Got any alternatives for it? We can't do walls until we've secured the stone; I'm sort of drifting between militia or exploring Eregion, as its still quite 'safe' (isn't troll country yet).
Though this is possible, I'd be a little surprised if we just straight up couldn't do walls today (why include it in the option list if that's the case, after all). Nevertheless @Telamon -- would you mind chiming in on this one?

I also don't think these are dwarves from Belegost and Nogrond. Those two cities were ruined in the War of Wrath, and migrated to Khazad Dum ~2700 years ago. This seems much more likely to be Sauron-related (fitting in with the theme of gradual corruption that permeates this age of Arda).
 
The walls require a source of stone, so I read that to mean we'd have to take the quarry action in the same turn to provide said source of stone. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

Edit: The vote will be opening soon. It seems like there's a rough conesus on what we want. I agree with others that we should probably avoid widening the woods, since we don't want to anger the ents.
 
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As previously suggested:
[X] Getting Started
-[X] A Source of Stone
-[X] The Smithies:
You direct your Shapers to begin focusing their efforts on the great smithies and forges which will serve as the engine of the cities' production. The sooner you can begin binding blade to hilt, the better for your colony and it's benefactors.
-[X] Expand the Farmsteads: The colony's farmsteads are a handful of fields on the outskirts of her sprawling expanse. The majority of it's sustenance arrives over the sea in the holds of Guild ships. You would see your people's ability to feed themselves expanded.
-[X] Establish A Militia: Begin selecting the fittest and hardiest men from among your people and training them to serve at a moment's notice should duty call.
-[X] Establish The Rangers: The men who volunteer for rangings and wanderings are already among the colony's fittest woodsmen. By formalizing their position you can creating an organization which will range, hunt, and hold the woods for your newborn colony. Taking inspiration from the famed woodsmen of the Edain, you name them the Rangers.
-[X] Prepare Walls: Your colony sits defenseless. See to the raising of stone walls which will protect what you have thus far built. You will need a source of stone for such a project.
-[X] Send An Envoy To The Enedwaithrim: The Middle Men of this land are a reclusive, woodland folk. Inzilbeth's great reputation has opened the door for an expedition to parlay with them.
--[X] Inzilbeth
-[X] Send An Envoy To Tharbad: Tharbad, built at the ford of the River Gwathlo, is the nearest Numenorean settlement to your colony, some two dozen leagues to your north. A mighty fortress, it was erected to hold the line against the power of Sauron nearly a thousand years ago, and was the site of a great battle in the War of the Elves and Sauron, where the Dark Lords' armies were turned back from northern Middle-Earth. The garrison of two thousand at Tharbad is the single largest Numenorean military force in the north of Middle-Earth.
-[X] Send An Envoy To the Dwarven Army: A great army of black-armored dwarves marches over a devastated battlefield in the north of Enedwaith. You send an envoy to treat with them and learn their purpose.
-[X] The Iron Forest: Wild and old are the forests of Enedwaith. A dark power -- though not an evil one -- lies upon these woods. You know something of the tongues of beast and bough, and could, with enough time, discern whatever secrets dwell herein. (Requires Imrazor)
--[X] Imrazor

Edit: It's worth noting that this plan is identical to Fission Battery's save for the fact that this includes a militia and theirs includes sending an envoy to Lond Daer. Though we definitely do want to make contact with the local Elves at some point, it's not necessary to do immediately after setting down. By contrast, we're definitely eventually going to want to build a militia. It builds civic pride/identity (going to become ever-more important as we want to avoid splintering in to King's Men vs Faithful), adds a large body of troops to the defence, and combined with the Walls, allows us to hold out against even a determined enemy for an extended period of time. By contrast, relying on the Rangers alone means relying on a group of Woodsmen to fight a static defensive battle, which plays against their strengths.
 
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[X] Plan: Laying the First Stone
-[X] A Source of Stone:
The Númenoreans do not live as the lower Men do. Their homes are of carven stone shaped like clay, and their halls are marble white. You send your Shapers to identify potential quarries around the colony that could provide a source for such buildings.
-[X] The Smithies: You direct your Shapers to begin focusing their efforts on the great smithies and forges which will serve as the engine of the cities' production. The sooner you can begin binding blade to hilt, the better for your colony and it's benefactors.
-[X] Expand the Farmsteads: The colony's farmsteads are a handful of fields on the outskirts of her sprawling expanse. The majority of it's sustenance arrives over the sea in the holds of Guild ships. You would see your people's ability to feed themselves expanded.
-[X] Establish The Rangers: The men who volunteer for rangings and wanderings are already among the colony's fittest woodsmen. By formalizing their position you can creating an organization which will range, hunt, and hold the woods for your newborn colony. Taking inspiration from the famed woodsmen of the Edain, you name them the Rangers.
-[X] Prepare Walls: Your colony sits defenseless. See to the raising of stone walls which will protect what you have thus far built. You will need a source of stone for such a project.
-[X] Send An Envoy To The Enedwaithrim: The Middle Men of this land are a reclusive, woodland folk. Inzilbeth's great reputation has opened the door for an expedition to parlay with them.
-[X] Send An Envoy To Tharbad: Tharbad, built at the ford of the River Gwathlo, is the nearest Numenorean settlement to your colony, some two dozen leagues to your north. A mighty fortress, it was erected to hold the line against the power of Sauron nearly a thousand years ago, and was the site of a great battle in the War of the Elves and Sauron, where the Dark Lords' armies were turned back from northern Middle-Earth. The garrison of two thousand at Tharbad is the single largest Numenorean military force in the north of Middle-Earth.
-[X] Send An Envoy To the Dwarven Army: A great army of black-armored dwarves marches over a devastated battlefield in the north of Enedwaith. You send an envoy to treat with them and learn their purpose.
-[X] Send An Envoy To Lond Daer: Once the mighty harbor of Vinyalonde in days gone by, the port city now known as Lond Daer, sat on the mouth of the river Gwathlo, has declined since it's glory days. It's once-packed harbors are bare, and a dwindling population of mariners and woodsmen eke out a living among it's pillared halls. It is said the men of Lond Daer keep close contact with the elves.
-[X] The Iron Forest: Wild and old are the forests of Enedwaith. A dark power -- though not an evil one -- lies upon these woods. You know something of the tongues of beast and bough, and could, with enough time, discern whatever secrets dwell herein. (Requires Imrazor)

Okay, that's my plan proposal. The quarry is absolutely necessary for us to expand, so the sooner it's dealt with the better. That applies to the smithies and farms. The rangers have multiple uses and are proactive in defending our colony, so that taken with Iron Forest should help give us a better idea on what we're dealing with. The walls are static but deter any raiding attempts and require far less manpower to defend the town than no walls and a militia force.

The dwarven army will move, so contacting them now is a good idea. Middle Men are our neighbours and we want good relations with them. Lond Daer could give us an in with the local elves and a possible trade partner. Tharbad is also the nearest colony in the area, so it's probably a good idea to make ties to them. I doubt that they'd be willing to trade with us at first, given our poor relationship with the Ventures Guild, but we want them to know that we are here and friendly.
 
[X] Plan: Laying the First Stone
-[X] A Source of Stone:
The Númenoreans do not live as the lower Men do. Their homes are of carven stone shaped like clay, and their halls are marble white. You send your Shapers to identify potential quarries around the colony that could provide a source for such buildings.
-[X] The Smithies: You direct your Shapers to begin focusing their efforts on the great smithies and forges which will serve as the engine of the cities' production. The sooner you can begin binding blade to hilt, the better for your colony and it's benefactors.
-[X] Expand the Farmsteads: The colony's farmsteads are a handful of fields on the outskirts of her sprawling expanse. The majority of it's sustenance arrives over the sea in the holds of Guild ships. You would see your people's ability to feed themselves expanded.
-[X] Establish The Rangers: The men who volunteer for rangings and wanderings are already among the colony's fittest woodsmen. By formalizing their position you can creating an organization which will range, hunt, and hold the woods for your newborn colony. Taking inspiration from the famed woodsmen of the Edain, you name them the Rangers.
-[X] Prepare Walls: Your colony sits defenseless. See to the raising of stone walls which will protect what you have thus far built. You will need a source of stone for such a project.
-[X] Send An Envoy To The Enedwaithrim: The Middle Men of this land are a reclusive, woodland folk. Inzilbeth's great reputation has opened the door for an expedition to parlay with them.
-[X] Send An Envoy To Tharbad: Tharbad, built at the ford of the River Gwathlo, is the nearest Numenorean settlement to your colony, some two dozen leagues to your north. A mighty fortress, it was erected to hold the line against the power of Sauron nearly a thousand years ago, and was the site of a great battle in the War of the Elves and Sauron, where the Dark Lords' armies were turned back from northern Middle-Earth. The garrison of two thousand at Tharbad is the single largest Numenorean military force in the north of Middle-Earth.
-[X] Send An Envoy To the Dwarven Army: A great army of black-armored dwarves marches over a devastated battlefield in the north of Enedwaith. You send an envoy to treat with them and learn their purpose.
-[X] Send An Envoy To Lond Daer: Once the mighty harbor of Vinyalonde in days gone by, the port city now known as Lond Daer, sat on the mouth of the river Gwathlo, has declined since it's glory days. It's once-packed harbors are bare, and a dwindling population of mariners and woodsmen eke out a living among it's pillared halls. It is said the men of Lond Daer keep close contact with the elves.
-[X] The Iron Forest: Wild and old are the forests of Enedwaith. A dark power -- though not an evil one -- lies upon these woods. You know something of the tongues of beast and bough, and could, with enough time, discern whatever secrets dwell herein. (Requires Imrazor)

Okay, that's my plan proposal. The quarry is absolutely necessary for us to expand, so the sooner it's dealt with the better. That applies to the smithies and farms. The rangers have multiple uses and are proactive in defending our colony, so that taken with Iron Forest should help give us a better idea on what we're dealing with. The walls are static but deter any raiding attempts and require far less manpower to defend the town than no walls and a militia force.

The dwarven army will move, so contacting them now is a good idea. Middle Men are our neighbours and we want good relations with them. Lond Daer could give us an in with the local elves and a possible trade partner. Tharbad is also the nearest colony in the area, so it's probably a good idea to make ties to them. I doubt that they'd be willing to trade with us at first, given our poor relationship with the Ventures Guild, but we want them to know that we are here and friendly.

A small note — Tharbad is very explicitly not a colony, at least on paper. It is an official garrison of the Host of Numenor, representative not of any Sea-Lord or Guild, but of the King of Numenor himself. The garrison's commander, the Warden of Tharbad, is beholden to none in continental Middle-Earth. Their resources and supplies are provided by dispensation from Numenor itself, and the men of Tharbad are to know no duty or desire beyond safeguarding the interests of the Blessed Isle.

Of course, this was set down in law a thousand years ago, which was also the last time Tharbad was relevant as anything more than a name on a map. The eyes of the King and his Men have not swung north in lifetimes. Even for the tall men, a thousand years is a very long time, and a lot may change from how it is set down down on paper...
 
is there any chance that the dwarves would want to hire some mercenary companies from The Guild of Striders?
 
is there any chance that the dwarves would want to hire some mercenary companies from The Guild of Striders?
Depends on the dwarves, I think!
If speculation is correct & the black-armored dwarves are under the sway of a Ring of Power, then they're primarily motivated by greed (and, to a lesser extent, pride). In this hypothetical, I rather suspect they'd be uninterested, and somewhat insulted by the offer: both their pride in their own strength and their greed (which demands they keep their own gold) would demand they decline the offer. If, on the other hand, this is a case of dwarves marching against Sauron (after all, in the Second Age, 'Sauron harboured deep hatred for Khazad-dûm and ordered his Orcs to trouble Durin's folk at every turn'), they might be somewhat more interested.

Either way, I think we'd need to answer the question of whether or not the Guild of Striders is willing to work for non-Numenoreans without some particular reason.
 
[X] Plan Tar Nilon's First Steps
-[] A Source of Stone: The Númenoreans do not live as the lower Men do. Their homes are of carven stone shaped like clay, and their halls are marble white. You send your Shapers to identify potential quarries around the colony that could provide a source for such buildings.
-[] Expand the Farmsteads: The colony's farmsteads are a handful of fields on the outskirts of her sprawling expanse. The majority of it's sustenance arrives over the sea in the holds of Guild ships. You would see your people's ability to feed themselves expanded.
-[] The Mariners: You direct your Shapers to focus their efforts on the harbors and coastal regions, which will allow your mariners to begin making expeditions to the Blessed Isle and other colonies of Numenor. The seafaring Romennans will be gladdened by such attentions.
-[] Send An Envoy To The Enedwaithrim: The Middle Men of this land are a reclusive, woodland folk. Inzilbeth's great reputation has opened the door for an expedition to parlay with them.
--[] Inzilbeth
-[] Send An Envoy To Tharbad: Tharbad, built at the ford of the River Gwathlo, is the nearest Numenorean settlement to your colony, some two dozen leagues to your north. A mighty fortress, it was erected to hold the line against the power of Sauron nearly a thousand years ago, and was the site of a great battle in the War of the Elves and Sauron, where the Dark Lords' armies were turned back from northern Middle-Earth. The garrison of two thousand at Tharbad is the single largest Numenorean military force in the north of Middle-Earth.
-[] Send An Envoy To the Dwarven Army: A great army of black-armored dwarves marches over a devastated battlefield in the north of Enedwaith. You send an envoy to treat with them and learn their purpose.
-[] Establish A Militia: Begin selecting the fittest and hardiest men from among your people and training them to serve at a moment's notice should duty call.
-[] Establish The Rangers: The men who volunteer for rangings and wanderings are already among the colony's fittest woodsmen. By formalizing their position you can creating an organization which will range, hunt, and hold the woods for your newborn colony. Taking inspiration from the famed woodsmen of the Edain, you name them the Rangers.
-[] Prepare Walls: Your colony sits defenseless. See to the raising of stone walls which will protect what you have thus far built. You will need a source of stone for such a project.
-[] The Iron Forest: Wild and old are the forests of Enedwaith. A dark power -- though not an evil one -- lies upon these woods. You know something of the tongues of beast and bough, and could, with enough time, discern whatever secrets dwell herein. (Requires Imrazor)
--[] Imrazor


The general concept here is that we are still a small colony, established very recently. If we want to truly set the stage for a glorious future we must first get our affairs and orders by establishing a functionnal polity, both economically and militarily, as well as figuring out what is going on in our direct surroundings and secure them as much as possible.

By establishing a militia and a wall we give ourselves good defensive base, ensuring our security in the short run. With the farmsteads, the stone and the Mariners we give ourselves the means to fed ourselves, build up our city and open some basic trade lines without completely depending from our sponsors, therefore allowing us to use the political capital we have with them for more serious stuff down the line.

Talking to the Enedwaithrim is a great way to try to secure our own hinterland and we set the stage to latter work toward having them gravitate toward our city more, therefore giving ourselves some good manpower and, while I remain sceptical of the idea overall, if we are to ensure that our crafting tradition survive the Akalabeth starting cultural exchanges with the Middle-men in our immediate surroundings is a must. Having the Rangers up will further help secure our own hinterland and is a good tool to have to be able to start projecting power to at least some degree, potentially protecting both ourselves and the Enedwaithrim from less friendly groups who might exist a bit further from us.

We also need to know what is going on and who are in the players in the vicinity, therefore it worth going to the Dwarf Army and to the Iron Forest so that we can have a better picture.

Finally Tharbad would be a natural ally and partner so it only make sense that we introduce ourselves from the get go.
 
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FRODO LIVES

As far as the plan goes, I'm very happy with the proposal that @Strange9 has put together. Personally, I think that if we were being super Optimizers Optimizing Optimally about it, we would probably wait on investigating the woods? They are not going anywhere, and Imrazor is (hopefully) going to be around for quite a while. His direct involvement in laying the foundations of the walls or planning the smithies could actually make a significant difference, given his extensive knowledge and skills.

But I'm also personally really excited to see what happens with the forest, so I'm pretty happy either way.

A small note — Tharbad is very explicitly not a colony, at least on paper. It is an official garrison of the Host of Numenor, representative not of any Sea-Lord or Guild, but of the King of Numenor himself. The garrison's commander, the Warden of Tharbad, is beholden to none in continental Middle-Earth. Their resources and supplies are provided by dispensation from Numenor itself, and the men of Tharbad are to know no duty or desire beyond safeguarding the interests of the Blessed Isle.

Of course, this was set down in law a thousand years ago, which was also the last time Tharbad was relevant as anything more than a name on a map. The eyes of the King and his Men have not swung north in lifetimes. Even for the tall men, a thousand years is a very long time, and a lot may change from how it is set down down on paper...

There's definitely kind of a parallel going on with Númenorean descended settlement in Middle-Earth and the Late Roman Empire, and the Southern Kingdom very much has some echoes from the eastern half of the Empire whilst the North has some echoes from the west. A notable thing in the late roman western empire is that you would have limitanei border "forts" which had been there for a century or a few centuries, and where all of the garrison would have their families living in the walled fort, and have secondary civilian jobs as well as their notional job as soldiers. Towards the end, they were really more like rather militarised towns inhabited by a farmer-militia who held a loose affinity to the concept of "Rome" than garrisons.

Tharbad right now has a much more solid state entity backing it than border garrisons of the 5th century western Roman empire, to be sure. But human nature being what it is, you would still expect something of the same process to happen unless very active steps are being taken to prevent it, and soldiers are getting rotated constantly. Men are going to have sweethearts or camp followers (or make friends with the local girls), and after a decade or so, that will produce some of the typical results. If it's really like a Roman frontier fort, several hundred of the soldiers they have on the books may actually exist only on paper, to draw a salary.

As another settlement right on the outskirts of what Númenor would consider "civilisation", we may be able to find good allies in both Tharbad and Lond Daer, because both of them probably feel rather forgotten by the higher echelons of Númenor. An ally like us, which is much closer to home and shares a lot of interests with them, may be a lot more useful to them than a King or ministers who may struggle to remember that Lond Daer or Tharbad exist.
 
[X] Getting Started

I honestly want to politely ignore the elves until we can do so subtly enough to avoid the attention of the king's men, I am fine with us having Faithful sympathies but I want to avoid being the target of the persecution against them.
 
It seems Getting Started is winning, and I'm fine with it. It's practically identical to mine, like Stranger9 pointed out, and he does make a point about using the militia to establish a sense of civic duty in your citizens. I didn't know much about the cities listed and searched them up, and realized they all suffered from massive deforestation. Which isn't that surprising, I suppose. Most people here are more knowledgeable about LotR lore than I am, and it's come up in the story a few times. It's just kind of astounding that they never changed their policies. It matches historical deforestation somewhat. It's not just a building material but also a fuel source.

We should probably keep that in mind and aim for a more balanced approach to forestry. We don't want the ents and local men to attack us down the line.

A small note — Tharbad is very explicitly not a colony, at least on paper. It is an official garrison of the Host of Numenor, representative not of any Sea-Lord or Guild, but of the King of Numenor himself. The garrison's commander, the Warden of Tharbad, is beholden to none in continental Middle-Earth. Their resources and supplies are provided by dispensation from Numenor itself, and the men of Tharbad are to know no duty or desire beyond safeguarding the interests of the Blessed Isle.

Of course, this was set down in law a thousand years ago, which was also the last time Tharbad was relevant as anything more than a name on a map. The eyes of the King and his Men have not swung north in lifetimes. Even for the tall men, a thousand years is a very long time, and a lot may change from how it is set down down on paper...

That's really useful information to know. I was using the word colony colloquially, short hand for "settlement founded by Numenor." I hadn't considered the actual legal status of the settlement, which I suppose is quite important given Numenor hasn't fallen yet.
 
[X] Getting Started

I honestly want to politely ignore the elves until we can do so subtly enough to avoid the attention of the king's men, I am fine with us having Faithful sympathies but I want to avoid being the target of the persecution against them.

Honestly, I see where you're coming from here, but as with all things, I think a bit of moderation is a good idea. It's definitely worth not provoking the King's Men needlessly, but on the flipside, we're kind of out in the boonies by the standards of Númenor and the big trading colonies, and the anti-Faithful religious fervour has not reached its zenith yet. We have some time, quite a lot of time in game terms, before that really gets to dangerous levels.

Moreover, we know that Dol Amroth was settled by the Faithful fairly close to the peak of anti-Faithful persecution, in the "late Second Age", and this is much closer to Pelargir and Umbar and the main cultural sphere of Númenorean settlement in Middle Earth. I think it's reasonable to presume that this might have in part been motivated by the desire to escape persecution, kind of like a religious sect going to the New World. If Dol Amroth survived, despite living through the era when Sauron was sending death squads out at night to bring back Faithful for human sacrifice, and being relatively closer to major populous colonies, and the authorities of the state, then I think it sort of sets a bar on how much trouble we can expect*.

This is not to say that we should not be mindful of trying to avoid conflict - we should because it would be foolish to do otherwise - but if we go and talk to an elf, I don't think expect the next update to be King's Men Ninjas materialising from the walls. What I would expect more realistically in the worst case scenario where we became known as a "Faithful colony" is that we might end up marginalised from mainstream Númenorean society, and find it harder to trade for skills and crafts. (So long as we do not do anything which could be construed as open revolt.) Imagine it as the rest of Númenor seeing us as a bit like an enclave of weirdo religious separatists living around a mining town in rural Montana.

Now, to be clear, I think this would still be bad and should be avoided if at all possible - trade and contact with Númenorean civilisation is vital right now and will remain valuable going forward, and not something we would want to give up recklessly. (Although when we actually do arrive at the "human sacrifice" phase, I think we may have to bite that bullet, and being viewed as an obscure enclave of weirdoes out in the middle of nowhere might actually be our best defence.) But for the moment, I think it's actually possible that we could maintain a few channels of communication with the Elves, and avoid any repercussions which are too major so long as we're not to blatant about it. Trips to Rivendell, for example, could very easily be hunting trips or prospecting missions - so long as we're not loudly announcing it in letters home.

There are also other Númenorean allies, like Lond Daer and Tharbad, who are much closer to home and may appreciate our nearby friendship more than the very distant love of Númenor.


*(Also keep in mind that in Dol Amroth they were intermarrying with Elves, and still got by. It really seems like in the colonies, there was a lot more free reign.)
 
*(Also keep in mind that in Dol Amroth they were intermarrying with Elves, and still got by. It really seems like in the colonies, there was a lot more free reign.)
Hold up, they were marrying elves? I thought Luthien, Idril, and Arwin were the only elves that married men.
Huh.
The Second Age was wilder than I thought.
Edit: (where men here is used in the tolkien style "the race of men" sense).
 
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The main issue here is that short of embracing the whole Morgoth-worship thing we will probably end up pissing off the King's Men pretty badly. Mind you, some might see this as a good reason to not overly care about what they think but I lean on the opposite direction: by keeping some goodwill from that corner we can hopefully have enough margin of manoeuver when the time come that we would be to avoid a complete break between us and the metropolis, or at least delay it as much as possible.

It might be a bit too much of an have your cake and eat it thing but in an ideal world I'd like us to be able to play with our relationships with both so that we can welcome some Faithfull refugees, who would normally be forbidden from leaving when Numenor would have gone to the deep end, because we would have had a special dispensiation or something, or at the very least have the Crown turn a blind eye to us smuggling some of them out.
 
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[X] Getting Started

Just want to vote to show my support for the quest. I find the concept cool and really enjoy reading about this era of Lord of the Rings.

As for the plan themselves I just find this one has the most options I want to see be done. I want to set up the smithies, get stone, investigate the forest, talk to the dwarfs and talk to Tharbad primarily.

Between militia and talking to Lond Daer I slightly prefer setting up a militia right away.
 
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