Post by Stefan on Jul 25, 2006 17:52:10 GMT -5
[NOTE that the following introduction is in accordance with the canonical history of Middle-Earth as devised by Tolkien. I might need to use names of places not used by Tolkien or to imagine events not imagined by Tolkien during the story, but I wish to keep that to a minimum and to respect the dates and facts that Tolkien privided]
It is the year 1047 of the Third Age and the Kingdom of Gondor is one of the most prosperous and powerful states of Middle-Earth. Apart from Ithilien across the Anduin, Anórien, Lossarnach, Lebennin of the Five Streams, Belfalas, Lamedon north of the Ringló, and Anfalas or Langstrand in the south-west, Godor also ruled over Harondor or South Gondor, Calenardhon (where the Kingdom of Rohan would be found in a very distant future), Enedwaith, the Eastern Lands between Greenwood the Great and the Sea of Rhûn, Rhovanion and Umbar. However 32 years ago a tragedy happened for the Gondorians and the many long-lived Dúnedain remember it well. King Ciryandil spent his life long defending the port of Umbar against the Black Númenóreans who had lived there before, and the Haradrim who wished to capture the port. In 1015 T.A. after a reign of 79 years he was slain while Umbar was besieged. And now the new King, Ciryaher is determined to avenge his father's death and to show the might of Gondor to the Men of the South and those Valar-hating Black Númenóreans, whose ancestors supported the Ar-Pharazon, whose foolish deeds lead to the Downfall of Númenór. For this, he has been gathering the largest fleet in the history of Gondor and innumerate legions of soldiers from all over the Kingdom's lands.
The story will feature in the beggining the everyday life of some people before the war with the Haradrim. Gradually the people that we will roleplay will become involved in an adventure aiming to stop a conspiracy against the king and its efforts to gather an army. After this we'll make a jump in time 2 years or one (depending on how the story develops) in time to the Great War of the Haradrim. These are the three parts of the story.
For this I will need the following characters:
one or 2 Elves - male or female;
one or 2 Men of Harad (male or female) that live in Gondor and are actually citizens of Gondor (I wish to show some discrimination issues here and how these Haradrim get over them and make friend with the Gondorians);
one or 2 Gondorians that are not Dúnedain / Also Northmen should work just fine (I CANNOT stress how important is to have them here; I know that roleplaying them is not appealing, but we need at least one);
as many Dúnedain as we can get;
I'm oppen to suggestions for any other type of character. I wish that the first part of the story will be about the social relationships in this prosperous and multicultural Gondor, about how people used to live. For example I believe that for most of the Dúnedain the memory of Númenór is still fresh enough, maybe like the memory that the Jews have about the Holocaust... well not THAT fresh (probably there have been already some 6 generations since the Fall of Númenór). Anyway remember that the Dúnedain benefited from longer life-spans (some to over 200 years old) than ordinary men and could retain their fitness until the very end of their days. Also I imagine that they would still be very religious about Elves and Valar as the Númenóreans who were Elf-Friends used to be. On the other hand the Gondorians who were not Dúnedain were eager to be recognised as true Gondorians and were putting a lot of effort into this. The men that were of other peoples though and were under the rule of Gondor might not have had only good thoughts about Gondor though. Again I'm open to suggestions.
My character will be:
Name: Arhael Angelimirion of the House of Belfalasar
Gender: Male
Race and/or People: Dúnadan
Age: 57 (As a Dúnadan his lifespan could have extended up to some 300 years. Therefore 57 years of age for a Dúnadan would correspond to being 19 for a normal human)
Looks: Arhael is 177 cm (that's probably slightly shorter than 70 inches for those who don't measure in meters) tall and very slim. He is not at all athletic as he's almost skinny, but he has strength in his arms as a result of practicing the bow. He is white-skinned but he has what we would call a slight mediterranean look, but not a very obvious one, he has black hair and his eyes are grey, as any Dúnadan's. His hair is waivy and it falls on his shoulders and he recently started growing a beard.
Weapon: Arhael is extremely skilled with the bow, being able to aim correctly and shoot with high precision at great distances. However, he is almost unable to fight with a sword or a dagger or any other melee weapon and he is not good in hand to hand combat either. But his greates weapon is, as he likes to say, his pen [although we might be tempted to think that the only writing method available was the quill we might also imagine that the Gondorians might have had pens too, I mean dip pens of course, but still, pens]
Character: Arhael has always been more attracted to reading the ancient text and gaining knowlege and wiseness from the words of the ancestors and of the Elves than in fighting. His training with the bow however has helped him so far getting over his inability in melee fighting and in escaping certain difficult situations, but still, he doesn't like to kill. Arhael is very religious, and knows a lot about the Valar about Eru and the history of Númenór, about how it fell to Sauron's deceiving and to its own folly and because of this he has a special affection for the Elves.
Brief History: Arhael was born in 990 Third Age during the rign of King Ciryandil in the noble House of Belfalasar, that ruled the region of Belfalas, in the city of Edhellond. [Remember that Dol Amroth is not yet founded. Edhellond was founded by the Elves during the First Age a little bit to the north of where Dol Amroth would be much later founded. I believe that by the 10th century Third Age only a few Sindar remained there and the city was inhabbited by Dúnedain and other Gondorians, but still, a minority of Elves probably would still be there]. During his childhood he ws trained to shoot a bow by a very experienced Elf from Edhellond. However, his father Angelimir realised that his son is not meant to be a warrior and let him go to Minas Anor [that would be much later called Minas Tirith] to study in the school of a wise Elf the ancient knowledge and gain the wiseness of a leader that he might need if he was ever to become Lord of Belfalas. This happened in 1047 Third Age therefore Arhael has just arrived in Minas Anor in the beggining of the story and is looking for a place to stay.
Clothing: Although Arhael on special occasions pridefully wears the noble robes that he is entitled to by birth, made of the finest silk and decorated with golden threads, on an everyday basis he wears simple clothes under the Elven Cloak that his bow trainer gave him back home.
It is the year 1047 of the Third Age and the Kingdom of Gondor is one of the most prosperous and powerful states of Middle-Earth. Apart from Ithilien across the Anduin, Anórien, Lossarnach, Lebennin of the Five Streams, Belfalas, Lamedon north of the Ringló, and Anfalas or Langstrand in the south-west, Godor also ruled over Harondor or South Gondor, Calenardhon (where the Kingdom of Rohan would be found in a very distant future), Enedwaith, the Eastern Lands between Greenwood the Great and the Sea of Rhûn, Rhovanion and Umbar. However 32 years ago a tragedy happened for the Gondorians and the many long-lived Dúnedain remember it well. King Ciryandil spent his life long defending the port of Umbar against the Black Númenóreans who had lived there before, and the Haradrim who wished to capture the port. In 1015 T.A. after a reign of 79 years he was slain while Umbar was besieged. And now the new King, Ciryaher is determined to avenge his father's death and to show the might of Gondor to the Men of the South and those Valar-hating Black Númenóreans, whose ancestors supported the Ar-Pharazon, whose foolish deeds lead to the Downfall of Númenór. For this, he has been gathering the largest fleet in the history of Gondor and innumerate legions of soldiers from all over the Kingdom's lands.
The story will feature in the beggining the everyday life of some people before the war with the Haradrim. Gradually the people that we will roleplay will become involved in an adventure aiming to stop a conspiracy against the king and its efforts to gather an army. After this we'll make a jump in time 2 years or one (depending on how the story develops) in time to the Great War of the Haradrim. These are the three parts of the story.
For this I will need the following characters:
one or 2 Elves - male or female;
one or 2 Men of Harad (male or female) that live in Gondor and are actually citizens of Gondor (I wish to show some discrimination issues here and how these Haradrim get over them and make friend with the Gondorians);
one or 2 Gondorians that are not Dúnedain / Also Northmen should work just fine (I CANNOT stress how important is to have them here; I know that roleplaying them is not appealing, but we need at least one);
as many Dúnedain as we can get;
I'm oppen to suggestions for any other type of character. I wish that the first part of the story will be about the social relationships in this prosperous and multicultural Gondor, about how people used to live. For example I believe that for most of the Dúnedain the memory of Númenór is still fresh enough, maybe like the memory that the Jews have about the Holocaust... well not THAT fresh (probably there have been already some 6 generations since the Fall of Númenór). Anyway remember that the Dúnedain benefited from longer life-spans (some to over 200 years old) than ordinary men and could retain their fitness until the very end of their days. Also I imagine that they would still be very religious about Elves and Valar as the Númenóreans who were Elf-Friends used to be. On the other hand the Gondorians who were not Dúnedain were eager to be recognised as true Gondorians and were putting a lot of effort into this. The men that were of other peoples though and were under the rule of Gondor might not have had only good thoughts about Gondor though. Again I'm open to suggestions.
My character will be:
Name: Arhael Angelimirion of the House of Belfalasar
Gender: Male
Race and/or People: Dúnadan
Age: 57 (As a Dúnadan his lifespan could have extended up to some 300 years. Therefore 57 years of age for a Dúnadan would correspond to being 19 for a normal human)
Looks: Arhael is 177 cm (that's probably slightly shorter than 70 inches for those who don't measure in meters) tall and very slim. He is not at all athletic as he's almost skinny, but he has strength in his arms as a result of practicing the bow. He is white-skinned but he has what we would call a slight mediterranean look, but not a very obvious one, he has black hair and his eyes are grey, as any Dúnadan's. His hair is waivy and it falls on his shoulders and he recently started growing a beard.
Weapon: Arhael is extremely skilled with the bow, being able to aim correctly and shoot with high precision at great distances. However, he is almost unable to fight with a sword or a dagger or any other melee weapon and he is not good in hand to hand combat either. But his greates weapon is, as he likes to say, his pen [although we might be tempted to think that the only writing method available was the quill we might also imagine that the Gondorians might have had pens too, I mean dip pens of course, but still, pens]
Character: Arhael has always been more attracted to reading the ancient text and gaining knowlege and wiseness from the words of the ancestors and of the Elves than in fighting. His training with the bow however has helped him so far getting over his inability in melee fighting and in escaping certain difficult situations, but still, he doesn't like to kill. Arhael is very religious, and knows a lot about the Valar about Eru and the history of Númenór, about how it fell to Sauron's deceiving and to its own folly and because of this he has a special affection for the Elves.
Brief History: Arhael was born in 990 Third Age during the rign of King Ciryandil in the noble House of Belfalasar, that ruled the region of Belfalas, in the city of Edhellond. [Remember that Dol Amroth is not yet founded. Edhellond was founded by the Elves during the First Age a little bit to the north of where Dol Amroth would be much later founded. I believe that by the 10th century Third Age only a few Sindar remained there and the city was inhabbited by Dúnedain and other Gondorians, but still, a minority of Elves probably would still be there]. During his childhood he ws trained to shoot a bow by a very experienced Elf from Edhellond. However, his father Angelimir realised that his son is not meant to be a warrior and let him go to Minas Anor [that would be much later called Minas Tirith] to study in the school of a wise Elf the ancient knowledge and gain the wiseness of a leader that he might need if he was ever to become Lord of Belfalas. This happened in 1047 Third Age therefore Arhael has just arrived in Minas Anor in the beggining of the story and is looking for a place to stay.
Clothing: Although Arhael on special occasions pridefully wears the noble robes that he is entitled to by birth, made of the finest silk and decorated with golden threads, on an everyday basis he wears simple clothes under the Elven Cloak that his bow trainer gave him back home.
