The Khaganate of Khand, otherwise known as the Great Khanate of Khand, is a large empire stretching accross the lands of both upper and lower Khand, as well as parts of Harad, Rhûn and Nûrnen. The Khanate was one of the most important realms under the dominion of Sauron in the later stages of the Third Age fighting in many of the major battles of the War of the Ring. Following Sauron's defeat, Khand, due to its distance from Gondor, proved to be the only major combatant to emerge succesfully from the Continuation Wars evading the destruction and havoc caused by the armies of the Reunited Kingdom to other allies of Mordor.
Khand a highly decentralized empire in which numerous tribal leaders and petty kings exert a high degree of autonomy from the central government of the Khagan, or Khan of Khans who is the head of state of the empire. Khand also have a highly militarized governmental structure in which the native variag warrior castes rule over lesser races and castes which perform all menial tasks.
Geography[]
The steppes of Upper Khand, near the Gap of Khand
Khand is an arid region located to the south-east of Mordor, the north-west and north of Harad and the south and south-west of Rhûn. Khand stretches between the southeastern flank of the Ephel Duath and the northwestern edge of the Ered Harmal. It occupies the semi-arid plateau bordering northeastern Harad and thus commands the great Gap of Khand, the hundred mile wide pass facing southern Rhûn and eastern Mordor.
Largely a hot, dry and windy steppe land Khand has a harsh and unforgiving climate where few trees and bushes grow. The land is divided into two geographical regions; Upper and Lower Khand, which differes somewhat from each other.
Upper Khand, which consists of the eastern and northern half of the region enjoys a slightly more hospitable environment with cooler temperatures, more rainfall and milder storms. Since the topography of Khand rises in the northern lands Upper Khand is also a slightly more mountainous and hilly landscape then Lower Khand. Upper Khand's most prominent city is Ûbésêsh-ûta-Pavéter the current capital of the Khaganate.
Lower Khand is a region dominated by deserts and occassional scrubland. It is a realm of herders and nomads with the only permanent settlements lying around the river Noz Peka, the largest in all of Khand. At the confluence of Noz Peka and the river Medlóshad Peka stands Khand's largest city, Sturlurtsa Khand.
History[]
Mid Third Age[]
War of the Ring and the First Continuation War[]
Early Fourth Age[]
Following the collapse of the rule of Kundaj V Udo and his Udo Dynasty as a result of the catastrophic defeat of the Dark Lord Sauron Khand experienced a brief yet destructive period of chaos. As the Continuation Wars began spearheaded by the efforts of the black numenoreans of Umbar and the rhûnian occupied realms Khand was struggling with its own internal problems. Kundaj's son Khamûl briefly attempted to restore imperial control of Khand with himself as Khagan and, now that Sauron was gone, God. His efforts where however largely unsuccesful outside his native Lower Khand with few of the northern lords recognising his rule.
In the fifth year of the Fourth Age the Civil War of Mordor broke out begining the second of the Continuation Wars. Following the destruction of Mordor king Elessar had granted all the lands around the lake of Nûrnen in southern and south-eastern Mordor to the slaves of Sauron as their land, but had failed to back the slaves with soldiers as Gondor had enough to do with the first of the Continuation Wars. Subsequently the slaves and their orcish slavemasters was bound to clash in a major conflict over the issue of lordship of Nûrnen. The Civil War began when, on march 24, 5 FA, orc chieftain Gorkil commenced a raid of the southern parts of the Nûrnen Territory slaughtering thousands of men. In Khand, and especially Upper Khand, the civil war was followed with great anxiety. The native populace of the Nûrnen region, the Nûrniags, was closely related to the Variags of Khand, and indeed formed a large minority in the multiethnic khandish society.
While greatly angered Khamûl, Khan of Sturlurtsa Khand, was reluctant to interfere against Gorkil and the rest of the orcish warlords. As his father before him Khamûl hated Gondor, and following the rise of king Elessar and his victories in the War of the Ring and the First Continuation War, also fearful of the great kingdom. Subsequently Khamûl was unwilling to intervene against a potential ally against the Reunited Kingdom. This did however not sit well with the lords of Upper Khand. Not only did Upper Khand border Nûrnen and as such was occassionally subject to raids by orcish warbands in the region, the region also had a very large Nûrniag populace and a long history of cooperation with Nûrnen. Thus, against the wishes of Khamûl and initially without his knowledge, the young warchief and petty king Ûvatha of the, partially nûrniag, tribe of Borzjîgîn lead 3,000 troops into Nûrnen against the orcs.
By invading Nûrnen Ûvatha earned the animosity of Khamûl but the respect of many variags of especially Upper Khand, but also Lower Khand, which had not approved of Khamûl's policy of indifference towards Nûrnen. After winning several key victories against orcish hordes Ûvatha's horde began to swell as not only did more and more lesser tribes and clans of Khand send men to him but the nûrniags also provided the young warchief with a vast pool of recruitment. After winning a deceisive victory at Nûrnen-Dûr, Ûvatha dispatched an envoy to Minas Anor to enter into an alliance with king Elessar. The envoyage marked the first diplomatic contact between Khand and Gondor since before Sauron returned to Barad-Dûr and was received politely by the Royal Court. The envoyage concluded by Gondor promising the far more pro-gondorian Ûvatha as the tru Khagan of Khand over the hostile Khamûl. King Elessar even promised to send troops to Harondor, to provoke Khamûl to station more of his troops along the western border giving Ûvatha a chance to strike trough Upper Khand catching Khamûl off guard. In exchange Ûvatha promised eternal friendship with Gondor and allowed Elessar to do as he pleased with Chelkar, Haruzan and Pezarsan, territories Khamûl insisted on keeping.
Government[]
The Khagan Ûvatha VII
The Khaganate of Khand is a decentralized monarchical society headed by the Khagan, or Khan of Khans, currently Ûvatha VII Borzjîgîn, the first ruler of the Borzjîgîn Dynasty. While the Khagan holds nominal lordship over all of Khand in effect he shares his power with the leaders of the largest variag tribes, the petty kings and the warlords of the Empire. The combined power of these men far overshadows that of the Khagan who rellies on his vassals for everything from tax collection to matters of war and peace.
The legislative assembly of Khand, the Great Council, is a body of all chieftains, high priests, warlords and tribal leaders which convenes once every year in either Sturlurtsa Khand or Ûbésêsh-ûta-Pavéter to decide the policies for the comming year. The council holds considerable power and orders by the council tends to enjoy greater recognition throughout the empire then does orders from the Khagan himself.
Military[]
The Armed Forces of Khand is currently the second most powerful military in the world rivaled only by the forces of the Reunited Kingdom itself. The armed forces of Khand consists of three main branches; the Khagan's Horde, the Regional Hordes and the Auxillary.
The Khagan's Horde is the smallest but strongest of the branches consisting of the elite troopers loyal to the Khagan himself. They make up only about 10,000 constantly mobilized elite soldiers which serves as the primary shock troopers of the Khaganate.
The Regional Hordes is the regular armies of the different tribes, petty kingdoms and clans of Khand. These troops are used primarily to defend their specific region and is often the first khandish troops to be deployed against foreign invasion forces. The Regional Hordes varry greatly in size from just a few hundred men to thousands depending on their locale and owes loyality first and foremost to their own tribe and commanders. The Regional Horde constitutes the majority of the standing army of Khand.
The Auxillary is the third and least significant of the branches of the khandish military. They are a non standing conscript force levied by the Khagan or the local khans in times of need, or for raiding campaigns. The auxillary consists almost exclusively of infantry and is generally considered second class soldiers by the men of the Hordes.
Army[]
The character of khandish warfare differ greatly from the tactics employed by neighboring Mordor, Gondor, Rhûn and Harad but none the less incorporates elements from all four civilizations. As a multiethnic society rellying heavily on foreigner mercenaries the khandish army is a very varied and complex force. The considerable relliance on cavalry, both heavy, light, medium and chariots is the most prominent aspect of the khandish army. As a nation of horsemen the khandish cavalry force is the largest in the world. The khandish army is divided into four different arms namely the Chariots, Horses, Archers and Infantry.
Ranks[]
Khagan - Commander-in-Chief
Beg - Senior General
Tarkhan - General
Cavalry[]
A khandish kataphract from Lower Khand.
The backbone of the khandish army is its sizeable cavalry forces. Numerous different types of cavalry exists within the khandish army all of which is feared by the enemies of Khand for their superb horsemanship and excellent mastery of their weapons.
The heavy khandish cavalry, known as kataphrakts, are a force of variag noblemen riding to war on heavy steeds armoured from head to toe in scale armour. They are the only khandish cavalrymen with their horses armoured and is the primary shocktroopers of the empire. Wielding long lances, two handed axes, curved sabres and composite bows the kataphrakts is the heaviest and deadliest cavalry force in the world. The Khagan's have won many battles simply by riding down their enemy by their kataphrakts.
The Uhlans are the second, and larger, khandish cavalry force. It consists of light and medium cavalry usually armed with lamelar armour and unarmoured horses. The uhlans consists partially of mercenary forces from nûrniag and nûriag tribes and is used mostly to patrol the trade routes of the khandish empire, as reconnaise troops or in skirmishes. They are armed with spears, axes and shortbows but rarely wield swords.
Horse archers are the third and last cavalry troops of the khandish military. While in combat they usually operate as part of the Uhlans the horse archers are more specialized troops using their bows as their primary weapon of choice. Lightly armoured, and with unarmoured horses, these archers are the lightest troops of the empire and rides into combat wielding only their bows and a long knife.