Tapestry of Dreams, Part 2 Discussion

[mark12_30]

New team members, please feel free to post at will here. If you like, I can repost the pertinent game background from the first discussion thread (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=10334&page=1&pp=40).

In short: requirements regarding canonicity, style and tone -- "it shall be high, purged of the gross"-- remain unchanged. The goal of this game is, to produce a story that Tolkien would not disapprove of (and might even enjoy.)

With that, the discussion thread for Tapestry Book 2 is now open, and Alaklondewen is the delegate in charge.

Enjoy!!

---------------------------

Here's a quick link to Friends of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams Part 1 RPG (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=10385) (now in Elvenhome).

~*~ Pio :)

[alaklondewen]

Thank you, Helen. :)

Over the next day or so, I will go ahead and dig up the helpful resources we've had from the old thread on distances, geographical goals, times/dates, etc., which will hopefully put us all on the same day and help the new players so you all don't have to figure it all out on your own.

I am honoured to be the delegate in charge and will do my best to live up to the standards of Gondor and this game.

~Alak

[Celuien]

NAME: Sæthryd

AGE: 30

RACE: Human, Rohirric

GENDER: Female

WEAPONS: None

APPEARANCE: Sæthryd could be the perfect image of the Rohirric maiden – tall, blonde and blue eyed. From a distance, she appears beautiful. On closer inspection, she appears far older than her age and has what can only be described as a glint of manic intensity in her eyes, which tend to stare far away. What she ‘sees,’ she keeps to herself. She is unkempt and disheveled at home, but can put herself in order when required.

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Insanity. But though Sæthryd is quite mad, she can hide her illness under reasonable words and actions when the apparence of sanity is needed to achieve her purposes. She possesses fanatical intensity over her obsessions, and she can be both ruthless and bold in their defense when threatened.

HISTORY: Sæthryd’s birth was an event of great joy to her parents, freeholders living near Dunharrow. At first, Sæthryd was an imaginative and playful child, and brought happiness into the lives of those around her with her gentle (if fragile) spirit and light-hearted ways. However, her imagination took a dark turn after she became lost on the paths leading to the Dwimorberg while rambling under the mountain's shadow. She was found three days after her disappearance, seemingly unharmed other than the expected hunger and fatigue of three days out of doors alone. Her rescue was a relief to her family, who feared the worst when she vanished. She never spoke of what had passed during those days, but it did not take long before the effects of her journey became apparent. While other children played, Sæthryd now wandered alone, talking and singing to herself of outlandish visions. At first her parents believed that she would outgrow what they thought was merely a wild imagination coupled with the terror of her three days at the foot of the Dwimorberg. But Sæthryd’s ‘imagination’ did not recede. Saying that the Dwimorberg and its inhabitants called to her, Sæthryd made numerous attempts to reach the Paths of the Dead, but was always stopped by her parents, who grieved for her shattered mind and hoped that she would one day be healed of her madness.

Sæthryd finally succeeded in reaching the Paths of the Dead a year after the War of the Ring concluded. With the curse removed and the Dead departed, no harm came to her, and she passed through to the other side of the Ered Nimrais safely. Having survived the journey, she developed a possessiveness about the mountain, believing that it belonged to her – and the visions she received of the inhabitants of the Paths of the Dead – alone. She then began the life of a hermit in the mountains and became a jealous guardian of the ways to the Paths of the Dead.

[Formendacil]

Okay, I'm still here... and still planning on being a part of this, at least as a minor participant.

I'd put up a character bio for Bergil right now, but it's late and it's so hard to get motivated when one's going through a rough night of the soul, so to speak.... but I promise to get it up within the next few days.

Oh, and on the Old Discussion Thread, Alak mentioned the possibility of Elessar having a cameo... if so, who would play him?

[mark12_30]

Oh, and on the Old Discussion Thread, Alak mentioned the possibility of Elessar having a cameo... if so, who would play him?


A "canonist (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=474302&postcount=926)".

[Formendacil]

A "canonist (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=474302&postcount=926)".


But where would we find one of those. :p

[alaklondewen]

So...

Does Rugh know of Sæthryd? What do the Wild Men think of her if they do know of her? Are there tales of the wild-eyed woman in the mountains? Is she thought of as a witch? Will he try to change the women's minds from going toward the Paths of the Dead?

...just a few questions to raise discussion with the two characters we have. :)

Formendacil, how does Friday, June 23 sound as a deadline for Bergil? If that's not enough time, let me know, but it would be good to have by then.

Also, anyone who hasn't created a bio yet, feel free to post it when finished, and you all can work on first posts as well. If you have questions about locations or anything else, really. Just ask. :)

[Celuien]

I'd expect that Sæthryd would be rather well-known in the mountains. She's something of a fixture there, and is given to outbursts, so there would most likely be a warning to avoid places where she was known to appear. Warnings against the wild woman of the mountains. I like it. :)

First post coming over the weekend.

[Formendacil]

Formendacil, how does Friday, June 23 sound as a deadline for Bergil? If that's not enough time, let me know, but it would be good to have by then.

More than doable...

but be warned that it may be Thursday night....

Seriously, I should have it done well before then, but lazy is as lazy does... and lazy does little.

[alaklondewen]

Seriously, I should have it done well before then, but lazy is as lazy does... and lazy does little.

No, no, it's called productive procrastination.

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

So...book two starts with the men leaving Gondor and the women sticking around?

[alaklondewen]

Close, but not quite. Book 1 will end with the men setting out. However, if the women run off (by dreams or rebellion or whatever), it will end with them finding out the ladies are gone and heading out in search. In game time, it would be great for the women to take off the night before so that their disappearance is discovered right before the men leave.

Then Book 2 will then begin where Book 1 leaves off.

Does that make sense?

[Celuien]

Dawn came grey and cold in the hills of the Ered Nimrais. The pale, chilled sun shone at its weakest over a ramshackle wooden hut, overhung by a grove of dying trees. Gloom hung in the air. Yet despite the dismal scene, a few pallid rays, mingled with light flurries of snow, made their way to shine through the unpatched chinks in the hut’s poorly repaired roof and the few spaces left around its shade-darkened windows.

The hut’s interior would now have been almost visible to a visitor, had any been bold or foolish enough to venture near it. Evil rumors surrounded the valley it occupied: rumors of a cruel witch - or wraith - who haunted the valley, turning it to a place of dread. Few of the hill-folk dared to come near. And if they did venture near the cursed valley, for so it was named since Sæthryd had come there, they returned with a haunted look in their eyes and faintly whispered tales of ill fortune barely escaped. If they returned at all. It was little wonder that the hut saw few guests.

The sun crept higher, and the light grew brighter. Now it illumined a dusty table and chairs, a few wooden dishes, metal knives, a few traps for game. And, in a corner, a few strands of blonde hair on a pillow. Below the hair, a pale face slumbered until, as the light rose again, the eyes snapped open. Sæthryd awoke.

She rose, stretching her arms above her, and stalked to her fire. Its last embers were beginning to go out. She added a fresh log and stirred the dwindling flame back to life. A red light flashed over Sæthryd, casting her shadow over the walls around her.

How many years had she been here, living this solitary existence? Sæthryd had lost count. One day flowed into the next, adding at last into weeks, months, and years. Little interrupted her routine. Up in the morning, a quick meal, and out to scavenge a few roots and herbs. To check her snares for meat. And, most importantly, to see that no intruders trespassed upon the secret ways of the mountains.

For those secret paths belonged to the Dead. Most had gone, years ago, before Sæthryd came to her hidden valley, before she walked along the ways they once haunted. Yet their presence remained. She knew. She saw. She heard, as now and again, the dead spoke to her. Of course they did. It was only natural that they did so. For she was dead too. Sæthryd never lived. She was born dead beneath the shadow of the dead mountain. Born dead to walk with the dead until at last her body completed its slow death and left her lifeless mind to wander free. That was how things were meant to be. That was why the dead had chosen her as their guardian. She knew it was so.

A thrashing in the brush caught Sæthryd’s ear. The valley is ours. The paths are ours. They belong to us. They belong to the dead alone. Abandoning the fire, she threw her door ajar and ran barefoot into the snow. The valley was hers. No one must be allowed to enter. She hurried to the sound, half bent at the waist, her hair flying in the waxing wind, and lunged into the winter-bare branches. They scratched her cheek, drawing blood. But she pushed on undaunted, until, the source of the disturbance discovered, she stopped.

A crow flapped in the brush, its foot caught in one of Sæthryd’s snares. She reached out grinning and snatched the bird, crushing its throat in her hands. It struggled to free itself and its wings flapped frantically. But Sæthryd did not cease the pressure of her fingers. The crow grew still. It is well. You too are now dead, little bird. As are all here. It is well. You may pass. Still smiling, she took the bird’s body and hurried back to her hut. It was cold, and her limbs ached for the warmth of the fire.

Inside, the fire was roaring. Ducking outside again briefly, Sæthryd scooped snow into a kettle and set it over the fire to melt. She sat by the fire, plucking and dressing her victim and, as she cut the bird into pieces and dropped them into the kettle, Sæthryd sang wordlessly in her mirth.

The snow began to fall heavily. A wind blew down the valley. Sæthryd’s song, like a wail both cold and wild, rose with the smoke of her fire. The noise, borne aloft by the weather, journeyed afar to be heard by the hill folk. They heard her call and whispered in frightened voices. The wild woman was awake.

~*~

Open for comments, suggestions, revision, or catcalls. :)

[alaklondewen]

Very nice, Celuien...she's quite a disturbing woman...I like it!

Feanor had a great question on the old thread about filling out a survey so we can all get to know the new writers. This is what Helen had previously said:


Originally posted by mark12_30
By the way, I'm trying to get a mental picture of each of you as writers and people, so I've been browsing profiles and questionnaires (remember "All About You"? I have very little info on either littlemanpoet or Imladris. If that's how you like it, I don't mean to pry! But if you'd like to add an "All About You" post or whatever that would be good too...

Part of the reason why I'm asking, is that I like to understand where people are coming from morally and spiritually-- mostly so I can avoid offending folks unneccessarily. Also I find it easier to explain what I'm thinking if I understand where others are coming from.

I think I'm formulating an RPG Writers' Questionaire of my own as I write this... (bubble, bubble, simmer...) Sure enough, here it is-- Please note it's totally OPTIONAL... If you do decide to fill it out you can either PM or email anwers-- no need to post 'em here if you don't want to.

optionaloptionaloptionaloptional
AllAboutFriendsOfNimrodel.rtf (http://members.cox.net/hrwright61/AllAboutFriendsOfNimrodel.rtf)
optionaloptionaloptionaloptional

I say "yes" to filling them out if you are interested. I've only worked with Firefoot out of the new writers, so it would be a great way to get to know you all.

~Alak

[Celuien]

Very nice, Celuien...she's quite a disturbing woman...I like it!
Thanks!

Survey below:

The usual "All About You" questions:
Name (that you go by): On the Downs, Celuien. In RL, Nichole.
Age: 22
Occupation: Senior in medical school (well, in a couple of days)
Future Aspirations: Getting my residency in ophthalmology. Having a family - one of these days...
Goal in life: I guess that my ultimate goal is to live the best life I can from a morals and values perspective. And by doing so, to hopefully contribute towards making the world a better place. Does that sound too egotistical? I mean, I don’t expect to single handedly fix the world’s troubles ( :rolleyes: ), but I do want to accomplish what I can, even if only in a small way.
Short term goals: Surviving the last year of med school. Graduation. Residency.
Passion: Life! Everything about it!
Hobbies: Procrastination. Playing the viola and piano. Website coding. Nature walks. Going to concerts and art museums.
Famous for (brag about yourself): Notorious for my weird sense of humor. Some people say I’m famous for being calm and never losing my temper. I hope so. But more on that later. Being the 'baby' of my class - I'm a little younger than my colleagues.
Fave book: Four way tie: The LotR. Silmarillion. Pride and Prejudice. Far from the Madding Crowd.
Fave movie: This changes frequently. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The Lion in Winter. Casablanca. The Fellowship of the Ring.
Fave sport: Not all that interested in sports.
Fave store: Um… The grocery market? :D If not that, the music store to browse the sheet music collection. But my favorite one (Theodore Presser) only has a catalog now. No more walk in shop, sadly.
Fave music: Early Romantic era classical: Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn. Also other historical periods: Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mozart, Bach, Handel.
What you can't stand: Hatred, prejudice, bigotry.
What you plain dislike: Rush-hour traffic. Rudeness.
Who you admire: Anyone who treats others with kindness and patience.
What you most love to do: See hobbies.
Your self-confessed flaws: Getting back to that temper. I really have a hot-headed streak. Guess it’s the Southern Italian/Sicilian half in me. But I’ve learned to keep it under wraps most of the time, which I guess is a strength. I don’t always have as much patience as I’d like. And when my impatience or temper start to get out of hand, I can be sarcastic. I don’t like it. I have a tendency to hide my real self behind a wall of humor because I find it hard to talk about myself openly in RL until I really get to know someone well, which takes me a long time.
What intrigues/fascinates you: People. I’m a major people watcher. I like to try to get inside people’s heads and figure out what makes them act the way they do.
What scares you: Back to what I can’t stand.
Quotation to live by: “What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man.”

Value-specific:
What do you want most in a friend? Loyalty and kindness
What do you want most in a teacher? Patience and enthusiasm
What do you want most in an ally? Loyalty. Again.
What do you want most in a team-mate? Loyalty. Yet again. And good listening/coordinating skills.
What do you want people to remember most about you? When all is said and done, I’d like to be remembered as someone who cared.

Writer-specific:
Your favorite work you've written so far: I’m not sure. It’s been a long time since I did any serious (read: non-technical) writing on my own. Biology major in college. Medical school now. Not much creative writing involved, or much time for anything outside of classes. And I tend to take a red pen to anything I write. Repeatedly. Actually, I find it very hard to reread what I write because I always find something I could have done better.
Your favorite character so far: See above.
What you plan to write soon: Posts for this game.
What inspires you to write: My characters. Once I come up with a character that I like, I enjoy putting them into situations and seeing how they deal with what happens. For getting ideas on what to write, I’m inspired by things I observe. The weather. People watching. Just about anything, really.
What makes your writing stall: Not knowing my characters well enough to understand how they would react to a scenario.
Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Absolutely yes. I overcome it by taking a long walk in the woods. Nature has a way of clearing my head and giving me a new perspective on my problems. Either that or listening to music.

Middle-Earth specific:
Your favorite ME character(s)? Frodo. Sam.
What do you like about them? Friendship, loyalty, determination.
Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? The farewell at the Grey Havens. The Choices of Master Samwise – favorite moment is when Sam holds up the Phial over Frodo. “And for a moment he lifted up the Phial and looked down at his master, and the light burned gently now with the soft radiance of the evening-star in summer, and in that light Frodo's face was fair of hue again, pale but beautiful with an elvish beauty, as of one who has long passed the shadows. And with the bitter comfort of that last sight, Sam turned and hid the light and stumbled on into the growing dark.” That's memorized.
Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? Gandalf’s return as Gandalf the White.
Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Probably human, though the personality tests always say that I’m an Elf. I’m very interested in music, literature and history. Elvish traits. But I don’t want to drag the world into the past or think that its peak is already gone. I’m looking to the future, and have a hopeful view of what's to come for the world, which is more human than Elvish. Or so I think.
What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Sindar. I’m fascinated by the Elves. I love their culture and knowledge. Though I’m not sure I’d want to be immortal and watch the world – from the established Elven perspective – slipping downhill. The High Elves are too distant for me, though, and I don't like the Kinslaying incident, so I prefer the Sindar.
What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? Rivendell. Center of knowledge and learning.
Where would you want to visit? Why? The Shire, for the experience of the Hobbits’ lifestyle. Such fun.
How would you travel? On foot. I think you can really learn so much more about a place by walking it. It makes me feel more a part of the setting.
Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? Camera. For memory preservation. Maybe I am an Elf after all…

And that's all!

[Formendacil]

A survey?

You people DO know that I can't pass those things up...

Yes, I'm still not done Bergil's stats... Patience is a virtue... :rolleyes:

Name (that you go by): Formendacil (or Form, Formie) around here. Michael in "real" life.
Age: 19
Occupation: Making pizza. (Horrid job- 'tis only a place-filler prior to school this fall)
Future Aspirations: Ordination to the priesthood. And then it's wherever God's winds take me.
Goal in life: To die with a funeral too full to fit in any one church. Or, in other words, to have them say "he was a good man"- and mean it.
Short term goals: Survive a month and a half more of pizza, visit 'Downers in Massachusetts, and get through a yard of red tape.
Passion: Liturgy- of pretty much any sort.
Hobbies: Reading... writing... LEGO! :D
Famous for (brag about yourself): "Smart aleck" in Sunday School, "the boy who wants to be a priest" in Church. A wry sense of humour. Too much LEGO.
Fave book: Either the Silm or the Lord of the Rings, depending on my mood...
Fave movie: At the moment... the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but I won't stay pinned down on this matter.
Fave sport: Bunnock. Ever heard of it? I thought not.
Fave store: Toys 'r Us. :p
Fave music: Classical, followed by Country, but I'll listen to anything except Rap (and songs with lyrics that are... you know...). Pachelbel's Canon remains my favourite.
What you can't stand: Boorishness to women, bigots, people who patronise me.
What you plain dislike: People who order pizza at 12:59 am.
Who you admire: Pope Benedict... and it's not just the "I'm Catholic and want to be a priest" thing. He's good with words, good with ideas, a little shy, and very pious. Very similar to me in some respects- very inspiring in others.
Your self-confessed flaws: Irritation with idiots. Overweening pride. Poor ability at expressing my friendships.
What intrigues/fascinates you: The English language. So many meanings... so many words.
What scares you: Moths. The Devil.
Quotation to live by: "Take counsel with thyself and remember who and what thou art"- J.R.R. Tolkien

Value-specific:
What do you want most in a friend? Loyalty and longevity.
What do you want most in a teacher? Clarity.
What do you want most in an ally? Intelligence and trustworthiness.
What do you want most in a team-mate? A team ethic.
What do you want people to remember most about you? That I loved the Lord my God with all my heart and soul, body and mind, and that I loved my neighbour as myself.

Writer-specific:
Your favorite work you've written so far: I think it might be a 14-page, handwritten letter to Abercrombie of Rohan written while camping (yes, I had too much free time). It was rather pointless, rambled, and could have used some polish... but it was fun!
Your favorite character so far: For a gamer being invited to Gondor... I haven't got very many. Let's say Estahir, from the Green Dragon.
What you plan to write soon: Posts here, posts in AtM2, posts in the Eorling Mead Hall, posts in Werewolf, posts in Hookbills game, various PMs of overlong natures, application forms... and who knows what else...
What inspires you to write: That.... I dunno... itch, I guess... That desire to string words together and spin them into something moving and entertaining. I guess it's the desire to be like Tolkien.
What makes your writing stall: Overextending myself. Either that or running into real life problems that take away my time, so that I return without my initial enthusiasm.
Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? On occasion, yes. Typically, I can write through it, if properly guilted. I generally tend to feel dissatisfied with what I write in those times, though. Discussing plots and characters and reliving the "glory days" will usually pull me back.

Middle-Earth specific:
Your favorite ME character(s)? Gandalf, Aragorn, Elrond, Túrin.
What do you like about them? Gandalf's humanity mixed with wisdom, Aragorn's confidence, Elrond's calm, and Túrin's... flawedness.
Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? The "Voice of Saruman". The whole chapter is... delicious. And the farewell to Treebeard/final breaking of the Fellowship.
Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? Frodo didn't die in Cirith Ungol!
Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Probably Númenorean- of the Faithful, I hope. I am smart, and, let's face it, I'm rather proud of that fact. I'm also generally serious. I even look the part a little: six feet tall and dark hair. Otherwise, I'd be a Noldorin Elf, save that I lack the capacity for fiery wrath.
What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? The Vanyar. To sit at the feet of Manwë, and be content...
What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? The Shire... for it is much like home.
Where would you want to visit? Why? Minas Tirith- 'tis the Rome of it's world: centre of learning and wisdom and an ancient city of ruins and tales.
How would you travel? Can't ride, can't swim, can't drive (this being Middle-Earth), I guess I'd walk. But, being a pavement pounder of sorts... that's fine by me.
Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? My breviary. Don't always use it... but I always have it on me so that the possibility of me smartening up and doing it regularly is always there.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Name (that you go by): Laura

Age: 20

Occupation: library clerk, student, editor, writer, visual artist

Future Aspirations: live happily ever after in all the important ways.

Goal in life: become one with everything

Short term goals: graduate on time...

Passion: creation

Hobbies: collecting and playing with toys

Famous for (brag about yourself): role reversals.

Fave book: The Time-Traveler's Wife

Fave movie: Pan's Labyrinth

Fave sport: curling

Fave store: any book or art store

Fave music: whatever, really, seems like a good idea at the time.

What you can't stand: hypocrisy

What you plain dislike: lima beans

Who you admire: His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

What you most love to do: I like to be

Your self-confessed flaws: I have about *this* much confidence most of the time, though I’m arrogant enough in seeming to fool most people; I’m a perfectionist when it comes to myself but I don’t always give others enough credit; when I’m scared or angry I sometimes say cruel things; I forget to eat for extended periods of time; I can’t concentrate unless I’m doing yoga; I don’t always pay attention to how legal things are; I forget to take care of my own health because I’m more concerned with other people’s...

What intrigues/fascinates you: love

What scares you: love

Quotation to live by: Wheresoever you go, go with all of your heart. -Confucius

Value-specific:

What do you want most in a friend? honesty

What do you want most in a teacher? creativity

What do you want most in an ally? A good left hook. Kidding… actually, honesty. Tell me if I’m wrong, don’t just stick blindly with me. I appreciate clear vision in those helping me. I'd never forgive myself if I accidentally led someone into a bad situation because they didn't think they could tell me I was being stupid.

What do you want most in a team-mate? communication

What do you want people to remember most about you? That whether or not I succeed, I do try.

Writer-specific:

Your favorite work you've written so far: It's called Sketches. Short story.

Your favorite character so far: Nick Whitby. Chef extraordinare, painter, solo academic with a thing for therianthropy. Has zilch idea how money functions in the real world, a twin sister, and an unrequited love for his best friend's girl, who was formerly his. Yeah... He's a sweetheart. Fun to write...

What you plan to write soon: a piece of what I'm told is creative non-fiction, a new climax for a novel that's been eating me (because I screwed up the climax), a short involving a shrink who wears tube socks under his man-sandals.

What inspires you to write: everything: the blue of the sky, the green of leaves in mid-July, babies laughing, a tall latte, the sizzle of bacon, the breeze that comes just before the cliched calm before the storm... being tired, being sad, smiling; sarcasm, cruelty, kindness; the color of pistachio pudding...

What makes your writing stall: occasional bouts of no confidence, exhaustion…

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Yes; procrastination in the form of doing a billion other things until I have nothing left to distract me from being unable to think of anything; ask for advice that I may or may not take...

Middle-Earth specific:

Your favorite ME character(s)? Fingolfin, Feanor, Eomer, Boromir, Morgoth

What do you like about them? Bravery, creative spirit, loyalty, I’m not quite sure, and pure conflict, respectively.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? When the cock crows at sunrise and the Rohirrim appear to save Minas Tirith to the sounds of trumpets.

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? Eowyn/Dernhelm

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Noldo. Numenorean. One of those...

What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Elves; though they’ve experienced all of the world’s sorrows, they never fail to appreciate even the smallest of the beauties.

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? Dol Amroth… though I’ve got this thing about getting in the water, I love to be by the ocean and I suspect the sun over the water is rather amazing… I could happily live with Beorn though, and enjoy his diet. :D

Where would you want to visit? Why? Mount Doom; volcanoes, though they terrify me, have long held my fascination.

How would you travel? By horse: fast enough to avoid boredom on the road, slow enough to appreciate the journey.

Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? A beat up blue notebook with a black gel pen tucked into the spiral binding.

[littlemanpoet]

Reading Tapestry 1 again, I've got this notion that I'm not going to be put out about if it's too intimidating. Here it is; feel free to just tell me 'no'.

Not only to write fun characters and an interesting story, but make Tapestry 2 something readers not only want to, but enjoy reading on its merits as a good ripping yarn.

What does that mean? It means working together in discussions to post great mixes of narrative, action, dialogue, and inner-thought stuff. For example: I tend to post too much dialogue and not enough of the other stuff. Other writers get into the heads of their characters so much that I start to nod off. Shoot for balance that attracts the reader. If you don't want to shoot for this, I'm cool with it, but I'm going to shoot for it myself.

Reactions? Whippings? Thoughts? *LMP ducks*

[Imladris]

make Tapestry 2 something readers not only want to, but enjoy reading on its merits as a good ripping yarn.


I whole heartedly agree. It's one of the reasons I came back to the RPG -- so that it would force me to write on a semi regular basis but also so that I could improve it.

[Celuien]

No need to duck, lmp. I think it's a great suggestion. :)

My own problem is of the 'too much inside the character's head' variety.

[alaklondewen]

I totally agree as well. Focusing on the reader is a great point. I tend to get wrapped up in details and "missing" something, instead of ensuring my posts are "good reads".

I'm really glad you brought that up, lmp.

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

What everyone else said. ;)

Those surveys look fun. Can you guys believe it's been about two and a half years since we started?

[Firefoot]

Name (that you go by): Wouldn’t you like to know…

Age: 16

Occupation: Student

Future Aspirations: To do something really adventurous sometime in my life; maybe write a book

Goal in life: Be able to love the Lord with all my life.

Short term goals: finish the Bible by the end of summer (now in Jeremiah), survive the second half of high school and figure out what the heck it is that I want to do afterwards

Passion: pursuing beauty

Hobbies: reading, writing, drawing

Famous for (brag about yourself): being smart

Fave books: LotR (need I say it?), Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, Narnia books, Pride and Prejudice, The Giver, White Fang, The Once and Future King

Fave movie: LotR, Pirates of the Caribbean, Seabiscuit, Star Wars Episode III, Titanic, Ice Age II

Fave sport: soccer and I love horseback riding but almost never get to…

Fave store: Any book store.

Fave music: Soundtracks and contemporary Christian

What you can't stand: Idiots, the types of cartoons they put on TV these days

What you plain dislike: English class, dishonesty

Who you admire: I dislike the word “admire.” Most respect: my mom and my uncle

What you most love to do: see hobbies; also running, hiking, horseback riding (alas, those last two are all too scarce in my life…)

Your self-confessed flaws: shyness, overanalyzing things

What intrigues/fascinates you: Life and love

What scares you: That this might be all there is in life

Quotation to live by: Just one? I love quotes… “I would rather live in a world where my life was surrounded by mysteries than in a world so small my mind could comprehend it.”

Value-specific:
What do you want most in a friend? Honesty, loyalty, and a sense of humor
What do you want most in a teacher? Patience and the ability to make the class/subject interesting
What do you want most in an ally? Intelligence and loyalty
What do you want most in a team-mate? Trust
What do you want people to remember most about you? That I lived life for God

Writer-specific:
Your favorite work you've written so far: Probably a short story I called “My Guardian Angel.” It’s hard to summarize but if you really want to you can read it here (http://www.fictionpress.com/read.php?storyid=2191479)…

Your favorite character so far: This is hard; I like different things about all my characters. I guess I’ll say Siamak.

What you plan to write soon: a first post for this, various other RPG posts, and story that I’m having a lot of trouble with

What inspires you to write: Lots of different things; emotions, events, often other writers in RPG’s; I’ve found that the RotK and TTT soundtracks are excellent to write to

What makes your writing stall: Mostly getting caught up in technical details that may or may not have anything real to do with the plot

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Yes; in fact I’ve been going through it in the past week or so; sometimes forcing myself to write after I’ve put it off for too long will work; other times, exercise, a shower, and some music (classical for writing; I get distracted by words because then I have to sing along…) will help.

Middle-Earth specific:
Your favorite ME character(s)? Frodo, Sam, Merry, Aragorn, Faramir, Feanor

What do you like about them? Frodo, I just identify so much with, esp. at the beginning of the book. Frodo fascinates me. I can’t help but love Sam for his loyalty and straight-forwardness. Merry, I identify with him a bit as well. Aragorn, just because… I could admire him. Faramir, another just because… Feanor because he fascinates me. Fatally flawed characters do that for me – it’s the same thing with Anakin in Star Wars.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? All of the Mt. Doom chapter, the charge of the Rohirrim, Strider in the Prancing Pony, the last pages of the chapter The Flight to the Ford, Gandalf’s return

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? Frodo not being dead, Eowyn’s revealing herself

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I don’t think I really fit squarely into any race – not Dwarves. Hobbits, for my love of simple things (I’m probably too adventurous for them, though), Elves for my love of beauty (not necessarily all this preservation, though)
What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I would not want to be a Dwarf, and probably not an Elf either. Rohirrim or Hobbits (maybe a Took or Brandybuck?)

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? Edoras/Rohan – has it all – rolling plains, mountains, rivers… and the horses…

Where would you want to visit? Why? Rivendell would be nice; Minas Tirith perhaps; the Shire

How would you travel? Horseback!

Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? I never travel anywhere without a good book and a camera, but the book probably gets more use. I need that time to read at the end of the day – especially if I’m traveling with other people. Alone time is a must.

Phew! I think that I think way too much about these things... they take forever to fill out.

First post coming soon. I know sort of what I want to write about and was going to try to do it tonight, but this took all my time...

What everyone else said. ;) Yes, that.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I can't believe I forgot to mention my camera! You know that last survey question about what is always in your bag? My camera, mini tripod, extra batteries, and extra memory card. It's nearly always with me unless I'm going somewhere where I have access to somebody else's camera. I take it for granted so I forgot until now, but yeah... huge part of me. It's practically attached. :) :cool:

[Firefoot]

The birds twittered on heedlessly. No travelers passing by would ever guess that those parts of the mountains were inhabited by any other than themselves, except for perhaps the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, for so they would be.

Higher in the White Mountains than other Wild Men were wonted to go dwelled a single Wild Man whose only company were those heedless birds. But dwelling is a relative term, for he did not dwell there as the Stone Folk did in their fortresses of rock, or even as birds in their nests, but rather as a fish might dwell in the sea or a horse on the plains. He wandered, keeping careful watch over the mountains and taking pleasure in the small things life brought to him, and was content.

Presently Rugh sat meditatively beneath the shadowy trees in the cold predawn light, awaiting the rising sun and listening to the rumors of the earth. He was troubled. Strange things were happening, unnatural things he did not know about or understand, only that they seemed to be epitomizing here, in these mountains.

Then he took hold of a thick dead branch on the ground near him and broke off a short piece. He felt compelled to carve, as if the earth itself was urging him on. He started at the bottom with gently flowing curves, which transformed into confused angles – lost, searching and seemed to extend into two hand-like projections, long hands, unlike his own with their stumpy but manipulative fingers – reaching out, seeking…

The carving scared and fascinated him. It was not like anything he had made before; it bore no resemblance to plant or animal or person; it – she…? – was completely other and was somehow related to the strange happenings. Rugh did not like it. It ought to be stopped, somehow, and peace returned to his mountains. Leaving the carving where he had sat, he stood up and left. He only wanted him and his mountains to be left alone.

~*~*~

Yes/no? Wild Man here is going to prove an interesting challenge for me to write...

[Formendacil]

NAME: Bergil, son of Beregond

AGE: 24

RACE: Human, Gondorian

GENDER: Male

WEAPONS: Bow, Sword, dagger.

APPEARANCE: Canonically stated to be tall, Bergil is going to clock in at 6'4". Dark-haired, clean-shaven (when able), fairly lean, he's more-or-less a typical son of Minas Anor.

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Bergil is easy-going, a trait that goes back at least as far as his befriending Pippin. Matured by living in Minas Tirith through the Siege, Bergil is a confidant, successful young ranger. His greatest weakness would probably be that, possibly as a result of the War, he tends to see things in black and white. I'm also going to say that he's rather stubborn- once he makes his mind up.

HISTORY: Bergil is the elder son of Beregond, Captain of the White Company, the personal regiment of Prince Faramir in Emyn Arnen. Bergil was born in Minas Tirith, and was among the few boys permitted to remain their through the war. His adventures and life at that can be found in the Return of the King. Following the war, he moved with his father to Emyn Arnen. Bergil has a younger brother, Borlas, who was presumably with their mother in the White Mountains at the time of the war. Upon coming of age, Bergil joined the Rangers, who readers of the Two Towers will remember as Faramir's company. These Gondorian counterparts of the Aragorn's Rangers in Eriador would likely have been much-occupied in the early years of the Fourth Age with patrolling the still mostly-wild Ithilien, and as that became more settled with Faramir dwelling in Emyn Arnen and Legolas' Silvan Elves coming from Mirkwood, would likely have been the bearers of the King's law and order upon the unsettled eastern marches of the realm: in Harondor (South Gondor), between Poros and Harnen, and northeast of Ithilien, towards Rhovannion.

Bergil served with the Rangers in Harondor, a dry and uninhabited land, for half a dozen years, from the time of joining the Rangers until the current time, when he has returned to civilized Gondor to visit his family and childhood friends. At the moment he is in Minas Tirith as a part of the Steward Faramir's escort.

[alaklondewen]

Can you guys believe it's been about two and a half years since we started?

Wow! It's no wonder I feel like Erebemlin and Taitheneb are a part of me, and I missed them when we took our break.

Yes/no?

Yes!

Firefoot, I really like it. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with the strange feelings and happenings in the mountains, and the scultpure is a nice touch.

Formendacil, great bio. I always find it interesting to come across characters from the books and then seeing how they've grown since the war. Well done.

I'm enjoying the surveys as well. I must say I envy you photographers. I've always wanted to take it up, but I've never had the time/money. Would you say that photography effects your writing? Do you see your posts as images before you write them, like photos readied to be played out?

I'm considering filling one out as well...I figure that if I don't know you very well...It would be a likely assumption that you don't know me either. ;) We'll see.

[alaklondewen]

Name (that you go by): Alak, here. Summer, there.
Age: 27
Occupation: I work in the mental health field assisting the chronically mentally ill increase the skills they need to be able to function in society. The individuals I work with live in a facility much like a dorm.
Future Aspirations: becoming a Clinical Psychologist and letting God use me to touch the lives of those that are unable to help themselves.
Goal in life: Living my life as God would have me live, and following His plan for my life.
Short term goals: Taking the GRE; applying to grad school; teaching my daughter to swim; washing the dishes, mowing the lawn…
Passion: My God, my daughter
Hobbies: writing (;)), reading, gaming, painting
Famous for (brag about yourself): Attempting humour and people getting it later. Appearing to be on top of things. Always smiling.
Fave book: Ahem, LotR…also Pride and Prejudice, the Odyssey
Fave movie: Return of the King, Star Wars, The Thorn Birds, Finding Nemo
Fave sport: Oh, dear, I‘m not athletic. I would say dance (yes it is a sport). I used to dance years ago. It still makes be happy and watching others keeps me on the edge of my seat.
Fave store: Used book stores and boutiques.
Fave music: Contemporary Christian, Reggae, Classical
What you can't stand: rudeness, tailgating, pointless interruptions, The Wiggles
What you plain dislike: Racism (cliché, I know, but it hits too close to home), gossip, dishonesty, drama (not the enjoyable to read kind, the stressful real life kind)
Who you admire: People who live in a way that you can see God’s love in their lives.
What you most love to do: Have picnics in the yard with my daughter, actually anything that includes her; tree hugging, riding in the country with the windows down.
Your self-confessed flaws: I lack confidence to do things I know I am capable of doing. I procrastinate. I bottle my anger until it erupts.
What intrigues/fascinates you: People. I want to know why people do what they do. Mental illness, trees, flowers, shiny things…
What scares you: The responsibility that comes with parenthood.
Quotation to live by: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” ~Psalm 139:14


Value-specific:
What do you want most in a friend? Loyalty, honesty (I want a friend who will tell me without hesitation that there‘s broccoli in my teeth), acceptance, and humour
What do you want most in a teacher? Patience and creativity
What do you want most in an ally? Trust
What do you want most in a team-mate? Telepathic abilities
What do you want people to remember most about you? That I shone with the love of God, and that by him I made a difference.

Writer-specific:
Your favorite work you've written so far: Wow, each of the works I’ve been blessed to be write have been so unique that I cannot choose. Oh, and my thesis, if you can call that a ‘work’ as it certainly was work.
Your favorite character so far: Erebemlin (Tapestry, of course); Pelien (Corsairs and Corsets); Lyshka (Land of Darkness); Collothion and Cuilad (Resettling the Lost Kingdom) -- Can you tell I can’t choose?
What you plan to write soon: A dinner post for this game and the loads of paperwork from work.
What inspires you to write: Driving, music, birds, colors, sounds, images that form in my mind…
What makes your writing stall: exhaustion.
Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Definitely. I take my writing away from the computer and to my notebook. I just start forcing it, even if it’s bad, and then eventually something will click and I’ll roll with it.

Middle-Earth specific:
Your favorite ME character(s)? Bilbo, Luthien, Feanor, Aragorn, Barliman Butterbur; Goldberry
What do you like about them? Bilbo was a “real” character, insecurities and all, and I became attached to him. Luthien was so strong and passionate, and really, look what she did with Beren to get the Silmaril…she rocked. Feanor is just a fascinating character all around…troubled, dark, flawed. Aragorn, I was moved to watch Aragorn come into his own and see him rise in his kingliness. Butterbur always made me laugh and I can relate to his forgetfulness. Goldberry is from pure fascination.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? The hobbits’ first encounter with a “Black Rider”. Tom and Goldberry’s home. Gimli asking for a piece of Galadriel’s hair (I’m a hopeless romantic). How long the greeting took at the Entmoot. When Aragorn stood on the wall at Helm’s Deep and commanded the attention of the Orcs below. Aragorn’s choice to not enter Minas Tirith as its king until after the battle at the Black Gates. When Frodo sees Arwen coming to Minas Tirith (see my signature). Oh there are just too many to name them all!

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? Frodo lives!

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Probably a hobbit, I’m a simple person with simple ways and I like it that way.


What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I would be an Elf for their grace and appreciation of beauty in the smallest things.

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? Lothlorien, my happy place. Just the thought of walking beneath the golden leaves and hearing the melodic voices rising and falling in the trees surrounding me, calms me.
Where would you want to visit? Why? Rivendell to sing in the Hall of Fire. I’d also like to see Ithilien because of how it kept it’s beauty and had Elvish qualities despite how close it was to Mordor.

[Nurumaiel]

Alak, a great idea for us 'oldies' to fill them out as well. I was just going to ask if that might not be a good idea. I don't know about the rest, but since starting the game over two years ago I've changed a bit, and, considering that I was a rather young thing back then, I've also matured.

Would you recommend the group from the first book putting up a new-and-updated survey if they wish?

[alaklondewen]

Absolutely, Nuru! We can then take a step back and see how we have changed and how we can relate and work within the new team. :D

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Would you say that photography effects your writing?
Without doubt. I'll tell a story, if you'll forgive it. ;)

I took only two classes for my third term. It was a six week term and they were intensives. One was creative writing and one was a workshop in which we combined image and writing to make something "even more". I've never had so much fun doing school work.

My final for the writing class was to compose a short story. My final for my other class was to make a book or something else that combines image and word.

I had no idea where to start for each, so I was flipping lazily through some of my favorite pictures and spotted this (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/33670381/) image of Lucy. I glanced out the window and realized that the late afternoon light was brilliant. Unwilling to let it go to waste, I dragged a friend with me and we went on a crazed photography adventure that included the art studio, dead trees, and a graveyard that we had to pass many creepy townies to reach (I refrain from calling people creepy until they say or do things that make me nervous... they did, which is why I brought a friend).

In any case, I got some fantastic images like this (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/33661586/) one and this (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/33457441/) one and while looking through my memory card's contents, I had a stroke of genius that I should combine my final projects into a short story that has something to do with Lucy and a book that illustrates the thematic story. No children's picture book, that; I was fully aware of how dark and creepy both would end up being, but it was so sunny out that I couldn't resist.

After many spontaneous changes, I ended up with a 15 page story and a small hand-made book illustrating Psalm 23.

The whole combined project, the two most important grades of a semester, was of a creepy nature, but ended up with a lovely moral and was inspired almost entirely by one randomly taken image of a skeleton in the drawing studio. Formendacil helped, though he's probably unaware.

Do you see your posts as images before you write them, like photos readied to be played out?
I combine image and word in my thought, striving to capture the image as clearly as if I held a camera in my hands with perfect lighting and an unmoving model before me. :) That's easy, when you're photographing Lucy or others like her... she doesn't move.

What's more fun is to work in such a way as I would if I was making a movie. With constant characters, it's like having a moving stream of images at the speed of a Sony Handicam's capture rate. You can watch their life stories play out in real time, showing everything that seems important until you have a full story in a series of images, all transitioned beautifully into words and phrases that describe action as well as light and motion ever could.

Cameos are more like a cool indie flick made of stills. You can start with one post: a solid image, and describe it ad nauseum, if that's what you want. Next post can easily be something vastly different, and you continue on with enough transition for clarity and continuity, but without worry over what happens in between. Even if you know it, why put it in? Cameos are more thematic than continuously created.

You can Ken Burns Effect your way in for a closer look once you've started, or you can even introduce your character zoomed in with a description of her startlingly blue eyes, eyes that look out at you as though from worlds away, aware of both you and things beyond your imagination, and you can slowly expand into more of her character: a dreamer, an uncertain wanderer in a land of strangers, seeking for adventure like those her grandfather, now dead, once told to her... afraid to find it, afraid not to; all the same image, just portraying it one piece at a time.

So yes, in short... photography is like a vile disease that makes my writing illness that much more deadly. If I had any sense, I'd drop my crazy shenanigans and get a real job. :D

[Imladris]

Interesting read about your photography and writing, Fea.

Since it was suggested that the 'oldies' redo the survey here is mine (new and hopefully improved as it were >.<):

Name (that you go by): Immy on the Downs, Sonja in RL.

Age: 18.

Occupation: I don't have one as of yet -- unless one would like to count writing short stories and trying to compose a soundtrack for my brother's movie an occupation.

Future Aspirations: Becoming published, or becoming a jeweller. Or an editor of a fiction magazine. I'd like to be famous too, or, barring that, something like a Queen of Pulp Fiction much like Jack's mother was Queen of the B's in The Talisman.

Goal in life: Living life. I don't want to plod on through the years...I really want to live. This sort of living, mind you, doesn't include doing stupid things like getting drunk all the time...but truly enjoying the life that has been given me and not wasting it away.

Short term goals: Finishing that silly soundtrack...

Passion: Story

Hobbies: Writing, playing computer games, and here I must add the obligatory "wasting time" and "being lazy" sentiments, adding that if one were to laze, then one must laze beautifully (taken from An Evening of Long Goodbyes).

Famous for (brag about yourself): Getting the highest score in the German 1 final and only reciving a 90 something ish percent on the final of German 2? Being somewhat smart isn't easy, because I always seem to fail to meet expectations.

Fave book: Singular. Tsk. The Keys to the Kingdom books by Garth Nix, Neverwhere by Neil Gaimon, The Ender books by Orson Scott Card, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, various short stories by the authors listed above, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, The Hobbit by Tolkien, That Was Then This Is Now by S.E Henton, Peter Pan, The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber and the list could go on...

Fave movie: Again singular....tsk tsk. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Benny and Joon, PotC, X-men (I love mutants so this shouldn't be a surprise), Phantom of the Opera, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride (should have ended differently though), Spiderman 2, The Princess Bride, and of course the list could go on...

Fave sport: Sports = ew....

Fave store: Book stores and coffee shops. Pure heaven if the two are combined.

Fave music: Rock, Techno (I guess)....um...German Bands....Oldies...I'm not really too familiar with what all the different types of music are called.

What you can't stand: Arrogance. Usually people aren't as great as they think they are.

What you plain dislike: Hatred.

Who you admire: I admire people who know what they want in life, and will strive to get it, but, in the striving, they won't become obsessed with it. Also people who know when and how to simply let go...

What you most love to do: I love to read and write. I love to play World of Warcraft. I love to simply lie on my back, stare at the wall, and to simply take time to think and dream.

Your self-confessed flaws: Hastiness.

What intrigues/fascinates you: Stealing an answer here..but People.

What scares you: Many things.

Quotation to live by: My life matters because I'm alive, joy or pain, whatever comes, I'm alive and that's meaning enough. -- Orson Scott Card.

Value-specific:

What do you want most in a friend? Honesty. The ability to share comfortable silences.

Mia: Don't you hate that?
Vincent: What?
Mia: Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about [stuff] in order to be comfortable?
Vincent: I don't know. That's a good question.
Mia: That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.

-- Pulp Fiction (slightly edited >.>)

What do you want most in a teacher? A love for their subject. If a teacher does not love their subject, then it becomes boring. And the world ought not to be boring, yet so many teachers manage to make it so simply because they do not understand/love their subject.

What do you want most in an ally? Common sense.

What do you want most in a team-mate? A willingness to teach if I'm not as good as he is.

What do you want people to remember most about you? Wow...not really sure how to answer this question...especially since I've been quite a jerk on these forums at times and I'm really rather sure that's what the Downers remember here...herm...I'm going to be cliche and just say I'd like people to remember me as a relatively good person.

Writer-specific:

Your favorite work you've written so far: Works or ideas...sometimes the ideas don't flow to the paper so well...however, to answer the question, any of my Vampirish stories.

Your favorite character so far: My favourite characters don't turn out so well on paper. Sometimes I'm tempted to just keep them safe and pristine in my head.

What you plan to write soon: An editing of my first attempted piece of horror fiction that was spawned from a rather interesting "nightmare".

What inspires you to write: Story and music

What makes your writing stall: Fear

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Oh yeah. What writer doesn't? Usually I let it sit in the depths of cybor space for a year or two, have a flash of inspiration, take it out, write feverishly, read it a few days later, and then realize that it actually is still poor quality and then once again despair of ever writing anything really good.

Middle-Earth specific:

Your favorite ME character(s)? Bilbo, Smaug, Gandalf the Grey, Faramir.

What do you like about them? Bilbo just seemed more real to me, more relatable as well...Smaug for his cleverness (though I could do without the arrogance), Gandalf the Grey for his wisdom and his...I want to say taciturness but that's not the right word. Whatever it was that made him say, Fool of a took! Faramir for his sadness and then happiness with Eowyn.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? It's been a while since I've read LotR (don't hurt me), so I think I'll just go with the Death of Boromir and then Frodo and Sam bravely going on ahead.

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? I am no man!

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Looking at a race as a whole, and not at certain people within the race, I'm going to go with human. Humans seem to be ordinary and I'm an ordinary girl.

What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I'd like to be a hobbit -- a hobbit because they know how to enjoy life.

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? The Shire for it's simplistic beauty.

Where would you want to visit? Why? I don't like to travel usually...may I skip this question?

[Orual]

Name (that you go by): Orual is good for now.

Age: 18.

Occupation: Student of theatre, assistant playwriting teacher.

Future Aspirations: A professional career in theatrical performance, ideally musical theatre; a loving family of my own.

Goal in life: I think I said this last time, but as Mark Twain said, "to live so that, when I come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry."

Short term goals: Doing well in my university's production of Godspell.

Passion: Theatre.

Hobbies: Acting, singing, playing piano and guitar, writing, dancing.

Famous for (brag about yourself): Being the last one to get the joke and making it look cute, making a 4.0 my freshman year, being the theatre major who helped all the biology majors pass Bio 101...

Fave book: I can't pick just one!

Fave movie: "A Christmas Story". Just to be old-school.

Fave sport: Olympic gymnastics.

Fave store: A local store that sells incense, crystals, and stuff, and has yoga lessons in the back.

Fave music: Showtunes, especially anything written by Stephen Sondheim.

What you can't stand: Intolerance, arrogance.

What you plain dislike: Know-it-alls.

Who you admire: My family for putting up with me, my teachers for their passion to educate me, my friends for always being there for me, and my friend Alex for all that he gave me (I miss you).

What you most love to do: Perform, and be with people that I love.

Your self-confessed flaws: Shyness, difficulty trusting people, and an inclination to frustration.

What intrigues/fascinates you: Passions--the things that really get people going.

What scares you: Losing people who are close to me.

Quotation to live by: "You can stop being anything." - Neil Gaiman

Value-specific:

What do you want most in a friend? Trustworthiness.

What do you want most in a teacher? A real passion for teaching.

What do you want most in an ally? Loyalty.

What do you want most in a team-mate? Like Immy said, somebody who will smack me if I'm wrong and let me know!

What do you want people to remember most about you? My loyalty; that I was always a good friend and there when people needed me.

Writer-specific:

Your favorite work you've written so far: In light of recent events, a short story called "Forever" that I wrote for a creative writing course about a girl who loses her best friend to a hate crime. It's really depressing, but I love it.

Your favorite character so far: On the 'Downs? Ravion. In all my writings? Eli from "Forever".

What you plan to write soon: A play about a young Hispanic girl and her matriarchal family.

What inspires you to write: Events in my own life.

What makes your writing stall: Poor planning.

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? I get writer's block all the time, and the two things that force me past it are 1) just writing and 2) last minute PANIC!

Middle-Earth specific:

Your favorite ME character(s)? Sam.

What do you like about them? He's the friend I've always wanted, and I am so blessed that I am finally finding Sams in my life now.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? It always makes me cry when Sam has to abandon his pots in Mordor.

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? Wow, I can't even choose.

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I'm a Hobbit, but I like to think of myself as a Took.

What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Hobbits are fine with me!

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? The Shire, because I spent my childhood years curled up in bed hearing stories of it.

Where would you want to visit? Why? In Middle-Earth? Lorien, for its sad beauty in the dwindling of its people.

[Nurumaiel]

Name (that you go by): Nurumaiel, or Nuru for short

Age: Not dreadfully old, but not terribly young

Occupation: Assistant homekeeper

Future Aspirations: To either become a nun, or become a full-time wife, mother, and homemaker

Goal in life: I would say to become a saint, but that process extends beyond death generally, or at least officially... to become an unofficial saint, then

Short term goals: To achieve a feminine and Godly womanhood

Passion: My Faith, and music... and all things true and beautiful

Hobbies: Dancing, singing, violin, piano, guitar, sewing, knitting, writing, reading, rambling, as well as many others

Famous for (brag about yourself): I would imagine that I'm most famous for my singing. Everyone insists that I have a lovely voice (which is nice to hear, considering the work I've put into it!). I'm famous amongst some people for my writing, but my singing is more widely known

Fave book: Anything by L.M. Montgomery, Gene Stratton Porter, Tolkien, Lewis, MacDonald, etc... G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc... Shakespeare, naturally... the Brontes, Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell... dear me, I'm naming authors rather than books. But my favourite books can be summed up easier by their authors.

Fave movie: Wives and Daughters, Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, Anne of Green Gables and the Sequel, Ben-hur, Therese... Meet Me in St. Louis, The Harvey Girls, Holiday Inn, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers... Arsenic and Old Lace, High Noon, On the Waterfront, The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, White Heat, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington... and any one of those good old movies.

Fave sport: To watch, football, particularly my extremely talented younger brother... the only real sport I do is dancing

Fave store: Book stores, and fabric stores

Fave music: Just about anything classical, Bach in particular... I was going to say my favourite classical piece is Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, but I'm torn between that and Pachelbel Canon at the present moment. Old Irish songs, especially as sung by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem... 'oldies' like Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra... Patrick Doyle's Henry V... Loreena McKennitt... Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem and Cats... various other musicals, but Man of La Mancha in particular... and beautiful old chant, which seems to be extinct is so many churches nowadays

What you can't stand: People who seem to think I'm in some way 'oppressed and a failure' because I dream of being a stay-at-home mother... hymns such as I am the Bread of Life (I feel so silly singing I am the Bread of Life, because I'm not, so I don't sing it), and people who say that chant is old and outdated and doesn't 'do' anything for the soul... people who tell me that, as a Catholic, I worship Mary, and then tell me I'm lying when I say I don't... bad music.

What you plain dislike: People who get annoyed and offended when the seven children in my family pass them by... and again, people who think I have no right at all to be a stay-at-home mother... and again, silly hymns, and connected to that, the idea that, just after receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist we ought to stand up and sing about how we are the Bread of Life and how special we are, rather than get down on our knees and adore God... so, definitely all those Hymns to Self.

Who you admire: St. Therese, and her parents... so many mothers of large families I know who I respect so much... my own parents... St. Dominic Savio... St Maximilian Kolbe!!... our dear old papa John Paul II, and our dear new Benedict XVI...

What you most love to do: Play the piano and sing... I simply love to sing, and I simply love to play... I just enjoy putting my heart in soul into creating beautiful music.

Your self-confessed flaws: Lack of diligence, though I hate to admit it. If something is frustrating me it's tempting for me to just set it aside. Reacting too strongly to things is another. If I think about something insulting someone said a month ago, I get very passionate about it still. Whilst writing about what I can't stand and plain dislike above, my heart rate certainly did pick up quite a bit! Fortunately my shyness is a blessing, for it keeps me from losing my temper to people's faces... I just lecture about it when I get home.

What intrigues/fascinates you: Everything... some grand bit of music, with all its subtle details, or a wee bit of grass that's growing out odd...

What scares you: The reflection that the future is coming up too fast! Where did all the time and freedom go? Where are the lazy days of childhood?

Quotation to live by: I have a terrible lot of quotations to live by, but the first to come to mind: "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly." --G.K. Chesterton

Value-specific:

What do you want most in a friend? What I really appreciate is a friend who will acknowledge that I'm a thoughtful, quiet introvert, and that it's a different thing from being scared and unsociable.

What do you want most in a teacher? A sense of beauty and wonder... I don't want someone who will prattle off facts in their barest state, but look to find truth and knowledge in things.

What do you want most in an ally? An alliance, I imagine... I want him to really and truly be on the same side as me.

What do you want most in a team-mate? A good character. I love have team-mates I can respect for more than just their talent.

What do you want people to remember most about you? Anything that was good, and I pray they'll forget all that was bad. And I want people to remember that I was a Catholic, and extremely proud of it.

Writer-specific:

Your favorite work you've written so far: With a Fairy Hand in Hand, a book based off W.B. Yeats poem The Stolen Child

Your favorite character so far: Liornung, of course!... and Tipsy, from the above-mentioned work.

What do you plan to write soon: Finish my fairy-story, and come up with some articles for a Catholic newsletter I write for.

What inspires you to write: Anything has the potential to inspire me. Another book, or some bit of a conversation I overhear, or the dialogue between a pair of birds...

What makes your writing stall: For my present story, I'm stalled because I took a vacation from writing for awhile and can't remember what I was planning when I left off...

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Like everyone else, I do get writer's block. Various methods work, but none of them are guaranteed. Just writing even when I don't want to sometimes helps, acting scenes out sometimes help, reading it aloud to the kiddies sometimes helps, and putting on music with the proper mood and creating a scene to fit it sometimes helps. And then, sometimes, I can do naught but wait.

Middle-Earth specific:

Your favorite ME character(s)? Faramir

What do you like about them? It's hard to put into words... there's just such a depth to him... such nobility and honour and courage... a brave fellow, but he has also a very gentle spirit... he's simply splendid.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? Too many to name... Frodo's dream in Bombadil's home, and that moment at the end when he beholds white shores... Aragorn's awe-inspiring transformation from Strider on the River Anduin...

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? I don't think I could name a favourite... I love all the plot twists.

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I think I'm too much of a mix to choose!

What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I think I'd very much enjoy remaining just as I am

What place(s) would you live in Middle Earth and why? I'd certainly choose the Shire... it's the most home-y... gardens, and familiar paths... even the Sacksville-Bagginses and their ilk would be more like what I'm accustomed to... much more than dream-like Elven lands.

Where would you want to visit? Why? I should like to visit simply everywhere. But above all I should like to see Henneth Annun.

How would you travel? On foot. I love to meander my way along and enjoy the scenery, and take in all the little details.

Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? Limited to just one, I would take along my Rosary. It has all the most beautiful and sad memories, prayers, and feelings connected with it. If I'm granted one more, I'd like to take along my Book of Letters and a pen to write the letters.

And now, some advice... always proof-read, especially if you're talking about why you admire someone! I was too busy reflecting on why I liked Faramir to pay attention to what I was writing... consequently, the terrible typo:

...there's just such a depth to me... such nobility and honour and courage...

Thank goodness I caught that before I sent this through! I'd have to add that another one of my flaws is a dreadful conceit and vanity!

New Quotation to live by: Always proof-read. :o :D

[littlemanpoet]

Name (that you go by):littlemanpoet, LMP, Elempi

Age: 46

Occupation: shipping & receiving clerk

Future Aspirations: published author

Goal in life: to be an effective vessel of the Secret Fire

Short term goals: Finish "The Incarnate Dream"

Passion: Listening to God, Friendships, writing, Barrowdowns

Hobbies: writing, Barrowdowns, traveling, playing congas

Famous for (brag about yourself): a good tenor voice, avoiding crowded rooms, being goofy :rolleyes:

Fave book: The Lord of the Rings, hands down.

Fave movie: Dead Poets Society, Deep Impact, Sixth Sense

Fave sport: college football to watch, hiking for personal enjoyment

Fave store: the local Stamp store (you buy stamps and make your own greeting cards), where I buy gifts for my wife.

Fave music: Genesis and related for modern, Baroque and Renaissance for Classical, and lots of folk music: blue grass, Celtic, etc.

What you can't stand: Too much physical pain.

What you plain dislike: Country music. The results of other people's inconsideration of others.

Who you admire: My father for being a holy man of God with a sweet spirit and a great tenor voice :). Also other Barrowdowners, such as Helen for spirituality, Celuien for sweetness of character, Feanor for writing genius, and many others.

What you most love to do: Write. Spend time at Barrowdowns. Travel. Explore new places (in books is good too, but I prefer real places).

Your self-confessed flaws: Arrogance the depths of which are not yet plumbed. Impatience. A tendency toward recklessness (read, decisive to a fault).

What intrigues/fascinates you: Um, the opposite sex (you've probably noticed from rpg's).

What scares you: Forever; in both directions.

Quotation to live by: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the certainty of things not seen."

Value-specific:

What do you want most in a friend? Reciprocation.

What do you want most in a teacher? Clarity.

What do you want most in an ally? Dependability.

What do you want most in a team-mate? Dependability.

What do you want people to remember most about you? That I was always willing to change for the better.

Writer-specific:

Your favorite work you've written so far: The Incarnate Dream (it doesn't have to be done, does it?)

Your favorite character so far: Raefindan (Roy Edwards)

What do you plan to write soon: The Incarnate Dream (it ain't done yet)

What inspires you to write: A good idea.

What makes your writing stall: When others, well intentioned or not, try to leverage my writing toward their own agenda: discouragement.

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? When I get discouraged. Encouragement, whether from within or without.

Middle-Earth specific:

Your favorite ME character(s)? (1) Frodo (2) Galadriel

What do you like about them? (1) His depth of character. His compassion. (2) Her compassion & clarity of vision

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? When Galadriel speaks love into Gimli's heart in Lorien.

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? The Ents defeating Saruman.

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but an Elf. I used to believe that anybody who claimed such a thing must be arrogant, but now I understand: there's a spiritual clarity about Elves that I didn't understand before, and I've been given the grace to get that kind of clarity.

What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Elves. Believe it or not.

What place(s) would you live in Middle Earth and why? By the Sea, in the North.

Where would you want to visit? Why? Imladris, to be where there is peace and clarity. To talk with Glorfindel and Elrond.

How would you travel? I would walk or ride horse.

Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? a harp, to express the music I find in my heart (sorry if this seems like romantic goop, but I'm just being honest).

[littlemanpoet]

I broached this in the original Tapestry discussion thread, so I'll do it here now too.

The use of language is a critical element in LotR. I tried to encourage us, in our attempt to be canonical, to use language that was as simple as possible, as a way of being true to Tolkien who used almost all Anglo-Saxon based word choice in LotR.

That was two years ago (I think). My view has changed a bit, based on other rpgs I've been in.

The general practice seems to follow a pattern of using Anglo-Saxon based vocabulary if your character is from Rohan or from the North, whether the Shire, Bree, the Carrock, or Dale. Dwarves tend to use an even harder English, based in Nordic, which is not easy to pull off, but not impossible. Gondorian humans use Latinate, and even Greek-based English vocabulary, to reflect the (sort of) Roman civilization of Gondor by contrast to the relatively "barbarian" Rohirrim, etc.

Please don't take what follows as criticism so much as observation.

Liornung and Ravion were both given to a lot of Latinate expression. Aeron and Gwyllion, Mellonin, Mellondu, and Amroth, worked with a much more archaic vocabulary, probably because Imladris and Helen took their cues from my examples with Raefindan especially, but Ædegard too. Leafa sounded Rohirric. Bellyn used a good deal of Latinate English. Nethwador obviously used a very limited vocabulary, appropriate to his character. The Elves used a rather Tolkienian vocabulary to my (admittedly poor) recollection.

Obviously, I think Immy and I have every intention of continuing to have fun with the interchange between Raefindan and Aeron. But I don't want to assume anything.

Latinate: any word ending in "tion", "ize", for example; most words beginning in "pre", "re", "com", "con", et cetera.

Do we want to attempt a canonical vocabulary, depending on our characters' origins? Do we feel capable? If desiring and wanting to learn, are you willing to put up with Elempi offering revision advice? The teacher in me is itching to offer insights, but I'll steer clear if everybody prefers.

Wouldn't it be great to have other Downs'ers say that Tapestry was one of the best rpgs on the Downs? (I always shoot for that goal, can't help myself...)

Let me know.....

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

If desiring and wanting to learn, are you willing to put up with Elempi offering revision advice?
Feel free to advise me, oh professorial one. I'm quite certain that being a student will never get old. I should warn you, though, that I'm the student who researches my teacher's interests so that I can learn fun things and provoke highly entertaining debates when I'm bored... you may regret the offer. :p Quite seriously though, if you can help me learn neat stuff and become a better writer for it, how could I possibly refuse?

By the way, my life is officially back to [as] normal [as it ever is]. I should be able to finish reading Tapestry within the next week... two at most.

[Nurumaiel]

lmp, I'm more than willing to take your advice! I'm very ignorant on the subject, but I do want to learn more.

A couple of questions...

Firstly, how far would you like it to extend? The dialogue of the characters, naturally... their thoughts as well? Just the writing in general?

Secondly, though Liornung is of Rohirric origin, would he have more of a range considering that he spends his time travelling from place to place, and would more than likely pick up on various dialects?

[Celuien]

Please go ahead and advise away, lmp. You know that I'm always ready to learn something new. ;) And I'd appreciate the advice.

[Firefoot]

If Rugh starts using large vocabulary, slap me. :p

Seriously, though, I think it's worth shooting for. :)

[littlemanpoet]

All of you are most gracious. :)

A couple of questions...

Firstly, how far would you like it to extend? The dialogue of the characters, naturally... their thoughts as well? Just the writing in general?

Secondly, though Liornung is of Rohirric origin, would he have more of a range considering that he spends his time travelling from place to place, and would more than likely pick up on various dialects?
Liornung would have picked up a smattering of Gondorian, no doubt. So I can see him doing more with Latinate vocabulary.

EDIT: my reply continued:

It's really up to you, Nuru, whether you want Liornung to be "taken with language for its own sake", or be more rooted to his own speech with borrowings as he finds them useful. My own sense after reading the whole story again, is the latter, but he's your character.

As for your first question, the way I handle my posts is to allow myself a lot of freedom in narration, although I'm not going to start making analogies to nuclear weapons (unless Tharonwe does something to make it work!). Thoughts and dialogue are going to follow character speech tendencies very closely, however. I have purposely put a lot of Latinate in Tharonwe's mouth, (1) because he's evil, and great villains tend to talk in parsed speech, if you take my meaning; (2) because he's old, and the use of a large vocabulary reflects that. Erebemlin, being somewhat old, may have a larger vocabulary, but he has spent most of his years in Lorien, I'm guessing, and therefore his archaisms might follow a more strict pattern.

[Formendacil]

The use of language is a critical element in LotR. I tried to encourage us, in our attempt to be canonical, to use language that was as simple as possible, as a way of being true to Tolkien who used almost all Anglo-Saxon based word choice in LotR.

On a similar, but not identical note...

I'd like to take a little umbrage at your use of "Translation" thus far. And I mean it as inoffensively as possible.

Specifically, I'm referring to the incidents with Raefindan, where he starts recognizing connections between Rohirric and his own "home" language- English. Such as when he decides there's a real connection between "Edgar" and "Ædegard".

The thing here is that if we accept that English is merely used in lieu of Westron, then we have to accept that Anglo-Saxon is merely used in lieu of Rohirric. Therefore, it CANNOT be possible, as presented, for Raefindan to hear the phonetic and linguistic connections between Ædegard and Edgar, because Ædegard is merely a substitution for the "real" Rohirric name- which might likely have the same meaning, but which certainly wouldn't have a discernable phonetic similarity that Raefindan could recognize.

Similarily, I'm a little bit queasy about Raefindan's use of words that Mellonin, Aeron, and others don't understand. While it is entirely possible for bits of English to slip into his speech, with English being used as a translation for Westron, it really blurs the lines of what is translation and what is real English.

I bring this up purely because LMP has started off on language. It's an issue that gave me a few twitches in my cheek when reading the story. And it's a really minor issue- but if you want to be as canonical as possible, one has to remember the Translator's Conceit.

Do I even make sense?

[littlemanpoet]

Do I even make sense?Absolutely. You make very good points.

Gondorian is not really Latin.
Rohirric is not really Anglo-Saxon.
Commont Tongue is not really modern English.

Nevertheless, what I have been doing is an imitation of what Tolkien was working at in his Notion Club Papers (I think), in which an Anglo-Saxon father and son from roughly 1,000 A.D. dreamed of himself being present at the Akallebêth, and he was able to recognize similarities in speech between what Elendil was saying and his own speech. So what I am doing may not be as finely crafted as Tolkien's, as I'm no gifted philologist. However, what I am doing has a precedent in Tolkien.

So maybe I'm not doing it the way it ought to be done, but I'm trying to be as canonical as I know how to be. I hope that helps to explain things well enough....

[alaklondewen]

lmp, I'm all for improvement, so if there is any way to better my writing, please give me suggestions. I, for one, am happy you're offering your assistance. :)

[littlemanpoet]

I've finished reading everything up to yesterday. Wow! :eek:

We sure did put our characters through a lot! On purpose, as I recall. There were a lot of tear jerking moments, on pages 16 - 18 especially. Reading Jorje against the Merlocks actually got me almost whooping for joy. :p ....which is somewhat proud to say, as I wrote it, but I s'pose I did okay with that one. The burial was really moving. One of the greatest treats was reading how Ædegard finally started listening to Leafa, seeking her point of view, and discovering what a wise woman he had fallen in love with. Very enjoyable!

A lot of it was very harrowing. It's no wonder we were exhausted by page 18.

All that to lead into this:

We really need to make Tapestry 2 as - erm - "harrowing" (in its way) as Tapestry 1.

So let's plan for it early. Thus, heres the question:

What are you willing to allow to happen to your character(s)?

1. cuts and bruises?
2. maiming?
3. loss of one or more of the 5 senses?
4. loss of a limb, ear, etc.?
5. death?

Please go with your true desire and willingness. If I'm overstepping my bounds with this, please let me know and I'll quiet down. But I'll add just this much: Tapestry 1 was made the better for being willing to let our characters really go through difficult stuff.

[Celuien]

What are you willing to allow to happen to your character(s)?

1. cuts and bruises?
2. maiming?
3. loss of one or more of the 5 senses?
4. loss of a limb, ear, etc.?
5. death?

Any of the above as required by the story.

[littlemanpoet]

Just one more post for now tonight, while the iron's in the fire.

A lot got set in motion that must be continued into Tapestry 2. Obvious.

Some of it might get lost in the sheer volume of what got written, and it would be grievous to allow that to happen, so let's remind each other of stuff that must happen. Here's a beginning of the list (feel free to copy and paste into your own post so we can keep a concise and growing list):

1. Marigold prophesied that Aeron would be the only one to pierce through all illusions. The ghost of Gwyllion is the link between Nimrodel & Mithrellas on one hand, and Aeron on the other, to make this happen.

2. Ædegard and Leafa had dreams in Marigold's house that should be taken as foretellings of the future that will come true (?): young married couple with a babe, and an elderly couple with many grand children.

3. Tharonwe (Maegeleb) is going to use hypnotism combined with Osanwë on human and elf alike in order to achieve his desire.

That's all that comes fresh to mind right now.

[Formendacil]

Absolutely. You make very good points.

Gondorian is not really Latin.
Rohirric is not really Anglo-Saxon.
Commont Tongue is not really modern English.

Nevertheless, what I have been doing is an imitation of what Tolkien was working at in his Notion Club Papers (I think), in which an Anglo-Saxon father and son from roughly 1,000 A.D. dreamed of himself being present at the Akallebêth, and he was able to recognize similarities in speech between what Elendil was saying and his own speech. So what I am doing may not be as finely crafted as Tolkien's, as I'm no gifted philologist. However, what I am doing has a precedent in Tolkien.

So maybe I'm not doing it the way it ought to be done, but I'm trying to be as canonical as I know how to be. I hope that helps to explain things well enough....

Being well-acquainted with both The Lost Road and the Notion Club Papers, I'm well aware of the sort of time-travel story you're working with- I'm merely quibbling about the mode of presentation regarding the linguistic element.

Not, mind you, that I'm entirely sure how best to convery that... so much as I'm stating a general concern about blurring the boundaries between Westron-translated-by-English, and English Proper- though one will note that Tolkien himself came close to confusing the two.

Basically, what I'm MOST concerned about would be Raefindan making further (what's done, after all, is done) connections between words in Rohirric and words and English. Between Anglo-Saxon and English, this could be done, but Anglo-Saxon and Rohirric are not, as a seen, one and the same.

As for how far I'd be willing to torture/torment Bergil- or any other character- I honestly can't say at this point. Those are the sorts of things that the story has to dictate. Personally, I can see loss of limb or life being better/easier for me in virtually any circumstance than loss of a sense- though the challenge itself should maybe be reason enough to attempt the latter.

Basically, whatever makes the best story seems to be what I feel...

[Firefoot]

My response is pretty much the same as Celuien's... it depends on what fits.

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Anyway...one last post...

If Gondorians are prone to "Latinate" then I guess it's okay that Bellyn leaned toward that in Tapestry 1 because she grew up in Gondor...

And, as far as maiming/losing senses/what-have-you...I guess whatever is needed by the story, but my one true preference is for Bella not to die. That's all.

Name (that you go by): Aylwen. Mallory.
Age: 17
Occupation: Student during the school year. Cashier at a clothing store.
Future Aspirations: Travel the world. Join the Peace Corps. Write a book. Run a marathon. Become an anthropologist or something. Learn more languages.
Goal in life: Change the world. No, really, I’m serious.
Short term goals: Finish packing for Costa Rica.
Passion: My family and friends. Writing, music, running, athletics in general, languages.
Hobbies: Swimming and playing guitar, playing soccer.
Famous for (brag about yourself): Being happy all the time, talking a lot, being excited about the little things, having more miles on my running shoes than on my car.
Fave book: The Silmarillion, The Phantom Tollbooth
Fave movie: The Fellowship of the Ring, Garden State, Beauty and the Beast, and Finding Nemo.
Fave sport: CROSS-COUNTRY. Running, not skiing. Soccer is a close second.
Fave store: Music stores.
Fave music: I like music so much. I guess I’d say most alternative rock and “indie” rock. I also love the Beatles and Pink Floyd. I’m a sucker for Beethoven, Irish folk music, and church hymns. I love Spanish music. I guess it would be easier to just say that I love music.
What you can't stand: People who don’t use their turn signal when they drive, people who step on the back of your flip flops while you’re walking.
What you plain dislike: Math. Country music. Rap (it’s not music).
Who you admire: I admire a lot of people…
What you most love to do: Run. Play music. Write. Hang out with friends. Ride bikes.
Your self-confessed flaws: I believe I am one of the most impatient people alive. I am loud – the stereo, my guitar amp…they’re on the highest volume level or not on at all. I talk a lot. I take things with a grain of salt which makes people angry sometimes when I don’t take things seriously. There are very few things I do take seriously (those things include church, running, music, and family).
What intrigues/fascinates you: People. The world. Fire. Languages. Thunderstorms.
What scares you: Bugs. Failure. Disappointing the people I love.
Quotation to live by: “Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.”


Value-specific:
What do you want most in a friend? Honesty, loyalty, sense of humor, consistency.
What do you want most in a teacher? Intelligence, understanding, open-mindedness.
What do you want most in an ally? Intelligence, trust, loyalty.
What do you want most in a team-mate? Speed, endurance, strength. Other than that? Sense of humor, reliability, determination, motivation.
What do you want people to remember most about you? That I never gave up.

Writer-specific:
Your favorite work you've written so far: Mm. Well, I sure did like that short story I co-wrote in my freshman creative writing class. That was a good one.
Your favorite character so far: I love them all.
What you plan to write soon: I'll write a lot about my trip in Costa Rica.
What inspires you to write: People. Life. Music.
What makes your writing stall: Thinking that it’s not good enough, that it’s not right, that it’s not perfect, that no one will like it.
Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? I go for a long, long, long run. Or I go for a bike ride. Or I play some guitar. Then I come back and I’m okay again.

Middle-Earth specific:
Your favorite ME character(s)? Feanor and Sam.
What do you like about them? For an elf, Feanor is just so…so human. He is the dark side of every person…plus he’s fiery and passionate and determined – focused to the point of recklessness. Sam just reminds me of my best friend.
Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy? The very end…when Sam says, “Well, I’m back.”
Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy? I guess it’s not really a “twist,” but I love that the hobbits, even with everyone doubting them and laughing at them, changed their world. It is hope that maybe the average someone can change everything.
Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Eh, I guess those silly hobbits. They’re short. They’re happy 24/7. They like to dance around. Need I say more?
What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Probably the elves. They’re very tall and I’d really like to know what the view is like from up there. I don’t think I could handle living forever though.
What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? The Grey Havens. It sounds rainy and drizzly there, and I like the rain.
Where would you want to visit? Why? Near or Far Harad…it sounds like it’s a sandy, hot, dry, savannah wasteland. Sounds fun.
How would you travel? I run everywhere. Walking just isn’t fast enough.
Besides the usual camping & travel stuff, what single special item is in your knapsack and why? An MP3 player. Where would I be without my music?

So, right. I'll be back July 6th...hope I don't miss too much.

-Aylwen

[littlemanpoet]

There is a rather simple, if slightly artificial way, to get around the issue of the Translator Conceit: Roy Edwards, a character I created long before there was a Tapestry of Dreams rpg, is a 21st century Christian young man. He is currently dreaming Tapestry, in which he is dreaming himself as Imrazor. I shall call it the Dream Conceit. ;) Roy aka Raefindan aka Imrazor is all three men at once, and this - ah - ahem - miracle of dreaming a reality, allows for the - ahem - transliteration of language according to the plan of those Powers that have concerned themselves with the goings on of Amroth, Nimrodel, and all those characters who have attached themselves thereto. As Roy/Raefindan has discovered finally on page 18, there is a Purpose for him to be dreaming what is apparently real, in which he apparently is indeed Roy, Raefindan, and Imrazor all at the same time, incarnated in some form of (dare I say it) trans(p)neumation, if you take my meaning. It is, in essence, a mystery, and language connections are transliterated just as Roy is himself trans(p)neumated. Like it or not, it's at least plausible ... especially to a Roman Rite Follower, don't you know. ;)

EDIT: Okay, not simple. :p

[Celuien]

It is, in essence, a mystery, and language connections are transliterated just as Roy is himself trans(p)neumated.
Forgive a possibly stupid question, but...um, what exactly does that mean? I can't find trans(p)neumated in my dictionary. :D I thought I had a handle on what was happening with Roy because of the dream explanation, but is there something else that I should be aware of?

[Formendacil]

There is a rather simple, if slightly artificial way, to get around the issue of the Translator Conceit: Roy Edwards, a character I created long before there was a Tapestry of Dreams rpg, is a 21st century Christian young man. He is currently dreaming Tapestry, in which he is dreaming himself as Imrazor. I shall call it the Dream Conceit. ;) Roy aka Raefindan aka Imrazor is all three men at once, and this - ah - ahem - miracle of dreaming a reality, allows for the - ahem - transliteration of language according to the plan of those Powers that have concerned themselves with the goings on of Amroth, Nimrodel, and all those characters who have attached themselves thereto. As Roy/Raefindan has discovered finally on page 18, there is a Purpose for him to be dreaming what is apparently real, in which he apparently is indeed Roy, Raefindan, and Imrazor all at the same time, incarnated in some form of (dare I say it) trans(p)neumation, if you take my meaning. It is, in essence, a mystery, and language connections are transliterated just as Roy is himself trans(p)neumated. Like it or not, it's at least plausible ... especially to a Roman Rite Follower, don't you know. ;)

EDIT: Okay, not simple. :p

Well, if it works the way it is... don't change it on my account.

As far as I am concerned, the transliteration from Westron to English (or vice versa) is fully believable (well, within the context of the story). What I'm mainly taking issue with is that, as Raefindan, when Roy is hearing Rohirric, he is hearing not Anglo-Saxon- but Rohirric. Consequently, it shouldn't be possible for him to draw connections between Rohirric words and English ones. Really, it was the whole making a correlation between Edgar and Ædegard that drew my "ire" here.

Mind you, also... I'm not really a big fan of the whole "Raefindan is dreaming this" idea. For me it smacks too much of the film Wizard of Oz, in which the whole fantasy is explained away as having been "Dreamt". I think that I'm echoing the Professor in this rather queasy distaste. And, for the same reason: it upsets the idea that what is happening is REAL and FACT (of course it is neither, but it ought to FEIGN that). Even if it doesn't toy around with the reality of the Legendarium, I find it... disconcerting.... shall we say, to think that the whole reunion of Nimrodel and Amroth, the whole sibling relationship of Mellonin and Raefindan, the whole relationship of Roy and "Jorge", for that matter, becomes merely a "dream". And if Raefindan is merely dreaming it... it's almost as if it never happened.

I don't know... the queasiness I've got doesn't seem to translate well into words. I hope I'm not causing unwitting offence here.

Now, I don't have either Lost Road or The Notion Club papers at hand to compare with, so I tread into the realm of complete memory/speculation here, but I seem to recall the premise of Tolkien's timetravel being that they are PREFIGURED by dreaming of being people in the past, with the story to move on to them ACTUALLY being there.

Anyway, my whole issue here is merely a matter of personal taste, and if the consensus is that the situation, as it stands, is too embedded in the story to be ignored/amended in future meaning/ to be changed, then I can and will go along with the flow. I shall do as Bergil, and ignore any suggestion that was is happening is merely dream.

[Orual]

Aylwen brought this up, but just to ask outright: since we're connecting, if not equating, Gondorian with Latin, would Ravion get away with more Latinate wordings since his main dwelling is in Gondor? Just wondering how careful I need to be. :p

Either way, though, you know that I'm more than open to your advice, lmp--I am looking forward to it. I am in no way, shape, or form a linguist, and I want to make my writing as authentic and true to this piece as possible.

[littlemanpoet]

Forgive a possibly stupid question, but...um, what exactly does that mean? I can't find trans(p)neumated in my dictionary. :D I thought I had a handle on what was happening with Roy because of the dream explanation, but is there something else that I should be aware of?
I'm taking liberty with a certain Roman Rite doctrine (which may itself be offensive except that), I think the spiritual law actually does apply rather well to the issue at hand. Transubstantiation = the bread and wine remain bread and wine but become in Reality the body and blood of Christ. Just so, transliteration = the words remain what they were for the original speakers, but within Roy's dreaming, they become in Reality one with their Meanings. Trans(p)neumation = it's a dream but it's also Reality. Literally, "across" - "spirit" or "breath".

Which answers Formy's discomfort as well. It really is a dream, and it's also really Real. It's a spiritual principle borrowed from Roman Rite.

So Ædgar and Ædegard are quite purposeful. Just as Roy is Raefindan is Imrazor is quite purposeful. Truth be told, I intended the former whereas the latter happened to Roy within the story. :eek:

As for Ravion, Orual, if he's from Gondor the Latinate may be good; but remember also that it's a Numenorean who is going to speak really Latinate; Gondorians themselves are going to be more like Boromir than Faramir, if you understand me.

[Celuien]

I see, Elempi. Thanks for the explanation. You can probably imagine that I was rather mystified...

[littlemanpoet]

Mystified by a mystical notion? Rather appropriate. ;)

Another way of looking at this whole thing, Formy, is that Roy Edwards is just as feigned an English language speaker as Ædegard is a Rohirric speaker. So pick your conceit.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I have to agree with Form on the dream issue.

Before I ever set foot in a writing classroom and before I ever considered myself a writer-in-training, I read. I taught myself to read before I was even in school because my mum was tired of reading that "just one more chapter?" every single night.

And every single time I've run across "And then she woke up" or anything remotely resembling it, it has completely ruined things for me. The quickest example to come to mind was my most recent encounter: Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men. About half-way through the book, his main character is busy battling creatures under orders from the Queen of the Elves and all and I was caught up in the story and most suddenly, Tiffany woke up. I came disturbingly close to closing the book and being done with it right there.

Every reader of fantasy, or really anything, engages in suspended disbelief. It is a knowing decision to ignore the fact that what you are reading is total bologna and to let yourself get caught up in the story with the mindset that of course it is real and the outcomes of every situation are completely and totally important to your life and future well-being.

As soon as you are told that it was all a dream, the fantasy world that you have allowed yourself to be captured in comes crashing down like a card castle in the wind and you feel like a fool. Of course, it was just a story. Even inside the story, it was just a story. I let myself get caught up in something that isn't even a pragmatic reality for the characters; double the fool am I.

When you allow for suspended disbelief and you reach a point where suddenly you're informed that you didn't need it, it's like being told that you were wasting your time and imagination. It feels like a trick played by the writer.

It leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

My most recent "official" writing teacher said on the first day of class that it weakens your story to qualify it like that, and I agree. It's too much like breaking the rules. If your story is a dream, what is there to stop you from incorporating anything that unconscious thought might? If it is all merely a dream, where are the rules of the universe you have created that stop you from killing the mood? I am aware that each writer here has such control that s/he wouldn't let the fact that it is both dream and reality manipulate the plot, but I can't find it in myself to be comfortable with taking the easy way out.

And for me, making it a dream is the easy way and I've long since come to the conclusion that if something isn't painfully difficult, I am, or we are, doing it wrong.

Edit: Upon review, this might come off as preachy or worse... It is merely meant to state my opinion of the revelations thus far that I have encountered of an entire story having been a dream. Feel absolutely free to completely ignore me. If the rest of the team likes the dream solution (which is certainly a creative one) to translator's conceit, I will happily step down and never bring it up again.

[littlemanpoet]

You guys aren't getting it. I'm being frank.

This story is all about dreams and people who dream, but here's the critical point:

The dreams are true. They keep revealing reality.

That Roy Edwards is dreaming himself as Raefindan must not lessen in your mind, as reader, the story he is dreaming, because for Roy, his Raefindan is real - within the story.

For the sake of this story:

Do not think this way: "It's a dream therefore it's not real."

Think this way: "It's a dream AND it's real."

Just because one of the characters in the story is dreaming it, doesn't make it less real for ANY of them. I know that's hard to get your mind around, but that's what we're doing in this story. I don't think I understand this incorrectly.

Amroth is dreaming what's really happening to Nimrodel.
Raefindan is dreaming what really happened between Mithrellas and himself as Imrazor.
Roy Edwards is dreaming what really happened to Mellonin, Mellondu, Raefindan, and all the rest of them.

Et cetera.

Get it?

[Celuien]

I get it. Fascinating, mind-bending, and not at all the St. Elsewhere 'it was all a fantasy' ending. All real and channeled through an special awareness of reality and time, past and present, to be found in dreams.

Or I think I do...

[Formendacil]

Amroth is dreaming what's really happening to Nimrodel.
Raefindan is dreaming what really happened between Mithrellas and himself as Imrazor.
Roy Edwards is dreaming what really happened to Mellonin, Mellondu, Raefindan, and all the rest of them.

Et cetera.

Get it?

I get it... and I'm not TRYING to make things more difficult... but there seems to me to be a contradiction here.

Roy dreaming as Raefindan IN THE SAME MANNER as Raefindan dreaming as Imrazor implies that Raefindan exists in Middle-Earth, quite apart from Roy, just as Imrazor existed, quite apart from Raefindan.

However, all indications thus far have been that Raefindan IS Roy- but in Middle-Earth. Take away the dreamer and you are left with... nobody. Raefindan cannot exist without Roy, since he wholly and totally is Roy- he has no other history or memory AS RAEFINDAN from prior to when Roy and he begin to coexist- whereas Imrazor (or so my reading seemed to imply)- though his experiences are wholly shared and experienced by Raefindan- existed on his own, with his own history and memories, prior to when Raefindan first started dreaming him.

Does that make sense?

Oh, and on a sillier note, I must take offence at your calling transubstantiation a "Roman Rite" doctrine. You do a great disservice to the Eastern Rite Catholics. And certain Anglicans. :p

[Celuien]

Roy dreaming as Raefindan IN THE SAME MANNER as Raefindan dreaming as Imrazor implies that Raefindan exists in Middle-Earth, quite apart from Roy, just as Imrazor existed, quite apart from Raefindan.
That's what I thought was happening...Raefindan received Roy's consciousness through the dream and suffered identity confusion in the same way as Amroth appears. But if Raefindan only exists as long as Roy dreams, I see what you mean. :)

[littlemanpoet]

I get it... and I'm not TRYING to make things more difficult... but there seems to me to be a contradiction here.

Roy dreaming as Raefindan IN THE SAME MANNER as Raefindan dreaming as Imrazor implies that Raefindan exists in Middle-Earth, quite apart from Roy, just as Imrazor existed, quite apart from Raefindan.

However, all indications thus far have been that Raefindan IS Roy- but in Middle-Earth. Take away the dreamer and you are left with... nobody. Raefindan cannot exist without Roy, since he wholly and totally is Roy- he has no other history or memory AS RAEFINDAN from prior to when Roy and he begin to coexist- whereas Imrazor (or so my reading seemed to imply)- though his experiences are wholly shared and experienced by Raefindan- existed on his own, with his own history and memories, prior to when Raefindan first started dreaming him.

Does that make sense?Yes.

However, I think you're forcing distinctions that need not exist. Let there be the 'logic' of mythic unities rather than the 'logic' of distinctions. With the logic of distinctions, you can choose to interpret it the way Formy does, or the way Celuien does. But with the logic of mythic unities, you allow the story to live and the paradox to remain, and see what the story shows.

My understanding of the story has matured as I've written my posts. That's the nature of rough drafting. There are things I would have written in earlier had I known them. I'm not sure whether I want to say that Raefindan had an existence in Middle Earth prior to finding himself before the gates of Minas Tirith, or not. So I won't. I'll leave it a mystery. No, make that, I'll leave it a Mythic Unity. Because I think that mythic unity is what I, and we, are shooting for with this. And if that creates all kinds of new questions, there's a certain thread I can refer you to.....

Oh, and on a sillier note, I must take offence at your calling transubstantiation a "Roman Rite" doctrine. You do a great disservice to the Eastern Rite Catholics. And certain Anglicans. :p
Here I was trying to be considerate. I can't win. :rolleyes:

Just remember, we are all of us rough drafting, and we may stumble and post things that we will say "No, that doesn't work" later. But in the meantime, let the story live. Don't try to analyze it to death. You run the risk of killing the story.

[Celuien]

Okay, okay. Advice taken. I'll shut up and watch. :)

Apologies if I seem critical. I don't mean to be. These have just been a bad past couple of hours for me (received bad, though ultimately fortunate news), so I'm a little bit distracted right now.

[littlemanpoet]

You don't seem critical, Celuien. Not at all!

If I seem a bit - ah - passionate, it's because I am. :D

In general, yes, but about this thread a lot. Helen has provided a forum in Tapestry where I can actually "test my wings" on stuff like mythic unity. I am jealous of my opportunity to do so. ;)

[Formendacil]

You don't seem critical, Celuien. Not at all!

Of course not, that would be encroaching on my turf! :p

Well, if it makes sense to you, LMP... then good luck. But no amount of transliterating of transubstantiating is going to make it perfectly fine, in my lights. However, I am quite capable of pretending it doesn't exist... Bergil and I shall pretend together. ;)

Run the risk of killing the story? Tolkien over-analysed the Lord of the Rings before it was even finished... I have no fear that we can kill the story. It's more powerful than that!

Okay, case closed... but another occurance of "swamp-lembas" and I shall have to dig out my canon-cannon. :p

[littlemanpoet]

... but another occurance of "swamp-lembas" and I shall have to dig out my canon-cannon. :pCome come! What's an elf living in a swamp to do, make believe that the lembas he makes that comes from the swamp isn't going to have any kind of taste of having come from it?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

You guys aren't getting it. I'm being frank.
Oh please don't... I have an ex-something-I-would-never-call-a-significant-other that was born being Frank and I'd very much prefer that you remain LMP... :p

On a serious note, please don't be impatient with me... :(

I understand that the dreams are real. That was never a problem for me. It's not a traditional dream so much as a medium through which a living story can be viewed. Am I right?

What worries me, it appears, is not that Roy is dreaming this, but how it will be revealed that he is. Will it be explained to the readers as clearly as it has been to us that this is all real, or will they walk away from the story feeling cheated of the reality they have let their imaginations create?

Please don't take my concern as lack of credit for your skill in storytelling, LMP, as it's not meant to be anything like it. I fully trust in your ability. I'm just trying to figure out how things have worked, are working, and will work. Didn't you know? I like to learn things.

[littlemanpoet]

On a serious note, please don't be impatient with me... Okay. You could tell a little, couldn't you.... :p

I understand that the dreams are real. That was never a problem for me. It's not a traditional dream so much as a medium through which a living story can be viewed. Am I right?I think so, if I understand your meaning.

What worries me, it appears, is not that Roy is dreaming this, but how it will be revealed that he is. Will it be explained to the readers as clearly as it has been to us that this is all real, or will they walk away from the story feeling cheated of the reality they have let their imaginations create?This is a valid concern. Thanks for expressing it. As you suggest, it's all in the telling/showing that this will work or not. I assure you that I'll do my best to make this clear by the end of the story. I actually do hate the "and he woke up" ending too. So don't worry about that. I'm actually looking forward to writing that ending because I think it'll be very special. Not that I want to rush us to it, by any means!

EDIT: Oh, and Formy, if you take a close look at the swamp lembas post, you'll see that it was the swamp elf who could tell the difference while the human ate it up quite happily. Perhaps I should have made it more plain that Raefindan thought it was wonderful. I hope I implied it, at any rate. Even if I didn't, it'll be changed in the published version. :p

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Okay. You could tell a little, couldn't you....
Just a little. :(

I actually do hate the "and he woke up" ending too. So don't worry about that.
Okay. I won't. :)

What I will do is continue to sit in my dark room in pjs and under blankets while listening to the rain slap on the sill of my open window, sipping spiced chai, and contentedly reading another page or four of Tapestry. I'll be around all afternoon if anybody needs me. :)

[mark12_30]

I'll leave it a mystery. No, make that, I'll leave it a Mythic Unity. Because I think that mythic unity is what I, and we, are shooting for with this. And if that creates all kinds of new questions, there's a certain thread I can refer you to.....


Hmmm. Good point; a concise summary (is there such a thing?) of Mythic Unity (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=11496) might be a good thing to add here as a reference. I'm not as sure that I'm shooting (personally) for mythic unity-- am I? I guess I could be or maybe I was without remembering-- but I do know I am shooting for Glimpses Of The Divine; and that, I suspect, means that the mythic unities will show themselves whether I plan it or not. So far, so good.

... let the story live. Don't try to analyze it to death. You run the risk of killing the story.

Formendacil, Tolkien analyzed some things, true; but there were other things he was content to leave a mystery; like Lembas itself, if I recall.

Swamp-lembas-- hmmm. Theoretically, Lembas was made by the Lady of Lorien who alone had the true recipe. So any lembas that Tharonwe might concoct would be (a) insufficient (b) a fruit of pride and rebellion and (c) probably something that tastes good but turns sour, if not in the stomach, then in the soul. (Think Turkish Delight.) If we consider the Roman Rite (and Eastern and Greek etc) as primarily one where the Real Presence is taken very seriously, then Tharonwe's making unreal / less-than-real / worse-than-real swamp lembas might give us a little insight into his twisted character, and maybe a little insight into an inner longing that he himself might not admit.

......lmp, if Raefindan had had more than a day's worth of Swamp Lembas, what might have happened to him?

[littlemanpoet]

Swamp-lembas-- hmmm. Theoretically, Lembas was made by the Lady of Lorien who alone had the true recipe. So any lembas that Tharonwe might concoct would be (a) insufficient (b) a fruit of pride and rebellion and (c) probably something that tastes good but turns sour, if not in the stomach, then in the soul. (Think Turkish Delight.) If we consider the Roman Rite (and Eastern and Greek etc) as primarily one where the Real Presence is taken very seriously, then Tharonwe's making unreal / less-than-real / worse-than-real swamp lembas might give us a little insight into his twisted character, and maybe a little insight into an inner longing that he himself might not admit.Do be careful not to over-Clive Staples Lewis-ize Middle Earth. The process and dynamics would be much more subtle. Thus the "sour" would be a matter of the soul rather than the belly, I think, and only over time.

......lmp, if Raefindan had had more than a day's worth of Swamp Lembas, what might have happened to him?The above said, it would probably wokr like any toxic substance we take into our bodies in modern times, depending on the type. Sugar is toxic, for example, especially the processed kind, but we like it so much we ignore the harm it does to our bodies. Preservatives in food are toxic, but not as much as wall paint. I didn't realize that lembas was Galadriel's own recipe. That changes things. However, that begs the question: was Galadriel's lembas the best, or the only? If the best, then Tharonwe might have swamp lembas that he could tell was inferior, and made with his own spirit's ill, would be toxic in some way. If the only, then Tharonwe only has waybread that may be toxic the same way preservatives are. Okay, I'm going to stop beating this dead horse before I come up with a really weird answer. :p In short, Raefindan would get much more soul damage from having his mind invaded than from dark-elvish waybread. Don't you think?

[mark12_30]

Do be careful not to over-Clive Staples Lewis-ize Middle Earth. The process and dynamics would be much more subtle. Thus the "sour" would be a matter of the soul rather than the belly, I think, and only over time.


Right. Actually I was thinking more of Ezekiel's scroll (was it Ezekiel? Must check...) ( No, way off, it was John in Revelation10:10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.) and sort of the Proverbs thing, Stolen bread tastes sweet but ...ooops again, anyway Proverbs 9:17 or so says
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of hell.


The above said, it would probably wokr like any toxic substance we take into our bodies in modern times, depending on the type. Sugar is toxic, for example, especially the processed kind, but we like it so much we ignore the harm it does to our bodies. Preservatives in food are toxic, but not as much as wall paint. I didn't realize that lembas was Galadriel's own recipe. That changes things. However, that begs the question: was Galadriel's lembas the best, or the only? If the best, then Tharonwe might have swamp lembas that he could tell was inferior, and made with his own spirit's ill, would be toxic in some way. If the only, then Tharonwe only has waybread that may be toxic the same way preservatives are. Okay, I'm going to stop beating this dead horse before I come up with a really weird answer. :p In short, Raefindan would get much more soul damage from having his mind invaded than from dark-elvish waybread. Don't you think?

Er, yes to your last question-- but over all, no. If we are going with the Roman Rite thread, then there is either Consecrated host, or, a false host-- so you are dealing with communion by faith and un-communion by unfaith.

One of the results of lembas was to lighten the hearts of those who ate it (I don't think he meant arteries...) It was a spiritual "bread", not just a physical one. It was another of those mystic unities, I think. Essence of life.

But it takes a non-protestant to feel that way, I think. Now I should be off to band practice but I'm gong to take a minute and google lembas and queen.....

[mark12_30]

Speaking of Melian..."And she gave him a store of lembas, the waybread of the Elves, wrapped in leaves of silver, and the threads that bound it were sealed at the knots with the seal of the Queen...for according to the customs of the Eldalie the keeping and giving of lembas belonged to the Queen alone. In nothing did Melian show greater favour to Turin than in this gift; for the Eldar had never before allowed Men to use this waybread, and seldom did so again."

Also see Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lembas)

and

tolkienwiki (http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.cgi?Lembas)

scroll down to The Peoples of Middle-earth (HoME XII) entry, esecially the line
for according to the customs of the Eldalië the keeping and giving of lembas belonged to the Queen alone.

However, that would be trumped, I suppose, by the first line, "'This food the Eldar alone knew how to make. It was made for the comfort of those who had need to go upon a long journey in the wild, or of the hurt whose life was in peril. Only these were permitted to use it. The Eldar did not give it to Men, save only to a few whom they loved, if they were in great need."

And now I reallymust get to band practice.


Post band-practice edit: It was before me yet I saw it not...

The lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die. It did not satisfy desire, and at times Sam’s mind was filled with the memories of food, and the longing for simple bread and meats. And yet, this way bread of the Elves had potency that increased as travelers relied upon it alone and did not mingle it with other foods. It fed the will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyond the measure of mortal kind.

[littlemanpoet]

Hmmm.... I did not realize that I had written something that could have such potency - or unpotency, as it were, into Tharonwe's practices. This could make him more evil than I had really seen him as, or else more deeply deluded.... which amounts to the same thing I suppose. So the swamp lembas is a "forgery", or a second rate elvish way bread at best, not of the Eldalië, but of the Moriquendi. Since he is still Elvish and has the capabilities of an Elf, namely osanwë, and Elvish arts (so-called magic), he can make some things of superior quality as compared with human. It depends on how corrupted he is. So .... how corrupted is he?

[Formendacil]

Hmmm.... I did not realize that I had written something that could have such potency - or unpotency, as it were, into Tharonwe's practices. This could make him more evil than I had really seen him as, or else more deeply deluded.... which amounts to the same thing I suppose. So the swamp lembas is a "forgery", or a second rate elvish way bread at best, not of the Eldalië, but of the Moriquendi. Since he is still Elvish and has the capabilities of an Elf, namely osanwë, and Elvish arts (so-called magic), he can make some things of superior quality as compared with human. It depends on how corrupted he is. So .... how corrupted is he?

More than enough...

You really need to find a copy of HoME Volume XII, as there is a chapter (short, but still a chapter) entirely devoted to an essay/text in which Tolkien discusses Lembas- specifically who grows it, and how.

Lembas is grown of a special corn, from the Blessed Realm- and, as noted, belongs culturally to the Noldor who returned from Valinor, and to the Sindar who had it of Melian who came from Valinor. It was made only by the Elven-ladies, and it was the right of the Queen to give to whom she wished- but it was given but VERY rarely to those of non-Elven race. Túrin and the Fellowship were astounding contradictions to the norm.

And, as a consequence of that, I take a tiny bit of canonical umbrage at the Tapestry plot- I recall a very minor point, when leaving Lórien, when they packed and shared Lembas as if it were mere cram... but I'm being pedantic, and I don't have a link to the offending text, so pay me no mind.

IF Tharonwë's "lembas" may be considered as either genuine Lembas (that is, coming from the Valinor-bred Lembas-corn), then he is certainly perverted in that he, a male, is the one baking it. Although we are told that Elven males were the normal food-preparers of the species, this particular right was reserved for the ladies.

On the other hand, if Tharonwë's "lembas" are mere imitations of the real thing- not grown of genuine "lembas-corn", then there are various implications that this could have.

[littlemanpoet]

Thanks for teaching me something new. I appreciate it. Just a thought: might Tharonwe have thieved the recipe from Nimrodel? That could have interesting implications.... :)

[mark12_30]

Thanks for teaching me something new. I appreciate it. Just a thought: might Tharonwe have thieved the recipe from Nimrodel? That could have interesting implications.... :)

INdeed.

Another thing that the Home chapter suggests (do look at TolkienWiki, some of it is quoted there) suggests that the elves made the lembas **in community**. So even Tharonwe's making it alone, is a lack of communion, a rebellion, and a twisting of the ideals of lembas.

Very eucharist-- like.

[Formendacil]

Thanks for teaching me something new. I appreciate it. Just a thought: might Tharonwe have thieved the recipe from Nimrodel? That could have interesting implications.... :)

If it's there in her subconscious... then I imagine so.

The question is whether Nimrodel, as a Silvan Elf, would have had the recipe. Lembas is a SPECIFICALLY Noldorin/Sindarin concern in Middle-Earth, and one wonders if pre-Galadriel Lothlórien would have had Lembas. On the other hand, Galadriel dwelt for a time in Lórien after the fall of Eregion, and may have started the cultivation of Lembas-corn at that time. The question is whether or not this would only have been entrusted to those Elf-maidens of Sindarin descent (those of Noldorin descent being nearly nil) or whether the local Silvan Elves would have been recruited to assist. Either way seems likely, depending on whether one leans on a more supremacist, Noldor/Sindar first view of the Beleriandic Elves, or if one seems them in a more "missionary" light- which is yet another Eucharistic parallel.

If the latter, then it seems to me likely that Nimrodel would have been one of those who would have been a baker of Lembas. As the the betrothed of Amroth, in her last years in Lórien anyway, she would have very likely been one of those involved- and possibly Mithrellas as well.

[littlemanpoet]

In that case, let's go with Tharonwe having filched from Nimrodel's fevered mind. :) This reminds me of Tolkien's penchant for writing stories, then realizing he had created apparent contradictions, and then asking, "okay, how did this come about?" And then he would figure out how it happened; which is how his feigned history got so interesting! We're doing it, my friends! :)

[mark12_30]

In that case, let's go with Tharonwe having filched from Nimrodel's fevered mind. :) This reminds me of Tolkien's penchant for writing stories, then realizing he had created apparent contradictions, and then asking, "okay, how did this come about?" And then he would figure out how it happened; which is how his feigned history got so interesting! We're doing it, my friends! :)

Woot! Indeed!

Hmmm.....

[mark12_30]

Name (that you go by): mark12_30; sometimes Bolco. Occasionally Lindo.

Age: 44.

Occupation: Systems engineer.

Future Aspirations: Short term-- switch to HSI; long-term-- teaching teenagers.

Goal in life: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Short term goals: Bond completely and thoroughly with my adopted kids.

Passion: Teaching teenagers, especially regarding worship.

Hobbies: Mountain biking, hill-biking (on the road...) Guitar/piano/pennywhistle

Famous for (brag about yourself): Guitar and vocals. On the lighter side: having an amusingly poor memory.

Fave book: The trilogy, still, after all these decades-- even though I haven't read it in at least three years.

Fave movie: Er... Besides LotR-- Maybe Ben Hur. I love the rain washing down the cross and spreading Jesus' blood over the earth; great image.

Fave sport: To watch? Olympic gymnastics, although Mountain Biking Trials, and BMX racing, is growing on me.

Fave store: A little dress shop along the causeway in Naples, Maine called "Robin's Nest".

Fave music: What we sing at church.

What you can't stand: A clueless boss. (Sorry.)

What you plain dislike: A project run by a clueless boss.

Who you admire: My Aunt the nun in Seattle.

What you most love to do: Mountain biking. Or hill-biking, second-best. THis morning I saw a wild turkey, a pelican, ducks snoozing on a rock in mid-pond, two deer, and two bunnies.

Your self-confessed flaws: ..... filling out surveys at work....

What intrigues/fascinates you: THe learning process; personalities and how they inter-relate

What scares you: The possibility of not bonding deeply enough with my adopted children.

Quotation to live by: Mark 12:30

Value-specific:

What do you want most in a friend? Willingness to pray together about anything and everything.

What do you want most in a teacher? Willingness to find out what I am hoping to learn, insstead of their agenda for me.

What do you want most in an ally? Tenacity.

What do you want most in a team-mate? Stability (because I'm all over the place and I need the balance.)

What do you want people to remember most about you? That I was a worshipper of Jesus.

Writer-specific:

Your favorite work you've written so far: Hmmmm. Either the "Bolco" books or "The Fairy Wife"? (http://members.cox.net/hrwright61/fanfic.htm)

Your favorite character so far: Lindo, in "The Lonely Star." Life imitates art.

What you plan to write soon: Instead of answering "Finishing my family history" or "Writing Eddie O'Connor" I'll be honest and say-- "I don't have much time to write these days."

What inspires you to write: Usually, suggestions from someone else. Lindo, Gamba, Phura, and Lorien (in The Fairy Wife) were all suggested by Child of the 7th Age.

What makes your writing stall: Real Life.

Do you get writers' block and how do you overcome it? Definitely. Stream-of-consciousness writing.

Middle-Earth specific:

Your favorite ME character(s)? The anonymous elf in Mirkwood..... I think I'm answering that because I love so many LotR characters so much, it's emotionally draining to go through the list. Yes, that's a copout.

What do you like about them? VIRTUE.

Your favorite moment(s) from the Trilogy?

--Frodo's dreams-- any and all of them.
--Boromir's wisecracking gives me the chuckles.
--"Horns, horns, horns. Rohan had come at last."
--"Begone, foul dwimmerlaik!"
--Eomer's song.
--Sam's star above the Ephel Duath.
--Grey Havens-- love/hate relationship.

Your favorite plot twist(s) from the Trilogy?
--Everything relating to Faramir.
--Aragorn, from the paths of the dead to his arrival in the black ships.
--Frodo's departure at the Grey Havens. (Don't think about that too hard; moving right along.)
--Plot twists, plot twists, what else..... Tom Bombadil. A plot twist in a person.
--Hoom hom.

Looking at your personality as it is, what race do you belong to in Middle-Earth and why? One of them procrastinating mortals in South Gondor who were late to the war, or never even came...

What race would you *like* to belong to in Middle-Earth and why? Elves of course; I love the thought of "putting the thought of all we love into all we make"; I love the integration with nature. Their sin is all their own, of course.; pride in their work being excessive, isolationism being excessive, and the whole embalming attitude towards the things they hold dear-- too dear. (I wonder what a redeemed Christian elf would look like?)

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? Mirkwood? Lorien? Rivendell? Somewhere with lots of singing, dancing, trees and water. How about Eregion before it's fall? Beleriand? You get the drift... You know, I was always fascinated by the Ered Luin, and the elves in Mithlond and Forlond. (See The Fairy Wife (http://members.cox.net/hrwright61/fanfic.htm)...)

Where would you want to visit? Why? Gondor, Rohan, Dol Amroth, and the ruins of Arnor. Somewhere with lots of ruins, history, and the hints of hauntings. Oh, and can I have a cottage on the shores of Evendim?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I mentioned it to LMP and I'll post up here. I finally had the span of time necessary to finish reading Book One. :) And then I sat down and caught up on the discussion threads. And now I'm in the process of seeking out a character whose story I can relate to the world. Any suggestions you might have will be met with enthusiasm and the likelihood of being used as a starting point for something that appears to have nothing to do with them. ;)

[littlemanpoet]

I mentioned it to LMP and I'll post up here. I finally had the span of time necessary to finish reading Book One. :) And then I sat down and caught up on the discussion threads. And now I'm in the process of seeking out a character whose story I can relate to the world. Any suggestions you might have will be met with enthusiasm and the likelihood of being used as a starting point for something that appears to have nothing to do with them.
Well, we have no hobbits. Or Dwarves. Scratch that. Feanor and Dwarves don't seem like good fit. I could see you writing a Falco Boffin type of hobbit, mayhap... But what would a hobbit be doing down in Gondor?

Okay, this is absolutely insane, but how about a redeemed merlock? Never mind, I didn't ask. :D

Or you could give Raefindan headaches and come into Middle Earth as his dearly departed love interest, Angela. Ha ha ha! :D crazy...

Sorry, the more I think about it, the nutser the ideas get, so I'll shut up now.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Okay, this is absolutely insane, but how about a redeemed merlock? Never mind, I didn't ask. :D
I know almost nothing about merlocks except what I learned through Tapestry. So if you guys misrepresented them :p I'm in big trouble.

Or you could give Raefindan headaches and come into Middle Earth as his dearly departed love interest, Angela.
Or I could give Raefindan headaches and come into the story as somebody that looks dead on like Angela and even has a few of her defining quirks. *ponders*

[mark12_30]

Or I could give Raefindan headaches and come into the story as somebody that looks dead on like Angela and even has a few of her defining quirks. *ponders*

And then... later Raefindan meets up with Mithrellas. And THEN what? Tortured soul.

If Raefindan goes down through South Gondor (out of the Pelennor via the southern gate) and down via the Anduin, then he could (actually) run into one of Mithrellas' *descendants* in some rural area in South Gondor. I wonder if she'd be busy dreaming about Raefindan. Er, Imrazor. Er, who the heck is this Roy Edwards fellow and why is he invading my dreams...?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

If Raefindan goes down through South Gondor (out of the Pelennor via the southern gate) and down via the Anduin, then he could (actually) run into one of Mithrellas' *descendants* in some rural area in South Gondor. I wonder if she'd be busy dreaming about Raefindan. Er, Imrazor. Er, who the heck is this Roy Edwards fellow and why is he invading my dreams...?
Ooh, I like this. May I?

[mark12_30]

Ooh, I like this. May I?

Glad you like it-- we'll see if lmp does!

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Ditching the idea of Angela pretty much entirely...

Mithrellas and Imrazor had two children; Galador and Gilmith.

One can trace Galador's bloodline in a straight father-to-son path right down to Imrahil and his kids. Gilmith is pretty much forgotten. Who's to say that she didn't have a daughter, who had a daughter, who had a daughter, etcetera and onward for twenty-something generations?

Unbroken pure line of the daughters of Mithrellas. They'd have the same Elvishness of blood within them as the long sons of Mithrellas and Imrazor, but given that these ladies are not the inheriting eldest sons, they would be married and intermingled and etcetera. Once you get to the time of this quest, the most recent in the unbroken line could be absolutely anybody, but she would be a woman of Dol Amroth with a plausible reason for dreams pertaining to the quest.

Thoughts?

[littlemanpoet]

If Raefindan is actually going that way, I like this idea. Is he? Are the men? Has that been decided?

[mark12_30]

If Raefindan is actually going that way, I like this idea. Is he? Are the men? Has that been decided?

I had been avoiding the issue. But it's my guess that Erebemlin will not care (ooo, that icy elf) about the lost womenfolk; that he will take the elves (including Mellondu) the most direct route, down the Anduin. The party will split according to their desire to help the women; Mellondu will be outraged that he is forbidden to seek Mellonin, but Erebemlin will have none of it (blasted cold-hearted elf).

So it's plausible that Raefindan could go southeast with Erebemlin.

If not--if he chases Mellonin, Bella, & Leafa southwest over the White Mountains-- he will still be passing thru parts of South Gondor where Mithrellas' descendant will be dwelling. Heck, she could live IN the mountains.

And, Fea-- I don't personally see the need to ditch the Angela theme, either. Weave them together-- thus tormenting Raefindan, Roy Edwards, and Imrazor, all three. Make it as subtle as you like.

[littlemanpoet]

And, Fea-- I don't personally see the need to ditch the Angela theme, either. Weave them together-- thus tormenting Raefindan, Roy Edwards, and Imrazor, all three. Make it as subtle as you like.

Now there, my friends, is a thought that could challenge even the writing skills of Feanor! I think it could stretch and grow this writer, and I'm rather keen on seeing such a story develop. :smokin:

[alaklondewen]

I'm glad you brought this up as I've been mulling it over for some time. I see Erebemlin, as Helen said, continuing to follow the river per Amroth's plan, but I was trying to figure out why he would want to follow the women, especially after the Aeron incident. I wasn't sure whether Mellondu would outright demand they go after his sister and Erebemlin would be forced to follow or if Mellondu would be obliged to follow Erebemlin per the demands of his oath. Tough call.

Splitting up is an interesting idea as well. I wonder...hmm.

blasted cold-hearted elf

Poor misunderstood elf that he is. Wonder when Marigold can fit back in there...that usually makes him warm and fuzzy. ;)

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Now there, my friends, is a thought that could challenge even the writing skills of Feanor! I think it could stretch and grow this writer, and I'm rather keen on seeing such a story develop. :smokin:
Stop, love, you're making me blush. :D

I love it and I'm more ecstatic than you can possibly imagine. I'll need a little time to develop her... I'll need to know anything you can tell me about Angela, LMP, so I can decide how to use her...

Also, pertaining to which way Raefindan goes... Helen says quite truly that she doesn't actually need to live in Dol Amroth; she could be anywhere. I mean... Faramir and Lothiriel are both descendents of Mithrellas and they aren't in Dol Amroth.

But I also find it an interesting thought that she might take up with Erebemlin's company [somehow] and only meet Raefindan a bit later on. There's all the likelihood in the world that she'd not know her own lineage, but as Legolas saw in Imrahil, Erebemlin might see strains of Elvish blood in her. Could be neat if we wanted to go that way...

[littlemanpoet]

Feanor I will PM you the pertinent material from home tonight.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Works for me. :)

[mark12_30]

Works for me. :)

Hah! Mellonin dreams of Mithrellas who is eerily reminiscent of Angela who has transcended somewhere or other and is leaking through Fea's new character who is re-dreaming Mithrellas.

Raefindan don't stand a chance, baby.

Wrap that in with Sæthryd and nobody will know which way is up... not even Wild Man Rugh.

WOOT.

Firefoot-- you changed your avatar! Too cute for words... Been thinking of changing mine. Maybe.

EDIT-- Hey, I almost forgot -- we've still got Ghostly Gwillion in the wings.
**rubs hands with gleeeeeee**

[Firefoot]

<< Is my baby. :D Mark, I can't even imagine you with a different avatar...

I love the way this is shaping up. Can't wait to see what you ultimately come up with, Fea.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Wrap that in with Sæthryd and nobody will know which way is up... not even Wild Man Rugh.
I'm still wrapping my own head around it. :D

Can't wait to see what you ultimately come up with, Fea.
Heck, I can't even wait to see what I come up with. It'll have to be very subtle, lest Formendacil be given a heart attack... ;)

[alaklondewen]

I'm loving this idea, and I'm quite excited about the possibilities.

I know we're not this far along in building this line of the story as the actual character is not yet created, but...what if Erebemlin & company discovered a fevered woman...somewhere...and Erebemlin (or Taitheneb as he's more understanding of humans) tries to bring her out and steps into her dream and...and find Mithrellas or more clues as to Nimrodel's location or something that makes them realize this woman needs to be kept around...

As I said, I know we're not this far, but I had to get the thought out there before it was lost with all the hoobalah in my life. ;)

[mark12_30]

;)

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I know we're not this far along in building this line of the story as the actual character is not yet created, but...what if Erebemlin & company discovered a fevered woman...
...

What if Erebemlin and company discover a fevered child?

I'll give you the line of thought I scratched onto paper while pondering to the sounds of loud music to show you how I reached the idea of a little girl:

I need a plausible reason for a female to be able to wander ME w/o family or well-meaning folks taking her in for the sake of propriety.

young orphan? 4-7

as a child, she'd be open to more things...

open-minded toward the supernatural; not yet given to the prejudices of her society

also more likely to ask questions
to bind the group against Thoronwë's desires
to be controlled by Thoronwë's mind

would need Elvish supervision?
and female travelling companions

dreams of Mithrellas & Imrazor through bloodline
nightmares of dying parents
and of Angela
Of course I'm in the beginning stages and fully capable of calling quits the idea of a child, but what think you?

And Formendacil: Eledhwen.

[littlemanpoet]

I think a girl child really sets the whole conception off really well. It would cut off the gender-attraction thing for Raefindan, which is a good thing considering all the other things going on, and a girl child age 4 to 7 would be very, very disarming to him. Not that he tends toward defensiveness, but there's a certain quality of wonder about it being a child that appeals.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Yay. :) Preliminary bio; probably needs work:

--------------------------------------------------------------------

NAME: Eledhwen “Elfsheen” / Indil “Devotion”

AGE: approximately five

RACE: Gondorian

GENDER: female

WEAPONS: none

APPEARANCE: a child; a meter or so high, with a girl child’s build of soft smallness. Baby-soft brown hair that falls half way down her back frames an unfreckled face. Her brown eyes hold a peculiar shine. Her fingernails are cut short and are clean. Clad in a functional over-dress of unknown original color, softly worn to grey, over a white shift. Grass-stained slippers.

HISTORY: Mithrellas bore two children to Imrazor, Galador and Gilmith, and Galador was the Lord of Dol Amroth, as were his sons and long sons after. Gilmith was wed with the approval of Galador and bore four children, three sons and a daughter. And her daughter bore twins and though the son died in infancy even as the mother died from their coming, her daughter grew to old age, raised by a kindly nursemaid, and raised three daughters and a son of her own. On this went through many generations until, through a pure and unbroken line of females, a final daughter of Mithrellas was born and her eyes were bright and she was called Eledhwen, that is Elfsheen, though her parents ever called her Indil, that is devotion, until she knew no other name.

And she was called Devotion for reason, for Indil followed her mother as a shadow and delighted in the songs her mother sang to her as she worked. And her father called her his greatest joy for the love in her young heart and the smile ever on her face. Indil was a happy child and one well-behaved and full of tender affection, and she was safe, born after the Great War in the flowered vales of Imloth Melui.

And when a day came that her parents chose to ride to Minas Tirith to see Father’s nearest kin, they did not worry, and Indil giggled happily at the adventure of the road, for though the journey was not long, she had not been terribly long in the world and so the road seemed more lengthy and full of the adventure of stories. But the road proved deadly and her parents were lost to an accident upon it, and Indil was lost and alone, and she was afraid.

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Indil, as a loving child that has been much loved in return, and well protected, is inclined to trust too much. Having grown thus far in rural Gondor, she has seen little of the world. But she is curious by nature, and has a will to learn, and is affectionate and sweet. She speaks what she sees; a trait common to children of every time and place. Indil suffers from nightmares that she does not understand and is prone to tears that her parents do not wake and come for her. Young as she is, she is very impressionable. She dreams also, through link of unsullied bloodline, of Mithrellas and Imrazor, though she does not know it. She knows nothing of her lineage or her living past.

----------------------------------------------------

What should stay, what should go?

Anybody of the opinion that it should go entirely and I ought to start from scratch? :p

[littlemanpoet]

My initial reaction is that it's great as far as it goes, as is. Do you plan to fit the Angela link in? If so, how?

[mark12_30]

I like it. Two questions--

1. A picky question: why brown eyes instead of grey (Imrahil's eyes were grey?)

2. "She dreams of Mithrellas and Imrazor but does not know it." Why not? Maybe because she confuses them with her parents or perhaps with other relatives? Can she tell the dream-stories? Or does she completely forget them before she awakes?

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Not that it matters...but...personally...I like it. She's short. :)

-Aylwen

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I love when people ask questions to which I know the answers!

1. A picky question: why brown eyes instead of grey (Imrahil's eyes were grey?)
Because Angela's were brown.

2. "She dreams of Mithrellas and Imrazor but does not know it." Why not?
Confuses them for her parents. As a naive child, Indil doesn't realize that her parents aren't coming back. Mithrellas is lost, Mother is lost.

[mark12_30]

Because Angela's were brown.

Shazayem! :p Nice.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Shazayem! :p Nice.
:)

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

It doesn't appear that I'll be particularly needed during the time frame, but in case somebody needs to get hold of me and I seem to have dropped off the face of the planet, it's because for the next month, I'll be travelling a lot, working a lot, continuing to get my shoulder fixed because it's still defective, and packing and moving back to school.

[mark12_30]

~*~
:cool:
bump!
:)
~*~

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Three cheers!

♥

[littlemanpoet]

"Yeah, but now what?" asks LMP wearily....

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

"But now what?" Fea repeats, speaking in that incredulous tone that only she can ever seem to muster when it's late in both hour and project.

LMP nods, tired, and Fea smiles reassuringly.

"Now is when the new faces, the new pens, the new typing fingers lend energy and enthusiasm to you old folks." she grins, elbowing LMP jovially, hugging mark 'round the shoulders, and winking at the other oldsters, some of whom are technically like... well.. her age. She grins again, a spirit of impish excitement in her bright hazel eyes. "Now is when the ladies leave. A dream, remember? They leave, and the men follow, and upon the road, they meet new companions, and I get to write a little girl and test out what I can do. This is exciting!"

LMP appears to look less weary, glancing up with a new light behind his wire frames. Or maybe it is Fea's imagination providing the hope.

"Come on," she nudges. "There's a party to get started."

[Firefoot]

I'm here and ready to go. :)

This is a really busy time of year for me, however, so I may not be posting much in these first couple of weeks.

[Imladris]

Into part two already eh?

My..schedule...has changed drastically since we started this up again (imagine the immense overwhelming feeling for a relatively lazy secluded teenager who suddenly finds one's self working four days a week and school three days a week) but I will do my very best to keep up.

Anyway....looking forward to this new...challenge. =)

[mark12_30]

Part one is *essentially* finished-- but not closed. If we find that we need to go back and edit something, I want to be free to do that. So part one will haunt Gondor for a while yet.

But yes. Fea is right. There's a party to get started. Thank you, Fea, that zeal is very much appreciated!! Let the party begin!

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Oh. My. Gosh.

Where do we start?

There's so much left to the story!

[mark12_30]

....and that's a jolly good thing! WOOOT!

Aylwen, for the ladies, how about Bella invites Leafa and Mellonin (or joins them at the Inn) for a cup of tea (or something). "My, how we miss our companions, and how empty the day is without them", or some such...

Menfolk-- it's tough without Alak (where are yooooou!) but we need to pull the quest onto the road south.

Generally speaking-- Dive in, folks. Don't feel compelled by the old rules; do feel compelled by what makes sense in the story.

Dreams, dreams, dreams. It's all about the dreams, and the Osanwe.

Speaking of Osanwe, what's up with that dratted Tharonwe? And what makes him oooo soooo twisssted?

Someone can introduce the two new horses. Whose are they...? Raefindan's and .... Aeron's? Does Aeron know how to ride a horse? How funny that the king provided a mount for a thief and a redheaded stranger.

I'm pondering the archery lessons.

How about some commentary on the road south? Have any of our menfolk ever BEEN south before?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Is there any specific way that the next [part of the] story should start, or anybody specific that should start it?

[mark12_30]

Good question. I think I'll reserve a few slots for the men's parade south, and then open it up-- wide!

As in, it's open now. I've posted for Erebemin & the menfolk, and an other just-in-case (I'll probably put a Mellonin post there of some sort if it doesn't get used for something else.) Did I remember all the menfolk? Uneasy feeling that I forgot somebody... please pipe up if so!!!

New characters, dive in as inspired.

:D

Edit-- and ladies, dream away!

For my own sanity:

Celuien: Sæthryd
Firefoot: Rugh
Fea: Eledhwen (Indil )
Formendacil: Bergil; Elessar
lmp: Raefindan, Ædegard, Tharonwe, Jorje
Alak: Erebemlin, Taitheneb
Nuru: Liornung, Leafa
Immy: Aeron, Gwyllion's shade
Aylwen: Bella
Orual: Ravion
mark12_30: Mellondu/Amroth, Mellonin, Nethwador
Characters played at will: Nimrodel, Mithrellas, Marigold

[Firefoot]

So for those of us who wrote first posts, should we put those up now?

[mark12_30]

Yes!

[Celuien]

I was just thinking...my character is hiding up in the mountains, so I was going to wait to transfer my first post to the game thread until after the ladies have started out in her direction. Does that sound okay with everyone?

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Haha, I just thought this was cute...

One. Two. Three. He counted the steps until he lost count and had to begin again. And again.

That's what I do when I run a race. :)

Anyway...right, so, I'll start on a post as soon as I'm done with my homework. Yeah.

[mark12_30]

I was just thinking...my character is hiding up in the mountains, so I was going to wait to transfer my first post to the game thread until after the ladies have started out in her direction. Does that sound okay with everyone?

No problem! Just don't be left out of the general fun....

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I'm trying to think of who it would be best to have find Eledhwen. Any suggestions?

[mark12_30]

How about Bergil?

lmp might be able to come up with some Raefindan-oriented, Roy-Edwards-rooted, Imrazor-infused doom-dream-destiny thing...

[Formendacil]

How about Bergil?

lmp might be able to come up with some Raefindan-oriented, Roy-Edwards-rooted, Imrazor-infused doom-dream-destiny thing...

Regarding Bergil...

I think (and if I recall, Alak and I discussed this briefly a while back), that he is best introduced at some point on the road. We mentioned the possibility of him being sent by Elessar either in response the escape of Tharonwë or the disappearance of the young ladies (undoubtedly made known by Mellonin's parents).

I think that either/both of these makes for excellent grounds for Bergil's entrance into the story, but I'm hesitant on the grounds of "well, do we want the menfolk to know that? Because surely they'd try and do something" in the case of the ladies, and "well, then they'd be on their guard" in the case of Tharonwë.

Anyway...

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[mark12_30]

I was just thinking, if Bergil was rangering in South Ithilien (or South Gondor) and happened across a little girl out in the wild, what would he do?

...don't mind me. I haven't reread Eledhwen's bio recently enough to remember where she lives. Guess I should go do my homework.

Edit: Right, everyone knows she lives in Imloth Melui. Pardon me while i scramble for my atlas.

Uhhh... Fea? Can't find it. :o Please advise?

[Formendacil]

Edit: Right, everyone knows she lives in Imloth Melui. Pardon me while i scramble for my atlas.

'tis in Lossarnach- which IS on the official maps, so you can find that. Beyond that, the exact location of Imloth Melui is not known.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I was just thinking, if Bergil was rangering in South Ithilien (or South Gondor) and happened across a little girl out in the wild, what would he do?
I would think that he would try to get her out of the wild in as little amount a time as possible.

Since Eledhwen's family would be somewhere between Minas Tirith and Imloth Melui (Lossarnach area), on her way home, I'd place her, when introduced, less than a day's ride south and maybe a bit west of Minas Tirith. Maybe halfway between the upper parts of the Erui and Anduin.

If the men are following the road south, they might find her, or if Bergil, southern Ranger that he is, found her first, the men and Bergil might meet on the road, him taking the little girl to Minas Tirith/Anor, them riding yonder-in-that-direction-in-which-they're-going...

She could fall asleep and dream before they split back up, or one of the Elves could see a mark of fate (you know, fun stuff like that) on her? If this wandering group want to keep her around, would Bergil just leave her?

*thinking aloud*

I'll let other people think. I need to go write about Dostoyevsky now. :rolleyes:

[littlemanpoet]

lmp might be able to come up with some Raefindan-oriented, Roy-Edwards-rooted, Imrazor-infused doom-dream-destiny thing...
Sheesh. :eek:

I was thinking the men would probably find Eleðwen on the road south. But that's just me.

Jorje will be re-entering the story at some point, at the bidding of the River Daughter (now, what's her name?) LMP scratches head.

[mark12_30]

Either way.

I'm charmed by the Bergil-Eledhwen possibility and I like Fea's ideas regarding it.

But they're your characters!

Meanwhile-- Marigold sends Jorje to find-- Raefindan? :)

Erebemlin? :D

Both?

Is he a River-Daughter's Doggie now, with some special something? That Jorje, he just has an air about him.

AWOOOOOOO sniff sniff AWOOOOOOOO sniff, galooop galooop galooop AWOOOOOOOO

Look at them floppy ears go!

Edit one: .....Uh-- Bergil's gonna need a horse. Drat! Why'd we ask Elessar for just two!!!

Edit two: also charmed by the idea of Marigold sending Jorjeafter Erebemlin, at least partly. Can you imagine-- Erebemlin the ancient, stern and sleekly aloof, gradually softened and mellowed by a short-lived drooly wet-nosed dawg?

[littlemanpoet]

Meanwhile-- Marigold sends Jorje to find-- Raefindan? Erebemlin? Both? Is he a River-Daughter's Doggie now, with some special something? That Jorje, he just has an air about him.

AWOOOOOOO sniff sniff AWOOOOOOOO sniff, galooop galooop galooop AWOOOOOOOO

Look at them floppy ears go!

Edit two: also charmed by the idea of Marigold sending Jorjeafter Erebemlin, at least partly. Can you imagine-- Erebemlin the ancient, stern and sleekly aloof, gradually softened and mellowed by a short-lived drooly wet-nosed dawg?
Hmmm...... I hadn't really thought about why she's sending him, I just want to write him. :D Marigold is not the selfish type. Whereas she is aware of Erebemlin's feelings toward her, her 'attitude' toward him is 'agapé' rather than 'eros'. ... which does not make union out of the question since the former is a higher love than the latter anyway. Be that as it may, Jorje is being sent with some special assignment, but I don't know what it is yet. Yes, Raefindan sort of became his master, but Jorje's mistress is now Marigold. How will a dog deal wiht a not-his-pack whilst his own 'pack' is at such a great distance, consisting of two? I don't know. For a dog, friends are for life, so Jorje's notion of 'pack' may be inclusive rather than exclusive. I'll keep thunkin'. Frankly, I'd almost like to kill of Ædegard so I can concentrate on Jorje. :rolleyes:

[Formendacil]

Edit one: .....Uh-- Bergil's gonna need a horse. Drat! Why'd we ask Elessar for just two!!!

Whatever we decide to do with Bergil's introduction, that is easily handled. This guy's a soldier of Faramir, Prince of Ithilien, Steward of Gondor. 'twill be easy enough to have him find a horse, if not to be on one at the beginning of the story. It's just a matter of deciding WHEN he's introduced, and WHY, and then I can set to work explaining HOW he's got a horse. :D

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

K... Bergil v. The Guys. Match of the year. Who wants to find lil Indil??

[Imladris]

Forgive me if I'm being dense, but since they are not using Elessar's horses then why couldn't Bergil use one of them...?

[alaklondewen]

Hallelujah, I'm back online with my very own computer! God is good.

Let me get all the way caught up and get my juices flowing and I'll get to work on the elves.

~one happy Alak

[mark12_30]

Hallelujah, I'm back online with my very own computer! God is good.

Let me get all the way caught up and get my juices flowing and I'll get to work on the elves.

~one happy Alak


WOOOOOT WOOT WOOT WAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Here--wait, I have a couple of things to give you. Lemme see, where'd they go-- ah. Here's an Erebemlin and here-- a Taitheneb! ALL YOURS!!! :D

Forgive me if I'm being dense, but since they are not using Elessar's horses then why couldn't Bergil use one of them...?

They mounted up just outside the gate. They're riding south now.

Frankly, I'd almost like to kill of Ædegard so I can concentrate on Jorje.
I dunno, would Ædegard be of more use to the story as a one-handed guy or as a one-handed ghost? And who would pine after Leafa? Liornung would have to be her big brother all over again. I s'pose Ædegard could haunt the mountain passes... make Saethryd nervous. Push Rugh around. Could be fun. ;)

I saw Nuru lurking. Post, girl! And somebody give Orual a poke...

[Imladris]

They mounted up just outside the gate. They're riding south now.

Oh. I see. I missed that part...obviously.

My apologies.

[mark12_30]

No worries, girl!

I've been enjoying rereading the last couple pages of the older thread. Aeron's been doing some growing, and some thinking. Good stuff.

[Celuien]

Saethryd will be most happy to (un)welcome any visitors. Including Jorje. :D

[mark12_30]

Celuien-- looking forward to Saethryd's welcome. Eeeeeyipe!

Nuru is lurking again! Hiya, girl! How goes it??

[Nurumaiel]

Helen, you caught me! :D

I'm going back and forth between studying and reading the thread, listening to some good old Irish music whilst doing both. I've realised that I need to go through all my Irish and Scottish CDs to familiarise myself with Liornung's character once again.

I'm thrilled about the second book starting up. It's going to be grand to play with all the oldies once again, and equally grand to work with all the new members of the group.

[littlemanpoet]

I dunno, would Ædegard be of more use to the story as a one-handed guy or as a one-handed ghost? And who would pine after Leafa? Liornung would have to be her big brother all over again. I s'pose Ædegard could haunt the mountain passes... Oh, that was off the cuff. Although I had originally planned on him dying. Every attempt at killing him off just didn't work out. :rolleyes: It's like he's destined to survive or something..... :p

Sæthryd better be nice to Jorje. :mad:

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Is it okay if my post brings it to the next morning? Should I wait a bit or change mine?

[mark12_30]

Anyone else wants archery lessons let me know.

Alak, I've got plans for this archery thing... drop me a line for details if you'd like/ when you're ready.

It's hard for me to make a shift from Mellondu, Taitheneb and Erebemlin, to Mellondu only. Can you tell? :p

I forget whether Nethwador can shoot or not... must go look it up.

Rohirrim-- well, actually, I guess Ædegard can't shoot! Poor Ædegard-- but does Liornung want lessons too?

Does Aeron? Whoa, Aeron getting skilled with a bow-- together with his thieving skills, we'd have something dangerous! :eek:

[mark12_30]

Whups Aylwen, we cross-posted. I have no objections to going to next morning-- I can take the menfolk to "tomorrow" if need be. If anyone else needs mroe time, Aylwen, we can just leapfrog as usual. Go ahead and post.

[mark12_30]

For my own future sanity: Nethwador's first wild-boy appearance (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=318934&postcount=112) by the stream, soon to be tamed by Amroth & co

[mark12_30]

If the men are following the road south, they might find her, or if Bergil, southern Ranger that he is, found her first, the men and Bergil might meet on the road, him taking the little girl to Minas Tirith/Anor, them riding yonder-in-that-direction-in-which-they're-going...

She could fall asleep and dream before they split back up, or one of the Elves could see a mark of fate (you know, fun stuff like that) on her? If this wandering group want to keep her around, would Bergil just leave her?


How about..... Bergil is by the side of the road, pondering what to do with this mysterious and lost little girl-- and the menfolk ride up, and Raefindan is thereby haunted. Or fated or doomed or, well, you know. And the elves can chime in.

How about-- at that point-- Bergil, sensing some sort of doom on his own part, gallops off to find his commander, and gets permission to join the quest, and comes galloping back? Trying to think like a soldier here-- wouldn't want him accused of desertion, you know.

[mark12_30]

Golly. I'm sure doing a lot of talking. Makes me look like a chatterbox. :)

[Formendacil]

How about-- at that point-- Bergil, sensing some sort of doom on his own part, gallops off to find his commander, and gets permission to join the quest, and comes galloping back? Trying to think like a soldier here-- wouldn't want him accused of desertion, you know.

The thing about being a Ranger (this is my reading here, not official in any sense) is that if Bergil is on his own at the time of finding Eledhwen, then he's probably got a certain amount of discretion with regards to where and how he fulfills he duty to protect the realm.

The way I've taken to picturing the Rangers (particularly those of Arnor, but I think applicable to those of Gondor as well) is that they are essentially independent agents, until and unless they should be called up.

Alternatively, if one sees the Rangers as being a bit more of a "company", then the issue is easily sidestepped by Bergil being on leave at the time of finding Eledhwen (possibly making his way to family in Lossarnach at the time? We know Bergil's grandfather dwelt there), and upon being embroiled in these great matters, he sends off a letter to his superiors informing them of what he's up to (so as not to expect him back soon). I'm sure a Ranger would have enough leeway that his normal patrol could be swiftly reassigned when he didn't show up after leave, and as the son of Beregond, Captain of the White Guard, and personal friend of Prince Faramir, I think Bergil would be able to pull a few strings, even if the hierarchy were inclined to be disapproving.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

How about..... Bergil is by the side of the road, pondering what to do with this mysterious and lost little girl-- and the menfolk ride up, and Raefindan is thereby haunted. Or fated or doomed or, well, you know. And the elves can chime in.

How about-- at that point-- Bergil, sensing some sort of doom on his own part, gallops off to find his commander, and gets permission to join the quest, and comes galloping back? Trying to think like a soldier here-- wouldn't want him accused of desertion, you know.
I'm a fan of this.

Only issue, and this might be sidestepped by the issue of the Elves' presence: she's a little girl, by herself, in the company of a bunch of guys.

If they wouldn't let grown women travel with them, surely they'd have trouble with the concept of a lone little girl?

*pondering*

What if...

How were the guys going to find out about the women leaving again? Gwyllion? Might Gwyll speak through Indil, and then... something?

Once the women are involved again, it shouldn't be much of a problem, but if everyone is that paranoid about the propriety of unchaperoned and travelling women...

:confused:

[Celuien]

If they wouldn't let grown women travel with them, surely they'd have trouble with the concept of a lone little girl?
I suppose there would be fewer objections to a 5-year-old under the guardianship of a bunch of guys than unsupervised grown women hanging around with a bunch of also unsupervised guys to whom they are not wed.

(So long as the guys don't mind babysitting. :p :D)

EDIT: The main objection I can think of is that a small child might not do well on the road and that if the group isn't far from Minas Tirith, that they might prefer to deliver her to someone in the city for, well, babysitting.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

a 5-year-old under the guardianship of a bunch of guys
But none of them are related to her...

[mark12_30]

Here's the thing: (to be blunt)-- us 21'st century folk are thinking 'child abuse', because it's in the public eye more than it ever was. Whereas this wouldn't even cross the mind of Tolkien's generation. Think WW2 vets, or closer still, WW1 vets. Big brothers, or even dads.

"Where are you from, honey?"

"Dat way." Pointing south.

"Well, let's get you home. Do you have cousins?"

"Yup. Inna forest."

"Let's go find them, shall we?"

The only problem with this (now that I squint at the map) is that Lossarnach is tucked right under Mindolluin. Bummer. So they'd find her cousins in a day or two, drop her off, and that's the end of it.

(Can't she be from Pelargir, or Lebennin, instead?)

How were the guys going to find out about the women leaving again? Gwyllion? Might Gwyll speak through Indil, and then... something?

Me likey. ;)

Once the women are involved again, it shouldn't be much of a problem, but if everyone is that paranoid about the propriety of unchaperoned and travelling women...

It'll be a Looooooong way til the menfolk are re-united with the womenfolk. Much travail & cold in the mountains, etc. Can't count on them.

I think it's better that Bergil chooses to escort her back home-- and falls in with a large group of elves & men, because there's safety (especially for a little girl) in numbers. So I'm back to pleading for Pelargir or Lebannin or someplace near Edhellond/ Dol Amroth. How about a 'suburb' of Dol Amroth?

Formendacil-- OK, sounds well thought-out. Sending a ltter back home (or something) makes good sense. And have I told you yet-- your title is hilarious?

[Formendacil]

How were the guys going to find out about the women leaving again? Gwyllion? Might Gwyll speak through Indil, and then... something?

Whoa....

We WANT the guys to know that the women have left?

That solves the problem of Bergil's entry into the story and permission to be there:

Girls leave Minas Tirith.

Mellonin's parents report this to the Steward.

Rangers are sent out from city.

Bergil goes south (and, being alone, will eventually overtake Erebemlin et al).

Bergil meets Eledhwen on the road (whither she's wandered a day or two AFTER Erebemlin et al have gone by).

Being a mere five year old, it's impossible to get straight directions out of her.

Deciding the safest thing to do is to take her with him, and leave her in the care of someone further along the way, Bergil takes the girl with him.

Bergil and Eledhwen catch up to the Company.

Raefindan has some sort of weird recognition/deja vu thing regarding Eledhwen. It is decided to take her with them. The Company learns of Bergil's mission- and of the departure of the womenfolk.

That resolves it all rather neatly... I was under the impression that we DIDN'T want the menfolk to find out the womenfolk had left- but if we DO want them to find out, I'm very much in favour.

[mark12_30]

Okay, Formendacil of the seriously hilarious title... ;)

Yes, I like it. But there's something unsettling about letting the men know for certain-- via messenger-- rather than shadowy suspicions that grow over time-- via dreams and impressions. A growing uneasiness would be less likely to make 2/3 the company turn around and go back. (Ædegard, Liornung, Ravion, Raefindan, Nethwador, Mellondu would all be inclined. Only Taitheneb and Erebemlin would wholeheartedly continue south.)

With a clear message that the women are missing, and the group only out a day or four from the city, all but the elves would go north again-- or be very seriously torn about it. So either we have a bickering and divided company of men, or, we need to delay the news til they can hope to find the women on the south side of the mountains. So I'm thinking the women then have to leave late enough, and Bergil would have to leave late enough, so that it's too late for the men to turn around and go back. So that will stretch the ladies' plot out a bit more, methinks.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Oh Formy, I like that. I like that a lot. I'm very content now.

Can we hurry so I can start writing? ;):rolleyes::D

[mark12_30]

No reason you can't start now. Tell the story:

But the road proved deadly and her parents were lost to an accident upon it, and Indil was lost and alone, and she was afraid.

What accident? How do they die? Does she see it? Is she traumatized? How does she eat once they die-- from the saddlebags/ packs? She can even hide from Erebemlin's group for some little-girl-reason.

Dive in, girl!

Old timers: I've lost the date, by the way. Does anybody remember what day it was, and when it was that day...? Is it springtime? Not much for Eledhwen to eat on the roadside. She'll be hungry-- especially by the time Bergil comes by.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

No worries about me diving in. I will. You'll want to get rid of me by the time I'm done diving in. ;)

I'm just waiting a bit, since Bergil's got to find her, but first he needs to be dispatched to find the ladies, so first the ladies need to leave.

Though if I decide that I really don't want to do the insurmountable pile of homework I've got, I might do exactly what you said and tell her story instead of waiting to do it in retrospect.

[Imladris]

How were the guys going to find out about the women leaving again? Gwyllion? Might Gwyll speak through Indil, and then... something?

I had thought that Gwyllion would kind of mention it to Aeron. Gwyl is shy, she wouldn't speak to another and the flower from the river daughter binds her to him.

I was thinking Aeron could wake up, tell Ravion, who will tell him to tell one of the elves...maybe then one of them could brush of Aeron until he dreams again the next night?

[mark12_30]

I had thought that Gwyllion would kind of mention it to Aeron. Gwyl is shy, she wouldn't speak to another and the flower from the river daughter binds her to him.

I was thinking Aeron could wake up, tell Ravion, who will tell him to tell one of the elves...maybe then one of them could brush of Aeron until he dreams again the next night?

That sounds right to me, too. How about you do all that-- complete with elvish brushoff, from Erebemlin of course; then when Bergil shows up a day or three later, Aeron can have a nice "I told you so" moment-- and the elf STILL won't care.

Am I painting Erebemlin too icy-cold, Alak? Let me know if I am. I see him as sheer devotion, laser-focused on Amroth and immune to everything and everyone else except the river-daughter. Perhaps I go overboard?

[Imladris]

I will post the dream scene when the ladies leave.

[alaklondewen]

Am I painting Erebemlin too icy-cold, Alak?

I don't think so at this point, as long as he keeps his elvish qualities, such as the singing with Taitheneb. So he's not completely cold and hard, but is completely focused on the quest at hand and Amroth's return. Erebemlin will be dead set against going to look for the women as it only (in his eyes) detracts from his king's quest.

[littlemanpoet]

Raefindan? Bad dreams? Do you have something in mind I should know about?

Ædegard distracted and troubled? Missing Leafa perhaps.

I must admit to not knowing quite how to start these two characters back up again. So feel free to suggest things to me. Otherwise, I'll wait until inspiration takes me.

[mark12_30]

Raefindan? Bad dreams? Do you have something in mind I should know about?

Ædegard distracted and troubled? Missing Leafa perhaps.

I must admit to not knowing quite how to start these two characters back up again. So feel free to suggest things to me. Otherwise, I'll wait until inspiration takes me.

Actually, I was working more off of Erebemlin's likely suggestion, "You're all too busy to help Mellondu at the moment." Ædegard being distracted (Yes, I am quite busy-- now what was I doing? Something important...?) and troubled (Amroth never had a problem with Echo. What's this kid's issue? And what is it that Echo doesn't like about him?)

Raefindan's "bad dreams"-- oh, just more of the same stuff that haunted him and Mellonin, I assume.

I'm quite focused on Mellondu vs Erebemlin at the moment, and am probably neglecting the rest rather shamefully. There it is.

If you're uninspired about Raefindan and Ædegard--what's Tharonwe up to these days? And isn't it about time Jorje started missing good old Raefindan? Maybe Marigold needs a few heart-to -heart talks with the old hounder.

[littlemanpoet]

Yes, I had just thought of Tharonwe. How much time should the men be gone before he makes his escape? Surely the women should leave Minas Tirith first? Or does he shadow them? Oooooh! :eek: That would be interesting!

I'm ambivalent about Jorje. I want to have him come in as a surprise to rescue someone out of a seemingly impossible fix. Of course that means I need to wait for a seemingly impossible fix. Jorje miss Raefindan? I suppose so. Marigold have a word with the old hound? Yes, I could arrange something like that. Hmmm....

[mark12_30]

.....it's vewy vewy quiet.




:smokin:





.

[littlemanpoet]

.....it's vewy vewy quiet.I've been extremely busy for the last two days; 10 hour work days then 2 hour church meetings (at least yesterday) in between which I must fit in mowing the lawn, sleeping, eating, and thinking about this rpg, other rpgs, and my magnum opus. I need some inspiration. In other words, I need others to post first so I can have something to react to. Or else I'll just have to wait until inspiration strikes. Not to mention time allows. I guess this was a waste of a post, except to say, 'there are reasons'.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Immy, I love it.

Formendacil, does this count as being the appropriate time to work on that post together?

[Formendacil]

Immy, I love it.

Formendacil, does this count as being the appropriate time to work on that post together?

Fea, dear, you can start anytime... but before Bergil and Indil meet in our presumably-the-post-you-are-wanting-to-work-on-here post, Bergil has to have a post in which he is sent from Minas Anor with news of the ladies being gone. And, as near as I can tell... that's not happened yet.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Fea, dear, you can start anytime...
You and your continuity...

I'm currently in the middle of a death struggle over writing passively and actively. I need you so that I don't go insane. ;):)

[Formendacil]

You and your continuity...

I'm currently in the middle of a death struggle over writing passively and actively. I need you so that I don't go insane. ;):)

Well, as a convicted member of the "Writing in Passive Voice" club, I'm certainly free of any struggle there... :p

Anyway... we can start on our combined post any time. I'm just reiterating that we can't actually POST it, and may have to modify it, until after Bergil's been brought up to that point in the story.

[mark12_30]

Immy-- Me too-- I love it. One minor problem -- they're riding the horses now (the walking was basically just to the South Pelennor Gate.) In a way, riding might even be better? He can fall asleep in the saddle. Then he can either fall off the horse and not wake up, or, sleep in the saddle as she 'walks' beside him. If you like, he can still park beside Gwyllion's rock &c (which I liked a bunch.)

Formie and Fea-- Post it here. Build it together til it's done.

Nuru, Aylwen, and mark12_30-- guess you ladies better get busy giving the ladies their nightmares. :p ;)

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Who's dreaming what? Are they all having the same dream? What's going to be in the dream that's going to make them go, "Oh, I think I'll run down to Leafa/Bellyn at the Seventh Star/Someone else's home and tell them about this dream!" I'm kind of lost on that aspect, so as soon as someone explains that part to me, I'll get right to it.

[Imladris]

One minor problem -- they're riding the horses now (the walking was basically just to the South Pelennor Gate.) In a way, riding might even be better? He can fall asleep in the saddle. Then he can either fall off the horse and not wake up, or, sleep in the saddle as she 'walks' beside him. If you like, he can still park beside Gwyllion's rock &c (which I liked a bunch.)


Aaaack details will be the death of me, which I hope can be excused once more if one considers that my head is already muddled with the conjugation of German verbs, fear and dread of sundry tests, work, and...Huckleberries.

But I shall edit sofort! (http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&search=sofort&relink=on)

[littlemanpoet]

Raefindan has responded to Aeron's dream. Let me know if I put inappropriate words in Aeron's mouth, please.

[mark12_30]

Aaaack details will be the death of me, which I hope can be excused once more if one considers that my head is already muddled with the conjugation of German verbs, fear and dread of sundry tests, work, and...Huckleberries.

But I shall edit sofort! (http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&search=sofort&relink=on)

Sehr schon, meine freunde. Ich bin ..... Ich bin.... "happy". I forget-- How do you say "Happy" auf deutsch??? And note the missing unlauts. Sigh. It's been thirty years or so. Anyway your post is lovely and you handled the transition to horseback with aplomb.

What about huckleberries? They're good by the handful, also on cereal.

lmp, good to see Raefindan again.

The dreams-- I was imagining a bit of a replay of Mellondu's original departure. Some dreams/nightmares, a bit of a fever, a sudden departure in an unexpected direction... the difference being that the other two ladies follow immediately. Bella and Leafa still have horses; perhaps Mellonin can steal one-- heh! that'd wake up the city.

Who wants the first dream? I vote for levelheaded Bella-- Mellonin's already being a bit flaky & emotional. Shall we go for all three dreaming, or two? It's a tapestry, after all. Golly, that would be fun. One dreams as Mithrellas, one dreams as Nimrodel... the third dreams as who? Or of whom? Maybe she dreams of Saethryd somehow?

How about the one dreaming of Nimrodel is the one who departs (precipitously) the one dreaming as Mithrellas follows her intently; the third is simply chasing?

Thoughts?

[littlemanpoet]

"Freulich", is I think the word you're looking for, Helen. :)

I'm thinking that Jorje will follow the women instead of the men.....

[mark12_30]

Ich bin freulich!

Shades of Huan...?

[littlemanpoet]

Shades of Huan...?Well, I guess that makes for a precedent. The women don't happen to be Mary Sues, to a person, and will just maybe need more aid for sheer survival than the men; besides, Tharonwe is going to be messing with them, and they'll need Jorje. Somehow...

EDIT: Poor Aeron. :( That Erebemlin is just too focused. ;) This'll be fun! :)

[Imladris]

Sehr schon, meine freunde. Ich bin ..... Ich bin.... "happy". I forget-- How do you say "Happy" auf deutsch??? And note the missing unlauts. Sigh. It's been thirty years or so. Anyway your post is lovely and you handled the transition to horseback with aplomb.

What about huckleberries? They're good by the handful, also on cereal.

Lmp was close for the Deutsch word for happiness...but not quite. "Froehlich" (the e after the o signifies an umlauted o). There are also other (http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&search=happy&relink=on) words as well. =)

Sadly I have never tasted a huckleberry before -- I meant it in a purely figurative sense...to be more specific, my special other. I call him my Huckleberry.

Forgive me for this not having anything to do with The Tapestry...I just hate not responding to comments. =]

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Bella is starting to feel sick. She'll probably have funny dreams tonight. ;)

What day is it? Did we figure that out?

[mark12_30]

January 6.

How warm is South Gondor's winter? Must review atlas *again.*

P. 183, below the white mountains. Mild winter, hot dry summer. "Mild winter"... this gets compared to the Mediterranean, or to Southern California. (Sheesh, that's mild.) I think that's more along the coast. I'd say moderately mild up near Minas Tirith, getting milder as we go south.
Rohan is normally mild-- The Three Hunters found no snow in the plains of Rohan.

I guess we just put our folks through an unusually harsh winter-- unless we figure that the Anduin is coming from the cold mountain streams... bit of a stretch. But that's okay. Leave it as is. But now that we are going further south, it'll get milder and milder. I guess we can either assume we are snowless (but chilly cold at night) for the first week or more of travel, or, play with the occasional snowstorm that melts in a few days, or a flurry that melts by that afternoon.

[mark12_30]

Post # Date Location Event
481 25-Dec Passing Rauros Amroth senses Tharonwe & pursues
___ 26-Dec ….the longest day…..
481 26-Dec Paths thru swamp & over 7 streams Pursuit
486-501 26-Dec swamp Driving off the merchant
502 26-Dec swamp Seeking Bella; Ædegard seeks Leafa
___ 26-Dec swamp Seeking Argeleafa
510 26-Dec swamp Jorje sent after Ædegard
514 26-Dec swamp swamp swamp Aeron pursues Ædegard; Gwyll captured
516 26-Dec swamp faceoff: Amroth vs Tharonwe
518 26-Dec swamp Gwyll meets Mithrellas
520 26-Dec ooky ooky swamp Amroth vs Tharonwe; Mellondu surfaces
526 26-Dec swamp Ædegard misses his hand
527 26-Dec swamp Raefindan offers self in trade
531 26-Dec eeermy swamp Mellonin, Leafa, Bella return carrying Gwyll
536 26-Dec swamp Aeron fights for Gwyll; Gwyll dies
538 26-Dec swamp Raefindan sees Merlocks kill Gwyllion
___ 26-Dec swamp Battle against merlocks
541 26-Dec swamp Aftermath
551 26-Dec swamp Tharonwe and Raefindan travel.
556 26-Dec swamp RaefinRoy dreams of Imrazor & Mithrellas & Angela
557 26-27 Dec swamp Camp on the rise in the swamp.
559 27-Dec swamp Ædegard reconciled with Nethwador
560 27-Dec swamp Nethwador's response
___ ___ End page 14
___ ___ Page 15
561 27-Dec swamp Erebemlin watches over Mellondu
565 27-Dec swamp Tharonwe and RaefinRoy
575 27-Dec swamp swamp swamp Marigold extends her invitation!
577 ___ path out of the swamp Into Marigold's cottage
596-597 27-28 Dec In the cottage
600 ___ In the cottage Argeleafa discovers Liornung's hope
___ ___ end page 15
___ ___ page 16
604 28-Dec In the cottage dawn and snow
605 ___ In the cottage Amroth dreams of Maegeleb and Nimrodel
614-626 28-Dec Cottage yard Gwyllion's burial
627 28-Dec Cottage yard Departure from Marigold's cottage
634 28-Dec Cottage yard evening
636 28-Dec Cottage yard nightfall
639 28-Dec Cottage yard
640 28-Dec Cottage yard
end page 16
page 17
643 28-Dec snowy camp Raefindan's return; Tharonwe's 'surrender'
652 28-Dec snowy camp The long, long, long night continues
659 28-29 dec snowy camp ladies found
671 29-Dec Snowy camp Dawn at last
678 29-Dec Riding south Riding south
680 29-Dec Riding south Riding south
___ ___ end page 17
___ ___ page 18
681 29-Dec Road to Minas Tirith Evening
683 30-Dec Road to Minas Tirith Morning on the road
685 30-31 Dec Road to Minas Tirith Evening, camp, sleep, and morning
688 31 Dec- 1Jan "The Four Merry Halflings" Inn Settling in at the Inn
689 32 Dec- 1Jan "The Four Merry Halflings" Inn Raeindan dreams of Mithrellas
690 1-Jan Entering Pelennor Approaching Minas Tirith
692 1-Jan Minas Tirith Mellonin & Mellondu go home
693 1-2 Jan The Seventh Star Raefindan dreams of Mithrellas
694 2-Jan Mellonin's parents' house
708 ___ Mellonin's parents' house Mellondu submits to Erebemlin
709 2-Jan evening Erebemlin declares departure: 3 dawns hence
711 2-Jan Mellonin's parents' house Dinner at Mellondu's parents' house
___ 3-Jan dawn farewells &c
___ ___ Conference with the King; Tharonwe imprisoned
___ 4-Jan __________ farewells &c
___ 5-Jan dawn Departure from Minas Tirith
___ ___ END OF BOOK 1
___ ___ BOOK 2
1 ___ NEW THREAD
___ 5-Jan Passing South Pelennor gate Passing South Pelennor gate
___ 5-6 Jan Camp Archery lesson; camp
___ 6-Jan …where we are now

[Nurumaiel]

Hello, all.

I'm going to be leaving this Thursday on a trip that will last nearly until the end of this month. I won't have ready internet access, nor much time even if I did, so you shan't hear from me for awhile.

I know the ladies will be leaving soon, and I completely trust any one of you to handle Leafa in an appropriate manner.

'Til then! God bless you all.

[littlemanpoet]

When the ladies pass northwesterly, I do hope "The Four Merry Halflings" gets a mention.... ;)

By the way, that was a Tolkienian load of research, Helen. :eek: Kudos.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

To echo Nuru a little...

Whether I'm really needed or not, I feel I should mention that I might be downright missing for the next few weeks. I've got a grand scale project in the works with an Oct. 13th deadline and then I'm on break in Connecticut and I can't promise internet access.

[littlemanpoet]

HellOOoooOOOoooo??? Anybody out there? Should I start double/multiple posting? Surely there is some interest amongst the old salts to get this thing to where the eager newbies (;)) can give it a kick in the bootle? :D

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Hum.

Can the women leave now? I can get a post up as soon as possible with Bellyn having her nightmares...she can leave during the night, if that's what you want.

Oh, but before I do...where the heck would Bellyn have put her horse? I didn't even think about that.

-Aylwen

[mark12_30]

Er....

.... same place Leafa put hers??????

Good question.

I suspect they'd have kept them close, out of sheer love. There is a stable attatched (or associated with) the Seventh Star. It's as good a place as any, at first. Maybe Leafa's horse and Bella's horse are in stalls next to each other.

Where's Mellonin going to get her horse? I think she steals one, actually. One of the Errand-Riders can donate one. THen Elessar will be doubly interested in "what happened to those girls!"

Bottom line: Fire ahead, girl. Whatever Bella does, Mellonin will do something not-too-different (she ahs to be crazy to steal a horse, so...) Leafa will be the only one with a nera-term chance at sanity.

Last time it was a crazy blacksmith. Now it's a crazy laundry-girl and a crazy mapmaker!

Wheeeeee!

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Bellyn has left the building.

Any issues, let me know. I was a little sketchy with the whole "getting Bellyn's horse" thing, I wasn't sure how that should have gone, so if I need to edit that, I'm all for suggestions. Also...I didn't know/remember exactly where the girls were supposed to be headed, so if you don't want them going towards the White Mountains, I could edit that too.

Just let me know. :)

[mark12_30]

... I like it....

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Hello? Is there anybody out there?

(Just nod if you can hear me ;) )

-Aylwen

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

[is lurking]

[littlemanpoet]

Let's generate a plot outline. That may help to guide us in knowing who should be posting and when. What needs to be happening? What can happen?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Since you guys have already foreshadowed Indil's appearance, my self-imposed limitation is to wait until Bergil finds her before expanding or introducing her more.

Which means, as I said, I'm just lurking for now.

[Celuien]

I thought that it didn't make a lot of sense for Saethyrd to appear until all of the ladies were on their way to the White Mountains. My idea was that there would be more drama if they were already in the mountains and then - uhoh - it comes out that Saethyrd is lurking nearby. So I'm lurking too for the present.

[Formendacil]

*nods*

I'm here... waiting... a bit apathetically, and with no great desire to rush on, but ready when the time comes.

Those ladies have to be all gone from Minas Tirith, before Bergil can come in. Like Fea and Celuien, my hands are tied.

[Imladris]

I have not posted the second dream meeting with Gwyllion because it hasn't felt right. Since she didn't know Bella that well, I thought that it would be better to write it when a lady who she was better aquainted with (Mellonin) disappeared as it were.

Hence, I'm also lurking.

[littlemanpoet]

This is helpful information so we know who needs to post: namely, the writers for Leafa, Bellyn, and Mellonin.

Nuru? Aelwyn? Helen?

Can you help us move the rpg along?

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Uhm...I was the last person to post...

Leafa and Mellonin are supposed to follow Bellyn, but I don't know where Helen and Nuru went off to.

[littlemanpoet]

Okay, here's my proposal, which has three parts:

1. Make an effort to PM and otherwise contact Nuru and Helen through means that we have outside of BD to request their participation.

2. Determine what is the most likely course of action for Nuru and Helen, and based on this consensus, move forward with the thread.

3. Plan on Helen and Nuru writing catch-up posts to fill in the plot over which we have passed in order to keep things going.

So by way of summary, the time that it takes for us to reach a consensus as to what Nuru and Helen are likely to write regarding Leafa and Mellonin respectively, is the time we are giving them to post themselves, and if they don't post by the time we have reached a consensus, then we move forward and ask them to fill in later.

All in favor, put forward your idea of what you think Leafa and Mellonin are most likely to do.

All not in favor, please say so.

Or tell me to be quiet and wait. :p

[Celuien]

I vote PM. According to the members list, Helen and Nuru have been logged in within the past two days, so they can't be too far away. :D

[littlemanpoet]

I'll PM them. You researcher, you. ;)

[Celuien]

Did someone say research? *mumbles about conformation changes in 7.5 kilodalton basic proteins after phosphorylation by protein kinase C* ;)

Just as warning, starting next week and until mid-January, I'm in and out of town for interviews. I'll be around to post, but there may be delays in my replies.

[littlemanpoet]

Did someone say research? *mumbles about conformation changes in 7.5 kilodalton basic proteins after phosphorylation by protein kinase C*tut tut, no cussing on the Downs. :D

I've PM'd Helen and Nuru.

[Firefoot]

*Loves Jorje*

[littlemanpoet]

*Loves Jorje*
Elempi does too. :) Lots and lots of fun to write. :)

[Nurumaiel]

Hello to all...

I've just recently returned from the near month-long absence I mentioned earlier on the thread, but while I'm now home I'll have no time to write for another week. I've temporarily taken over the role of housekeeper, and coupling my regular duties with the extra cooking, cleaning, and baby-sitting, as well as trying to do it all with a rather mean cold... well, I'm quite lacking in time!

Come November I'll be quite available again. However, I know you're quite anxious to continue on, so you may feel quite free to carry Leafa's character for the next week if you feel it necessary.

I apologise most sincerely for all these absences. This past month has been unusually busy. But after this final week of busy-ness, things should settle down to a quiet pace, and I'll have more than enough time.

[littlemanpoet]

Thanks, Nuru.

Okay then, we figure that either Leafa or Mellonin or both have a dream that sends them dashing off from Minas Tirith, delaying just long enough to make sure they have enough supplies to keep the wolf from the door, though they of course have no door :rolleyes: Sorry, metaphor carried me away. Anyhow, so they stop off at the Four Merry Hobbits on their way into the White Mountains, passing close to Woses country, and at some point they meet up with Jorje. Little do they know but they are also being followed at a reasonable distance by Tharonwe, starting not one day out from Minas Tirith.

Meanwhile, we need to keep the men's plot going. What do we need there? Bergil? So that means Formy, right? Formy?

[Formendacil]

So that's a nudge to get posting then. Okay, here's the schema I made a couple of pages back, which seems to have been approved:

Girls leave Minas Tirith. -DONE

Mellonin's parents report this to the Steward.

Rangers are sent out from city.

Bergil goes south (and, being alone, will eventually overtake Erebemlin et al).

Bergil meets Eledhwen on the road (whither she's wandered a day or two AFTER Erebemlin et al have gone by).

Being a mere five year old, it's impossible to get straight directions out of her.

Deciding the safest thing to do is to take her with him, and leave her in the care of someone further along the way, Bergil takes the girl with him.

Bergil and Eledhwen catch up to the Company.

Raefindan (CHANGE: With the Aeron dream, this'll likely change slightly, but that's probably not going to be my post anyway...) has some sort of weird recognition/deja vu thing regarding Eledhwen. It is decided to take her with them. The Company learns of Bergil's mission- and of the departure of the womenfolk.

Okay, in the post coming up, Bergil shows up in Minas Tirith with a company of Rangers concurrently with Mellonin's parents reporting the disappearance of the girls. Elessar will tell Faramir to make sure something is done. Faramir will order the Rangers out in various directions. Bergil will get the southern road, and will depart.

Sounds good? Excellent, 'cause that's what I'm doing. Won't come tonight, or probably tomorrow either, but I'll try and have it done by the end of the weekend (if not preferrably earlier).

[littlemanpoet]

Thanks, Formy.

Based on Helen's most recent half-post/half-save, it appears that the three women will leave separately and find each other somehow along the way; is that what we are to understand? If so, then ALL THREE must dream and react to their dreams in like manner. I'm fine with it, just trying to make sure I'm understanding this and that we all are.

[piosenniel]

Bêthberry has offered a seasonal RPG in Rohan – The Veil is Lifted.

It’s a 7th Age game, based loosely around Hallowe’en and open to all comers.

Come join us and have a little fun!

Game Thread – HERE (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=13350)
Discussion Thread – THERE (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=13351)

~*~ Pio

[Formendacil]

Okay...

So it hasn't happened yet, my post. Recollection came up here, and it was "no talking or viewing of the outside world" in basic content- meaning I refrained from the Internet (for the most part) all weekend.

I'll put up a save, to prod me into it... but it won't be tonight.

[Formendacil]

Okay, the post is done.

As always, any expert advice, comments, or whatnot is much appreciated. And on my big checklist:

Girls leave Minas Tirith. -DONE

Mellonin's parents report this to the Steward. -DONE

Rangers are sent out from city.-DONE

Bergil goes south (and, being alone, will eventually overtake Erebemlin et al).-DONE

Bergil meets Eledhwen on the road (whither she's wandered a day or two AFTER Erebemlin et al have gone by).

Being a mere five year old, it's impossible to get straight directions out of her.

Deciding the safest thing to do is to take her with him, and leave her in the care of someone further along the way, Bergil takes the girl with him.

Bergil and Eledhwen catch up to the Company.

Raefindan (CHANGE: With the Aeron dream, this'll likely change slightly, but that's probably not going to be my post anyway...) has some sort of weird recognition/deja vu thing regarding Eledhwen. It is decided to take her with them. The Company learns of Bergil's mission- and of the departure of the womenfolk.

Okay, Fea, our meeting is next. We can start joint-writing that at any time... but be warned that I am lazy and in no hurry.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I'll nudge you along. Writing works well as motivation to get my homework done in a timely manner.

You want to write, Laura? Yeah? Do ya? Do ya? Go do your Ethics homework!!!

I've found that it's easiest to joint post via PM. MSN is too easy to ADD out on. "And then they turned left upon the road, catching sight of the - hey, my shoe is blue"

We can, however, discuss stuff on MSN while composing? Ish? We'll work it out.

[mark12_30]

Formie, that was most enjoyable.

I've been pondering the gist of Mellonin's dream and here's what I think: Mellonin for logistical reasons can't be dreaming Nimrodel, since her brother is dreaming Amroth-- too incestuous, so to speak. And although for a while she was heavily influenced by Mithrellas, having a Thing between her and Raefindan (so to speak) also seems somehow icky (or eeermy as Jorje would growl). So I've been hunting for alternatives.

I think it highly unlikely that Mithrellas was Nimrodel's ONLY travelling companion. So I'm tossing ideas around for another travelling companion, one who was (somehow) considered faithless (in contrast to Mithrellas' astounding faithfulness.) Mellonin will now be dreaming that she is this "faithless" handmaiden, who does not think of herself as faithless, only driven by logical circumstances (heck the boat was leaving, what did you want me to do, jump off and swim??) Now, stung by the realization that she is considered faithless, will come back to try and make things right. Haunted by virtual guilt, as it were.

I'm not yet sure what her original name was, but "Unwilling maiden" might be rendered either "Avarien" or "Avarwen", and should sting a bit.

So I hope to write the dream and the horse-stealing scene this afternoon.

Meanwhile (I can hear you asking) what the heck has happened to Mark12_30? Well, it's like this. I am getting up for work early, leaving early-- the military no longer allows access to Forum sites, nor blogging sites either-- and then I come home, tend my boys, do the dinner and homework thing, and then collapse into bed immediately after the boys do.

That schedule is about to change-- but there's no indication that it will get easier or that I'll have more access. So my original estimate that I'll only be posting at most a couple of times a week, seems accurate.

Bottom line-- don't wait for me. Unless I can figure out a way to somehow involve my sons in this (a very appealing idea, but fraught with difficulties) I will have little RPG time. Please, nobody take it personally.

Love to all, and I'll have a shot at that post later today.

[littlemanpoet]

I've been pondering the gist of Mellonin's dream and here's what I think: Mellonin for logistical reasons can't be dreaming Nimrodel, since her brother is dreaming Amroth-- too incestuous, so to speak.That didn't stop Tolkien: Turin. Niniel.

And although for a while she was heavily influenced by Mithrellas, having a Thing between her and Raefindan (so to speak) also seems somehow icky (or eeermy as Jorje would growl).Yeah, I'm with you on this one.

So I've been hunting for alternatives.
Well, I think it's a clever idea and I'm glad you came to it, although I'm not convinced that all of the reasoning that got you there was entirely appropo. But hey.

[mark12_30]

That didn't stop Tolkien: Turin. Niniel..

True; but that was a pretty special story, and atypical, I think. Besides, we've got enough romantic connections of connections of connections-- adding that to this seems like overkill. Anyway, I'm glad you like the idea of Avarwen (Avarien? Still not quite decided.)

She'll be glad to see Jorje.


Question: How long has Marigold been dwelling in the Anduin delta? Just curious. Seems like the elves might have heard a rumor of her being there unless she's recently arrived from elsewhere. (Where elsewhere? I dunno. Depths of Fangorn maybe? Remote corner of Ithilien? Just thrashing, don't mind me.) So anyway, do some of the elves know about her or is she always a complete surprise? And has she been hiding from elves? Tharonwe didnt know about her, did he? And he's been in the swamp for how long?

[littlemanpoet]

I'm glad you like the idea of Avarwen (Avarien? Still not quite decided.)I would prefer Avarien. "-wen" endings seem a bit overkill on the Downs.

Question: How long has Marigold been dwelling in the Anduin delta? Just curious. Seems like the elves might have heard a rumor of her being there unless she's recently arrived from elsewhere. (Where elsewhere? I dunno. Depths of Fangorn maybe? Remote corner of Ithilien? Just thrashing, don't mind me.) So anyway, do some of the elves know about her or is she always a complete surprise? And has she been hiding from elves? Tharonwe didnt know about her, did he? And he's been in the swamp for how long?She has been there for (almost) as long as Tom Bombadil and Goldberry have been where they are. She has not usually manifested herself as the young seeming maiden that has grown upon Erebemlin's awareness. Oft-times she has taken the shape of a current of water, perhaps for thousands of years, being a water Maia (so I personally consider Tom an Earth Maia and Goldberry a Water Maia). So some elves might supposedly have heard of her, but she has had very, very little to do with the affairs of elves or Men. Not all Maia who choose to dwell in Arda concern themselves at all times (maybe hardly ever) with bipedal affairs. Tharonwe knew nothing of her. He's been in the swamp for a few centuries, corresponding with the loss of Nimrodel. So the upshot is that Marigold is "home" in the Entwash Delta region; it is her realm as the Barrows are Tom's. That is, at any rate, how I have set it up. Hope it works.

[mark12_30]

OK. So a pleasant but blindsiding surprise.

I'll go edit Avarwen to Avarien. I think that I was leaning towards Avarwen precisely because it seemed like the one I wouldn't choose-- for the very reason you mentioned. Ah, circularity.

Avarien is fine.

[mark12_30]

Anyone seen alak?

[Imladris]

sorry for kind of fading off a bit...

I seem to be finding myself exhausted for a bit (I haven't had a chance to simply breathe -- relative to my standards of non-busy-ness at least -- since august or so)...but I will try to post a decent scene with Gwyllion alerting Aeron soon.

ish.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Formendacil/everyone... I'm basically caught up in the sheer bafflement that is my life. Again. I basically need vacation, a good night's sleep, a home-cooked meal, and possibly my mama. But until I get that - 12 days and counting - I'm basically disappearing into my own bubble. Again. *whimper*


Form, I'm not sure how is best for you for with writing that Bergil/Eledhwen post, but let me know and I'll work something out. I'm just too tapped to take initiative just now. :(

[Formendacil]

Formendacil/everyone... I'm basically caught up in the sheer bafflement that is my life. Again. I basically need vacation, a good night's sleep, a home-cooked meal, and possibly my mama. But until I get that - 12 days and counting - I'm basically disappearing into my own bubble. Again. *whimper*


Form, I'm not sure how is best for you for with writing that Bergil/Eledhwen post, but let me know and I'll work something out. I'm just too tapped to take initiative just now. :(

Okay, I'll do the first draft, and PM it to you for revisions, etc...

But it won't be too soon. I'm so far behind RPGwise... it's not even funny.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I'm so far behind RPGwise... it's not even funny.Yeah, no joke, and I've got a WW game in the works on top of everything. What's wrong with me?

[mark12_30]

THis one's all I dare sign up for...

[littlemanpoet]

I have filled in my save. Tharonwe has escaped.

[mark12_30]

Anyone seen Alak?

[littlemanpoet]

No. Heck, I've never even seen you. Well, a picture maybe but that doesn't count. :p Sorry, weird mood.

Hey, anybody gonna write some? I want to do more with this story! C'mon peeeeplllle!

Formy! Nudge Nudge Nudge!!!!!

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

So I meant to fill my save Tuesday morning, but I got distracted, and then I had to deal with yesterday, and that was just an ordeal, and today... we just shouldn't even get into today.

Basically, I have one more day of classes and then four papers to write, and then two finals, and the biggest interview of my current life is on Monday, and...

If any of you see me writing, you should kick me hard and ask why I'm not curled up in a ball somewhere finishing my semester. :(

I'll fill it as soon as I can.

[Imladris]

Forgive me if I'm out of line...

But I'm reading the recent posts and it seems really weird for the company not to care that the ladies are off on their own in the mountains (or that they might be)...if they're not taking it seriously one of them needs to tell Aeron that he's off his rocker instead of just seemingly blithely ignoring it.

I dunno it just seems weird to me to have no one really reacting to it.

[littlemanpoet]

Well, Raefindan did react to it, but he's not the leader of the group, and not given to rebellion or mutiny, whether in spirit, speech, or action. His approach is to wait for events to prove Aeron's dream true, and then see what happens from there.

I think part of the problem, Immy, is that this story is moving forward at such a tortoise pace that writers may be having a hard time keeping their minds around what the characters would be very, very concerned about. It makes posting in a good storylike way rather difficult. :(

I suppose Ædegard could be more concerned if Leafa is believed to be missing, and might offer some mutinous comments. Which may help, because I've been wondering what to do wtih the lout! :rolleyes:

Maybe Aeron could speak up to others in the party about it, say when the group breaks for camp? Just a thought. Thanks for posting your concern, Immy. It has me thinking more clearly about all this. :)

[Imladris]

Well, Raefindan did react to it, but he's not the leader of the group, and not given to rebellion or mutiny, whether in spirit, speech, or action. His approach is to wait for events to prove Aeron's dream true, and then see what happens from there.

Understood.

I wasn't really sure how to post my concern...and was very hesitant to do so...I hope none took it to be critical or anything. =/

I think part of the problem, Immy, is that this story is moving forward at such a tortoise pace that writers may be having a hard time keeping their minds around what the characters would be very, very concerned about. It makes posting in a good storylike way rather difficult.

Aye...it's rather sad when one grows up...if it's not school if it's a job (sometimes both!), then the busy holiday season coming up.

Oof.

[mark12_30]

I wasn't really sure how to post my concern...and was very hesitant to do so...I hope none took it to be critical or anything. =/


Nah. "There's a white elephant in the room" isn't critical, it's useful info. Especially if one has had one's back to that side of the room. I'll have to give that some more thought. And review how the other ladies left. Or decide how to call Aeron crazy, or SOMETHING.


Aye...it's rather sad when one grows up...if it's not school if it's a job (sometimes both!), then the busy holiday season coming up.

Oof.

Me too, with the oofage.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

if it's not school if it's a job (sometimes both!), then the busy holiday season coming up.

Oof.Both. :( With trouble at work, two more papers and two more finals in the next couple days... and yesterday I had an interview that will determine, no exaggeration, the rest of my life... *sigh*

I can't help but agree with Oof as I look at my poor misused and thoroughly abused Save.

[mark12_30]

Immy, I edited the beginning of my most recent post. Check it out please? I think it's okay.

AAAAAALAAAAAAK, where are yooooooou???

If I'm going to have to carry Erebemlin and Taitheneb, somebody please tell me. (GAH. Not enough time for who I've already got!!!)

[Imladris]

Immy, I edited the beginning of my most recent post. Check it out please? I think it's okay.


I think it's brilliant, mate.

*gives Mark a spot o' tea since it sounds as if she could use it.*

;)

[mark12_30]

Mighty kind, Immy. And Thankee!! A spot o' tea does a body good.

[littlemanpoet]

Feanor has explained on the EMH discussion thread that she will not be available for an extended period. I would expect that applies here as well. Thus, yet another needed writer for this story is not available.

It would appear that we have three options:
1. just keep on slogging on
2. stop now and wait until enough writers' availability returns
3. Stop, Rethink just who is going to be writing this, and cut down on number of writers to those who can commit, and Restart once that has been decided.

I'm not in charge of this story, but I would appreciate it if we could discuss this issue and these options, because as Immy so bravely pointed out not long ago, the current situation makes the story suffer, and that's not worth it.

[Imladris]

I'll be able to commit to writing, just not for a few weeks probably.

Before I had finals, now I have an insane holiday work schedule (boo), and then I'll be moving out of state. After that, some time in January, I should be good to go, unless something comes up.

[Celuien]

I'm committed to writing, though next month will be busy for me so I may take longer than usual to reply if things start to move quickly then.

[mark12_30]

Good call, lmp. I vote against slogging. The other two choices... Hmmm.

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

I'll be committed after this Friday. I'm having surgery tomorrow and I'll be recovering until then. I'll get a post up as soon as possible for Bellyn after Sunday.

I also vote against slogging, but I know that sometimes it's hard to deal with school/work/both.

So...yeah.

[littlemanpoet]

Just thought of this today (or was it in the middle of the night?).

(1) Find out which writers are going to be available each month for the next three months.
(2) Make a list of (A) all of our characters and (B) their writers.
(3) Have the writers who cannot be around for one or more of the coming months choose alternate writers who are authorized by the primary writers to handle their characters.

The primary writers could work out with the alternates what degree of complexity would work. For example, some alternate writers may be familiar enough with a character that they could "get in the head" of the character they are sub-writing, while others would feel comfortable at only providing action.

I intend to be around for the next three months, but if I wasn't, I could, for example, divide my characters thusly between alternates who would be around:

Jorje: Firefoot
Æedegard: Nurumaiel
Raefindan: Helen
Tharonwë: Formendacil
Marigold: Alak

These are just meant to be examples based on reasonaable familiarity with a type of character; the weakest choice being Formy for Tharonwe, no fault of Formy's.

[Formendacil]

For myself... I'm both lazy and a student, so quick response from me is not to be expected whenever my turn comes up for posting (waiting on Fea's save right now, but that doesn't appear to be coming... so....). However, I'm a fast enough writer and this RPG is slow-paced enough that I should never have too much of a problem getting to posting within a week or so of it being my turn- assuming I get nudged if I don't seem to be around (it's started to happen, now and again...).

That said, I can carry Indil for the moment. Insofar as anybody "knows" her, I guess I do. (The posts with her thus far were penned primarily by my hand.)

So I'm around, and able to help, if need be.