Scarburg Meadhall Discussion Thread

[Folwren]

Well, that could be fairly easy if Nogrod is too easy to post. I just means you'll stay out of a job. Thornden's not a lord, but is he too high up in the hierarcy?

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Well, that could be fairly easy if Nogrod is too easy to post. I just means you'll stay out of a job. Thornden's not a lord, but is he too high up in the hierarcy?

Certainly not.

[Folwren]

Alright I posted a very summary-ish summary. I'm not quite sure what form the taxes are taking. Are the landlords going to send wains of grain, along with some livestock to Scarburg? Or should they be handing over bag-fulls of gold?

Let me know if anything needs to be changed, anybody.

In the mean time, everyone else can start posting their response to stuff that has happened. In a few days, someone can get a post up covering the trip to the second landlord. I can do it, but it doesn't have to be.

-- Foley

[littlemanpoet]

Confession: I don't have any patience left, waiting for Eodwine to be able to make his appearance at Scarburg. I really didn't think, when I first posted back in October, that I'd still be waiting in April to get Eodwine into action. So i had a thought, and would appreciate some feedback. How would it be if I back-date all of my Eodwine posts, since returning, to "ten days ago" - put that in the title - and have him arrive on this Night?

Thanks,
Elempi

[Folwren]

I'm for it.

-- Foley

[Thinlómien]

LMP, I understand you want your beloved character back asap and I also see this RPG is currently not moving much. However, bringing Eodwine back will cause complications because Scarburg cannot have two eorls at the same time, and many of the active players' characters are (sometimes irreversibly) tied to the current eorl. That is why I would not rush headlong into the confrontation, because we don't have even an idea of the general future timeline of the RPG (and also because it'd be kind of weird that Eodwine appeared only two days after Athanar - does that make sense with the travelling to Minas Tirith and back?).

Does anybody have any brilliant ideas how to keep the "new" characters in the game and let LMP have Eodwine back at the same time? Please discuss.

[littlemanpoet]

Eodwine isn't coming back to be Eorl. He's coming back to be Saeryn's husband, and father of his children. Yes, he'll find out to his surprise that he's been replaced, and he may have to take a little while to process his new situation, but he'll give way to Athanar. That's how he is.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Well, it's hardly of my business of all people, as I haven't been around by the time of the first game, but just generally speaking, I think bringing Eodwine in now is not very, well, logical - basically what Lommy had said. I mean, of course it's a pity if you, LMP, wanted to bring him back and we have been slow, but I guess nothing much can be done about it, unless we wanted to e.g. skip and jump somewhere in time, or something (although there are still present issues, and several of them, which I think people would still like to solve, in personal stories of their characters etc. - even thinking of your own).

But from the purely in-story perspective, I think it would really be a bit too much of a stretch, for logic... say, even if Eodwine suddenly miraculously got well on the very same day Athanar came to Scarburg (while just a day before he must have looked like dying - otherwise Éomer would have known that he is okay and thus he could have waited just a while and simply put him back into place, without the need to bring Athanar!), it still would take at least a while to get from Minas Tirith to Scarburg... not to mention, wouldn't Eodwine still be left for some time after his apparent recovery for "rest" at the Houses of Healing? (And if he already was in the process of recovery, strolling the gardens like Faramir, that would logically clash with what I have said above about Éomer - if Eodwine's been healthy already for several weeks, Athanar wouldn't have been sent to Scarburg in the first place, or at most sent in as a temporary replacement for a week or two, until Eodwine can come by himself - which it apparently wasn't.)

I don't want, of all things, to be a slave to some story or logic - a story, especially a fantastic one, can always be altered to fit us if we need it, but I think this would possibly be stretching it a little bit too much... beyond believability. Sadly, here it conflicts with the appearance of one character... but I would say that's what the RP brings with itself, if you took some role of such an important character like Eodwine. Tolkien would have said that the character you have created has its own life now, at some point you cease to become its full master. There is an "objective reality" of our "Faerie" world, here represented also by the fact that the time flows according to how the other players post. I don't know-perhaps you could still focus rather just on other of your characters, and simply wait a while longer? Perhaps with the lords' matter being cleared up, it won't take us that long to move forwards in time. For now, I can very well understand how much you'd like to post for Eodwine, but then, it was also your choice to make him leave in the first place.

Just my opinion in general. Like I said, though, I'm probably the least of all to have anything to say about this...

[littlemanpoet]

Ouch.

[Folwren]

Oh! Poor Elempi! You're little post above makes me sad.

Legate is right, though.

Can we all make a very conserted effort to get this Day wrapped up in the near future? Before April ends? Please? Because then we can leap forward to when it would be logical for Eodwine to return.

-- Folwren

[littlemanpoet]

I understand the logic of the story. The army of the Rohirrim traveled from Edoras to Minas Tirith in 4 or 5 days, NOT using the road all the time. Based on that, I figure travel time to Scarburg would be 5 longish days, maybe 6. This is why I posited 10 days previous, to give Eodwine at least 4 or 5 days recovery. If this is deemed not enough time, I understand and I'll just wait. Under these circumstances, I must confess that I will continue to find it difficult to be motivated to post.

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

... it was also your choice to make him leave in the first place.

I want to be sure that I understand this correctly. It appears that you are saying, Legate, that it is my own fault that Eodwine has been sick in Minas Tirth. Am I understanding you correctly?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

I understand the logic of the story. The army of the Rohirrim traveled from Edoras to Minas Tirith in 4 or 5 days, NOT using the road all the time. Based on that, I figure travel time to Scarburg would be 5 longish days, maybe 6. This is why I posited 10 days previous, to give Eodwine at least 4 or 5 days recovery. If this is deemed not enough time, I understand and I'll just wait. Under these circumstances, I must confess that I will continue to find it difficult to be motivated to post.

The 10 days looked, with the bit of stretch as much as story normally can allow and allows, logical enough to me. It's just that him popping up tomorrow that struck me as quite weird...

Originally Posted by LMP

I want to be sure that I understand this correctly. It appears that you are saying, Legate, that it is my own fault that Eodwine has been sick in Minas Tirth. Am I understanding you correctly?

Well, I don't know how the story exactly came to that point, as I haven't been around when it happened, but of course, he's your character, isn't he? I don't know if you call it "fault", but it is how things are, apparently. (Not sure what you are following by asking about this, because you know a lot more about it than me.) I gathered that you had put Eodwine "on standby" (or that you originally didn't want to make him return at all, assuming from that Athanar etc. was supposed to take his post permanently?), so now of course there was trouble with bringing him back, because the game continued with counting on your original idea of him not being there at the moment, or for long (although as we can see, possibilities to do it are still there, only it does not go as smoothly).

[Durelin]

Well, yea. As I understood it, LMP, there was no when you were coming back. So it's a bit strange to me to come back and expect everything to fall into place for you, even if it has been a lengthy time since your surprise return -- especially when (as far as I know) you did not communicate until yesterday what even your intentions were for Eodwine.

Even if Eodwine does not feel the need to retake his post as Eorl, it still greatly affects every character (and likely the arrangements made by the king) to have the former Eorl return who apparently has a lot of people loyal to him. I'm not saying then that it can't happen (obviously it can and could be interesting), but that since it is a big deal that has a big effect on the RP, it's not necessarily one person's right to say it's happening now.

You know, discussion is good. Maybe if this sort of discussion had happened as soon as you got back, you'd be closer to having Eodwine back. As far as I know it didn't?

Yes, I know, I haven't posted in ages (so why am I posting here now? >_>). Too much politicking and nitpicking, IC and OOC. Need(ed) a break. To those I haven't apologized to already, I'm sorry.

Maybe we do need to talk about the future of the RP, though. If it's still fun for people or not. I don't really have much business in that, but obviously I'm not the only one who hasn't been posting. Though everyone has their own reasons.

[Folwren]

Geez. I'd rather not see this thing crash and half the writers leave because they're frustrated. I don't have anything to add to the current issue at the moment except to ask everyone not to get mad, and most of all, don't just throw up your hands in annoyance and leave. Not posting on the game thread is not going to solve any problems, and I propose that if people keep posting, everything will be worked out...if not for the good of the characters in the story, at least for our benefit.

Elempi, if you'd like to know, when you first left, there was a discussion about whether or not we should just remove Eodwine permanently (i.e. kill him off). But the hope that you may someday return could not be gotten rid of by all of us older players, and that is why we wrote him off as sick and shipped him off to Minas Tirith. He could return, if necessary...but after a while, if the game had progressed much longer in game time, he probably would have ended up dead.

It has only been six months since you returned. It took us nearly a year to draw to an end the day on which you announced you'd be leaving. It's not going to take us that long to finish this day. That is, not if everyone puts effort into it.

[Durelin]

I'm certainly not *mad.* People have more reason to be mad at me I'm sure.

[littlemanpoet]

Durelin, quoting myself in post # 2659 from October 13,2010:

Plans? It appears from my scanning of the thread since I went on my little adventure, is that there is a new eorl at Scarburg by the will of the king of the eorlingas. Eodwine will of course obey the king's will. He will also be willing to remain at Scarburg if the new eorl will have him.

I made my intentions clear about Eodwine from the get-go.

Never mind, Legate. You didn't mean anything hurtful. It just felt that way.

I had forgotten that I mentioned the idea of backdating already back in October, and the timing was discussed back then, thus the idea was dropped because it didn't seem feasible. I'll wait.

[Folwren]

Good. I'm glad no one is cranky. I was really worried there for a minute.

We'll get this done. Really, we will, and it'll all be great.

-- Folwren

[Nogrod]

Okay. I seem to have a "march-madness" of my own with the school every year. I'm very sorry I haven't have time to delve into this of late. But it should get better now. If no one is willing to move things forwards I can do it in a day or two.

[Folwren]

Okay, that sounds good, Nogrod. I'll plan on posting the cotinuance only if you don't post in the the next two days or so. I won't have time to post before then, anyway, so it's just as well.

-- Foley

[Nogrod]

Well... erm... I've not only been overloaded with work, the choir and the national elections but I have also lost my laptop (and my home-PC takes some 45 minutes to just open up nowadays) - so I have been totally unable to even visit the 'Downs for the last two weeks. The last eight days I have been taken from early morning to midnight every day...

But I have returned the last essays to the students today and I have four days of easterholidays in front of me. So even if there are things waiting to be done - like cleaning up the mess at my home, washing the dishes for the last two weeks, updating my course-materials etc. - I will write us off, back to Scarburg during the vacation.

So anyone willing to add anythnig there, plese do it soonish.

Heh, my usual March-Madness turned out to be partially an April-Madness as well.

[Folwren]

Great to see you back, Nogrod.

I started writing a post yesterday morning and got stuck rather badly, so I'm glad you're here to take the helm.

-- Folwren

[Nogrod]

Foley: if you had ideas, please share them (either here or via PM). I'm quite at odds with how to wrap it up. Probably not with a bang but with a whimper of sorts.

A general question to everyone.

As it looks it's not too energising to write about these landlords and the relations between the Mead Hall and them (at least on this level), should I write our characters checking all of the three and decide on an overall outcome / arrangement? I think I could do it in a way that leaves doors open to any future tensions that might lighten up the storyline later on if wished, but which could stay behind if we did not wish to go for that direction in the general narrative.

So what say you?

[Nogrod]

After checking the last posts (so I have written the last time like over a month ago? Jesus!), I think there is quite little to wrap up as I hadn't noticed Foley's last post until now. She does a fine job in moving things forth there.

But still, if you have any ideas Foley (or anyone), let me know. I'll bring the men back to Scarburg tomorrow with some general ideas of the situation.

[littlemanpoet]

Cognizant that I was not asked, I offer my 2 cents humbly: perhaps it would be best in the future to handle "off Scarburg" storylines as separate, temporary rpg's so that they don't threaten to overwhelm the Scarburg happenings.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Cognizant that I was not asked

Well, I did say "everyone", and "anyone"... So you think you belong to neither of the groups, then?

Originally Posted by lmp

perhaps it would be best in the future to handle "off Scarburg" storylines as separate, temporary rpg's so that they don't threaten to overwhelm the Scarburg happenings.

That sounds a good idea - and I think that has been done before. When we started this one I did think it would be over pretty fast as people were writing actively back then... Well, it didn't turn out quite that way.

But we should be back in Scarburg pretty soon. Let's hope the new RPG's haven't stolen all our writers...

[Nogrod]

The men are coming back to Scarburg!

Party-time! (Let's hope this party doesn't turn out quite so vicious the previous one did... )


Foley: I used your post but made a few minor changes, mainly to what Athanar said...


So, back on track we are.

NB. I think that leaving the descriptions of the lords' thoughts as well as the thoughts of Athanar concerning them - or the details of the deal they made - pretty vague is a good idea. They have somekind of a deal but it's not anything firm or clear. If we ever want to come back to this side of the general plotline we can open it up and go for scenarios where the lords try to hit back in one way or another; or to come back to how things go between Friduhelm and Faramundc etc.

But for the time being I think we should lay this plotline aside as it clearly doesn't make people enthusiastic to write about.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Okay, now that was creepy, if anything. Can anybody explain it to me? Forum server collapse and refreshing with some data getting lost, or what?

I am referring to the fact that I have posted here and on the game thread yesterday, like, maybe 9 PM my time (or somesuch), and now both the posts are gone AND my PM which I sent to LMP is gone as well from my "sent mail" box? Likewise, Foley had commented on my post alter then, and this post is nowhere to be seen as well... what the heck happened? (And I notice, as I have changed my signature at that time - or actually several hours later, it went also back to what it was before, so I'm really suspecting some server-down thingy?)

Anyway, to sum up (in a very abbreviated way) what I have said in my post:

- I agree with what was said about handling timeline outside Scarburg, hopefully however now we don't intend to leave Scarburg much for some time now.

- In my post, I am bringing back the issue with Thornden-Coen, also just reminding Dury and Foley if they wanted to do something about that, now that the party is back...

- LMP, at some point (sooner or later), I would like Hilderinc to approach Falco, if you wish, we could maybe make a co-post out of it. I have also sent you a PM about it, but since it has disappeared from my PM box, not sure if it reached you - please let me know if you received my PM or not. If not, I will write and send to you a new one.

Gah, this just really annoys me. I am at least glad that I am saving posts I write on the game thread to my computer, so that it's not lost. Thus, reposting it rightaway.

[Formendacil]

You're lucky you saved your post, Legate. I noticed there was something... weird... with the forum yesterday. It was behaving at bedtime as though it were noon--not in terms of timestamp, but in terms of what was new... and when it thought I was logged in.

Glad to know it wasn't just me.

(and, yes, I'm still reading along with everything in Scarburg... I just haven't felt that Nain needed to make one of his erstwhile appearances toDay, and toDay has been very, very long)

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Hey, nice to hear you are still following us, Form... even the knowledge of having a reader cheers up

And yes, I am really grateful for saving my RPG posts on my computer - I have been doing it more like irrationally, or at first, it was because of "drafting" the posts, later also because it serves as a good overview of what I had been posting (and useful tool to look up things I have posted a long time ago easily), but now it came really handy... might be even a good reason for the others to get the same habit, if you aren't doing that already - just in case...

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

- LMP, at some point (sooner or later), I would like Hilderinc to approach Falco, if you wish, we could maybe make a co-post out of it. I have also sent you a PM about it, but since it has disappeared from my PM box, not sure if it reached you - please let me know if you received my PM or not. If not, I will write and send to you a new one.

I got it in my email in box and wrote you a new response, Legate. Let me know if you don't t get it.

[Folwren]

I wondered what was going on, too...

Legate, I responded to your post, as I think you saw. I still intend to post sometime today, but things are not going exactly as planned. I didn't go to work, and I've been doing crazy stuff like running and riding horses and visiting my nephews all day instead.

It's time for lunch and then homework. Maybe this evening will give me some writing time.

-- Folwren

[Folwren]

Well, I was going to write a longer post, but there was nothing else to say. Ha.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Well, I was going to write a longer post, but there was nothing else to say. Ha.

Same here. Ha ha.

[Folwren]

Legate, I kind of pushed Hilerinc in Falco's direction, in a manner of speaking. You can do whatever you liked. I took the liberties of having him standing nearby from your post above which said that at some point you wanted Hilderinc to talk to the hobbit.

Elempi, I've sent Thornden in search of Harreld, Elempi. I didn't know where you wanted him, so I didn't say he was in the smithy, but I kind of indicated he wasnt' in the hall. But I could be wrong.

-- Foley

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Legate, I kind of pushed Hilerinc in Falco's direction, in a manner of speaking. You can do whatever you liked. I took the liberties of having him standing nearby from your post above which said that at some point you wanted Hilderinc to talk to the hobbit.

Yes, why not. We have been working on a co-post with LMP for some time now, so we can just as well prepare to post it now with Hilderinc approaching Falco just after Thornden leaves and nudges him. We just need to communicate about it a bit, but the opportunity looks good to me, Foley, so I am fine with you giving it to me here.

[littlemanpoet]

I've posted and PM'd. Back to Foley and Legate; I'd say our PM post is almost ready....

[Folwren]

lol...I don't know why, but this scene is so hard for me to write. If Thornden were a woman, I'd know exactly how to write it. Girls are good at prying for emotional information, but I've no idea how to wrie for a guy. Geez.

Anyway, I've posted again.

[littlemanpoet]

If you will accept my humble suggestions as to how a man would say what you have put in Thornden's mouth. One trick for writing men versus women is that, in general, once a woman's tongue is loose, it stays loose, whereas words come haltingly to men, especially in tricky situations like this. In general, whereas a woman would fill the silence in order to cover the discomfort, for men, the discomfort is in finding the words in the first place. The below might be more of a man's way.

Thornden opened his mouth but the words came slowly. “Saeryn didn’t know about a letter.” He tried to work out his thoughts before he said something he'd regret. “Ginna would have told her if it gave no blessing." He paused, trying to gauge his listener's reaction; there was none. "His disapproval never kept her from ... showing interest in you before. This cannot be final…unless…did he say she had to leave?”

The above is far from perfect as an illustration of what a man might say versus a woman. But maybe you can see the gist of what I mean? Another trick is using a euphemism for the word, "love". Harreld will know what he means, but be grateful Thornden avoided the word. In fact, I may want to edit my last post for Harreld if you revise yours. Let me know....

[Lhunardawen]

Far be it from me to make your life difficult, Foley, but it seems to me logical to have Saeryn ask Ginna about the letter as well. Is it feasible?

[Folwren]

Elempi, thank you very much for your advice. I will revise my post as you suggested. And I will not make another post for Thornden until you have decided whether or not you'll be re-doing yours. But in the mean time, I'll write a post for Saeryn, because Lhuna said...

Originally Posted by Lhunardawen

Far be it from me to make your life difficult, Foley, but it seems to me logical to have Saeryn ask Ginna about the letter as well. Is it feasible?

Absolutely! I'm on it.