Prisoner of Númenor Planning/Discussion Thread

[Himaran]

Bio For Himaran's Character: Comments, necessary changes? Let me know!

POSTED TO THE PROPOSAL - IF YOU EDIT IT, PLEASE PM ME THAT YOU HAVE DONE SO ~*~ PIO

NAME: Abârzadan Batânzâira, Of Strong House Longing of Travel, Turmeawa Mélatrevad

AGE: 43

RACE: Númenórean

GENDER: Male

WEAPONS:

Abârzadan carries a longbow and a few arrows, customary of Númenóreans, but they are not the tools that he wields most smoothly. His favorite weapon is the large, double-bladed axe that he carries comfortably over one shoulder; an heirloom of his father.

APPEARANCE:

Abârzadan is six foot, four inches tall. He has shoulder-length, dark-brown hair, and large blue eyes. The man has a strong frame, large hands -- scarred from hours of axe-practice with his late father, and a slightly mishapen lower lip (which he is chews on frequently). He walks with a partial swagger, much practiced, in order to seem a swashbuckler. Abârzadan's fingers display several rings set with precious gems, adding to his already prominent air of importance; although he despises the look of "cleanliness" and usually keeps his hair greasy and ruffled. Always he seeks to appear as a rich, experienced and road-weary warrior; a tough combination to apply.


PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES:

As a general rule, Abârzadan is haughty and bold; a product of his heritage. His father taught him that only great warriors deserve respect, and even then only those "above" his family's prominent status. The man laughs loudly, and argues frequently, but will rarely become involved in an actual fight: for such matters are "below" him. He does, however, have a kind heart -- despite his father's belief that those poorer than him are unworthy of recognition, Abârzadan is generally touched by the sight of poverty, and will give freely; especially if another important figure is watching him.


HISTORY:

The House of Batânzâira was indeed a great power, but its influence has slowly slipped away. In reality, few among the Faithful have even heard of such a thing. In its days of greatness, it served proudly under Ar-Pharazôn, but as the king himself fell under the influence of the cult of Melkor, Batânzâira too was diminished. Abârzadan's father was one of the last to stand beside Ar-Pharazôn, cautiously counseling him to stray from the dark one's designs. When Sauron discovered his disloyalty, Abâranâ was forced to flee, leaving all his possessions and relations except for his son. Together they journeyed through Númenor in secrecy, at last arriving in the land controlled by the Faithful. To his death Abâranâ never trusted them, believing that he was living among traitors and criminals.

Abârzadan thus was forced to live among the Faithful after a long and pleasent childhood elsewhere, with his father isolated in their large home. (It should be noted that Abâranâ brought both his son and his fortune along.) He learned the ways of a warrior, and often strayed from the designated territory of the Faithful. He still thought that Ar-Pharazôn was not to blame, but that his father had ruined their life in Númenor. One day, he hopes to return there, and attempt to rebuild the dynasty of Batânzâira.

Shortly before his death, Abâranâ made his son swear a strange oath; that he would never marry until after he had proven himself in battle. Also, he implored Abârzadan to only become betrothed to a Númenorean woman, and not to an "Outcast." The man took both these things to heart, and seeks to accomplish both in the same feat. He has waited for several years to fulfill his promise, and now a chance has arrived...

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

Himaran - nice bio, interesting character. He'll add a lot of tension to the situation. However, few questions:

What influenced your character to carry a sword and not a bow against his national and racial opinions? He seems pretty proud to be a Numenorean otherwise.

Why would he be with us if he's not one of the Faithful and doesn't even like us? What has prevented him from giving us away, because we're in hiding? Why would we trust him? Or are we going to take him with us against our will?

He seems a little young to be deferring marriage. Perhaps he's a little older? Or he has some other good reason to be thinking of marriage early?


Just questions

Sophia

[Himaran]

Good questions, all.


1. Abarzadan's father always believed that it was more honorable to fight in person than at a distance, and thus his son adheres to this.

2. Excellent question, which I will try to explain better in my first post. Basically, Abarzadan's father lived in isolation with the Faithful, and thus no one ever really knew about him or his beliefs. Abarzadan himself does not Distrust the Faithful, but he still feels attached to his Numenorean ancestry. Members of the group are not likely to know of his background... they consider him one of them. Only Abarzadan knows his true feelings. Perhaps, as the story develops, he will realize that Numenor has indeed gone ary.

3. Not sure what typical marrying ages are in Numenor... if you think I should bump it up a decade or so, I can alert Pio and have her edit it.

Thanks for the feedback,
--Himaran

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

My roommate's turning 21 this weekend, so we're going out of town to do some minor partying. I will likely make it on sometime tomorrow and sometime Sunday, but there's a possibility I'll be...inaccessible.

In the meantime, anyone who wants to finish bios and posts while I'm gone is more than welcome to do so (Hint, hint, hint...).

Sophia

PS- one more comment, Himaran, it might be good to alter your bio to say that Melkor isn't finding out about your character's family's disloyalty, as Melkor isn't in Numenor. Sauron could find out, and yes, he is teaching the Numenoreans to worship Melkor... but Melkor can't so much do anything, in the words of a dear friend of mine: "considering he got banished from the world."

S.

[littlemanpoet]

Now that my bio and first post are up, I have a question. Allow me to frame it first.

For the first segment of this rp, Abarpa (for short) is going to be separated from the rest of the group. In the remainder (assuming his rescue), he will be able to interact with the others in the group.

Question: what kinds of things do you envision Abarpa experiencing (me posting about) during the first segment? Imprisonment jumps readily to mind, as well as a kangaroo court (though I doubt there are any such marsupials in Númenor!), and interrogations, as well as Abarpa demanding to know the condition and whereabouts of Lômi. What else? Torture? If so, what kind? Preparation for sacrifice in Sauron's temple? I had assumed this rp might lead there; if so, how close to the knife's edge and burning faggots shall we go?

One more thing. I envision Abarpa, being brought to the edge of what he will/can endure at the hands of the King's Men, will renounce Adúnaic as cursed of the Valar, and will rename himself and his Kariborim in Sindarin, and will be determined that his daughter and all those who associate with her and himself, be named accordingly. He will be quite intractable about this. Could lead to some fun conflict with certain of the other rp-ers, eh?

[TomBrady12]

As for torture, what would be harder on Abarpa than the torture of his beloved Lomi? Unfortunaltly PETA might get involved and shut down the whole website.

Interrogations...maybe George Clooney in Oceans 11esque, or maybe Abarpa shares a cell with...well I had better not go there

And who's to say there weren't an abundance of Marsupials pleasantly strolling Numenor? What kind of gift would a land devoid of friendly Koalas and wombats be anyway?

wow...plenty of helpful ideas in this post


TB12-GO PATS

[Meneltarmacil]

POSTED TO PROPOSAL-- IF YOU EDIT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ~*~ PIO~*~

NAME: Adûnaic: Sakaladûn -- Elven: Thoronmir

AGE: 117

RACE: Numenorean

GENDER: Male

WEAPONS: A long sword forged by master smiths, as well as a Númenórean steelbow, also has chainmail with a steel breastplate and helmet for use in war (Hey, it pays to have had the right connections at one point!)

APPEARANCE: Rather tall, has almost jet-black hair and dark blue eyes, wears mainly blue and white

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Strong-minded and very skeptical at this point. Believes in playing by the rules.

HISTORY: Born into an influential family in Romenna during Tar-Palantir's reign, Sakaladûn operated for quite a while as the king's emissary to the elves of Lindon under Gil-Galad, where he was given the elven name of Thoronmir. However, he was promptly removed from this position when Ar-Pharazôn came to power in 3255 and started to undo much of the unity between the two races that Tar-Palantir had built. Sakaladûn's life would not be completely ruined by this, as he later became an officer in Ar-Pharazôn's army in the colonies of Middle-Earth, where he eventually became one of the top commanders in the colonial forces. During this time, he married Firiel, a woman from Pelargir, eventually having a son and two daughters.

Sakaladûn was appointed to Ar-Pharazôn's ruling council in 3262 due to his aid in overthrowing Sauron. Sakaladûn, however, was not pleased with the king's decision to take Sauron back to Numenor as a prisoner, believing that the Dark Lord should have been destroyed rather than kept alive due to his evil and corruptive nature. Ar-Pharazôn, however, ignored Sakaladûn's recommendation. During the years of Sauron's captivity in Numenor, Sakaladûn's suspicion continued to rise, and he spoke in secret with Elendil about the strange patterns he had noticed in the Council. Sakaladûn opposed many of the changes in Numenor during the years he was on the council, though the majority of the coucil members never paid much attention to his "strange notions". He ran into the strongest opposition from Herugor, the second most powerful man in Numenor and the one he suspected had been learning all kinds of evil things from Sauron. After Sakaladûn flat out refused to have anything to do with an assault on Valinor, first proposed in 3299 and actually started eleven years later, Herugor, probably following instructions from Sauron, made up a number of false accusations about Sakaladûn forming a conspiracy and taking the throne for himself. Herugor then presented these charges before the king, who fired Sakaladûn from his post and had him arrested. Sakaladûn, however, went into hiding and was never found. He now lives among the Faithful, where he goes by the name of Thoronmir full-time. His wife and children have been sent to Lindon, the safest place there is for those of the Faithful at this time, while Sakaladûn/Thoronmir is still in Numenor aiding the Faithful.

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littlemanpoet should understand who the mysterious "Herugor" is from an earlier RPG, in which his name was revealed as that of the Mouth of Sauron. I thought this would be a natural place to introduce him as the man he used to be.