Necro_Kinder said:
Sorry Dlsharrock, I didn't get that email.
Hm. Oddest thing is it's not in my sent items folder either. Very very strange. I think the gremlins are out in force.
No matter. I'll just post the idea here, and attempt to remember as much as I can from the original email.
In Middle-Earth there are seven Palantiri, scry-spheres forged by Feanor (see the Silmarillion) and given to the Men of Numenor. When Numenor sank beneath the waves (and for purposes of not waffling I won't go into that story here) only Elendil and his sons survived. They sailed to Middle-Earth and took with them seven of the Palantíri, thus seven scry stones came to the Dunedain.
The seven Palantíri dwell in Fornost, capital of Arnor, Amon Sul (Weathertop), Elostirion (an Elven tower in the Tower Hills), Osgiliath in Gondor, Orthanc (Isengard), Minas Ithil and Minas Anor. Only one of the stones is known to be lost at the time of our game, and that's the stone from Osgilliath which was lost during the Gondor kin-strife. Here's an extract from the lotr Wiki. I wrote much the same in my own words in the email, but this is more concise and I don't have time to write it all out again. There may be a few minor innacuracies but for the most part, it's correct.
lotr wiki said:
The unrest that created the Kin-strife began when Valacar, the son of the Gondorian king Rómendacil II, married a woman of the Northmen of Rhovanion, Vidumavi. She bore him a son Eldacar, but many Gondorians of Númenórean blood were angered by this mixing of blood of Middle Men and Númenóreans, and the coastal provinces rebelled when Valacar grew old.
When in TA 1432 Eldacar succeeded his father the unrest grew into open rebellion, as many Gondorians saw Eldacar as a halfbreed who had no right to rule. The chief of them was his distant relative Castamir the Usurper, Lord of Ships, who in TA 1437 usurped the throne, forcing Eldacar into exile. During the rebellion Osgiliath was burned, and the great Dome of Stars was lost, together with its Palantír. Castamir also murdered Eldacar's son and heir Ornendil. Eldacar fled to Rhovanion, and Castamir ruled in his stead.
A full decade later, in TA 1447, Eldacar returned with Rhovanion troops, at the same time a rebellion against Castamir's cruel rule took place. Eldacar managed to kill Castamir at the Battle of Erui, but Castamir's sons and many of their supporters fled south to Umbar. Eldacar could not follow them, as the fleet was under Castamir's control.
Not only did Gondor lose the city of Umbar for four centuries and gain a new enemy in the Corsairs of Umbar, descendants of Castamir's sons, but also many of the Númenóreans of purest blood were killed during the civil war, leaving Gondor weakened.
The Kin-strife was, along with the Great Plague, one of the chief reasons for the abandonment of the fortresses in and surrounding Mordor.
So!
The palantiri of Osgilliath was supposedly lost in the waters of the Anduin during the Kin-strife war. However, I believe Tolkien had other plans for this palantiri. First, this particular stone could 'not be lifted by the hand of men'. Sound familiar? 'The Witch King of Angmar could not be killed by any man'. An ommission of capital letters suggests men, rather than Men. Second, the Osgilliath palantiri could eavesdrop on the other stones, where other stones could only communicate one to one. If a third tried to connect to a two way conversation between stones, it would see only a black mist. So this is quite a useful stone to lose. I think, therefore, that Tolkien had plans - and a story unwritten perhaps - for the Osgilliath stone. It's loss is never quite fully explained and certain events, particularly in LotR imply the use of the Osgilliath palantiri.
I believe Eldacar recognised the importance of the stone and had it removed and taken to his allies, the 'northmen', the Eotheod/future Rohirrim (his wife Vidumavi was the daughter of Vidugavia, then king of the Eotheod). He couldn't take it himself, being a man, so I think he entreated the task to a female, Vidumavi. Passing rumour into Gondor of the stone's sinking into the river would have been no problem (the Dome of Stars was aflame and the fire would have provided ample cover to steal the stone away on boats). While Vidumavi and an honour guard of loyalist knights headed north for the Vale of Anduin, Eldacar led Castamir's hunt into Rhovanion. Vidumavi delivered the Osgilliath stone to the Eotheod chieftain. She probably returned to Gondor when Eldacar reclaimed the throne. Perhaps many of her honour guard returned too (but not all?? Hint hint). The stone, meanwhile, remained with the Eotheod who became long term allies of Gondor.
In this way, Necro_Kinder, I think you could play a bonefida Gondor Man. He'd be the direct descendant of a knight (his great great great grandfather - or something - being a member of the original honour guard), so in effect he has entitlement. Maybe he knows this? Maybe he discovers it from old scripts or stories belonging to his family? In his head, leastways, he's a knight of Gondor, and traditions passed down through his family (along with inherent warrior genes) would make him a good fighter.
As for the palantiri, I believe it remained in the hands of the Eotheod until they became the Rohirrim and founded Rohan. At this time I believe the stone was kept in Edoras, or maybe (and more likely) Aldburg. There was already a palantiri in the tower of Isengard, of course, and this was long guarded by the men of Gondor, but eventually fell into the grasp of Saruman when he took over Orthanc. However, there's a question regarding the whole Saruman/Theoden/Wormtongue dynamic I've never quite understood and I think my missing palantiri jigsaw piece fits rather nicely. What if the Osgilliath palantiri was held at Aldburg, an artefact whose significance was forgotten. At this time all who used the palantiri were tainted by Sauron's power, because he, of course, had his nasty claws on the palantiri of the Morgul Vale. I've never quite understood why Wormtongue turned to evil (Saruman used the palantiri, so that makes sense, but Wormtongue's corruption was never fully explained). Perhaps he was some kind of curator, or chief of artefacts. He used the palantiri in Aldburg and fell into communication with Saruman. Just a theory.
I personally wonder if the palantiri was then used to empower Saruman's enchantment over Theoden. Wormtongue probably remembered the stone's existence to his king and thus was granted a high standing position in Edoras. When Theoden used the stone he fell under Saruman's curse and granted Wormtongue the lofty position of councillor. Again, it's just a theory. However, I'm fairly sure, given the evidence, there was another palantiri knocking about during the War of the Ring.
Shayuri said:
A question however on gender roles! Clearly, in the books, all the main characters are male. Does this imply, in the game, that females wouldn't take on roles like this? I ask not to try to bait you into a discussion of sexism in fiction . I'm just trying to work out what my options are.
Female Elves were just as formidable as male and I don't think Elves had any concept of sexism, though you won't find any butch female Elves
Galadriel is a good example of the empowered female Elf, beautiful, rather frightening and somehow ethereal. Arwen is a good example of the empowered feminine Elf. It would be nice to have a female in the midst also.
Redclaw said:
that would explain why Aerec needs to work at the logging camp
Good. This establishes good motives. I'm still a little concerned about one character on horseback and everyone else on foot though.
In this case I searched for freely available information about the Scout class and found this on community3e.com
