Scarburg Meadhall Discussion Thread

[littlemanpoet]

So yeah, I have five characters, and here I am getting ready to leave the Barrowdowns. Eodwine will be carried as a non-player character, and I personally find the other four to be engaging and fun to write, especially Rowenna, truth be told. But what will happen to them when I'm gone? Well, that's all of your business, I guess.

[Eönwë]

OK, I'll join.

And would like to ask if this character is allowed, if so, then I will play him:

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NAME: Daghan-Turi-Dan (even though everone just calls him Dan)

AGE/GENDER/RACE/WHERE FROM: Male, Drúedan from Drúwaith Iaur (old Púkel-land), 24

APPEARANCE: *Short (but one of the tallest in his family), muscular (even for a Drúedan), and he always carries one of the seven elvens sword that was passed down to him and his brothers from the Days of Old. He has a pouch, the contents of which are a mystery to anyone except himself.

BITS OF CHARACTER/HISTORY YOU FEEL MIGHT BE HELPFUL IN DEFINING THE CHARACTER: He is one of seven brothers (and has three sisters) from one of the only families of the Drúedain still living in the Old Land. The brothers had set out to establish links with different races and groups of people throughout Middle-Earth (one, for example, was sent to The Drúedan Forest, to find his own kindred). He had decided that, since his race had saved the lives of many of the best Rohirrim, they would not mind a Drúedan living among them. He is actually quite friendly, despite his apperarance, and has never been quite so emotionless since the day his father was ambushed by Dunlendings led by a small group of Easterlings... And to this day he does not know how there Easterlings got this far West. Another thing about him that must be noted is that he is very touchy about being falsely called a Dunlending, especially because those people have persecuted, and hunted down and killed his family for centuries.
He has gained the title Wolf-bane after he slew the seven Wargs than attacked his home many years ago.

*general information about the Drúedain (slightly out of context, but such is life)

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LINKED ~*~ Pio

[Eorl of Rohan]

Originally Posted by piosenniel

Eorl of Rohan is hosting a new RPG, Homeward Bound. The Discussion Thread is now open in The Shire to take on players. ~*~ Pio

+looks at Lommy, Rocky, Foley, Holly, Dip, and Los with puppydog eyes+

(Muhahaha, in my twisted mind, your nicknames have been degraded into one-syllable words!
So much easier than Thinlomien, Durelin, Folwen, Nogrod, Legate, and Loslote )

But seriously, please join! +More Puppydog Eyes+

And as for Scyrr, I'll have to wait for Nerindel to come around and heal him. Unless, hmm....

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Eorl of Rohan

+looks at Lommy, Rocky, Foley, Holly, Dip, and Los with puppydog eyes+

(Muhahaha, in my twisted mind, your nicknames have been degraded into one-syllable words!
So much easier than Thinlomien, Durelin, Folwen, Nogrod, Legate, and Loslote )

But seriously, please join! +More Puppydog Eyes+

And as for Scyrr, I'll have to wait for Nerindel to come around and heal him. Unless, hmm....

Well, you could always try to send a private message to Nerindel, bringing that to her attention. (Or you could even make a co-operative post, if you wanted, although this is probably not necessary in this case, the thing is used more in the case of large dialogues... well, so that's rather something to bear in mind for the future )

As for your invitation, thanks, but at least for me, I have already so many RPGs running which should be finished that I really don't want to start a new one. Also, the setting is not possibly my favourite... but whatever, you might try to also perhaps ask other people (or maybe somebody might give you good tips as to who could be easily invited...)

[Folwren]

I've PMed Nerindel already and have received no response. I say, bring her up and have her do her healing business, just so the story can be continued. It's perfectly alright - really.

-- Foley

[Folwren]

Okay, I posted for the boys and I began to deal with our dilemma by bringing Aedhel into the picture. Nerindel has not responded to my PM yet, as I mentioned above. I hope I am not seeming pushy or impulsive or anything, but I would so dislike seeing this stall.

Have fun with it, you all!

-- Folwren

[Nogrod]

It seems lord Athanar's intention with his message was for Coen and Thornden to arrange the search and then come to him immediately. Immediately.

I took the liberty of Aedhel coming in and starting the first-aid.

[Folwren]

Haha....Yeah, I see that immediate did indeed mean...immediately...lol...

I'ma bout to be in class for the next several hours until very late tonight, so don't expect me to post....in fact, I may not be able to post tomorrow, either, so Dureling, go 'head.

-- Foley

[littlemanpoet]

Eodwine (First Eorl of the Meadhall) will be there.

Master Falco Boffin - I don't know. I think he left. Did he come back?

Harreld Smith - probably my favorite, he'll be around

Garreth Smith - I think he joined lately.

Rowenna (Rowenna now written by Feanor of the Peredhil) - may be gone unless there's reason to have her around.

Laerdil (Elf) - won't be around. He's probably over the sea by now.

I'm not very keen on all the political whatnot that we were trying to slog through toward the end of things. My sense is that it got too complicated and weighed the whole thing down.

5 years into the future sounds good to me. Eodwine's wife is an issue. I wonder if Folwren isn't too busy with being a successful teacher these days in RL?

Anyway....

[Firefoot]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Rowenna (Rowenna now written by Feanor of the Peredhil) - may be gone unless there's reason to have her around.

It would be disappointing to me at least - if that's the direction you're taking with her I may end up just writing Scyld out after all, since he never made much of a connection with any of the other characters... on the other hand, if there's going to be drama with the lords again he could perhaps be useful... I'll think about it. I was going to write him as having been away for most of the time jump anyway.

[littlemanpoet]

Firefoot, if you're here to write for Scyld, then writing Rowenna becomes interesting.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Now, Saeryn was pregnant when we last ended writing, and for some reason I felt she had twins, but I'm not sure if we ever established that.

I am not sure, but I think there's nothing contradicting that, so if you want it to be that way, I think that might happen. It would be nice. (And depending on the length of the time jump, there might be a couple of very small kids messing around )

Originally Posted by Folwren

Something to keep in mind is that sometimes boys were sent places to learn trade or take place in someone's household - another lord or knight, etc. - so those of us who have boys growing up in the game may consider that. I don't think that affects me, as that was the reason Javan was sent to Eodwine in the first place.

That's actually a pretty good point, why haven't we thought about it. So that's also one way to get rid of characters, and also by the way a good door for new characters to come in (someone taken apprentice at the Hall - even possibly by older characters who are present, specifically, if somebody wanted).

[Mithalwen]

Yes, that is what I was thinking of when I metioned the time jump might enable me to recycle my old character. He is a farm boy at heart but I don't think he will be able to follow his heart's desire without sometime soldiering... so no doubt he would be sent to some lord's household to learn the trade. Or I cold think of someone new.

[Folwren]

Mithalwen, it would be neat if you could bring in an old character, rather than feeling obliged to make a new one.

My character, Javan, was such a character as I mentioned, Legate. That is, he was sent by his father to Eodwine to be trained up in his household.

Originally Posted by Elempi

5 years into the future sounds good to me. Eodwine's wife is an issue. I wonder if Folwren isn't too busy with being a successful teacher these days in RL?

I just now saw this. I won't be too busy to keep up some semblance of a presence for Saeryn (and Thornden and Javan, for that matter), but maybe I won't write as much as I used to.

[Folwren]

NAME: Eoghan and Ruari

AGE/GENDER/RACE/WHERE FROM: Eoghan is a boy, and Ruari is a girl. They're about 5 years old. They were born at Scarburg, the son and daughter of Eodwine and Saeryn.

APPEARANCE: Being twins, Eoghan and Ruari are both somewhat small for their age. Eoghan has blond hair, as his father, but his eyes are hazel, like Saeryn's. Ruari was born with fiery red hair, and her eyes are green.

BITS OF CHARACTER/HISTORY YOU FEEL MIGHT BE HELPFUL IN DEFINING THE CHARACTER: Ruari was born first, and though an hour's difference in age wouldn't seem to account for much, it is clear she is the oldest. She takes the lead in the twins' activities, and Eoghan follows meekly behind doing almost everything she encourages him to do. Eoghan is quiet and passive and relatively well behaved when left to his own devices. Ruari is curious and active and prone to trouble. They are both intelligent and agile and capable children.

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Folwren - I've placed this with your bio on Saeryn and linked it to the new RPG's PLAYER/CHARACTER list ~*~ Pio

[littlemanpoet]

Um .... could we change that to Scarburg Meadhall: the Hard Years? The ideas are already cracking in my brain for this. :P

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Whoa! Great activity here. For the record, Hard Winters sounds brilliant to me as a name, just what LMP said - it can signify anything we can come up with also for the time to come, and I think it nicely goes with the idea we had with making the RPG a bit more "dramatic"...

Anyway, I am currently on short vacation (and Lommy too) for about a week, so I am not sure if I will manage to write anything right now (I want to write a summary thing for Hilderinc during those years), but there shouldn't be that much. So just as soon as I have a little bit of time, I can write it in a very short time, and also put up updated bio for Áforglaed and my new character, aka his new-found wife (or wife-to-be, as I am beginning to think, to allow for a bit of dynamic).


EDIT: crossposted with LMP regarding the thread name - honestly, I think "Hard Winters" has a bit more specific and epic sound to it (after all, the term "years" and "winters" can be used synonymously to a certain extent), but whichever everyone thinks sounds better.

P.S. And Folwren, I wanted to say, I really like the concept of the twins, looking forward to them being around...

[littlemanpoet]

I'm fine with the idea from "the voice that gainsayeth" - let's hear what people like better. - the hard winters or the hard years?

[Firefoot]

I also like the sound of "Hard Winters" - regardless of how accurate it ends up being timeline-wise.

[piosenniel]

I know I'm not playing in this RPG, but I like the ring of "Hard Winters" - without the modifier of Scarburg Meadhall attached to it.

Makes it seem more of a stand-along game, and somehow it has the feeling of deeper dramas - not only of the weatherish sort but of the personal....

Just my dramatic 2-cents worth......

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by piosenniel

I know I'm not playing in this RPG, but I like the ring of "Hard Winters" - without the modifier of Scarburg Meadhall attached to it.

Makes it seem more of a stand-along game, and somehow it has the feeling of deeper dramas - not only of the weatherish sort but of the personal....

Just my dramatic 2-cents worth......

I like the name as well for these same reasons.

I'm working on a character profile now. Hope to post it next week.

[Eorl of Rohan]

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Name: Scyrr Silvershield
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Where From: Edoras

Appearance: I have closely read the posts involving Scyrr, and I have found only one description of his appearance: swarthy, that is, of a dusky skin color. But a rider of the Riddermark would be golden-haired and blue-eyed, unless Scyrr is of mixed blood, in which case the haughty personality would not make much sense. Developmental Psychology tells us that unfortunate disadvantages such as a funny name, or a different skin color in a mostly homogeneous culture, tend to put a damp on the development of I-am-of-a-higher-rank-than-you kind of attitude. I would assume that he is actually quite handsome and more importantly typically Rohirrim in appearance. The personality that is outlined in Legate of Amon Lanc's biography of Scyrr can be developed by a strong sense of affiliation with his heritage and an awareness of where he stands in the social hierarchy, and if this trait is so evident, then, well, he probably *looks* Rohirrim to the Core. This includes long and flowing golden hair and limpid blue eyes (I know, cheesy, but there you have it).

Scyrr is likely to be slender, quick to move out of his opponent’s range, relying on his nimbleness and dexterity to keep him out of harm’s way should it come to a direct clash. This is in continuity with the description of the brawl between Erbrand and Scyrr. He moves out of harm’s way and attacks from the side. Techniques over pure muscle, so to speak of. And people who *have* muscle don’t bother overmuch with techniques or keeping out of harm’s way. Scyrr does his best to do so, therefore, he must needs be a slender man – with fuzz on his chins, hardly more than a boy – who would never cut an imposing figure even if his swordskill is on par with those more experienced than himself. Of course, the technique-oriented style might be because he is yet young, who have learned fighting only from fencing masters and mock duels instead of engaging in real battles where his life is always on the line. He could have an aversion to actually getting his hand dirty, so to speak. But even so, the ease with which Erbrand pummeled Scyrr when they were both on the ground (and therefore had equal advantages, even considering Scyrr’s broken leg) suggests that Scyrr doesn’t have muscle enough to acquit himself well when it comes to a physical brawl.

Personality: He is not someone who endears himself to many. But at the same time, he is one who speaks his mind openly about all matters, so he is not an obnoxious snob who bows and scrapes in front of his betters and takes out all his frustrations on his lessers. An honest man, even if that honesty is not to the liking of many. If he is seen as arrogant and self-centered, perhaps it has a measure of truth, but it comes from the brashness of youth rather than a fundamental flaw in his personality. He is conscious of the social hierarchy, perhaps unwisely overmuch, so that he would not be patient with having his authority challenged by tradesmen and craftsmen who is of lower rank than he. This is probably what sparked the brawl between he and Erbrand. Not to mention that he has a tendency to speak whatever he wants to. Being young, he also has the tendency to see the world in black-and-white: for instance, enemy-and-friend, or good-and-bad. Perhaps age and experience might teach him otherwise, and beat patience and understanding into the proud flash in his eyes, but for now he is nothing but a brash young soldier who doesn’t know where to draw the line. He feels a certain kinship with those that he has ridden alongside for many a month, however, and would listen to their counsel… albeit grudgingly. And in the same way he considers himself above the common tradesmen and craftsmen as a soldier of Lord Athenar, he genuinely respects those with authority even if their morality or intelligence is suspect. He follows the law, and does his duty faithfully. He has a good heart - if badly misguided, arrogant, and brash – but still that of a true Rider of the Mark.

As an aside, Scyrr is going to be my character, so I wanted to interpret him in such a way that was enjoyable to play for me. I hope this interpretation of his personality is not too jarring or discontinuous, because, well, I could always make a new character if this doesn’t suit you. I am from an East Asian country, where the last thing that anyone would even dream of doing is to say what they are thinking, and I am not at all sure whether I could roleplay a character who spoke what he wanted to for sheer childishness. Now if it was a matter of rank and social hierarchy (which my culture is intimately familiar with, considering that you’re supposed to bow every time you come across some bloke in your class who’s two days older than you just because he’s two days older than you), then I could understand exactly what kind of problem he had with Erbrand and why he acted the way he did. I hope this isn’t too much of a problem with you.

History: Scyrr was born the second son to Lieutenant Roryn, a Rider of the Mark. (Well, I’m thinking a middling rank. With perhaps fifty men under his command? I don’t know what military title to apply, since ‘captain’ seemed too high for someone who just held a position of an officer who led a patrol squad.) Roryn was one of the poor unlucky sods who were executed by Wormtongue for insubordination when he refused to carry out a redoubtable order that might have ended in a lot of his own men getting killed. He had a public trial, but a farce of a one with Theoden repeating what Wormtongue whispered in his ear, and was summarily hanged. There were a lot of men who were chagrined at this – for he was a good man, and a faithful one – and the widow and her two sons and a daughter received financial and emotional support from those who were his friends. Enough for Scyrr to have a decent education and a good fencing instructor, apparently, (or he wouldn’t have been able to dodge Erbrand’s blows with such ease). When Scyrr came of age, he followed in his father’s footsteps and pledged himself to a lord’s service in his own right. In Lord Athanar’s service, in fact, as Athanar knew of his father and kindly accepted the young and yet unproven youngster into his guard.

However, Scyrr has strong ambivalent feelings toward his father – who got himself killed for insubordination, no matter for what just cause, and left his young wife a widow pregnant with a third child and his two sons fatherless – which has left him somewhat obsessed about duty and social hierarchy and following orders without question.
.

[Eorl of Rohan]

*looks at everyone with puppydog eyes, hoping her profile of Scyrr wouldn't be rejected*

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Eorl, sounds good! Just maybe for a few remarks (well, I assume that's not what you'd have expected anyway, but I hope it will be for good ).

Firstly, I wholeheartedly agree with your interpretation of the social status view-thing, and that resonates basically with the idea I had about Scyrr myself. And if you have such cultural background, it might be even better for sort of "getting into" Scyrr.

Maybe, however, the thing about speaking his mind openly - if I understood you right, you don't feel like you could write for such a character, but well, there are several ways to handle it while keeping it still consistent with the previous. The thing is that this was sort of one of Scyrr's trademarks, if not "THE" trademark. The occassion where it originally started from was that first brawl when the soldiers have arrived, and Áforglaed was hurt. What Scyrr saw was that the first to attack was the other guy, and therefore, by Scyrr's logic, he should have been punished. The fact that Áforglaed insulted him before was not taken into account. I sort of see the parallel to this in Scyrr's brawl with Erbrand. This could be explained by that in both cases the attackers were of lower class, so they effectively didn't have the right to attack like that, so there we'd be back with the social class explanation thing. (Or maybe Scyrr just puts more weight to actions than to words? But whatever, just a thought.) So back to speaking his mind openly, back then Scyrr considered it unjust that something like that had happened and the person wasn't punished, and so he did speak his mind aloud. That was sort of the basic core. It's not supposed to be any childishness, but the fact that whenever Scyrr considers something should be said (even though others might disagree) - and nobody seems to say it - he says it. So if it was taken this way, maybe you could still handle this trait in him?

(Take this as a dialogical contribution... maybe you will think of a way to incorporate this, or handle this in a bit different way and put it into the personality of Scyrr when writing for him.)

Then, just one physical thing... I have (and I think others did too) imagined Scyrr a bit older - perhaps around 25 or something like that. I certainly didn't think he would be a young unexperienced man, maybe sort of "mid-experienced" at least, but not any newbie when it comes to social contact. More like the opposite - if he has his own views on social contact, rather settled, and that's why it's hard for him to get used to any new or different ways.

Otherwise, basically agreed with all you have said. By the way, not sure if I understood right that you don't think Scyrr is too much muscular, if you wanted him to be, then I think the story about Erbrand is not necessarily denying that - because Erbrand was, actually, supposed to be a very strong man, so even if Scyrr was relatively strong, Erbrand just might have been even stronger. But if you want to have him like that, of course that's up to you - just saying that what is said does not dismiss the option.

[Eorl of Rohan]

Scyrr would probably come after Kara now. Poor Kara.

But really, I'm sorry, this post is the best imitation of his personality that I could come up with.
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[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Nay, I think it was nice. I think it's good you have come here.

By the way, maybe you could edit away the italics in your post, though, as it's generally rather confusing (maybe also harder to read, as you have noticed we normally write everything in normal letters and use italics usually only for characters' inner thoughts at some point or such...). But that's just a technical thing...

[Eorl of Rohan]

Originally Posted by Legate

By the way, maybe you could edit away the italics in your post.

Done. Though italics are pretty.

Originally Posted by Foley

Kara! Oh! that is SO not fair. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to it. I think that even though Erbrand was completely mistaken about Thornden being interested with Kara, I think he will still protect her like a sister.

Yep, I'm looking forward to it, too! But first Scyrr has to get well, has to find out that Erbrand had a sweetheart, then find out how to catch her off-guard and alone in the woods. Hmm, I don't think Scyrr would be fool enough to come after her where other people are there to interfere. Scyrr wouldn't want to add to the cares of his lord by starting more fights where other people can *see*. Especially since I'm pretty sure Lord Athanar just bought Scyrr's eternal loyalty with Nogrod's last post! Though Thornen could always come upon the scene on chance.

And a Question: Am I the person who should write the healer scene? Do I just make up a healer NPC? Now that the question has come up, what about the other NPCs? For instance, I noticed that the Athanar's soldiers (which included Scyrr) were listed in the NPC section in the beginning of this thread, but they were consistently played by Legate alone.

It has been a long time since I've roleplayed in Barrowdowns, it seems that even the basic mechanisms of roleplaying and furthering the storyline eludes me.
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