A Brief History of Egladil

The Empire of Egladil has its founding in the end of the sixth age, after the fall of the great Elven kings, and Elves subsequent withdraw to Hithliniath and its concealing veil. Egladil was promised to the descendants of Hurin and his followers who shunned Morgath and came to the Elves aid, standing beside them in the darkness in the War of Sundering. Before the elves had completely withdrawn, they shared many of their secrets with Hurin and his children, secrets of stone working, smithing, writing, enchantment, and statecraft. 

Hurin initially settled  along the banks of the West Anduin, in what is now Amin Lhaw, concentrating his seat of power there. Many flocked to his banner, as with Egladil's inherited knowledge from the elves, and fortified city, Amon Lhaw offered stability that was lacking in much of the world after the War of Sundering. The city spread and grew, eventually reaching up and down the River Anduin and to the sea.

 The first major conflict of the empire was groups of fallen men and orcs crossing what is now the wilderlands into the provence of Hildorien and into the Firienholt, raiding and pillaging as they went. With no true standing army, the warriors of Egladil were cut down before these marauders, and the emprire suffrered defeat after defeat. Emperor Ostoher, fifth descendent of Hurin, was forced to reformat and reequip the fighting forces of the empire into what is now the Legions. No longer did Egladil rely on warriors, but on trained and equipped soldier-citizens. The legions were able to turn back these invaders, driving them all the way back to the Ered Lithui and Cirith Gorgor therein. 

Fearing that the empire could potentially come under attack from another unexpected source, Ostoher, and many of his descendants, began a series of bloody wars of expansion, seeing to it that war would never again threaten the lands of Egladil, but ever its enemies. Wherever the legions marched, civilization was said to follow, for while the Emperors of Egladil were focused on conquest and preventative strikes, the peoples that were conquered were not put to the sword, but rather integrated into the empire, with many even joining the legions for citizenship, ensuring that there was always a supply of men and women for the legion. 

This expansion would grind to a halt though, in the fourteenth century of the 7th age, as a deadly plague stretched through the lands, killing indiscriminately. Its is estimated that anywhere between a quarter and  a third of the imperial citizens perished. With the massive loss of life and tax revue, the imperial juggernaut began to break down, with the legions initially abandoning their conquest of the region of Arman, forced to defend the empire against threats that now smelled blood in the water, whether it be other kingdoms or bandit and orc  raiders. For the next five hundred years the empire would start to shrink, from aftermaths of the plague, external conquest, and simply releasing providences that the empire could no longer afford to hold. The first to be released is what is now the kingdom of Duledwath. The wilderlands had to be totally abandoned, as without the strength of the legions, the fallen men and orcs started to spread out of Fos Almiar, wreaking havoc as the spread, slaughtering any resistance. 

Hildorien was the most recent province to be released, but this separation has been less than amiable - the Empire released Hildorien to act as sort of a bumper zone to any of the dark forces coming out of Fos Alimar, a fact that the citizens of Hildorien are all too familiar with, and in turn they have started to tax and levy heavily any river traffic that passes through the lower Anduin in an attempt to damage or further cripple the imperial economy, as Adnros was one of the most important port cities in the world. 

The most recent Emperor, Trajan the First, has pushed the empire into sort of a renaissance, as he has invested heavily back into the empire, renewing its infrastructure, education, and restructuring the empires marital systems - and this has started to show great dividends. No longer are bridges crumbling, canals filled in, streets filled with refuse and barges once more flow up and down the river Anduin, and most common folk can even read and perform basic math. The legions have been reformatted from the dumping grown that the had become to the lean fighting forces of yore, and many foreign countries are once again sending tribute and proposing alliances. These miracles have come at a cost though, the imperial coffers are almost empty, and have taxes have been imposed on the wealthy and other landed gentry, leading to no small amount of malcontent in the higher classes, and Trajan likely nears the end of his mortal life, approaching 77 years old and has no recognized heir.