Rhudaur

In the year 861 of the Third Age, the mighty kingdom of Arnor disintegrated. The once powerful realm of Elendil and Isildur was gone. Where Arnor had once preserved peace in the North of Middle-earth, it now sank into a never-ending civil war, for in its place arose three small, mutually quarreling kingdoms.
Arthedain in the northwest carried on the splendor of Arnor. It was the largest of the three realms and had inherited the wealth and glory of Arnor. The economy flourished, the population grew, and the kings of Arthedain were highly respected. Cardolan, however, was a fading star. For unlike Arthedain, it inherited none of Arnor's splendor. Taxes were high and trade was comparatively poor. At least the land was fertile, yet life was hard. The winters were harsh, and the rivers Baranduin and Gwathlò often flooded. All this also led to more and more inhabitants of Cardolan turning their backs on their land and their kings and migrating to Arthedain. Thus, Cardolan lost more and more of its people. But despite this drain, the Cardolans remained proud of their lineage, and the realm remained strong enough to resist its neighbors to the north.
The disintegration of Arnor had hit its poorest successor realm the worst. Rhudaur in the east had been only sparsely settled by the Dúnedain. While they had settled in the wide grassy plains of the west, the primitive and wild native inhabitants of Rhudaur lived in bitter poverty in the hilly and forested east. Long held in bondage by the Dúnedain, they had risen up since the fall of Arnor. In a series of bloody uprisings and minor wars, they fought for their freedom. But conversely, the Hill-men also proved to be merciless warriors who did not spare women and children. All too easily, in their frenzy, they confirmed the prejudices of the Dúnedain that they were wild and uncivilized barbarians. Yet they actually managed to put the kings of Rhudaur in distress. At times, they held only the larger cities settled by the Dúnedain, as well as the major roads, under their control, while the clans of the Hill-men had divided the rest of the land among themselves. Often they killed and drove out the Dúnedain settlers, so that their numbers dwindled further and their culture died out in Rhudaur. The time is forgotten when the Dúnedain and the Hill-folk, as the Hill-men called themselves, respected each other and even intermarried. For with poverty came contempt for one's neighbor.
But in the year 1307 of the Third Age, a new king came to power in Rhudaur; his name was Aldor. Under his rule, the army was massively enlarged, for which all expenditures were cut and taxes were greatly increased. Step by step, the Hill-men were subjugated again and the land was gradually pacified. AdditionallyAldor also lured settlers from Cardolan and Arthedain into his realm. Provided one could prove to be a Dúnedain, one received land from the crown for free, or even a house in the cities, as under Aldor many Hill-men were driven from their homes and banished to the countryside. Thus, the number of Knights of Rhudaur actually increased, for only Dúnedain were permitted to be knights. Upon his death in 1347, Aldor left behind a consolidated and stable realm for his son. At least, it seemed so.
King Elegost led the realm much like his father. Yet while his father had striven unconditionally for the independence of his realm, from 1349 onward, Elegost drew closer to King Argeleb of Arthedain. He openly sought an alliance with him, which is why in 1353 he even acknowledged Argeleb's claim to the crown of Arnor and soon also allowed auxiliary troops from Arthedain into Rhudaur. But two years after King Elegost's ascension to the throne, the uprisings and rebellions of the Hill-men broke out again. One of the tribal chieftains, named Bhaltair, challenged the kingdom and increasingly incited the Hill-men against the Dúnedain. Settlers from Cardolan and Arthedain were murdered, and the Knights of Rhudaur increasingly fell victim to ambushes. Already, many of the Hill-men saw Bhaltair as their liberator, and in ever greater numbers they joined the brigand, as Bhaltair was called. Worse still was that Bhaltair operated much more skillfully than all his predecessors. Moreover, his rebels no longer fought with primitive stone axes, wooden arrows, and clubs, but now openly appeared with swords, spears, and steel axes.
To curb the rebellion, the Hill-men were in turn punished ever more severely by the Dúnedain. King Elegost ordered the occupation of their villages, the confiscation of entire harvests, and sometimes even the destruction of whole settlements. But worry also reigned in Cameth Brin. For King Elegost was not truly popular even among the Dúnedain living there. For while hunger often prevailed in the countryside, here the taxes had been far too high for decades, and here too there was often a shortage of food. The only reason the city dwellers had not yet rebelled was because Elegost protected them from the Hill-men and because the current stability in the land depended on him. Furthermore, his lifestyle, just like his father's, had remained very modest. Thus, a certain closeness and connection to the poor population of the land remained. 'The king suffers with us,' the inhabitants used to say. Moreover, Elegost presided over an extremely strict regime, as with his father. Everyone had to obey the laws under threat of punishment, whether one was poor or rich, commoner or noble. The most common punishment in Cameth Brin was public flogging. On the central square of the city, the Arnor Square, one wasscarcely clothed, bound, and whipped. Even noble men and women had already been sentenced to this punishment, and his father, King Aldor, had even had family members whipped, though these were usually whipped in the courtyard and not publicly. On one hand, it showed the populace that he did not treat his family or the nobility more leniently than his people; on the other hand, it promoted discipline. At least, that's what both Elegost and his father back then thought. It was not for nothing that Elegost always emphasized the importance of symbolism in his governance.
King Elegost had two children: his son Beregor and his daughter Meriliel. In truth, he had always favored his son Beregor, but Beregor had been conceived out of wedlock. Thus, only his daughter Meriliel remained as his heir, for his wife had long since passed away. Of course, Elegost loved his daughter, although he would have preferred a male heir. Nevertheless, he trained Meriliel excellently and hoped she would one day become as strong and skilled a ruler as he himself and her grandfather Aldor. Daily, she was trained in combat with her brother Beregor and subjected to strenuous physical training. Additionally, Aldor had also brought the scholar Sirion from Gondor to instruct Meriliel and Beregor in history, geography, diplomacy, and politics. The children were to receive an ideal education. But unlike Beregor, Meriliel despised all of it. Back then, as a girl, Meriliel had not spent a single hour or day without being physically exercised or taught by Sirion. She and Beregor had never had the opportunity to be like other children: to make friends, to play, let alone to fall in love. If she even attempted it, she was beaten or imprisoned by her father.
Now Meriliel was a grown young woman and Duchess of Eldanaryar. She had flowing, dark brown hair, an always serious but upon closer inspection warm gaze with brown eyes. Her body was athletic, muscular, and quite attractive. Only the many scars on her body were a flaw, yet they bore witness to the punishments from her father or the many battles she had fought in his name. Still, she had become an attractive young woman, and among the nobility and upper class of all three realms, she was considered the most beautiful woman in Arnor. If Arthedain, Cardolan, and Rhudaur were not still at odds, kings, princes, and dignitaries from all lands would have already vied for her hand. At least, that's what the common folk in Rhudaur said.
Meriliel owed her good looks to her mother, but in character, she resembled her father in some ways, without wanting to. Like her father, she had high self-esteem and, through the countless battles she had already commanded and fought alongside her father, she had...agen was rough and determined. For even as a child, her father had forced her and her half-brother to watch as people in their hometown were executed, tortured, or flogged. Later, as teenagers, she and Beregor themselves had to torture or execute people. Once, she had even had to wipe out a village of mountain people alongside her father and half-brother. All of this was meant to desensitize Meriliel, as Elegost was firmly convinced that a queen must not feel compassion. Hard as the armor on her body, sharp as the sword in her hand, and cold as his blood flowing through her veins. That's what Elegost used to say. However, he had only achieved limited success. While Meriliel had indeed become completely numb to the suffering of others, she had never been a tyrant like her father. She never wanted to be that. Nevertheless, she was significantly crueler than her half-brother, whom she loved dearly.
Meriliel had also inherited Elegost's distrust and a certain degree of cynicism. But it wasn't only bad traits that Meriliel had taken from her father; there were certainly many good ones as well. She was diligent, brave, modest, and ambitious. While other women of her status primarily concerned themselves with their own vanity and well-being, such behavior was completely foreign to Meriliel. She preferred wearing her armor to a beautiful dress. She would rather sleep under the open sky in the mud than in her father's castle. While other princesses dined at fine banquets in elegant company, Meriliel preferred spending her time with her men, eating roast suckling pig and drinking beer.