Thank you! :D You're raising a very good point about Dorwinion being a Mannish Kingdom (especially since the pre-Hadorians and Bëornings also settled in the area before continuing their westward journey), but to be entirely honest it hadn't even crossed my mind even before reading Rateliff's compilation of info in the first part of History of the Hobbit (including a note from Parma Eldalamberon 17 that mentions a Nandorin or Avarin population), so that's more of a wildly indulgent moment rather than sound logic or canon. [ETA: Except I just found a relevant bit in the Hobbit that I thought I had imagined, about Thranduil's barrel-trade:
"There stood barrels, and barrels, and barrels; for the Wood-elves, and especially their king, were very fond of wine, though no vines grew in those parts. The wine, and other goods, were brought from far away, from their kinsfolk in the South, or from the vineyards of Men in distant lands."
Kinsfolk to me implies Elves, and likely of (at least) the Telerin type, though the vineyards make it sound like Dorwinion might in fact have been a Mannish kingdom, so either interpretation could work, reall. /ETA]
This is a later incarnation of some of the religious beliefs that you sketched out at Cuivienen?
It is! It's something else that I'm going to go into in The Beautiful Ones, at least insofar that that fic allows the scope to explore - where it doesn't, I expect I'll write oneshoots starting from the sidelines of the same period. :D
And the Queens are Priestesses--is being a Queen a job for life in Dorwinion?
This is the thing I'm still uncertain about, because the potential is there - but I know there has been a succession of ruling queens, and given the beginning of some traditions I established in TBO, I don't think it's a job for life. I have an idea of what happens to the ones who abdicate rather than fall in battle (or come to other unfortunate ends), but it's one I don't want to give away yet!
Also, are you saying that Dorwinion was allied with the Wainriders who fought against Gondor (although they seem opposed to Mordor?)
I am! :D There are some obscure notes regarding the Blue Wizards that there are some peoples opposing Sauron, so it doesn't strike me as impossible to ally against him, especially since he seems to have treated the Easterlings and Haradrim as fairly expendable cannon-fodder since the rise of Gondor and subsequent Sauron-motivated battles that were, for the most part, lost. It'd breed resentment. (I also like the idea that, since the Wainriders are a confederacy, there are factions that will break away more easily). The southern part of (my) Dorwinion also was lost as part of Gondor from Hyarmendacil at TA 1050 until Narmacil lost the lands east of the Anduin and fell in battle against the Wainriders in TA 1856. That's Vinkhtinsi's daughter mentioned in the fic, taking revenge for her father and regaining the lands, I like to think (and Baraneth's history is a bit off, it turns out, but that's my fault rather than hers). Which is to say, these aren't 'evil' Wainriders so far as not caring to have Gondor up in their business, although undoubtedly there were alliances with less savoury forces as well, and western historiography grouped them all as Sauron-worshippers by hostility and general area as much as Thingol regarded the Mithrim in alliance with Morgoth purely for living in close proximity to Angband.
... and that probably doesn't help a lot, but feel free to ask away. I love nattering about worldbuilding!
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"There stood barrels, and barrels, and barrels; for the Wood-elves, and especially their king, were very fond of wine, though no vines grew in those parts. The wine, and other goods, were brought from far away, from their kinsfolk in the South, or from the vineyards of Men in distant lands."
Kinsfolk to me implies Elves, and likely of (at least) the Telerin type, though the vineyards make it sound like Dorwinion might in fact have been a Mannish kingdom, so either interpretation could work, reall. /ETA]
This is a later incarnation of some of the religious beliefs that you sketched out at Cuivienen?
It is! It's something else that I'm going to go into in The Beautiful Ones, at least insofar that that fic allows the scope to explore - where it doesn't, I expect I'll write oneshoots starting from the sidelines of the same period. :D
And the Queens are Priestesses--is being a Queen a job for life in Dorwinion?
This is the thing I'm still uncertain about, because the potential is there - but I know there has been a succession of ruling queens, and given the beginning of some traditions I established in TBO, I don't think it's a job for life. I have an idea of what happens to the ones who abdicate rather than fall in battle (or come to other unfortunate ends), but it's one I don't want to give away yet!
Also, are you saying that Dorwinion was allied with the Wainriders who fought against Gondor (although they seem opposed to Mordor?)
I am! :D There are some obscure notes regarding the Blue Wizards that there are some peoples opposing Sauron, so it doesn't strike me as impossible to ally against him, especially since he seems to have treated the Easterlings and Haradrim as fairly expendable cannon-fodder since the rise of Gondor and subsequent Sauron-motivated battles that were, for the most part, lost. It'd breed resentment. (I also like the idea that, since the Wainriders are a confederacy, there are factions that will break away more easily). The southern part of (my) Dorwinion also was lost as part of Gondor from Hyarmendacil at TA 1050 until Narmacil lost the lands east of the Anduin and fell in battle against the Wainriders in TA 1856. That's Vinkhtinsi's daughter mentioned in the fic, taking revenge for her father and regaining the lands, I like to think (and Baraneth's history is a bit off, it turns out, but that's my fault rather than hers). Which is to say, these aren't 'evil' Wainriders so far as not caring to have Gondor up in their business, although undoubtedly there were alliances with less savoury forces as well, and western historiography grouped them all as Sauron-worshippers by hostility and general area as much as Thingol regarded the Mithrim in alliance with Morgoth purely for living in close proximity to Angband.
... and that probably doesn't help a lot, but feel free to ask away. I love nattering about worldbuilding!