You are Zog, and you are an Orc. But not just any kind of Orc, no, your parents were proud to tell you, repeatedly, that you were an:
[X] Uruk-Hai of Isengard! Your parents, and their parents and their parents were all part of a breeding program run by Lord Saruman. Ten generations, and hundreds of permutations, ritual magic, and selective breeding all to make his perfect Orc: you. Well, your generation, and your parent's generation too actually. You are taller, stronger, smarter, and far less ugly than any other Orc in the world, or at least that's what your parents said Lord Saruman said to them years ago, so you suppose it's true for you too. Also, apparently, other orcs can't survive in daylight? As you crest a hill near Isengard and gaze upon the sun rising over the misty mountains you can't help but be in wonder at the beauty surrounding you… (Start as an Uruk-Hai in Isengard. All physical and mental stats +, no real tradition to rely on, but you can start one of your own. All allies and yourself are under Thrall of Saruman and must make a wisdom check to deliberately break Thrall, chances increase with distance from Isengard, and with ill health of Saruman.)
[X] Orc of Mount Gundabad! Long have your people inhabited these mountains, tensions with the dwarves simmering with raids and counter raids over hundreds of years. No more! Always, you have had to fear the interference of the cursed Elves or Men should you strike too hard at the dwarves of the Misty Mountains, but news has reached you that your brethren to the South plan a great war against the Men! Surely the elves will then choose to aid their old allies, as opposed to their old enemies. The time to strike has come, take your homeland and forge it into an unbreakable Orc Kingdom! (Start as the son of an Orc Chieftain in Mount Gundabad. Must work to take full command of Gundabad, or otherwise leave Gundabad and start a new faction elsewhere in the mountain range if you wish to hold dominion over the mountains. No thrall to Sauron, Saruman, or the Witch-King of Angmar, any hold he may have had over you broke long ago when Angmar fell.)
[X] Orc of Barad-Dur! Your tribe is the most trusted of all of Sauron's servants, guarding his own fortress of Barad-Dur. The great Eye itself sits at the top, and when your people aren't just guarding Sauron's Eye, you are being sent out as officers and leaders of the other Orc Clans of Mordor, to see to it that what needs doing, gets done. Your brethren are strong of arm and stout of body, as is only expected of the Sauron's greatest guardians, you are eager to see where you might serve, as you have heard that the Master has plans to go to war soon. (Start as an Orc in Barad-Dur and either get more responsibility in the fortress itself, and thus begin managing Mordor's lands and orc tribes internally, or be sent out to lead Mordor's Orcs on a variety of missions, or defence of areas like Osgiliath. Physical stats +, and Mental stats + when not under Sauron's thrall, mental stats - the closer you are to Barad-Dur, where Sauron binds your mind most tightly. Your people are under the Thrall of Sauron, and unlike Saruman, it will take a bit more than just distance to fully loosen it… or it will for anyone who hasn't been raised in Barad-Dur and whose ancestors were raised there. Generations of surviving in the seat of Sauron's power, where his thrall is most tight has granted the Orcs of Barad-Dur (not Mordor) a great mental resilience, and while they cannot fight it while in Barad-Dur or Mordor, outside its borders it is very possible that you might throw off the mental chains which bind you. Actually getting anyone else to do that might be difficult though.)
And while that pride might have been enough for your parents, you… you have altogether greater dreams. Dreams of an Orc Kingdom of your own. For it was not too long ago that you snuck into the dungeons to relieve your boredom, and there you did find a man folk, he was of a height with you, but much thinner, and pale, ohh so pale, that his skin nearly looked like parchment. And while he couldn't speak the Black Tongue, he did speak, and he spoke a lot.
Unfortunately, you couldn't decipher his meaning, but you didn't let that deter you. Your curiosity got the better of you, and so you visited him, day after day, week after week until after several months you had learned the Common Tongue and were able to understand his ramblings.
He spoke of his home, and from his tales, you listened, and you learned. He spoke of:
[X] Arnor! Fabled Kingdom of Men, which had fallen most drastically in ages past. This man was the descendant of one of any refugees who had to flee this ancient polity, but while his people were scattered, they did not forget the glory of their past, and now in this dungeon he speaks of it constantly, to himself, to keep sane, to keep hope, to keep alive. And you listened. You listened as he told of the great cities of Annuminas and Fornost, and spoke of the elves, not as the cursed beings your parents did, but as great allies and friends, and he spoke of how the Elder Age was remembered well in Arnor, and great wonders were built… and then he spoke of hate, of the evil magics of Angmar and their Witch-King, he would cry and rage as he shouted at their betrayal, and the evil they did, and despite yourself you found yourself crying as well as you imagined such amazing monuments being lost to greed and hate. You did not make any resolution then, no great promise to yourself, but your thoughts would touch on Arnor much in the years to come and you would never forget how he spoke well of Elves, Men, and Hobbits being able to live in Harmony and build wonders together. (Bonus to Elf, Men and Hobbit diplomacy, bonus to researching and buildings wonders to compare to the First Age, bonus to fighting Thrall effects and whatever you view as evil.)
[X] Gondor! Greatest Kingdom of Men, which has fallen into decline in recent years. This man was a travelling scholar who had decided to explore some unsettled lands when he found himself wondering around where he shouldn't and subsequently capture and placed here. He has taken to reciting his expansive knowledge to keep himself busy in the dull and dreary dungeons, and so he recites the history of his people, and Great Cities of Minas Tirith, Osgiliath, and Linhir, he would speak about how great throngs of men had built the kingdom and how men had thrived in it. He would also speak of its decline, how the Stewards of Gondor had allowed it to fall into disrepair, as nobles indulged in decadence, and the Old Capital of Osgiliath was lost, and never reclaimed, how despite the strength of its armies and navy Gondor had failed to find the will to defend itself and even now declined more and more. You could feel his dread as he thought of the future of his people, and the hopelessness he experienced was a sharp contrast to the pride and joy as he spoke of the past. The Kings of men and failed their people and left a broken system behind them. You thought about this much, how a kingdom could have such strength and still fail because of poor governance. (Bonus to City planning, bonus to an Orc Kingdom for the Orc People, bonus to Constitutional Monarchy research (no failed kings into failed states) bonus to Heavy Infantry and Navy based on Gondor's designs.)
[X] Rohan! Land of the Horse Lords, which has experienced great trouble recently, with an ill King and raiders from the west. This man was a scout of Rohan, whose job it was to head further afield than his brethren and chase rumours of darkness to find threats to his Kingdom, he came to these lands chasing rumours of Orcs… and he found them. He's a bit of an idiot really, but at least he talks to himself and allows you to listen in. You hear him speak of horses a lot, he seems quite proud of them really. Of course, you know that Wargs are better, supposedly, but as you hear him go on and on about glorious charges, and who armies of horsemen you can't help but internalise his love of the mounted unit, and its use on the battlefield. He speaks also of his people's friendship and alliance to Gondor, and seems to vacillate between being proud of the alliance, and also angry that Gondor has not come to his people's aid when asked to. Alliances without guarantees are a fickle thing it seems. (Bonus to Cavalry tactics, bonus to diplomacy and forming alliances, bonus to scouting.)
However, prisoners cannot stay forever, and one day you went to listen to his ramblings, only to find his cell had gone quiet. You looked around for a torch that you might gaze more deeply into his cell, and realised he had disappeared! You hurried to inform the guards, only to be informed in turn that he had not, in fact, escaped, but had been taken away for interrogation and execution.
You weren't sure what to feel about that. Certainly, he was an enemy of your people, but you had also spent months getting to know him, and learnt that much of what you had been told about Men was not actually true… or at least you could no longer believe it as such without seeing it for yourself. You never did see your acquaintance again, nor hear of him. But you did not forget, and you did not stop thinking about what he had told you, about the world, and its people. You began thinking for yourself to, as you considered your own people, and their fate...
A/N: First quest, so it's probably not going to be great. My plan is to basically have us form an independent Orc Kingdom, or another nation, maybe by breaking away early, maybe from waiting for the good guys to take care of them first and then settling down. Should be a fair amount of fighting and city building. I'm thinking that the quest will be fairly narrative to start with as we find our place, and depending on how things go we might go into CK2 style turns for a while, with narrative portions for campaigns or other important events. That seems like a winning format to me at least.
As for limits and such? Well, I can't think of any yet, I'd personally be most interested in an Isengard run, where we maybe go full industrialisation, but I've also thought about the other options and I feel like we could have fun with any of them (thats why I included them instead of just Isengard
). I know I put various bonuses in place, and they represent my 'soft system' feelings right now. No hard system as of yet, not even any ideas on how or even IF we will go for rolls. Depending on how well this goes and how I feel after I put it up I'll probably scrounge around some of my other favourite quests and coop their systems in some unholy amalgamation.
Also, most importantly, let me know what improvements you think I should do for my writing etc! I've been wanting to write for years now, but just… struggled to find the impetus to start. Well, this is that start, and I'm going to be trying to update this quest daily as long as I can, and then weekly if I cannot. My writing will be shoddy, and I'll welcome any suggestions and discussion of future plans so I can try and work things out! Hopefully practice will help me improve.
Edit: Ohh yeah, vote will be called on 6/12/20 10:00 GMT or whenever there are a few votes.
Edit2: And this is going to be crossposted to Spacebattles, votes will be tallied individually and then added together to get a total, which will also be announced on both sites. Double voting is allowed, both because I wont be policing it, and if you want to put forth the effort to do it then good for you
o7
