Middle Earth Campaign Setting (4e Campaign Setting)/Eä; The World That Is

Eä; The World That Is

Eä IS the name of the world that was created by Ilúvatar and the Ainur at the beginning of time. The landscape has changed greatly over the ages, crafted by the Valar and damaged by Morgoth. The centre of Eä is Middle Earth, the setting of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and is the landmass most familiar to us. Middle Earth contains Mordor, as well as Gondor, Rohan and Arnor, the lands of Men, Fangorn forest, Lórien and Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains. Middle Earth is inhabited by all of the Free Peoples; Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits and Men.

To the north-west of Middle Earth is Beleriand, a land ruined at the end of the First Age of the Sun and sunk at the end of the Second. Within Beleriand are places of legend; the fair hidden city of Gondolin, Doriath and Nargothrond. Beleriand is the setting of tales such as the Tale of Beren and Lúthien.

Situated in the Great Sea to the west of Middle Earth lies Númenor, the island-kingdom of Men. Númenor was created at the start of the Second Age of the Sun and destroyed by flood along with Beleriand at the end of the Second Age of the Sun.

Finally, further west than Númenor are the Undying Lands, the land of the Valar that left the world even as Númenor sank at the end of the Second Age of the Sun.

Contained within this chapter is an overview of these lands, presenting potential adventuring sites, and the places that the Free Peoples make their homes:

• Regional Benefits: Benefits that a character from each region can claim, including regional languages and skills, and a list of regional feats that a character can select.
• Knowledge and Lore: Information that a character from a region may know about that region.
• Features and Settlements: Descriptions of places and settlements in the region.
• People and Adventurers of the Region: An overview of the people and adventurers that call a region home.

Middle Earth

Background Benefits Introduced in Player’s Handbook 2, background benefits grant a minor benefit to your character based on the region that he or she hails from. Your character hails from a single region presented in this chapter. When you create your character, you can choose one of the following benefits: Gain a +2 bonus to checks with a skill associated with your region. Add a skill associated with your region to your class’s skill list before you choose your trained skills. You can fluently speak, read and write the language associated with your region. You gain the regional benefit associated with your region.

At the centre of Eä is the continent of Middle Earth, a place that has been the setting of many legends such as the Last Alliance and the fall of Sauron.

From the First Age of the Sun at the Awakening of Men, Middle Earth has been a continent populated by both Elves and Men, but in the Third Age of the Sun, the dwindling Elves began to forsake Middle Earth, which was to become the land of Men, for the Undying Lands of their kin from whom they had become sundered.

Middle Earth was to the west of Aman, the Undying Lands, separated from it by the Great Sea Belegaer, until Aman was removed from the world at the sinking of Númenor. Middle Earth is split by the Misty Mountains that run from north to south; concealed within the mountains is the legendary dwarven city of Dwarrowdelf which is called Moria (or ‘black pit’) by the elves.

To the west of the Misty Mountains is the lost realm of Arnor, a land founded by Elendil, and Eriador, of which only a handful settlements remained by the end of the Third Age of the Sun, such as The Shire, Bree and Rivendell.

To the east of the misty mountains lies several realms, including Gondor, lands founded by the Dúnedain that also founded Arnor, and Rohan, the land of the horse lords. The east of Middle Earth also contains several forest-realms, such as Lórien, the golden wood, Fangorn and the largest of the three, Mirkwood.

To the east of Gondor is Mordor, the Black Land founded by Sauron in the Second Age of the Sun, and it is from here that Sauron spread his dark influence over the East, to Rhûn, Harad and Khand, the lands that surround Mordor.

This section explores these regions of Middle Earth, regions that adventurers may hail from or may wish to explore.

Languages of Middle Earth

This section summarizes the languages that are spoken in Middle Earth. A more comprehensive description of the languages of Middle can be found in The Lord of the Rings.

Language	Race and/or Region
Adûnaic	Númenor
Black Speech	Mordor, orcs
Common	All
Entish	Ents
Haradaic	Harad
Khuzdûl	Dwarves
Logathig	Rhûn and Khand
Quendi	Elves of Eriador
Rohirric	Rohan
Sindarin	Elves of Lórien and Mirkwood

---

Back to Main Page → 4e Homebrew → Campaign Settings → Middle Earth Campaign Setting

Legal Disclaimer

This web page is Not in any way, shape, or form affiliated with the owner(s) of any copyright material presented on this page. Copyrights and trademarks for any books, films, and other promotional materials are held by their respective owners and their use is allowed under the fair use clause of the Copyright Law.