Notice: With the Laurelin server shutting down, our website will soon reflect the Meriadoc name. You can still use the usual URL, or visit us at https://meriadocarchives.org/
'A Wandering Company', Chapter One: August 25, 14:00
| Date: | August 25th, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 14:00 server-time |
| Location: | High Moor (35.1S, 9.1W) |
Event details:
Chapter One (Aug. 25): High Moor
Join us this Sunday at 14:00 server-time on the High Moor at 35.1S, 9.1W. Message Nenaras if you have trouble finding the location. This week's prompt is below...
At the end of the first high summer of the Fourth Age, a Wandering Company of Elves who yet remained in Middle-earth departed from Imladris for Emyn Beraid, the Tower Hills. There, they sought to peer into the seeing stone of Elostirion and catch sight of their beloved lord—Elrond Peredhel—and those of their friends and family that he took with him when he departed Middle-earth for Eldamar in Valinor.
The mastery of this company fell to Nenaras Neldion, an elf-lord high but queer. ‘A tireless trafficker in trouble,’ old Erestor, counsellor to Elrond, once called him, and this judgement was heard as an echo throughout that fair valley, shared by elves both wayward and wise, for ever did Nenaras jest, jibe, and make light of the pronouncements of the Wise, harbouring and jettying thoughts contrary and strange.
How, then, this figure of debate came to master a Wandering Company was the course of chance, when, amidst the last of Imladris’s feasts of high summer, the thoughts of the Imladhrim turned to those who had departed for the Uttermost West not but a year before.
‘Ai!’ one of the elves cried on the highest of the feast days. ‘How my heart pangs to think that our lord is now sundered from us!’
‘My heart feels the very same,’ came another, ‘though its pain is redoubled, for not only have I lost a lord but three brothers, too! What I would not do to catch sight of them all?”
And to this were joined many other voices, who grieved but did not begrudge the departure of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, and friends for the Uttermost West.
‘Gone your lord is, but gone also is your wisdom?’ one last voice chided. ‘Forget you all your lore? Or know you not of the stone of Elendil, which sits yet in Elostirion in lonely speech with the Master-stone of Avallónë?’
‘We know it and we do not forget it, Nenaras of the Havens,’ a proud elf shot back. ‘Yet we are beneath the roof of the lords Elladan and Elrohir and not that of old Elendil the Tall!’
‘Then, uproot your feet shod in comely slippers and replant yourselves in a soil where your desires be met not with conversation but sight and more; let us make for Elostirion, whither we might see those that we love and long for!’
‘And abandon the festivities?’ the proud elf replied. ‘Even were it desired (and I doubt overmuch that it is, weary as our folk have become in these late days), only the Wandering Companies know the best and safest paths thither, and those that yet remain are but few and at this time abroad!’
‘I know all those old paths,’ Nenaras Neldion laughed. ‘I know every way, every place of encampment, every cache, and hidden hoard. I have crossed sea and sand, and ice and moor—I have journeyed to the Tower Hills a thousand times o’er. Besides, a child of men could make the journey with nary a scratch in these bright days of watchless peace!’
And, at that, the proud elf became quiet, and the others murmured amongst themselves, and considered what the glib elf-lord had said; and after a time, it was decided: the elves would go to Elostirion in Emyn Beraid, and Nenaras Neldion would lead them thither.
That evening, flush with the dying breath of summer, a call was sent out across the Valley for tinkers and ferriers, and minstrels, and outriders, and cooks and vitners, and other folk besides: a Wandering Company was being gathered!
***
Through the night, the Elves toiled tirelessly in preparation for that company’s departure. And by the morning, their labours done, those who wished to journey to the Tower Hills rode out from the Vale with hooves a-thundering like the Bruinen—a host brilliantly arrayed in all the hues of summer's end. Up they climbed winding paths and down they crossed tawny moor—sunkissed skin and flowing hair riven by a morning breeze whose bite presaged the coming of autumn.*
*When the Elves had rode a day or less, they hearkened to make camp while still upon the High Moor. This resolution came not of weariness or sluggardry, but (as was the wont of the Elves) of a desire to tarry in the beauty of that place, for open to the firmament, the moor was as one of the observatories of old—where the astrologers of Gondolin or Ost-in-Edhil charted both constellations and dooms—and saw glistering stars and burning sun like few places left in the realms of Elfinesse. Thus, they halted their march and in a dell ringed by a small, striving copse, the Elves began their repose....
Details
Each event in A Wandering Company will take place in a new location—a camp-site or place of rest—along the route to the Tower Hills, and feature both plotted narrative and quintessentially Elvish social opportunities (the sharing of riddles, poems, lore, and hymns). Some events’ narratives may be as “light” as the gathering of firewood (in which case, there will be much time for song and dance beneath a starlit sky!), while others may involve the solving of a mystery (in which case, it’s time for our dear elves to lay the Dorwinion aside).
Elves of any background (be they from Lindon, Lórien, Mirkwood, or even the Far East and South) are welcome to attend, and a hook will be provided for them. Moreover, hooks can be created for players who need to drop in and out of sessions as the series progresses; perhaps your Elf falls in with this Company on the road, or, delighted by some choice ruin along the way, abandons the Company for reverie. This series will be flexible in its demands of attendees.
Furthermore, players are welcome—and encouraged!—to give their characters a unique role in the company; considering that any large party of traveling folk often distributes duties and responsibilities of camp across its pilgrims, Elves, who travel in style, would naturally have a variety of specialized roles in their Wandering Companies. These roles might include a steward (master of provisions); a chamberlain (treasurer, master of camp, and master of dress); a cook or master of fire; a butler (master of wine); a master of horse; tinkers, ferriers, and weavers; minstrels (harpists, pipers, etc.); scribes and lore-masters; huntsmen and falconers; outriders and sentries; and countless other roles besides. Taking on one of these roles, allows your character a special place in these events. These roles also have the additional benefit of “grounding” this series, as, though Elves are Incarnates, they still have fleshly needs, even if those needs are different and less demanding than those of Men, and they require shelter, nourishment, and entertainment; these roles help to sustain that illusion, and allow for RPers to explore a slice-of-Elvish-life. If you think your character might fit one of these roles (or any other that comes to mind!), please contact Nenaras and let him know!
Finally, do consider things like your outfit or mount when attending these events, since thoughtful cosmetics can aid player immersion. For example, because these Elves are travellers of wilderness, it is unlikely that they (or their mounts) would be heavily armoured or armed. Consider things like this if possible!
Guidelines
Players who attend these events agree to the following guidelines. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in you being asked to leave an event or barred from attending future events:
- Please do not harass or troll players who attend these events; this extends to critiquing other players’ RP or spamming OOC emotes and items, such as fireworks.
- Please respect the DM’s decisions. If you have an issue with any of the DM’s choices, be they related to the direction of the events or anything else, please raise them to the DM privately. Generally speaking, however, what the DM says, goes.
- Any player who has a history of abusing or doxxing other players is not welcome at any of these events, and if they attend, they will be asked to leave.
- Considering the varying levels of knowledge of “Elvish lore” across RPers, we ask that players do not expect each other to be fully fluent in Elvish culture, history, or language. Having memorized the mother- and father-names of all seven sons of Fëanor does not a good writer or roleplayer of Elves make. By that same virtue, we ask that members at least try to write Elves in a way that “feels" Tolkienian, and is grounded in the legendarium in some way, shape, or form. If you haven’t read texts like The Silmarillion before, that’s no problem—but it doesn’t hurt to give pages like, https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Eldar)">Eldar - Tolkien Gateway, a perusal, so that you have a broad idea of your elf’s place in the world of Middle-earth and its history.
- Related to the above, we ask that players avoid contention around various aspects of “Elvish lore” where possible. Considering Tolkien’s works are not a canon but a corpus of disparate texts with conflicting and unsettled ideas, such as the parentage of Gil-Galad, the history of Galadriel and Celeborn, and even the relationship of the earth to the sun and moon, we do not consider any one interpretation of these “problems” (or ones like them) any more true than another—and we are not interested in litigating debates about inconsistences across the legendarium during these events. Avoid debating these issues where possible, and if/when they are brought up, be flexible and artistic: perhaps your character believes the father of Gil-Galad to be Orodreth, but there is room to question this fact in the written histories of the Elves!
- Please avoid “lording” over other characters. While many Elven characters have titles such as elf-lords and ladies, and though some Elven groups (such as the Elves of Valinor) are considered “higher” than others, we ask that players avoid focus on hierarchies as much as possible; no character is expected to defer or grovel to any other character, especially given the limited textual precedent for an explicit hierarchy among the Elves, even where some are granted titles that others are not.
- Finally, we expect a high quality of RP whenever possible. This means that you should take your time when writing emotes, and clearly read and react to the replies of other players who attend these events.
- If you are deemed to be disrupting this series or its attendees in any other way, you may be asked to leave an event or barred from attending future events.
| Website: | |
|---|---|
| Contact: | Nenaras |
