Summary[]
The most famous and grand of the cities of the Northmen in the late Third Age, Dale was built at the foot of the Lonely Mountain, Erebor, one of the great Dwarfholds. The city of Dale was later destroyed due to the coming of Smaug, and was resettled after his death to Thorin's Company by survivors from Esgaroth (Lake-Town).
History[]
Echoing the first alliance of Dwarves and Northmen, the old city of Dale had been founded by Northmen refugees alongside Erebor soon after the War of the Dwarves and Dragons, wherein Erebor was first taken and settled by the Dwarves. In the shadow of the mountain, they grew rich and felt as safe as one could be in the Third Age.
This was not to last, unfortunately, as the wealth of the twin cities or Erebor and Dale brought in the truest manifestation of greed, Smaug, and his desolation was wrought upon the hills and dells of the land. Erebor was lost and Dale destroyed, refugees flooding south along the Celduin, the River Running, until they reached the Long Lake and the ruins of the original city of Esgaroth, long abandoned.
Upon the lake they built a new Esgaroth, Lake-Town, built upon pillars of wood driven into the bottom of the lake to hold a city on the water, hoping it would keep them safe from Smaug, a hypothesis later disproven. Esgaroth, while not rich, prospered well enough off of the trade with the Wood Elves, and likely acted as middlemen in the wine trade with Dorwinion.
Many years later, a company of thirteen dwarves and a rather out of place hobbit came to Esgaroth and found Bard, last descendant of Girion, the final lord of Dale. They left the town and stirred Smaug, their attempts to battle him driving him out to destroy the Lake-men, whereupon Bard slew the beast with a black arrow, finishing the work of Girion. The Lake-men, refugees once again, banded around Bard and marched north to find refuge in Erebor, where they were turned away and later participated in the Battle of Five Armies.
After the battle, these men rebuilt Dale and Lake-Town, forming the City-Kingdom and raising Bard as their King, for which they would often be known as the Bardings, renowned for their skill with the bow, and once again allying and trading with the restored Kingdom of Erebor.
Aesthetics and Weaponry[]
The Dalishmen have an almost medieval-renaissance Italian style of architecture, with light stone and colourful roofs, but their people are very much inspired by the Norse, with chain and spangenhelms. Their greatest weapon is the Dalish Longbow, for which the Bardings are well known for their use of, following the tradition of Bard's slaying of the Dragon with an arrow. They do not have the cavalry focus of the southern Northmen groups, but their forces are still well armed and professional, with a pleasing blue for their tabards.