Tears of Mirrormere Discussion Thread

[piosenniel]

There are links for various sources of Tolkien Dwarves' information in Post # 5 of this thread.

I believe there is a short entry about Dwarven Mortality in the Encyclopedia of Arda link in the afore mentioned post.

~*~ Pio

[Folwren]

Okay. I looked at a couple of the links (the ones I thought would have the info I needed) and didn't find it. I'll look again and then ask if I still don't find my answer. Thanks, Pio.

EDIT: I found it... Thanks again and sorry for bothering you all and cluttering the thread.

[Kitanna]

Name: Iari
Age: 10
Race: Dwarf
Gender: Female
Weapons: A slingshot, but she constantly misplaces her pebbles thus making the slingshot useless.
Appearance: She's about two feet tall, very stocky build. She wears long dark brown hair in one thick braid.
Personality/Strengths/Weaknesses: She's shy and can be a bit flighty at times, but she clings to her older brother. However, she's terrified of her grandfather because of his temper and often seeks to hide from him.
History: Iari is the younger sister of Kéni. They hailed from Erebor and are the children of Kéndrin and Ai who migrated from the Blue Mountains after the Battle of Five Armies. Ai died shortly after Iari's birth so the girl has no real memory of her. For two years Kéndrin, son of Kénan, raised his children alone delighting in their presence yet silently grieving for his dead wife. Kéndrin died under mysterious circumstances leaving his daughter to only have faint memories of her father. After Kéndrin's death her grandfather Kénan took Iari and Kéni in, eventually moving them with him to Khazad-Dum. Iari has never been particularly close with her grandfather. Because of her shyness she's always found Kénan's temper terrifying, though Kénan rarely directs his anger toward the young girl she still feels that somehow his anger is meant for her.

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(Secondary character with Folwren)
Name: Kéni
Age: 20
Race: Dwarf
Gender: Male
Weapons: Kéni inherited his father's ax after Kéndrin's death, though his grandfather does not feel he is old enough to use it. He also retains a slingshot and bag of pebbles, as well as keeping his sister's bag in his keeping.
Appearance: He has the same thick brown hair as Iari. He keeps it long enough to keep it in a short braid. He is continually growing and has the stocky build of his family.
Personality/Strengths/Weaknesses: He is a protective older brother, but can be overbearing to Iari and often acts much older than his age.
History: He has better memories of his parents than Iari, but his memories of Ai are not as clear as his memories of Kéndrin. In the first few years after Kéndrin's Kéni was a bit unruly and was quite the troublemaker. His behavior caused Kénan to lose his temper on several occasions. Kéni grew accustomed to Kénan and his temper, under his grandfather's wing the young dwarf began to learn discipline. Kéni is much closer to his grandfather than Iari and is often acting as a go between for his shy sister and grumpy grandfather. He often imagined Kénan's temper toward him in their first years together had a profound effect on Iari and that was why she feared their grandfather.

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Folwren and I have been working out a plan for our characters. We were thinking of having Kéni die at some point before the untimely end of the rest. We haven't figured out how yet, so we're waiting to see how the story progresses.
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LINKED TO PLAYER - CHARACTER LIST ~*~ Pio

[Folwren]

Alrighty. Here I am with my character bio. As Kitanna has stated, she and I have been doing some plotting behind the scenes. We are sharing a minor character, 20 year old Kéni and already have plans for him. (erm...) Anyway, here is my ol' chap. Hope you all like him.

Folwren’s Character

NAME: Kénan son of Kénor

AGE: 210

RACE: Dwarf

GENDER: Male

WEAPONS: A large, double bladed battle axe. He can use a bow and arrows if necessary, but the axe is his favorite weapon.

APPEARANCE: Kénan is an average sized dwarf, slightly stooped now with age, but scarcely the less strong because of it. His shoulders are broad and still muscular. His beard is a light gray, almost white, and his eyebrows are long and bristly. His brows are bent far down over his eyes which are often not seen except in moments of keen excitement, during which they flash fiercely, then their gleam is only caught at brief moments, for his brows are often drawn down further in such moments of excitement or anger. He wears a chain-mail shirt over a leather tunic in battle with a broad belt to carry his axe when not in use.

PERSONALITY: Kénan is a very opinionated old fellow with a swift and furious temper. He has a keen sense of duty and loyalty to his family and his people. He’s a staunch character and would never break his word nor betray anyone. He’ll fight do the death for anything he thinks worth it and for anyone who he is loyal to. If anyone disagrees with him, it is just about impossible to convince him of something other than what he already believes.

HISTORY: Kénan was born in during the exile of the dwarves, between the time that Dale was destroyed and they migrated to Ered Luin. His earliest memories were those of his father going off to fight in the Battle of Nanduhirion, when he was around 13 years old. His father survived the battle and moved him and his mother to the Blue Mountains with the rest of their kin. There, the family lived in relative quiet. Kénan married and he and his wife had one son, Kéndrin. When Thorin Oakenshield left and defeated the dragon Smaug at the Lonely Mountain and Dale was freed again, Kénan with his wife, and his son and his wife, along with many other Dwarven folk, migrated from the Blue Mountains to Erebor.

Eight years previous to the time of this story, Kéndrin died, leaving his two children orphans. Out of his deep sense of duty to his family, Kénan took the children. Three years later, when he decided to go with Balin to Moria, friends tried to persuade him to leave the children in Erebor, but he would not be dissuaded from his sense of duty, and so took them along. He was helped by some motherly dwarves on the journey in the care of the children, especially the young Iari.

Since then, they have lived in relative peace in Moria.
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LINKED TO PLAYER - CHARACTER LIST ~*~ Pio

[Boromir88]

Although it would be thrilling to have Boro's character just escaping the clutches of the Orcs.~Groin

I could do that.

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Name: Gror

Age: 95

Race: Dwarf

Gender: Male

Weapons: skilled with a long bow, carries a two-handed poleax from his father

Appearance: Gror is slightly below average height, but stout and broad-shouldered. His dark-brown hair (as well as his beard) hang down below his waist. Prefers wearing a leather cap rather than a steel helmet.

Personality: Like most dwarves Gror does not easily forget past grievances. He distrusts Elves, but most of all hates Orcs. He is not the fastest dwarf, but is still quick (according to dwarvish standards), and a high endurance that has not been matched by any dwarf in Erebor. However, some of Gror's ideas are unpopular amongst other dwarves. For example, Gror has taken a particular liking to Men (especially their women), and loves to talk amongst Men every chance he gets. In fact, to other dwarves, it appears that Gror would rather be akin to Men, than his own kind.

History: Gror was born in 2899 of the Third Age. He has no siblings and his father Bror served in King Dain's personal guard, up until his death two years ago; because of that, Gror's family was wealthy and well respected. After receiving word Bror had died, King Dain offered Gror the chance of serving as a messenger of the King. Gror, gladly accepted the position. Even though some would grumble the reason he got the opportunity was because of his father, no dwarf could argue Gror was not capable of performing his duties well. In fact, a lot of dwarves in Erebor would probably tell you Gror was the best dwarf for the job.

However, Gror's own personal ambitions were to follow in the steps of his father. His ultimate dream would be to serve in King Dain's personal guard, but he knew even though he was quite the marksman, he would have to learn to wield an axe better if he had any chance of that dream. So, he took out his father's axe and would practice with it everyday.

Until one day, King Dain approached Gror with some new orders: Go to Moria and speak with the Lord Balin. Then return to Erebor and report back to him on the colonization of Moria. It seemed to Gror like a pretty straight forward task, but he saw it as his first real chance at proving himself to the King. Before this opportunity, Gror had mostly been sent, as an emissary, to Dale. But now he would be making a journey all the way to Moria, and would be speaking with the Lord Balin himself.
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LINKED TO PLAYER - CHARACTER LIST ~*~ Pio

[Thinlómien]

Goodness I'm losing track of players and characters but I'm so glad we have so many so great players! Welcome everybody.

Originally Posted by Groin

Lilly, Lommy and I have made our first sin against Tolkien and went along and purposely ignored that very explicit detail simply because it would be rather uncomfortable to have women with beards.

Well, to elaborate, I asked Groin about the issue and he said we can take everything that is said in the histories of M-E of Dwarves with a pinch of salt since history is always written by Elves or Men. I considered that as a valid point. But if a majority of the players prefers women with beards, we can change it. My main objection to Dwarf males and females looking alike is not that I would have anything against bearded women (such exist in the real world too, anyway) but rather that I cannot quite take for granted a description that says that the males and the females of a certain race are appearance-wise identical. (Although... hmm... that's kind of very equal, isn't it? But bah, if women differ from men by having less freedom and power in the Dwarven society, let them differ by appearance too. I cannot say it's very fair that their life is more restricted and that they are as ugly. ) Okay, I'll stop rambling now. Whatever we decide is fine with me.

Originally Posted by Dim

Just one question: when will the game actually begin?

As soon as we're ready...

Originally Posted by Kitanna

If Loni or Nali are just secondary characters I can take up one of them until they are killed.

Yes. Just one thing concerning them. I might be mistaken but I think they would be in some way important that they should be named that way in the book. So not maybe by rank, but they could be related to King Dáin, or something.

Originally Posted by Groin

Lommy, still has to get in her secondary character that she wants.

Yes, I'm debating about that. I have a tempting idea for a Dwarf woman, but on the other hand, I would love to have one really old Dwarf around... Maybe I will just pick one of these ideas for my character and use the other for an NPC because I think there will be those as well... I will have to think a little more. But I promise to be ready as soon as everybody else is - I can write a bio for either of those characters in half an hour.

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

Yes, I'm debating about that. I have a tempting idea for a Dwarf woman, but on the other hand, I would love to have one really old Dwarf around... Maybe I will just pick one of these ideas for my character and use the other for an NPC because I think there will be those as well... I will have to think a little more. But I promise to be ready as soon as everybody else is - I can write a bio for either of those characters in half an hour.

I've created a pretty old dwarf, Lommy, so if you wanted to, you could have your Dwarf woman.

[piosenniel]

Pass on by.....

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

Yes. Just one thing concerning them. I might be mistaken but I think they would be in some way important that they should be named that way in the book. So not maybe by rank, but they could be related to King Dáin, or something.

My goodness, Lommy, I hope you mean distant relatives. I won't go for any more uncanonicity!

[Groin Redbeard]

I was looking at everyones characters in hopes of getting better acquainted with their looks and personalities before the game actually begins. I enjoyed looking through them all again and I am glad that we have such enthused players. Something struck me in Boromir88’s description of Gror. Since his father was in such a high position as to be part of King Dain’s royal guard it would be probable to have Gror mixed up in the higher society of Erebor. Anyway, the point that I’m getting to here is that it would not be at all unlikely for Gror to have met some of the characters that now dwell in Khazad-dum, especially the military figures such as Ori, Oin, Tror and Frar.

Also, if we could get those character biographies in as soon as possible that would be grand. I’m rather anxious to get started.

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

My goodness, Lommy, I hope you mean distant relatives. I won't go for any more uncanonicity!

Oh I'm so delighted to have a canonicity watcher of our own with us here... But yes, obviously I meant that. You may be at peace.

Originally Posted by Folwren

I've created a pretty old dwarf, Lommy, so if you wanted to, you could have your Dwarf woman.

Yes, pretty old, but I mean really old. Like 240-250. Oh well, I'm still thinking about it...