If you're lazy, skip to below the quote box.
â??The War of the Ring is over. Middle-earth has passed into the Fourth Age. It will become the Golden Age of Men, but all greatness must first be earned.â?Â
King Elessar spoke these words to his Council just three months after the downfall of Sauron. His words would be proven all too true. Though the Lord of the Rings was destroyed, enemies of the West live on.
And the hero upon whose revered name the Ring War was won has passed over the sea.
Deep in Harad and to the far East dwell enemies of Gondor and Rohan. Though the Armies of Mordor were defeated, the Men of Harad and Rhûn were given pardons. Most returned to their towns and villages with no more thought for Gondor or the war they were forced to fight.
But the desires of the common man are not those of their leaders.
Battalions of Haradrim remain within the borders of desolate Mordor. They are led by the twelve greatest War Lords in Harad. Aided by the Uruk-hai and Orcs hiding in the mountains, they attack the border of Gondor sporadically.
War between the Men of Middle-earth is eminent.
King Elessar has no choice but to make a move against the enemies of Gondor. War is declared, and preparations begin for the long campaign into Far Harad to face the main bulk of the Emperorâ??s army. In Rohan, King Ã?omer honors his alliance with Gondor and musters the Rohirrim.
Where the standard of Gondor flies, so will the banner of Rohan.
Allies of Gondor and Rohan gather from across Middle-earth. Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took leave the Shire and begin the long journey South. Treebeard shepherds the Huorns into the Wizardâ??s Vale where they stand as a vanguard of the Misty Mountains. Prince Imrahil and Faramir, Steward of Gondor, ready their men to march in Gondorâ??s army. Gimli, now Lord of Aglarond, and Legolas, now Lord of Eryn Silivren, prepare the Dwarves and Elves for battle.
Once again, the Free Peoples of Middle-earth stand united against a Darkness in the East.
The first of the Haradrim Wars will begin when the last of the harvest is brought in from the fields. Although they are mighty armies with mighty leaders, there is restlessness among the Men of the West. Whispers and rumors have begun to spread. Men tremble when the words are uttered.
A Lieutenant of Barad-dûr still lives.
Okay, now that you have read this or decided to be lazy and skip ahead, you're probably asking the question, "Elessar, what the hell is this?"
Well, the answer plain and simple is that it is a play-by-post RPG called
The Realm of Arda, Arda being the elven term for Middle-Earth.
Now, while I'm sure some of you know what I mean by a play-by-post RPG, some of you probably don't, so for those of you who don't, a play-by-post RPG is essentially collaborative story telling. Each person controls a character account and takes turns posting in threads, termed role-plays, to tell what goes on in that role-play.
That being said, I happen to be one of the administrators at the Realm of Arda, and although the board is currently offline, it is being worked on almost constantly to ready it for opening and allowing character registration.
Still interested? Good, read further!
Now, I know we're used to typing *blinks* or lol when we chat here, but proper grammar, punctuation and spelling should be followed to the best of your ability if you choose to join. We will not kill you for typos or grammar mistakes though, don't worry! Also, this is a narrative - you are typing in the third person limited and in the past tense. "What the hell is the third person limited?" You may ask? It means there are no personal pronouns (I, me, mine, we, us, our, ours, you, your, yours, etc.) in the narration with exception of dialogue. We all know that dialogue without personal pronounces is rather irritating. 'Limited' means that the narration should only reflect what your character - and I must stress this, your
character - knows or what may be happening around your character that may affect the situation. Past tense...I hope to god you all know what the past tense is. If not, seek help.
Okay, but what the hell was that mess up in the quote box? Well, that was the main plot. Or at least its current contents. This is the premise of the Main Plot of the entire role-play. Main plot, you say? Do tell! Well, there's an over-arching plot that affects the entire board. It drives the situation and is basically the whole point of the thing. Now, each individual character may have a personal plot which unravels at their own choosing, but the Main Plot is entirely controlled by the Staff and certain players who have been chosen by the staff to help progress the plot. Everyone else is pretty much reactionary, and may or may not be at all involved in the plot. A good deal of people will most definitely see main plot action, as the mess in the quote box clearly shows there is a war about to occur.
"So can I play Aragorn or Gimli or Legolas?" You may be asking. Well, the answer is yes and no. Some people
will be trusted with a select list of canon characters, but they are highly important so inadequate players will have their canon character removed from them. Okay, what's canon? Well, canon is anything that is directly in accordance to any of Tolkien's Middle Earth novels and the movies. In the event that the movies and novels contradict each other, I'd personally say trust the novels, but our head admin says they are both correct, if that's possible. Back to being Aragorn or Gimli or Legolas or any other canon (aren't you glad you know that term now?) name - major canon names are restricted! Of major canon names, there is a select list that are available and will be claimed quickly, no doubt. Lesser canon names - not canon
characters, but
names - are allowed to be used at the administrators' discretion. So yeah, you won't see me playing 'Elessar Telùnya' any time soon, but you probably will recognize one of my various pseudonyms if you decide to join.
Have I lost you yet? Good, I didn't want to do that. Are you still interested? I hope so.
If you are still interested, I will post updates here as necessary and hope to see you on the boards when the Realm of Arda officially opens!
