Forochel—the bleak and long-unreachable land of the Ice Bay, where Arvedui the Last King of Arthedain, fled and later perished after the fall of his noble capital of Fornost.

Forochel—realm of the mysterious and reclusive Snow-men called the Lossoth, who have survived thousands of years of isolation and peril so near to the ancient realm of the Dark Lord’s greatest captain, the Witch-king of Angmar.

Forochel—the uttermost edge of civilized Middle-earth, a smothering white wasteland at the shore of a sea blocked by floating ice, unseen by the folk of the South for generations.

Forochel is a new frontier for the Free Peoples in the war against the Shadow in the North, accessible via the road north from Ost Forod in Evendim. Its harsh environment and fierce creatures can thrash characters leveled into the middle and late 40s. Even the elk and the water here can be a threat to experienced travelers. But this is also where the epic quests of Book XIII in Volume I: Shadows of Angmar—a tale of sea-monsters, ghostly kings, and desperate survival—finally unfold.

Thus your journey here is not just a test of your mettle or survival skills, but a mission to secure the survival of all Eriador against the looming Shadow out of Angmar.

Realm of the Lossoth

Even here, on the edge of Middle-earth, where the waters of the Great Sea are cold enough to kill and the memory of ancient evil lingers like a chill in the bones, the race of Man endures. Since the days of the First Age, a rare breed of Men has eked out a separate survival against the elements and without the influence of the nearby Enemy in Angmar. Once, they were the many tribes of the Forodwaith (literally, “North-people”). Now it seems that only the Lossoth remain.

The history of the Lossoth is both long and short. Though their ancestors have dwelled in Middle-earth through the three ages of the world, the quest for daily survival in this hostile land dominates the tale of this people.

Travelers from the south may find the wooded marches of Taur Orthon harsh but not so peculiar. Once across the glacier field of Jä-kuru, however, the lay of Forochel is dominated by frozen hills and the impassable Ice Bay, terrain altogether unlike that found in any other region of Middle-earth.

It says something about the Lossoth that they’ve built their greatest settlement, Sûri-kylä, as far from the rest of Middle-earth as they could reach, backed up against impassable mountains on the shore of a deadly sea. The Lossoth live far apart from southern Men in not only distance but custom. They skate across the ice on bone-bladed shoes and go about on carts without wheels. They wear bone and ivory jewellery, weave hardy and luxurious fabrics, and craft powerful weapons—yet they build no castles or cities of stone. They dwell in houses of shaped ice held up by rare and precious timbers or enormous cut tusks.

Now that the Gate of the North has been reopened at Cirith Rhîw, on the border of Evendim and Forochel, and the road to Taur Orthon is open again, adventurers and ambassadors from Eriador can forge new alliances with the Lossoth. They are shy and wary folk, to be sure, and while they’re slow to share the secrets of the crafts that keep them alive, they are merciful and welcoming to respectful travelers who are often unprepared for life near the Ice Bay. Forochel is too harsh a land for its people to refuse honest help and able swords. Aid the Lossoth, and they’ll aid you.

The stoic Lossoth have a deep understanding of the wilds where they dwell. It’s their plight to tread the narrow path between predator and prey, every day.

Many Lossoth speak the common tongue, Westron, which they have passed down from ancient times when the folk of Arnor and Arthedain traded with them along the road from Evendim. But the Lossoth often mix in words from their own language, especially when referring to the beasts of Forochel, which they consider distinct from their southern cousins.

Here is a short primer on the beasts of Forochel, so you’ll know what the Lossoth may ask you to hunt:
• a Norsu is a Mammoth
• a Kilpa-kita is a sabre-toothed lion
• a Peikko is a white-furred Snow-beast
• a Susi is a white wolf

Earn the friendship of the Lossoth, and they may reward you with precious cold-weather gear made using the ancient techniques of their revered craftspeople.

Forochel is Lossoth land, but the so-called Snow-men of the North are not the only folk to build and thrive here. In times past, wandering Dwarves have come to the lands surrounding the Ice Bay in search of ground to excavate and new treasures to unearth. These Dwarf-miners of old built what icy ruins can be found throughout Forochel, even be found within the forbidding glacier of Jä-kuru. Most of these ruins have lain empty for years and are only now being warmed again by the fires of the living.

In the west of Forochel, between the Norsu grave-fields and the steaming sulfur-pools of Länsi-mâ, the stout Dwarf-fortress of Zigilgund protects Free Peoples from harsh winds and marauders. Here, Longbeards from the south have established traders and a Stable-master, and they have worked with fellow travellers to create a safe base between the hill-camp of Itä-mâ and the remote Lossoth outpost at the north end of Talvi-mûri. From here, swords can strike out against the Dourhands to the west and feral Gauredain to the east.

As one Zigilgund Dwarf puts it, “We Longbeards are allies with the Lossoth against the traitorous Dourhands. It has been tenuous, but helpful to our cause.”