Ormazhul

This clan was descended from the great clans of the First House of Durin. Durin I led his folk to found the realm of Khazad-dum and it was during the time of this founding that many clans came to prominence. As the wealth of the realm grew over the centuries and into the Second Age, and trade flourished with the elves of Eregion, so too came the opportunities for this clan's members. For over eight generations, it was the exclusive birthright of this clan to hold the post of High Ambassador to Ost-in-Edhil, where they resided in Galadriel's court of old. Many an ambitious merchant hailed from the Ormazhul line, who sought to find markets for the wares of their folk. Often it was commented that members of this clan held a gift for foreign tongues and the patience to deal with them. Thus their fortunes continued to ascend as outsiders eager to acquaint themselves with the might of our people in those days grew steadily. In the long years after the fall of Eregion and well into the Third Age, the line of Kings of Khazad-dum decreed that few of our folk would leave our realm out of concern for the safety of our people. However, most of those who did leave under the King's approval were of this clan.

In the North of Arnor, Ormazhul ambassadors served first at the courts in Annuminas and later in Fornost Erain. Though it is not recorded in the Mannish texts, at the Battle of Fornost (T.A. 1974) when the capital was beseiged by the Witch-King, a small company of our folk under the command of Mahlin of Ormazhul took part. Though Mahlin himself was overcome in the battle in which Fornost was lost, a small part of that company was able to successfully avoid capture and returned to Khazad-dum to speak of the dark tale. Only six years later our folk were forced to flee our ancestral home when the Demon that is marked Durin's Bane struck from our Deeps. With King Thrain I, this clan and the survivors of Durin's folk wandered the lands until they resettled in Erebor. While in the years that followed many of Durin's folk moved north to colonies established in the Ered Mithrin, the clan leaders of Ormazhul always held to residing with their King and so they stayed in Erebor as its numbers dwindled. Merchants and Ambassadors regularly dwelt in Dale among the mannish folk there and its lucrative markets. Only when King Thorin I moved north in 2210 did they too set forth with him. This by our folks' records did not last long, as the dragons came and plundered our holds of the north. Clan elder Ulduri, under the express wishes of Gror, followed the young Prince back to the Iron Hills to aid in settling that realm and so we have remained here ever since.