Moria Forgotten

[Nerwen]

Okay, tentative biography:

Lilyblack Gefea Very slender and athletic. Studied archeology at Edoras University. Has always been restless and given to wandering about at night, a habit that her family attributes to a strain of Elven blood, though her family has been living in the Westmark for as far as anyone can remember. Journeyed once to the place where legends place Lothlorien. She made a dig in a strange mound and found, with broken pottery, a strange verdigrised brooch with the pin knocked off the back. She has cleaned it up and found traces of old green enamel, making her conjecture that it was once a leaf. She wears it on a gold chain around her neck and claims it helps her see in the dark. Wears only back leather clothes. Wants to join the party both to get material for her doctoral degree and to perhaps discover the old links of Moria with Hollin.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Tessar

Sorry gang, went through an unexpected split with my fiancé... but I'm gettin' back on my feet and will be updating here veeeery soooon.

Aww, sorry to hear that, hon. Hope you're okay. We'll wait.

[Midge]

I second Earn.

[Mari]

Guess I'll write a bio too then:

Name: dunno, probably Elyssa Something. I'm open to suggestions.
Age: 27
Background: Her parents were ordinary people, trying to make a living whilst keeping their heads down. Elyssa was discovered in school to be very smart, so the company sponsored her education. Her passion and life is pretty much the world of books on anything and everything. She doesn't necessarily like her job or anything that takes her away from her comfy chair and books, but she is grateful to the company for giving her a life that allows her to read, so she will do whatever they ask of her.
She is a bit claustrophobic and doesn't do well with anything new or irregular and/or out of her comfort zone.

If something in here is not right, or not very appropriate, do share

[Mari]

And Tess, take your time.

[Midge]

Okay, official character post (with bios provided - I'll update as more bios get added.)

Tess: Admin dude
Earn: Local guide, Seghun Cardell
Varna: Elven historian, Primula
Feawen: Healer, Markus Tack
Mari: Mithril Expert, Elyssa
Midge: Dwarven Historian, Belord
Midge: Chief Miner, Mulrin
Acally: Unknown
Nerwen: Anthropologist, Lilyblack Gefea

[Nerwen]

Lilyblack Gefea: At t he end of her day at the Civic Hall where she works as a recording clerk, she returns to her apartment. It is a fourth story walkup with the shared use of some plumbing, but she doesn't mind. One more flight up the steps and she can escape onto the roof, eating her bread and cheese. She likes the view, and the rent is cheap as fat city folk don't like all those stars. She broods on the proposed expedition. Could there still be Truesilver artifacts in Moria with their original forges? How could they shape such a hard metal? She means to find out.

[Earniel]

I can see you're itching to start, Nerwen. But we usually let the game starter open a new thread specifically for the RPG itself when he or she deems it time to begin. This thread is likely just for character profile, discussion and planning, not the actual game writing.

[Nerwen]

Just playing around :P

[feawen]

Name Markus tack
Region Ronan somewhere, I'm thinking I can use the oral tradition of learning, mother to son.
Age 30
Trained as a pharmacist with a long family history of herb lore and healing. I'll go into this more as the game begins.
Fought in the wars. Do we know if the war is over now?
Has a scar from the corner of his right eye to ear. Still trying to figure out how he got this fighting. I'm thinking that he will have served in a local regiment, like a pals unit from the first world war, alot of people from a village all fighting together and tending to die together left villages with a lot if losses. I think his village will lose a lot of its youth and those who do come back will be very changed and scared. This trip will be his way as escaping the guilt he has.
He can be a girl if we have too many men or whatever. I'm thinking he can be herb lore, healy, first aid man.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I can see you're itching to start, Nerwen. But we usually let the game starter open a new thread specifically for the RPG itself when he or she deems it time to begin. This thread is likely just for character profile, discussion and planning, not the actual game writing.

Oh, and since this is a preliminary thread, I will change er rofession from anthropologist to archeologist. I am persuaded this is more true.
I will also start a ne thread about her adventures prior to the expedition.


Susie

[Midge]

Feawen, your character's been added to the bio post!

Edit: GUYS I am super psyched to be involved in RP again! Didn't realize how much fun I was having with LLL until it was over.

[feawen]

I'm with you there midge. I miss all the crazy stuff with LLL! It's a shame people drifted away from it, there was a few characters I would have liked to know what happened to them.

I'm thinking I'm going to play Markus quite broody, maybe a little dark. His going to be slow to reveal himself to the others. So very different to my other characters. I'm hoping there will be a insanely happy someone that can wind him up!

[Mari]

He'll make a nice duo with Elyssa then, though she's not the happy go luckky kind at all. But they can be silent together :P

[feawen]

Ya two moody grumps together!

[Nerwen]

I guess most of you have seen my prequel thread, "Adventures in Artifacts". Anybody want to join in, you are welcome, just shoot me a short pm about your character and what you intend to do.

[Midge]

It looks like at this point, character-wise, Acally and Tess still need to intro their characters. And I guess at some point, Attalus will want to be added to the list of players and post an intro here, since he seems interested in the prequel thread.

I'm actually super interested to see what Tess has decided to do map-wise and stuff. Anyone else with me?

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by feawen

This all sounds very interesting. If it was a blab to a book id be buying it! Anyway it seems to me that for a trip of this kind you would need a medical team or at least someone who knows first aid. Maybe act as a non combatant, radio operator type?
I was wondering if its a1930 depression or early period are you thinking lawless western or a bit of both? Pre or post equal right, female movement? Since at the moment there are a lot of girls! Not that empowered women are a bad thing!

I'm thinking a little earlier than 1930's. As far as women go, I liked Earniel's comment. I would say let's assume that women have equal rights, but not in the sense that there was any "movement" which took place to cause that, but more that women have just always been involved.

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I'm not sure if we'd need a radio operator, I suppose that would depend on how hush-hush the whole operation is.

I think we will have a radio operator, but I will probably write him/her.

Originally Posted by Mari

I think I'd like to join in.
Perhaps as an expert on mythril, working a desk job at the company who has all her knowledge from books and has never even seen a cave before? Her job would be to assess if the source found is actually a viable source.

Mari, that's perfect. Make it so!

Originally Posted by Midge

I feel like of all the old races, obviously Men are most numerous, then dwarves or people who have dwarven blood. Elves have left and Hobbits and Ents have just sort of disappeared. In this case, dwarven history would more be considered "fact" than Elvish or Hobbitish histories indeed.

And I was thinking the chief miner being mostly dwarfish just made sense. Surely there would be colonies of mostly dwarfs where, even if they have lost a lot of the craft secrets of old, they are still darn better miners than anyone else.

Midge, as Earniel mentioned later there are no dwarves, hobbits, or elves at this point. Which I believe you already corrected, but I haven't gotten to reading character bios yet.

For someone to have hobbit linage, or dwarvish linage, would be like saying, "My great grandmother was 1/4th Cherokee." You probably don't look very much like a Native American, you are not particularly aware of the culture unless you took it upon yourself to go do a lot of digging, and it's likely more of a subject for casual dinner conversation than anything major in your life. You might have an heirloom, but that's about it.

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I think we were going with them being extinct in this period, rather. They were never very numerous and I think Tolkien established the wars with the Orks in the Third Aera depleted their numbers to levels they never truly recovered from. So considering the long time passed since then for the period in which this game takes place, extinct seems likely. But we discussed how it was possible that humans could still have some dwarven blood even if the culture and their inate skills had been long lost.

Well said again, Earniel. I think the bit I put in bold is particular well stated.

[Tessar]

Thanks for submitting, everyone! These are some awesome characters, and I appreciate you all putting them out there with relatively little information from me... you all did a great job, I have a few notes on them which will be things you probably could not have known without speaking to me about the world/plot. So, again, thank you for putting them out there.

Originally Posted by feawen

Name Markus tack
Region Ronan somewhere, I'm thinking I can use the oral tradition of learning, mother to son.
Age 30
Trained as a pharmacist with a long family history of herb lore and healing. I'll go into this more as the game begins.
Fought in the wars. Do we know if the war is over now?
Has a scar from the corner of his right eye to ear. Still trying to figure out how he got this fighting. I'm thinking that he will have served in a local regiment, like a pals unit from the first world war, alot of people from a village all fighting together and tending to die together left villages with a lot if losses. I think his village will lose a lot of its youth and those who do come back will be very changed and scared. This trip will be his way as escaping the guilt he has.
He can be a girl if we have too many men or whatever. I'm thinking he can be herb lore, healy, first aid man.

This looks great, thanks! The war is technically over, but a lot of people question if it really is. He needs a connection to the company so that he would be invited, and there should be a good reason for him being specifically chosen. Maybe performed with honors in the war and is known for his heroism in saving lives on the battlefield.

Originally Posted by Mari

Guess I'll write a bio too then:

Name: dunno, probably Elyssa Something. I'm open to suggestions.
Age: 27
Background: Her parents were ordinary people, trying to make a living whilst keeping their heads down. Elyssa was discovered in school to be very smart, so the company sponsored her education. Her passion and life is pretty much the world of books on anything and everything. She doesn't necessarily like her job or anything that takes her away from her comfy chair and books, but she is grateful to the company for giving her a life that allows her to read, so she will do whatever they ask of her.
She is a bit claustrophobic and doesn't do well with anything new or irregular and/or out of her comfort zone.

If something in here is not right, or not very appropriate, do share

Mari, I like the character but have a few thoughts.

For most of what you're talking about to happen (school sponsorship, coming along on the trip, etc.) she would need to be related to someone very high up in the company (probably father or grandfather is a higher up) and would probably need to be studying something like engineering, or possibly a scientist of some sort, and she would need to be at the top of her field if she's working for the company.

Alternately, if she is more of a scholar, I think it makes sense for her to work for a museum or library and have a family member very high up in the company.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Okay, tentative biography:

Lilyblack Gefea Very slender and athletic. Studied archeology at Edoras University. Has always been restless and given to wandering about at night, a habit that her family attributes to a strain of Elven blood, though her family has been living in the Westmark for as far as anyone can remember. Journeyed once to the place where legends place Lothlorien. She made a dig in a strange mound and found, with broken pottery, a strange verdigrised brooch with the pin knocked off the back. She has cleaned it up and found traces of old green enamel, making her conjecture that it was once a leaf. She wears it on a gold chain around her neck and claims it helps her see in the dark. Wears only back leather clothes. Wants to join the party both to get material for her doctoral degree and to perhaps discover the old links of Moria with Hollin.

I like the character, but I have a similar comment that she needs to be related to someone in the company or be on the board of a museum or something similar. She needs a very compelling reason to be invited; the mission is secret, and profit-oriented. She would need to be top of her field instead of a doctoral student if she's just being invited for her expertise, but if she's still a student she would definitely need very strong connections to the company.

Originally Posted by Midge

A few details - I'll get into the background stuff later, after my questions are answered.

Name: Mulrin
Age: 67
Originating location: Erebor
Occupation: Master Metalworker

As a Master Metalworker, Mulrin often gets requests for highly specialized pieces and prefers to mine the metal he requires personally to ensure the highest quality for his pieces. There are a few highly treasured Dwarven mithril artifacts still in the Lonely Mountain, and his occupation and skill have allowed him to get to touch them and study them, although admittedly only a few times in his life, and then for not very long. He is regarded very highly in his profession.

Appearance: Having Dwarf blood, he is about 5'4" with a very strong build. He is useful with a sword, and adequate with a bow, but his real skill is in mining and metalworking. He has a red leather jerkin that he wears most of the time. It is emblazoned with insignia denoting his profession and skill level. His dark red hair and beard are tightly braided, and he wears a pair of rough hide gloves most of the time (except to eat). He wears a belt with a peculiar bronze-and-pewter buckle around his waist.

I guess I have a little more background than I thought, but I still need to come up with something for his connection to the Moria quest.

Edit: Changing his info from "Dwarf-race" to "Having Dwarf-blood", including age, race and a couple of other things.

I like the character and he sounds like the exact kind of person who would be invited. 67 is probably a bit old, and the dwarven heritage would be very far back... I'd imagine someone working like that and coming on this trip would need to be around 35. I would say 50 is probably the absolute max.

I don't think sword experience makes much sense. At this point guns have been around for a while, and especially if he's living in or near a city it's unlikely he'd have sword experience. Being a metal worker, particularly an expert in his field, would probably take up just about all of his time.

Originally Posted by Midge

"Fact" Historian: Belord, Man
Age: Mid-50s
Occupation: Well-respected Dwarven Scholar at the Minas Tirith* university
Appearance: Thicker build, shorter stature (5'5"ish). Moderate arm strength (from carrying books and such) but not a swordsman, marksman, fighter, or any other physical sort of skills.

Background: His father was a nobleman in Gondor, and when Belord was young, he was sent to school in Minas Tirith. He found he enjoyed study and continued on at University, where he discovered he was fascinated by Dwarven history and culture. In his twenties and thirties, he visited both the Glittering Caves and the Lonely Mountain several times for "exchange program" type of studies. He's even made it to the Ered Luin once.

When he became what he considered "too old" for such journeys, he settled down at his school to start recording what he had learned on his trips. He has written several volumes of what is considered the authority on the Dwarves, from culture to customs to history to artifacts and more.

When rumor of an expedition to Moria surfaced, he took up the habit of briskly walking around the city twice a day, and cut back on his "study pasties". He knew if he could prove that he wouldn't be a liability to the safety and efficiency of the Company's expedition company, he would be seriously considered as a historian for the trip. His presence would lend credence to the findings and he couldn't miss out on the chance to see Moria!

Personality: Being a scholar, Belord is a fairly large introvert, but he worked well enough with teams on his previous journeys. He is curious and can tend to be slightly fanatical when he gets excited about things. His main motivation is finding the truth and thus, he is very straightforward and logically minded when it comes to philosophizing.

(*All references to locations here are subject to whatever maps we come up with. The references to names are specific to the corresponding locations, so if we decide it's evolved to "Minastirithia", then that's where his university is located)

A few notes on this. There are no rumors about the trip in existence, this is incredibly hush-hush. I think his age is going to be a major downfall, and he would need to be a bit younger and in very good health. He needs a connection to the company that would invite him for his expertise.

[feawen]

i can make markus a radio operator as well if that is easier. drafted into the army for his healing skills and picked up radio skills as members of his unit died?
i have an idea for his reason to be there. im guessing as the war progressed supplies become short, such as medication, so his knowledge of herb lore was helpful. as the war continued maybe he was in a unit that was in a very dangerous part, maybe he managed to save someone important with his skills, such as a captain from a good family, a war correspondent saw him save this captain, take a photo?, wrote a story and he become a hero even though he didnt want to be. like the americain soldiers that held the flag up, sorry i dont know the name of the photo just the photo its self. there was a lot of war propaganda around at that time. he gets his name in the paper, with a list of his abilites, in the army for so long as a medic and radio operator, knows herb lore, helps to proserve the limited medical supplies the army has, saves a captain from a well known family while taking fire, etc. this is a story many people who served in the army would have had, he just happened to have a photo taken of it.
i dont know what you think of this. any ideas welcome!