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Aridhol
Roughly two hundred years after the Breaking of the World, the Compact of the Ten Nations was formed. Society flourished in the hopes of regaining the wonders of the Age of Legends. One of the nations joining this Second Compact was Aridhol. For hundreds of years the Compact held, and these nations flourished. But when the Trollocs came howling out of the Blight at around 1000 AB, each of these nations was at the mercy of its allies. A man named Mordeth came to Aridhol at this time, gaining the ear of King Balwen Mayel. The king thought perhaps Mordeth had the solution - use the tactics of the Shadow against the Shadow. The people of Aridhol hardened and became isolated. The capital city of Aridhol, also named Aridhol, became a place to be avoided by even their former allies. Some said it was better to see a Trolloc coming than a man of Aridhol. The people of Aridhol abandoned the Light, their hatred and suspicion creating a terrible evil. As Balwen withered, Mordeth became the true power in Aridhol. Prince Caar, the son of King Thorin of Manetheren, came to win Aridhol back to the Compact. Mordeth had Caar imprisoned as a Darkfriend. Carr escaped the dungeons of Aridhol, fleeing to the Borderlands. When an army from Manetheren came to avenge Carr, they found nothing living within the city. The evil the folk of Aridhol had created had destroyed them. Nothing remains of the people or city of Aridhol. The ruins of the city still stand, though the name has changed. The city that was once Aridhol is now called Shadar Logoth, the Place Where the Shadow Waits. The evil of the city still waits there, tied to the city, waiting to escape. This evil, named Mashadar, hungers for the souls of the living. Only Mordeth was not consumed by Mashadar. Instead, he has been imprisoned within Shadar Logoth for centuries, waiting for a chance to escape. Late in the Trolloc Wars an army of the Shadow camped within the ruins of Shadar Logoth. When they did not emerge, scouts were sent to investigate. The scouts found weapons, blood, and tattered bits of armor everywhere. There were messages scratched on the walls in the Trolloc tongue asking the Dark One for aid in their last hours. Scouts sent back later found no trace of the remains of the army, or the messages left by its dying soldiers. The few folk who remember it avoid the city of Aridhol at all costs. Even Trollocs will not enter the city without Myrddraal to force them, and something fierce to drive the Myrddraal.
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