Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Our tale takes us to Middle-Earth, dear listeners. A land of beauty and wonder not seen in our realm of existence. Kingdoms of Men most noble exist in these lands, chivalrous Gondorians and the Rohirrim Horse Lords; mighty bastions of good. Within their halls of stone and under mountains old dwell the Dwarves, a proud people with whom the world watches enviously, for their mounds of wealth are plenty and theirs. In forests yonder with music, art and song have the age-old Elves made a home, a race of peace and tranquillity that will do all to defend what it has. Finally, the Hobbits most fair reside in their small dwelling; the Shire. They are a peaceful folk, not willing to get involved within the diplomacy and tidings of the other peoples of Arda.
All is not well upon Middle-Earth however, for after an eon of waiting, the Dark Lord Sauron; Servant of Morgoth, has returned. He brings with him fire and malice to conquer the lands of Men, Dwarf, Elf and Hobbit and will do all in his unquestionable power to seize the territories that he believes are rightfully his, to bring forth an order of excellence and efficiency, to succeed where his master could not. To his South reside the Haradrim, or Southrons in our Western-Tongue, tribal confederations aplenty united in their hatred for the Men of the West. To his North we find the powerful and militaristic Easterlings, Men of Rhun who have themselves brought Gondor onto her knees innumerable times. Saurons numerous legions are filled with Orcs, creatures that themselves are testimony to the defiance against Eru Ilúvatar and Sauron will unleash them upon Arda when he is ready.
Long ago, Sauron forged a mighty tool: The One Ring. He lost this weapon long ago - at the final battle of the War of the Last Alliance. Now he yearns for its return and will stop at nothing to get it to assist him in his quest for unification and conquest of Arda and funnily enough, it has ended up in the hands of a young Hobbit. Now, now is when the time is to strike for both parties, to end the stand off once and for all.
In the East Mordor and her countless evil men allies march, the Last War readied. Since the Dark Lord sent forth his hosts in TA 2998, much of the lands of the Free Peoples have been lost. After a bold counter-attack and desperate defense Osgiliath is fallen, and the hosts of the Great Eye have forced the Crossings of the Anduin at the Tower of the Stars, Cair Andros, Pelargir. The forces of the evil have bridged the river at Tol Brandir and the Mouths, with rock and stone, and raised a mighty fortress men name Ungband to bar the passages. Down have been cast the Argonnath, their stone used to pave the Black Road that winds from Mordor even to the borders of Lorien and through the Wold. All Mirkwood is invested, save the stronghold of Thranduil, by the giant spiders of the spawn of Ungoliant, and much of the southern wood feeds the fires of Dol Guldur, for Sauron's forces have taken it and the eastern half of the vale of the Anduin for their own. Gondor's southern fiefs are under threat by forces from the Pelargir, and siegeworks have been raised against Minas Tirith. In Rohan Dunlendings raid and pillage, though they have been thrown back many times, and always a smoke is rising from Isengard. Though the Elves of Lorien have tried to guard their realm and push back the shadow, many fair folk were killed in battle upon the eastern shores of the Anduin before the Tower of the Eyes. Dain's folk hold still the passages of Erebor, and have dispatched a great expedition to retake Moria from the fell folk that slew Balin- but they still face evil creatures without number in the depths, no easy task even for the stout soldiers. Rhun marches, and even the Iron Hills are threatened, and the Corsairs and Haradrim raid up and down Gondor's southern fiefs. It is a fell time for men, but there is some hope- the Ring, though pursued by wargs even to the steps of the Last Homely House, has been found. If it can be unmade, the dominion of Sauron can be undone. But if it cannot be destroyed, much may go ill with Middle-Earth, for the shadow only grows.
Now it is up to you, listener of this tale; what side do you fight for?
Some General Batshit; AKA "Rules"
My Word is Law, only Morgoth's may break it.
There is, to an extent, established canon for this RP. If you're apping for a faction on the list, it'd be dandy if you could go look through the IC and see how your situation has changed compared to that of the books. Apps that don't account for this existing canon will not be accepted.
If you're making a claim to being able to do something, please, quote a LotR Source that is Canon, or argue why you believe that a source that is based on assumptions could work.
Respect eachother or you may find yourself no longer welcome here.
Be realistic.
And above all: don't take it out of the frying pan and into the fire. That spoils my roast mutton.
Table of Strengths
The plywood one is clearly superior...
Anyway, generally, we need something to go on to provide bases of strengths for races; to see how powerful your Hobbit Battalions truly are:
Goblin: 1
Lesser Spiders: 1.25
Hobbit: 1.5
Orc: 1.75
Morannon Orc: 2
Lesser Men: 3
Uruk: 3.5
Higher Men: 3.75
Dwarves: 5
Great Spiders: 5.25
Half-Trolls: 6
Elves: 6.75
Trolls: 90
Olog-Hai: 110
Mumakil: 300
These are in no way set figures that will determine battle, but will merely serve as the backbone of realism. Or, y'know, the hilt of Grond when I smash your face in.
Ships and Siege
Ships: If you've got a coast, go crazy and build boats. 200 Strength cost
Trebuchet: Like a catapult, but it doesn't shoot cats. 160 Strength cost
Catapults: Y'know what irks me? Walls. 120 Strength.
Ballistae: If you ever feel like making a quick shish kebab... 100 Strength cost
Great Ballista: Larger than its cousin, this device flings barbs that can damage fortifications and bring down trolls, while their lesser friends are more use against individual soldiers. 230 Strength cost
Ram: More expensive than a goat, that's for sure. 60 Strength cost
Ladders: Warning, keep away from snakes. 10 Strength cost
Fortifications
This is going by a base number of 10,000 laborers (Essentially the forces you commit to built the structure), so, you fluctuate accordingly to how much population you have. So, if you have 20,000 laborers it reduces it by half and such.
It takes 10,000 Laborers:
5 IC pages to construct a Wooden Fortress, 10 for a Stone Fortress.
1 IC page to construct a Tower
2 IC pages to construct an Outpost.
Elves, Dwarves and Uruks receive a quality bonus, essentially their laborers are worth 1.2 of everyone else's.
Recruitment
Each major faction starts with a base recruitment point pool of 2000 points (Represented as the statistics in the table above). Each IC page you detail what you've recruited, for example, as Goblins are worth 1 point, you may train 2000 Goblins every IC page. Minor factions start with a base recruitment of 500 points, and independent characters will have between 50-100, depending on how powerful the individual character is. Characters controlled by a RPer attached to a faction grant a Barracks equivalent bonus to that faction, though they cannot be run by that faction's RPer.
If you wish to mount your soldiers, you double their strength. For example, you'd be able to train 1000 Morannon Orcs each page regularly. However, if you wished to mount them on Wargs you'd only be able to get 500.
The construction of Orc Pits, Barracks, etc, etc in a region (As defined by pure common sense but I can assist if necessary) will add 100 Strength to your recruitment pool. It takes 3 IC pages to build these buildings.
Race Specific Rules
Goblins and Trolls (And Mumakil, hurr durr) can't mount things.
Roster - Major Factions
Rhun: Liecthenbourg
Mordor: G-Tech.
Erebor: Asyir
Harad: Shaggai
Lindon: Vacant
Isengard: Esternial
Kingdom of Gondor: Vacant
Kingdom of Rohan: Mesrane
Lorien: The Starlight
Rivendell: Olog-Hai
The Woodland Realm: World Anarchic Union
Roster - Minor Factions
Spiders of Mirkwood: Vacant
The Orcs of the Misty Mountains: Vacant
The Orcs of the Grey Mountains: Vacant
Variag Khanate: Vacant
The Petty Kingdom of Tharbad: Elerian
Dale: Vacant
Beornings/Anduin: Aryle
Ered Luin: Vacant
Vim Maldur: Aliasa (100R)
Roster - Characters
Mouth of Sauron: Liecthenbourg
Durnazag: Liecthenbourg
Gandalf: Greater Confederacy.
Cirdan: Vacant
Mahor: G-Tech
Sadaauk the Bleeder: Aliasa
Blaarg the Pacifist: The Flutterlands
Witch-King of Angmar: Esternial
Laenor: Landenburg
Nuli: Aliasa
The Map
Archive
Historical Record
Great and Glorious IC
Quest Requests
My Wise Council (Co-OPS)
Liecthenbourg
Quests
Ask and ye shall receive a quest that'll grant you anything from a weapon, to more units, etc. (Credit to Dan for this)
Current Quests
None, as of yet.
Please, if you have any suggestions let me know - if others agree, I'll put a poll up.
I'm also looking for a map-maker, preferably one that can fix the .jpeggy mess we have currently.