[piosenniel]

A FEW NOTES ON HILLMEN: This game is based on the premise that not everyone was delighted to join Aragorn’s new kingdom. The Hillmen of Arnor have lived in this region for a very long time, and are probably the ancestors of both the Bree-men and the hobbits. When the realm of Angmar rose in this area, the Hillmen became subjects of the Witch-King, along with a number of Dunlendings that he had also gathered there, and from whom many of them are now descended. The Dúnedain have been their enemies in all the wars they fought under his leadership. For more about this, please see Appendix AI(iii), “Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur,” in RotK.

I have also invented and extrapolated for the purposes of the game, so what follows are my ideas which will be used for the game but which are not by any means canon. After the departure of the Witch King, the flow of goods and gold to Arnor had ceased, and the Hillmen now lived in tiny, impoverished hamlets, except for those that decided they could do better faring in the wild alone. Such individuals are feared and avoided even by the other Hillmen. As for the others, they are few, but their resentment of the Dúnedain is very great, and many hold them somewhat responsible for the great difficulty of their life. They live by hunting and by robbery, though both have become more difficult in recent years. Their system of leadership is mostly explained above. Hierarchy in their society is largely based on blood ties, so the brothers of the leader carry a great deal of authority, though the next leader will not be related to any of them. The religion of the Hillmen is based on totem spirits such as wolves, owls, and fish. Their language is Westron, and their names are short ones, with obvious meanings alluding to the relevant and concrete, such as Wolf and Knife. To their north live the Snowmen of Forochel, who sided with the Dúnedain in previous conflicts but whose reaction to having them live so close is difficult to predict.