The White Council part 2: Braca
Appearances can be deceiving.
Consider yourself in the form Nienna has allowed you to take. You are old yet spry, thinned by years on the roads and years of hardship but not yet broken. Your nature expresses itself in wiry muscles and sharp angles while the doom of the Istari is plain on your long beard and flowing hair. You haven't tried yet this form in battle, preferring for your conflicts your native shape of light and fire, but you have come to realize each day wearing the human form is a battle in itself. Your former corruption was stripped from you but so entwined was it with the rest of your being it manifests as scars coursing along your body, still paining you. You welcome the pain for it enables you to feel what your victims felt and thus to better understand them and atone for the sins you've committed. Yet you understand your face, who is a partially healed wound despite hair and beard, your traits seeming to have melted in some great fire before being fixed again by the hand of some gifted artists, can inspire fear. While your voice is honey, your face is coal and you suspected that any interactions with people other than the Elves would lead to rejection. This is not the case for Braca of the Dunlendings looks at you with awe and pity mingled.
Himself is great and mighty according to the standards of mortal men. He declared having only seen eighteen winters pass and yet he is strong of limb and muscle. In the intermingled boasts you heard him exchange with the maiden of Rohan, you gather he was once able to strangle a wolf with his bare hands, feeling the breath of the beast dry out while the light in its eyes faded to nothing. Interestingly enough he was not hunting at this time. While most men of Dunland are accustomed to raids and battle, Braca is primarily a shepherd like many of his clans and the wolf he killed was just a member of the pack who stayed too long to eat one of his sheep. He is still a chieftain among his people but the Dunlendings are so poor a people that a great hall,some flocks of sheep and other beasts, and an heirloom sword found among the ruins of Gondor's fortresses, are the riches of their princes. Yet despite the humbleness of his situation he holds his head high like a prince. He knows of valor having shed the blood of men and orcs alike and in battle he proved himself valiant. In his eyes you see the light of a keen mind and you understand what Saruman sees in him.
At your urging, he speaks of the history of his people. Their legends ensure they left their homes in the North after what you piece are garbled recollections of the tale of Hurin. They established themselves in what is now Rohan and for a moment had peace, taking for themselves the fortresses established by Exiles of Numenor when they retreated to the safety of their kingdoms. Yet the people of Gondor still considered the land theirs and saw no kinship between them and the Dunlendings who yet were of the Three Houses and thus more kin to Gondor than the latecomers Rohirrim. After Gondor gave their lands to the Rohirrims in exchange for service in war the Dunlendings warred with the horse-lords for centuries. At least that's what say the two people at war for as Braca said smiling not all contacts are warlike. Sometimes couples form between the two opposite cultures and wise would be the one to identify the people of the villages on the borders of Dunland as Dunlendings and Rohirrims. Still the clans generally raid their richer neighbors for food or riches, for life is difficult in the foothills of Dunland. At least it was so until Saruman took pity on them and resolved to help them as only Aulendil can.
From what he describes you spot an interesting mixture of barbarism and fidelity to ancient customs. Dunland seems to be a land of pasture and meagre farming where important elevations are crowned with hill forts. In them few monuments but standing stones and icons of half-remembered gods. From what you understand the Dunlendings remember the Valar but dimly but their gods and goddesses are nearly a perfect fit. Even Makar and Mekassé your predecessors in passing from the Shadow to the Light are given respect. They have legends told in poetry about some of their kinsmen who offended the mighty lords of the west by breaking their oaths and were condemned to stay forever as wailing wraiths and haunt the Path of the Dead.
Wait a minute. How in the heavens this tribe has managed to incur the wrath of Mandos himself? One of the fundamental characteristics of the mannish féa is its need to fly beyond the Circle of the World to whatever fate Eru Allfather has decreed for them. Fell sorcery or the power of the Rings can counteract this tendency and the dead can serve in Sauron's armies, where they are a fairly inefficient bunch, with the exception of the Nazguls who are technically still alive, wraiths have only fear as a weapon. Still you cannot help but wonder what happened. It is sure this clan dabbled in black magic but how did they manage to anchor themselves to the world for an Age is unknown.
Point of Interest: The Paths of the Dead and the Oathbreakers
Saruman has taken efforts to change the Dunlendings, notably giving them access to better tools and pestering Radagast until the brown wizard managed to identify the best arable lands in their country and give them some tips. Yet the main objectives of the Chief of the Council seems to settle the conflict between Dunland and Rohan and thus include them in a web of alliances and trade which would allow them to live better. Obviously it would mean that the descendants of Haleth would rejoin the free folk armies come the battle of the wars to come.
Unfortunately Braca, while there to plead his people cause, is also present because problems have arose in his lands. Spurred by the changes, some learned bards have contacted spirits who promised them a golden age for their people. These bards having emerged as five powerful sorcerers, you are betting on them being fell Maïar or more probably of those elves who refused the calls of Mandos. Braca describes his failure to oust them from their groves and stone circles and how in the last attack he led, a fell voice seemed to answer the conjurers pleas and strengthen their resolve.
Well another thing to solve then.
[] Write-in another subject or question to Braca
[] Pass to Morwen
