Homeward Bound Discussion Thread

[Folwren]

Yeah, I keep thinking about this thread, and about how you must be feeling. lol. I will re-read your PM sometime (hopefully this weekend) and get up a bio. I don't know about a first post yet, though, we'll see.

-- Foley

[Durelin]

Here is my bio for approval! Let me know if there are any problems. I tried to make him fit with what was in the first post for the game -- I hope I did a fine job of that. He is pretty similar to Artamir when it comes down to it -- I think that will make their conflict even more interesting. I think he will also be wanting to kill Artamir at every step of the way (whenever he feels they don't really need him anymore), and will probably need someone to convince him not to rather religiously...

Sorry I've not yet had the time to do a first post but I thought I'd at least post his bio. Should my first post go very far/at all past the first post for the game or should I simply give Regnar's perspective of the struggle between him and Artamir?

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Name: Regnár
Age: Late 20s
Race: Man, Gondorian

Weapons: Currently just the blade he has taken from the Easterling guard

Appearance: He is not too tall, only about 5'9" or so, but he is broad of shoulder and is naturally sturdy. He is leaner than in the past due to his years as a slave, but he certainly has not lost his muscle completely. His hair is dark and his eyes dark as well. He looks closer to an Easterling these days thanks to all the time spent out in the sun. His hair is down to his chin and unkempt, and he has a good bit of beard growing -- one of his first plans after securing the guard is to get rid of as much of that mess of hair on his head and face as he can. Until he gets on a guard uniform, he has only pants to cover him as he was let loose for the slave hunt in this demeaning way.

Personality: Regnár was always a proud man, but now he has nothing but his beleaguered pride and his desire for revenge. But that is enough to drive him. He is an intelligent man, but has never had an interest in learning. He makes good decisions when he is given time to think, but can act too recklessly when he has to think on his toes. His ideas can get away from him at times and he needs someone to keep him grounded. Regnár has always had a very strong love for Gondor and his people, and was dedicated to serving his lord, whether it be the Lord Denethor whom he served faithfully in the past or King Elessar. He is a man of duty. He is not a man of ideals, particularly not anymore. At times he felt himself hoping selfishly that men of Gondor might come to the rescue of their kinsmen kept as slaves, but he knew that still his homeland must not be safe from harm or even rebuilt from the years of war. And he is but one man, and one who failed in his duty. He must save himself -- and he would certainly be serving Gondor in that process.

History: Regnár served as a soldier of Gondor from the age of 16 until he was captured and made a slave. He was the youngest of three sons with one younger sister. His eldest brother took up his father's business of smithing, and he served with his other brother in the War. His brother was one of the many men killed in the attempt to take back Osgiliath. After the war he was promoted to captain and lead groups of men on strikes against the holdouts of Orcs and Evil Men. But he was reckless and overconfident as he relentlessly hunted down a party of Easterlings. He separated his vanguard from the rest of his troops in his pursuit, and lead them into slaughter. Unfortunately, he did not die that day. Years later, the blood of his men is still on his hands; several of those who were not killed he has had to watch die in slavery. But this has not caused him to give in to guilt and despair (he is perhaps too proud to feel guilt to its fullest), but rather his guilt contributes to his need to escape, or at least to enact revenge upon the killers of his men and his captors. He had been mulling over plans of escape since the day he was taken as a slave, but others whom he tried to include in his plans frustrated his vain hopes and so kept him alive. But finally all fell into place with the arrival of the Harvest Festival and the slave hunt. They would free him for their own sport...and he would give them a good fight if nothing else.

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Durelin's post:

As Regnár pressed the knife into the Easterling's throat, he repeatedly promised himself he would kill this man...but not yet, not yet. This man was his way out of this place -- the only chance, at least. There were no guarantees, and he knew he was taking a great many risks. But when had that ever stopped him? It was what got him here in the first place, he thought bitterly...

He smiled -- he could not help it. This delighted him. This man had been the focal point of his hatred for this land and this people who enslaved him for the past five years, and before that he had hated them for the harm they had done to Gondor and for serving the Dark Lord. Regnár often thought of them more as creatures than men.

And they had tried to turn him into a creature...they would hunt and kill him as one, too. But he had more wits than a common beast, and more will. In only one way would he recognize he was like an animal: if cornered, he would fight to his death. If he could not escape through this wild plan, he would at least cause as much trouble and bring as many Easterlings down with him as he could.

The Easterling gave in to the slaves' demands; Regnár thought he would be cowardly enough to do so. The Gondorian grudgingly removed the knife from Artamir's throat and slowly rose, still holding the knife out and watching the guard carefully. He wanted dearly to take the knife and chop off some of the mess of hair on his head -- he had not been able to remain clean shaven since his capture. That and all the hours of work out in the sun had made him look more like these Easterlings. It made him feel unclean both inside and out. But his current appearance might serve to his advantage along with the guard livery...

But with pale Ariel and a woman this plan was close to madness. He knew he could trust Ariel to keep his wits about him, at least, but even after five years in the south he still looked akin to a Gondorian prince... And he knew next to nothing about this woman, except that she was an old slave. Hopefully that meant she was tough and would not slow them down, but her age might do that anyway.

Could Regnár and Ariel pose as guards, and the woman (what was her name? Suza or something?) could simply pose as the servant she was? Regnár glanced at the other beings present in the room, his mind turning. The children were witnesses...

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LINKED ~*~ Pio

[Gwathagor]

Hey, Eorl, I just wanted to stick my head in and wish you best of luck with the RPG. If I wasn't too busy to keep up with the RPGs I'm already in, I'd love to take on a character in this one. Maybe next time.

[Eorl of Rohan]

Originally Posted by Durelin

Here is my bio for approval! Let me know if there are any problems. I tried to make him fit with what was in the first post - I hope I did a fine job of that.

Perfect! I looked it over line-by-line and found no problems whatsoever. This IS the personality I thought Ragnar would have!

Originally Posted by Durelin

He is pretty similar to Artamir when it comes down to it -- I think that will make their conflict even more interesting.
He'd want to kill Artamir at every step of the way (whenever he feels they don't really need him anymore), and will need someone to convince him not to.

Ah, so Ragnar has a temper. Does he have a cold and cruel streak or is he prone to high passions? Either way, sounds fun!

Originally Posted by Durelin

Should my first post go very far/at all past the first post for the game or should I simply give Regnar's perspective of the struggle between him and Artamir?

After all the roles have been filled and the character bios sent in, I was planning to write an "Artamir's Home Post".

This would be where all the characters would gather for 'consult' in order to assess their current situation and determine their future course in relative safety -
Kinda like Elrond's Council in Rivendell, except it's Gondor and not Mordor they're trying to reach and Elrond wants the hobbits dead.
My character will then basically outline the current situation and the different escape routes through which they can escape the City, currently under lockdown.
(Mir might have to be "persuaded" to give up this information but I'm sure Ragnar would be more than up to this task-)
From there on the choice is up to you; you could follow one of Artamir's redoubtable escape routes or come up with a whole new different idea.
I don't want to run a roleplay that runs a predetermined course, but one where the choices of the characters really makes a difference to the final outcome.

But for everyone's first posts, it'd be nice if you'd write only up to the character's perspective of First Post, changing into uniforms, and leaving the barracks.
Personally, I would be VERY interested in reading the re-interpretation of the conflict in the first post from Ragnar's point of view.

[piosenniel]

Note to Players:

When you do write your First Post, please go back to your Character Bio post and edit it onto the bottom of that post.

Thanks in advance!

~*~ Pio

[Folwren]

As you may have noticed, I didn't get around to write that bio. Sorry. I will do it as soon as possible, I promise.

[Dimturiel]

Finally I've managed to make up a bio for my character. Here it is. Let me know if anything needs changing.

NAME: Penram

AGE:14

RACE: Man

GENDER: Male

WEAPONS: None at the beginning of the story since he is a thrall, after all. As the story progresses, he might be able to find something he could use as a weapon.

APPEARANCE: Smaller than a boy his age would usually be, but still growing. He has longish dark hair and grey eyes. His skin is dark for a Gondorian but he is not as swarthy as an Easterling either. He appears healthier than most thralls, although he still bears a few signs of past neglect.

PERSONALITY: He is quiet and rather awkward in the company of others. He has a tendency to mistrust people and sometimes he can make quick judgements about someone based only on his past experiences or on rumours. He is very protective of his younger sister and he seldom likes to have her out of his sight.

HISTORY: His mother was a Gondorian slave who had been taken in a raid when she had been quite young. Penram was born in slavery and had never set eyes on Gondor, but his mother used to tell him many stories about "the lands far West", as she used to call them, and Penram was able to recognise these lands as his home, although he was aware from an early age that he was never going to see them. His mother died shortly after his sister was born. The two children were sold then but they did not have one master for a very long time, since many considered thralls that young almost useless and hard to control as well. He was eventually bought by Artamir, along with his sister, and he has found this turn of events rather enjoyable, since he and his sister were given free rein around the house and their master did not seem to mind much that they spent most of their time playing instead of working like thralls usually did

That's it. First post to come soon (I hope). Let me know if the bio is ok.

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Dimturiel's post:

Penram stood at the window, unable to tear his eyes from the sights outside. Merra was next to him, but at least she was not looking out. Penram wished he could turn away too, but he still stood there, watching, as if by seeing the Easterling hunt out their slaves he would somehow understand why this was happening.

Penram was always restless when the hunt started. He knew that Mir only needed to say the word, and he and probably Merra too would be thrown outside in the hunt. Since they were hardly of any use to Mir, Penram sometimes wondered whether that was not the reason why the Easterling kept the two children with him, after all. So that one year he would set them loose on the streets to give his compatriots two more helpless thralls to pursue. Of course, Mir had never treated the two harshly and sometimes Penram wanted to believe that the Easterling would never want to hurt them. But attributing kindness to his master went against everything Penram knew. He was fond of Mir, in a way, but he knew that he was an Easterling. Penram and his sister were Gondorian. Easterlings hated and despised Gondorians. They did not protect them, not unless there was some hidden reason for that protection.

Penram was distracted by noises at the door. He turned to see what it was, in time to cacth sight of a man – a slave, he could see that, and Gondorian, too, by the looks of him - bursting in, flinging himself on Mir. Penram gasped and was ready to draw a step back, when he saw Merra making as if she was ready to head towards where the two figures were wrestling. What was she doing? Penram thought, swearing softly in an involuntary burst of irritation. He ran towards her, pulling her into a corner. Perhaps, if they managed not to draw attention to themselves, they would be left alone. What would happen to them afterwards, if their master died, was another matter. Penram felt Merra trembling and put his arms about her in an attempt both to protect and to comfort.

The man had let go of Mir by now, and his eyes had fallen on Penram and Merra. Penram felt his throat becoming dry. What was he going to do to them? He would surely not let them live, after they had just witnessed him attacking an important Easterling officer. The man seemed to take a step towards them, and Penram burst out then, in a desperate attempt to keep both him and his sister alive:

“No, don’t kill us!” he pleaded. It was most likely useless, and he knew it. People never listened to pleas. If anything, it enraged them even more. “We’re Gondorian, just like you! At least spare my sister. She will not betray you. She is only a child. She cannot even understand what is happening.”

That was a lie, and Penram knew it. Merra could understand everything very well. But it was the only thing he could think of that might determine the attacker to spare them.

[Eorl of Rohan]

+beams happily+ Thanks, Dimturiel!

[Thinlómien]

Okay, I'm in. I'd like to take the Gondorian female civilian. Any special requirements about her? Currently planning her to be in her forties and hopefully not too typical silly slave woman...