Númenórean Blood Runs Black Planning/Discussion Thread

[Thinlómien]

POSTED TO DISCUSSION THREAD ~*~ PIO

Originally Posted by Eorl of Rohan

Er, does this mean that you thought I was a boy? But then, I thought you were a boy, too...


... ...

Okay, now I am mistaken for a boy, and then I sound like a boy, and now I see I write like a boy.


+still defensive+ I like the name! And, er, are you telling me that you thought I was a boy, too?

+applies to Pio and Aman+ You're all past acquaintances - surely you didn't think that I was a male, right? Come on, I don't sound like a male, do I? Come on, tell them.

Guess what, Eorl, I thought also that you were a boy.

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Kath, your post is okay with me. I quite liked it

I don't know how this should be done; so I'll continue from where Kath left the story, because it doesn't make sense to me to describe the same things again. So complain, if you need to

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Thinlómien's character

NAME: Lingwë, son of Laurendil

AGE: 20

RACE: gondorian human (with some númenórean blood in his veins)

GENDER: male

WEAPONS: Lingwë has a long sword. It's not a very fine or beautiful sword, but well-balanced and well-made. Besides the sword, Lingwë has a spear and bow and arrows.

APPEARANCE: Lingwë is 6'3" tall. He is slim, but muscular because of his soldier training and work.
Lingwë has a long face. His nose is long, straight and quite narrow. His relatively small eyes are in a long distance from each other. He has also quite narrow mouth.
Lingwë's hair is so dark brown that it's nearly black and he has bluegrey eyes. He has quite fair complexion, but he is tanned of spending so much time outdoors.

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Lingwë is mostly quite quiet and obsersive; he listens more than he speaks. He is usually serious, but likes playing friendly jokes on his friends. He's a bit of a pessimist and has an ironic sense of humour. He is perhaps more mature than many other young men of his age. He is loyal and hard-working and keeps usually the complaints - which he usually has lots of - to himself.

Lingwë is a trained soldier, so he knows how to fight. He is equally good in using sword, spear and bow. Lingwë is an exellent swimmer and diver and can hold his breath for a long time. For his serving time on a ship called Gaerandir he has a bit of seafring skills. He is that much educated that he can read and write.

Lingwë's not very quick-witted and sometimes he might by carried away by such a little things as the cry of seagulls or a beautiful horizon. He has a bit of claustrophobia and dislikes sleeping in such a tiny space belowdecks. It's the thing he hates the most about ships. He has no natural leading skills; he is not charismatic or even empathethic. Some people think that he is cold.

HISTORY: Lingwë was born in autumn of 1789 T.A. He was a strange-looking baby with eyes in a big distance from each other. The midwife playfully called him 'Little Fish'. His parents agreed that their second son looked like a fish and named him 'Lingwë', which means 'fish' in quenya. Later, Lingwë has proved that the name is more than suitable to him; he's an exellent swimmer and diver.

Lingwë's father was a succesful glassblower in Pinnath Gelin and he taught his profession to his elder son. Lingwës mother was a honourable housewife. Because of his father's succes their family was quite rich for an artisan family when Lingwë was a child. Lately, the family has losed much of its wealth because of an competent glassblower who moved to thecity five years ago.

Lingwë was the third child in the family. The eldest child, a daughter, had died right after her birth, so Lingwë had only one elder sibling to couple with. His elder brother Ciryandil, five years his senior, was a real nuisance to him in the days of their childhood. Ciryandil kept telling Lingwë that he was a slimy little fish capable of nothing and made his little brother's life difficult by all means he knew.

Luckily, Lingwë had a little sister, Eärelen, whom he played with. The biggest tragedy of Lingwë's life took place when Eärelen died to a sickness in the age of eleven. Lingwë still remembers his lively little sister with warmth and longing, though she has been dead for seven years.

Lingwë's father wanted his second son to be a soldier, and though Lingwë would have preferred to be a sailor or a clerk, he agreed and was sent to a training camp to Lossarnach. There he studied the arts of war. He received his fighting skills rather by hard work and natural dexterity, strengh and stamina than by being gifted with a blade.

After his training he went to serve as a guard soldier on a merchant ship called The Gaerandir. He served on her half a year until he was sacked because the merchant had had so good fortunes that he could afford hiring more experienced and skilled soldiers.

So Lingwë was very happy, when he was accepted to serve on Ráca, a vessel captained by Vórimandur. He looks forward to this mission in the sake of the king.

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Thinlómien's post

As Lingwë an Curamir walked the street back to the ship, Lingwë thought of the war. He wasn't as optimistic about it as he had been before. Despite his ignorance of Curamir's comment on dying along the way, he had actually started to think more about that possibility. Maybe this was the last ship he'd ever sign up to? Maybe this was the last summer he'd ever see?

He was returned to the reality by a friendly tuck on his side. "Look, Lingwë, it's the king!" Curamir whispered to him, excited. Lingwë looked around, trying to catch a look from the man he regarded as the most powerful man in whole Middle-Earth. "Not there, idiot; on the docks", Curamir said.

At last Lingwë caught a little look from the man he admired. The king stood tall and proud in the middle of the crowd. He had an aura of power around him. He was talking with his advisor. His crown gleamed golden in the sun. He is my king, Lingwë thought, I will follow him.

Reluctantly Lingwë turned his gaze from the king and said: "Curamir, I think we should be going." His friend nodded and they continued their way to the ship.

"We're going to be late", Curamir pointed out.
"Yes, we are. We're going to get extra chores", Lingwë said.

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**** means the season in which this RPG takes place. I would be glad to know, what is it... I think it isn't mentioned anywhere yet. NOTE: I PUT SUMMER INTO YOUR STARRED BLANK. ~*~ PIO

This is really short. I hope it isn't too short.

Kath, you can tell if you didn't like some parts or you think Curamir acted differently than he should, since I used him here...
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[Eorl of Rohan]

All: Mmf, another assailant. Do people have no honor nowadays? Ganging up on a poor gal like me. Hehe. Although, I'm pretty sure Aman and Pio did not confuse my gender. I've roleplayed with the former and argued with the latter, both providing an admirable insight into the other, adversary or comrade, and consquently they'd have recognized that I am. not. a. boy. I do not sound like one. I do not look like one. I do not write like one. I do act like one but then that is an exception. Throw me a bone here, sheesh! (In fact, I have no idea what this phrase means. I just wanted to try it out. Hopefully it means "Help me out.")

Pio: While I admit that the total absence of dialogues would be unnatural and quite hard to accomplish, and as the posts cannot be a mere sentence or a sliver of words as would be natural in a dialogure, this was what was confusing to me at first and is still confusing now. Please enlighten me. How is Kath able to make the dialogues of the Thin's character, and how is Fordim able to make up a plan of Aman's character without playing it? How far-reaching is the boundary, at what point would it encroach upon being broken, these are things I still do not understand. And I'd be grateful if you'd tell them that you thought me as a girl from the beginning, although this is not mandatory. (Another of the phrases that I decided to try out. 'although this is not mandatory' is almost always preceded by extremly difficult and high-marked homeworks that our teacher Mr. Kim loves to give out. I think this means "Please", but I'm not sure. Too many fancy language in English.)

[piosenniel]

Kath and Thinlómien

Your bios and posts look good to me. I've put each bio with your post on this page so I can transfer them to the Discussion Thread.

Just let me know when you feel all your edits to them are complete.

Thinlómien - I've written Perky about the season he wants the game to be played in. I'll let you know when he's replied

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Everyone

About using another person's character in your posts - this is what the Red Book says:

[Do not use] someone else's character for specific acts, thoughts, or speeches without their permission. On those rare occasions that you speak for another character, be very careful to do it in a way that does not misrepresent them or do anything significant without the permission of the person who owns that character. (For example, if the entire group is fleeing an enemy, you can say that all the characters are fleeing - which leaves enough room for the individual players to comment on their own characters actions. What you can't do is to say that such and such a character tripped, for example, and the foe was upon them, and fear was in their eyes.)

Simply put: Please play your character realistically and within the boundaries of Middle Earth "reality". Don't act in ways that give you unfair advantages over other players. Don't speak, act, or think for another player's character(s) without consulting them. Concentrate on your own character and how they are reacting to what is happening around them.

Players have the right to request that you modify your post when they feel that their character has been misrepresented or unfairly treated. Game founders and/or moderators will mediate any disagreements.

What this means is that if you need to use a character in a dialog/in a scene:

• 1.) If it is an extensive use in a long dialog, then you need to put up a SAVE and clear the dialog you intend to write with the other player first.
  
  
• 2.) If it is a few simple responses to a dialog in your post, then you need to put a note on the Discussion Thread that you have used their character and ask there if you have done it in an acceptable manner.
  
  
• 3.) You may NOT have another's character act/react or do something in your post unless either you have requested permission FIRST or it fits into the example quoted above, or the writer has already written that the character is doing such an act.

And - if you do use another's character in your scene, the writer for that character ALWAYS has the right to request an edit and expect the edit to be done.

Some writers don't like their characters written for by anyone else but themselves. Please do respect that preference.

Remember this is a game in which situations are set up for your character to respond and act in the way that you feel he would do so. This is not a cooperatively written fanfiction where everyone can write for the cast of characters in order for the plotline to move along.

[Anguirel]

Incidentally, I would point to Aman's use of Sangalazin and Azaryan as a shining example of how to write other people's characters. It was just right...witty, well-done and derived from the character descriptions

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I thought this might be interesting to put up in light of the debate over conditions on the slave vessel:

The Huguenots In France and America by Hannah F. Lee
Originally Published Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1843. Pages 132-164

Chapter XXXI, A Huguenot In France Condemned To the Galleys


The description of a galley will be new to many. "Ours was a hundred and fifty feet long and fifty broad, with but one deck, which covered the hold. The deck rises about a foot in the middle, and slopes toward the edges to let the water run off more easily; for when a galley is loaded it seems to swim under the water, and the sea continually rushes over it. To prevent the sea from entering the hold, where the masts are placed, a long case of boards, called the coursier, is fixed in the middle, running from one end of the galley to the other. The slaves, who are the rowers, have each a board raised from the deck under which the water passes, which serves them for a footstool, otherwise their feet would be constantly in the water. A galley has fifty benches for rowers, twenty-five on each side; each bench is ten feet long, one end fixed in the coursier, that runs through the boat, the other in the band or side of the boat; the benches are half a foot thick, and placed at four feet distance from each other, and are covered with sackcloth, stuffed with flock, and a cowhide thrown over them, which, reaching to the footstool, gives them the appearance of large trunks. To these the galley-slaves are chained, six to a bench. The [145] oars are fifty feet long, and are poized in equilibrio upon the apostic, or piece of timber for this purpose. They are constructed so, that the thirteen feet of the oar, that go into the boat, are equal in weight to the thirty-seven which go into the water. It would be impossible for the slaves to grasp them, and handles are affixed for rowing.

"The master or comite stands always at the stern, near the captain, to receive his orders. There are sous-comites, one in the middle and one near the prow, each with a whip of cords to exercise as they see fit on the slaves. The comite blows a silver whistle, which hangs from his neck; the slaves have their oars in readiness and strike all at once, and keep time so exactly, that the hundred and fifty oars seem to make but one movement. There is an absolute necessity for thus rowing together, for, should one be lifted up or fall too soon, those before would strike the oar with the back part of their heads. Any mistake of this kind is followed by blows given with merciless fury. The labor of a galley-slave has become a proverb; it is the greatest fatigue that a man can bear. Six men are chained to each bench on both sides of the coursier wholly naked, sitting with one foot on a block of timber, the other resting on the bench before them, holding in their hands an enormous oar. Imagine them lengthening their bodies, their arms stretched out [146] to push the oar over the backs of those before them; they then plunge the oar into the sea, and fall back into the hollow below, to repeat again and again the same muscular action. The fatigue and misery of their labor seems to be without parallel. They often faint, and are brought to life by the lash. Sometimes a bit of bread dipped in wine is put into their mouths, when their labor cannot for a moment be spared. Sometimes, when they faint, they are thrown into the sea, and another takes the place."

Not nice. The article goes on to describe how slaves would be chained to their oars night and day, and only unchained for the occasional turn of exercise above decks, but usually not even for that.

So I think we need to figure out what's more important to us here: historical accuracy, which would have the slaves in chains all the time, or gaming freedom, which will allow us to have the slaves unchained and at their liberty from time to time so that we can interact with one another a bit more easily.

I think, however, that the idea of "shifts" and "slave quarters" is just not tenable. Aboard a small vessel like the F and F there just is not room for food, water and housing for two crews of slaves.

I would suggest that Perky and Aman decide how they want the ship to be run, and then let us slaves know!

[The Perky Ent]

I plan for it to be ...um...for it to be....uh...Summer. Yeah, late summer, early Autumn!

[Kath]

Thinlomien your post is fine with me! It was a fun read actually, I wasn't aware we were seeing the king! Oh but what do the four stars mean?

Pio you can put my post up now as Thinlomien has okayed it.

Eorl, yes I thought you were a he for a while but on no account do you intimidate me! What I meant by the silly comment was that it would be silly to describe all the values Curamir had as I thought there was no need. Also,

Your post is definitely better than the rought draft.

I had a rough draft? First I've heard of it!

[Eorl of Rohan]

Originally Posted by Eorl of Rohan

Please note: As His Royal Perkiness has decreed that there shall be no shifts, so I adhere to his wishes. However, I am merely stating the facts here.

Apparently there were different customs and different galleys in different countries and diffferent times. Of course, my primary source is Ben-Hur, and as you admitted yourself that you have loved the movie, you must surely have read the part about the shifts and the presiding customs in Rome and in other corsair ships that they were fighting. It does state clearly there that there were shifts. I don't have the book right now, but I do remember that single phrase - "And thy habit?" "It has been to take off and put on every two hours." "It is a hard division, and I will change it, but not yet." - there was also talk of Ben-Hur wanting to be changed from right to left every shift, as to be not misshapen with only one limb used for exercise. However, and this is more verifiable, I would post a link to the 9th grade social studies book (page 198-211) here, but again, (this is my tribulation) it is in Korean, and then there would be no reason to, as apparently you are also right. To quote myself in my last post, though, Fordim, I have already discussed it with Perky before you came aboard, and decided to follow through with his advice, which coincided with your own. I was just putting in an objection, which happens to be my speciality. And, of course, I would be perfectly willing to translate the Social Studies textbook and put it up here if you want a second view of it. It's in the end of term exam, anyway, so it wouldn't be much of a bother as I would be studying it anyway. Although, as the discussion would get nowhere as our resources are different, I think it better to follow American History (more general view, methinks) and cede to your opinions.

Oh, dear Eru. Kath, my apologies. I mistook you for Esau, damnit! (Sorry, Pio, but 'there are circumstances when you want to go and hide out in a mice hole that you couldn't even put your finger in.' Another Korean proverb, when you are apologizing for swearing after committing a blunder. Two, in my case.) This just isn't my day. I deleted that post and hopefully you would yours.

PS. I feel seriously miserable. I knew I shouldn't write when I am in a cheeky mood.

EDIT: Folwren, my grandparents speak Korean because they're Korean.