Mae govannen, readers! This is the eighteenth suggestion in the series about improvements to various biomes of Middle-earth. In this I shall suggest improvements to the great forest of Mirkwood, formerly Greenwood the Great. The prior suggestions can be found here:
Biome Improvements:
The North Mirkwood biome should become a lot more like the current Mirkwood-dark and dim, as that is the biome the Dwarves traveled through. The Woodland Realm should be more like North Mirkwood.
All the Mirkwood biomes need to be far darker and scarier. Ivy should cover the ground, all the branches and leaves (goodbye, "Mirkwood Vines"). The canopy should be nearly impenetrable, with only a few shafts of sunlight. Cobwebs should be everywhere, and in large web shapes. At night, it should get pitch-black (you cannot see), and eyes should appear in the distance, green, red, yellow and pale. Scurrying noises should sound as the player walks around, and the undergrowth and fallen leaves should be far thicker.
Black Squirrels should spawn in the forest, but the meat poisons all who eat it. In other forest biomes Grey Squirrels could live, and Red Squirrels in pine forests.
Fires and torches should attract moths in black and brown, and huge bats.
Webs of Ungoliant should give weakness, and attract Spiders in the area.
Central Mirkwood should have some Dark Firs, which are basically corrupted fir trees with dark leaves.
The Woodland Realm should be made denser and more tree-filled. Beeches should be thick here, and a greenish light permeates the air. White and black deer should spawn here, and drop special hide. Wood-elves would give quests to hunt them.
Also in the Woodland Realm, Elves should be made far rarer. Even when they entered the beech-wood, they saw few Elves. The houses and towers should only spawn in the Heartland biome, which I will get to shortly. Elves should only spawn in parties of Scouts and in the Clearings. Ambiences of singing and laughing can be heard in the distance, however.
The Dol Guldur biome should be totally treeless-"Amon Lanc" means "Bare Hill".
Water should be removed from the biomes, as it was said by Beorn to be nonexistant. Also, the Enchanted Stream should be black and cause the effects, not the Forest River.
The butterflies should be black, not purple! It's said they looked like black versions of purple emperors.
Finally, groups of Woodmen and Wood-elves should spawn in the forest rarely, representing hunters on the trail of elk, deer and Spiders.
Woodland Realm Heartland: The center of the Woodland Realm, and basically the current Woodland Realm but with denser trees and more oaks and beeches. This is the only place where houses, smithies, and towers spawn.
Forest Riverside: Basically a clearing in the woods along the Forest River, with reeds and quagmire and less spiders.
Elven Riverside: Home of the Raft Elves, it is similar to the Woodland Realm, save Raft-Elven structures spawn here.
Woodman Clearing: These would spawn naturally in Central Mirkwood, similarly to Tauredain clearings. Two large patches would always appear in the west. These would be more open forests, with Woodmen and Woodmen villages. Spiders spawn only rarely and at night.
Central Mirkwood: The current Mirkwood biome.
South Mirkwood: Similar to the current Mirkwood, but made almost entirely of Dark Fir.
Structures:
Wood-elven Hut: A small wood house found in the Woodland Heartland.
Wood-elven Treehouse: A high house in the large trees of the Woodland Realm, like a rectangular Galadhrim Treehouse and made of Green-oak with a peaked roof.
Wood-elven Clearing: A cleared space with a fire in the middle, and a circle of stumps for chairs. Elves are found here with food, and torches light the side.
Raft-elven Hut: A small house in the Riverside. These spawn in rings with a fire in the middle.
Raft-elven Pier: A pier that sticks into the water, used for the transportation of barrels. Several Raft-elves spawn here.
Spider Ring: A patch of dense black forest with many spiders and webs. This is the main place Spiders spawn-they should be pretty rare at night now.
The Woodmen would have their own villages and houses made of Mirk-oak and Green-oak, which I will not go into detail here. The villages would have a tall wood fence.
NPCs:
Spiders should talk, and be hired from a Daughter of Shelob, not from Dol Guldur orcs. Shelob's Daughter would be a huge spider with thick skin (armor points). One would spawn in a Spider Ring.
I really want to remove spider riders too, as it's really ridiculous. Stick to wargs! :P
Raft-elves would spawn in the Elven Riverside. They would live in huts near the bank and sing songs about barrels.
Wood-elven scouts should carry spears as well, as they did in the book.
The Woodmen should have Woodmen, Huntsmen (a trader), warriors and archers. They should use dogs in battle as well.
Thanks for reading this suggestion! As always comments, kudos and constructive critiscism is most welcome.
Ithilion, Discussions Moderator(Auta i lome) 04:29, December 30, 2016 (UTC)