Board Thread:Suggestions archive/@comment-35313312-20181219114958

We've just had a marvellous Harad update, with a few new factions added and plenty of fantastical new structures and items. The south is now populated, teeming with life, much to my delight. However, when I look at the Middle-Earth map, I can't help noticing the north is... kind of empty. Sure, the faction of Dale exists, but looking at the Long Lake, Rhovanion, and Northern Rhun, I think the mod could use a bit more expansion there.

The North: Dale and Rhovanion

This has probably been suggested numerous times already, but I'll go ahead.

1) Add a Lake-Town sub faction. This will certainly be an extremely difficult one to do, but the Long Lake should be a biome and by extension faction of its own. When it comes to buildings, they should be on elevated platforms on wooden poles that stick out from the bottom of the lake, and mainly be of a wood construction. Structures can involve a fisherman's cabin, trade station (maybe consisting of 4 stalls), barracks (where Esgaroth units can be hired) and a fishing hut, which spawns on the shores of the lake. Perhaps there can also be boats, though I don't expect these to be implemented anytime soon.

2) Continuing on the Lake-Town idea, they should have their own armour and gear. An interesting idea is that perhaps Esgaroth NPCs have a chance of wearing fur hats. As for armour, it will have a more fur-based crafting, and not as Nordic as Dale's. Perhaps it can follow the Rohirric crafting of armour, except fur instead of leather, and of course have different texture and shape. The faction should probably have a blue and brown colour scheme.

3) Now, Rhovanion. At the moment, the Wilderland is a mass of diverse biomes crawling with orcs. Other than that, it's relatively boring. So perhaps a new faction could be added: The Tribes of Rhovanion. The peoples of Rhovanion should be similar to Dunland, in the way that they're not very "civilised". Structures can be huts and hovels. Huts perhaps can be rounded thatched buildings, while hovels are partially underground, with the roof in fact being the main part of the building. There could also be entire ruined villages, though this need not to be implemented, as there are already rotten and charred houses.

4) The NPCs of Rhovanion could be similar to Dunlendings and Rohirrim, with a range of hair colours. I've always viewed Rhovanion as sort of Celtic, and so perhaps the clothing and skins of the Rhovanion Tribesmen could be like that, or just retextured Rohirric ones. Continuing on with the whole Celtic perception, perhaps some NPCs could be bare-chested, like the Dunlending Berserkers, since the Celts were known to go into battle half-naked. As for gear; no need for much change. They could wear a mixture of standard gear, that being bronze, iron and leather armour, and the same with weapons and tools. The Rhovanion Warriors wear this ragtag collection of armours, a bit like Gundabad orcs with the seemingly random selection, and can be hired from a chieftain in a hill fort, with wooden beams for walls.

The East: The Peoples of Rhun

1) Of course, there is no doubt that the peoples of Rhun are based off the Turkic and Mongolian peoples, such as the Tartars or Pechenegs. Therefore, perhaps there could be Easterling Nomads who populate the wide lands of Rhun, living in yurts and camps. Structures would of course include yurts, chieftain yurts and horse-markets, where horses are kept in pens ready for sale and traders spawn. An idea is that perhaps these nomads could be neutral, or have very few allies and enemies.

2) NPCs would include nomads and warriors, who most definitely will take Mongolian influence in their skin design and gear. They will have horse-archers, who can be hired by chieftains.

New Blocks And Items?

Some new ideas for blocks and items as well.

1) The totem pole. These could spawn in the Wilderland, Vales of Anduin and Rhun, as simple wooden blocks with all sorts of strange enscriptions and patterns on them, put together and reaching up in heights from 3 blocks to 6, with complements of torches and other blocks if need be. Some may even have a face or two. It certainly will add to the wonder and mystery of these vast lands east of the Misty Mountains, and hopefully make content less biased towards the southern and western regions of Middle-Earth.

2) Slate tiles. These could perhaps be crafted from gravel and/or stone. They are very dark grey in colour, and have a more brick-like pattern when compared to tiling.

3) Cheese! This can be crafted with milk and salt. A slice gives 3 hunger points.

4) Wooden poles. They're fences but sideways.

That's all I have for now ; feel free to comment ^^ 