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A Light from the Shadow (Tolkien CKII)

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Turn 1 Results : Plan Avatar
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    • Turn 1 Results : Plan Avatar

    Introduction: Saruman the White :     See Next Post

    People of Stone: [55+41:96: Great Success]. The display of your powers during the battle is still fresh enough in memories that none of the guards dare put obstacles on your way to the new Lord of Moria and lord of the Children of Durin. You know relatively few things about the dwarves. For all tales say the Aftercomers were little in the thought of Melkor, the Children of Aule were even less. You haven't any memories of dwarves serving the Shadow willingly like Maeglin served it or the sons of Ulfang worshipped it. Their creator crafted them for hardship and resistance and thus you are not surprised to see them stubborn in negotiation and jealous of their rights. Still their hearts are not stony yet and they listen your prayers of assistance and peace. You see that Thrain is wearier than usual and the ring on his finger seem heavy as sin and yet he makes his oath to not venture in the deeper levels. There will be no conflict between the two races during your journey to Saruman's tower. It warms your heart but still you have the feeling that you are struggling against the inevitable here.

    Explore the Mines: [10+27:37: Failure]: At first the exploration of the tunnels seems to proceed with all due haste, that is until you depart definitively the zones delved by the Dwarves to enter the places gnawed upon by strange beasts born from the Discord. Yet it is not one of these that makes you end the mapping for a moment. Indeed, as you lead a small team of intrepid Orcs in the labyrinth, you stumble in a cave where darkness seems alive and hungering. Reeling from half remembered memories, you dismissed the explorers and plunged in the shadows. Where you promptly were swept away in a web of tunnels with only the chittering of a strange creature. After who knows how many hours, the creature attacked revealing itself as a senior member of Ungoliant's noxious brood. You killed it of course, you are a creature of fire still and were part of the strike force that repelled their mother at the height of her power. Still you decided to forbid any exploration for the moment.

    The Great Music: [95+24:119: Exceptional Success]: You took the ten would-be sorcerers from their village and advanced towards the surface. You have no trust in the depths you so long slumbered in for you know that the places where Discord held sway are often durably tainted. No sense opening prospective minds to corruption when you want to tune them to the great harmony of the universe. So you brought them in the outside world and they followed. Despite your wonderings about how the Dwarves would react if they saw you sitting beneath the stars along the Mirrormere, nothing happenened. There you encouraged your apprentices to cast their perception, to see and hear beyond the material. It was difficult. You don't understand how Morgoth despoiled the Children of Eru to make the Orcs for this work was not the Valaraukar's, not even mighty Gothmog, but Sauron's and other subtler agents torn from the service of Mandos. Still it appears it did not tied their fear to the Discord entirely for your apprentices heard the Music in the water, the earth and the sky being ready to learn more.

    Taming Trolls: [45+31:71 Marginal Success]: You have no idea how to tame animals and you dare not trust in the Orcs traditional ways of breaking the Trolls to their will. Still you manage to learn a little about the beasts. They are beasts and animals, or at least those who have established their dwellings in the darkness of Moria are. There are tales, and your own memories, about intelligent Trolls but you don't understand the process. Morgoth struggled to create anything sentient but the fact that these creatures have no fea to speak of excite a part of your interest. Yet you manage to capture a few and let the Orcs train them with humane methods, which makes things go much longer as neither them, nor you for that matter, have a very good idea on how to do it. Still you managed to find ten or so Trolls (apparently of both genders, albeit you have to trust the Orcs on that point). They can be good workers or soldiers at your leisure.

    Masters of Spirits: See a next post: [68+26:94: Great Success]

    Give a man a fish…: [95+27:122 Exceptional Success]:     The Lord of Waters apparently kept his power in even the sunless rivers that run through the monster-haunted depths. The great black lakes are literally swarming with fishes of any sort and their flesh is delicious. Some of them are choked by great banks of kelp and vegetation feeding an entire ecosystem. You give praise to the Powers for the bounty that remained and proceed to try to teach the Orcs about sustainable fishing. It occurs that they know a little about it and their numbers are so low compared to the teeming life their nets and hooks take only a small part of the spoils. Even more encouraging, tales and legends assure there's a deep watery abyss below the Bridge of Khazad-dum and it must be teeming with even more life.
     
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    • Well, overall this seems quite promising. Even the exploring wasn't that bad of a failure, because it revealed the sheer level of risk.

    In the future, now we can prepare more.
     
    Professor Vesca said:
    We need a sharp pointy metal thing to hit people with.

    We can call it a cane.
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    I like this, but more like a spear-staff combo, with a multi-barbed blade on the end. Combined with our fire manipulation powers, we can heat the spear with FIRE, thus gaining bonus damage!


    ...

    I just went full RPG, didn't I? *skulks off in shame*
     
    Well you did hit the second worst result on that roll to explore the mines.

    The worst result (less than 5 to the roll) was marked in my notes : "Rogue Umaïa" so that was close.
     
    The Thrain part of the update makes me think that next turn we should spill the beans about the ring to him. Maybe not ask him to destroy it, but explain the effects it has on the mortals.
     
    Walkin' Man said:
    The Thrain part of the update makes me think that next turn we should spill the beans about the ring to him. Maybe not ask him to destroy it, but explain the effects it has on the mortals.
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    We don't really know the side effects.
    We know that Galadriel has no appearant trouble and that's it. Never seen a Nazghul or a dwarf in extreme greed.
    We can propably guess that something bad might come from it, just from the fact that it's made with discore, but to find out specifics we'll have to take the "Study the Ring" option next turn.
     
    ganonso said:
    Well you did hit the second worst result on that roll to explore the mines.

    The worst result (less than 5 to the roll) was marked in my notes : "Rogue Umaïa" so that was close.
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    Would it have been that bad though? I mean there's an outside chance we might have been able to diplomance it into trying out redemption. If not we could have squished it.
     
    The Masters of Spirit
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    • The Masters of Spirit

    You have gathered before you what remains of the elders of the Orcish villages you have in your guard and no few of the youths that didn't leave for war at the behest of Azog. You feel pity in seeing them for you gaze upon malnourished limbs, mutilated faces, ravaged flesh. Orcs were made to be hardy and survive nearly anything the world could throw at them but they were also crafted to be scarred and repulsive, their ugliness a calculated insult to Eru Allfather. Yet you see no ugliness in the throng gathered along you for, with the eyes of Nienna, you see them as wounded, broken, bent and twisted to horrid purpose but not ugly. Some of the oldest seem possessed with a sad majesty, their emaciated faces broken in trying to understand why they are here. In the youngest you have hope for even twisted shoots can grow into fair trees. And most of them are young enough to be tainted only by the shame of their birth and the sins of their maker.

    You see both male and female in that assembly. How curious it is that despite their presence on the battlefield and elsewere the women of the Orcs appeared not in tales, and neither did the children of that race for that matter. Sometimes you wonder if the Children of Eru are even aware how their enemies reproduce or if they believe such legends as how Orcs were born of stone and mud given life by Melkor. Such tale you heard from the Dwarves and laughed at the hearing. If Morgoth had the power to breathe life to stone, he would have been mightier than any Vala by far. No the Secret Fire of awareness and consciousness is only Eru's to give and even to Aule, this gift was given but once in an immortal's life.

    You gathered them to talk to them about the Valar. From what you observed Orcish religion is strange but not illogical. They seem, like Humans and Avari, to worship whatever is near them and have only dim memories of the mutilation of their ancestors. Those in Moria worshipped you of course as a power they could sense through their alignment to Discord and who encouraged them to more atrocities. From Morgoth or Sauron they heard only rumors in the dark and whisper in the endless nights of the cave. As for the fate that waits for them after they shed their mortal forms, you don't know but they seem to hold that their fea return to the darkness to be extinguished or disappear entirely. In that last proposition, you recognize an all too common lie Melkor made to Humans. Still they have no notion of the Powers of the West, which is strange as you remember the contingents of Angband being in fear of Tulkas and the dread Maïar that would one-day lay siege to the stronghold. Orome in particular was feared beyond all for the Hunter was always keen to remedy to aberrations in the Music.

    So you talk to them about your masters among the Powers, about the Masters of Spirits that have in their charge the most esoteric parts of creation and perhaps the most relevant to their situations.

    You speak of Mandos the Doomsman that wait for any living thing. You tell them they have a fea, a spark that never will die or be consumed by the darkness but will depart the Circles of the World like the Aftercomers and go to a place without pain or shadow. As they are mortals the Halls of Mandos are not for them but your speech makes them trust in the mercy of the One and his promise to mankind. You speak of what you know of the prophecies of Mandos but also how even he cannot see all that transpire on the world.

    You speak of his spouse Vaire the Weaver and expounds on fate in the world. You tell them they have a destiny they can meet, something weaved in the Music before it was marred and dismal possibilities that were introduced by the marring. What their destinies are, you don't know, for free will is of the Maker's gifts the most precious but you are sure they made a step towards it by not being under the dominion of Azog. As you are sure your redemption saved you from an unpleasant fate and the long decay that follow any attachment to the Discord.

    You speak of Lorien lord of dreams and discover that Orcs dream despite all efforts of the Umaïar to the contrary. And not only bitter nightmares of blood and ruin but remembrances and ancestral memories about the time where their forebears were Elves walking under the sun. They are buried deeply but there's still in part that drove them to such rage in the prime of their age. For as they suffer, they feel a longing for what they cannot have and never had, for sensations robbed from them and values they've been taught to hate. You hope that by talking to them about the poppies gardens of Valinor, you can assuage some of their torment.

    You speak of Este his spouse, the mistress of all healing arts and you promise them an escape to all pain with her guidance. Most of them are misshapen by centuries of inbreeding and degeneration added to all the plagues Morgoth's servants let loose in their blood. So they are keen to understand the blessings of a healer. While they have their own medicine, crude but extremely effective, you teach them what you know about minor applications of herbs and spells, at least about how to enhance a little their disgusting cordial and their ointments. You hope that the Healer will smile on them

    Lastly you speak of Nienna the Mourner you now follow. You speak of she who mourns for every path not taken and every harm done to the world and assure them they have an advocate in Valinor. Perhaps because you owe that to her who showed you the path to redemption, you depict her as the blessed lady that will in time see them all in the farthest shore and listen to their sorrows as she listens to everything. For Melkor she still mourns, for what he could have been and may yet be.

    Strangely enough Orcs take to worship rather well, and learn what prayers and rituals you impart to them. Apparently, and not unsurprisingly considering the great slaughter you wrought, the afterlife was a subject of worry for them and they are thankful to have answers. You can expect the Masters of Spirits to be revered among each of the three villages you administer.
     
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    • Nan Curunir part 1
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    • Nan Curunir part 1

    Long is the road to the great tower of Orthanc near the greatest pass in the Misty Mountains. Long and harsh to do on foot, as you have no mount and you cannot hope to be well received if you travel with the form Nienna allowed you in remembrance of your first glory. Furthermore you cannot help but wonder that this form should only be employed for deeds worthy of song, especially as you understand that these wizards that elves call the Istari, are restricted in power to not impress the people of Middle Earth and fight Sauron power to power in a struggle of might who would corrupt them to the core. Also you have acquired a taste for the pain your old fana gives you. It's not like the pleasure of the depraved but the great ecstasy of penance and atonement as you understand that ages of torment would not suffice to undo the part you took in the Great Marring and the audacious rapt. So you walk for days, old but quick until you arrive to this place which is called Nan Curunir, the Wizard's Vale

    The valley is beautiful, filled with trees and boughs where Saruman must walk in peace, meditating the course of the war and pondering the devices of the Enemy. It is of course nothing compared to the majesty of Lothlorien where winter is unknown. Still you feel the Music in there too, different but potent, as if many instruments though muted let forth a great melody, remembering echoes of old glory. And of course there's the tower itself which hold your gaze as soon as your eyes meet it. It is a long needle of black stone, stronger than obsidian but alike in that you can see your reflection dimly displayed in the ancient stones. By the art of the Men of Numenor was this tower erected and their craftsmanship still show as no sign of wear or any injuries of time can be noticed. Furthermore, the tower disappears above the cloud and you can spy a little of its crowned summit, Orthanc where Saruman gazes at the stars of Varda. You see no guards opposing your entry as you walk a cleared path leading to a great staircase where the wizards await. The trek is no more trial than the mountain's passes and treacherous way you already passed. Still you see your kin, three of them while you were expecting only one.

    One is tall and clad entirely in white. White velvet, on white silk on white linen, embroidered with an art surpassing the craft of mortals. He's standing tall and not bent by age or grief, proud and serene as a colossus alone in the clouds. His hair and beard are white as snow although light playing with their whiteness makes them seem to be bright and changing like clear water. His staff is long and black and a ring is on his finger. In his eyes you sense dreams of crafting, of gears turning of earth crumbling, dreams of thoughts and knowledge that will one day be discovered. The Music around him sings his name: Curunir. He looks at you, shining with calm authority, sure and serene.

    The second is crooked like you and clad in elven grey. At first it seems to you he's in rags but with further thoughts you see his clothes are sturdy as a travelers' would and in good shape. Seeing you he reasserts himself and you see him as an old man untroubled by the weariness of age and still valiant in spite of its pains. His hair and beard are not disheveled but not inhumanly groomed as they fall like rain on his shoulders. His staff is a long cypress branch made more for walking than the staff of office of his kin. His eyes echo with the same voice as yours, with mourning and compassion, and good when evil could have been chosen, and evil serving to good. Above that yet is the cry of an eagle. The Music around him sings his name: Olorin. He's smiling to you and his free hand is nearly extended in welcome.

    The third is the most disheveled and savage of the three. While fat is not a world you would employ to qualify him, it's the impression he gives. An old brown bear crowned with birds and flowers. His robes are of dirty brown and his staff is of living yew, a living branch bearing leaves and berries. He's crowned with flowers and grass and birds attend him and sing around him in chorus. In his eyes you hear the cry of many birds and the howl of many beasts but also the long patience of all growing things and the power of nature uncorrupted. The Music around him sings his name: Aiwendil. He looks weary and waiting for the others to indicate a direction.

    [First Impression roll: 26+30(Word of Galadriel+ Hand of the Powers – Ancient Adversary)+78: 104: Return of the Prodigal Son ]

    "Greetings Istar of Nienna! Greetings Herald of Mercy. Wisdom and help you have come to seek in these troubled times and you came to the right place. Long ages had passed since one of the Powers came to the Light from the Shadow rather than the reverse. The touch of the Lady of Compassion is upon you, plain to see and I grieve for your penance. Welcome to Orthanc and to the circle of your brothers."

    [Roll:26-40(Earnest Praise- The Voice of Saruman) +5: -11: Speech of Aman]

    This voice! Even Galadriel who saw the two Trees in flower and keeps her light in her eyes was not so sweet and regal as this. You see him as more king and mighty lord than wizards, chief of the Wise and great instrument of the Music against the Discord. The two others have almost dissaperead so is the beauty of Curunir's voice that carries to you perfume from the fair lands to the West you never saw.

    What will you do?

    [] Write in.
     
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    • Finagle007 said:
    Be EXTREMELY careful here. Saruman's Voice is by far his greatest tool.
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    Yeah you see the Voice of Saruman in the chapter of the Two Towers where he nearly convinces everyone among the Rohirrim to forgive him?

    That was fallen Saruman devoid of most of his power. At this time? He's not yet fallen and his voice is his right as chief envoy of Aman in Middle-Earth
     
    Perhaps we should remember we once followed another who also was persuasive as well as mighty. Look where that blind loyalty got us.
     
    Saruman is not a foe (yet, if at all), neither fallen to the darkness nor falling. He, and Gandalf, and Radagast, all three gathered to greet us as family welcoming back a long-estranged sibling. Likely with wary pleasure that at long last, one of the Maia who chose Discord has returned from it. The only time that's happened without duplicity was with Osse, and he was a Maia of Ulmo that was only shortly temped to Morgoth's service. Of the Valaraukar, there is only us.

    I do not think we should take this lightly, but I seriously don't think that the Istari are going to try screwing us over.
     
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    Dark Abstraction said:
    Saruman is not a foe (yet, if at all), neither fallen to the darkness nor falling. He, and Gandalf, and Radagast, all three gathered to greet us as family welcoming back a long-estranged sibling. Likely with wary pleasure that at long last, one of the Maia who chose Discord has returned from it. The only time that's happened without duplicity was with Osse, and he was a Maia of Ulmo that was only shortly temped to Morgoth's service. Of the Valaraukar, there is only us.

    I do not think we should take this lightly, but I seriously don't think that the Istari are going to try screwing us over.
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    Good analysis albeit I would temper it. You are not the only Umaïa to be redeemed. There was a big bunch of captures and willing surrender in the siege of Utumno and a smaller one in the aftermath of the War of Wrath where some of Morgoth's servants took the offer Sauron's refused.
    But yes you are the highest ranked servant of the Shadow to have been redeeme. And yes the Istari are not going to screw you over There's a chance to screw up the meeting but it'll result more in "polite dismissal in the White Councils" than anything drastic. Or not but I sincerely doubt you are going to choose the very worst option
     
    ganonso said:
    Good analysis albeit I would temper it. You are not the only Umaïa to be redeemed. There was a big bunch of captures and willing surrender in the siege of Utumno and a smaller one in the aftermath of the War of Wrath where some of Morgoth's servants took the offer Sauron's refused.
    But yes you are the highest ranked servant of the Shadow to have been redeeme. And yes the Istari are not going to screw you over There's a chance to screw up the meeting but it'll result more in "polite dismissal in the White Councils" than anything drastic. Or not but I sincerely doubt you are going to choose the very worst option
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    Come now, I have complete faith in SV to fuck things up at the worst possible time. Not without what seems like good reason mind you.
     
    [] Plan Spiritual Saving Throw
    -[] "Brother Curumo! Your words and voice truly shine strongly enough to fill the world. Why, it feels like nothing can stand in your presence without being eclipsed. I cannot recall any others in history so compelling, save Luthien whose song put Morgoth to sleep, and Sauron himself, when he still went under Mairon's guise."
    --[] ... wait a minute.

    I'm not sure if this can be refined into something usable or if I should pretend I intended it as a joke...

    Maybe leave it as an internal contemplation?

    [X] Plan "No, no Kingdom even for your Best Horse"

    [X] Curumo's words and voice truly shine strongly enough to fill the world. Why, it feels like nothing can stand in his presence without being eclipsed. It is as though oration was as part of his being as the craft of Aule, whom he serves. It makes you wonder if perhaps Aule's children have some inherent ability to sway all who listen to them, like Aule himself did Eru when he created the Stone Children. You cannot imagine any being so compelling other than Sauron when he still went under Mairon's guise, himself one of Aule's best. Save perhaps Luthien whose song put even Morgoth to sleep, and Galadriel is as close to her as any among the living can hope to be, yet even she did not instill such awe.
    -[X] ... that might be a matter of concern, now that you think of it. Are you prone to extreme reactions when confronted with the charismatic? You've already fallen once due to exactly that, you do not want to fall to the same tunnel vision you once did, even if this situation has nothing in common with the Fall of Melkor. Still, while it's fortunate you don't have to worry about that here, thinking twice about your comportment and especially reactions might be warranted for the foreseeable future.
    --[X] Greet your brother-Ainur in turn. Make sure you devote your entire attention to each of them as you do so, manifesting your Fea as clearly and forthrightly as Saruman's own and beholding each of them as clearly and deliberately as you can without slighting them. If you're right about you being susceptible to those with high force of personality, the way Olorin and Aiwendil faded from your attention so easily might very well be at least half your own fault. Carefully keep mental track of your emotional state throughout. You're going to nip this problem of yours in the bud here, if it turns out to be real.

    Ended up kind of verbose, which is an issue of mine unfortunately.

    Still, justification time! So far, we've been straightforward with pretty much everyone, as well as reasonable. However, we've also been quite introspective and shown a tendency to think about past events and people when drawing comparisons or studying things and people. With Curumo and Mairon both originally of Aule, and both being good orators, I imagine a comparison wouldn't be out of the question here.

    Given our history, I can't imagine we know about Saruman's personal history with Radagast (how he was ordered to take Aiwendil along and the resentment/contempt that led him to develop) so we don't have that possible train of thought to draw on. However, being worried about a relapse is totally in-character, so we can draw on that.
     
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