Winter of Discontent. Shadow V-Discussion Thread

[Witch-king of Angmar]

[Witch-king of Angmar]

After a lot of delay, I thought it was time to get the Northern campaign underway. The name, of course, is tentative and can be changed at any time. This section begins with November 15th, about a week ahead of the plot in "Perilous Journeys." Everyone is free to come in at any time.

[Rian]

Nice start-up post, Angmar - I feel sorry for the poor old General, being surrounded by those undisiplined heathen upstarts!

[Serenoli]

Ooh, good post, Angmar. How gross the ritual is... But I saw in a movie that the Romans used to do something like that too - I wonder if its true? I never bothered to find out... I suppose it made sense to them, though. I hope they don't bathe in the blood of the dead orcs or anything, when they capture the fortress.

[Witch-king of Angmar]

Yes, Rian, I think General Nimruzir will have to exercise all the patience, discipline and longsuffering he has, which is minimal. As I recall, his character sheet describes him as being "crusty."

[Witch-king of Angmar]

serenoli said:

Ooh, good post, Angmar. How gross the ritual is... But I saw in a movie that the Romans used to do something like that too - I wonder if its true? I never bothered to find out... I suppose it made sense to them, though. I hope they don't bathe in the blood of the dead orcs or anything, when they capture the fortress.

Serenoli, glad you liked the post. Yes, virtually all ancient civilizations performed the ritual of animal sacrifice to commemorate just about any occasion. At times, thousands of animals were sacrificed. Human sacrifice was also performed by some cultures.

The only ones who would bathe in orc blood, I would think, would be other orcs. Even the "Men of Darkness" would probably find orc blood repulsive, and would not want to have their foul blood on their persons.... unless, possibly, they were insane or something.

[Gordis]

Great Nimruzir's post, Angmar.
Poor Numenoreans having to put up with barbarian customs!

Only I think (considering what was said about the customs of Hillmen previously) that the white ox should be dedicated to Tulkar, the God of War, and the spirit of the Bear, Broggha's totem, should be invoked.

In one of the old posts the Hillmen pantheon was briefly outlined:

Manvur- the father of Gods
Tulkar - the God of war
Orri - the Hunter God
Yavaya - the godess of fertility and growing things.
Njamo - god of the underworld and Death

(those are clearly modified Valar - the Hillmen must have picked them up from the Elves- but the Dunadain only prayed to Eru)

And in another post there was mention of the Bear as Broggha's sigil and clan totem.

And, I might have missed something - but what were the reasons to date the post Nov.15 and not Nov. 28-30 as you all have seemed to agree in the other discussion thread?

[Witch-king of Angmar]

gordis said:

Great Nimruzir's post, Angmar.
Poor Numenoreans having to put up with barbarian customs!

Gordis, glad you liked it. Yes, before the Dol Hithlaer campaign is over, the old general will be doing a lot of muttering.

Only I think (considering what was said about the customs of Hillmen previously) that the white ox should be dedicated to Tulkar, the God of War, and the spirit of the Bear, Broggha's totem, should be invoked.

Good point. I have done a bit of rewriting to reflect this.

In one of the old posts the Hillmen pantheon was briefly outlined:

Manvur- the father of Gods
Tulkar - the God of war
Orri - the Hunter God
Yavaya - the godess of fertility and growing things.
Njamo - god of the underworld and Death

(those are clearly modified Valar - the Hillmen must have picked them up from the Elves- but the Dunadain only prayed to Eru)

And in another post there was mention of the Bear as Broggha's sigil and clan totem.

That, too, has been included.

And, I might have missed something - but what were the reasons to date the post Nov.15 and not Nov. 28-30 as you all have seemed to agree in the other discussion thread?

Yes, Gordis. The sad condition of my notes, which are extensive. Considering the fact that my notes include endless references to Tolkien's writings; two recent roleplays besides Northern Kingdom; several online books and old wargames, sometimes I cannot find anything. Such was the case with the dates. Though I searched, I couldn't find those elusive dates anywhere.

[Gordis]

Loved the new version even more than the old, Angmar!

So - now we have made a jump of three weeks - almost a year real time. I am all for it!

[Witch-king of Angmar]

gordis said:

Loved the new version even more than the old, Angmar!

So - now we have made a jump of three weeks - almost a year real time. I am all for it!

Thanks, Gordis. Your suggestions were a great help.

The northern campaign has to progress at a much faster rate, or there will never be a northern campaign. Going slowly here would effectively write Broggha and most of his men out of the story to languish in the north for an indefinite period.

According to my notes (I found these ;D ), Broggha will go north along the east bank of the Mitheithel - for about 2 days - then turn east to Dol Duniath - another 2-3 days. I have no intentions of doing a day by day description of what happens. My tentative plans call for a summation of major happenings. The first will probably not be until December 2nd when the army arrives at Dol Duniath.

If anyone wants to join in here and develop a temporary character and portray someone who might be at Lord Belzagar's hall (ie, ostler, groom, porter, stewart, chambermaid, etc) please feel free to write.