Treachery of Men Discussion/Planning Thread

[Anguirel]

Right. I thought there'd be a bit of annoyance at lack of female swashbuckling. I didn't put it very well.

When the men march off, the women can probably follow them to the camp in East Beleriand before bidding them farewell. (Thuringwethil maybe among the said women!) After that, we cut to the epilogue, where there'll be plenty to describe - how they coped if their husbands were killed, their grim new life in the confines of Hithlum where Morgoth resettled them, who and if they married if they started single, all up to you.

I honestly think playing a female Ulfing is going to be more rewarding than it looks. It's like I said, War and Peace, War and Peace. Natasha didn't wield a sword! Neither did Anna Karenina or Elizabeth Bennet or Becky Sharp. But does it make them less great characters?

If you're still uncertain, perhaps you'd like to play a male and a female Ulfing, as pio is doing.

EDIT: pio, yes, do put Kath on the thread as another of the Borrim. We can always take her off if she has second thoughts.

[Kath]

Uh, thanks pio, and yes I would like to join, I just wanted to get an idea of what the Borrim were first.

Ang, one last question (well for now, there will probably be more). The Borrim march to war even knowing, or at least suspecting, about this plot?

EDIT: Thought of another one already. Do the Borrim have families with them? Or are they still living in the north?

[Anguirel]

Yep, the Borrim suspect something, but aren't believed.

About their families...most of you Borrim are just hunters coming down from the north because the hunting is more plentiful in the south. Child of the 7th Age and Lalaith though have decided to play an envoy from Bor to Ulfang and the envoy's wife, settling matters between the two tribes.

So, in short, usually Borrim characters should be on their own without families but I have allowed an exception for Child and Lalaith.

Again leaving apart that exception, I'd rather Borrim characters were male.

[Kath]

That's fine, just wondered.

But even if they aren't believed why would they march? Just because no one else will take their word for it wouldn't mean they distrust themselves.

[Anguirel]

Well, their attitude isn't "The Ulfings are probably going to be treacherous, therefore we're going to lose the battle, therefore we're all going to die, therefore we should stay away."

Instead, they heroically think

"The Ulfings are probably going to be treacherous, so our lords Maedhros and Maglor are in trouble, so we've got to be there to protect them."

Sam distrusts Gollum, but he still goes with him to protect Frodo. It's that kind of idea.

[Kath]

Ahhh! Yes that makes sense, cheers Ang.

[Dimturiel]

I 'm sorry not to have posted earlier, I've had quite a busy week. Anyway here is my character:

Linked ~*~ Pio

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Dimturiel's character

NAME:Tora

AGE:19

RACE:man

GENDER:female

WEAPONS: She carries a knife, for none knows what may happen in these hard times, but she has never used it so far.

APPEARANCE: She is short and rather stoutly built. Her long dark hair is brown and tangled. She usually wears it loose, although she sometimes ties it in a plait. Usually she wears a brown woolen dress, but she also has a more elegant blue one for special occasions. She seldom smiles and has a rather preocupied expresion.

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: She has a very realistic view of her people's situation. She knows life is hard, and she does not waste her time dreaming about how it would be, were it to improve. She knows there is little hope in that. She is hard working,and quite intelligent. She is always ready to help those that need her. She tends to be harsh sometimes.

HISTORY: She is the middle child of a family of four others and the only daughter. She has an older brother, aged 22, who has now a family of his own, and two younger ones, one of 12 years of age, the other of five. Her father owns a small farm. Her family is not too wealthy, but has enough to survive. Her father thinks of marrying her to the son of a more prosperous farmer, but she is not too happy about this. There had been a young man of her age whom she had liked, but he was killed two years before by a wild beast.


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Dimturiel's post

The morning dawned clear and cold. it was a typical spring morning as many others had been before it. Tora was walking through the village. She did not have much to do that morning, so she had decided to go for a walk. She loved being out in the cool spring air, alone with her thoughts. There was little time for thinking when she had two younger brothers to take care of, not to mention her elder brother, who required her help with his small child. She usually spent the time working. yet she did not complain. She usually prefered to have something to keep her busy.

Tora found a spot that was warmed by the morning sun, and sat down on the grass. She looked around thoughtfully. Memories linked her to that place, memories of feelings that she had found hard to understand then. Yet they had ended, as abruptly as they had started. But what could she do about it? It had not been her fault, nor his. If anyone was to blame, it was fate. How convenient, she thought, that the notion of a power greater than themselves existed. It was so easy to blame their troubles on it, and to think that things could not be better, simply because that power did not want them to be. It made people feel better, comforted even, in a strangve sort of way.

So her lover had been dead for over two years now, and her father was now planning to give her to someone else, someone she had never spoken to before. What was the use of complaining about that? It would not have changed the situation. It would not have turned back time. And she was sure she was not the only person in the world to whom such things had happened. That had been plenty of others that had lived the same tale that she had. Yet the world had not ciesed moving because of them. Life and time had gone on, ignoring such happenings, that seemed of little concern to those who were not involved in them.

Tora got up abruptly. She had better return home, she thought. Her mother might need her. And so, she turned her back to her past, and retraced her steps to the village.





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