Prisoner of Númenor Planning/Discussion Thread - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

piosenniel · 01-29-2005, 01:58 AM

lmp

Is your character bio ready to place on the proposal or will you be tweaking it a little more?

~*~ Pio

littlemanpoet · 01-29-2005, 07:03 AM

Pio, I'll be tweaking at least until we get Kathaani's age settled, since Abarpanaru has to be 80 years older than she.

Also, my character appears to be serving as a kind of template for a lot of things, and I feel we need to give the other players a chance to interact with my plans before we settle. Once I'm sufficiently confident that that has happened, then my bio will be fixed.

Sophia, nevermind the heirloom idea for the knife, then. You need to be able to use it in rather rough-and-ready ways.

I'm a little stumped about when Numenoreans came of age. I noticed that becoming a parent seemed to fall in the late 70's, early 80's, which suggests that marriage occurred perhaps five to twenty years prior to that. Age 50 is apparently "manhood", if 48 is on the threshold.

An Elvish name for the group works for me. Your reasoning is sound.

No other new wrinkles from this corner....

Himaran · 01-29-2005, 09:05 PM

Pio mentioned early on that a particular character should die in the rescue, or the general time period of it, to add a touch of realism. Finding myself in agreement with this analysis, I would like to model my character (still under construction) as one who believes in his own invincibility, only to fall in the struggle... *sniff*

...unless someone else was already planning on taking the part.

--Himaran

littlemanpoet · 01-29-2005, 10:05 PM

I don't think anybody else has been hot to grab at that one.

Maybe you want to do two characters so that you have one left to write?

"Realism", eh? Another topic for debate, there. I'll leave it go for now. It was that matter of someone dying that kind of had me stewing a bit. Someone dying in the attempt to save one lone man's life? That seemed like a pretty poor bargain. So I kind of like the idea the mearas as an additional motivation for rescuing Abar.

I was also thinking that the capture could be handled differently. It could be that all six mearas are being taken across the island at once, and Abarpanaru sacrifice his own freedom so that the other five can escape, and they are determined to rescue him and his mearas. In fact, I kind of like that better. That way, more (if not every) characters have a mearas. Heck, we can always change the number of mearas if we want one for each character.

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-30-2005, 03:40 AM

LMP is Kathaani's mother alive? And did we ever determine whether the house of Karibzir had a connection to the Lords of Andunie?

I'm working on her history in my study breaks.

Sophia

[Edit]

Quote:

The word Mearas comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning simply 'horses'. Its singular form would be mearh, but no character in The Lord of the Rings ever uses that word.

Since Mearas is a Rohirric word, is there any chance we could find a rough equivalent in Sindarin or Adunaic to use instead? Rocharim (Horse-kings) sounds a bit too much like Rohirrim, perhaps Rocherphin (Noble horses) or Rochedair (Fathers of Horses)? Karibarim (Kings of Horses), or Karibhorim (Lords of Horses), or Karibattim (Fathers of Horses)? Or am I overanalyzing just a little too much when the word Mearas seems out of place?

Sophia the Thunder Mistress · 01-30-2005, 05:01 AM

Kâthaanî's bio is, for the most part, ready and available for public tweaking and I thought it needed a post unto itself.

***********************************

POSTED TO THE PROPOSAL ON PAGE 1 -- PIO

NAME: Kâthaanî Karíbzîr/ “Cerveth” Adaneth Melethroch

AGE: 32

RACE: Men, Númenorean

GENDER: Female

WEAPONS: Kâthaanî carries a long bladed (rather dull) knife with a tarnished silver hilt which she uses more frequently as a sort of all purpose tool than a weapon. She has been known to use it to pry open simple locks.

APPEARANCE: Cerveth is tall (about 6’2”) and more lean than slender. She is long-bodied and narrow, not muscular and slightly wider at the shoulders than the hips. She is dark of hair and grey of eye with a long nose and a well-defined jaw for a woman. She is quite clever with her hands and can manipulate various contraptions easily (locks, tack) She is somewhat ill at ease in the elaborate costumes of the Númenorean upperclass women feeling far more comfortable in simple dresses and with her hair pulled loosely out of her face, and will frequently wears men’s clothes when she needs to ride astride.

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Kâthaanî is impulsive, stubborn, and easily carried away—but rarely blatantly disobedient. She has a tendency to speak first and think about the consequences later, but as she matures she has begun to learn to control her tongue. She has a concrete sense of right and wrong; she has lived in a fairly sheltered world (even with the turmoil in Númenor) and has rarely encountered a situation where the moral choice is not instantly clear. She has never gotten along well with young women of her age, and consequently has spent much of her time with adults since her early teens. Because of this Kâthaanî considers herself extremely mature, whether or not her belief is correct is a different matter entirely.

HISTORY: Kâthaanî Karíbzîr was born the only child of Abârpânaru Karíbzîr and his wife, Inzillomí, in midsummer of the year 3287. Often called Cerveth, after the month of her birth, she spent her childhood years in a large house on the inland side of Andunië. She sometimes envied those who lived nearer the coast, but their house was ideally situated for her father’s horse breeding, opening as it did on the plains. Her childhood was as uneventful and sheltered as possible, given the circumstances in her homeland. The inner conflict in Númenorean society was almost unknown to her, even though her parents were among the Faithful, as they chose not to discuss it with her until she had reached a responsible age. Nevertheless, the values they taught her were the values of the Old Houses of Númenor. She is well read, her father studied with her as a child and during her youth she became familiar with much of the history of Númenor and some First Age history which has been preserved by the Faithful. She is one of the few Númenoreans of her generation to become fluent in Sindarin and has learned some words in Quenya as well.

Her father began training her in the care of his horses, and particularly the Kariborim as soon as she was old enough, and by her early teens she was an accomplished horsewoman with a sound understanding of her charges and several generations of the most important bloodlines memorized.

As Kâthaanî matured she began to realize that her parents’ views did not reflect the views of much of Númenorean society and she quickly became as ardently Faithful as the rest of her family. In her early twenties her family relocated to a smaller more modest house farther outside the city which quickly became the focal point for the group of the Faithful remaining in Andunië (the Anannost?).

At the turn of the year 3319 Kâthaanî is taking more responsibility for Abârpânaru’s horses as he is taking more responsibility for the family’s political commitments. He has recently returned from a trip to Rómenna and announced that Elendil, the son of Amandil, will soon be leaving Númenor for the Elven Realms in Lindon. Kâthaanî is a little frightened by this news, as her father has every intention of leading the Anannost? to Rómenna to join the soon-to-be-Exiles as soon as possible. She is also disappointed because her father had promised her the foal from his planned breeding of Khibil and Lômi, and it is unlikely that he will follow through with the breeding this spring if they will soon be traveling.

piosenniel · 01-30-2005, 05:11 AM

There is an older Quenyan word for 'horse':

mairo; the plural of which would be mairor

littlemanpoet · 01-30-2005, 07:42 PM

I had figured that Inzillomi is alive; I wish there was someone who could play the role. She could turn out to be a pivotal character, considering who she is. If she cannot be played by anyone, then it may be convenient, story-wise, for her to have died in childbirth - - - or something. Her death would make the father-daughter relationship all the tighter. I could go either way, though. She just needs to be played by somebody, I think, if she's going to be alive.

The House of Karibzir take up military service, as do all Numenoreans, I would expect, and to that degree, the family members are associated with ships. However, it is not something that has been "in the family" for many a generation. So the Karibzir take to boats more willingly than hobbits, but it is not a mode of transportation that they love.

Since there has been a marriage between the Karibzir and the Lords of Andunië in the last generation, I should think that the association between the two is warm, at least.

I like Karibhorim (Lords of Horses) best, myself, thought the Quenya word appeals too. I doubt the likelihood of the Karibzir using a word for their horses that is unlike their own family name, though. Although the wear and tear of common usage would probably render it Kariborim, if you know what I mean.

On a related note, the Karibhorim would not be the only horses in the keeping of the Karibzir, only the most treasured. I will edit my character description to give a number of how many horses. I'd say forty would be a seemly number.

Nice touch with the breeding of Khibil and Lômi. I like that. Could function as a promise between the two as an inspiration to escape to freedom and survive.

[edit] I've made some edits to my character description, regarding some of that above. I've made it so that Kathaani is Abar's only child, but left the wife alive so far. I've changed the name of the mearas to Kariborim, and called the lesser horses Karibi. Should that be Karibir? Karibim?

01-29-2005, 07:03 AM	#2
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Pio, I'll be tweaking at least until we get Kathaani's age settled, since Abarpanaru has to be 80 years older than she. Also, my character appears to be serving as a kind of template for a lot of things, and I feel we need to give the other players a chance to interact with my plans before we settle. Once I'm sufficiently confident that that has happened, then my bio will be fixed. Sophia, nevermind the heirloom idea for the knife, then. You need to be able to use it in rather rough-and-ready ways. I'm a little stumped about when Numenoreans came of age. I noticed that becoming a parent seemed to fall in the late 70's, early 80's, which suggests that marriage occurred perhaps five to twenty years prior to that. Age 50 is apparently "manhood", if 48 is on the threshold. An Elvish name for the group works for me. Your reasoning is sound. No other new wrinkles from this corner.... Last edited by littlemanpoet; 01-29-2005 at 07:08 AM.

01-29-2005, 09:05 PM	#3
Himaran Ash of Orodruin Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Thangorodrim Posts: 777	Back in town Pio mentioned early on that a particular character should die in the rescue, or the general time period of it, to add a touch of realism. Finding myself in agreement with this analysis, I would like to model my character (still under construction) as one who believes in his own invincibility, only to fall in the struggle... sniff ...unless someone else was already planning on taking the part. --Himaran

01-30-2005, 05:01 AM	#6
Sophia the Thunder Mistress Scent of Simbelmynë Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Aboard Highwind, bound for Traverse Town Posts: 1,780	Hate to double post, but... Kâthaanî's bio is, for the most part, ready and available for public tweaking and I thought it needed a post unto itself. ********************************* POSTED TO THE PROPOSAL ON PAGE 1 -- PIO NAME: Kâthaanî Karíbzîr/ “Cerveth” Adaneth Melethroch AGE: 32 RACE: Men, Númenorean GENDER: Female WEAPONS: Kâthaanî carries a long bladed (rather dull) knife with a tarnished silver hilt which she uses more frequently as a sort of all purpose tool than a weapon. She has been known to use it to pry open simple locks. APPEARANCE: Cerveth is tall (about 6’2”) and more lean than slender. She is long-bodied and narrow, not muscular and slightly wider at the shoulders than the hips. She is dark of hair and grey of eye with a long nose and a well-defined jaw for a woman. She is quite clever with her hands and can manipulate various contraptions easily (locks, tack) She is somewhat ill at ease in the elaborate costumes of the Númenorean upperclass women feeling far more comfortable in simple dresses and with her hair pulled loosely out of her face, and will frequently wears men’s clothes when she needs to ride astride. PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Kâthaanî is impulsive, stubborn, and easily carried away—but rarely blatantly disobedient. She has a tendency to speak first and think about the consequences later, but as she matures she has begun to learn to control her tongue. She has a concrete sense of right and wrong; she has lived in a fairly sheltered world (even with the turmoil in Númenor) and has rarely encountered a situation where the moral choice is not instantly clear. She has never gotten along well with young women of her age, and consequently has spent much of her time with adults since her early teens. Because of this Kâthaanî considers herself extremely mature, whether or not her belief is correct is a different matter entirely. HISTORY:** Kâthaanî Karíbzîr was born the only child of Abârpânaru Karíbzîr and his wife, Inzillomí, in midsummer of the year 3287. Often called Cerveth, after the month of her birth, she spent her childhood years in a large house on the inland side of Andunië. She sometimes envied those who lived nearer the coast, but their house was ideally situated for her father’s horse breeding, opening as it did on the plains. Her childhood was as uneventful and sheltered as possible, given the circumstances in her homeland. The inner conflict in Númenorean society was almost unknown to her, even though her parents were among the Faithful, as they chose not to discuss it with her until she had reached a responsible age. Nevertheless, the values they taught her were the values of the Old Houses of Númenor. She is well read, her father studied with her as a child and during her youth she became familiar with much of the history of Númenor and some First Age history which has been preserved by the Faithful. She is one of the few Númenoreans of her generation to become fluent in Sindarin and has learned some words in Quenya as well. Her father began training her in the care of his horses, and particularly the Kariborim as soon as she was old enough, and by her early teens she was an accomplished horsewoman with a sound understanding of her charges and several generations of the most important bloodlines memorized. As Kâthaanî matured she began to realize that her parents’ views did not reflect the views of much of Númenorean society and she quickly became as ardently Faithful as the rest of her family. In her early twenties her family relocated to a smaller more modest house farther outside the city which quickly became the focal point for the group of the Faithful remaining in Andunië (the Anannost?). At the turn of the year 3319 Kâthaanî is taking more responsibility for Abârpânaru’s horses as he is taking more responsibility for the family’s political commitments. He has recently returned from a trip to Rómenna and announced that Elendil, the son of Amandil, will soon be leaving Númenor for the Elven Realms in Lindon. Kâthaanî is a little frightened by this news, as her father has every intention of leading the Anannost? to Rómenna to join the soon-to-be-Exiles as soon as possible. She is also disappointed because her father had promised her the foal from his planned breeding of Khibil and Lômi, and it is unlikely that he will follow through with the breeding this spring if they will soon be traveling. Last edited by piosenniel; 01-31-2005 at 04:29 AM. Reason: with a tweak tweak here, and a tweak tweak there...

01-30-2005, 05:11 AM	#7
piosenniel Desultory Dwimmerlaik Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Pickin' flowers with Bill the Cat..... Posts: 7,779	There is an older Quenyan word for 'horse': mairo; the plural of which would be mairor __________________ Eldest, that’s what I am . . . I knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.

01-30-2005, 07:42 PM	#8
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	I had figured that Inzillomi is alive; I wish there was someone who could play the role. She could turn out to be a pivotal character, considering who she is. If she cannot be played by anyone, then it may be convenient, story-wise, for her to have died in childbirth - - - or something. Her death would make the father-daughter relationship all the tighter. I could go either way, though. She just needs to be played by somebody, I think, if she's going to be alive. The House of Karibzir take up military service, as do all Numenoreans, I would expect, and to that degree, the family members are associated with ships. However, it is not something that has been "in the family" for many a generation. So the Karibzir take to boats more willingly than hobbits, but it is not a mode of transportation that they love. Since there has been a marriage between the Karibzir and the Lords of Andunië in the last generation, I should think that the association between the two is warm, at least. I like Karibhorim (Lords of Horses) best, myself, thought the Quenya word appeals too. I doubt the likelihood of the Karibzir using a word for their horses that is unlike their own family name, though. Although the wear and tear of common usage would probably render it Kariborim, if you know what I mean. On a related note, the Karibhorim would not be the only horses in the keeping of the Karibzir, only the most treasured. I will edit my character description to give a number of how many horses. I'd say forty would be a seemly number. Nice touch with the breeding of Khibil and Lômi. I like that. Could function as a promise between the two as an inspiration to escape to freedom and survive. [edit] I've made some edits to my character description, regarding some of that above. I've made it so that Kathaani is Abar's only child, but left the wife alive so far. I've changed the name of the mearas to Kariborim, and called the lesser horses Karibi. Should that be Karibir? Karibim? Last edited by littlemanpoet; 01-30-2005 at 08:03 PM.

01-29-2005, 01:58 AM	#1
piosenniel Desultory Dwimmerlaik Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Pickin' flowers with Bill the Cat..... Posts: 7,779	lmp Is your character bio ready to place on the proposal or will you be tweaking it a little more? ~*~ Pio

01-29-2005, 10:05 PM	#4
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	I don't think anybody else has been hot to grab at that one. Maybe you want to do two characters so that you have one left to write? "Realism", eh? Another topic for debate, there. I'll leave it go for now. It was that matter of someone dying that kind of had me stewing a bit. Someone dying in the attempt to save one lone man's life? That seemed like a pretty poor bargain. So I kind of like the idea the mearas as an additional motivation for rescuing Abar. I was also thinking that the capture could be handled differently. It could be that all six mearas are being taken across the island at once, and Abarpanaru sacrifice his own freedom so that the other five can escape, and they are determined to rescue him and his mearas. In fact, I kind of like that better. That way, more (if not every) characters have a mearas. Heck, we can always change the number of mearas if we want one for each character.