5001-HârnWorld/3rd Edition/52

The mountainous, fjord-indented northern part of Hârn is now called Orbaal but this is a recent name. Formerly called Jara, it was occupied for more than 1,000 years by the Jarin, the first human settlers on Hârn, many of whom had fled north to escape the Lythian barbarians after the Atani Wars. Their 400-year exposure to the Sindarin and Khuzdul gave the Jarin a kind of mystique that, even today, sets them apart from other human societies.

Since the Tyranny of the Foulspawner, the Jarin of the north have been constantly plagued by bands of gargun who found the Jahl Mountains a fine refuge. The Jarin built most of their settlements along the coasts, fortified against gargun raids. By the middle of the seventh century, the north was dotted with Jarin keeps and manors and, although fragmented into more than a dozen petty states, a crude feudal society developed.

The Ivinian Conquest
The Jarin were now confronted with a more deadly foe than the gargun. To the northeast of Hârn is a land called Ivinia. This rough land spawned an equally rough race of seafarers. In their swift and dreaded dragon ships, the Ivinians began to raid the coast of Jara around 645. They came for booty but, finding the fjords of Jara much to their liking and judging the Jarin to be disorganized and cowardly, some Ivinians decided to make Jara their own. In 652, Sherwyn Keep on Gedil Island was sacked and captured. One by one, the isolated Jarin communities suffered the same fate. The capture of Lethwyn in 667 was the death knell of Jarin independence. This was the strongest Jarin hold; its Ivinian captors renamed it Geldeheim. The last coastal Jarin keep (now called Vold) fell in 676. The Jarin still held four inland domains (Gwaeryn, Leriel, Quimen, and Pethwys), but only because the sea-loving Ivinians lacked interest in them.

The various keeps held by the Ivinians were in no way a unified state. They had been conquered over 25 years by many different clans and each was a jealously independent domain. The most powerful was Geldeheim, held by clan Taareskeld and ruled by Hagined. His first act had been to turn the former Jarin keep into an impressive castle. Between 680 and 685, Hagined expanded his power by conquering nearby Ivinian clans. In 686, Hagined proclaimed the Kingdom of Orbaal, claiming kingship over all Ivinian domains situated in the Hârnic Isles. He was able to force most of the clans to submit to his will and pay him tribute.

Hagined died in 692 and was succeeded by Alegar, his eldest son. The first years of Alegar’s reign were marked by disputes and skirmishes between the Ivinian clans and the Jarin they had conquered. Although a few Jarin lords still held land, most of this proud race had been bound as thralls to land that had once been their own. Tension between the Jarin and the Ivinians was further inflamed by the Ivinian tendency to perceive their subjects as an inferior race. The resentment came to a head in 701.

The Jarin Rebellion
The immediate cause of the Jarin rebellion was the moving to Orbaal of the Order of the Crimson Dancer from western Hârn. It is likely that Alegar was seduced by the grandmistress of that order; he not only gave refuge to these fanatical and militant women in Orbaal but also conspired with them to seize Quimen Keep, which was at that time held by a Jarin lord. It is also likely that Alegar was anxious to have a solid ally in his troubled kingdom. The Crimson Dancer attacked and captured Quimen in the spring of 701, using such savagery that the already smoldering Jarin resentment burst into flame.

Since the Jarin outnumbered their overlords by almost ten to one, it is likely they would have driven the Ivinians back into the sea had they been better led. Lorkin Castle was captured in 701 and dozens of sporadic revolts erupted all over Orbaal. Fortunately for the Ivinians, these revolts were not coordinated and the isolated pockets of Jarin rebels were subdued one by one.

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