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ISENGARD
Men of Isengard still are unaware
such creatures are kept in great pens
underneath the ground.
The Warg-pens are large, roughly
circular dome-shaped caverns, each of
which holds many dozens of beasts.
They live in the same packs they
knew before they answered Saruman’s
call, and are not confined with gate or
chain. Although the Wargs allow Orcs
to ride them, Saruman has allowed
the Wargs of Isengard to retain
autonomy from them, decreeing only
that they must bow to Radlúk the
Beast-master (see page 77). Radlúk
lives in a small cave in the north-most
pen’s wall near the Orc-warrens.
Wargs are not the only beasts kept
in the underground pens. Other dark
creatures that might make Men nervous
are also housed here and cared
for by the Orcs: wolves, great-tusked
boars, snakes, and other creatures
less easily named. These are all kept
behind fences and bars, for they are
not intelligent, as Wargs are. The
pens are also home to great clouds
of bats. Although bats can be found
throughout Isengard’s underground,
the high ceilings of the pen-chambers
are where the majority congregate,
and their chirps and squeaks fill the
day and night.
CresCent fall
The Crescent Lake’s waters drain
from the basin slowly, carried away
underground in small rivulets and
streams. But at one point in the rock
beneath the lake, a shelf onto which
some of these waters ran collapsed
some centuries ago, and now a sheer
drop exists between the remains of
that shelf and the cavern floor below
it. This is known as the Crescent
Fall, for the water pours down in
a smooth sheet, seeming like a silk
banner, so evenly are the waters
spread. At the base of the Fall, the
stone has been carved into a wide,
shallow basin, and here the water
pools before continuing its journey.
The Orcs casts nets here, for fish
from the lake above are often caught
up in the pull of the waters, and
dragged below ground.
spawning tunnels
In the tightly twisting Spawning
Tunnels of Orthanc, Saruman carries
out a program of breeding in imitation
of his dark master, mixing together
Orcs, Men, Uruks, and even the
spawn of earlier experiments, to create
a wide variety of creatures to carry
out his bidding. Lughúr, Saruman’s
Breeding Master (see page 77), always
accompanies the Wizard when he
enters these tunnels, and the pair are
also frequently followed by Uruk-hai
carrying forms wrapped in cloaks and
bound with chains. Throughout the
Spawning Tunnels, dozens if not hundreds
of small alcoves protect filthy,
moist breeding pits, each a motley
stew of filth whose ingredients include
the ground and pulverised bodies of
Men and Orcs alike. From these pits
spring full-grown Orcs, Half-orcs,
and Uruks; see ‘Quicken Orc-spawn’
on pages 73–4 for more information
on this process.
Saruman has experimented with
many different ingredients and proportions.
From each a different subbreed
of Half-orc is created, from
those who look nearly identical to
Men to those Saruman calls his own
Uruk-hai in imitation of Sauron’s bred
Orc-race. The speed with which new
creatures can be bred varies between
a week and full year based on many
variables that Saruman himself sometimes
is at a loss to explain. Even
alcoves seeded with identical ‘stew’ can
vary many months in the time it takes
them to ripen fully.
The Spawning Tunnels are a
true labyrinth, and only Saruman,
Lughúr, and his assistants know
their twisting ways. Unlike the Orcwarrens,
it is impossible to enter the
Spawning Tunnels without passing
through one of a series of doors of
wood and iron, the keys to which are
held only by Saruman and Lughúr.
Lughúr keeps his personal chambers
within the Spawning Tunnels,
though none of the Orcs who work
under his supervision have ever been
able to find them.
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