Mae govannen, mellyn-nin! I recently read the essay "The Rivers and Beacon-Hills of Gondor", and decided to make a (moderately simple) suggestion based on the numerous information in that text. For the curious, here is a link to the source text, which is little-known, I suppose, to many Tolkienists.
http://www.e-reading.club/bookreader.php/129515/Tolkien_-_The_Rivers_and_Beacon-hills_of_Gondor.html
I also used some quotes from Unfinished Tales, found in the chapters Of Galadriel and Celeborn, The Druedain, and Cirion and Eorl.
Map Changes
- The Swanfleet biome should be somewhat larger, extending across the river and somewhat southwards.
- West of the great bend of Lefnui, the White Mountains and White Mountain Foothills should transform into the Mountains of Andrast, home of a few Pukel-men, and no one else.
- Druwaith Iaur should be replaced by a less wooded biome, with two additional variants--Druwaith Iaur Forest and Druwaith Iaur Woods. Only in the latter, noth denser and thicker, would Druedain be found with any frequency.
- Firenholt should get its own biome, and be filled with great oak trees and a whispering noise feature. Near it would be the Firen-dale, a ravine behind, and Amon Anwar, a forested green hill where comes no stain.
- The Ringlo is apparently sourced from an icy tarn fed by a snowfield high in the mountains. During snowmelt, this apparently forms a rather large lake.
- I added a Druadan wood, Grey Wood, and Stonewain valley biome as placeholders for those biomes.
- Gilrain has a mere in its middle reaches, where it is said Nimrodel was enchanted and lost.
- Lefnui, longest and widest of the five rivers, is apparently the borders of Gondor, with no Numenorean settlement beyond. Beyond it would be a new biome, called Dor Lefnui, where no men dwell (save an incredibly rare Drug). East of Lefnui, the Gondor biome should be replaced by a new biome called Far Gondor.
- Lossarnach (known as Arnach here) extends in the mountain-vales further westward, to the source of the Celos.
- Several of the rivers have had their courses changed to fit more with those that appear in the RotK map.
- Firen Wood should get it's own biome, with all the specifics detailed in Unfinished Tales. Especially of note is that the beacon-guards of Halifiren were in fact Rohirrim, not Gondorians.
- Lebennin, Lamedon, and Dor-En-Ernil should be extended to take up the Gondor biome between those three.
Biome Changes
- The mouth of the Serni is blocked by some form of shingles, apparently right near Linhir.
- Ciril cuts through a deep, rocky channel in Lamedon
- Lossarnach should get many orchards, from which it is said the main fruit supply of Minas Tirith came.
- Ruins of old lighthouses should be present on Andrast, and maybe one or two still manned, as it is said the Numenoreans kept beacons and a coast-guard there.
- Erelas Beacon-Hill is rather small, and explicitly treeless, yet green.
- Calenhad Beacon-Hill is similar, but larger and with a flat top.
- On the Temples of the Men of the Darkness, I have already made a suggestion, which can be viewed here. These would be really cool tbh, a nice hidden feature to add detail to the (currently somewhat bland) Ered Nimrais.
NPC Changes
- The women of the Eldar are well-known for wearing tressures, or bejeweled hairnets. I included one of these in my High-elf textures, but I can supply more if need be.
THE FINAL MAP:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/92no791oxj5p9sf/R%26BH%20of%20G%20map.png?dl=0
Thanks for reading this suggestion! As always, comments, Kudos, and constructive criticism is most welcome.
Ithilion, Discussions Moderator(Auta i lómë) 03:19, June 16, 2017 (UTC)