Difference between revisions of "Belkondíl"

'''Belkondíl''' (Olgish 'land by the rivers') is both a region in the southwestern corner of the [[Elondor|Elondorian mainland]] on both banks of the rivers [[River Cëlac|Cëlac]] and [[River Brethan|Brethan]] and the name of an ancient [[Olgish peoples|Olgish kingdom]] of vaguely the same dimensions. It is the homeland to the [[Olgish peoples|Olgish]] and [[Western Sosks|Western Soskish]] cultures and was the core territory and [[Lécaronian Provinces|first province]] of the [[Lécaronian Empire]] and initially its economic, cultural, and spiritual centre before its decline [[Seligonian Fashion|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.

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 [[River Cëlac|Cëlac]] and [[River Brethan|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 [[River Ilathw|Ilathw]].  

Traditionally, Belkondíl is considered to include all of the southwestern corner of [[Elondor]], west of the [[River Besokan|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. The main defining geographical feature, however, are the rivers Cëlac and Brethan, the cradles of Olgish culture, the former entering Belkondíl from the western Reknaya near the city of [[Lágon]] and passing many of its most important landmarks, the latter rising from the [[Lemmi-Dirith]] in the forest of [[Kali-Tonin]] and meandring through the heath of [[Orinion]] before forming the Brethan Delta south of the [[Imban|Imban forest]]. Both ultimate flow into the [[White Sea]], a large bight between the peninsulas of [[Corbin]] and [[Tár-Noldorin|Noldorin]], at the boundary between the southern and eastern seas. The two river valleys are separated by the [[Olgish Highlands]], a mountain range part of the Variscan [[Geology and Orogenies of Elondor|Belkondilic Mountains]]. Other major mountain ranges and forests include the [[Rouningwood]], where [[Dúrith the Elder]] is said to have discovered the [[Shīndhrūn Nūrthāpya|Language of the Forest]] and subsequently invented sorcery, Kali-Tonin, including Lemmi-Dirith and the well of the Brethan, the [[Forests of the Besokan|Besokian Woods]], the mythical [[Forest of Corbin]] and the [[Harking Hills]] of Orinion.

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 [[Years of Turmoil|Olgish clan wars]] roughly equivalent to the Olgish sphere of influence, purposefully excluding the [[Genes]] in the [[River Ilathw|Ilathw]] plains, the [[Western Sosks|Sosks]] and [[Auls]] in [[Oakshire]], the [[Edhennín]], and [[Morineb]], and the [[Noldorinians]] in the later [[Orinion|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 [[River Besokan|Besokan]] Rivers, including the islands of [[Corbin]] and the [[Mairn]]. This definition was retained in all sources following [[Enethin|Enethins]] time, including the [[Lonsorigi]] in their portrayal of [[Early Days|early history]].

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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerlies westerlies], leaving most of Belkondíl's west coast exposed to [[Runion|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 [[Noldorin|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.

Belkondíl is presumed to have been the first area settled by humans during the original [[peopling of Elondor]], when western [[Nokim|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|Besokan Valley]] with the earliest [[Besokian peoples|Besokian]] explorations between the ninth and seventh millennium B.E.B. Around 6500, the early Ortûlékians domesticate the wild Aurochs of the Rouningwood, beginning their long history of cattle breeding. This time falls about equal with the ''[[Golden Age of Man]]'' and the ''[[Age of Longing]]'' from Olgish legend, when the separation of the Genic, Olgish, and Aulish peoples is said to have occurred and magic was discovered by [[Dúrith the Elder]] in the Rouningwood. Olgish metalworking originates in the fifth millennium in the area of the later Lágon.

Ortûlékian territory at this point seems to be mostly restricted to Ortûlék proper and the western Rouningwood, while most of western and southwestern Belkondíl is occupied by the Noldorinians. East of the Ortûlékian domain, the early Besokians engage on recurring explorations from at least B.E.B. 3200, and the Sosks establish their presence in Oakshire around 2500. The first horses are domesticated here in the following two centuries, driving the expansion of the Sosks southward across the Edhennín. By 2100, four Soskish kingdoms have been established in Belkondíl, [[Tûnusta]] in the later Oakshire, [[Hûnutû]] and [[Dûroc]] in the Edhennín, and [[Norfêgu]] in Morineb. Soskilón is founded as a trading station under the name Ûrîdun-e-Sârish in 2053; at this point, the Olgs have begun their expansion south and are in permanent contact with the flourishing Soskish kingdoms. Their clans are already in frequent contention with each other, and by the end of the 21^st century, tensions within the Ortûlékian population have reached boiling point. The final stage of the first Olgish expansion, which inspired the monumental and legendary account of the [[Of the First War and the Parting of the Peoples|First War and the Parting of the Peoples]], is brief and violent, driving the Auls, Genes, and Noldorinians from their lands to claim them for themselves and subduing the Soskish kingdom save for Tûnusta.

By 2011, according to legend, all of Belkondíl save for Oakshire and the Noldorin is under Olgish rule. The clans make peace, united under one high king ruling from Lágon. This [[First Kingdom of Belkondíl]] lasts for only a few centuries before tension break it apart again. The [[Age of Turmoil|Olgish Clan Wars]] rage for most of the middle Bronze Age and end in the foundation of several smaller kingdoms, the most important of them [[Lon Avoch]] of the White Sea, founded in 1298, beginning the [[Age of Younger Kings]]. This is the end of the clan as the primary political unit in Olgish culture, replaced by new, semi-territorial counties and principalities. The relative stability of the following centuries  facilitates the second Olgish expansion, [[Dárin's Conquest|into the Ilathw valley]], displacing the Early Aribelian populations there, and north [[Fínar's Conquest|into the western Reknaya]]. According to legend, the same period also saw the first invasions from the west, when the mythical [[Nathari]] landed on the shores of Belkondíl and faught several bloody battles until their decisive defeat at the hands of [[Irlikun of Lon Avoch]] in the 1222 [[Battles of Mortim-Arnim#Second Battle|Second Battle of Mortim-Arnim]].