Tankrid

## **Biography**

Earl Tankrid of Redwater in Rhovanion, while on campaign in 171 of the 4th Age.

### **Life in Rhovanion**

Earl Tankrid, or Beolagh Ogh-Feandghainess, is the 4th King of Dale in the Fourth Age. According to his own accounts, Beolagh lived his earlier life in Central Rhovanion, where he grew famous by slaying a massive bear when he was 17 with nothing but a sharpened wooden stake. He then became the leader of his clan and soon tribe in military affairs, and led the Reilneigha Tribes in their battles against the rival Dhaoghoiteainn and raiding MacKeighein tribes, along with bandits.

One day Beolagh returned to his village from a hunt to find it burnt to the ground by the MacKeighein, and fled with the survivors north to Dale, hoping to seek refuge there. However, their numbers weakened, they were ambushed numerous times by bandits and hostile clans along the road. In the end, only Beolagh, a hunter named Feargus Ógh-Cearnacháin and a friend named Eachdonn the One-Legged made it across the Running Ford. There, they parted ways, Feargus moving to the village of Bofairme where he was finally killed during a MacKeighein raid, and Beolagh and Eachdonn moving north, where they settled in a small village along the shores of the River Running.

### **Life in Dale and Redwater**

In Dale, they changed their names to a more easily pronounceable "Tankrid" and "Sigurd". Beolagh, now Tankrid, worked as a blacksmith for a few years before yearning for adventure again. He then travelled to the far east, where he earned a reputation among the Poltzen tribes of Redwater, becoming their chieftain, and defeated Oleg of Jeglion. This act made Poltzen powerful, thus uniting the Northmen tribes along the River Carnen, neglected by Dale after the Third Age, under one banner of red, green, white, blue and gold. Redwater grew to become one of the strongest Earldoms in Dale, even after Finn Hope of the Gilnea family became the 1st king of Dale in the fourth Age.

Tankrid constructed the Great Forges of Poltzen, which increased his Earldom's ability to produce arms and armour, and served alongside the Gilnea dynasty's kings, acting as an adviser and backer. After the Gilnea family home burnt down, and Anduin Gilnea fled the country after abdicating due to a Gondorian annexation, Tankrid became king of Dale, when he prioritised peaceful relations and a strong industrial sector over rapid expansion and seizure of land, reasoning that he could not run an army if he did not have the iron to produce weapons for it and the silver to pay its soldiers.

Under his rule Tankrid saw the construction and renovation of numerous cities in Dale, such as Bardhaven, Westerheim, Ankorien Poltzen, and his greatest project yet, Girionsburg. It is an undeniable fact that Dale has flourished from its humble beginnings at the start of the Fourth Age as a small backwater in the north, whether that be good or bad. After a few years of rule, however, Tankrid fell gravely ill, and abdicated the throne. Now asthmatic, and suffering from a mild case of arthritis, Tankrid, no longer the fierce warrior he once was, spent what remained of his years overseeing the construction of architectural wonders and the rebuilding of much of Dale’s settlements, along with the establishment of castles and new towns along the Redwater to bring the region back into relevance.

### **The Last Battle**

A few months after he turned 60, nomadic tribes from northern Rhun attacked his colonies across the Redwater, looting farming villages and burning down forts while they were still being built. Though they were initially unprepared, Tankrid quickly rallied his nobles and officers, and mustered a large army to defend the crossings across the Redwater. Fortifications were built, and supplies quickly gathered and ferried across the river to the fortress of Poltzen. Soon, despite growing old and weak, the time would come for Tankrid to meet his foe in the battlefield; for the very last time.

The Dalish force met the confederacy of Easterling tribes in August, in the year 184 of the Fourth Age, at a plain some 5 Dalish Miles from Ankorien Poltzen. Led by a man named Kharar, the Easterlings fired volleys against the Dalish infantry divisions, who formed shield walls and were mainly unaffected. However, the militia of peasants and clan warriors were badly hurt by the archer fire. Dalish scouts and archers, given special green uniforms, hid in the long grass, and sneaked around the Easterling flanks and fired on their troops. This would soon prove to be little more than a minor inconvenience, as Kharar far outnumbered the Dalish force, and sent in large amounts of cavalry to destroy the Dalish archers once they were spotted. After dealing with the archers, the Easterlings then directed their cavalry in a massive charge against the Dalish infantry blocks, hoping to break their spirit and cause a route.

However, the Dalish soldiers led by Tankrid were made of stiffer stuff than those the Easterlings attacked in the eastern Dalish colonies. They held their ground, and with spear formations ground the cavalry charge to a halt, rendering their mobility useless as the fight devolved into a melee. Kharar soon ordered his troops to dismount, and sent in a force of infantry to help the cavalry overwhelm the Dalish soldiers. Earl Tankrid himself decided to lead his men on the ground, and charged with a force of 120 men into the right flank of the Easterlings, who were busy engaging the Dalish shield wall. Leading his bodyguard and a force of heavy infantry, along with the foremost warriors and knights of the realm and those who volunteered from foreign lands such as Gondor, Tankrid punched through the Easterling force, and boosted the morale of his men, who by then were hopelessly outnumbered. Kharar, seeing this, committed all his forces and his own bodyguard into the battle, identifying Tankrid and seeking to kill him. When a force of Dalish lancers moved to intercept Kharar's men, the Easterling chieftain was well prepared for them; the horsemen were ambushed by skilled hunters, who surrounded them and killed them with arrows, javelins and as they closed in, swords and daggers.The Dalish found themselves surrounded and outnumbered once more.

Then, a Dalish earl from the north of the province of Redwater, named Gunter Kunnelsorf, decided to take action. His force of 300 hussars had sat in reserve for most of the battle; their initial purpose was to chase down the retreating Easterlings, or to guard the Dalish against new unexpected forces. However, Earl Kunnelsorf decided to charge into the battle, seeing all the Easterling forces were spent. He led his hussars down from their position in the hills to the battlefield, and split them up into 3 parts, with the flanks meant to cut off Easterlings trying to escape, and Kunnelsorf leading the centre charge. He then gave the order to charge, and the hussars completely took the Easterlings by surprise. With no time to react, and no forces to spare, Kharar was forced to watch as his lightly protected and armed hunters, archers and warriors were massacred by Kunnelsorf and his hussars.

Kharar decided his best chance of ending the fight was to kill the Dalish commander, and challenged Tankrid to a duel. Tankrid, although he was old and growing weak, managed to kill Kharar. Surrounded and with their leader gone, the Easterling surrendered, and Tankrid and the Dalish won the battle. There were so many corpses in those hills that from then on, the clash between the Easterlings and Dalish would be called the Battle of the Raven Hills.

Shortly after his victory however, Tankrid collapsed from exhaustion. He awoke after a couple hours, but it was clear he'd never be fit enough to fight a battle again. He dedicated himself to construction and economic projects instead, planning farms, towns and also the new Dalish Royal Navy. The days of Tankrid the Commander were finally over; now, Tankrid the Administrator ruled in his stead.

### **Later Life and Assassination Attempt**

As the decades past, people in Dale began to take the unification of the provinces and Earldoms into a single kingdom for granted, and began to be unhappy in the current system. On a visit to the capital city of Dale, to oversee the construction of housing and the refurbishment of the city’s defences, along with the trial of the recently captured traitor and criminal Madeleine Gilnea, an assassination attempt was made on Tankrid. The assassin, armed with a crossbow and poisoned arrows, failed to shoot Tankrid while he was taking a walk in the city, and was arrested after he tried to stab the old man, promptly being punched in the face by the earl. This event however, made it clear that there were many who didn’t like Tankrid and his policies, and that their numbers were increasing.