Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-27200931-20170510192310/@comment-28813058-20170510210821

Dragonovith wrote: Dr Frankus wrote: Dragonovith wrote:

Dr Frankus wrote:

Dragonovith wrote: In my opinion the Easterlings of Rhúdel aren't as "barbaric" as the books pictures them. Not that we have a lot of info on the Easterlings, but I always imagined them being more evil than they currently are in the mod.

To increase the "evilness" of the Easterlings, I suggest this: change Easterling Farmhands to Easterling Slaves.

Is there a better way to say "These guys here are bad!" than showing fields being tended by oppressed slaves? Well, there is, but in the case of the mod, slavery is also a very good way to show the player that a faction is evil. As evil as keeping slaves might seem- lots of countries did it throughout the ancient and medieval ages- even 'enslaving' their own people! (Maybe not exactly called 'slaves', but serfs are nearly identical anyway..) wouldn't really doubt it if some of the 'Good' M.E. countries kept slaves themselves... stares down Rohan and Gondor

However, while I do agree that making the 'farmhands' slaves.. where would they come from? Definetly not Gondor, since they haven't been in open conflict yet, and Dale has no occupied land from Rhun- Dorwinion might work, but Rhun and them are neutral and perhaps even have trade among each other, and I believe that enslaving someone's people would resort to open conflict.

The current textures make it seem as though they are simply farmers, and with the current type of Civilization that the Golden Khaganate has, having willing farmers and farmhands / serfs in service doesn't seem implausible.

I honestly don't think you should make it so that it seems as though 'These guys here are bad!' with ANY human faction- since they really aren't, im sure your familiar with the quote by Samwise on the dead southron.

The Easterling were formerly enslaved by Numenoreans (probably making them extremely icky about that stuff, seeing as that would make their government hypocrites and would make the population a lot less willing to do what the government wants them to do), and have been plotting revenge on Gondor and Arnor ever since (except for the fact that if they didn't take revenge on Gondor they would have remained a prosperous and massively populous nation) "As evil as keeping slaves might seem" Middle-earth is very Black and White. In such setting I dare say that slavery automatically flags the slaver as "evil".

The slaves could come from the south, or from further east. Even Mordor had Easterlings slaves, didn't they? So, wherever Mordor got their Easterling slaves, Rhúdel could get them too. Or maybe it was even the ruler of Rhúdel who sent them to Mordor, as a tribute.

It doesn't seem implausible, yes. Textures could be changed and reworked, as you know.

Of course there is good people among the Easterlings of Rhúdel, but that country is allied with Mordor, a servant of Mordor I would say. Certainly the rulers of Rhúdel could be considered evil.

Númenor fell a loooong time ago. How many thousand years have passed since its downfall and the last years of the Third Age? 1) That is true, except of course with the Dunlendings and Near Haradrim. (Dare I say, also the Easterlings)

2) Maybe slaves from other Easterling tribes? I am not completely against this idea- just giving some reasons as to why not. Farmhands are basically serfs, which are nearly identical to slaves, 'no rewards, etc.'

3) Of course

4) Not saying that they are good among them, I am saying that there isn't pure evil in any human factions- they are all either corrupted, misled or forced into violence.

5) ? Yes, however, Lore-wise this was their reason for being so aggressive towards the Gondorians, they had been maltreated for years, and Sauron was able to rile up that resentment and greed in the same way Saruman did with the dunlendings. 2 - Slaves are commodities and simple tools, like a hoe or a chair are, for their owner, the slaver. They may have some similarities with the Serfs, but they're very distinct things.

4 - Alright.

5 - But that isn't really a reason for they not to have slaves.

-

EDIT: As I was checking out TolkienGateway, I discovered that Tuor Eladar in the First Age was held as a slave in an Easterling Tribe. Of course the Easterlings aren't the same from those from the First Age, but I think that's worthy noting. He was a slave to Lorgan the Easterling-chieftain, right?