Exactly. The main problem under which all the others are subtitles is the fact that Umbra
was a Freestyle game. The other problems have occured such as:
-
why, plausibly, would the elves want to retrieve the Silvandl?
- Because it was stolen?
- By whom? At this point the whole lovely history and the part about the blue mountain, wild men, abandoned children, dwarves....went completely out of the window [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]. We came to the conclusion of a group of assassins who, foiled in their attempt on the king's life, stole the precious Silvandl instead. [This caused the name change from 'Silvandl' to 'The Assassins' Intrigue']
- Why would the Silvandl be in the open to get stolen?
- Because it was a gift given to the king from Lorien ambassadors, who are now leaving Mirkwood, in thanks for the help of Mirkwood in...[something which I'm not entirely sure of right now, as the only copy I have since my computer got a virus is on a school computer and I am on Christmas holiday,
ergo I have not currently got a copy...]. They are formally leaving now and will present the Silvandl, an item of very substantial sentimental
and tangible worth and beauty, in a ceremony that will mean there is only a skeleton guard around the palace. This means it will be easy for the assassins to strike.
-
Who are the assassins?
- Now at
this point we came up with some rather large problems of when exactly the story is happening. SoU was set in Thranduil's time, but this is not a very large problem; the only evidence of it being in that time are about three references to Thranduil and maybe two of Legolas. So we moved it back to the time of Oropher, in the second age, date SA 1698.
A significant date! I quote from one of the critiques:
Quote:
|
This is just one year afterafter the fall of Eregion, the Elven kingdom that stood just west of Moria. It is also one year before Sauron invaded Eriador, the lands west of the Misty Mountains. So if you intend your assassins to be in league with Sauron, you’ve picked a great time.
|
Lovely! Ok, so now we have a time
and a possible motivation for the assassins - they could be fallen elves in league with Sauron. This also means the wood is not called Mirkwood, but Lasgalen/Greenwood. And that gives rise to possible alterior motives perhaps to drawing the elves out of Greenwood, which would add some more depth especially on the parts of the assassins, which would be excellent.
But....(
why must there always be a but?!)
-
Characters
- A fundamental problem! See, two of the principle characters are human, one with elven blood (something the reviewers didn't like) in a time when elves are suspicious of pretty much any other races. Which gave rise to Ascahyandel - a new character, her purpose being as the elven leader of the pursuers, as obviously to have Raye/Corr or Tallin leading the group would verge on being completely unbelievable. However, the very fact that they are human still presets a problem, but it may be got around - Tallin has her wolves, excellent trackers through the forest (the mindlink between Tallin and her wolves will remain, as the reviewers have not said this is a problem - if they do, I may have a way of getting around it...as compensation her abilities of speaking to other animals will probably be toned down rather, maybe a little more than normal humans). Also, she is a healer. Raye's reason will be that she can track almost as well through towns as the wolves can through forest, and the elves could have a problem through human towns.
Hwesta is not a problem, as she is elven and could be working in the palace as a courtier maybe - perfectly plausible, especially as her family have lived for man years in Greenwood.
However, Berethion may be a problem, Dragoneyes - we are pushing it getting two humans, to get another through, without really,
really good reason might not be possible. What do you think?
Dragoneyes: also, have you any idea if Elentari still wants to play in this game? Is she too busy with Imladris?
Hope this helps a little [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
-Aman
<font size=1 color=339966>[ 12:02 PM January 02, 2004: Message edited by: Amanaduial the archer ]