Dúnedain

At the beginning of the third age during the the third Conjunction of Spheres, the sea west of Westeros welcomed ships bearing the men and women of Númenor to the shores of the continent and by land across the arm of Dorne the first men spilled into the continent from across the narrow sea.

These two tribes of men first warred with the other races of westeros and each other for centuries to come until the peace was brought about by the pact of the isles and then the races of westeros began to coexist harmoniously. Over the course of the next four thousand years the Númenóreans and the First men would intermingle with one another until by the time of the Fourth age which brought about the Andal invasion, the Númenóreans and First-Men had almost entirely amalgamated into a single race with their shared decendants bearing the long life of the Númenóreans.

When the Andals invaded and destroyed the southern Númenórean kingdoms, the survivors fled north with the southern elves, dwarves and hobbits and found sanctuary in the northern kingdom of Arnor which held out against the Andals.

When the Númenóreans and First Men eventually became a single race, they were simply refered to as humans by the other races but since the arrival of the short living eastern tribe of Andals arriving in Westeros they have created a new name for themselves to distinguish them from Andals, The Dúnedain, which means "West-Men" in the elven tounge of Sindarin to reflect their heritage as the decendants of Númenór, blessed with long life with the Dúnedain living an avarage of 300-350 years, their long livity seeming to be immune to dilution when mingling with the human races of Westeros.

Basic Information

Biological Traits

With Dunedain biology, they age normally from birth to the age of twenty, then they age at an extremly slower rate to that of the average human with Dunedain generally living 300-350 years just as the pureblooded Númenóreans did before mingling with the First Men. The ancient kings of Númenor 400-500 years, but most of the lines of the decendants of kings of Númenor died out during the Andal invasion, with the Starks of Arnor being the last bloodline to carry the blood of the kings of Númenor. It seems that the blood of the kings of Númenor is not as strong in the female lines, with most of those who marry into other Dúnedain families not passing on their extended lifespans onto their children. One of the only women to pass on the blood of the kings of Númenor was Princess Reniriel of Gondor who married Brandon the Bulider and the blood of the kings of Númenor has endured in the line of Starks for generations.

The avarage Dunedain reaches the phyiscal shape of twenty five at the age of fifty and the physical form of thirty at the age of one hundred and their "prime" lasts for about a century meaning at the age of two hundred they seem to be in their mid forties and from there they age slowly to around three hundred to three hundred and fifty years.

Dunedain of the kings blood age similarly until they reach their prime, then it takes them two hundred years to reach the phyiscal equivlant of their mid forties and then age slowly living between 400 and 500 years.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

In the culture of the Dúnedain of the north, it is tradtion that they be given two names, their public given name which they use openly and comes from the old northern tongue and their elven name, a name in Sindarin which is often used formally when speaking Sindarin or intimately when speaking the common tongue. Some Dúnedain only tell their soulmates, close friends and family's their elven names while others use it preferedly to their elven names to their common names.

Elves generally only use a Dúnedain's elven name once they have gotten to know the Dúnedain personally unless the Dúnedain is of noble and high status in which case they use the names formally as an address of respect.

Lifespan

300-350 years

Average Height

6'4" Male / 6'1" Female

Average Weight

62 kg