Broad Marsh
The Broad Marsh was the great wetland region of the lower Ikorbân Valley, remembered in the Dubarâkh scrolls as the cradle of the Nartáni peoples in the First Age. It lay between the middle Ikorbân River and the coasts claimed by Umbru-mâra, stretching across a landscape of reeds, fens, and waterways. The Broad Marsh was both the site of the first Nartáni kingdom, Aburûn, and the heartland of the ancient cult of Írmu, the Weeping Lady.[1]
Early Inhabitants
According to the scroll of the Nartáni, the Broad Marsh was first settled by Elves of the Tárthai and Kintai, together with the dwarves of the Temámir clan. These peoples lived among the marshlands in relative peace before the awakening of Men in the valley. The Elves, especially the Kintai, are said to have taught the early Nartáni farming and the tending of reeds, fish, and fertile soil.[1]
The Nartáni revered the marshland as sacred to Írmu, a nature-spirit of grief and fertility whom the Elves also venerated by another name now lost. Írmu's shrines were raised in the Broad Marsh, where offerings of water and flowers were cast into the fens.[1]
The Kingdom of Aburûn
The first organized polity of the Nartáni was the kingdom of Aburûn, established in the Broad Marsh. Its rulers styled themselves Shâr in imitation of neighboring realms. Aburûn maintained friendship with the coastal seafaring kingdom of Umbru-mâra, to whom they were kin, but remained vulnerable to raids from the north and east. Armed with bronze weapons, invaders easily overcame the farmers of Aburûn, who had little experience with war.
These raids devastated the wetlands: warlords seized harvests and captives, while forests along the marsh’s edge were cut down to drive out the Elves. With Umbru-mâra extending its claims to the southern wetlands of the Ikorbân, Aburûn's sovereignty collapsed, and the Broad Marsh ceased to exist as a unified kingdom.[1]
Later History
Though Aburûn fell, the Broad Marsh remained a cultural and religious heartland. Írmu's worship persisted here the longest, and traditions tied to the wetlands endured even as political power shifted to the north. Over time, the spread of the Barkhûshim eroded these older rites, culminating in the Time of Pyres when shrines were destroyed and her faithful persecuted.
Legacy
The Broad Marsh lives on in memory as the birthplace of the Nartáni and the first flowering of their kingdoms. Later chroniclers described it as both a land of abundance and of sorrow: abundant in the fertility of its soil and reeds, sorrowful in the loss of Aburûn and the fading of Írmu’s cult. Even after its dissolution, the marsh remained a potent emblem in poetry, laments, and place-names of the valley.