Easterling peoples, Orcs, Trolls and scattered remnants of Dwarves, Avari and Giants.
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The Bay of Ûtum (or Bay of Utumno) was a hughe rift in the Far North of Middle-Earth which separated the Forodwaith of Mur Fostisyr from the great Northern Peninsula. It was created by the destruction of Utumno by the Valar.
Most of the Tyr Easterlings settled around the shores and plains surrounding this bay. Among all descendants of the Talath the Tyr were often noted for having fair hair and pale complexion, perhaps hinting towards a long forgotten relation to the Hadorians.
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