The Fellowship of the Fourth Age: A New Beginning Planning Thread

[Child of the 7th Age]

Pio -

Sounds good. I am not a World Cup fan myself but understand it can be quite addictive!

When you do go online tomorrow, could I borrow your knowledge of geography and maps, which has to be better than mine? Am I right in assuming that most of the plantations were in south Núrn near the Sea? Yes, I know it's salt water and not a real source of irrigation, but somehow I pictured them down there. What would be a reasonable direction for the refugees to go if they were aiming for a part of Mordor that would have fewer inhabitants and yet a location where the land would still be arable if proper measures are taken re water conservation, etc. ? My first thought was slightly north.

Would the southern fringes of the Plain of Gorgoroth be arable (the part that is slightly above where the mountains curve in--see pages 92-93 of Fonstad)? This is about 175 miles south of Mount Doom, I think. I have no personal knowledge of volcanos (unlike hurricanes), but from reading about St. Helen's it looks like the worst ash flow extended about 20 miles out from the mountain, the mudflows went out about 35 miles, and major damage was recorded in the rivers as far as 75 miles away. Presumably, Mount Doom is still giving off an occasional puff by the 6th year, 4th Age but nothing worse than that (much like St. Helen's in the 1980s when the dome began to reform).

I am assuming that, once Sauron died, there was a slight improvement in the climate (just as is described with the Shire) and rainfall would have been slightly more plentiful. From what I've read, ash and soot is actually not a bad thing for agriculture since it helps to conserve water.

Is this a realistic location for the new village, or would another work better?

You don't by any chance know of an online map of Mordor/Núrn?

Durelin,

The list looks great! Let me eyeball it further and give my reaction and any ideas later tonight.

[Durelin]

I'm pretty certain from my memory that yes, the most fertile lands were in the area of Nurn, and that, of course, was where the plantations were.

Also, I expect the lava flow made the land around Mt. Doom fertile, unless the mountain is just too evil...or unless Middle-earth's volcanoes don't follow Earth's rules for them.

*runs off until sometime tomorrow...or maybe later tonight*

[Child of the 7th Age]

Hmm.... That was my thought too about the land. Pio is very strong on geography, and I am wondering if she knows something we don't.

I'd very much like to include a Dwarf in the Fellowship. There are two reasons for this: the orginal fellowship had a Dwarf and, perhaps more importantly, someone on the Rohan list has expressed an interest in playing a Dwarf. I'll talk to you about this by pm.

I am trying to think this character issue through.....

For the group sent out by Aragorn, how about 3 Men, 1 Elf, 1 Dwarf, 1 hobbit. It would be good to have that cross representation. These characters would need to reflect some of the skills already listed in the game proposal: stonework, metalwork, military prowess, healing or teaching. I'd be willing to consider a female as healer or teacher (but not the other roles, I think). Is that possible from your angle? I would dearly love to see interaction between a female Orc and a female human, if we include female Orcs in the story.

Regarding the refugees, I guess the first thing I'd want to know is how big the groups of refugees are. I am assuming that the Mannish slave group has to be 35 people or so. Could you really start a village with anything smaller? (Persuade me otherwise if I am wrong.) My gut feeling is to make the Orc group a bit smaller. Orcs seem so physically superior that having a group as large as 35 is a bit intimidating. Maybe 15 Orcs total? (The Orcs could also feel very outnumbered.) These figures were just drawn out of the air so if you think we should go in a very different direction, let me know. Conceivably, you could have a group of 100 ex-slaves! Also 15 Orcs versus 35 Men makes an all-out war unlikely. The nasty Orcs would probably have to resort to subterfuge and ambush rather than head-to-head brute force; this could make things more interesting.

There is obviously no way we are going to have 50 posters playing these Orcs and slaves. I have been in other "migration" stories that assumed a large group moving cross country, but only 10 or 11 major characters. I assume this is the situation we're in. There were times in that story when we had to refer to other characters in a vague way. I am also assuming that would be possible as long as there was a very brief profile put up, and the device wasn't abused.

If we have 10 posters, then we conceivably have a total of 20 characters: everyone does a major and a minor. I would encourage people to do one from each group: Aragorn's group versus everyone else. As far as the "major" characters go, I am leaning towards 2 slaves, 1 ex-slave, and 2 Orcs. So we'd have atotal of 11 major characters, and 11 minor ones. The minor ones would be a mixture of slaves, ex-slaves, and Orcs.

I'll be gone tomorrow morning but online in the afternoon.... I'll keep working on the proposal.

___________________

I am still not 100% sure about my own characters. Let me think about it another day.

[piosenniel]

Just putting this here for reference:

Economic Benefits of Igneous Activity

[Durelin]

I'd be willing to consider a female as healer or teacher (but not the other roles, I think). Is that possible from your angle? I would dearly love to see interaction between a female Orc and a female human, if we include female Orcs in the story.

Yes, I was thinking along the same lines as that. And that would be too fun to pass up.

I am assuming that the Mannish slave group has to be 35 people or so. Could you really start a village with anything smaller? (Persuade me otherwise if I am wrong.)

No persuasion here; I think you're absolutely right. And a smaller Orc group is better on several accounts. One because of their strength, and two because of the likelihood of Orcs doing what they are is still, I imagine, not all that much. I'd say they're a rare bunch of rebels, right?

As for the number of ex-slaves, a large group is definitely conceivable, but perhaps for our purposes we could say that they perhaps took part in the rebellion that was such a disaster, and lost a good chunk of their group (who were either killed or captured and made slaves again)? But then we would have the ex-slaves and slave escapees escaping together, I imagine, instead of the escapees meeting up with the ex-slaves. I don't know; I'm just trying to see if we can keep the numbers small so that the ex-slaves are a realistically smaller presence. Is that necessary, though?

There were times in that story when we had to refer to other characters in a vague way. I am also assuming that would be possible as long as there was a very brief profile put up, and the device wasn't abused.

Would we perhaps allow one or two use (as in they show up in the story once, perhaps fulfilling a simple puprose of one line of dialogue, relaying a message, dying or something) NPCs without the need of brief bios for them? Obviously ones that get more use, and so have a little more character to them than a name, would need to have a bit of information on them.

If we have 10 posters, then we conceivably have a total of 20 characters: everyone does a major and a minor. I would encourage people to do one from each group: Aragorn's group versus everyone else. As far as the "major" characters go, I am leaning towards 2 slaves, 1 ex-slave, and 2 Orcs. So we'd have atotal of 11 major characters, and 11 minor ones. The minor ones would be a mixture of slaves, ex-slaves, and Orcs.

To make this possible, we would need someone to play to major characters? Sorry, I'm just trying to stay on the same page as you. If that is so, I would be fine with doing that, I think (loves playing musical characters).

Really, I think the numbers will work out fine. As long as we have some kind of representation from all the groups, since all the groups will be interacting together, we should be fine. If they groups were split up for a good portion of the game we'd be in bigger trouble.

Thank you so much for the resources, Pio! I'll look at that map and a couple others I have more carefully in a little while, I hopefully be back with something in that area...

[Child of the 7th Age]

Pio,

Thanks for the map!

Durelin,

I am going ahead and transferring the relevent portions of the character list to the proposal.

[Durelin]

Sounds great.

So, for characters needed, if I were to play a Man of Gondor and you were to play Lindir, that would be:

2 Men of Gondor
1 Hobbit
1 Dwarf

and

1 Ex-slave
2 Slave escapees
2 "Rebel" Orcs

Right? *wants to make sure*

[piosenniel]

Originally Posted by Durelin

I'm pretty certain from my memory that yes, the most fertile lands were in the area of Nurn, and that, of course, was where the plantations were.

Also, I expect the lava flow made the land around Mt. Doom fertile, unless the mountain is just too evil...or unless Middle-earth's volcanoes don't follow Earth's rules for them.

*runs off until sometime tomorrow...or maybe later tonight*

It was the areas around the Sea of Nurnen that were fertile - after years of breaking down, volcanic ash is good for the soil and the four rivers that empty into the inland sea would provide the necessary source of water for irrigating the crops.

The land around the volcano might also be fertile - but there would need to be some sytem put in place to bring water in for irrigation.

[Child of the 7th Age]

The land around the volcano might also be fertile - but there would need to be some sytem put in place to bring water in for irrigation.

That raises some interesting possibilities, especially if there has at least been a slight increase in rainfall.

_______________________

The historical section on Orcs is up....and I am working on the draft of the first post of the game.

[Child of the 7th Age]

One more Orc issue that needs ironing out.....are these the kind of Orcs that prefer night and are blinded by the light of the sun? Or are they the Uruk-hai?

[piosenniel]

Durelin

This needs to be filled out for the proposal form:


Durelin's major character

NAME:

AGE:

RACE:

GENDER:

WEAPONS (No magical, super-hero, mithril weapons. Just good solid Middle-earth weapons and armor only that is appropriate to the race of the character and the time period.):

APPEARANCE:

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: (No half-Elven characters. No mixed-type characters. No super-heroes. No assassins. No one all powerful, martial arts proficient, or having any magical traits. Just regular characters with normal abilities for their races only):

HISTORY:


---------------


Durelin's post


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Durelin's MINOR character description VERY BRIEF/NO POST NEEDED

NAME:

AGE:

RACE:

GENDER:

WEAPONS (No magical, super-hero, mithril weapons. Just good solid Middle-earth weapons and armor only that is appropriate to the race of the character and the time period.):

APPEARANCE:

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: (No half-Elven characters. No mixed-type characters. No super-heroes. No assassins. No one all powerful, martial arts proficient, or having any magical traits. Just regular characters with normal abilities for their races only):

HISTORY:

[Durelin]

Looks great!

I was wondering: would it be kind of *off* for me to play an Ex-slave as my Major Character? It would be taking the only Major Character of that type, and it would mean I wouldn't have a Major character among the Gondorians...

Or, I can make it simple and just have my minor character be more of a major character.

So, just put me down for an Ex-slave minor character please. I've started working on my bios, so hopefully I'll have something very soon.

Unfortunately, I will be gone pretty much all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (I might be able to get online on Sunday).

I was wondering, Child: What will your first post for the game cover? Because I was thinking that perhaps, if you were going to cover the stuff going on and Gondor, that I could write a post that would cover the stuff going on in Mordor (or vice-versa).

And that brings up another question: We are starting the game with the group from Gondor already hooked up with the Mordor group, right? Would the first post(s) be prologue-like, then, at least covering the Gondor group's being sent out and journey to Mordor?

That raises some interesting possibilities, especially if there has at least been a slight increase in rainfall.

Might are final destination change? I can only imagine an irrigation system and man-orc colony at the foot of Mt. Doom... Would enough time have passed for the land to become very fertile, though? *shrugs* Worth looking at, I suppose.

One more Orc issue that needs ironing out.....are these the kind of Orcs that prefer night and are blinded by the light of the sun? Or are they the Uruk-hai?

Hmm...good question. I suppose the Orcs had to adapt to a new lifestyle once Sauron was destroyed, or does Sauron's darkness still linger there? It was dark there most of the time, wasn't it? And imagine it would at least be hazy from all the ash in the sky from the eruption of Mt. Doom. Hmmm... I'll have to come back to that one.

Have to head off pretty soon; I'll be back when I can.