I think the fishing is more about making the orcs farmers instead of hunter-gatherers and starting them on some kind of trade with the dwarves than simply getting more food.
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A Light from the Shadow (Tolkien CKII)
- Thread starter ganonso
- Start date
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X]Plan Un-orc the orc.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
[X] Plan Healing Light
- Location
- The Great Beyond
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
[X] Plan Terrabrand
-[x] The White Hand :
-[x] People of Stone
-[x] Flora of the Depths:
-[x] Secret of the Dwarves:
-[x] Hunters of the Underworld:
-[x] Lady of Healing:
-[x] Swords to plowshares:
In which I grab everything I want cause the current plans don't. Open to arguments for change.
-[x] The White Hand :
-[x] People of Stone
-[x] Flora of the Depths:
-[x] Secret of the Dwarves:
-[x] Hunters of the Underworld:
-[x] Lady of Healing:
-[x] Swords to plowshares:
In which I grab everything I want cause the current plans don't. Open to arguments for change.
[X]Plan Un-orc the orc.
Turn 2 Results: Plan Unorc the Orc.
ganonso
Compulsive Quest Starter
- Location
- PACA France
Turn 2 Results: Plan Unorc the Orc.
A new year comes, and you prepare to a new journey to hidden Rivendell with the support of Gandalf and the other Istari. Saruman listened well to your tidings even if you felt he was disappointed you didn't find Sauron nor his main servants. While he judges with Mithrandir that the things you saw crawling in Morgoth strongholds could prove dangerous, he deems that the two are far too removed from any civilization to present an immediate danger. Besides you didn't see any hint of Sauron hiding in these forgotten places and he is the main instrument of the Discord present in Arda. Curunir was also very interested by your visions and the fact one could see the very Valar and indeed Morgoth in the Palantir, offering perhaps possibilities of communing with them.
While you returned to Moria to plan your next move, you noticed that the Chief of the Istari seems to view your redemption as a much-needed sign of the Powers of the West and think that you represent a chance of victory in the long defeat.
People of Stone: [64+41: 105: Friendship of Durin]: You meet again with Thrain in his high halls and find him weary of life and death alike, pondering upon old maps and talking of a restlessness filling his bones. While you take note, he wants to depart to the East in the shadows of Mirkwood, which you deem strange as no dwellings of the dwarves exist in the region, he fights the temptation to contemplate recovering lost territory. While you assure him of the truth, that is your Orcs are in no condition to go to war yet and you are not to risk relapse by immersing yourself in the chaos of battle even against the throngs of Gundabad or Smaug the Golden (Albeit you confirm even a fire-dragon would in theory be no match for a Balrog, created as they were at the end of the reign of Morgoth when all his power was already spent). Still while the dwarven-lord lose himself in his dreams of journeys and conquest, his advisors appreciate you more and more. Your larders are so full it's a trivial matter to give extra food to the Dwarves, ensuring they are in no danger of starvation. You even persuade Thrain in one of his more lucid moments to sign oaths and treaties to this effect, buying peace with food and reagents only found in the depths. The corpse of the Child of Ungoliant you fought in your first explorations was also deemed an excellent argument against Dwarves exploring the depths of their old home. Official Alliance between Khazad-Dum and your Orcs. Thrain dreams of Southern Mirkwood for some reason.
Flora of the Depths: [28+27:55: Meagre Harvest]: Your attempts to catalogue the flora of your new home goes well. Considering that your workers are young Orcs whose idea of nature is twisted by the Discord. Some of the elders that remain accompany you in the tunnels and identify at least what species are venomous and what species are edible, but that's all they can do. For most mushrooms and lichen you are forced to use willing test subjects and the results are terrible in their diversity. Fortunately, the inhabitants of Moria had at least correctly catalogued all the deadly species which you order harvested in preparation of a battle with one of the monsters gnawing below. You discover two species of interest. One gives vision and seems to make the body forget pain and fatigue while provoking great joy and silencing fear. You tasted it yourself and the effect, even muted, was astonishing. The other is a lichen that glow in the dark, which you order planted everywhere possible in your domain. You know it's a sign of things created by the darkness they can't abide the light of the sun so you want to make your home as light-filled as possible even if it's just the pale blue phosphorescence of lichen-covered walls. Found hallucinogenic and glowing mushrooms. The first give a bonus when used in religious ceremonies, the second decreases Orcish's fear of light.
Healing Arts:[41+29: 70: From Humble Beginnings]: While Orcs wield medicine, albeit crude and harsh, compared to the arts of other races, teaching them the ways of healing is difficult. You are not a creature of healing even after the shift in your essential nature enabled by Nienna. You are still Fire and fire while cleansing and purifying doesn't heal without pain or consequences. Your students are also handicapped for more often than not the blood that enable them to tune to the music is the blood of the Umaïar linked to the Discord and the denial of life. Thus you labor for the better part of the year, teaching but also learning alongside your students. You decide naturally to build on the foundations they have, trying to make sense of the crude cordial and scarring poultices they already use. In the case of the cordial, you have no other solution for the moment to mingle the foul-tasting brew with alcohol bartered from the Dwarves. You suspect the mirùvor of the Elves is still far from your skill. Yet you can at least train them in the mundane arts of healing, enhanced by some rhymes of ancient lore you remember from your part in the creation of Arda. It's not much but it will have to do, until you get access to a true healer. Orcs a little more proficient in healing.
Winter Wolves: [79+31: 110: Redeemed Packs] At the beginning Morgoth created werewolves by summoning some of your lesser brethren into wolf bodies and making them mate with natural wolves. Of these first, Draugluin who was slain by Hùan was the greatest and the most prolific. While the werewolves of the First Age were intelligent and even able of speech, this trait was apparently lost in the generations, present now only in some pack leaders. How do you know that? Well it so happens that apparently your makeshift kingdom has grown enough to attract the attention of the local packs who ran to you to know if their alliance with the Orcs was still in effect. While most of them are barely sentient, their leaders are equal to the Children in this field and you can converse with them. They know not what you are as no true werewolf has led these Wargs for centuries but they bowed to your power and accepted to learn your lessons. How are they able to teach these lessons back to their more bestial brethren, you don't know but it seems efficient and they seem obedient enough. In fact their leaders are anxious to learn of the Powers in the West that rule over the olvar and kelvar. They are wise enough to distrust their hunger and their age and wish to return to nature if they could. Three Warg Packs offer their allegiance.
Lord of Dreams: [73+31: 104: Lorien the Fair]: Next Post
Give a Man a Fish: [33+27: 60: Bountiful Waters]: While you don't discover much more fishes this year, you manage to teach to the Orcs about farming the vast band of blind beasts. They take to the husbandry of fish with some difficulties but manage to establish zones where they can at least observe the vast cycle of life and death. Even with the Dwarves at neighbors you realize you won't be starving and can in fact import much food. Your Orcs, from the youngest to the oldest are overjoyed and astonished by this realization. It is obvious that, at least during the War of Dwarves and Orcs, starvation was the daily reality of those civilians among the Orcs. A fact you are happy to consign to the past. Orcs are in no danger of starving, Dwarves dependant on Orcish food exports.
A new year comes, and you prepare to a new journey to hidden Rivendell with the support of Gandalf and the other Istari. Saruman listened well to your tidings even if you felt he was disappointed you didn't find Sauron nor his main servants. While he judges with Mithrandir that the things you saw crawling in Morgoth strongholds could prove dangerous, he deems that the two are far too removed from any civilization to present an immediate danger. Besides you didn't see any hint of Sauron hiding in these forgotten places and he is the main instrument of the Discord present in Arda. Curunir was also very interested by your visions and the fact one could see the very Valar and indeed Morgoth in the Palantir, offering perhaps possibilities of communing with them.
While you returned to Moria to plan your next move, you noticed that the Chief of the Istari seems to view your redemption as a much-needed sign of the Powers of the West and think that you represent a chance of victory in the long defeat.
People of Stone: [64+41: 105: Friendship of Durin]: You meet again with Thrain in his high halls and find him weary of life and death alike, pondering upon old maps and talking of a restlessness filling his bones. While you take note, he wants to depart to the East in the shadows of Mirkwood, which you deem strange as no dwellings of the dwarves exist in the region, he fights the temptation to contemplate recovering lost territory. While you assure him of the truth, that is your Orcs are in no condition to go to war yet and you are not to risk relapse by immersing yourself in the chaos of battle even against the throngs of Gundabad or Smaug the Golden (Albeit you confirm even a fire-dragon would in theory be no match for a Balrog, created as they were at the end of the reign of Morgoth when all his power was already spent). Still while the dwarven-lord lose himself in his dreams of journeys and conquest, his advisors appreciate you more and more. Your larders are so full it's a trivial matter to give extra food to the Dwarves, ensuring they are in no danger of starvation. You even persuade Thrain in one of his more lucid moments to sign oaths and treaties to this effect, buying peace with food and reagents only found in the depths. The corpse of the Child of Ungoliant you fought in your first explorations was also deemed an excellent argument against Dwarves exploring the depths of their old home. Official Alliance between Khazad-Dum and your Orcs. Thrain dreams of Southern Mirkwood for some reason.
Flora of the Depths: [28+27:55: Meagre Harvest]: Your attempts to catalogue the flora of your new home goes well. Considering that your workers are young Orcs whose idea of nature is twisted by the Discord. Some of the elders that remain accompany you in the tunnels and identify at least what species are venomous and what species are edible, but that's all they can do. For most mushrooms and lichen you are forced to use willing test subjects and the results are terrible in their diversity. Fortunately, the inhabitants of Moria had at least correctly catalogued all the deadly species which you order harvested in preparation of a battle with one of the monsters gnawing below. You discover two species of interest. One gives vision and seems to make the body forget pain and fatigue while provoking great joy and silencing fear. You tasted it yourself and the effect, even muted, was astonishing. The other is a lichen that glow in the dark, which you order planted everywhere possible in your domain. You know it's a sign of things created by the darkness they can't abide the light of the sun so you want to make your home as light-filled as possible even if it's just the pale blue phosphorescence of lichen-covered walls. Found hallucinogenic and glowing mushrooms. The first give a bonus when used in religious ceremonies, the second decreases Orcish's fear of light.
Healing Arts:[41+29: 70: From Humble Beginnings]: While Orcs wield medicine, albeit crude and harsh, compared to the arts of other races, teaching them the ways of healing is difficult. You are not a creature of healing even after the shift in your essential nature enabled by Nienna. You are still Fire and fire while cleansing and purifying doesn't heal without pain or consequences. Your students are also handicapped for more often than not the blood that enable them to tune to the music is the blood of the Umaïar linked to the Discord and the denial of life. Thus you labor for the better part of the year, teaching but also learning alongside your students. You decide naturally to build on the foundations they have, trying to make sense of the crude cordial and scarring poultices they already use. In the case of the cordial, you have no other solution for the moment to mingle the foul-tasting brew with alcohol bartered from the Dwarves. You suspect the mirùvor of the Elves is still far from your skill. Yet you can at least train them in the mundane arts of healing, enhanced by some rhymes of ancient lore you remember from your part in the creation of Arda. It's not much but it will have to do, until you get access to a true healer. Orcs a little more proficient in healing.
Winter Wolves: [79+31: 110: Redeemed Packs] At the beginning Morgoth created werewolves by summoning some of your lesser brethren into wolf bodies and making them mate with natural wolves. Of these first, Draugluin who was slain by Hùan was the greatest and the most prolific. While the werewolves of the First Age were intelligent and even able of speech, this trait was apparently lost in the generations, present now only in some pack leaders. How do you know that? Well it so happens that apparently your makeshift kingdom has grown enough to attract the attention of the local packs who ran to you to know if their alliance with the Orcs was still in effect. While most of them are barely sentient, their leaders are equal to the Children in this field and you can converse with them. They know not what you are as no true werewolf has led these Wargs for centuries but they bowed to your power and accepted to learn your lessons. How are they able to teach these lessons back to their more bestial brethren, you don't know but it seems efficient and they seem obedient enough. In fact their leaders are anxious to learn of the Powers in the West that rule over the olvar and kelvar. They are wise enough to distrust their hunger and their age and wish to return to nature if they could. Three Warg Packs offer their allegiance.
Lord of Dreams: [73+31: 104: Lorien the Fair]: Next Post
Give a Man a Fish: [33+27: 60: Bountiful Waters]: While you don't discover much more fishes this year, you manage to teach to the Orcs about farming the vast band of blind beasts. They take to the husbandry of fish with some difficulties but manage to establish zones where they can at least observe the vast cycle of life and death. Even with the Dwarves at neighbors you realize you won't be starving and can in fact import much food. Your Orcs, from the youngest to the oldest are overjoyed and astonished by this realization. It is obvious that, at least during the War of Dwarves and Orcs, starvation was the daily reality of those civilians among the Orcs. A fact you are happy to consign to the past. Orcs are in no danger of starving, Dwarves dependant on Orcish food exports.
ganonso
Compulsive Quest Starter
- Location
- PACA France
The Dwarves have some leadership problems. Mostly the fact that their king wants to take a hike in Mirkwood for some reason, rather than governing.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Theunderbolt
"Prepare for trouble..."
- Location
- USoA
- Location
- Too Deep in the Midnight Sea
We have to explain everything to Thrain. Possibly publicly and frankly, to set aside from the beginning any accusation of ill intention.
Theunderbolt
"Prepare for trouble..."
- Location
- USoA
I mean if anything we can appeal to Thorin and the council if he's resistant to giving it up.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Heck, just point out keeping it in his vault, away from himself would be ideal.
- Location
- Too Deep in the Midnight Sea
Maybe suggest giving it to someone he trusts for safekeeping and tell him to notice how unnaturally strong his longing for it becomes as he keeps it away?
Theunderbolt
"Prepare for trouble..."
- Location
- USoA
Yeah I can agree to that.
I'm just worried about triggering that Dwarven greed trait.
- Location
- The World
Well crap. Sauron is calling Thrain to Mirkwood via his Ring.
Rivendell parrt 1
ganonso
Compulsive Quest Starter
- Location
- PACA France
Rivendell Part 1:
For the third time, you leave Moria in the able hands of your disciples, confident dwarven oaths and the magicians you're training will ensure you don't find the place torn apart. Still you long for both the day you will able to stop worrying when you leave like that and the day when you will be accompanied by your children and servants in these journeys. Even after two years, Orcs are too rough to be trusted as diplomats, and you must accustom the leaders of the Free People to not shoot your people on sight. Fortunately seeing Elrond Half-Elven, who is the closest to be the High King of the Noldor will advance your cause. Even if isolated, both Olorin and Curunir assured you Elrond still receives dwarves and men in his home, spreading the news of your return and the change you've enacted to the courts of men.
Not for the first time you are astonished by the rarity of life you encounter in your journeys. The first leg of your journey is spent in old Eregion ravaged by the armies of Sauron during the Second Age. Apparently, nobody ever returned to these lands. That surprises you. You don't know the psyche of the Elves but you're nearly sure that, in these rare times when they actually regained territory in Beleriand, they colonized it anew. If not the Second-born should have established themselves. You know there are villages and hill-forts not so far in the South where the Dunlendings dwell. From what you remember to the North of Rivendell remain the pitiful shambles of Rhudaur, another people who could have try to inhabit this region.
Speaking of that, what happened to the Kingdom of the North after the destruction of the Witch-King? What the Dwarves described to you make little sense. Even if Angmar had exterminated every inhabitant, which they seem to have not done, there should be more than some villages in the region. Thabard and the other cities should have been rebuilt. If we were talking about Maïar you would understand, but to Men, the fall of Arnor dates of a thousand year at least, an eternity for them.
Strangely you have these thoughts among the dilapidated stones of the House of Jewelers, where the Rings were forged. Not that you knew that of course. You saw only a ruin until the sound of hooves dragged you from your morbid reverie. A gaze and you were smiling, whistling a greeting to the grey robed rider. Mithrandir greeted you in kind and, apparently going to Rivendell himself, he accepted to make the way with you, and even to share his horse with you.
It's there you noticed you never had the idea to have a weapon on you. Of course, after reflection you are sure it's because you can assume the form of the Valarauka and thus have weapons forged from the matter of the world available to you. But still what a difference with Gandalf the grey who, for all his seeming as a harmless old man, still bears a keen sword of steel at his belt. Like when you saw him in Isengard you wonder on what roads he wandered and what he saw on them. For where Curunir appears as old but simply venerable, Olorin appears as weathered by time and trial. Yet he claims no precedence over you, despite him being your elder and uncorrupted. It encourages you, one night near the fire to ask the question burning your lips.
"Why these deserts? Why these wastes? When a forest burns, it grows anew yet everywhere I cast my eyes I see places where none come back. Are there creatures here I cannot sense that could destroy a reborn city?"
Gandalf the Grey listens then chews on a time on his pipe, eyes lost in thoughts. Then he answers:
"The Wise do not know for sure what is the cause. Here apparently, the memory of the Jewelers endure and no mortal men not of the Edain is comfortable in Eregion. Other places where the Elves reigned and were ousted are like that for their power is still great over the land." Still. As if destined to disappear. It will come a time when the shadow of their presence will fade as they leave all Middle-Earth or fade away in streams and forests. "In other places such as Arnor, what was done to the land and the people by the servants of the Enemy was more than physical atrocities. All attempts by the heirs of Isildur to rebuild their kingdom were in vain. Some of our fallen brothers make their dwellings there and nights are dark and full of terror." He breathes deeply and then achieves. "It is my hope than when the Enemy will be cast down his throne and reduced to nothing, the scars his servants left will heal. Or perhaps." He nearly smiles at the thought. "Perhaps that Nienna redeemed you to aid in this healing ere the war goes hot again."
These are your last words for the night.
After several days of journey, you see at last the Bruinen of Rivendell and are immediately accosted by an armed escort. Most of it are elves but there are some men, albeit clad in elvish fashion. Yet among them, one stand taller than the others. His plate is of silvery mithril, his helm letting flow long golden hair is set with gems, shining brightly even in the clear day. In his eyes the light of Aman shines undimmed. And in the Unseen world you see his shape, distinct but rivaling the sun in splendor, mightier than any, save perhaps Galadriel, you ever met since beginning your journeys.
When he announces himself as Glorfindel, you sense you should remember something but what? He demands you announce yourself, before bringing you to Elrond.
[] Write-in
For the third time, you leave Moria in the able hands of your disciples, confident dwarven oaths and the magicians you're training will ensure you don't find the place torn apart. Still you long for both the day you will able to stop worrying when you leave like that and the day when you will be accompanied by your children and servants in these journeys. Even after two years, Orcs are too rough to be trusted as diplomats, and you must accustom the leaders of the Free People to not shoot your people on sight. Fortunately seeing Elrond Half-Elven, who is the closest to be the High King of the Noldor will advance your cause. Even if isolated, both Olorin and Curunir assured you Elrond still receives dwarves and men in his home, spreading the news of your return and the change you've enacted to the courts of men.
Not for the first time you are astonished by the rarity of life you encounter in your journeys. The first leg of your journey is spent in old Eregion ravaged by the armies of Sauron during the Second Age. Apparently, nobody ever returned to these lands. That surprises you. You don't know the psyche of the Elves but you're nearly sure that, in these rare times when they actually regained territory in Beleriand, they colonized it anew. If not the Second-born should have established themselves. You know there are villages and hill-forts not so far in the South where the Dunlendings dwell. From what you remember to the North of Rivendell remain the pitiful shambles of Rhudaur, another people who could have try to inhabit this region.
Speaking of that, what happened to the Kingdom of the North after the destruction of the Witch-King? What the Dwarves described to you make little sense. Even if Angmar had exterminated every inhabitant, which they seem to have not done, there should be more than some villages in the region. Thabard and the other cities should have been rebuilt. If we were talking about Maïar you would understand, but to Men, the fall of Arnor dates of a thousand year at least, an eternity for them.
Strangely you have these thoughts among the dilapidated stones of the House of Jewelers, where the Rings were forged. Not that you knew that of course. You saw only a ruin until the sound of hooves dragged you from your morbid reverie. A gaze and you were smiling, whistling a greeting to the grey robed rider. Mithrandir greeted you in kind and, apparently going to Rivendell himself, he accepted to make the way with you, and even to share his horse with you.
It's there you noticed you never had the idea to have a weapon on you. Of course, after reflection you are sure it's because you can assume the form of the Valarauka and thus have weapons forged from the matter of the world available to you. But still what a difference with Gandalf the grey who, for all his seeming as a harmless old man, still bears a keen sword of steel at his belt. Like when you saw him in Isengard you wonder on what roads he wandered and what he saw on them. For where Curunir appears as old but simply venerable, Olorin appears as weathered by time and trial. Yet he claims no precedence over you, despite him being your elder and uncorrupted. It encourages you, one night near the fire to ask the question burning your lips.
"Why these deserts? Why these wastes? When a forest burns, it grows anew yet everywhere I cast my eyes I see places where none come back. Are there creatures here I cannot sense that could destroy a reborn city?"
Gandalf the Grey listens then chews on a time on his pipe, eyes lost in thoughts. Then he answers:
"The Wise do not know for sure what is the cause. Here apparently, the memory of the Jewelers endure and no mortal men not of the Edain is comfortable in Eregion. Other places where the Elves reigned and were ousted are like that for their power is still great over the land." Still. As if destined to disappear. It will come a time when the shadow of their presence will fade as they leave all Middle-Earth or fade away in streams and forests. "In other places such as Arnor, what was done to the land and the people by the servants of the Enemy was more than physical atrocities. All attempts by the heirs of Isildur to rebuild their kingdom were in vain. Some of our fallen brothers make their dwellings there and nights are dark and full of terror." He breathes deeply and then achieves. "It is my hope than when the Enemy will be cast down his throne and reduced to nothing, the scars his servants left will heal. Or perhaps." He nearly smiles at the thought. "Perhaps that Nienna redeemed you to aid in this healing ere the war goes hot again."
These are your last words for the night.
After several days of journey, you see at last the Bruinen of Rivendell and are immediately accosted by an armed escort. Most of it are elves but there are some men, albeit clad in elvish fashion. Yet among them, one stand taller than the others. His plate is of silvery mithril, his helm letting flow long golden hair is set with gems, shining brightly even in the clear day. In his eyes the light of Aman shines undimmed. And in the Unseen world you see his shape, distinct but rivaling the sun in splendor, mightier than any, save perhaps Galadriel, you ever met since beginning your journeys.
When he announces himself as Glorfindel, you sense you should remember something but what? He demands you announce yourself, before bringing you to Elrond.
[] Write-in
- Location
- ferreries
Welp, this is going to be awkward.
Glorfindel actually survived in this AU?
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
- Location
- Too Deep in the Midnight Sea
From what I know, Tolkien was never clear if the Glorfindel of Lotr is the same elf reborn and sent to Middle Earth or just a namesake.
Either way, we should totally mention the good old times when we destroyed everything he held dear.
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