Lone-lands

From Lotro-Wiki.com

The Lone-lands are located East of Bree-Land and West of The Trollshaws. The area is geared toward players of levels 15-30.

Lore

In ancient times, this was part of the Kingdom of Rhudaur, but today the Lone-lands are little more than a savage wilderness, home to small bands of Half-Orcs, Goblins and Orcs who prey upon travellers on the Great East Road.

From the edge of Bree-land in the west to the verge of the Trollshaws in the east, the hills and swamps of the Lone-lands bear the ruins of kingdoms long dead. This land’s long history of war and woe has cut deep scars into its landscape and its people. The lonely road that gives the region its shape and purpose today is desolate at best and dangerous at worst. Even the road is a ruin from another time, passing beneath noble stone and broken rubble on its way from the civilization of Bree-land to the perilous woods of the Trollshaws and beyond.

The most regal and prominent of the Lone-lands’ many ruins rises above the road like a symbol of the land’s sad legacy: Weathertop. Once known as Amon Sûl, it was a proud tower of vision and vigilance, but it fell in battle and sat derelict in the wild until now. Today, countless Orcs prowl through the place’s rubble, and the few Rangers who defend it cannot often deter them.

Far along the road in either direction, the shape of Weathertop stands stark against the sky, like a head wearing a battle-worn crown, reminding travelers and adventurers that the hills beneath their feet were once walked by kings and heroes—and may be again. Travelers in search of safe passage through the Lone-lands are wise to stick to the road, but it’s the accounts of those timid souls who travel only via the road that feed the region’s reputation for somber desolation and wide, bleak hills. Off the road, to the north and south, the Lone-lands hide rivers and bogs, breathtaking landscapes and sprawling ruined castles. But as you travel off the road, you venture toward ever more fearsome foes.

The darkest corner of this land hides an enemy so fell and terrible it chills even a Wizard’s blood.

The East Road runs through the Lone-lands like an artery, and it has served more than one ancient kingdom as highway and borderline. Thousands of years ago, it connected the Dúnedain kingdom of Arnor —sister kingdom of Gondor— to Rivendell, the Misty Mountains, and lands east. It intersected the North-South Road (now called the Greenway) near the heart of Arnor, where Bree stands now.

Soldiers and knights stationed at the Tower of Amon Sûl —built on Weathertop, the highest of the Weather Hills— kept watch over the East Road from their high vantage point. Amon Sûl, in those days, lay well within Arnor’s borders and housed a palantir, or seeing-stone, like the kind kept now at Isengard. With it, this land and its leaders could communicate with the far-off Arnorian capital of Annúminas. This created an era of security and nobility for the Lone-lands—few remnants of which now remain, save for the ruins of Amon Sûl and the Last Bridge.

The last known vestige of civilization in the Lone-lands is The Forsaken Inn. This small run-down inn serves as a way-station for travellers upon the Great East Road, its battered walls offering a certain ammount of shelter and security.

The Lone-lands is a desolate region that lies east of Bree-land and west of Rivendell. Ost Guruth is also a waypoint, but only for Rangers and other hearty scouts.

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