The Dragon is Withered
Five years as passed since the death of the Greatest of Calamities; and now the free people of Middle-earth can finally live without fear, for with the end of his reign a veil of fear as been lifted. The dwarves are returning to the Lonely Mountain and King Brand has started to rebuilt the great city of Dale; on the other side of the Misty Mountains the Dunedain report less incursion from the servant of Morgoth and the kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan stand strong and proud.
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Welcome to a Quest set in the world of Arda, let us immerge in the most favourite fantasy world that has ever been.
In this quest you will take up the duty of a leader of a small community that has just been founded; despite the apparent peace that is now enjoyed the darkness still linger, always ready to return if the vigil of men should falter.
This is a Plan Quest. Each action has a target to be reache dif you want to complete it.
You will obtain 1 Dice every 100 population, you can lose a Dice to create a military unit
In this Quest you will have two type of consumables; the first is Silver, this represent the various coins that are in your coffers, they are used to pay for actions and the army. The other consumable are Resources, those are created by various buildings and actions and are used in two ways: one is to pay for some actions, the other is to be sold as trade goods, earnings Silver in exchange of their consumption.
This Quest is heavily inspired by Third Age Divide and Conquer mod for Medieval 2 Total War, so the units and buildings are mostly taken from the game, there will be some change but the mechanics are those.
Finally each turn will encompass a period of six months so there will be time before the event of The Lord of the Rings
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The Northmen are scattered across all of Middle-earth and the differences between the various groups are significant but the three most important groups are the Free People of Bree, the Kingdom of Dale and the Vale of Dorwinion
[] Free People of Bree: Once was the Kingdom of Arnor. Long was its decline and longer still its eventual fall. Of all of Arnor, only two areas survived: the Shire of the hobbit-folk and the men and hobbits of Bree-land. There was a long history of both lands, but much was recorded of Hobbits, and little account was given to Bree. For the Men and Hobbits, the thought of war was abhorrent, but war is coming nonetheless. Storm clouds gather on the horizon, and the rain that follow may yet wash away these idiosyncratic lands of strange and naive folk, the protectorate of the last Dunedain.
Brre-land consist of four settlements, all catering for men and Hobbits alike. They were part of the Kingdom of Arnor, but seem to have thrived despite the loss of fair Arthedain. Around Bree-hill lie the town of Bree itself, populated by both men and hobbits, positioned on the main road from Lindon to Imladris. Three other towns exist, based around the large hill. On the south-eastern side lies Staddle, where hobbits grow pipe-weed; on the borders of the Chetwood lies Combe and to the north of the hill lies Archet, another town of mixed-populace.
In the past, Bree-land was a major community in the Realm of Arnor, but when the Dunedain failed, so did the eminency of Bree. Despite any authority to protect it, Bree prosper still, and neither fell into decay nor suffered a fate such as that of the rest of Arnor. Trade is their main power in this Middle-earth, and their military is not as strong as other kingdoms, but they have forces that will fight, and have some protection from the distant and mysterious Rangers of the North.
-Ranged Focused Faction
-Strong Economy
-Generally Weak Units
-Military-Mercantile Choice
[] Kingdom of Dale: We are proud, we men of Dale and the Laketown. Descendent of the Edain, precursor to the Dunedain Kings, we have adapted since the three Houses left for Beleriand and the far west. We have had to adapt, for we are surrounded by enemies, and have forged relationship that keep us safe-amongst the Elves of the Woodland Realm and the stout Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain we are known as friends, friends we much need. It was the presence of Dwarves that gave our ancestors the means to settle- where others went south, we stayed, and Dale was built amongst the spurs of the Lonely Mountain.
On all borders save those we are flanked upon by our friends, there are hungry eyes waiting for us to slip and fall. To the east are the Wainriders, whom we remember well. To the south is the darkened Wood, the Mirkwood, and in there lies Dol Guldur, the "Hill of Sorcery", as it is often known, few have seen it. We prefer to never utter its name, to simply call it the Shadow of Mirkwood, for the Black Speech is not a tongue we are pleased by. In the Brown Lands are beasts that feed off men, of our cattle, and things that slink through shadows and others that are worse. We known what we face in the future times, as we know it will come for us, for us all – far sooner than later.
Dale has its own tongue, but we speak Westron in the main. Ours is a form of its own, but bears semblance to the tounge of the Horse Lords of Rohan – for both of us come from Northern stock. Here in the north, there is brotherhood between men of different cultures, for it is how we survive. We built our city in the Celduin Valley, between spurs in the south of the Lonely Mountain. It affords protection, but scant defence against an ancient danger such as a Dragon. We had one to face...King Girion died facing it; its name was Smaug the Golden, and it was attracted by the wealth we and the Dwarves generated, much as we do so again.
Esgaroth, "Lake Town", was the haven of our people after Smaug burned Dale and took the Lonely Mountain. Our Kings fell to ruin, much like Gondor's heirs, and the Master of Lake Town was our ruler, but Bard I, the Dragon slayer, the Archer, kept in his veins royal blood, and the Kingdom was restored to us. We have jsut started to repair that which was lost and to expand. Our people number many once more, and our friends have brought much help to us – it is now in our power to restore the glory, honour and wealth that we once had. We need the focus to keep our society well – safe, with laws, and living with good intention, towards ourselves and others. We live by a code of the ancients, to a code of Faith and Honour, where wealth is not governed by base instinct, otherwise we are lost as the Easterners are in their service to Mordor.
The River Running, the silver Celduin, is our lifeblood – the very thin that makes Dale and it's lands what they are. The Dwarves do not bear water well, and the Wines for King Thranduil must be hefted up-river from distant Dorwinion. It places us in a position to benefit all, and we gather our military might from the wealth and bounty the River gives us. Armed and armoured by Dwarven smiths, we are marching, drilling, and honing our troops for the coming storm. The wealth we have accrued is as nothing without an army needed to sustain and protect it in this harsh world. Dale is strong and we not will relinquish our lands, no matter if another Dragon would come to take them from us. Neither shadow-spawn of Mordor nor Easterlings will take our lands, unless every fighting man of Dale lay dead and every town burning and blackened. We relinquish nothing to the dogs odf Sauron, nor do we fear him. To him and his pawns we say come and fell the spears of the Lake-men!
-Ranged Focused Faction
-Good Archers
-Very Poor Early Economy
[] Vale of Dorwinion: Dorwinion is the land of wine, 'thought it would be fair to say that we simply till the earth with greater skill than other wine-makers: a legacy of a quietly passed on legend of long-ago, if to be believed; a tale of "woods that oft moved", and "spoke in lengthy wheezes of secrets of the earth". We had friendship with these creatures and our farmers learned much in their tutelage from these elder wonders. They taught us patiently in their laborious, softly-spoken way. Whatever the truth in that, we now trade with many, a web of wealth widely spun, and wesend much of our produce north, up the River Running – called the Celduin by our Elven friends – to Esgaroth, Dale, Erebor and the fairest Halls of all, in Eryn Galen
So, trade, is our essence, then. Wines that make even the Elves fell what mortals fell only too often; that is our secret. King Thranduil and his Line in Eryn Galen is our friend and ally, and there are those of the fairer race that lives amongst us in honour. They live amongst us perhaps not just for our wines – for we have a heritage that traces through the tangled lines of history. Adani, they called us, the Eldar of old, and we were here before the Edain gathered their rewards for their heroism in Beleriand; but, as not all elves went West, neither did the men we were all go West. We were the precursors of the House of Hador, later known so well for their tragic heroes rather than their wondrous wines. Which, i wonder, is the greater in its lasting?
There is irony sunk deep within this, for we are as nobles as we have ever been, have endured wars between the Dunedain and the tribes of the South and vicious warriors of the East. An uneasy peace, never acknowledged, lies between us and the inhabitants of vast Rhun. We even till our lands using their Kine, those great white oxen that dwell on the shores of the inland sea. These are the very same that King Vorondil hunted and slew to make the great Horn of Gondor – but there is no friendship with their master to be found. Nor will there ever be, and we see much unrest along the shores of the Inner Sea.
Our merchants and our allies run true, as if they were the very lifeblood of our kingdom, yet our military follows the patterns of those we treat with. Organised along the lines of those of the Lake Men of Dale e and Esgaroth for the greater part, we have a dualistic society, fostered by the Elves among us, and our people have learned their ways of war in turn. We have traded good money for the weapons of the Dwarves; few in numbers, yet effective all the same. We fight when it is needed, yet are not warlike in manner. There is a coming storm – movement in the East, vast herds and many wains moving around the Sea of Rhȗn; shadows gather around the mountains of Mordor,and glints of flame and lightning gutter feebly in our eyes, but we are distant from whatever evils transpire therein. To the folk of Gondor, the tragic remnants of the Edain bloodlines, it must be enough to make them cower in the face of the storm, like a crack in a war-smith's anvil.
When called to war, we will not side in any way other than we have in the past: we are the Atani, as all good men were before Beleriand, and we will fight for our friends; both Elves and Men. These we would choose to die for and with, and the East is no friend, leaving Mordor and the Shadow in Mirkwood. There is little choice there; if forced to war, we will use the wealth of our bounteous lands to pay for it. Our armed forces are not fat and lax, they drill with precision and we bear weapons made by Men and Dwarves, bows of Greenwood the Great, and the skill of the Northmen we have absorbed over many centuries trains our cavalries. When war comes, Dorwinion will be ready, IS ready. As one, we await our fate, our survival, or our doom.
-Well-Rounded Faction
-Elf-Human Choice
-Very Versatile Roster
-Strong Economy