Utumno (Dimension)

Hello, Everyone!

Disclaimer beforehand- This does not involve any Buying of Warhorns of Utumno or Outside regions outside of Utumno. This is talking of Using Invasion Mechanics to make Utumno more difficult.

So I was wandering around the wiki and saw that Utumno has the ability to invade areas. I thought of it for a bit and I thought that these Utumno invasions could be used to make Utumno a little bit more difficult. They could be used for more immersive or PVP actions in Utumno.

The First variety of the "invasion" would be most common in the ice level of Utumno. This would contain 4-5 waves of orcs, arches, and frost wargs. This would be a meager show of power from the Legions of Morgoth. This would be uncommon at the Obsidian level but becomes more common as time goes by. A possible achievement would be "A Meager Show of Morgoth".

The Second would be a more powerful variant of its first sibling. This would be the dominant variant of the Obsidian level which contains 3-4 Waves but will contain small trolls along with 3-5 Tormented Elves and 8-10 Orcs. This variant will be virtually non-existent in The Fire Level. A possible achievement would be "A Knife From Udun".

The Last and Third Variant is the most powerful variant of its family. This however would only contain 1-2 Waves. This would have 2 Balrogs, up to 3-4 Giant Trolls and 10-20 orcs, and 5-9 Tormented Elves along with a couple of wargs. This would be practically non-existent until you awake the Melkor Plate. This would happen at the end of The Melkor Plate Activation. A possible achievement could be "The Final Show of Morgoth" or "The Mace of Morgoth Broken".

A possible title for Defeating the Third Variant- "The Bringer of Justice" or if you defeat all of them and escape from Utumno you could receive the title "The Avenger of Beleriand"

Tell me what you think! I would love to see some feedback. I make my future suggestions better from feedback.

Edit- Changed The Will of the Valar to The Bringer of Justice

THESE ARE NOT SUGGESTIONS! These are ideas to keep in mind for the future.

Utumno: Maybe a biome around the valley where it is? Nan Udun maybe. It would add another achievement and give a hint for new players to explore there.

New Utumno Troops: Bombardiers: It seems that it would make sense for the orcs of Morgoth the have access to explosives, as Sauron did.

Chieftains: Not for troops! A rarer spawning mob that has a slightly higher chance to drop Gear and Key parts.

Chests: Rarish spawning chests! Adds even more loot!

More rooms: Just more general possible varied generation options.

(In my mind, the old Utumno before the update that made it much more ruined is the Utumno of the Spring of Arda, while the current Utumno is the older ruined version of the Third Age.)

Forodwaith: Recently it has been revealed that changes to the Forodwaith map are coming in Renewed. Could these be...

More biome variants?

More visible biome variants?

Maybe more waypoints, or a new biome surrounding the North Pole? Dor Bendor, land of the shifting frosts?

Who knows!

I just found an article on Tolkien Gateway that is about creatures known as Phantoms.

Phantoms: In the Elder Days, creatures of dreadful shapes, among whom are said to have been phantoms, haunted the Elves, dragging people into the darkness surrounding the borders of the Elven dwellings never to reappear.

In Beleriand, the forest of Taur-nu-Fuin was an infamous locale of phantoms of terror said to strangle or pursue lost wanderers.

Using wizardry, it was possible to summon phantoms of delusion. Sauron, master of shadows and of phantoms, devised a phantom resembling Eilinel to entrap Gorlim. In the late Third Age, Saruman was rumored to also be able to craft such phantoms.

It is also told that disembodied, phantom-like Elf-souls, from Elves who had been slain in the course of some wrong-doing, could maliciously appear before living beings to induce fear, being envious of people still alive.

Beings called phantoms also appear in the poem Oilima Markirya.

In a hastily written manuscript on small slips of paper, entitled Reincarnation of Elves, Tolkien discussed different possibilities of how the houseless fea of an Elf can have a memory so strong that it can in another fea(incarnate) induce a picture of it, so that it seems a phantom form. Such a phantom cannot be touched, but can be walked through.

Based on the etymology of qímari, linguists have suggested that Tolkien intended, in this stage of the legendarium, that a phantom was a awake...but not...living hence a mind or spirit that is incorporeal or disembodied.

In The Mod, Phantoms could have mentions in lore books and they should spawn somewhere, though I don’t know where.

Late last year, I made a post on suggesting that the vanilla mobs are added as the Nameless Creatures. Currently my own views on my old post have shifted a bit.

Since then, my view on the Nameless Things are similar to my old view when I made that post. The difference is that after a lot of close readings and analyses, I have come to the conclusion that the Nameless Things fit into the category of the Cosmic Horror genre. I no longer believe that actual mobs should be added to the mod to represent them. I think that there should be Cosmic Horror Lore Books of them. I also think that “evidence of their existence” should be added to “the deepest depths of the world (Near Bedrock)” in order to invoke a sort of “fear” from the player. One example that would be very good is the unused vanilla Void Fog. Obviously, there should be no actual physical mobs, but instead, there should be the fear that there is a mob lurking just out of the player’s vision. This is a bit similar to the upcoming Warden mob for 1.17, but I still don’t think any physical mob would do a good job at representing the Nameless Creatures. They thrive because we have no idea what they look like, a bit like the Mewlips and a few of Tolkien’s other creatures. If the mod has to have at least one mob to represent them, just use the Warden and the Deep Dark since they are clearly inspired by Cosmic Horror. Going back to what I said about Lore Books, I might suggest a few cosmic horror ones when I find the time.

On a side note, the reason why my views changed is partly due to understanding a bit more on the nature of Cosmic Horror as well as partly due to writing my own Cosmic Horror in my own short stories.

I haven't completed first steps quest and Gandalf is following me around the map. I was wondering, what if he follow me to Utumno ruins, where i would push him into the portal? Will he kill utumno orcs?

**Full disclaimer, these suggestions are just game mechanics that I think would improve Utumno in renewed, and none of them are deeply rooted in lore. If you have lore-friendly suggestions/improvements, please share them!**

Currently in Legacy, Utumno has few challenges and elements to it. Essentially, there are just two: tons of hard mobs, and treacherous terrain generation. When you go to Utumno, all you want to do is get the drops you came for, and then get out of there alive. While this definitely works and is still an incredible challenge, I think there is a missed opportunity for something... special. This brings me to my main suggestions for an Utumno revamp in Renewed.

Utumno Structures:

These structures, rather than the cave-like passages of current Utumno, would be reasons to travel throughout the dangerous area. These Structures would generate into the existing generation of Utumno, but they would add an enhanced exploration aspect, as well as a possible way to get good loot. Here are a few suggestions I thought of:

Prison Cells (all layers): A network of cells with tormented elves, or a new NPCs called "Utumno Prisoners". These cells need not be too complex (even something as simple as the cells in vanilla Strongholds), but their very presence, especially with a unique NPC, could greatly enhance player experience. These new NPCs would be passive, but run away from anything that approaches them (including the player). If you talked to them, their speechbank would likely be similar to Slaves of Nurn, or Tormented Elves. You could also get the Utumno advancement [Trapped in Darkness] upon interacting with them.

Torture Chambers (obsidian and fire layers): These would be similar to the Prison Cells (possibly even a branch off of that main structure), but with slightly different details, and possibly a loot chest with a new item, the "Utumno Branding Iron". This weapon would be repaired with orc steel, and light its targets on fire with the effect of a fire aspect I weapon (this one might be too OP, or like the balrog whip, adding chill simply wouldn't be an option). Attack stats would be similar to the Smith's Hammer.

Utumno Forge (fire layer): Here is where the orcs of Utumno forge their weapons of war. I envision a large room, similar to the large open spaces in Legacy Utumno, with vats of lava and orc forges. Here you could find Utumno Smiths (normal Utumno orcs wielding Smith's Hammers), and loot chest/armour stands with Utumno gear. If you kill an Utumno Smith, you get the advancement [Forged in Hellfire].

Failed Attempts (any layer): The last stand of past explorers. These might have a small barricade, inside full of skulls, and a chest with maggoty bread, and worn out gear. You might also find a final diary (similar to the one found by the Fellowship in Moria) with the last accounts of the attack.

Barracks (any layer): This would be the Utumno version of the Middle Earth camps. Chiseled into the walls, there could be some fur beds, barrels of orc draught, and a chest with maggoty bread, orc steel, and the chance of Utumno gear.

Spider nest (ice layer): This would be a normal large opening, except full of spider webs, they new Renewed Hanging Webs, and Webs of Ungoliant. This room would be full of ice spiders, and in a central nest (similar to the cave spider spawner in Vanilla mineshafts) there could be a chest with mysterious webs, gold, silver, rotten flesh, and manflesh.

Utumno Chests: as a brief side-thought, it would be cool if the Utumno loot was found in special Utumno Chests (similar to the stone chests, and ancient haradric chests in middle earth). These would be nothing more than a cool chest texture for Utumno.

Using new vanilla items/blocks, or adding Utumno versions: I think there are some cool new blocks that could be added to Utumno. First, the vanilla chain would look so cool incorporated into Utumno generation such as the large vertical shafts (and also in some of these structures I suggested). I also think that the soulfire items could be a cool addition, or Utumno variants of them (maybe "hellfire lanterns", etc.).

These are just a few thoughts I had on this, and please let me know any suggestions you might have more more/different structures, or changes that would make these fit better to the lore.