Difference between revisions of "Belkondíl"

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]].