All posts by Dour1234

Not necessarily, the only people of the east mentioned as Easterlings is Rhudel and the Wainriders.

The Avari and the Red Dwarves are not mentioned as Easterlings.

The others are non-canon and will only exist for the mod.

The reason why I am asking this is because before renewed, there has been as of recently, a large focus on the lesser developed part of Middle Earth. I am not saying that it is a bad thing to focus on. I believe that the mod’s primary focus should be on explicitly canon details before moving to the lesser known parts. As of right now, Harad and Rhun have so much detail and more of an emphasis than the more developed aspects of Middle Earth. The reason why the mod should have more of an emphasis on the developed regions is because if the mod focuses on those aspects more then more obscure hints of details of the east and south would likely be uncovered.

What a lot of people misunderstand about Tolkien is that the universe that he created is not incomplete. Tolkien did not lay out details of the more obscure parts of Middle Earth because many of his protagonists would have no way of knowing specific details of those parts. Even though this is the case, there is quite a lot of information that is subtly implied in his works. At first glance, it may seem that on a surface level that Tolkien was inspired by real life cultures. Most likely, he probably did base Harad and Rhun off of real life cultures. However, Tolkien also likely did not want connections to the real world to be explicitly obvious. Before Near Harad in the mod was split into many different factions, I thought that they were very well done (Even though the Umbar faction after the split is now currently the most well done). One aspect of the mod that needs a slight rework is Dorwinion. In the following quote from a wiki website, “In the Third Age King Turambar made conquests in the East, so the lands that was or would be Dorwinion probably became part of Gondor; by the time of Hyarmendacil l Gondor had reached its greatest extent in all its history. In T.A. 1248, King Minalcar and Vidugavia of the Northmen also campaigned in the lands between Rhovanion and the Inland Sea. In the following centuries the Great Plague had hit those lands although it is not known how much Dorwinion was affected.

During the war with the Wainriders (1856), Gondor lost its hold of the eastern lands beyond the Emyn Muil thus excluding Dorwinion from its withdrawing borders.

By T.A. 2941 Dorwinion traded with realms of Wilderland, such as the Woodland Realm. The special wine of Thranduil came from that place in crates. The Elves of Mirkwood returned the crates by way of the Forest River to Lake-town on Long Lake.” In the mod right now, Dorwinion is a neutral faction which is good. I think that their neutrality should be extended to all factions. Dorwinion should not have mortal enemies if their description on this wiki states that they are neutral with Sauron, but not allied with him. They should also not be allies with the Woodland Realm. Obviously they are trading partners with them, but being allies with the Woodland Realm means that they are not neutral. The reason why they should be neutral is for two reasons. During the war if the ring, they do not fight for any side, now does anybody invade them or bother them for anything other than trade. I think that they should be trading partners with the Easterlings and Mordor, only because it makes sense that trade is the reason why Mordor never invaded them. Also, they lie between Gondor and Rhun. Maybe they had an agreement with Sauron that the Easterlings can cross their land if they don’t bother them. I think that they shouldn’t be good just because their are elves in the faction. Also, why would Gondor have a part of its history where it conquered Dorwinion?

My perspective is that Dorwinion should be neutral to every faction (good and evil), trading with everyone who would do business with them, yet not fighting with or against anyone (unless hired by players).

My perspective on Rhudel is that everything about the faction is good, but the name needs to change. The name needs to match the name Easterlings rather than matching Rhun. Despite being a somewhat strange name, I believe that Rhudel should be renamed to Easter. I know that at a glance, the name doesn’t seem like it would fit Middle Earth, but take a minute and look at all the other names of nations in Middle Earth that are nearby. Gondor and the Gondorions, Rohan and the Rohirrim, Druedan Forest and the Druedain, Umbar and the Umbarians, Harad and the Haradrim, Numenor and the Numenoreans, Arnor and the Arnorians, Forodwaith and the Forodwaith (the true name of the Lossoth [Lossoth was the name the rest of Middle Earth gave to them]), and Dunland and the Dunlandings. All of these group names are tied to regions. While this is some of the only evidence to support changing Rhudel’s name to Easter, this is more evidence than using the name Rhudel. Maybe Tolkien simply preferred to write Easterlings opposed to the Easterlings of Easter similarly to how Tolkien preferred to write the bow of Legolas opposed to Legolas’s bow because he thought it looked weird.

This is a fantastic idea! Khazad-dum should be it’s own biome. I believe that all of the major cities if Middle Earth should be sub biomes. Yes, even Hobbiton, with Bag-End and Bagshot Row as structures.

Going back to the topic of Khazad-dum, the biome should be probably done similarly to how Mojang worked on the new vanilla mountains with biomes being dependent on height.

At the entrance of Khazad-dum would be the Azanulbizar (Khuzdul word for Dimril Dale) biome. This biome would be bordered by the Dimrill Stair, which would be a terrain feature connecting Azanulbizar to the Barazinbar (Khuzdul word for Caradhras). The source of the Silverlode River, Kheled-zaram (Khuzdul Mirrormere), would generate as a terrain feature in the Azanulbizar biome.

The many levels of Khazad-dum would serve as height dependent biomes.

I also believe that the mod should try to avoid using Elvish and common names and use names from the lesser developed languages that Tolkien had created such as Khuzdul, Iglishmek, Black Speech, Entish, Hobbitish, Dalish, Rohirric, and Valarin.

I think that the Avari of the Wild Wood should be completely neutral and closed of to the outside world, meaning no relations with any faction except the regions that are directly neighboring the Wild Wood.

I like this idea since not everything needs to be realistic. However, I disagree with the stat boost since players should want to support their faction because of all the other benefits of that faction.

Melkor played a role in Feanor’s paranoia, but Feanor was already arrogant.

Thenewguy2263, the Mountains of The Wind are mentioned on Tolkien Gateway. Though you are right that the Wind Dwarves are non-canon.

Do any of you know if there is a way to guarantee that my suggestion would be seen by Mevans? I am not asking if there is a way to guarantee that he puts it in the mod, just a way to guarantee that he sees it.

Stimpy24, That is very ironic because I can be somewhat of a lore nerd at certain times. This literally was my mindset when I was thinking of this suggestion. I wasn’t even initially thinking of making a suggestion. I simply started out pondering the facts of the Four eastern clans in the War of The Dwarves and Orcs and how and why they would trek thousands of miles just for one war. That thinking literally lead to my suggestion.

OldForest, the problem with your suggestion of two factions, one good and one evil, is that it does not align with the fact that all the Dwarf clans are against Mordor.

Even in my suggestion with the Wind Dwarves, I tried to make them appealing to evil players with their flaw of slavery, but I also tried to align them with the fact that all Dwarves are against Mordor, only some of them blur the lines a tiny bit.

The reason why the Orocarni should be one faction with four sub-factions is because of how they took part in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs despite the length between the Misty Mountains and the Orocarni. I couldn’t get over the idea that four factions would all miraculously agree to move thousands of miles to fight in one war only to return right afterwards. My solution was that they are all one led by four leaders who meet in a council. What I am trying to say is that the four dwarf clans of the east must have had some method in which they all agreed unanimously to fight in the war. My solution is that they had some sort of council. Maybe something similar to the Council of Gondor? Maybe the four clans have their own kings to deal with their own internal issues while the Council of the Orocarni deals with issues regarding things outside the Orocarni.

While my suggestion with the Wind Dwarves is mostly non-canon (the only thing that is canon about the Mountains of The Wind is that they exist), I thought of them by building off of my suggestion regarding the Orocarni Dwarves. My suggestion regarding the Orocarni came about because I was trying think of how and why the eastern Dwarves would trek thousands of miles to join the War of The Dwarves and Orcs. One of the things that I thought about was the intensive loyalty of the Dwarves to others of their race. While my suggestion limits the possibility for evil players (other than the neutral Wind Dwarves), I feel that it is probably the closest to the canon that we are going to get.

There is also maybe a possibility that relations between the Wind Dwarves and the Orocarni would decrease in the Fourth Age when you ask this question: When Mordor falls, how would the Wind Dwarves react to their main source of slaves being destroyed? What would happen to their economy and how would they try to get around this huge issue for them?

I want the mod to open up possibilities for evil players to have and serve their own agenda rather than aligning with Sauron. Maybe some players would align with the Wind Dwarves, manipulating them with this future knowledge of Mordor’s destruction to serve their own agenda.

Good players would also be able to benefit from the Wind Dwarves as they are still enemies of Mordor even if the Wind Dwarves prefer to enslave their foes rather than killing them. After all, the Wind Dwarves believe that the Orocarni Dwarves and all the good factions are “immoral” with how they kill their enemies instead of providing “mercy.”

To be very honest, I really was not expecting my idea with the Wind Dwarves to be agreed with, hence why I asked in my original post if my idea was a good one. I thought that people would think that slavery is a bit too evil for a “neutral” faction. I say neutral because the Wind Dwarves can be manipulated by players of either alignment for their own benefit. Players would be able to gain alignment with the Wind Dwarves by hunting Were-Worms in the Last Desert since it literally is right next to the mountains.

I don’t know how this one post that I am writing turned out to be this long.

Though the Orocarni Dwarves and the Wind Dwarves would hate each other, they would still both defend both the Orocarni and the Mountains of The Wind from hostile factions. However, though they may be on neutral and loyal terms with each other, there is still a lot of tension between both factions. Little do they know that all it would take is one tiny insignificant action for them to release all of their suppressed hatred of each other. Think of the two of them like Europe just before World War One.

All that tension just festering.....

The Dwarf Goblin War was an actual event in canon. I accidentally remembered hearing of it as the Dwarf Goblin War when the actual name was the War of The Dwarves and Orcs.

The Dwarves of The Orocarni did in fact partake in it.

It is because of the lengthy distance that I believe that the Wind Dwarves would settle into the Mountains of The Wind rather than going much further back to the Red Mountains.

With my idea, I was trying to create a suggestion for the mod based off of an actual canon event. In this case, the War of The Dwarves and Orcs.

I was also trying to make the Wind Dwarves a non evil faction that is unique in that they are still enemies of Sauron. However, the one thing that should not be in the mod is gaining Wind alignment from defeating Mordor Orcs. The Wind Dwarves take slaves rather than dealing death to their enemies. It would also be possible to gain Mordor alignment from defeating Wind Dwarves.

While the Dwarves of the Orocarni despise the Wind Dwarves, they see them as a lesser evil than Mordor as they are still opposing Sauron even if they do take slaves. What I have in mind is that both Dwarf factions would be heavily neutral with each other. Mainly a policy of “don’t bother us and we won’t bother you.”

Despite this, the Dwarves of the Orocarni would attack the Wind Dwarves with range weapons, always nearly hitting them, warning them not to come any closer. The Red Dwarves would still however attack and kill their Orc and Troll slaves.

By the way, the reason why I am against Dwarves being hostile to another Dwarf faction is because I view them as more civilized than Elves and Humans combined. They are the most unified race within Middle Earth. I think that because of this, there would only be isolated cases of Wicked Dwarves and Petty-Dwarves.

The Harad factions should not have mercenaries to allow for the Variags to operate.

To be honest, I believe that by modern standards, Feanor and his sons would be categorized as terrorists. Mostly the Sons of Feanor than Feanor himself since Feanor only lead one Kinslaying.

However, despite all of your comments saying that he is mostly a semi good character. He would actually be a terrible person to be around. For one thing, he is rude and arrogant, though surprisingly not selfish.

I actually think that if there was a Silmarilion TV show, Feanor would likely be the main character from the moment he creates the Silmarils to the moment where he is horrifically burned alive by Balrogs. I could see his whole story as just being a five season show.

OldForest, do you consider Feanor a hero or a villain? One or the other. There is no middle ground.

Book over movie all the time.

To be honest, while unrelated, I really wish that there was a movie based on Feanor, spanning from his obsession with the Silmarils to being burned alive by several balrogs. Fascinating ambiguous characters over pure good/evil characters.