Lucian

The Lord of the Rings: The Age of Men

I'm not sure, but I may have time to play if I'm not GM-ing. I love what you've got going with it.

Middle-Earth: The Fifth Age

Minas Tirith

Prince Galador II strode the outer wall of the great city of Minas Tirith, looking out across the Pelennor, but not toward the south and east. Instead, he looked to the north. The High King's call had been sent out many days ago, and the representatives would surely be arriving soon. A nagging voice at the back of his mind kept worrying about whether or not said representatives could make it to the city without being waylaid. Osgiliath was still firmly in Gondor's control, but the forces that attacked Minas Ithil were dangerous and cunning, not just an orc warband, but treacherous men from the south, and monstrosities that Galador had only ever heard about in tales.

As he paced the wall in his white plate, adorned with the symbol of the Silver Swan, the common soldiery and guardsmen of Gondor nodded or saluted as he passed. He returned these gestures absently, his mind wandering. On one of his laps, he was stopped short as he noticed a small speck crawling along the stones to his side. He leaned down to investigate the insect, more as a way to distract himself from his incessant musings than anything else. The tiny thing crawled on eight legs, skittering across the stones until he bent over it, and it froze, staring up at him with several beady eyes. A spider. He was reminded of the forces he and his knights had encountered as they secured the escape of those innocents fleeing Minas Ithil.

His face turned grim, his brow furrowing and his mouth puckering ever-so-slightly. The main force of that army had been eight-legged monstrosities. Somehow, the men of Harad had apparently learned to tame them. Perhaps it had been the orcs who remained roaming the mountains which had done the deed. It didn't much matter, he thought. What did matter was the freedom of movement of the enemy with such creatures in their employ. A small swarm of the things could pass stealthily by Osgiliath's defenses, slink across the fields, and ambush any of the representatives who might be coming from the north or east. The thought was interrupted as the spider interrupted the staring contest with the man, and began to scurry away.

A white gauntleted fist came down on the thing, killing it instantly, and Galador rose, now determined to ensure the safe passage of the envoys of the free peoples lest his fears prove well-founded. Things moved rather quickly after he left the wall. The Knights of Dol Amroth were gathered, and within an hour were geared for patrol, and combat if necessary. Galador himself took point as they rode from the great gates of the White City, and out toward the north.

Somewhere in Near Harad

Two men rode swiftly across the sun-dried plains as they began to give way to the more lush lands of Gondor. One of the men, a seemingly old man on a dapple-gray mare with a braided beard, wore a blue cloak which trailed behind him as the two rode. The hood of the old man's cloak remained inexplicably untouched by the wind, despite the speed at which their horses were running. Abruptly, an arrow stuck into the old man's cloak. The old man heard the other rider yell something in the language of the south. He thought he recognized a challenge or a warning in the tone, but couldn't make out the words above the thunder of the horses hooves. In an attempt to identify the threat, the cloaked man hunched in his saddle, and scanned the scruffy foliage thirty meters to the right. The obvious place for the archer to be. He saw movement, but couldn't make it out. He cut his horse to the right, and moved toward the brush, drawing from his saddle a quarterstaff of silver metal with a blue orb secured to the top. As the old man did this, the orb began to glow a deep orange, and then red. He held it to side, and the orb began to drip little motes of fire as he rode toward his attacker.

Behind the man in blue, the other man, in his ornate riding clothes and blue headscarf, drew his scimitar and followed the charge, though at a lesser pace. As the man with the staff neared the dead brush the ambusher was hiding in, he whipped the staff around, the bits of liquid fire that had accumulated at the tip suddenly flying of toward the brush. It was a small flame, but the shrubbery was dry and dead, and quite flammable. It caught quickly, and a gruff voice was heard shrieking in black speech. "Ghash! Ghash agh-!" The younger man didn't hear the rest. As the orc left it's swiftly-burning hideaway, the man with the scimitar urged his steed on faster. The fleeing orc took one look behind him to see the rider in all his fearsome glory, scimitar raised, horse wide-eyed, and then the blade came down, relieving the orc of it's head.

Suddenly, a call went up to their north and east. A shrill orc-horn, followed by rough calls in that foulest of tongues, and then the howling of great wolves. The younger man called out to his elder,

"He was merely a scout, Pallando. They were waiting in ambush. It seems Alatar knew we would come this way." He said. The wizard trotted his horse close to the younger man's.

"Of course he knew. This was the only option truly open to us. Alatar may be a traitor, but remember, he is no fool." Pallando said, his brow furrowing in some unspoken thought as he replaced his staff in his saddlebag.

"But what do we do now? They've wargs, by the sound of it. They will be on us soon. Our horses have been riding too hard and for too long. Shall we kill as many as we can before we die?" The younger man said, making a point to hoist his steel, rather than sheathe it.

"No, Darm. We must reach Minas Tirith. If we can make it to Osgilliath, then the soldiery of Gondor will drive off our pursuers." As the blue wizard spoke, he leaned down to his gray's ear and whispered something. The horse neighed and shook it's head, suddenly much more energetic. When the wizard had worked this magic for Darm's horse, the two rode away as fast as possible, heading north-west toward Osgilliath, and refuge. Behind them, the howls and taunts of their foul tag-along harried their every gallop. The wizard Pallando hunched in his saddle more and more, the exhaustion of the ride and the working of so much magic having visibly weakened him. He began to truly wonder whether they would make it to Osgilliath or not.

Middle-Earth: The Fifth Age

@BurningCold I was actually just looking for a province/state to be an envoy of xddddddd.

@Bishop

le ehckz dheee amirite?

@Lucian@MiddleEarthRoze Sorry to waste your time and annoy you with my irritable character.
Have a good RP

@Bishop

Next time, if you really aren't just fucking around (which you are, but I like my caveats) take the criticism from people.

Edit:@Oddsbod Dude seriously, what did I misname? Fables for Tales? I'm pretty sure they are called "Fables", either in game or wiki, the series comics is titled "Fables" and the town is called Fabletown not Taletown.

@Bishop

^This discussion is not happening here.

You rent a shared apartment, and when you go in for the first time, the profile pic above is your new roomate

I do like sharing space with like-minded individuals, mannequin heads, and bullet-casings.

(Also thank god someone recognized my set.)

You rent a shared apartment, and when you go in for the first time, the profile pic above is your new roomate

I might not be able to get much work done with that collar bone distracting me.

Middle-Earth: The Fifth Age

@MiddleEarthRoze I didn't mean to annoy you, my apologies. But whats so lore breaking about a simple bird companion? Hell, they are used all the time for communications and such among other things.

@Bishop

"Flapper flew at the command of his master because he was trained to recognize auditory commands. He landed. He was given a treat. It was nice."

How would you even play a regular bird? It's a fucking animal, dude. Birds are cool as shit, don't get me wrong, but they're not even human-level intelligence. How would you draw up several paragraphs that were worth reading? I'm pretty sure you're just fucking around at this point. The Great Eagle idea would have been potentially doable, though difficult. However, considering the source of the idea, definitely not. I really don't think you're serious about this. You strike me as someone taking the piss.

Middle-Earth: The Fifth Age

@Dealdric
I tried to make it pretty clear in the opening post that, despite not looking for much in the way of a CS, I do require a knowledge of the lore. I like your enthusiasm, but you may need to study up. Also, if you're rushing, don't. This has been slow-moving. We're in no hurry. If you need to take time to develop your character concept, please do so, alright? I don't like telling people no, but it's a no for now, for all of the reasons others have already stated.

@MiddleEarthRoze ok ok wait, I got it. Please bare with me.

I'm a spawn of Ungoliant, a pure spider that was given birth after she retreated to Nan Dungortheb on her last years. Though it was smaller than it's brethren, it was fast and had the capability to jump up to 40 times it's own body length. After the War of Wrath ended, my character diverted from the other spawns of Ungoliant and explored middle earth while killing as many orcs and goblin and anyone who served under Morgoth as he could. At year 1000 TA, my spider returned to Mirkwood to rejoin it's companions, children of Shelob and whatnot second hand filth. There it learned of the dark shadow, "the necromancer" who had taken residence in Dol Guldur. Going to verify it itself, it was met by a creeping shadow moving just out of sight. Going right into attack, it was not able to even touch him. As the ghosts and wraiths started to emerge, it swiftly made it's escape by jumping out of the ruins. As it now considered itself the ruler of the spiders of the forest, it just couldn't allow another power to contest its territory. It enlisted the help of the other spiders to attack the ruins but eventually they failed and more than a dozen spiders perished. News reached him ,at that time, of the wizards who had arrived in Middle-Earth. The following years he spent his days trying to figure out a way to beating the looming shadow. Eventually he settled on putting sentry spiders on the forest surrounding the ruins, effectively isolating it. Hundreds of years later Radagast arrived in Mirkwood where the wizard tried to make contact with the animals of that place. Not soon after he was approached by the spawn of Ungoliant. There it warned him of the dark shadow that resigned over the ruins while also proclaiming his hate for Morgoth and it's forces, both things were the truth. Doing this he also expressed his wish to help the wizards in order to defeat all the remnant forces of Morgoth that still resigned in Middle-Earth like parasitic worms. After that he stayed in service of the wizard for a couple more hundred years until the shadow inside the ruins was revealed to be Sauron. Still harboring resentment on the betrayal of Morgoth towards his mother, he attempted to convince the other spiders, the children of Shelob, to attack the shadow that resided within the ruins knowing that it was Sauron but none would follow. Enraged he left the forest, not before killing a few of the other spiders. A year later, in TA 2851, Radagast told him of the plan to dispatch multiple creatures in order to search the Gladden Fields. For this the wizard gave him the power of transformation. Specifically, now it could transform itself into a large 4 eyed raven. 350 cm wingspan and 179 cm length and the ability to fly at speeds up to 400 km/h. The transformation couldn't suppress the poison that formed on his body and was channeled through its pincers so now it was channeled through its talons.

OK, now is this good? Please...

@Bishop

This might sound rude, but the tone of this character is so far removed from the tone of this RP that I thought you were joking at first. This sort of character really doesn't fit at all.

Okay, everyone else, I'm going to start writing now. Finally. Sorry for the wait.

Middle-Earth: The Fifth Age

<Snipped quote by Lucian>

Since Near Harad is so large, and pretty factiony and divided, would it fit within your setting and story for at least some of the tribes to have stayed neutral after the old treaties broke? Or at least, to find the fall of Minas Ithil troubling enough to call a truce and send representatives to Minas Tirith?

@Oddsbod

I sentcha' a DM in Discord. I don't wanna' discuss all this in the OOC, because there's a bit of spoilers for other players.

Middle-Earth: The Fifth Age

Ooh, yes Lord of the Rings stuff my jammm, this sounds like a whole lot of fun. I'd love to join if you'll have me.

Question though. Will the East and South be open for characters? If the RPG is taking place in the Fifth Age, then it'd be well after Aragorn and his son had made peace with Harad and Khand, so wouldn't they want to send representatives as well? I thought it might be really cool to play as the guard of a Near Harad emissary, and maybe play with all the similarities they share with the Numenoreans, another culture with the background of a powerful race of men that were taught my Sauron/Annatar before quickly collapsing into darkness.

@Oddsbod

The peace that was made with the Easterlings and Southrons is actually broken now, due to things that are spoilery. That said, you can make such a character if their motivations work out. In fact, we already have one. I would need to fill you in on some things plot-wise, though.

You rent a shared apartment, and when you go in for the first time, the profile pic above is your new roomate

Oh cool, I get my own apartment.