The Fellowship of the Fourth Age (Part 1): A New Beginning Discussion Thread - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Nogrod · 07-04-2006, 11:53 AM

Okay. The orcs are on the move also.

There were some difficulties to write the first "on the thread" post because there were so many things undecided and some conflicting accounts of things on the first posts.

I've boldly taken a stance on some of the undecided issues and tried to formulate something of a compromise to settle the discrepancies.

Feel free to disagree and I will be ready to change what should be changed.

Nogrod · 07-04-2006, 12:49 PM

Orcs
By way of explanation and some questions...

Makdush and "a couple of his fellow Uruk-hai" is said to join the rebellion. Ishkur has been told to join the rebellion. Gwerr is said to be one of the planners.

So we need more planners to the rebellion.

I've come up with one, named Colagar, and would like to stick with only one (we could correct the last sentence in Gwerr's History from "one of the planners" to "the other planner". Just to reduce the number of important characters that are not actually written by anyone. In such a small group it would be harder to write if there are lots of important characters that are "non-written" characters.

It seems that Gwerr and Ishkur are the only "written" age-old orcs. This Colagar should be one too, as I think these age-old orcs would like to stick with themselves and trust only those of "reasonable" experience (call it a couple of thousand years or something). But that should mean that Ishkur and Gwerr probably know each other in advance (some thousands years of common experiences and fates should make one at least able to relate to the other one

). I think they should not be too good "friends" though, as one of the goals of this game was to see what the orcs could be capable of.

So Regin: how about we start with the assumption that both Gwerr and Ishkur have a shared past (well not necessarily been at the same platoons or something, but having beeen involved in the same battles and hardships - and ended up on the same plantation) and would thence be inclined to trust each other somewhat - at least over the others. Colagar could be something like Gwerr's "mate", but as you see from the first post I made, their relation is not the happiest one. That would set us the opportunity to go and see the ways how our characters could come to know each other better during this little trek and see what comes out of it: disaster or friendship - or something in between?

But what about the overall orc-gang?

There are seven written characters. Of these two are very-very old and one is an Uruk (3/15). Then we have the around thirty females (3/15) and the male kid (1/15). That makes 7/15 (surprise!). Of the others Child talks about a few Uruks. If that would be something like three and then we count Colagar, the age-old one whom I have already written into the story (as the second planner), we will have 4/15 more. That leaves us only with three orcs remaining unknown. Any ideas? Or should Child's "a few" mean only two? If there are four Uruks in the group of fifteen, it would be hard enough for the others...

Oh, why am I counting these things? Well, clearly there will be something like test of powers or at least scheming towards it between the male Uruks and the male orcs (at least the three older orcs), so it would be nice to know the balance and therefore the overall rest of the party. And surely the bunch of females we have along wouldn't stay neutral in here? With such a small gang, all the roles are important (yes, we don't need to know every person in the 65-person slave gang, but here it would be good to know them).

So any ideas?

PS. Firefoot and Regin. I've made the numbers in my first post such that you can choose yourselves whether your minor characters had been on this "large gang" that ended up with the guards and hacked/slipped away with Gwerr and Colagar or whether you came to the meeting place by yourselves...

Durelin · 07-04-2006, 01:52 PM

Nogrod - First I want to note that I posted a bit concerning Hadith, and wanted to make sure what I did was alright. I went ahead and assumed that any weapon's Hadith used were only 'borrowed' and he had not been exactly given one of his own. If you thought otherwise and/or find that in any way absurd, just let me know and I can edit.

And concerning the Orc group - I do see your point about knowing the numbers of the different types of Orcs especially. I'm sure at least one or two of the Orcs will be considering the options they have when it comes to bleeding each other. And I imagine we want things to be 'even' in some way, so the Orcs are more discouraged from just fighting each other.

Child should be back today or tomorrow, and you'll/we'll have to check with her about some of things. The Orcs are more her field because of her character, and I'm not going to say anything for sure without consulting her.

Personally, I think four Uruks versus...about 8 regular Orc males? (Sorry, I'm more uncertain about the numbers than you are) I think those are fairly even, though I may be downplaying things a bit.

And as for old Orcs...well, I can't say I've considered geriatric Orcs before... I think it would be plenty believable that they'd still be able to hold their own pretty well.

Nogrod · 07-04-2006, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Nogrod - First I want to note that I posted a bit concerning Hadith, and wanted to make sure what I did was alright. I went ahead and assumed that any weapon's Hadith used were only 'borrowed' and he had not been exactly given one of his own. If you thought otherwise and/or find that in any way absurd, just let me know and I can edit.

Yes, I did see your earlier post of not trusting the newcomers with weapons - so no problem here. That works fine with me - and sounds reasonable from the more experienced slaves point of view.

Quote:

And concerning the Orc group - I do see your point about knowing the numbers of the different types of Orcs especially. I'm sure at least one or two of the Orcs will be considering the options they have when it comes to bleeding each other.

Child should be back today or tomorrow, and you'll/we'll have to check with her about some of things. The Orcs are more her field because of her character, and I'm not going to say anything for sure without consulting her.

Personally, I think four Uruks versus...about 8 regular Orc males? (Sorry, I'm more uncertain about the numbers than you are) I think those are fairly even, though I may be downplaying things a bit.

Surely we don't want a bloodbath to begin with, but that thought must be nagging quite many of them, I suppose - considering the rivalry and mutual scorn between the "basic" orcs and the Uruks - adding the twist of the subgroup of age-old orcs within the group of normal orcs with their experience...

But this 8-4 setting would mean that the only females are those who are written for... (and one of the 8 males is 9-years old). I think there should be females also among the orcs no one writes for and maybe another very young one? That's why I was worried about four Uruk-males in the company. We could of course decide it that way, but then it would hang on the benevolence of the Uruks (or the utmost craftiness of Ishkur, Gwerr and Colagar + the determination of the females to take their sides and to fight for it together) to make the balance in the possible confrontation? Either option might be quite far-fetched, but surely we could try them... But then there would not be any balance to start with and so encouraging the stronger party to seek supremacy early on (which we do not want, I suppose/hope).

So any ideas? Child? Others?

07-04-2006, 11:53 AM	#1
Nogrod Flame of the Ainulindalë Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves Posts: 9,308	Okay. The orcs are on the move also. There were some difficulties to write the first "on the thread" post because there were so many things undecided and some conflicting accounts of things on the first posts. I've boldly taken a stance on some of the undecided issues and tried to formulate something of a compromise to settle the discrepancies. Feel free to disagree and I will be ready to change what should be changed. __________________ Upon the hearth the fire is red Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet... Last edited by Nogrod; 07-04-2006 at 12:13 PM.

07-04-2006, 12:49 PM	#2
Nogrod Flame of the Ainulindalë Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves Posts: 9,308	Orcs By way of explanation and some questions... Makdush and "a couple of his fellow Uruk-hai" is said to join the rebellion. Ishkur has been told to join the rebellion. Gwerr is said to be one of the planners. So we need more planners to the rebellion. I've come up with one, named Colagar, and would like to stick with only one (we could correct the last sentence in Gwerr's History from "one of the planners" to "the other planner". Just to reduce the number of important characters that are not actually written by anyone. In such a small group it would be harder to write if there are lots of important characters that are "non-written" characters. It seems that Gwerr and Ishkur are the only "written" age-old orcs. This Colagar should be one too, as I think these age-old orcs would like to stick with themselves and trust only those of "reasonable" experience (call it a couple of thousand years or something). But that should mean that Ishkur and Gwerr probably know each other in advance (some thousands years of common experiences and fates should make one at least able to relate to the other one ). I think they should not be too good "friends" though, as one of the goals of this game was to see what the orcs could be capable of. So Regin: how about we start with the assumption that both Gwerr and Ishkur have a shared past (well not necessarily been at the same platoons or something, but having beeen involved in the same battles and hardships - and ended up on the same plantation) and would thence be inclined to trust each other somewhat - at least over the others. Colagar could be something like Gwerr's "mate", but as you see from the first post I made, their relation is not the happiest one. That would set us the opportunity to go and see the ways how our characters could come to know each other better during this little trek and see what comes out of it: disaster or friendship - or something in between? But what about the overall orc-gang? There are seven written characters. Of these two are very-very old and one is an Uruk (3/15). Then we have the around thirty females (3/15) and the male kid (1/15). That makes 7/15 (surprise!). Of the others Child talks about a few Uruks. If that would be something like three and then we count Colagar, the age-old one whom I have already written into the story (as the second planner), we will have 4/15 more. That leaves us only with three orcs remaining unknown. Any ideas? Or should Child's "a few" mean only two? If there are four Uruks in the group of fifteen, it would be hard enough for the others... Oh, why am I counting these things? Well, clearly there will be something like test of powers or at least scheming towards it between the male Uruks and the male orcs (at least the three older orcs), so it would be nice to know the balance and therefore the overall rest of the party. And surely the bunch of females we have along wouldn't stay neutral in here? With such a small gang, all the roles are important (yes, we don't need to know every person in the 65-person slave gang, but here it would be good to know them). So any ideas? PS. Firefoot and Regin. I've made the numbers in my first post such that you can choose yourselves whether your minor characters had been on this "large gang" that ended up with the guards and hacked/slipped away with Gwerr and Colagar or whether you came to the meeting place by yourselves... __________________ Upon the hearth the fire is red Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet... Last edited by Nogrod; 07-04-2006 at 12:55 PM.

07-04-2006, 01:52 PM	#3
Durelin Estelo dagnir, Melo ring Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,063	Nogrod - First I want to note that I posted a bit concerning Hadith, and wanted to make sure what I did was alright. I went ahead and assumed that any weapon's Hadith used were only 'borrowed' and he had not been exactly given one of his own. If you thought otherwise and/or find that in any way absurd, just let me know and I can edit. And concerning the Orc group - I do see your point about knowing the numbers of the different types of Orcs especially. I'm sure at least one or two of the Orcs will be considering the options they have when it comes to bleeding each other. And I imagine we want things to be 'even' in some way, so the Orcs are more discouraged from just fighting each other. Child should be back today or tomorrow, and you'll/we'll have to check with her about some of things. The Orcs are more her field because of her character, and I'm not going to say anything for sure without consulting her. Personally, I think four Uruks versus...about 8 regular Orc males? (Sorry, I'm more uncertain about the numbers than you are) I think those are fairly even, though I may be downplaying things a bit. And as for old Orcs...well, I can't say I've considered geriatric Orcs before... I think it would be plenty believable that they'd still be able to hold their own pretty well.