Here are some initial descriptions for some of the more major works of Tharbad.

Perhaps these could be included in the Gazetteer or included as part of site descriptions. For now they are just working documents for my campaign setting.

The Numenorean Water Works Beneath the city and amidst the tubes and tunnels of the sewer system, lies the great water works of the Numenoreans. The system once brought water flowing into the basins of baths of the citizens homes, as well as the fountains and wells of the streets and squares. The majority of the water works, along with the sewers, were built over a 30 year period, beginning in S.A. 1793 with the re-establishment of Tharbad as a Numenorean colony by Pharconatar. Since its construction, the Water works have worked almost continuously for 3000 years. The works have in fact long out lasted the knowledge that built them, and the know-how that operates them. Moreover, only a handful of buildings remain that are actually connected to the water system, and of these only a fraction still receive any flow from a local water station. Most of the cities buildings and streets have been rebuilt and moved numerous times over the past 30 centuries, a process which has almost completely disconnected the water works from the city. Even the Water works sister, the sewage system, has become largely disconnected from the streets and buildings it once serviced, maintaining function only in areas where the streets hold to their old courses, or where tunnels were rebuilt to match new streets. Despite all this, the vast majority of the Numenoreans Water System, its pumping chambers, reservoirs, wells and pipes, still exist beneath the city. The Water Stations The heart of the system lies in the eleven water stations that were placed strategically throughout the wards of the island and the south bank. The north bank is devoid of any Water stations, and utilizes a much simpler system built and devised by the Arnorians. Each water station at one time provided the flow of water to the fountains and homes of its constituent ward. Amazingly, the water stations worked automatically, and only required temporary maintenance by their crew of operators. The Numenoreans devised a system whereby the Water stations drew upon the Gwathlo for both their water, and their power. Each water station draws upon and utilizes this power via two sub-systems: the pumping chambers, and the water-wheels. The water-wheels both bring water into the system and provide the pumping chambers with their power. The water wheels are integrated with the canal systems, which owe a lot of their layout to the needs of the water-wheels. The flow of the water through the Cherant Ostinen, Rammas, Enedrant, Eithel and Harn turn the water-wheels of the water stations placed along their courses. As the wheels turn, water is brought into the system, and a series of levering gears slowly lifts the great stone blocks of the pumping chambers. The pumping chambers consist of two great side by side square stone pits, in which water is compressed by two

great stone blocks. The two chambers work alternately, one pressurising the water within the stone pit, while the other is slowly lifted back up by the water-wheel. Between the two pits is a single main water line that sends the pressurised water to various outlets around the ward. A simple valve keeps the water line open to whichever chamber is pressurised. Finally, the system is automated, in that the settling of a stone upon the bottom of a pumping chamber triggers a lever that engages the lifting mechanism to lift the stone. The Numenoreans built the water stations to last indefinitely, and to achieve this used two approaches. Firstly, the system has a surprising low number of moving parts. Besides the turning of the water-wheel, and the lifting of the stones, there are only a small number of moving gears between the pumping chamber and the water-wheels. Secondly, all the moving parts of the system are made of a stone alloy incorporating that most durable of materials, Laen. Great charms and wards of Numenors finest Engineers further enforced this already magical glass alloy, similar to that used in the construction of the tower of Isengard. Such it is that although the majority of the system has succumbed to the wear of centuries of use, three water stations, notably those of the _____, _____, and _____ wards, still provide water to their great fountains. Beyond the three water-stations that still work, the rest have either broken down, or had their flow of water stopped by silting on the canals bottom. The station houses, that once stood above the water stations works, and housed the wardens and workers of the stations, have all long since disappeared. The stairs and tunnels that led into the stations and the water system have almost all been covered over by new construction. Most of the stations thus now lie dry, and empty. One, however, has been discovered and is now being utilised by the Traders guild to assist them in their everexpanding smuggling operations. The Reservoirs For each Water station there is an accompanying reservoir that provides clean drinkable water for the city. Water is slowly fed into the reservoirs by the turning of the water-wheels. As such, the reservoirs are usually positioned quite close to the Water stations. In construction the reservoirs are quite grand, consisting of a number of long broad pools, amidst a virtual forest of supporting pillars and arched ceilings. Despite the fact that the workmen and wardens of the water stations only ever saw the reservoirs, the masons who built them spared no attention to detail. The reservoirs combine the lofty aesthetic sense of the Numenoreans with a strong functional aspect. Each reservoir consists of six long pools, each slightly lower than the previous one, which allows water to slowly flow through the chamber, from pool to pool. The pools are arranged side by side, thus the water flows in opposite directions from one pool to the next. In each pool the water slows, allowing the particulate from the river to settle to the bottom. Finally, the water flows out, to the pumping chamber. The reservoir chamber is quite massive, measuring 110 by 100 feet. The ceiling is fifteen feet high, and vaulted, supported by a forest of pillars, elegantly carved at their tops with Numenorean ward designs. The circumference of the

chamber has a broad walkway on which workers could make their way for cleaning and maintenance. The Numenoreans built eleven reservoirs, one for each of the eleven water stations. Three of the reservoirs still function, providing water for the pumping stations that yet labour away beneath the ______, _______, and ______ wards. However, the pools have long ago been completely silted up, causing the reservoir pools to overflow and flood the chambers. The reservoir pools thus no longer filter the water, or function, as they should have. This has left the water somewhat dirty and cloudy, yet still suitable for drinking. Two of the other reservoirs still take in water from the canals, but the pumping chambers they are connected to no longer function. However, wells have been drilled into the reservoir chambers, to provide access to their water. Besides these five reservoirs, the other six are completely dry, no longer receiving any flow of water from their water-wheels. One of these six is connected to the water station that has been discovered by the Traders Guild, and is now being utilized as a warehouse. The Pipes Linking the Waterstation/reservoir system, to its recipient fountains, and buildings, is the vast network of water pipes. For each ward, the network of pipes begins at the pumping chamber, where a single, large high-pressure pipe leads out, and quickly diverges into a number of smaller ones. These smaller pipes then lead to particular blocks, or structures, or fountains in the ward. For the most part though, this section of the pipe system has been destroyed, with most of the pipes being broken, or sealed off. Because the system was under great pressure, any time a main pipe was broken, it could cause considerable damage to the streets, and foundations of a ward. Once the knowledge to operate, and repair the water works had been lost, around approximately T.A. 600, breaks in a water main could go un-repaired, leaving the still flowing water to eventually work its way back to the Gwathlo by burrowing through the clay and rock of Tharbads foundation. This occurred numerous times in the early Third Age, causing exstensive damage, and leading the citizens and engineers of the city to become loath to build underground, or access the water system. They even became leery of interfering with the system at all, abandoning any attempt to upkeep or repair fountains, water stations or reservoirs. The pipes of each ward consist of a main water line, which usually stretches the length of the ward. Branching out from it are a number of secondary, lower pressure lines, that service blocks of houses, or particular fountains, within the ward. Off of these secondary lines branch individual lines that service particular structures. The main water line is usually approximately 150 feet in length, seven feet tall, and four feet wide. These are the interior dimensions, which were made thusly, over a circular design, to provide workers easy access to the tunnels when repairs were needed. The secondary lines were much smaller, being only three feet in diameter. The finally, individual lines that accessed houses were very small, being only several inches in diameter. All the pipes, in addition to being made of a flexible, and very strong mineral stone, had their interiors fused by an advanced heating process

lost since the downfall of the Numenoreans. Thus the entire pipe system was sealed and water tight. Only three of the water pipe systems are still under any pressure. All the rest have long since been emptied of any water, when their pumping chambers finally stopped working. Thus the majority of the pipes are either dry and empty, or have been damaged or destroyed by construction in the city above. The Arnorian Water Works The Arnorian water works, though not as grand or ambitious as the their Numenorean counterpart, are nonetheless a great, and for the most part, still functioning work. The Arnorian works were built beneath the wards of the North banks exclusively, when Elendil used the lure of their construction to secure the wards of the northern banks support of his offer to incorporate Tharbad. Because of the relative poverty of the wards on the northern bank, Elendil thought it prudent to forego the construction of the elaborate, and technically complex, pumping chambers, water-wheels, and water pipes. Furthermore, a majority of his engineers and effort were concentrated on the construction of the new Bridges, and the Men Formen. Thus, he decided a network of river fed underground reservoirs accessed by wells would suffice to service the population. The Reservoirs A total of seven reservoirs were built to service the wards of the North bank. In design they are quite similar to those built by the engineers of Pharconatar. Four long pools slowly filter water that is brought in through long underground tunnels from the Gwathlo. The final pool empties its cleaned water into a deep, circular pool, which is accessed from the streets above by a well. Reservoirs that are distant from the river are usually supplied water through one of the closer Reservoirs. The system is designed such that all the wells have equal water levels, even when the water in the river is quite low. To effect this a number of large underground tunnels connect many of the reservoirs. The reservoirs and tunnels are all made of durable stone, and further, have had their interior surfaces fired and sealed using the similar techniques to those employed by Pharconatars engineers 2000 years before. The system worked quite effectively for the first thousand years, provided it was regularly maintenenced by the city. However, since the second Time of Troubles in approximately T.A. 1412, the reservoirs have fallen into disrepair, and have silted up considerably. The Guild which had been given the charter to maintain them dissolved, and neither the Royal, nor city governments stepped in to replace them. The reservoirs and their wells still provide the citizens with water, but its quality has become poorer and poorer over time, leading to frequent outbreaks of water-fevers. The Numenorean Sewer Works The sister system to the water works, the sewer works are equally massive and extensive, if somewhat less advanced in design. Starting in approximately S.A. 1793, the sewer

works were built over a 30 year period by Pharconatars engineers, concomitantly with the water works, and are actually connected at several points, notable where overflow water from fountains empties. While the water works brings water to the residences and fountains of the city, the sewer system has just the opposite task, removing water and waste from the houses and streets of the city. At one time many of the wealthier residences of the city had not only running water for their pools, fountains and basins, but they also had working toilets, and drains, which ferried away waster water into the network of pipes and tunnels below. Such luxury was commonplace in Numenor, yet in middle earth represented a level of advancement and technology far beyond that of any of the native peoples. The system, though still functioning in many areas, has, like the water works, become largely disconnected from the buildings it once served. Centuries of repeated construction, and the slow migration of the courses of streets and avenues, have left the majority of the sewer system unutilised. Only a handful of buildings still remain connected to the sewers. In every ward, the pipes which once connected the buildings with sewer are either destroyed, or empty and forgotten. Only the portion of the sewer system which services the streets, funnelling rainwater safely away from buildings and into the Gwathlo, still works. This portion of the sewer has also taken on the role o the portion which once served the residences, as citizens regularly empty their bedpans into the grates which line most substantial streets in the city. Thus, despite the passage of 3000 years, the sewer works built by the Numenoreans still serve the descendants of that once great nation. The Tubes and Tunnels More extensive than the pipes of the water works, the tunnels and tubes of the Numenorean sewer system extend in all directions beneath the wards of Tol Gelin and the south bank. The sewer tunnels were built sturdily, and to last, like all Numenorean works. However, compared to the stone/laen alloy of the water pipes, the sewage tunnels are relatively fragile. The sewer tunnels were never designed to take the kind of pressure and wear that elements of the water system do, and thus a simpler material, and design, were more than sufficient. Three types of tubes were built. First were the main tunnels, which take in waste water from the smaller tubes and funnel it back into the Gwathlo. These tunnels are nine feet in diameter, with a trough running along their bottom. The bottom is also flat with small walkways on either side of the trough. These tunnels usually form a network under the streets that covers the majority of the ward, and connects in several places to riverside drains. The networks are also usually divided into an upper and lower portion, the former serving the residences, and the latter serving the streets. Secondly a network of smaller side tunnels services particular streets or blocks of houses. Because of the dislocation over the years of the original streets and housing blocks of the wards, many of these tunnels are unused, and dry. The side tubes are about 6 feet in diameter, and are round. Unlike the larger main tunnels, the side tunnels do not have a flat bottom.

Lastly is a network of very small tubes, which connect individual houses, or streets, with the side tunnels that run below them. These smaller tubes are usually only two feet in diameter. On streets they extend from the intermittent grates, down into the side tunnels below. Grooves along the streets edge also funnel water into the grates that access the tubes. Similar small tubes once connected many wealthy Numenorean residences with the sewer system, but for the most part these tubes simply lie clogged, broken, or unused. The Numenorean Catacombs Beneath even the water works, and the sewer works, lays another layer of Tharbads ancient past, the Catacombs. The Numenoreans of Numenor were no less obsessed with the burial of their kin than their Arnorian descendants were. In fact, the Numenoreans were much more obsessed with the rituals surrounding the burial and adulation of the dead. On Numenor, Noirinan, the Valley of Tombs, was literally honeycombed with the cavernous and multitudinous catacombs of the kings and queens of Numenor. The Arnorian, though they did build many quite elaborate tombs on the Barrow-downs, were somewhat restrained in their expression of respect for their dead, in main part due to the unforgettable lesson of the Akallabeth. Such a display of the hubris and folly of those seeking to cheat, or avoid death, left a deep impression on the Faithful who founded Arnor and Gondor. On the other hand, the Numenoreans were unfettered by their future recklessness, and so for many centuries, leading up to the Akallabeth, the scope and importance of burial rituals grew enormously. Before Numenors fall, the cities and hillsides of the island were littered with magnificent, and cold, catacombs, crypts and mausoleums. The early colonists in middle earth also shared their homelands fixation, and so many of the colony cities have great catacombs in the hills and lands about and beneath them. Tharbad is no exception to this. Three notable catacombs exist beneath the city. Two are present on Tol Gelin, and both these date from approximately the same period. The third, and by far the largest, exists beneath the _____ ward of the north bank. The location, and existence of these catacombs is unknown to the citizens of Tharbad. Even an exhaustive search of the Cities Archives will only yield indirect evidence of the catacombs. Perhaps only one being in all Eriador would know of these catacombs, and that would be the Witch-king of Angmar. His Numenorean origins and understanding of his contemporaries would lead him to at least guess, that somewhere beneath the city, a crypt or catacomb must lie. This and the fact that his master, Sauron, sacked Tharbad in approximately S.A. 1700, and in the process desecrated and cursed one of the two catacombs on Tol Gelin The two catacombs of the island date back to the earliest years of Tharbads existence, prior to its razing by Saurons forces, and subsequent rebuilding by Pharconatar. Between S.A. 1200 and 1700 Tharbad thrived as a frontier city. Although rarely receiving the patronage of its motherland during this period, Tharbad nonetheless grew into a vibrant and multicultural trading town. Numenoreans, Dwarves, Elves, and Eridorians gathered here to do business in a relatively peaceful, and neutral territory. The products of the dwarves, and the elves of Erigion, were valuable, and highly

sought after by the citizens of Numenor. The Eridorians could not offer much in the way of finished products, yet their lands encompassed raw materials that were needed in Numenor. In addition, they products of Numenor were of great interest to the Eridorians, and even the dwarves and elves to a limited extent. The opportunities here were plentiful, and so it was that several Numenorean families took advantage of it, slowly building commercial empires based in Tharbad. The two most profitable, and notable, were the balak and Ulbarzn families. They developed a rivalry that would grow with the years, expanding into areas beyond the business realm. At this time, the island of Tol Gelin was only partially covered by the homes of the Numenoreans. The southern half of the island, in particular that area around the small hill ______, was still undeveloped. The south banks were home to most of the dwarves and Eridorians who had settled in the protective sphere of the Numenoreans. The balak family decided to forgo the tradition of sending the bodies of kin back to Numenor, and instead build a catacomb for them on the island, in the land that had now become their home. Thus a large Catacomb was begun beneath the ______ hill. Before this work had been completed, the Ulbarzn family decided on a similar course, and so a second catacomb was started on the opposite side of the hill. Both the catacombs were made on a grand scale, with no small amount of the familys wealth going into the construction. When both were finished, in approximately S.A. 1460, they rivalled the catacombs of any merchant family of Numenor. The Catacombs served the families for many centuries , and as the city continued to grow, the _____ hill came to be utilised by other families and citizens to inturn their dead. However, none built crypts as large, or as elaborate as the balak and Ulbarzn families. In S.A. 1693 Sauron declared war on the elves, and invaded Eriador. Tharbad was razed, and the majority of its population put to the sword. For seven years Tharbad was occupied by Saurons armies, becoming a staging ground for later attacks against Lond Daer and the Eriadorians of the Pinnath Ceren. During this time most of the works of the Numenoreans were brought down, and smashed into dust. Although most of the small crypts and barrows on ____ hill were discovered and destroyed, the Ulbarzns catacomb avoided detection, thanks to the kinsmen who had covered its entrance prior to the arrival of Saurons forces. The balak family was not so fortunate. Their catacomb was discovered. Yet when bands of orcs began to tunnel into it, in search of loot, the traps and devices the Numenoreans had left behind slew the lot of them. Sauron, annoyed and in a rage, as his forces were under attack by the avenging navy of Pharconatar, lay a potent curse upon the catacomb, and sealed it. His curse would prove potent indeed, binding the dead of the catacomb to an undead limbo for over 3000 years. The catacomb has lain undisturbed for all these years and only recently has been opened again, and the curse reawakened. The other, larger catacomb, lies beneath the northern streets of the _____ ward. Not nearly as old as the other two, it was built by Pharconatars engineers shortly after their victory over Sauron in S.A. 1700. Dismayed at the violation and looting of the crypts and barrows on _____ hill, as well as the awful sight of hundreds of his countrymen, lying scattered about the ruined city like detritus, Pharconatar set his soldiers on the excavation of a great catacomb, to the north of the ruins

of the city, in which the desecrated dead could be interred and re-interred. Pharconatar was determined that he would erase the evils of Saurons hand, and thus he planned to rebuild Tharbad. The catacombs were built to not only serve those who had already died, but also to serve the people of the new city he would erect over the ruins of the old. The construction of this great catacomb took nineteen years. A few decades later, Pharconatar fulfilled his promise, and re-established the colony on Tol Gelin, naming it Tharbad once again. The great catacomb served the citizens of Tharbad for many centuries. Although the catacomb had been made to serve all the citizens of Tharbad, at a quite early date it became possible for only the richest, and most important members of the city, to be buried in the catacomb. Others of less means were forced to build smaller crypts and barrows at an evergreater distance from the city. After eleven centuries of serving the cream of Tharbad society, the catacomb was full, and was subsequently sealed in S.A. 2780. In that long period the city had expanded somewhat, with many new dwellings gathered about the foot of the northern bridge, on the north bank, just south of the catacombs. In the centuries following the closing of the catacombs, the village on the north bank continued to expand, and eventually buildings came to built over the catacombs site, and all around the entrance. By this time the catacomb was either unknown to the newcomers, or forgotten by the older residents. The location of the catacombs entrance was lost, buried beneath the streets and houses of the north bank. Finally, in S.A. 3320, Elendil began his great works at Tharbad. The makeshift and low quality buildings of the north bank, which was home to most of the cities Eridorian population, were torn down, and a great foundation for a new series of wards was laid. Elendils water works, sewer works, and the new bridge over the Gwathlo were all incorporated into the huge field of earth and stone he lay over the site of both the former village, and the catacombs. Elendil was aware of the existence of the Catacombs beneath his new wards, but he was concerned not for the dead of his overly proud ancestors. He deemed let them lay where they were, forgotten, and undisturbed.