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Old 06-19-2006, 09:20 AM   #56
Durelin
Estelo dagnir, Melo ring
 
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Join Date: Oct 2002
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Durelin is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Durelin is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Hmmm...guinea pigs?

Yes, we only talked about Men as slaves, but if someone really wanted to play an Elf, I'd be fine with that, too. I just think we have every reason to believe that there would be considerably more slaves that were Men than there would ones that were Elves.

Okay, to this from Nogrod,

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nogrod
I have a question though. Will there be any general narration concerning the background of the situation the slaves and the orcs are in? I mean something more specific than is in #2 at the planning thread? Or will there be something like "the general guidelines for players" giving a more detailed description of the overall situation concerning at least:
- who the slaves were (what culture or "race"), were they all born to slavery or were they also "fresher" captivities?
- how they lived before the mutiny and how did their physical environment look like?
- how did the slaves break free, how many they were?
- the same things concerning the orcs?

If I try to think about my bios & first posts, I would like to know how much do I have to / I am allowed to invent these background things. Some more particular guidelines to the past & the surroundings would help to avoid different players from contradicting each other in their preliminary posting.
Personally, I say this: invent! I've found that's a huge part of RPing, actually...and I enjoy it. But here, we can answer a few things:

The slaves are of course a mix of cultures. They are most likely all Men, though as Child and I have just said we would be fine with allowing someone to play an Elf if they really desired it. They could either be born into slavery or were captured. Most of the older ones were probably captured before the defeat of Sauron. Right following the defeat of Sauron, I expect a number of slaves might have escaped in the chaos. The plantations would be things vied over, and plantation owners would rise up as *powerful.* Many slaves were probably recaptured after more plantations were established/reestablished. Younger slaves were likely born into slavery, though I suppose it is quite possible that some new ones be captured.

As for how they lived: well, I think we're going with adding a lot of the worst facts about slavery in the *real world* together and calling that their situation. Cruelty is very likely, but remember that slaves are also going to be a bit of a valuable commodity, so they can't maim them all to the point that they not be able to work and/or die. As for their environment...I suppose we all have to use out imagination. They will be working in Nurn, but we can only speculate as to what it looks like there. All we know is that there actually was a Sea right there, and the land was much more fertile than other land in Mordor. I assume then that it would be a little grassy, though rainfall isn't all that constant, so mostly brown, dry, crispy grass, I suppose. And the land would be mostly flat.

On a rather large plantation, slaves planned to rebel against their Master. As is found in Child's first post for the game, Aragorn declared that Nurn belonged to the slaves. I imagine it would take a couple years or so for that word to spread, but once that had happened, wouldn't the knowledge that you were meant to own the land you were forced to work on drive you to rebellion? 50-some of the slaves managed to escape from the plantation, and headed toward the mountains.

The Orcs are perhaps a group on a plantation, workers for the Master (who perhaps is a Man), who are most likely sick of the conditions. Farming probably is not the greatest there at all; water is fairly scarce; and the use of slaves is not helping the situation. Maybe their Master doesn't even *pay* them enough, though I'm not even sure what he'd be paying them with (you could come up with something really...interesting). The male Orcs, the workers (or maybe female Orcs, too), have families, and they want better for themselves and their families.

It's also possible that some Orcs were made slaves, I suppose, but I think that the Orcs are still at the top of society, even though some Men have perhaps risen to higher levels, as plantation owners. The Orcs would give up on the system, essentially. They'd strike out to live a better life, and would eye the same place that the slave group would eye as a destination.

I am currently working on a post that will outline basically what's going on with the slaves. I still have to figure out how I'll fit the Orcs in there exactly (haven't gotten to them yet), but I will...somehow... I will not be getting into the situation in any great detail, though. I'm just that into people making stuff up. I don't like roleplaying losing all of its spontaneity.

Please let me know, Child, if anything I have said in response to Nogrod's questions is not what you had in mind.

And now...I have more questions (*screams in horror* not more!!), some that I had been thinking about:

Question concerning the slave escapees number: In my post (which is almost complete), I messed with numbers just a teeny bit. I just said that a little more than 50 slaves escaped initially, but only 50 survived to the mountains. Does that sound alright?

Question concerning Orc society: were females, as with humans and Elves and such, typically physically *weaker* than men? Did Orc society place females in non-'warrior' roles? Were Orc females often workers, or were they more stay-at-home moms and the like? It might be interesting if there was hardly a difference between Orc men and Orc women and so hardly a difference in society. Also be rather amusing in cases, I think.

Okay, I know there were other things I probably needed to address, but that's all from me for now. Please throw those questions at me again if you'd like. I'll try and find those that I missed...

Oh, also let me know if any of my thoughts here are fragmented. It's very possible; I skipped around a little, and I didn't wake up too long ago...

Last edited by Durelin; 06-19-2006 at 09:50 AM.
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