History of Dorwinion

The history of Dorwinion is one told by the bards in tale and legend, and a true and finite history of the place is as ephemeral as its ubiquitous borders. What is known is that since time immemorial, the rich green land known as Dorwinion, the Land of the Vine, has produced some of the finest wines known in Middle-Earth coveted by Man and Eldar alike. Over its long history, Dorwinion has been subject to untold incursions from its southern neighbour - Rhûn, and the warlike Easterlings who come from somewhere deep within the forbidding, sand-dry land. The most fearsome of them were the Wainriders and the Balcoth. The former were known for their wains - chariots of war - and were rivaled only by the famed Riders of Rohan in terms of skill at ridership, and the latter are said still to skulk somewhere in Khilriad, the fluid borderland between Dorwinion and Rhovanion planning their next invasion.

The Wainriders trampled through Dorwinion on their way to attack Rhovanion and in turn Rohan, Gondor, and other kingdoms of Men. Using Dorwinion as the base of their attacks for countless generations, it lead to the swarthy nature of the Dorwinion people and the development of their curious language and culture. In roughly 1856 TA, the Wainriders established dominance and rule over large swaths of Dorwinion and Rhovanion, and during the subsequent period of rule, the people of Dorwinion were held in all but slavery. In 1899 TA, the Rascoala, the Great Rebellion where men from Rhovanion, Khilriad, and northern Dorwinion worked to push the Easterling invaders back within the deeper boundaries of Dorwinion. Their efforts met success when they combined with the forces of the King of Gondor who arrived to stop the incursions against his own people. Not taking their defeat lightly, The Wainriders slowly again built up their forces, creating unions and combining forces with the Southrons of the Haradwaith and stomped through the land into Rhovanion again and passed through into Gondor, where they ultimately met defeat in 1944 TA at the famous Battle of the Camp.

What emerged following the defeat of the Wainriders were powerful men many of whom had participated in the Rascoala and served as captains of the militias that emerged to fight the invading Wainrider armies. Rather than disband the militias, these men transformed them into loyal personal guard forces who worked to establish their employer’s dominion over the various subregions of Dorwinion. Those familiar with viniculture claimed the lush northern regions to continue the Ages of tradition of fines wines out of Dorwinion. Those that had maintained familiar ties with Rhûn settled in the more southern regions of the lands and took up acting as interpreters and middlemen with trade from the more “civilized” Easterlings living in the curious sandy land beyond the Inland Sea. This was the beginning of the landowning mercantile legacies known as the Merchant Families

The Families maintained an uneasy peace for many generations, but as various interests worked to gain a stronger foothold borders began to be crossed and agreements began to be ignored. What finally kicked over the proverbial firepot, however, was an eldest son of the Godgrim clan being disinherited for the favored second son of his father’s more beautiful (and living) second wife. Not being set aside so easily, he called upon his wife’s kin, the Amrun to intervene and in 2685 TA the great War of the Vine began. And for seventy long years it raged and smoldered.

Each of Families participated in the War in their own way, each trying to use the fray to claim more land or influence. The decimation to both land and Men was devastating and one Family - the Pipra, were lost entirely. Their name all but stricten from record and remembrance, and their remaining female members taken to wife, their lineage ended. The rootstocks of the Godgrim it is said have still not yet recovered from the burning they suffered and hence why they cannot truly compete against the superior (and older) vines that grow the wines of the Kandavan. In the agreements at the end of the War, the lands and holdings of the remaining Families were strongly established, and Vincaer was established as a sanctuary city, owned and claimed by none with the Merchant Council and the position of Emir with the Armata established to prevent such atrocities from occurring again.

Suffering the least losses to both land and Men, the Kandavan emerged arguably the most victorious from the fray, which left them in the perfect position to be the ones who emerged to “help” the refugees of Dale when they went to rebuild Esgaroth as Laketown, and their position as the predominate Dorwinion power trading through Laketown was solidified.

Playing a Family Member of the Merchant House Families: Quick Tips

- The Merchant House Families of Dorwinion are not nobility as Men in wider Middle-Earth understand. In wider Middle Earth (particularly in the kingdom of Gondor) the concept of nobility is a concept conferred solely on Dunedain, and their power and position is inherently given to them because of the honor, loyalty, and respect held for (and inherently inspired by) the descendents of Numenor. But the Families of Dorwinion do not have titles of peerage. They maintain their position through shrewd business, carefully planned marriages and inheritance, and through the use (or at least the show) of their personal guards. Their power is actively maintained.

- Dorwinions born into the Merchant House Families follow the usual colorings of Dorwinion - darker complexions and brunette or black hair. They tend to be slightly taller from the lower classes, though whether that’s a factor of bloodline or better eating who could say. Blond or red hair or the existence of blue eyes, all of which are exceedingly rare in Dorwinion itself save in the borderland with Rhovanion, would be wholly improbable in the Merchant Families for the mixing of blood via marriages which are highly regulated.

Should any child be born to (or of) the Merchant Families with blond or red hair or blue eyes they’d be quietly removed from the family tree and sent to be raised by the common-born (often Gypsies) at one of the farmsteads or vineyards, never to be accepted or further assisted by the Family save an initial payment to ensure the issue stays hidden. To accept a baseborn child into the household to live with and as one’s legitimate children is unconscionable and is a sign of flagrant disregard to one’s family and to the accepted rules of society. The only man known to have publicly flouted the tradition is the current patriarch of the Kandavan clan, because his position and influence allows such indiscretion. Rumor holds that the man has an endless bound of baseborn, many of whom are sent to be fostered and then eventually find their way to Laketown to work in his sizeable warehouse importing the wine that gives the Family it’s power.

- What you wear, in Dorwinion, is who you are and another’s dress will tell the world who you are and what you do. To dress beneath your caste as an upper or higher class Dorwinion is slumming-it, and should you be encountered, the base assumption will be you you are on your way to or from liaison with a lower-class lover. To be confused as a caste or position beneath you is welcoming a very offensive insult to yourself and your Family, and if you asked for it by dressing as such, you can only blame yourself.

In northern Dorwinion (under the watch of the Kandavan and Godgrim Houses), lower castes tend to dress in different cuts and styles of dress from the wealthy as well as in different fabrics or layers of decoration or jeweling. In the southern and eastern regions of Dorwinion (under sway of the Calaer, Amrun, and Marwa), the jobs of the wealthy and the poor tend to have more in common, save the precedence of position (Ship Captains and their crew, Master Spicers and their spice growers, Falconers and herdsmen) and thus the styles of dress between the upper classes and the lower tend to vary more in rarity of material and decoration than in form or fit.

- A high-born Dorwinion, both man and woman, generally keeps their hair rather long and rarely braid it. Braiding is tradition of Rhovanion and Rohan. Headdresses and veils of varying styles are popular with the women of some Dorwinion Merchant Families, while others work their hair into shapes and designs which change with the seasons and trends.

- Even high-born Dorwinions keep a few house cats to ward off shadows and vermin though it is common for some high-born to keep a cat as more as a spoiled companion than a working cat.

- The common livelihoods of high-born Dorwinion men are political and government positions in Vincaer, litigants, poets and authors, military officers in their family’s guard-force, imported/export traders, Master Vintners (among the Kandavan and Godgrim), or hobbyist artisans and artists. High-born wives of first-born sons tend to manage the family’s household and land holdings, wives of younger sons tend to work besides their husbands as assistants or seek employment of their own. There is no shame in high-born Dorwinions working, and it is encouraged  to keep aware and informed about the political and economic wind to make proper decisions for the Family.

- Wine and brandywine are very much the most common drinks of the Dorwinion, from common-born to high-born alike. The only question becomes one of quality or quantity consumed.

- When there are personal disputes between Dorwinion nobility, the argument generally ends up either being a duel, which is generally a show of skill and a 'dance' of sorts between. It is not uncommon that harsh disputes are to the death, or when slights to honor are deemed great. Such duels are regulated by law and custom to occur on neutral ground - generally the courthouse of the Merchant Council to prevent accusations of cheating and to prevent further conflict.

To that end every high-born Dorwinion male is trained from a young age in the art and usage of a gwinsigil, a delicate curved type of longsword. It is the only weapon accepted for a duel, and a high-born Dorwinion man is rarely if ever seen outside of the confines of his own home without wearing one. It is the most obvious mark of a high-born Dorwinion even if they have now fallen from grace or have been disinherited, as it is the last possession they will sell or part with.

- When there are personal disputes between members of the Dorwnion nobility and the lesser castes, it usually winds up the lesser caste individual is punished in a manner deemed fit of the crime. These are usually harsh so as to prevent future repetition from others. Those looking to escape such punishments or as a result of them are known to disappear into the folds of the best place for men disgruntled against the status quo - the ranks of the plagia,  the pirate bands of the Inland Sea who wreck their vengeance on the trade and navy ships of the Merchant Families.

- When there are disputes between Dorwinion noble families, those that are not settled in the courts of the Merchant Council ends up in agreed pitch battles of their House Guards with a negotiation for the spoils lost or gained in the outcome. These are usually done with great civility between the families and treated as a business transaction for in the end, the loss or harm is usually the lives of their lesser-caste servants or soldiers. The other Houses are exceedingly cautious to attempt such challenges against the Amrun whose fierceness in battle is unmatched.

- It is wholly common to play games with your fellow nobility by way of using lesser castes in political games such as sending another House's employee to one of said House's own nobles with something that will slight the family member. It will both embarrass the noble, wound their pride, and cause them annoyance in having to punish their own employee. A famous tale amongst Dorwinion is where an envious Kandavan whose own sister was raised to Emirah convinced the Emirah's prized body servant she left behind with her new position to ruin a favorite dress of the Emirah (a dress the servant did not know of) and deliver it unto the Emirah in front of those who knew the dress was hers. The Emirah took great pains in having to punish her previous servant knowing the truth of the matter but unable to punish her jealous sister.

Sending away female servants as “gifts” to another Family is also a way for a high-born Dorwinion woman to rid herself of a servant she suspects or knows has grown too close to her husband or son. Which leaves an impossible position - the husband/son cannot speak openly for a servant without revealing themselves and nor can they refuse to send them after the gift was accepted without risking grave insult to another Family and thus retaliation.

- There are crimes against the law, crimes against society, and crimes against one’s own family.

Similar to other castes within Dorwinion, getting caught in cheating, lying and stealing is rather embarrassing and while a crime against the law, the high-born caste tend to have rather lenient punishments if any at all. Crimes against society for a high-born Dorwinion falls much into the realm of embarrassing the whole of the high-born caste by slumming it, dressing or acting beneath one’s station or abusing the lower castes in overly malicious manners. (The latter is particularly feared because abuses on the lower castes tend to simply swell the numbers of the pirate bands, wastes valuable labor, and risks an open rebellion of the lower classes. It is a risk to all high-born and all of Dorwinion society to risk unduly unbalancing the status quo of society.)

These crimes have varying degrees of comeuppance and such is usually to the doer of said crimes by way of ridicule and sometimes a fine or two. Those who unduly abuse the lower-classes are often quietly removed from positions of authority to prevent further embarrassment or concern. If the actions are truly anathema someone can find themselves disowned and disinherited.

The greatest of crimes tend are those against one’s family where the action or inaction of the individual high-born cost the family some manner of social standing of ‘face’. These crimes can include, but are not limited to, mixing blood with someone beneath their caste, an unapproved marriage, baseborn offspring, speaking out against the Merchant Council or the Emir or Emira, bad-mouthing one’s own family in a public forum, and being caught doing harm to one of the family or any other high-born (not being caught differs from being accused). Most crimes against one’s family, or the high-born in general, can lead to disinheritance, exile, imprisonment, and in extreme cases execution which is often public and terrible to behold.

- Inheritance amongst the high-born Houses falls to the first-born son and then continues down the male line further and further out. If no legitimate male heir is found, the Merchant Council might inherit one’s property. Thus many a sister, niece, or even widowed mother is quickly married after an older son’s death to prevent such a disaster.

House Kandavan

House Kandavan is the most lucrative House amongst the Merchant House Families of Dorwinion. Primarily known for their production of the finest wines known to Middle-Earth, they hold the largest swath of arable land dedicated to their sprawling vineyards. They export their products most famously through Laketown to the court of the Woodland King, but also throughout Middle Earth. They are known to work through the southern-holding Families to import exotic spices, foodstuffs, liquor, cloth, artworks and more to Laketown.

House Kandavan is the only House to maintain a residence outside of Dorwinion as well as in. House Kandavan has a permanent residence within Laketown where they have long established a firm hold on imports and exports to and from Dorwinion from there and in such has in some mentalities, two faces. While in Laketown, House Kandavan mutes their flamboyant Dorwinion ways and become more modest in dress in comparison to when they are in their homeland both as a functional result of the colder Rhovanion climate and to be mindful of the traders with whom they deal, most particularly the Elves of the Woodland Realm. In Laketown, House Kandavan dress covering much of their skin in high-collared, long-sleeved ensembles that have been thoroughly bedazzled with jewels, mirrors and other fine trinkets, beads or bells. Their Guards, servants, and workers in Laketown tend to dress in a similarly conservative manner wearing wine-red outsides to show their association with the Family.

House Kandavan has a long-standing feud with their biggest competitor and adversary; House Godgrim. Their feud has slowly smoldered since the War of the Vine in which the Kandavan made significant gains in land and influence the Godgrim have yet to counter.

Black hair, olive-toned skin and jade-green eyes are common for House Kandavan. Indeed, it’s a feature so unique to the bloodline that brilliant green eyes in the workers of the Kandavan’s warehouse is a fair indication they are likely a baseborn of some member of the House.

The sigil of House Kandavan is a golden chalice filled with wine upon a wine-red field.

House Godgrim 

House Godgrim is ever throat to throat with House Kandavan and is bent on achieving the status of most lucrative, and therefore most wealthy, of the Houses in Dorwinion. Its specialties include it’s wines that are regarded as the secondary choice to those of House Kandavan and their refined brandywines which are more highly regarded. They also deal in gold, livestock, various foodstuffs, brigandine armors, and fine weaponry.

The one specialty that sets them apart from the nearest competition would be their manufacturing of fine brocades woven with gold spun so fine as to be a flexible thread. Designed to rival the sea-silk of Dol Amroth, their manufacturing of it is a highly-regarded secret that has been tightly controlled for many, many generations. Rumor holds the Godgrim originally inherited the secret from Pipra women who were married into the House following the War of the Vine as the consolation for the burning of their vineyards. The fine work is done solely by members of the House and their most trusted workers, and any who have been caught attempting to export the secrets of the fabric or the raw stuff have simply … disappeared or been “found” dead in visceral, terrifying ways.  While House Kandavan maintains a philosophy of 'we are the best', House Godgrim shows theirs in their very flamboyant, rich and in-your-face fashions to which include very heavy, finely-woven accoutrements decorated with gold, gold-encased jewels and tapestry-work threaded with gold-spun thread. Men of House Gogdrim  generally wear rus-pants or chausses as their leg-wear rather than the longer robe-like dress of the Kandavan, as they tend to pride themselves on stature and athleticism.

Black hair, olive-toned skin and coffee-brown eyes are common for House Godgrim.

The sigil of House Godgrim is a simple golden field with a tiny golden chalice at each of the four corners, emphasizing the four directions of Dorwinion, or as some whisper the other four Houses of Dorwinion dwarfed by the gold that which is House Godgrim.

House Marwa

House Marwa is the most secretive and elitist House amongst the Merchant House Families of Dorwinion and therefore the smallest in terms of numbers but size does not equate its power or strength. House Marwa is a formidable ally and a dangerous enemy. There are rumors about their mastery of poisons though only someone inviting death would dare besmirch the Marwa name with such gossip. Due to their cutthroat monopoly in the spice and herb market given their connections to Rhûn,  House Marwa is courted by both the Kandavan and the Godgrim, who need their herbs and spices to produce their finer blended wines and brandywines. Neutral to the conflicts between the two bigger houses, and working in only their own best interest, they are often sought with bribes, dowries and other political endeavors for alliances, business deals, or the weight behind the success or failure of a decision in the hands of the Merchant Council as the swing vote.

While the Marwa dress “plainly” compared to the gold and jewel encrusted styles of the Kandavan and Godgrim, they stand out as being often dressed in vibrant warm colors - most commonly vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows produced from the dyestuffs of the turmeric, sumac, and saffron they are known to grow and export from their lands.  

Dark-brown or black hair, dusky brown skin and mint-green eyes are common for House Marwa.

The sigil of House Marwa is a trio of blooming saffron flowers on a yellow field.

House Calaer

House Calaer is not the smallest of Houses, like House Marwa, but is very near to it. House Calaer differs greatly from the other Houses in that its men and women have little to no gender divide amongst them. What men can do, women can do, and vice versa, in terms of responsibilities, tasks, ranks, and titles. Even in dress and traditions they are for the most part entirely equal in genders - both genders tend to wear trousers or rus-pants under longer robes.

House Calaer controls trade both import and export upon the waters of the Inland Sea both directly and indirectly. Though they oversee much oversea trade with Rhûn themselves, their (paid) protection is also a given requirement for any Family who doesn’t wish their ships harassed by the growing threat of the plagia, the pirate bands and their Captains who build up power on the southern edges of the Inland Sea. Thus any trade into Rhûn attempting to by-pass the Calaer will require utilizing longer and far more treacherous overland routes. Their skill and knowledge of seamanship leads many to seek naval positions with the Armata as their Family’s involvement in the wider politics of Dorwinion.  Due to this power of water-based shipping, they are often sought after by the other Houses for political connections. Marriages for House Calaer are difficult because accepting their ways for an outsider can be quite difficult. 

House Calaer follows the lines of primogeniture to ensure that the leadership of their House is always left in the hands of forceful male that the rest of the Houses will respect by force if necessary. However, they are known for granting far great inheritances to daughters and female kin than the other Houses and the largest portion of female Councilors and Emirah have come from House Calaer.

The dark brown almost black eyes and a very swarthy nature of those of House Calaer are very quietly gossiped about having the strongest blood connected to the Southron Harads or even the feared Corsairs of Umbar from the days of invasion. Despite being mostly water-bound, House Calaer produces some of the most famous and dangerous assassins in Middle-Earth.  House Calaer maintains a uniform habit of their men and women attempting to appear androgynous as gender means nothing aside from who can give birth and who cannot.

The sigil of House Calaer is a white, many-sailed ship outlined in red on a white field.

House Amrun

House Amrun is the most militant of all the Houses of Dorwinion and maintains a vast, very skilled House Guard that dwarfs the other House's even if all combined. While other House Guards and even the Military force of the Emir is fond of using cavalry, House Amrun's House Guard is known for using fortified wagons during battles. Which no will exactly call -wains- but the similarities are a strong thought.  House Amrun governs much of the eastern plains of Dorwinion where kine, sheep, and goats roam and with such produces much of Dorwinions specialty cheese and milk-based paints and milk-based liquors. House Amrun specializes in hunting with falcons and hawks and are famous for being very superstitious about their hunting birds in terms of preparing for battles or undergoing military movements.

House Amrun tend to prefer decorated leathers, furs, and sheepskins as their stylistic dress.  

Black hair, tawny skin, and light-hazel eyes with wider set features are common for House Amrun.

The sigil of House Amrun is a black, spread-winged falcon flying across a sand-brown field.

What Would Other PCs Know About Noble, or High-Born Dorwinions?

- No one is better at haggling than a Dorwinion and their nobility is even more impossible to move from the price they want. They are a shrewd, silver-tongued and charming lot.

- Being snared in the web-like games of Dorwinion Nobility is never safe, nor wise.

- Dorwinion nobility handles feuds between themselves in one of two extremes - sword duels to the death which are a fancy, dance-like display or with petty wars between their personal armies with the lives and deaths of their subjects in the balance. High-born Dorwinion Men are known to carry a sword on them at all public times for such ends.  The most terrible and bloody of such petty war erupted into the infamous War of the Vine which occurred sometime before the Desolation of Dale and Erebor by Smaug the Terrible.

- The most known (and possibly only known by name) high-born Dorwinion family to most in Laketown and wider Rhovanion are the Kandavan who oversee a large warehouse in Laketown and are primarily responsible for the import of wine and other fine products from Dorwinion.

- Dowrinion nobility expects common-born individuals to show them respect by bowing at the waist.

Suggested Backgrounds and Roles

It is highly suggested to speak with Elder Staff before submitting a role of the following. 

Lesser Family Member of House Kandavan

Requires 5 RPP.

Strongly Suggested Skills: Common, Dalish, Education, Sindarin

Other Useful Skills: Small or Long-Blade (If you do not take either, you cannot use the +10 anywhere else.)

Background: You hale from the high-born Merchant House Kandavan of the Dorwinion noble families. You were born in Dorwinion and raised within the lavish living of your family and from the earliest of your years groomed for poliitics, merchanting, and in the arts that lie therein such as sword-and-tongue dueling, being charming, manipulative, and cunning in every aspect. Your family is your everything and if you ever expect to excel in the ranks, you have work to do for you are born from parents in the lesser ranks of the family which leaves you and those beneath you separated by a very thin line. You know very well should you step over that line, you're as easy to disregard by the powers of your family as a broken teacup. Whether by fortune or misfortune you find yourself in Laketown, working for the House's Trading Company outfit there in a position you probably don't find very glamorous. You have work to do!

Dorwinion Language and +10 to Small Blades or Long Blades

Disposed or Disinherited Family Member of a Dorwinion Merchant House Family

Requires 3 RPP.

Strongly Suggested Skills: Common, Dalish, Education, Sindarin

Other Useful Skills: Long-Blade

Background: You hale from the high-born Merchant Houses of the Dorwinion noble families. You were born in Dorwinion and raised within the lavish living of your family and from the earliest of your years groomed for politics, merchanting, and in the arts that lie therein such as sword-and-tongue dueling, being charming, manipulative, and cunning in every aspect. Your family was your everything but due to either having been disposed of for being found as baseborn or being deemed as such by one or both of your parents for something you've done or won't do or perhaps you've been disinherited for one of the many potential crimes against your family - you've been ousted and erased from your family tree. You have zero assistance or claim of your no-longer-yours family and therein your caste or rank; you're essentially low-caste now for all intensive purposes and have to grow up in the world of position and reputation again. Whether by fortune or misfortune you find yourself in Laketown with no claim to who you once were for you know if you attempt it, there are no doubt Shadows awaiting you in the darkness.

Dorwinion Language

Stories and Songs

Players are encouraged to submit songs and stories for Merchant Families of Dorwinion as they’re playing. Please respect all Copyright Laws. If it is someone’s work, heavily or loosely based on someone else’s work, or even that of work too old to maintain a maker’s name – give the source, when submitted, due credit.