Posted: November 10, 1999 at 14:15:59: by David Freitag
It makes sense, that you'd need a population of a few thousands to support a band of a few hundred armed men on permanent patrol. So where are they?
A term I've seen in both Roman and Chinese dynastic history is "military colony:" the practice of settling a community of armed men and their dependents near a frontier they are to defend. They are to operate with as little support as possible from the imperial state: grow their own food, do their own blacksmithing and so forth. They'd do the things peasants do, but were not peasants (though they may have been drawn from the peasantry or from "allied" tribes), because of military obligations like training and patrolling.
This might provide a model for the Dunedain. There, of course, was no frontier, in the sense of a line or zone between settled lands/imperial and wilderness/ barbarian lands. All of Eriador (save for the Shire and Bree) was wilderness. Actually this was an advantage, the Dunedain had the freedom to situate their fastnesses in hidden rather than exposed places. No need to huddle just beyond the Great Wall.
Where? Hard to tell. We'd need more detailed topography, but surely there were many hidden valleys or plateaus with difficult access. The Duneain would be skilled at concealment: little smoke, small, scattered fields and dwellings that blend with the landscape.
Since they'd need optimum yield so as to free up as many as possible for Rangering, I'd guess they'd be more to the south and west, or in some favored location close to Eregion, which seems to be a fertile area. Maybe several scattered settlements, arrangerd in a pattern so as to support/alert one another. They'd have to be near enough to htreats (Misty Mountains, Ettenmoors) so as to respond quickly, but to the side of natural invasion routes, in natural "cul-de-sacs" of some sort.
If they need a safe zone, possibly someplace in Lindon, if the Elves would be agreeable. Lindon seems big enough, and distant enough from threats.
For sentimental reasons, there might be some settlements near Lake Evendim or Fornost, but these are too far north for optimum crop yield, they wouldn't be main centers.
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