“ | Thid Age 1975: In Then so utterly was Angmar defeated that not a man nor an orc of that realm remained west of the Mountains.
They (éothéod) sought more room in the North, and drove away the remnants of the people of Angmar on the east side of the Mountains. | ” |
–The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A |
(The mod started at T.A.3001, 1,026 years after that not a man nor an orc of Angmar remained.)
For anyone who think canon will ruin the fun of things, please read my suggestion. I know that some evil players may complain, and I will show you how useless and functional overlapping it is in the following paragraphs. Since Angmar the faction isn't supported to exist, I have a better solution which can make the mod more canonical, in balance and fun.
The NPCs of Angmar
Angmar is completely dead in the end of Third Age, and trolls are the only remnants for sure. Therefore, Angmar the faction should be renamed to Trolls. Trolls the faction will like Fangorn the faction of Free Folks. You will have a fun and free way to summon and hire trolls and hill-trolls like summoning Huorn, and a more interesting way to hire them as well.
- Remove Angmar Orcs and Angmar Wargs
Angmar Orcs (including archers and bombardiers) are copies of Mordor Orcs having nothing special, so do wargs and warg bombardiers. If you want them to be something special, you will have to buff them. Since they aren't supported to exist, the best solution to them is removing them.
You can find Gundabad Orc chieftain in nearly all biomes of Eriador providing both an unit of cheaper Orcs and an unit of stronger Orcs than Angmar Orc chieftain.
- Remove the Hillmen of Rhudaur
“ | No one lives in this land. Men once dwelt here, ages ago; but none remain now. They became an evil people, as legends tell, for they fell under the shadow of Angmar. But all were destroyed in the war that brought the North Kingdom to its end. | ” |
–Aragon in The Fellowship of the Ring, Flight to the Ford |
“ | Now they had gone on far into the Lone-lands, where there were no people left, no inns, and the roads grew steadily worse. Not far ahead were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old castles with an evil look, as if they had been built by wicked people. | ” |
–The Hobbit, Roast Mutton |
They also shouldn't exist and they are just a copy of Hill-men. By the way, the correct way to spell it is Hill-men in both the book and grammar, and Hill-men are most often referred to as Dunlendings. For people who may think their bone armours are cool, Dunlending Berserkers wear suits of bone armours.
The blocks, structures, equipment of Angmar
Remove the banner of Angmar, Angmar Crafting Table, Amgmar Warg pits.
Make Rhudaur Hillman Houses to a more ruin version.
Add abandoned or ruined Rhudaur castles in the hilly region (Lone-lands Hills biomes and Weather Hills in the f) of the Lone-lands. There were made out of Angmar Bricks and abandoned for more than 1,026 years.
Keep Angmar armour and Angmar equipment, there can be obtained by looting chests in ruined Rhudaur houses, ruined Rhudaur castles, Orc dungeons in Eriador, as well as troll's caves. Their existence is similar to Gondolinian equipment and Arnorian, Numenorean equipment in the future.
The titles of Angmar
Move "Hillman" title to Dunland. As I said before, Hill-men are most often referred to as Dunlendings. Add the "Hill-troll" title and remove the "Angmar Orc" title.
invasion
- For Angmar, Just like Utumno, a dead faction makes no invasion.
Since except trolls and hill-trolls are removed, all Angmar invasion should also be removed. Except lore seasons, let's take a look on balance:
These people start invasions on Eriador now:
Free Folks: | The spawns of evil: |
---|---|
|
|
This is quite unbalance, isn't? When Angmar invasions are removed according to the canon, it will be more balance.
For fun, there could be troll raids in Trollshaws, Ettenmoors and Coldfells in nights like Shirriff raids.
- This will fit in with both gameplay factors and canon: Evil are stronger in the East and weaker in the West. By the end of Third Age, Eriador including Lone-lands was a quite peaceful and safe land comparing Rhovanion. The main problems were trolls and Orcs of Misty Mountains.
There may have someone who think this will waste effect of Mevans, I say that the codes of Orcs are highly reused in the mod. They even share almost same speechbanks. We don't need all same plain Orcs, wargs or hill-men when they are all available in same place.
For balance, those removed features will and should move to Dol Guldur. More information are shown in the following table and cooler stuffs are in the post Southern Mirkwood and Dol Guldur.
Dol Guldur: |
---|
"In 3018 these attacked the Woodland Realm, as well as Dale, Erebor and Lórien", I know that the mod begins in 3001, but our alignment system is based on the War of Ring in 3018 (see Gondor, see Rohan). Thus slaying the spawns of Dol Guldur should also gain Durin's Folk and Dale's alignment, vice versa. |
|
Let Mevans add Olog-hai (Mirkwood), Spiders invasion! It would be fun! |
Hobbits were escaping from the growing terror of Dol Guldur in Vales of Anduin years ago. Plus Dol Guldur was expanding its power and searching the Ring, the size of invader's troops could be same as current insane invasion spawning rate in Lone-lands. Each Dol Guldur invasion could spawn a crowd with Gundabad in Vales of Anduin, Wilderland, etc. |
|
Trolls
The actions with trolls | Alignment requirement |
---|---|
tickle trolls and hill-trolls by right-clicking them with a feather to cause them sneezing | +100 |
Hire a troll by right-clicking on him with 3-5 cooked meats. | +200 |
Hire a hill-troll by right-clicking on him with 3-5 cooked meats. | +300 |
Summon and hire a troll by right-clicking on a troll statue with a piece of meat. | +400 |
Summon and hire a hill-troll by right-clicking on a troll statue with a piece of meat. | +500 |
Hiring trolls
Trolls the faction is similar to Fangorn the faction that you can hire trolls for free. Hiring trolls form Orc chieftains is ridiculous, so I come out two ideas for it. I hope all of them will be added to the mod, because they are fun and coding friendly.
The first way: It's kind of taming Gollum, you hire a troll by right-clicking on him with 3-5 cooked meats. They only eat cooked meat which means that you can't feed them with raw meats, breads, rotten flesh.
In the hiring process them may say something like below:
- "Mutton yesterday, mutton today, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer!"
- "Never a blinking bit of manflesh have we had for long enough!"
The second way: It's kind of hiring huorns, you summon and hire a troll by right-clicking on a troll statue with a piece of meat at night. Troll statues should be rarely generated in Trollshaws, Coldfells and Ettenmoors randomly.
Crafting table & mini-quests
No troll's crafting table. Thare are really too stupid to use crafting tables. Anyway, add troll's crafting table after Ents get one.
Trolls' mini-quests are in demand, as well as Ents'.
Troll's Cave
Troll hoards are already hard to find to me, but when I find one, there are always many useless items inside the chests. Maybe it should be more challenging. The stone rooms in Zelda mod are stunning to me. The Troll's Cave and its key are certainly canon, and it would worthy enough to add them.
The Tolkien Gateway has an article on:
|
Stone doors: Since beta 27, we got gates. The door of a Troll's cave really should be a gate in order to let a troll in or out, but there were called "a big door of stone" anyway. A stone door could be crafted on Angmar or Gundabad crafting tables, and its mechanics same as gates. However it looks like a Dwarven door but it don't glow at night. Along with Keys for gates, this kinds of door could only open by a largish key. Certainly, a largish key would be dropped by a troll in a certain rate.
Then I'd like to talk about the protection of caves. Previously I mentioned Zelda mod, the hoards are well protected in that mod, and it is different from banner protection (btw, I think trolls won't use banners of Angmar for sure.) Their mechanics is the hoard rooms would always be protected until you fit the key into the key-hole. This is a very good idea.
Of the inside of a troll's cave. The toll's caves is a place for trolls to hide from the sun in. They don't just guard the hoards, and the caves are kinds of their bedrooms during daytime. So there should have:
- Barrels of ale are mentioned in The Hobbit. There should some empty barrel, but one barrel of ale which was still full.
- Plates with food. The company found plenty of food in the cave. Food would be bread, rabbit meats and mutton.
- Waste Blocks on the ground. There were bones on the floor and a nasty smell was in the air, so Waste Blocks would be a perfect choice as floor.
- More coins in the caves. There are pots full of gold coins standing in a corner. Since there are no pots nor gold coins in the mod, I think more silver coins in chests would be nice.
- Gondolinian equipment instead of High Elven equipment. They found Gondolinian equipment rather than equipment which used by Elves from Third Age. Troll's Caves would be hard to find and rare to get the key, it would be okay with Godolinian equipment.
Renaming
Of Mountain Troll They should rename as Hill-trolls. Mountain Trolls only appear once in The Return of the King, The Siege of Gondor, and even our wiki quoted this section:
“ | Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest-tree a hundred feet in length, swinging on mighty chains. Long had it been forging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountain-trolls to wield it. | ” |
–The Return of the King, The Siege of Gondor |
“ | Arador was taken by hill-trolls in the Coldfells north of Rivendell and was slain; and Arathorn became Chieftain of the Dúnedain. | ” |
–The Lord of the Ring, Appendix A |
So Mountain Trolls are more likely belong to Mordor rather than Angmar. Hill-trolls are trolls that live in small groups or alone and commonly live in the Ettenmoors or Angmar, some heading down to the Trollshaws for the winter. Since Mountain-trolls have less content, and we even don't where they inhabited, they should be rename as Hill-trolls and true Mountain-trolls should be add in far future, due to they are less important.
Ruffians
“ | 2953: He (Saruman) soon begins to keep agents in Bree and the Southfarthing. | ” |
–The Lord of the Ring, Appendix B |
The Tolkien Gateway has an article on:
|
The Ruffians were a group of Men from near Isengard.
“ | Saruman kept enough wisdom not to trust his Orcs. He had Men to guard his gates: some of his most faithful servants, I suppose. | ” |
–Merry in The Two Towers, Flotsam and Jetsam |
They are the most trust people by Saruman. They are scoundrel and deceitful who betrayed both Dunlendings and Rohan and only loyal to Saruman. They will use the skin of the Hill-men of Rhudaur. "Normal, non-warrior hillmen (men of Numenor) can be slain by hobbit sheriffs in one-on-one combat," Catfish said. I thought it's realistic for ruffians. You really shouldn't underestimate hobbits, because they actually have archers and defeated more than one hundred ruffians. Ruffians can spawn in Bree and the Southfarthing in a rate of 1/100.
Updated for Gorbag: As a Rhudaur hill-men alternative, they will spawn with looted stuff like former Rhudaur hill-men, Gundabad Orcs, and Isengard Snagae. You can hire the armoured ones and unarmoured ones in Nan Curunír. Due to they are the most trusted followers of Saruman, they won't have sub-faction. They will replace unarmoured Dunlendings in Nan Curunír as well.
Farthings
I posted it here as a comment and re-post it now. The most complete information collection of farthings:
- Northfarthing
- This farthing grows barley to make beer, and it produced the best beer ever. When barley is introduced into the mod, there will be magnificent barley fields like Dorwinion vineyard. It will included the Shire Moor.
- Southfarthing
- There will be Overbourn Marshes (Shire Marshes) along the River Brandywine. Southfarthing featured Pipe-weed farms growing specially varieties of Pipe-weed now known as Longbottom Leaf, Old Toby, and Southern Star. This farthing also have vineyards that make heady wine. By the way, Saruman kept agents in Bree and the Southfarthing after T.A.2953 (the mod started in T.A. 3001).
- Westfarthing
- Westfarthing was the center of Hobbit "authority". its western border were the Far Downs where is the nameless Eriador Downs between Tower Hills and White Downs. White Downs should be completely delimited to the Shire and added Hobbits into this biome as the capital Michel Delving was located here.
- Eastfarthing
- This district also has breweries and barley fields. The Hobbits of the quarter were rather large and heavy-legged, and they wore dwarf-boots in muddy weather. There are fields of the Marish growing mushroom in the farthing.
A new struture:
- Three-Farthing Stone: It was a stone by the side of the East Road that marked the point where the borders of the Eastfarthing, Westfarthing and Southfarthing of the Shire came together.
A new type of unit:
- Hobbit Archer
[Updated] The Alignment of Gundabad
Since there are only trolls in the Trolls faction and more interactions between factions can bring more fun, plus canonical reasons and balance, the alignment of Gundabad should relate to Mordor and even Isengard.
Factions that losing alignment from killing Gundabad | Factions that gaining alignment from killing Gundabad |
---|---|
|
|
This isn't in balance.
“ | But everywhere he looked he saw the signs of war. The Misty Mountains were crawling like anthills: orcs were issuing out of a thousand holes. [...] The land of the Beornings was aflame; a cloud was over Moria; smoke rose on the borders of Lórien.
[...] All the power of the Dark Lord was in motion. | ” |
–The Fellowship of the Ring, The Breaking of the Fellowship |
Frodo saw that every the power of the Dark Lore was in motion including Gundabad, the Orcs of Misty Mountains. Gundabad and Moria may have their own lord, but they followed the leadership of Sauron as always. Therefore, killing Gundabad should lower Mordor alignment, and vice versa.
The Orcs of Isengard are bred by Saruman mixing the Orcs of Misty Mountains and Denlendings, so Isengard should care Gundabad as well.
[Updated] Feeding a horse berries
Berries can be used to feed horse. It will be nice if make berries as an equivalent of sugar, and that will bring us another reason to farm berries.
As we could see, the improvements on trolls and farthings are both interesting. Someone argued that strictly canon are ruining the fun of things, but I see it differently: when the creater added something, there will always have fans for that thing and even when the thing should exist anyone. They also appeal for more complex contents which may the time from the creator adding some well described things. The removal of those who have clear ultimate fate of the utterly defeated really is best solution, and I hold the same opinion on Balchoth. I think that Stick to canon things wherever possible, but invent non-canon things if they are needed to fill gaps in the canon means we make up empty blanks of LotR rather than closures. You see, a boisterous Lone-lands isn't only non-canon, but also illogical: Lone-lands won't be LONE with tons of Rhudaurers. Moreover, trolls would not be the focus of an aspect of an update with thousand "living deads" are requiring to be more complex. Seriously, we should let the deceased rest in peace rather than adding butchers for them. I know there will be huge resistance, but I'm speaking my voice for those things we missed.
Edit: Mountain Troll -> Hill-troll