babbysama

Battle of the Maw

I think it would be more prudent, at least on the first day, to adopt a more defensive posture. Have outriders and scouts harry the enemy and draw them in, where we can bang them up against our defenses and clamp down with some spirited cavalry maneuvers. Of course, assuming that Alaric is as able a tactician as we've heard, it's doubtful that this'd have any real effect; rather, we both need to send out feelers and see what the other is capable of. He'll be expecting a strong defense and deep entrenchment, which will make any aggressive moves we take all the more surprising. However, at least until we know the full extent of what we're up against, I don't think that sallying forth would be the wisest thing to do. It's not like on the first day much is going to get done anyway.

The Lord of the Rings: The Age of Men

@MiddleEarthRoze Great! Excited to be a part of this.

I'll try and get a post up soonish.

The Lord of the Rings: The Age of Men

Húldas, son of Hárlas

Name: Húldas "Brighteyes", son of Hárlas Elftongue

Age: 26

Race: Man of Rohan

Sex: Male

Personality: Húldas is still, at heart, a young man, though he is both a husband and a father. He is in turns brash, quick to anger and violence, nonchalant, charming, and callow, immature; yet he can be quite serious as well. He is perhaps overeager to prove his worth--in the relatively peaceful times of the Fourth Age, there have been precious little chances to gain glory and perform feats of heroism such as are celebrated in the legends of the Horse-Lords. The epic deeds of the riders of Rohan at the close of the Third Age are lauded in verse and song, yet the Men of the Riddermark now rest on their laurels, growing fat in times of peace. Húldas, although a man grown, although possessed of a loving wife and strong son, is restless. He feels as if he's settled---as though he was funneled into such a life without trial or error,without kicking or screaming, as a sheep follows behind the shepherd's crook, because it was expected of him. Just like any proud man of Rohan, he has a strong will and the stubbornness of an ox. He feels as if he must do something, though just what it is he must do he cannot say. Something, anything, before settling for the life that was thrust upon him. Something, anything, that he can say that he did because he truly wanted to.

Appearance: Húldas is tall and broad of shoulder, with a strong and well-defined frame. His nose is somewhat large---as a child, some of his fellows gave him the epithet "Hawknose", to his dismay---and presides over high cheekbones, bright green eyes, pert lips, and a somewhat weak jaw, which he disguises with a long and curly beard. His hair is similarly long, cascading in streaks of umber and auburn to his shoulders. As an éored rider, he goes about clad in the tooled leather and chain armor of his station.

Backstory: Húldas was born in FA 193 to Hárlas "Elftongue" (thus named for his mastery of Sindarin), son of Théomax, and Délba. Since the War of the Ring and even before, his family had lived in Aldburg as riders in the éored of the household of Eorl, whose sons have since been Marshals of the East-Mark and even kings of Rohan. Húldas' great-great grandfather, Éothain, was an éored rider and captain in the company of the later King Éomer Éadig, and had even participated in the great Battle for Helm's Deep. But Éothain and Éomer had a falling out (over what, however, is a well guarded family secret, though there are some whispers of cuckoldry that are unsubstantiated and considered to be in bad taste) in the wake of the War of the Ring, and his name was disgraced. Éothains' house has felt the sting of that rebuke in the decades since. The feud between the House of Eorl and the line of Éothain has been kept alive through petty squabbling, calculating snubbing, and brazen insults. What's more, to a certain degree, Éothains' line must weather it, for they are vassals to the royal house. Éothain's descendants have tried to take it in stride, not surrendering their pride but not committing any act of disloyalty, but the snubs have caused them to lose some face and influence at court, though it is widely recognized that the feud is nothing more than juvenile foolishness.

It was into this atmosphere that Húldas was born, and he has been under its influence for as long as he can remember. "Keep your head low"; "Weather all injuries with humility and grace"; "Strive to be a man of integrity and honor"; "Do nothing untoward". These have been the refrains of Húldas' life, and both he, and his brother Dúnmer, have raged against these constraints of iron since the very moment they first had reckoning of them. Hárlas expected nothing less than perfection from them, and if they failed to reach it, then it was the birch for them, and torrents of derision. In shouldering them with great expectations, Hárlas ensured that his sons would eventually come to resent him. Yet it was Dúnmer, the heir to the line, and not Húldas, who would rebel against their father. Though a gifted equestrian, warrior, and poet, Dúnmer in his teenage years gradually devolved into a drunkard, a miscreant, and a womanizer. Hárlas was distraught, but felt as if he was powerless to change anything. It was only after Dúnmer killed a fellow éored rider in a drunken duel that Hárlas could stand no more; he offered the life of his son as weregild for the life of the man he had killed, but it was soon discovered that Dúnmer had fled the Mark, whence no one could guess. In Dúnmer's stead, Hárlas offered his wife; this was accepted, Délba was taken to serve as a servant in the deceased's household. All of this happened when Húldas was little more than a boy of ten.

Hárlas was devastated by the loss of his wife; now he would be the one to raise his only remaining child. With the experience of Dúnmer still fresh in his mind, he was even stricter with Húldas. Growing up, he was incessantly torn between a sense of great obligation to his father and his line and a desire to carve his own niche in life. Secretly, just as Dúnmer had, he began to resent his father's ceaseless chiding; yet he never went against him, always did what he asked, and, in his own estimation, lived up to his father's expectations for him. Despite the family's reputation, Hárlas was able to secure Húldas a fine match in Éolyn. He is the father of two---the eldest, Hárwyn, a girl, and the youngest, Háma, a boy.

Reason for investigating the silent colony?: In FA 216, Húldas received a letter from his elder brother Dúnmer informing him that he was in Mirkwood, working in the mining colony of Dôr-min-Taur. He was evidently doing quite well for himself: he was married, had a young daughter, and supposedly had put aside the bottle. However, knowing how bitterly his father resented Dúnmer, and how he would demand that he return to Rohan to answer for his crimes, Húldas hid the letter and began a secret correspondence with his estranged brother. It was through this correspondence that he first heard of the worrisome return of Orcs to Middle-Earth, and the spider attacks in Mirkwood. Earlier in the present year, FA 219, Dúnmer wrote him, saying, "Something foul and fell is afoot, brother. I worry for the colony more and more. If you don't hear from me within the matter of months, then something's gone wrong. We cannot flee. The road through the wood is too treacherous, and ill beasts creep in the gloom. We call for aid, yet none will come to us; no one wishes to tread on cursed ground." Húldas wrote a hasty reply and sent it off, but, as he had feared, received no answer. He rode to Gondor, seeking news of the colony, but just as his brother had written, no one had heard from Dôr-min-Taur for some time, and it was widely suspected that something had happened to the colony, and nothing good. It was only then that Húldas told his father that he had known the whereabouts of Dúnmer for some time. Hárlas, just as he had expected, was wroth, and demanded that Dúnmer be brought back to Rohan. And this was precisely Húldas' gambit: he would travel to Dôr-min-Taur in order to discover his brother's fate, under the false pretense that if Dúnmer was found alive, he would be dragged back to Rohan to answer to his father. Of course, Húldas intends to do no such thing. Rather, he sees this as perhaps his only chance to do that something that he so longs to do, to satisfy the appetite that constantly gnaws upon him, to fulfill his greatest dream: to be his own man.

Other: Húldas is an éored rider, and thus adept in horsemanship. He is likewise an able-bodied warrior, and is particularly skilled in the use of the spear and the short sword. Instead of a bow, he wields throwing spears in ranged combat, which can serve a dual role as melee weapons in close-quarters.

Battle of the Maw

What about a group effort in the start? Where we all plan out the first battle together and see who emerges as a favorite to become the Lord Comman- errr, leader for the next.

@Nariata

I like this idea.

The Lord of the Rings: The Age of Men

@MiddleEarthRoze Sorry about the Mirkwood/Beleriand mixup, I must've just misread something (wrote it late at night lol).

As for the backstory thing, I see what you mean. I just thought that someone who would probably have figured so prominently in the whole "myth" of the War of the Ring (from the Rohirrim's perspective) and who was so close to the future king, to get shunned in such a big way and yet still to have a place of prominence in popular culture and consciousness might have stuck to Éothain's line a bit more readily than if it had been a different family; basically I'm trying to say that even good-natured people can be two-faced. Perhaps it could be that some son of Eorl reinforced the prejudice, and it just turned into a feud between the house of Eorl (which I'm assuming would still be the royal house in the Fourth Age) and the line of Éothain? Hopefully all of what I just said makes sense lol. I see your point though, I'll see if I can finesse it so that it makes a bit more sense.

As for the slavery thing, sorry for that, I didn't draw that from any source or anything. Would saying "servant" be more appropriate?

I'll go ahead and start making the changes you requested ASAP

EDIT: I did a bit of retooling and rephrasing to make it fit in with the changes, hope it works!

Battle of the Maw

Perhaps we should just choose by random selection, drawing lots? Assuming that all of us are equally competent.

The Lord of the Rings: The Age of Men

Sorry for taking so long to get it up, but here's my CS. Hope it's clear and lore-friendly enough. I might go back and make a few edits here and there as I wrote this kind of hastily, but I think the general gist is understandable.

Húldas, son of Hárlas

Name: Húldas "Brighteyes", son of Hárlas Elftongue

Age: 26

Race: Man of Rohan

Sex: Male

Personality: Húldas is still, at heart, a young man, though he is both a husband and a father. He is in turns brash, quick to anger and violence, nonchalant, charming, and callow, immature; yet he can be quite serious as well. He is perhaps overeager to prove his worth--in the relatively peaceful times of the Fourth Age, there have been precious little chances to gain glory and perform feats of heroism such as are celebrated in the legends of the Horse-Lords. The epic deeds of the riders of Rohan at the close of the Third Age are lauded in verse and song, yet the Men of the Riddermark now rest on their laurels, growing fat in times of peace. Húldas, although a man grown, although possessed of a loving wife and strong son, is restless. He feels as if he's settled---as though he was funneled into such a life without trial or error,without kicking or screaming, as a sheep follows behind the shepherd's crook, because it was expected of him. Just like any proud man of Rohan, he has a strong will and the stubbornness of an ox. He feels as if he must do something, though just what it is he must do he cannot say. Something, anything, before settling for the life that was thrust upon him. Something, anything, that he can say that he did because he truly wanted to.

Appearance: Húldas is tall and broad of shoulder, with a strong and well-defined frame. His nose is somewhat large---as a child, some of his fellows gave him the epithet "Hawknose", to his dismay---and presides over high cheekbones, bright green eyes, pert lips, and a somewhat weak jaw, which he disguises with a long and curly beard. His hair is similarly long, cascading in streaks of umber and auburn to his shoulders. As an éored rider, he goes about clad in the tooled leather and chain armor of his station.

Backstory: Húldas was born in FA 193 to Hárlas "Elftongue" (thus named for his mastery of Sindarin), son of Théomax, and Délba. Since the War of the Ring and even before, his family had lived in Aldburg as riders in the éored of the household of Eorl, whose sons have since been Marshals of the East-Mark and even kings of Rohan. Húldas' great-great grandfather, Éothain, was an éored rider and captain in the company of the later King Éomer Éadig, and had even participated in the great Battle for Helm's Deep. But Éothain and Éomer had a falling out (over what, however, is a well guarded family secret, though there are some whispers of cuckoldry that are unsubstantiated and considered to be in bad taste) in the wake of the War of the Ring, and his name was disgraced. Éothains' house has felt the sting of that rebuke in the decades since. The feud between the House of Eorl and the line of Éothain has been kept alive through petty squabbling, calculating snubbing, and brazen insults. What's more, to a certain degree, Éothains' line must weather it, for they are vassals to the royal house. Éothain's descendants have tried to take it in stride, not surrendering their pride but not committing any act of disloyalty, but the snubs have caused them to lose some face and influence at court, though it is widely recognized that the feud is nothing more than juvenile foolishness.

It was into this atmosphere that Húldas was born, and he has been under its influence for as long as he can remember. "Keep your head low"; "Weather all injuries with humility and grace"; "Strive to be a man of integrity and honor"; "Do nothing untoward". These have been the refrains of Húldas' life, and both he, and his brother Dúnmer, have raged against these constraints of iron since the very moment they first had reckoning of them. Hárlas expected nothing less than perfection from them, and if they failed to reach it, then it was the birch for them, and torrents of derision. In shouldering them with great expectations, Hárlas ensured that his sons would eventually come to resent him. Yet it was Dúnmer, the heir to the line, and not Húldas, who would rebel against their father. Though a gifted equestrian, warrior, and poet, Dúnmer in his teenage years gradually devolved into a drunkard, a miscreant, and a womanizer. Hárlas was distraught, but felt as if he was powerless to change anything. It was only after Dúnmer killed a fellow éored rider in a drunken duel that Hárlas could stand no more; he offered the life of his son as weregild for the life of the man he had killed, but it was soon discovered that Dúnmer had fled the Mark, whence no one could guess. In Dúnmer's stead, Hárlas offered his wife; this was accepted, Délba was taken to serve as a servant in the deceased's household. All of this happened when Húldas was little more than a boy of ten.

Hárlas was devastated by the loss of his wife; now he would be the one to raise his only remaining child. With the experience of Dúnmer still fresh in his mind, he was even stricter with Húldas. Growing up, he was incessantly torn between a sense of great obligation to his father and his line and a desire to carve his own niche in life. Secretly, just as Dúnmer had, he began to resent his father's ceaseless chiding; yet he never went against him, always did what he asked, and, in his own estimation, lived up to his father's expectations for him. Despite the family's reputation, Hárlas was able to secure Húldas a fine match in Éolyn. He is the father of two---the eldest, Hárwyn, a girl, and the youngest, Háma, a boy.

Reason for investigating the silent colony?: In FA 216, Húldas received a letter from his elder brother Dúnmer informing him that he was in Mirkwood, working in the mining colony of Dôr-min-Taur. He was evidently doing quite well for himself: he was married, had a young daughter, and supposedly had put aside the bottle. However, knowing how bitterly his father resented Dúnmer, and how he would demand that he return to Rohan to answer for his crimes, Húldas hid the letter and began a secret correspondence with his estranged brother. It was through this correspondence that he first heard of the worrisome return of Orcs to Middle-Earth, and the spider attacks in Mirkwood. Earlier in the present year, FA 219, Dúnmer wrote him, saying, "Something foul and fell is afoot, brother. I worry for the colony more and more. If you don't hear from me within the matter of months, then something's gone wrong. We cannot flee. The road through the wood is too treacherous, and ill beasts creep in the gloom. We call for aid, yet none will come to us; no one wishes to tread on cursed ground." Húldas wrote a hasty reply and sent it off, but, as he had feared, received no answer. He rode to Gondor, seeking news of the colony, but just as his brother had written, no one had heard from Dôr-min-Taur for some time, and it was widely suspected that something had happened to the colony, and nothing good. It was only then that Húldas told his father that he had known the whereabouts of Dúnmer for some time. Hárlas, just as he had expected, was wroth, and demanded that Dúnmer be brought back to Rohan. And this was precisely Húldas' gambit: he would travel to Dôr-min-Taur in order to discover his brother's fate, under the false pretense that if Dúnmer was found alive, he would be dragged back to Rohan to answer to his father. Of course, Húldas intends to do no such thing. Rather, he sees this as perhaps his only chance to do that something that he so longs to do, to satisfy the appetite that constantly gnaws upon him, to fulfill his greatest dream: to be his own man.

Other: Húldas is an éored rider, and thus adept in horsemanship. He is likewise an able-bodied warrior, and is particularly skilled in the use of the spear and the short sword. Instead of a bow, he wields throwing spears in ranged combat, which can serve a dual role as melee weapons in close-quarters.

Battle of the Maw

I think that it'd be in Florian's character to volunteer as commander, but I'm not entirely sure as to my own capacities as a tactician. In most strategy games I play the long game, and focus more on defense. Might be good for this kind of thing but maybe someone else might be better for the first day.

The Lord of the Rings: The Age of Men

@MiddleEarthRoze Great, I'll try and get a CS up by tomorrow!

The Lord of the Rings: The Age of Men

Hi there.

I'm currently reading The Silmarillion and have been in a real Tolkien mood lately, so I'd love to participate if you still have spots open. I can't say I'm the most well versed in the legendarium besides having read the books (except for The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin, The Unfinished Tales, etc.), but I'll do my best.

I'm thinking of making a character from Rohan since they have the best aesthetic tbh

If there's still a spot open I'd love to participate!