Belkondíl
Belkondíl (olg. 'land by the rivers') is both a region in the southwestern corner of the Elondorian mainland on both banks of the rivers Cëlac and Brethan and the name of an ancient Olgish kingdom of vaguely the same dimensions. It is the homeland to the Olgish and Western Soskish cultures and was the core province of the Lécaronian Empire and initially its economic, cultural, and spiritual centre before its decline in favour of the Seligonian provinces. It borders both the Timesthe to the east and south and Runion to the west, leading to a split between the lusher and warmer meadows and woodland on the Timesthian side and the barren heath and moorland on the harsher Runion coast, one of the most sparsely populated regions in all of Elondor.
Etymology and Names
The name Belkondíl in this form seems to have originated as an adjective denoting relation to Belkontár, which itself derives from Proto-Ortûlékian *bêl-kond-tar 'land by the rivers', appealing to the region's location around the rivers Cëlac and Brethan. Later, the adjectival form became more prominent in use and eventually replaced the original label, a development commonly seen in Olgish place names. The old form Belkontár is still preserved in HArb. 'Elkontar', in Aribelian Myth the name of the First White City and capital of Almen, the legendary country of Aribelian origin south of the Ilathw. According to the (much younger) Lonsorigi, the Ortûlékian form of the name has been in use since the very beginning of its settlement; it is, however, not attested in writing until the 11th century B.E.B. and presumably has its origins in the tumultous conflicts of the time preceding the foundation of Lon Avoch, initially vaguely denoting the area of Olgish dominion, sometimes including but usually explicitly separate from the Soskish sphere of influence. The first use of the term in its later context is found in the Claims of Enethin.
The most common epithet for Belkondíl might be the Country of Dark-Green Meadows (MOlg. Iranatimuritar), in reference to its mossy fields and moors and often in contrast with the Country of Light-Green Meadows (MOlg. Iranolikuritar), which is usually applied to Seligon, especially the fertile plains around the River Eargliss. In Iilish, the country is called Bealamas 'Land of the Burning Hills'. The Old Besokian term, as evidenced on the Nishunâc World Map, was Tûnûshetor 'Great Marsh', hence Proto-Soskish Tûnustu and Môrethic Dûnutu.
Geography
Traditionally, Belkondíl is considered to include all of the southwestern corner of Elondor, west of the Besokan and the Gulf of Seligon and south of the Reknayan Mountains and the River Ilathw. It is surrounded by sea on three sides, the Timesthe (including the Gulf of Seligon) in the east and southeast and the Runion in the west and southwest.
History of the Definition
For the first centuries of its use, the term's definitions was vague and variable. It most commonly referred to the strip of land between Cëlac and Brethan south of Lágon, in the time of Olgish clan wars roughly equivalent to the Olgish sphere of influence, purposefully excluding the Genes in the Ilathw plains, the Sosks and Auls in Oakshire, the Edhennín, and Morineb, and the Noldorinians in the later Brethanian lands. The first full definition of the extent of Belkondíl is given more than a thousand years later in the Claims of Enethin of E.B. 19 to the land rightfully subject to the Crown of Ortûlék. According to this claim, Belkondíl contains all area between the Ilathw and Besokan Rivers, including the islands of Corbin and the Mairn. This definition was retained in all sources following Enethins time, including the Lonsorigi in their portrayal of early history.
Climate and Vegetation
The climate of Seligon is determined both by its relatively flat relief and by its location in between two oceans. The shallow hills of the west provide little protection from the westerlies, leaving most of Belkondíl's west coast exposed to Runion's harsh climate. Vegetation in this part is particularly sparse, with heath and moorland stretching over miles without as much as a small forest. Rain is frequent all year round, with moderate summers and mild winters. This area is among the most sparsely populated in all of Elondor and extends eastward roughly to the Brethan valley and south until Tár-Noldorin and the western shores of the White Sea, including most of Tarébras, Atrissar, Orinion, Noldorin, and the Mairn. Crops grown here are largely restricted to rye, barley, and flax, but farming is focussed on animal husbandry, chiefly of cattle and sheep, and fishing in the lush waters of the Runion.
The lands east of the Brethan, and especially east of the Cëlac, are influenced by the somewhat milder climate of the western Timesthe. While still considerably colder than Seligon, which is reached directly by the warm waters of the Timesthian Current before the cool along the shores of Old Seligon, eastern Belkondíl is more densely forested and in general more suitable for the cultivation of crops. The Rouningwood, a mixed forest reaching from the River Dôkob eastward until Singrall, is among the longest continuous woodland areas within the Lécaronian domain and of great economic and cultural significance.
Landmarks and Settlements
Belkondíl is the core land of Olgish legend, and many of its cities and landmarks have a great historic significance in Olgish culture. Ortûlék itself, the fabeled point of origin of the Olgs, Genes, and Auls and later seat of the Kings of Belkondíl, is part of its heartland, located in the plain of the same name on the western bank of the Cëlac between the Rouningwood and the forest of Kali-Tonin. The two other major Olgish royal seats are located not far, along the course of the Cëlac: Lágon, afoot the mountains on the northern edge of Belkondíl, capital of the mythical first Olgish Kingdom and a major political player even into Lécaronian times, and Soskilón, the epicentre of Olgish-Soskish contact and capital of Lécaron after Ortûlék was abandonend during the King's Plague of E.B. 1326.
East of the Cëlac and the marshland hemming the course of the River Nellac, Belkondíl finds its most lush and fertile region, the Edhennín, homeland of the Western Sosks and granary to most of the old Olgish domain. The most important eastern harbour, Iliston, is located here, as is the old and symbolically significant border town of Singrall and the contended-for Isle of Golim. They are bordered to the north by Oakshire, the last autonomous Soskish polity of Elondor, and to the south by the uplands of Morineb.
On its southern side, the costline of Belkondíl forms a large bight, the White Sea, bordered in the east by Corbin and the island of Kerrvaryn and in the west by the Noldorinian peninsula, the last refuge of the Noldorinian people before the complete disappearance around the 15th century B.E.B. The shores of the White Sea harbour several of Belkondíls most important port cities including Corbin, Arenys, and Eldab, and with Mendúrad on the island of the same name one of the most significant spiritual sites of the Western Church. Both of the great rivers flow into it, the Cëlac in the south of Gliron, east of the Tardennin, and the Brethan at the Brethan Delta south of Imban. The two most extensive mountain chains of Belkondíl are also located in this area, the Olgish Highlands inbetween Cëlac and Brethan, and the Harking Hills west of the lower Brethan. The latter are significant mostly through the abundance of tin at their northern tip, around the mining town of Eres.
The moorland west of the Brethan is largely uninhabited; only three major cities can be found in this region: Narn Aran at the Brethan bridge, Talis, the site of the fatal final battle of the Geranian War, and Belkison, capital of Tarébras and provisional capital of Geran L.R. 686‒703. The Mairn archipelago, while never self-identifying as Belkondílian and only briefly and loosely dependent from Lécaron, is usually also considered part of Belkondíl
History
Belkondíl is presumed to have been the first area settled by humans during the original peopling of Elondor, when western Nokimi populations migrated north into Tár-Noldorin during the last ice age and later dispersed all over the continent. Light hair most likely first emerged some 15,000 years B.E.B. among the population that had remained in the southwest and was now slowly receding towards the mountainous refugia to the north. After the Last Glacial Maximum, the upper Cëlac valley was among the first regions reclaimed. It was here that the ancestors of the Ortûlékians and Noldorinians came into contact with early farming, which had began to slowly spread west from the Besokan Valley with the earliest Besokian explorations between the ninth and seventh milennium B.E.B. Around B.E.B. 6500, the early Ortûlékians domesticate the wild Aurochs of the Rouningwood, beginning their