Various members of my Umbarian dynasty –
The House of Halsad - are starting to turn up in random posts around the Nuplaza, and so I figure here is as good a place as any to store their particulars. Filling out a form for each of them would involve much repetition so this is a sort of breakdown rather of their individual deeds and skillsets, for my own reference and in case anyone is confused/interested.
Salukatar Halsad
Eldest son of Captain Korre Halsad, a pillaging Corsair who was slain in Thorongil’s assault on Umbar in 2980 TA. Salukatar assumed his father’s place, and the rule of House Halsad in the aftermath, and was keen to retaliate against Gondor. Stealing a ship from the Shadow Cabal, he hampered the attempts of an ambitions Lord Araldur Azrubel of Belfalas, from raiding the Harad coast whilst the bulk of Umbar was rebuilding their armada.
The consequent ongoing feud between the two rival sailors led to several fraught battles at sea. Eventually Salukatar set out to see Araldur assassinated during the Gondorian Lord’s birthday celebrations. He is credited with the death of not only Araldur but countless other Gondorian party guests who were caught up in the affair. Salukatar was pursued and captured before he could escape Belfalas, and duely incarcerated at Prince Imrahil’s pleasure. Later found dead in his cell, he is assumed to have taken his own life.
Salukatar is the elder brother of Pharak, and the reputed father of Arkadhur.
Pharak Halsad
Younger son of Captain Korre Halsad, Pharak chose to honour instead his mother’s Black Numenorean tradition and entered service of the Shadow Cabal. This may or may not have been a direct response to avoiding close proximity with his domineering father and brother. Tasked with ascertaining the realm of Harondor should fall under the sway of the Eye, during the late 2900’s TA he framed Gondor for widespread assaults he and his cohorts carried out on various tribes and villages throughout the debated land, Eventually thwarted by an unlikely alliance between one Heraasi of Harondor, and Domanol Raxelilta, a Ranger out of Gondor, Pharak took his revenge by ‘confessing’ to them that Umbar had taken on the guise of a Gondorian camp on the Harondor/Gondor border, with a mind to incite further violence. It was not until after their Harondor rebel army rushed in to dispel this enemy force that Pharak’s foes realised that the ‘Umbarians in desguise’ whom were killed in the assault by Hera and Domanol, were in fact true Gondorians, loyal to the Steward, come to investigate ! Pharak’s efforts to provoke hostilities between the two nations was secured.
Heraasi was executed by the surviving Gondorian soldiers but on the journey back to face justice at the hands of Denethor, Domanol escaped and set about hunting down Pharak to take home in his place and explain the entire affair. He was successful in locating his nemesis, who boasted how he had cut Domanol’s unborn baby out of Hera’s rotting body and thrown it to feed his dogs. The ensuing fight between the two men was observed by a rogue Elf of the Former House of Mole, intrigued by the latest kinstrife between the warring Men. And when Domanol triumphantly declared his victory over Pharak, the follower of Maeglin informed him that it made no difference: no one would ever believe or forgive the Gondorian’s slaughter of his own kinsmen. He knew a little something about being a kin slayer, and so Domanol believed his miserable prophecy.
Pharak instead was subjected to an account of his crimes being forcibly ‘carven’ into his flesh by the (one-time-sculptor) Elf, so that all whom saw the Umbarian agent after, would not be fooled by lies of who he was. Then they set him on fire, left for dead, so there was no way that he could talk his way out of the accusations either. Against all odds, Pharak survived this ordeal, and returned home as an advocate for the power of the Shadow whom he believed had saved his life, and clearly still had work for him to do.
The Umbarian returned home, to find that his favoured Slave in the family house had bourne him three sons, and that she had preserved the rule of House Halsad by whatever means necessary, since the death of Pharak’s brother, Salukatar, in Gondor. In anticipation of her lover’s expected return. Now that he is returned, Pharak is committed to the service of Sauron, and holds his court from the ancient blood temple in Umbar. As a recognised ‘employee’ of Sauron in Umbar, he does not shirk from condemning anyone who now stands in his way as a ‘traitor’ to the Shadow. Sometimes they truly are, enemies of the state. But more than often they simply are enemies of Pharak and of House Halsad, whose deaths are conveniently justified and whose possessions and dependents are all seized in the name of House Halsad, for the purposes of growing strong … enough to better serve Sauron, of course.
Jenahda Halsad
The daughter of Chief Mwaneru Nahuut of Harad, Jenahda was proud of her father, the King of the Jackals, who preyed upon other tribes in the Far Harad jungle to retain his own peoples’ preservation. When Pharak Halsad came to Mwaneru, an ambassador for the Shadow, he was able to visit … and to inform Mwaneru of all the tribes who had decided to not submit to Sauron. With the inside information of Pharak having previously visited each of these ‘rebel’ tribes, Mwaneru’s assaults were flawless, his tribe’s dominance grew vast and strong, and he committed to the service of his benefactor, Sauron. Then came the unfortunate reveal that Mwaneru’s son and heir was in love with a member of one of the tribes set to be slaughtered. The young Jackal prince forewarned them, and they evaded the imminent defeat.
Furious, mostly that her brother was the heir of her father when she was elder, and more competent and clearly loyal, Jenahda set her father’s actual four-legged Jackals upon her brother and saw him dead. Proclaiming herself to now be the true and loyal heir of her father, Mwaneru was wise to this ‘accident’ being quite deliberate, but in a tricky situation to resolve it. To raise up a daughter as his heir would make him appear weak, as would the admission of his son’s treachery against the tribe. But he could no longer trust Jenahda not to go behind his back, nor slay his only remaining descendent. Pharak was the one who convinced Mwaneru to ‘gift’ his daughter to the ambassador, thus retaining his hold upon the tribe, passing sentence for the murder, and in due course, assuring a male heir to come out of his daughter and .. Pharak himself. Unwilling to turn down an alliance with a servant of the Shadow, Mwaneru accepted, on the condition that a male heir be guaranteed within the next five years.
Jenahda has never considered herself a slave of the House of Halsad, and from day one matched Pharak with her wiles and his devious machinations. Whilst he was away about his work for Sauron, she was brutally mistreated by his elder brother Salukatar, whom she soon after manipulated into stealing a highly prized but costly won ship, before publicly belittling him to the point that he could not shirk from seeking out the murder of a noble Gondorian, deep in enemy territory. This last missive proved the end of Salukatar, to Jenahda’s overlasting joy, and she quickly dominated the remaining household, serving as the ‘voice’ for the Mistress Halsad (Salukatar and Pharak’s mother) who has not left her bedchamber for decades now, nor even been seen to yet draw breath.
By the time Pharak returned home, a very altered man from the ambitious acolyte who’d left her, Jenahda nonetheless welcomed him with open arms, and introduced the returned Lord of Halsad, to his triplet sons, none of whom (it has to be said) appear anything alike, nor at glance look to even be related at all. Rumours abound that she somehow even succoured three unrelated male babies and passed them off as her own. Claiming that ‘the Shadow’ has his reasons, for just about anything .. Pharak seemed to take his estranged wife at her word however, and their union has resumed to a happy and convenient pairing.
Their sons are Matsu, Keket and Uhta.
Matsu Halsad
Eldest of the sons of Pharak and Jenahda, an anarchic and excitable young man, keen to embrace the reckless, carefree life of a corsair. Matsu was elected to become his grandfather’s heir in Harad, and so set about establishing some trade between his mother and her father, by exporting exotic animals trapped by Mwaneru, to sell in Umbar for profit to House Halsad.
His mastery of animals has proven unexpectedly impressive, but he is headstrong, unheeding of counsel and entirely unwilling to play by anybody’s rules but his. In a rather out of the box ambition, he has took up with the alluring corsair queen, Sarabeth Gameela, and established efforts to replicate a temple of sacrifice .. upon the Wethrin Isles off Lindon. The general belief entertained by his following is that, if the sacrifice of men, or even dunadain men, should serve as tribute to Morgoth in a quest for immortal life, then surely the sacrifice of already immortal elves would surpass any previous efforts.
Thus far Matsu has been fraught by obstacles to his intention. His pursuit of Sarabeth has been rebutted for her own entertainment, his usurping of an Elvish starguild observatory was sabotaged, and the slaves he obtained to build his grand designs are continuously being sold off to ensure the compliance of the Mole King, Hatholdir Narroval, who has so far permitted the Umbarians to use his private isle as a means of evading the notice of the Lindon mainland. Ships bound from the havens to return to Aman are intended victims of Matsu, and yet, .. so far he has failed to bring home a substantial number of Elf sacrifices for his temple. His aggressive assaults on their ships tend to leave fewer survivors than he requires. As do his vain attempts to transport an oliphaunt out of Harad all the way to the isle, to help the construction there of his own empire.
But Matsu is nothing if not an optimist. He is determined to be known for at least some greater exploit than being the son of a particularly clever slave.
Keket Halsad
Keket is the ‘middle child’, and the least travelled of them all. An early push by his mother to enter piracy was dismissed, after an unfortunate initiation rite by other corsairs saw him thrown to sea, and almost drowned. He is to this day unable to swim. Despite this apparently blaring flaw for any Umbarian, or perhaps because of it, Keket has delighted in exploring other talents. He served as a ship’s surgeon for several years, after murdering his predecessor, in an effort to remain below deck. But the experience of holding life and death and his hands was a dangerous precursor which then shaped his life thereafter.
Very much at home in Umbar, Keket was taken under his returned father’s wing, to learn and serve in the Shadow Cabal, and earn a place of renown and terror in the eyes of his neighbours and enemies. But he is resentful of being known only as ‘his father’s son’, and has ever sought some recognition for his own efforts. His contention began to manifest in the torture of other living things, surpassing any of the precedents for cruelty that his uncle Salukatar had demonstrated. Keket was not afforded the means to buy bodies for his dread study of anatomy and so resorted to scavenging from his father’s victims, and setting up ‘accidents’ that ensured a further ‘fresh’ resource of bodies. This proved harder on shore than on ship, and often he was forced to stoop so low as offering the homeless vagrants and the shanty town beggars a place to spend the night .. their bodies soon littered his chambers.
Known for terrorising the house slaves, and masterminding petty grievances and vendettas against his brothers, Keket eventually discovered a long-lost illegitimate son of Salukatar, who had been cast to the dungeons by Captain Korre years ago in favour of a theoretical legitimate heir that never presented. The power of holding this secret over the whole of his family only furthered Keket’s own self-arrogance. For years he played the puppeteer, setting up his secretly liberated cousin as a blackmail merchant based in Dol Amroth, to prise monies and ‘favours’ out of the rich relatives of ‘bounty’ that his corsair brothers brought home in their corsair raids. His closest means of infamy was blackmailing the Dol Amroth astronomer, whose daughter had been stole and claimed, by Uhta. Keket had his loyal lackey Arkadhur convince the rich Gondorian parent to steal the red arrow out of Minas Tirith, in exchange for the preservation of his captive daughter. Inevitably the plot was thwarted by Sergeant Pele Alarion of Gondor.
Then did Keket’s father lure a young and oblivious kinsman of his ancient nemesis, Domanol Raxelilta, out of Gondor, seeking to (by murder) put right the curse which he believed himself now under since their encounter in Harondor. The intended victim was rescued, and Keket held responsible for the escape, and duly cast out of any future in his father’s temple rites. Personally, the Umbarian attributed this disaster to one of the rescue party, Abrazimir Dimaethor, who he clashed with during the Gondorian retrieval. Naturally, he set his mind after to the vengeance he would visit upon that nobleman of Belfalas, but the soldier in question was serving in the military and proved a hard target to influence, for one so opposed to leaving him own stomping grounds.
It wasn’t until a renown Slaver of Umbar, named Relic, paraded around the news of a Gondorian soldier whom her minions had managed to spirit out of the military of Minas Tirith, a certain Sergeant Pele Alarion … that Keket began to hope for justice, to fall without mercy upon two past foes at once. Securing an alliance with Relic was a perilous undertaking, but the prize, to manage the tormenting extraction of information out of Pele, to gain information also on Abrazimir … was too great a want to pass up. Inevitably, Keket earned a reunion with Abrazimir who came to reclaim his friend and colleague … both Gondorians found themselves free of Umbar and once more the second son of Pharak is left to plot his next move.
Uhta Halsad
The youngest son of Pharak and Jenahda Halsad, Uhta is the least concerned with politics or power, or petty vengeance. He fell easily into the corsair lifestyle, of raiding and pillaging, taking to delight in whatever he wants. He has no greater ambition in life than to enjoy himself, and this is mostly achieved by the amassing of beautiful women, shining jewels, and a gluttony of good food and wine. A mountain of a man, Uhta is an avid wrestler and an intimidating individual, . to behold. In truth he is much of a mummy’s boy, and would happily go through his life without the slightest notion of harming another soul, save for seizing the sort of a privileged lifestyle that his treasure hunting and stealing have afforded him that is.
Present ventures see him sailing under the command of Captain Kfir Gameela, murdering woodcutters near Bree in a want to harvest the forest timber for shipbuilding supplies back home. It is entirely possible that his mother, knowing him to be horribly afeared of ghouls, ghosts and spirits, sent him north with instructions for Kfir to scare Uhta free of such childish phobias, by seeing him face the barrow wights and reputed restless spirits of the Arnorian ruins in the north.
Uhta has left an unnumbered heap of female conquests behind him, whom he treats as kindly (read for that, ‘heavy-handedly’) as an infant treats small pets, until he tends to forget about them completely, leaving them to starve or suffer Keket’s attentions, while Uhta enjoys their replacement or is simply away at sea. One such unfortunate was recently the Lady Gael Estennin of Dol Amroth, whose father was compounded to attempt treason by Keket and Arkadhur. Uhta has already forgotten his little ‘Mouse’, is unaware that she has since been rescued and found solace in the wake of her father’s suicide, with a new husband and her young daughter at Lond Col, Belfalas.