Here There Be Dragons - Discussion/Planning

[piosenniel]

A breeze is blowing. Rôg will give the moth a little ride into camp so he gets to the right tent.

Oh, Raddy . . . you got some splainin' to do!

[piosenniel]

Post done - the moth and bird are peering down the smoke hole . . .

I am interested in how Aiwendil plans on making his entrance.

~*~ Pio

[Nerindel]

My save is filled.

Child let me know if you think any of the back story for this character should be changed. I will pm you when I get more time regarding the dream.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Nerindel

Many thanks! I will have a closer look after I return from work.

Pio

I was trying to eat my breakfast when I read this post and I almost keeled over with laughter. I love the free transportation! (However, I'm not so sure about Aiwendil....)

Child

[Child of the 7th Age]

Save filled.

Hilde - Thorn, Ayar, and Narika are now yours to command as you see fit!

And where is Rôg off to?

Child

[piosenniel]

My post for the party in Gondor/Baran meets the King and gets his face known is up. Pio is on her way home and will drop Baran off at the Inn.

I'll wait to see what Thorn does before I post for Rôg. He is, of course, no longer in bird form.

I thought that once Saelon heads back to Gondor on the Star it will take about 9 days for him get there (upriver and all that). How does that sound?

I'm going to introduce 2 characters whose complete bios I haven't worked out as yet. There will be an older brother, Mus'ad, about 40 y/o, and his younger brother, Nizar, about 33. Mus'ad and his brother are rather low-end, poor cousin types of the Wyrm Clan. Mus'ad is not the brightest or most ambitious of men but he understands well which side his bread is buttered on. Wyrma has 'engaged' him to keep an eye on the doings of her son Tinar. She has also, on occasion, used him for various nefarious deeds which require some stealth but not a lot of independent thinking.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

I will have Thorn's post up as soon as I can.

So Rôg is no longer a bird? Hmmm....

[piosenniel]

I have inserted a post for Rôg in Child's last post to clue Thorn into where and what he is at the moment.

For Eru's sake, Aiwendil, don't crush the nervous little guy.

And btw, thank goodness he has no sense of smell because I think the old fellow could use a shower . . .

[Mithadan]

Men! They never ask for directions....

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Well, Thorn's save is filled in. And I bid you all a goodnight!

[Child of the 7th Age]

Hilde,

Very good, especially the overturned pot at the end!

Mithadan and Airefalas,

So you two have managed to get lost and trapped in an alleyway. Humpf! Don't expect too much sympathy from Ráma. Perhaps, if you had agreed to take her along as your local guide, you would not now find yourself in these dire circumstances....

[piosenniel]

Here is a sketchy bio for the fellows who work for Wyrma.

The Two Brothers:

City dwellers from an unremarkable, and failing branch of the Wyrm Clan.

Mus’ad – 40 years old; short, thin, and wiry with scraggly black hair, dark brown eyes and a sallow olive complexion. His face is thin and pinched and a little rat-like in appearance. Has two shapes he can assume with some ease: a small lizard and a scruffy pigeon.

Not the brightest bulb in the socket but brighter than -

Nizar – 33 years old; shorter than Mus’ad by several inches, same physical characteristics except that his nose is normally red and drippy owing to a wide range of allergies. He wears an old, stretched out, nondescript knit scarf around his neck. His shape-changes are restricted to being a dung-beetle or as similarly scruffy a pigeon as his brother.

A certain level of creature comfort is their primary goal in life. And they have a grasp on the fact that serving Wyrma to the best of their ability will afford them some measure of security. She finds them dependable, though they are neither of them self-starters or independent thinkers. Given well-spelled out parameters and instructions they function quite well. At present she has them keeping an eye on her son, Tinar.

[piosenniel]

My SAVE for Rôg is filled in.

Let's hope he doesn't get skewered for doing a hasty good deed.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Goodness folks! All heck has broken out in the encampment! What a run of apparent bad luck. As for skewering Rog, I don't think Thorn is up for kabobs roasted over a tent fire... At least as I write this...hmm....

[Child of the 7th Age]

Pio

Your two new scoundrels are quite effective.

Hilde

"Bad luck", you say? A very 'odd' coincidence....

Child

[Ealasaide]

ummm.. I just noticed that there are two Duilins: one partying with Pio in Gondor, while the other stands with Saelon on the deck of the Lonely Star in Umbar.

Is this intentional? If so, I, for one, stand to be very confused later on...

[piosenniel]

Yes, I noticed that - I'll just go back and change mine . . . to Derylin . . .

~*~ Pio

[piosenniel]

Mith

Can you go back to your post, #48, and change the two "Duilin" names in it to "Derylin", please.

I'll have the fellow in Gondor be Derylin, and you can keep one of the sailors on the Star as Duilin.

Thanks!

~*~ Pio

[Nerindel]

I deleted my save for Kor and placed it after Pio's post for our two new villians. I hope to have it filled sometime today.

[Ealasaide]

I have placed a Save on the thread for Airefalas & Mithadan to deal with their current situation. If all goes as planned, I hope to have it filled by tonight sometime, tomorrow at the latest.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Bad luck", you say? A very 'odd' coincidence.... - Child

Somehow, I feel a sense of foreboding at that statement. Do you something else up your sleeve?

[piosenniel]

Aiwendil's sleeves are quite voluminous . . . and contain an eclectic assortment of various and insundry 'interesting' things . . . that and a loosely rolled ball of yarn from all the wool-gathering . . .

Poor Rôg . . . that you would even consider skewering him . . . He's just a mild-mannered traveler . . . hasn't hurt a flea . . .

[Mithadan]

Marshmallows anyone?

[Ealasaide]

Just moved my "save" to follow Mith's post. I should be able to fill it by tonight sometime or tomorrow at the latest.

[piosenniel]

*skewers a left-over lavender bunny Peep on her blade and ignites it in the flames

Huzzah! The Star is heading north!!!!

~*~ Pio

[Nerindel]

Okie dokey
my post is up for Kor, I decided to bring him to the same time as the depature of the star.

Child, Is rama going to notice the eagle sharing her cave?

[Child of the 7th Age]

Child, Is rama going to notice the eagle sharing her cave?

Whoops! She's snoring away now, but I think she can be awakened!.......

********************************

Seriously, I apologize for not responding sooner. I had originally intended for her to wake up just before dawn and spy the eagle....and then I let it slip my mind, since the night plot developed more slowly. But I think it would be good to go ahead right now with the encounter. I've done a save.

I do have one or two questions about the extent to which Rama can communicate with the bird, or tell that she is different from other creatures. I will read your post again and check with you by pm early this afternoon.

Child

[Ealasaide]

I've deleted my "save" and added my post to the end of the thread. Sorry it is SO LONG (again) but I had a lot of ground to cover...

Child - Mith & Aire are now dismounting outside your caves.

Mith - I hope you don't mind that I went ahead & moved our guys to catch up with Ráma. I had a request to move things along to that point, so there it is. If there is something you would like for me to add or change, please let me know.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I'm leaving for a two week vacation in a couple of hours. I had hoped to manage a post for both Wyrma and Tinar today, but caring for an ill family member took more time than I expected. I will try; if I do not succeed, I will do flashbacks when I'm back. Tinar will continue following the Gondorians into the desert.

edit: I did post - see you all in two weeks!

[piosenniel]

Tinar is headed down toward the entrance to the caves, followed by Mus'ad.

Esty

Have a good trip!

We'll gently carry Tinar along - I was thinking that he could do a change into something small enough to hitch a ride on one of the camels . . . as will Mus'ad and Nizar . . .

This OK with you, Nerindel?

~*~ Pio

[Nerindel]

Pio

That's fine with me, I will have Hasrim return with news that Tinar has foolishly entered the desert unprepared. I was going to have him go personally to inform Wyrma of events but I think as Esty will be away I will just leave a note.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

We'll gently carry Tinar along - I was thinking that he could do a change into something small enough to hitch a ride on one of the camels . . . as will Mus'ad and Nizar . . .

Ack! Forget the marshmallows, I think the eagles had better bake a cake in that tent fire, company's comin'!

[Child of the 7th Age]

My save for Aiwendil has been filled: #175.

Pio - I have pulled Rôg out of his scrape. If you'd prefer to do that yourself, just drop me a note and I will edit.

Child

[piosenniel]

Child

Good save of the young man's hide. Rôg will take a look at the incense pot tomorrow.

[piosenniel]

Child

Are Aiwendil and Narika speaking to each other in the clan dialect? Or in a more common speech?

[Child of the 7th Age]

Pio,

This wasn't one of the points we mulled, but my guess would be in a clannish dialect. That would be once Ráma gets some sense of who the Eagle is.

Any other thoughts, Nerindel?

[piosenniel]

The reason I was asking is that when Rôg was 'visiting' Surinen and friend in the desert - they spoke common to him, and used clan dialect to try to hide from him what they were saying to each other. They were unaware that Rôg understood them.

Also, when Rôg picked Ayar up and took her from the burning tent, he spoke to her in the clan dialect, not the common trading tongue.

Wouldn't Narika wonder how Aiwendil understood the dialect?

[Nerindel]

Child

Have I missed something somewhere? how did Rama and the eagle become involved in Pio's question regarding Aiwendil and Narika?

If it is that you wish also to enquire as to which language the eagle will use or understand I will answer thus:


She will understand both the common tongue and the dialect of the clans, but it has been a long time since she has found the need to speak either, so initially and more instinctively she will speak the language of the bird that she is, the resounding ouch would have been a slip that she might not even give thought to, or even realised she had uttered. But depending on which tongue Rama uses to speak to her curious intruder, the eagle soon releasing that she does not understand her high pitched squels and Kee, Kee sounds will try to recall the words to answer her accordingly.

does that help?

Another question that comes to mind regarding the dialects of the clans, is weather or not they would vary slightly from clan to clan?

[piosenniel]

My opinion is that the dialects would vary from clan to clan. And that between the clans might be used either common speech or a traders' dialect.

Families whose main source of livelihood is from the clans on their trade routes would naturally have picked up some of the clan dialects specific to each clan. That's the assumption I've been operating under.

~*~ Pio

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

I was under the impression that the dialects should vary greatly from clan to clan, or else Surinen and Narayad would not have spoken so freely infront of Rog. Does that work for everyone? Or have I presented a problem? Maybe they would have a similar root, but have become disimilar as the years have passed, so that there are some shared words but sentence patterns and many words or pronuncations sound strange or unrecognizable. If the clans have chosen to remain somewhat isolated I can see this happening.

Also, for all involved in the Eagle clan's activities, Latah is not a traitor to the clan. Just wanted to make that announcement publicly. She's a good girl, she is, and we have plans for her.

EDIT: I just saw your post Pio, and agree with it. Those who have some need to communicate with the clans might learn some dialects, and also some clansman might also know common speach, but not all because they would not generally need to know it.