JNC: excellent! I'll agonize over who I'll be for this pbp (potentially a very long time!), and do some touch-ups.
Everyone Else: Okay, so I'm stuck between so many options here. I like both characters, the hobbit I could play, and now the Barding option with sword skills. Fie! I suppose the Woodsman would be fun, the problem being that I can't really do Wizard stuff, and this game isn't about that. Maybe being an Elf would be better, and they do have some elf magic, and they do live forever, are the children of Eru, and know a lot of stuff... and the elf trait is pretty sweet. On top of that, Vardolas would be pretty handsome, and lives basically forever (heck, even if killed they could ship my parts to the West and somehow I'm under the impression he'd get better in some way... well, unlikely as it may seem, this is Tolkien's elves... and that's pretty special).
Okay, Elf it is. Born of the Wood Elves, with the blood of Noldor heroes in his veins. Where is my fellow Silvan elf, that we may link our knowledge of things unknown to the children of Aule and the Shire?
Anyway, we're five years after the Battle of Five Armies, which affected everyone but the Shire Hobbits. Beornings, Woodsmen, Men of Dale, Dwarves and Elves, and on top of that the events of the razing of Dol Guldur. Big to-do, and likely everyone's still feeling it.