It had seemed such a simple thing in your head, you would simply march up to Eonwe and ask for forgiveness. Such things as this had happened before after all, Osse, Maia of Ulmo, had once fallen under the influence of Melkor; and his Repentance had seemed such a simple task.

True, that had been from the perspective of the right hand of the very same Dark Vala, and it may have been many ages past what with the lamps being very much long gone by now, still it stood to reason that if Osse 'The Unpredictable' had been able to ask for forgiveness than Mairon 'The Admirable' should be able to do the same.

As it had turned out, your confidence had been harshly misplaced. At first the meeting was more strained than you had hoped. Many in the mighty Host of the Valar had misgivings about you being in the camp at all, armed guard or not.

Eonwe, however, had been rather amiable to you, even allowing you to stay in his tent unguarded even if still unarmed; and even that was mostly a symbolic gesture as both of you knew very well that with sword or without, he was your better in combat, unfortunately many in the host were.

"You know as well as I do that what you ask of me is beyond my power, Mairon." Your spiritual kin has the audacity to look regretful as he tells you these words.

"Surely you can do something, you are the right hand of Manwe himself, grand general of his mighty host even." There are many things you have hated most about the events that have befallen you in Arda since you have left the Timeless Halls of Eru Iluvatar. On arrival to this mortal realm you would have said that the thing you hated most was the fact you could not yet discern who among the many children of The One had been creating the discourse in His great symphony, it was in fact the reason you came to these varied lands, to find out.

"Yet you do not have the power of Melkor, in the same vein, I do not have Manwe's ability to grant you forgiveness." He patiently retorts.

When you had betrayed the Valar, forsaking the proud eyes of Aule and the loving words of Yavanna, for the dark and powerful lies of Melkor; you would have said that the thing you hated most was that only Melkor seemed to understand the tragedy that had befallen Arda, that only he saw the chaos that had been planted in the orderly orchestra of Eru Iluvatar.

If only you had listened to those words, or followed the guidance of those eyes.

"Please Eonwe, I am begging you, if you can do anything for me, let it be this of all things." For a fleeting moment you are shown a vision of those once proud eyes turned cold. You look down from Eonwe's face as you cannot stand the pity you expect to see.

The third time you would change the thing you hated most would be when your Dark Lord came back with those damn jewels, The Silmarils. Some, likely of the cursed line of Feanor, would say that you now hated the Eldar race the most, they would be wrong. Some others would say that you had come to hate the Ainur and their new sun and moon for casting you and your comrades into the darkness, they would also be wrong.

Of all the things that Eru Illuvatar has created, you hate more than all else, Melkor who shall forever be known until the end of time as Morgoth. You saw truly for the first time then, or at least the seed of doubt had been planted by the sundering of those great trees, ready to be grown and harvested by the likes of Gothmog and Glaurung.

For you now see clearly that Morgoth and his foul servants had been that discordance you had heard all those ages ago, his pretty words nothing more than the bait to draw you away from the light.

You hate that even now that light seems ever distant.

"Think about it Mairon, you know Aule would fight for your forgiveness, even Yavanna would easily forgive you for the crimes you have committed, even as terrible as they are." Eonwe briefly startled you out of your thoughts. You scarcely have time to contemplate his words before he sighs and leans forward in his seat.

"Have you heard what they call you now, Mairon?" He gestures to the flap of his tent as he goes to pour him a cup of the drink that had somehow appeared while you were distracted.

You contemplate your words briefly before answering, "Do you mean Gorthaur?" before he is able to fully open his mouth you respond further, "Or perhaps you mean Lu?"

Again you interrupt him, "Or maybe you even meant a title and not a name; well, I seem to be commonly known as 'The Black Hand' among the few of the Eldar I have spoken with since their awakening."

Eonwe looks at you with a look that is hard to decipher, at once it is a look of pity and mirth, and a look of sadness and exhaustion.

He sighs and shakes his head before taking a long sip of his beverage. Once done he set down his cup and looks at you quietly before responding, "In Beleriand, you are called 'The Cruel' by the Eldar." he pause briefly, giving you time to think if nothing else, by his words he must have meant Gorthaur then as that is its meaning in the Elder tongue.

"In Beleriand, you are given the title of 'Father of all Monsters' by mortal Men." Now his point was lost to you, as that was the meaning assigned to Lu and not Gorthaur, as the Eldar knew you had no hand in creating the Werewolves and Vampires, merely the inherent ability of all Ainur to change your shape in this world.

"But Beleriand no longer exists, sunken beneath the waves not long ago now." His pause was now too short to think about what he meant at all.

"So those names are dead, in fact, as are the people who gave them to you." He says matter of factly, before taking one last drink and looking you in the eyes and continuing

"But this name is new, for it is the name that the survivors of the many wars of that sunken land have given you, Sauron." He did not need to tell you the meaning of the name, as of all the souls in Arda be they mortal or otherwise you had perhaps the strongest grasp of the languages of His many children, 'The Abhorred'.

Perhaps you deserved it.

"However," you look back up at him in a hurry, certain that he had already finished laying your many sins bare, "To us Ainur on Aman, you have another name, one far older than any other given to you by Man or Eldar." He stands up, leaving you to look up at him from your chair as a child would to their older sibling. He pats you on the head for a moment before going to leave.

As he reaches the flap of his tent, he turns his head to smile back at your shell shocked form and says quietly, "I hope to see you when I return later, Mairon."

---

After his departure you had stayed there alone for many long hours, reflecting on the past.

You vividly remembered the Song of the Ainur in the Timeless Halls, and the terrible Discordance which had plagued both it and you. The memories of the creation of the Orcs and Dragons, hideous creatures of the chaos you so despise, came unbidden from the dark.

Pretty and dark lies came writhing from the depths of the shadows created by Aule's bright forges. Yet even those fiendish lies were brightened by the birth of the first trees that are brought to bear by the comfortable encouragement of Yavanna.

Endless stars played before your eyes in an unforgettable eulogy to the jewels that had cost nearly everything to everyone on Arda. Many tears were shed in regret of the Two Trees that you had both allowed to be destroyed and had never even gotten to see.

In the end, once Arien's journey had nearly come upon its daily end, you had come to a decision.

Some will deride you for the choice you made on that day, others will curse you until the end of time for that choice that was at once both terrible and bright at once.

The song of Sauron's failed conquest of Middle Earth had ended before the opening notes had even begun to play.

Because ultimately, Mairon had chosen forgiveness.

---

But this story is not the story of how Mairon came to redeem himself for the greater good of middle earth, because just as Sauron's song, Mairon's play was also never told.

Somewhere along the long journey to Aman something had happened, neither Mairon nor the rest of the Ainur knew what happened in that journey, perhaps no one in all of Ea did.

All that the many members of the Host of the Valar knew is that they set off from Endor with 'The Admirable' and they landed at Aman without 'The Admirable'.

For Mairon himself, however, his story would now take a much darker, grimmer path.

He would arrive in an unknown land, neither by boat nor by road, occupied by a race similar yet very different from the Eldar from his past.

These 'Asur' as they called themselves, had named this land of their birth, Ulthuan.

It is 5700 years before the birth of the Imperial Calendar.

Where in Ulthuan has Mairon found himself in these dangerous times?

-Vote one

[ ] Nagarythe: The greatest of the many Kingdoms of Ulthuan, it is here that the popular King Aenarion holds Court, the most populous of the Outer Kingdom's, its people are best known for their stubborn and unrelenting character, no matter the trouble one can count on a Nagarythian to outlast all others.


[ ] Vaul's Heart: A land with few Asur to populate its mountainous depths, however, do not let its small population fool you into thinking those few are weak. For it is here that Vaul, God of the Forge, slaved away for his monumental works with his ever fiery anvil, and it is in his shadow these people's council with the mightiest beasts of creation, Dragons.


[ ] Averlorn: The birthplace of all Asur, every member of every family, no matter how great or small, can trace their lineage back to Averlorn as it is here that the Old Ones birthed them into this world. It is also here that the many Everqueen's Rulers of all Ulthuan will forever hold court. The current Everqueen is Lithrindrion, an old and arrogant woman even for the long lived Asur.


[ ] Yvresse: A land that only recently gained the official title of Kingdom, Yvresse is a bleak coastal region blanketed by fog with an outward appearance of a desolate empty waste of space. It is here however with perhaps the strongest people in all of Ulthuan for they love their Kingdom and Island more than any other Asur could even begin to understand, and it is this love that will drive them to do whatever needs to be done to preserve it no matter the cost.

---

Authors note: Hello and welcome to AMPKC, the idea of this quest was spawned from a discord conversation I had about how Sauron would fit into Warhammer Fantasy, that slowly morphed into this quest about arguably the most recognizable villain in fantasy history trying to redeem himself in one of the darkest settings around.

Now a note on the timeline for this quest, on the LoTR side of this quest this first chapter happens directly post first age, Beleriand has been sunk, Morgoth has been cast into the void, and Mairon is canonically seeking redemption at the camp of the Host of the Valar, in canon Mairon runs away and turns into Sauron, unwilling to accept his punishment from the Valar, he attempts to redeem himself by himself, this of course ends badly. On the Warhammer side of things we are a scant one hundred years prior to the collapse of the polar warp gates, allowing you time to settle in and make a name for yourself among the currently complacent and peaceful elves, before shit goes wrong forever.

As far as quest mechanics go, right now the plan is for this to be a very narrative driven quest with very few dice rolls if any, as I personally do not find number driven quest's to be particularly fun to read, let alone write. The current post schedule is for this to be bi-weekly at most, weekly if I get it done by then.

Please do not post until after I reserve a slot for the character sheet.

The abilities seen here are merely the ones important to you at the moment, this is not a hard and fast list, things can and will be added as the quest goes on.

Name: Mairon 'The Admirable'

Current Title: N/A
Former Titles: Foremost student of Aule, Lieutenant of Morgoth, Commander of Angband, The Black Hand of the North.
Age: Older than creation


Martial Ability:

• Combat Proficiency: Skilled
  • While you can most certainly hold your own in a fight with the average soldiery it has never been a focus of yours, you have always been more focused on the creation of the swords rather than the use of them.
• Tactical command: Veteran
  • In the wars of Beleriand you were not feared for you skill in arms but in command, only surpassed by tacticians of some renown you are in a comfortable spot of being better than most, but not as good as the best.
• Strategic Command: Master
  • Few indeed could claim to be able to surpass you in this art, you were able to lead and outfit tens of thousands of orc's and other such ravenous beats during the wars of Beleriand with a contemptable ease.

Mystic Ability:

• Magical Ability: Ignorant
  • You are wholly unaware of the winds of this new world and as such can not claim to know where you lie in either potential or skill.
• Wizardry: Master
  • Being of the Ainur means you have a baseline ability in wizardry above nearly all mortals in your previous world, and you are below only the Valar in this art.
• Enchantment: Ignorant
  • While you could likely use this skill if you had the know how to, you do not have that know how.
• Investment: Champion
  • This combined with your natural skill of the forge allows you to make works of art and arms of the like that is never seen in this world short of the likes of Vaul or the Ancestor Gods themselves, you are still however beholden to the natural limits of this ability.

Diplomatic Ability:

• Corruption Persuasion: Veteran
  • This is an ability that has yet to truly flower, you certainly have the potential to do great and terrible things with it, but at the moment you are merely well versed enough that kings will at least listen to you instead of shutting you out even as lacking in station as you are.
• Bartering: Skilled
  • You are no merchant, you lack the skills to really be sure you are getting a good deal, however you can rely on your persuasion to at least make sure the other party at least thinks every one is getting a good deal.
• Presence: Veteran
  • Even if you are not exactly important in a given situation, you give off the impression that you are a man to be taken seriously.

Other Abilities:

• Smithing Ability: Champion
  • Rare is the man who can claim to be your equal in the crafting of Mundane works even rarer is the men who can claim to be your better, unlike your ability of Investment, this skill has no limit beyond what materials and tools you have access to at the time.
• Shape Shifting: Ingrained
  • As a Maia you are technically an immortal mass of song and magic, your form is more akin to an outfit then your actual body, and just as with any outfit you can always change into another one at will.
• Song of Power: Master
  • Your mastery of Song be it mundane or of power is a thing of legend and song in arda, it is no different in this world.

So something I forgot too mention that might influence the votes every location here is associated with a character you will be dealing with a lot, most of them obvious, one of them not. I'm not going to explicitly say who those character's are however the pieces are able to be put together.

Something else that will be important to the quest as a whole is the character of Morathi, you will meet her no matter what eventually, however depending on where you choose here, she will be in various stages of her downward spiral caused by nobody believing her visions of chaos's coming.