"Seems like only yesterday we were pulling Rukdug out of the vats like another other Uruk... and now look at him! Fought his way all the way to Overlord. Hope he lasts longer then the last piece of shrak." ~ Golm the Vat Keeper.

The armies of Morder are ever changing as armies uruks, orcs goblins and trolls are born and die almost on a daily basis with their numbers only really being kept in check by the harsh nature of Mordor itself and the constant battle for dominance and power among each other. Captains, Warchiefs and Overlords rise and fall in an ever changing political landscape where might makes right and law and order is enforced by the whims of those with the strength to make their will reality.

Despite all their differences, all of them start off the same way: Just one of many who are spawned to feed the meat grinder that is life in Mordor. Just another nobody foot solder on the dark lord's armies who is either going to have to prove themselves and make their way in the world or die trying.

Well what are you waiting for ya Shrak?! Get moving!

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This roleplay is inspired by the system of orcish 'politics' developed by the Shadow of Morder. The idea is that players will be starting with freshly created orcish/uruk solders with no renown or greatest to their names. The equipment you are given is general solid but kind of crappy, the armor you've been given is of a poor 'all sizes fits no one' quality and your superiors not only give no shits about your lives but actively kind of hope you die in an amusing way.

All players will be starting off as fresh uruks who have just completed the basic requirements to considered solders in the army: You've gone to the armory and grabbed one of the many poor quality weapons trusted to fresh, unproven scum like yourselves and you've managed to avoid killing yourselves or being killed by one of your fellow solders off the bat. Well done. Now comes the hard part.

Life in Mordor is brutal and harsh with death and combat being near constants. If it's not the wildlife, slave uprisings or the occasional task forces of tarks coming in to purge some of the orcish population and stir up a fresh wave of infighting, it is the brutal and unforgiving nature of orcish politics. The chaos provides opportunity however and there are many paths to power in Mordor. The decisions that players make towards how they go about earning their place in Mordor will drastically change how their uruks develop.

To start with, all new characters will have is their name, a basic solder class (will be listed below), some basic equipment for that class, some personality traits and a single trait you consider a personal strength. After that, the players are free to decide what they are going to do with themselves to develop new skills, earn better equipment, become more renowned or infamous in society or even make plans to fight their way up the ranks... but always remember that you are in Mordor and life here is cheap. Poor decisions can often prove fatal and even the most experienced of uruks can make a miss step that can prove disastrous, but those who survive such things will often do so with scars to body and possibly mind: Strengths and Weaknesses are both born in adversity after all.

Potentially interested, though I'll say ahead of time I may have to bow out due to other concerns. A few questions though that might help other players too:

Does this take place during the same time as the games, or during any of the movies? Will the players be expected to fight Talion himself or some other prominent characters? Is extensive knowledge of these characters, Tolkien lore, or the specific games required, since LotR related stuff tends to lean so heavily on that?

Is there an end-goal for the RP, a particular plot thread (such as a quest for Sauron) that would solidify the RP as an "evil campaign," or is it just a "see how long you last" kind of thing?

And are the characters limited in their strengths, weaknesses, other qualities, etc to the corresponding abilities and descriptions from the games? For instance, does a strength have to be something like "Fast Runner" or "Immune to Ranged," or is it more free form? Basically, are players picking from the game's wiki for their skills and development, or can we create freely with more customization?

@Zeroth

Good questions all. I'll make a list as I answer them just to keep track and make sure I cover them all.

1: Does this take place during the same time as the games, or during any of the movies?

Truth be told I wasn't completely sure when to set the game in the timeline... but my thought process was a bit before the start of Shadow of Mordor kicks off. The black gate is still in the hands of the Gondorian Rangers and occasionally a task force of rangers and solders might get sent into Mordor proper to deal threats they've detected (Ie, an orcish warchief is getting a bit to big and powerful and they want to deal with it sooner rather then later) to add another danger players have to be aware of in an already dangerous land.

2: Will the players be expected to fight Talion himself or some other prominent characters?

The answer here is... maybe. Some characters like Hirgon of the outcasts and Lithariel of the Tribesmen of Nurn are present in Mordor already and are doing their own things, leading their own factions and actively trying to hinder the schemes and plans of the orcs (and Sauron as well to a lesser extent). Mordor is a big place so unless you're actively looking for them, they're actively looking for you or one of you is just plain and simply unlucky you're not likely just to run into them. That said, it can happen... and if players dedicate themselves to trying to deal with either of these factions, they'll logically try to deal with you in return to rid themselves of a thorn in their side.

As for Talion... from the start of the game he's just a mortal ranger captain. He might be apart of a Gondorian task force heading into Mordor to deal with a threat to the Black Gate, but they're kind of short staffed so that will only happen if they seriously have to. Depending on how the game goes, I -might- kick off the fall of the Black Gate, removing the risk of ranger task forces at the cost of a threat that is in many ways much, much worse. Granted Talion is more of a threat to captains and higher as the Gravewalker since they're the ones he is actually after instead of the rank and file solders, but if you're both moving around Mordor the wrong place at the wrong time can happen... you can even try your hand at actively hunting him down for the glory, but that path to power and prestige comes with its own risks and trials.

3: Is extensive knowledge of these characters, Tolkien lore, or the specific games required, since LotR related stuff tends to lean so heavily on that?

Not really. You're playing as Uruks. Sure they're not stupid by any means (well... most of them) but the very nature of orcish society does mean that your average uruk doesn't really have an in depth knowledge of history. They are taught from a very young age that elves are sneaky, back stabbing pricks who want you all dead, humans are generally untrustworthy because they hate orcish kind but the ones to the west cannot be reasoned with at all and must die... Dwarves are generally an enemy as well, but hatred for them is more a personal matter while hating the elves is almost genetic.

Sauron is the Dark Lord and while he is a complete and utter monstrous asshole who doesn't give the slightest shit about uruks or anyone under his command, he is still ridiculously powerful, has spies and agents everywhere alongside fanatics who worship him as a god and despite his detain for uruk kind he is one of the few leaders in Middle Earth who doesn't want to just purge all Uruks for the principle of the thing. You don't have to like him, but the only real alternative that uruk's know of to being under Sauron's rule is to strike out on your own... and if you do that you need to have a decently sized group of orcs ready to follow you out of Mordor to make a proper warband because everyone outside of Mordor wants you dead and staying in Mordor after going awol is a hazardous state of being.

4: Is there an end-goal for the RP, a particular plot thread (such as a quest for Sauron) that would solidify the RP as an "evil campaign," or is it just a "see how long you last" kind of thing?

It's more of a see how long you last kind of deal... but depending on how things go we might develop an end goal. We'll see.

5: And are the characters limited in their strengths, weaknesses, other qualities, etc to the corresponding abilities and descriptions from the games? For instance, does a strength have to be something like "Fast Runner" or "Immune to Ranged," or is it more free form? Basically, are players picking from the game's wiki for their skills and development, or can we create freely with more customization?

No. You can freely customize abilities and developments, but keep in mind that I will impose weaknesses that make sense when the situation arises. For example if you get mauled by a Caragor and survive, depending on how some dice roll behind the scenes your Uruk might develop a phobia for the things. As for strengths... When a strength is earned, I'll have a brief chat with the player in question so that what they develop is related to the situation and makes sense for the circumstances. Slaying half a dozen caragors by yourself isn't going to make you arrow proof after all.

@Bright_Ops

Granted Talion is more of a threat to captains and higher as the Gravewalker since they're the ones he is actually after instead of the rank and file solders...

I always loved waltzing into forts and slaughtering 300+ regular orcs just for funsies, so my own interpretation of Talion's threat level would be quite different! XD

Also, this below is kind of a question about Orcish society but it got to be a pretty good chunk of text:



Those are just my opinions though, is there anything in your version of Orcish society for this game that players should try to stick to, or else to avoid? Is the stuff I mentioned above not really what you had in mind, are there pieces of it you'd rather pick out, or pieces you'd rather leave, etc.?

@Zeroth

Honestly, so did I. I did it because I wanted to create captains worth the title and all that... I feel like actual sane Talion might not do that sort of thing through...

As for the Uruk's themselves and your statement on them... I do know what you mean and the points you made, but one does have to ask if why the Uruk's are the way they are is because of how they were created... or because of the environment they live in. Orcish society was... well, more or less engineered by Sauron so that his slave army would be purging itself of weakness while encouraging the strong, brutal and cunning to thrive. They also can't leave or go anywhere else because all the 'good' factions in Middle Earth have a kill on sight deal with all orcish kind.

Under such circumstances, what are they meant to do?

As for the Uruk's themselves and your statement on them... I do know what you mean and the points you made, but one does have to ask if why the Uruk's are the way they are is because of how they were created... or because of the environment they live in. Orcish society was... well, more or less engineered by Sauron so that his slave army would be purging itself of weakness while encouraging the strong, brutal and cunning to thrive. They also can't leave or go anywhere else because all the 'good' factions in Middle Earth have a kill on sight deal with all orcish kind.

Under such circumstances, what are they meant to do?

To me it seemed they were created to fit the needs of Morgoth, Sauron, and Saruman. Each time, those needs necessitated a creature that by all other definitions would be "evil," to the extent that no matter what environment, they would somehow ruin it. If Orcs were born in a land of plenty, with lush trees, fruit, clean water, and plentiful game...they'd act on greed and gluttony, consuming and multiplying until those resources were used up, then fight each other for scraps. They'd rather burn and salt the earth than let someone else, even another Orc, get what they can't have. If a good race said "let's just give them a chance" and stopped the kill on sight mentality, or even if a race at the dawn of the world didn't have that mentality from the get go...the Orcs would see them as weak, and kill them and take all their stuff just because they felt like they could, or because they wanted it, or because they felt like they deserved it more for being strong.

But in some ways that makes them interesting. They have small bits of logic and qualities that aren't entirely negative--not in the sense that any orc could truly be a good guy, but in the sense that it still takes courage for an Uruk to charge at Legolas after seeing all the other Uruks get sliced up. The best example of this to me in the games was the Grog Bowl artifact--You would think the Uruks are so dumb and brutish that they would be filthy eaters. Yet, they're soldiers in an army. Soldiers have to be effective in battle. That means they have to stay healthy, and they have to be disciplined. Thus, Grog bowls are actually meticulously cleaned to avoid "the old soldier's disease." That one throwaway collectible made me actually put down my controller and think about all the implications and depth there could be to the Orcs and their behaviors!

And after all, it's your RP. That's why I asked, is there anything in your version of Orcish society for this game that players should try to stick to, or else to avoid? Are there pieces of it you'd rather pick out, or pieces you'd rather leave, etc.?

It's fine either way honestly. You make valid points and maybe I'm just a bit to naive about the idea that an orc could be more then just a tool of destruction to be used and thrown away.

GRAVEWALKER!

Count me in. Yes, please.

Ohohohoho....

This seems pretty damn cool.

Definitely want throw something together for this.

It's fine either way honestly. You make valid points and maybe I'm just a bit to naive about the idea that an orc could be more then just a tool of destruction to be used and thrown away.

Some sources say that Tolkien himself wasn't satisfied with them and toyed with the idea that, by sheer law of statistics, not all Orcs ever born could possibly all be evil. But if there was ever anything meant to come of that, he passed before it could be put to paper.

Personally, I'm of the belief that because Orcs are specifically "corrupted" beings and given Tolkien's themes of how no evil ever truly prospers--even evil used "for the sake of good," like Boromir's temptation towards the ring, and even Talion's own quest for revenge--I think that if there ever WAS such a thing as a "good orc," it would involve a lengthy quest of development and redemption, and would end with the Orc being "untwisted" and ceasing to actually BE an Orc.

Anyway, this is my character submission. Let me know if anything needs to be changed. I tried to make the format look nice, and added a section for Description as well as what he's currently equipped with under his Class. I kept it basic, but if you think it's too RPGish let me know.

Augaz is accepted. @Zeroth Feel free to stick him in the Character tab.

By the way if anyone has trouble coming up with cool Orc names, I don't remember where I found a few rules on Black Speech (Tolkien's languages are meticulously constructed, the man himself was a linguistics professor) but I did find this site with a long list of words and their Uruk equivalents. I don't know how legit it is, but most things seem to match up with what you can already find on the Shadow of War and LotR wikis.

angelfire.com/ia/orcishnations/englis…

@Bright_Ops Also, did you want me to wait until you had a zeroth post or another post in the Character tab? Depending on what your plans are, maybe having a first CS post with the names of prominent NPCs--like those captains we're trying to usurp--would be convenient?

Hmm... A good suggestion. I will work on it.

@Bright_Ops Sorry, don't want to make ya feel like you have to do a ton of extra work. Even just a placeholder with like, the tutorial guy or something would be more than fine. I just didn't know if that's what your plan was or not.

@Bright_Ops I wrote this on my phone while I was half awake.

Let me know if anything needs changing, or if it needs to be expanded upon.

Sorry for the delay in my response... I hadn't been well the last few days. I'm going to be putting a... pause?... to this RP for the time being, simply because I need to sort out a few things and play catch up.

Alrighty...I'll be here when you get back.

Thanks for letting us know, hope you feel better soon! I'll be looking forward to this.