#variags

Free Map: Sutrlûrza Khand

I made this for my MERP Campaign, but you can adapt it to yours as long as you need a Middle-Eastern/Arabic styled city. Tools used: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition's map editor + Adobe Photoshop CS6 for merging and final details.

KHAND REGIONS GRAPHICS - [XI] Ala-Khand

Ala-Khand lay between the southern foothills of the Ephel Dúath and the northeastern hillocks of the Kajbah.

Fourth Age Khand captains, allied w/ Rhun

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, horseherders 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. Sturlurtsa Khand - the traditional capital of Lower Khand and the largest city between Umbar and the Talathrant - stood by the confluence of the rivers Knife (V. "Noz Peka") and Gold-horse (V. "Medlóshad Peka"). It was the home of the powerful Ûrpof and Oléna clans.

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. Upper Khand's principal city, Ûbésêsh-ûta-Pavéter (V. "Refuge from the Flailing Wind"), stood only about 170 miles east and upstream from Sturlurtsa Khand; however, it received twice the precipitation and a lot less heat than its larger and more important counterpart. The town was home to the Irbo clan.

Lâorkí was the sister city of Ûbésêsh-ûta-Pavéter and the second town of Upper Khand. The home of the Achef clan, it had produced most of the Variag kings. Ûvathar Achef, the greatest conquerer of the line, became the ninth of Sauron's accursed Ringwraiths.

Ûvathar the Horselord (one of the nine Ringwraith, a.k.a. "Ûvatha") was born at the Caves of Ôlbamarl. The vast caverns wind up and down through a mountain spur located in the southeastern part of the Ephel Duath (S. "Shadow-fence"). They include two permanent towns and seven shrines. Here, the bones of many Kings were entombed (the Variag successors stripped the meat from, and then ate, their fallen monarchs).

All seven of the Variag confederations spoke Varadja and shared a common culture rooted in an ages-old reverence for the horse. Superb riders and warriors, they were without peer as cavalry.

Khand originally was a gap and plateau between the southwestern shores of the Sea of Helcar (later to become the Núrnen) and the Ered Harmal. Khand was finally shaped when Sauron created Mordor by the volcanic activities of Mount Orodruin.The Lands of later Núrn and Khand by this time were populated by tribes of Iorag descent, the Ororath, Omodath and Vracarath which would become the ancestors of the later Variags.

The Ioriag would name the Lands between Núrn and the Ered Harmal Kha-on ("Land of Horses and Sun") which would later evolve into Khand.

Variags: In the land of Kahad, south of Mordor, there lived a fierce folk called the Variags during the Third Age of the Sun. They were allied to the evil Easterlings and Haradrim and were servants of the Dark Lord Sauron. The histories of the West tell how twice the Variags came forth at the bidding of Sauron against Gondor. In the year 1944 with the Men of Near Harad, the Variags fought the army of Eärnil of Gondor and were defeated at Poros Crossing. More than a thousand years later, the Variags, with the Haradrim and Easterlings, came to the aid of Sauron's armies from Morgul and Mordor in the War of the Ring. But this was the last time they fought Gondor, for an end came to Sauron's power and so to the alliance between Sauron and Variags, who remained within their own lands for many years of the Fourth Age.

*Note: The Day Encyclopedias have a history of not being completely 100% accurate. These entries are not meant to be taken as 100% canon. Like the entries from the Tyler encyclopedia, they are simply just interesting to read.