The Unseen Servant forums

This thread will contain knowledge about the world. It begins with some basics from Tolkien, to put everyone on the same page (knowledge beyond this thread is not required to play). As game play proceeds, we'll add facts established by character-backgrounds, and then the results of successful -Wise checks here.

Maps of the region:

Proud Dwarves lived in a kingdom within a solitary mountain which they named Erebor, led by an aged Dwarven King who is the patriarch of all dwarves of Middle Earth, and who possesses a Ring of Power to help him rule. They trade with a city of men at the mountain's foot named Dale and by the river to all other lands. A river poured from the mountain called the River Running, which filled the Long Lake, then ran off across the countryside. A massive red dragon named Smaug just flew down from the north, outmatching all the might of the realm. He quickly routed all the dwarves, claimed their halls as his own, destroyed the city of Dale, and stole their maidens for his dinner. These refugees, both dwarves and men, are fleeing and you are among them. Feelings of anger and loss are prevalent and as-yet undealt with.

Where you are, you live in fear of being eaten by the dragon daily. Along all routes eastward are wild, untamed grasslands where hordes of nomadic marauders known as Easterlings will ride you down, enslave you, or kill you. To the west is the Mirkwood - home of the Necromancer and horrible creatures attracted to his evil, but some brave souls still make homes at the dark forest's edges. At the north end of the Mirkwood is the Kingdom of Elves who has retreated steadily under the evil's advance, allowing the forest to sink into its evil state. With the dragon's arrival the elves seem poised to become even more insular, more sealed off from you and the world. The dwarven road that once went through that great forest has fallen into danger and disuse as evil beings began to prey upon it. Beyond the forest along that road are the Misty Mountains -- massive, nigh unpassable, and filled with warring giants -- where the ancient dwarven kingdom of Moria lies beneath lost to an unstoppable demon known among dwarves as Durin's Bane and overrun by the orcs which worship it. To the north are the Grey Mountains, a forbidding and cold place separating this land from the Dragon's Heath where all dragons are born. The dwarves fled from there 200 years ago when White Dragons slew the previous Dwarven King and they lost a ten-year war. Nobody knows what remains there. To the Northeast are the Iron Hills, where the King's youngest brother settled other dwarves after their father got eaten by the snow-dragon.

While the dwarves are all unified, descended in this land from their Patriarch Durin as the Longbeard Clan, the races of men are widely varied. Throughout this land are the Northmen: blond, strong, and fiercely independent, they take pride since the dawn of time for never having bowed to elves, dwarves, or other races. Their greatest hero, Fram, slew the dragon Scatha hundreds of years ago single-handed and used it to insult the dwarves - a slight they remain slow to forgive. Northmen live in small hamlets or individual family dwellings, making their own lives in farms, fields, and as horsemen. There are only two notable cities of Men in this region - Dale and Framsburg. Dale was a center of trade on the River Running, the only democratic society in the entire world, with an elected leader risen from among the influential merchants. It just got eaten by the dragon. Framsburg lies northwest, beyond the elves of the forest and at the foothills of the Grey Mountains. It was built several centuries ago using the wealth recovered from the dragon Scatha's hoard (to the anger of dwarves, who's treasure it was before the dragon took it). The unsettled folk of the land really just don't like to organize or bind themselves into great societies, cities, or feudal constructs. Combine that with the Long Winters of 12 and 13 years ago, and much of the region is broad, unpopulated, and inhabited by the unknown.

To the south is a lot of wild dangerous "brown lands," then the kingdom of Rohan, and beyond it, the kingdom of Gondor. It is there that you find great cities, feudal kingdoms, and ancient lore and knowledge. It is perhaps four or five times further to reach Rohan than going north to the Grey Mountains. It also bears telling a little of the story of the Race of Men. At the beginning of man's tale of this world, a race of dark-haired, grey-eyed men sought the wisdom of the elves, desiring the wisdom of the previous ages - these men became known as the Dunedain. One of their line married an elf and had two children, who who chose to be an elf and became Elrond (a powerful leader of the elven realms) and the other chose to be mortal man and founded the Line of Kings. These kings, wise and living longer than other men (~100-200 years) created great feudal kingdoms of Gondor (to the south) and Arnor (on the other side of the Misty Mountains) that lasted thousands of years. The northmen, who valued independence over all else and rejected the elves offer to trade knowledge for subservience, call the Dunedain "kneelers." Almost two thousand years ago (when the great evil Sauron was destroyed and the Second Age became the Third Age), Arnor fell, but Gondor still exists. In the time since, with no great evil to fight, wars got a bit more petty. The King of Gondor married beautiful blond woman from the northmen, and people got racist, saying he diluted the bloodline. Gondor had a big civil war that weakened it and which the losing side (the racist ones) never got over. A few generations later they struck again, bringing their allies. Gondor called to the Northmen for aid, and the call was answered, again winning the day. Gondor gave the northern part of their kingdom (which they didn't have enough population to fill anymore anyway) and gave it to the Northmen, naming it Rohan and naming their leader to be a King. Many northern families moved south and stayed to populate Rohan (at least, those that didn't mind kneeling to a King as long as he was a blond northman like them), where they still got to fight Easterlings to their hearts content and be great horsemen, but where they didn't have to fight as many dragons or the growing darkness of Mirkwood.

The era of time we are in is a footnote, meant to provide the backdrop for the story of the Hobbit, when the dwarves come back and successfully face Smaug to reclaim the mountain halls in roughly 170 years. In between, the dwarves try to reclaim Moria, but that won't happen for another 30 years. It stands to reason that the refugees did many things in the years of Smaug's coming... just that they weren't grand tales, were lost, or failed. We are free to populate this time period however we wish to, as we'll never live long enough to encounter the things Tolkien actually DID write about.

Some general Tolkien background below, to provide context to the setting.

It is the year 2770 of the Third Age.

Current Events:
This Year - Smaug, a Fire-Drake, descended on the Dwarven Halls, driving out the dwarves and taking the halls and all their treasures as his own. After the attack the dragon would crawl out of the Front Gate of the Mountain by night and carry away people (especially maidens) from Dale to eat. The remaining population soon fled and the deserted city fell into ruins.

Key Personages:
Thror, King Under the Mountain, escaped during Smaug's attack. He had fled the Cold-Drakes 181 years ago, abandoning the Grey Mountains and moving the Kingdom back to the Loney Mountain and now lost the Lonely Mountain to a Fire-Drake. In the Grey Mountains, his father and younger brother were killed by the Cold-Drake, his youngest brother and he split the dwarven host, with his brother deciding to found the dwarf halls in the Iron Hills. As the Dwarven King, he is the bearer of the only Dwarven Ring of Power in this part of the world (two Dwarven Kings destroyed in the north at the end of the First Age, the other four being to the East beyond Middle-Earth).

His son, Thrain II, is 126 years old and Thorin II (later known as Thorin Oakenshield) is a child of 24 years -- they escaped with King Thror from the dragon's wrath by use of secret routes.

Girion, the last Lord of Dale, was slain by Smaug as the city was abandoned. His wife and child escaped dwn the River Running.

Thranduil is the elf king ruling in Northern Mirkwood. He was born in the First Age. Early in the Second Age he became King of the Woodland Realm (following his father's death in the war to destroy Sauron). The Greenwood as-yet untainted by darkness. When the Necromancer (Sauron in disguise) arrived at the southern end of the forest, it began corrupting into Mirkwood. He had to withdraw the elves from Amon Lanc the southern wood, establishing their home on a small mountain range in the middle of the forest from north-to-south (Emyn Duir). He was then forced to pull back further, eventually settling in the far-north forest (north of the Forest River) with a relatively small area under elven control. With the arrival of Smaug, his folk appear to be getting even more reclusive.

Geography:
The River Running was a 600-Númenórean miles long river that poured out of the Front Gate of the Lonely Mountain, descended over two falls and swirled around Dale. It turned west beyond Ravenhill and then east and south to Long Lake and thence through the eastern outskirts of Mirkwood, then south east through apparently uninhabited regions of Rhovanion to its confluence with the Carnen and finally in a long south-eastward loop to the great inland Sea of Rhûn, past the land of Dorwinion.

Recent history:
11 years ago - In the kingdom of Rohan to the south, Saruman settled in Isengard. Fréaláf Hildeson became King following the death of his uncle in battle against the Dunlendings. Taking advantage of the second Long Winter, the Dunlendings and Easterlings invaded with the support of the Corsairs of Umbar and laid siege to Hornburg all winter.

11-12 years ago - Known as the "Long Winter," storms and snows blanketed the entire northland, creating great hunger and death throughout all who lived in the north. Many populations shrank across the North.

1-180 years ago - Flourishing of Dale. Dale was situated in the valley between the southwestern and southeastern arms of the Lonely Mountain, nestled in a sharp U-shaped bend of the River Running. It was known as a merry town of Men that traded, mainly in food-supplies, for the skills and craft-pieces of the Dwarves. Dale's toy market was the wonder of the North and the town was renowned for its bells.

180 years ago - After the War of Dwarves and Dragons, King Thror leads the dwarves from the Grey Mountains back to the Lonely Mountain, re-establishing it as the capital of Durin's folk. His younger brother Gror led others to the Iron Hills. Most of Durin's folk abandoned the Grey Mountains.

181 years ago - a Cold-Drake killed King Dain I and his son Fror.

200 years ago - Dragons reappear in the far north, coming into conflict with the dwarves.

261 years ago - Gondor sent word to the Eotheod for aid, granting them land to found the Kingdom of Rohan as a reward, moving many Northmen south to that land.

560 years ago - Thorin I abandoned the Lonely Mountain, moving the dwarven kingdom away from Erebor/Dale and to the Grey Mountains to the north.

700 years ago - Scatha the Wyrm, possessed of a great horde stolen from the Dwarves, is slain by Fram son of Frumgar of the Eotheod, a proud race of northern men. They refused the dwarves' request to return the horde, creating grudges to last centuries.

Between the time when Thráin I founded the dwarf-kingdom in the Lonely Mountain (in 1999) and the arrival of Smaug (in 2770) the Northmen living between the River Running (Celduin) and Carnen grew strong and repelled all eastern enemies.

790 years ago - Thrain I leads dwarves to the Lonely Mountain, establishing the halls there.

791 years ago - The Balrog is awoken in Moria and slays King Durin VI and his son Nain I. After the dwarves left it was eventually populated by orcs from the north who began to worship the Balrog as their diety.

1331 years ago - The Great Plague killed more than half of the population of these lands, those remaining driven west of the River Running by the marauding Wainriders to the east.

Moria ("The Black Pit") was once known as Khazad-dûm in dwarvish and was carved by Durin the Deathless in the First Age. In the Second Age, it became possible to pass from East to West through its halls, passing completely under the mountain range.

Good article explaining the basics of roleplaying for Tolkien dwarves.
http://lotrofounder.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... dorfs.html

What do we know about what the dwarves did during this timeframe?
- We can assume they scattered and did a lot of things, and we can take many avenues for our story.
- We know a bulk of dwarves, following the King, went south through the Gap of Rohan and settled for a time in the hills of Dunland.
- After their time in Dunland, they went north on the other side of the Misty Mountains and re-settled in the Blue Mountains.
- Thorin II (later "Oakenshield") was living in the Grey Mountains as exile-king before the beginning of the Hobbit. (170 years from now)

- Twenty years from now, King Thror went to Moria and was slain by the orc chieftain, Azog.
- This kicks off a nine year war, where Thrain II convinced the Longbeard dwarves of the Iron Hills to join them in the assault.
- Azog was slain by Dain (from the Iron Hills) and Thorin II got the name "Oakenshield" for using a tree branch to protect himself in the battle. Dain and his dwarves win, establishing there (later to all be discovered dead by Gimli in the Lord of the Rings).
- Thrain II is later captured by Sauron (known as the Necromancer) and held at his tower in Mirkwood until he is tortured and died, passing along his map, key, and story to Gandalf
- 171 years from now, Gandalf gives the key and map to Thorin Oakenshield to start the Hobbit journey.

What do we know about Dwarves in the Blue Mountains, since it becomes the next seat-of-the-king?
http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/d/dwarveso ... tains.html
https://www.quora.com/What-happened-to- ... ddle-earth
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Nogrod

While the Longbeard dwarves woke under the Misty Mountains and build Moria, the Broadbeam and Firebeard dwarves woke under the Blue Mountains and interacted there with the Elves of Belariand in the First Age. They build two cities (unclear which lived in which) called Belegost and Norgrod. They marched forth against the evil armies to face and drive back Glaurung, the first dragon.

They were asked to forge the necklace Nauglamir to contain the Simiril by the elves. When finished, however, they could not overcome their greed for an object so beautiful. They slew Thingol, the elf king, in his own treasury. This act forever changed the relations between Dwarves and Elves.

At the end of the First Age as result of climactic battle, the ocean was called to sweep across and sink Belariand, shattered the mountain, and flooded the two dwarven cities, creating the Gulf of Lhun. The Firebeard and Broadbeam dwarves joined those of the Longbeards in Moria, swelling their numbers for the second age.

Defining Clan-Wise.

Opening this up for a quick discussion, as this Wise has come up on several character sheets. What is the scope of a "dwarven clan"?

Going by Tolkien, there are seven Dwarf Lords, each of which founded a dwarven clan, and of which there are three present in our current map: the Longbeards, (awoken in Moria), Broadbeams, and Firebeards (awoken under the blue mountains), and rarer knowledge of the other four dwarven lines living farther to the East. "Durin's Folk" are the Longbeards, and the current heritage of the majority of dwarves here, including the line of Kings. The Broadbeams and Firebeards lost their cities at the end of the First Age and most made the journey to join the Longbeards in Moria at the beginning of the Second Age. So, they'd be intermingled with most dwarven communities currently in this region, as they are all diaspora from Moria, spreading over the last 990 years.

The dwarves of the Iron Hills arrived with, and are ruled by, the current King's younger brother, so also are Longbeards. The Iron Hills are the eastern-extent of the Longbeard kingdom. The unification of the seven clans in alliance comes 23 years in the future for us, when the dwarves assault Moria, so with a high enough Clan-Wise, any of the seven could come into play.

To the east of the Longbeard Dwarves (Durin’s Folk), whose dominions ended at the Iron Hills, lay the domains of the Ironfists and Stiffbeards. East of those two Dwarven realms lay the domains of the Blacklocks and Stonefoots. Although that is all we know about their tribes and their locations, we know that they sent delegations to Gundabad (when it was under Dwarven control) and that they would assist other Dwarven peoples in times of crisis. The only seven-kingdom alliance Tolkien documents is that from the War of the Dwarves and Orcs (Third Age years 2793-9).

Dwarven Rings of Power
http://middle-earth.xenite.org/2013/12/ ... -of-power/
http://middle-earth.xenite.org/2014/06/ ... ven-kings/
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Seven_Rings

Trying to find out the Dwarven Clans, I found interesting notes on the Seven Rings given to the Dwarves. Each dwarven clan was given a ring, which helped them establish dominion and wealth (Sauron's rings apparently interact with our Greed attribute). Sauron recaptured two of the rings. The reappearance of dragons (about 200 years ago) resulted in four more being consumed by them as they attacked and plundered dwarven hoards. At this point, the last Dwarven Ring of Power was in the hands of King Thror at the Lonely Mountain when Smaug arrived.

Angered by his failure, Sauron tried to gather the rings back to him. He succeed in finding two, while four others were swallowed or destroyed by Dragons. The third ring Sauron obtained was taken from Thráin II in T.A. 2845 while he was imprisoned by Sauron in the dungeons of Dol Guldur. Gandalf arrived too late and only got the key and Thrór's Map to the secret entrance of the Lonely Mountain from Thráin.

I assumed Clan-wise referred more to an extended family than what Tolkien refers to as a clan, given the LPs it appears on. I figured that high-level history would fall under Chronology of Kings. I think you're conflating Tolien's and Crane's use of the term "clan" when they mean very different things.

EDIT: Clan-wise appears on Chronicler, a Noble lifepath, but Clan History appears on Wordbearer, a Guilder lifepath. Interesting.

Yeah, I initially intended to open it as a series of questions, but after thinking on it I changed it to more of a declarative because I think they're not as different as I originally assumed they must be. Reading what Burning Wheel says about Clan History, a clan is: a group of related dwarves, has halls and hoards, has oaths and grudges. Applying this to Tolkien, it works the same. Where great dwarf halls are named at all, they appear to be essentially one per clan. This is Longbeard territory, and it essentially has had one Hall at a time except for the last 170 years when it had both the Lonely Mountain and the Iron Hills, each ruled by a pair of brothers. Keeping in mind that it is a 60-year minimum generational period with a lifespan of 300-600 years it makes sense. For our gameplay, we can assume there are other dwarves to be found in smaller settlements and families, but they'd still identify with a larger clan and its Hall.

I was worried that, if everyone was a Longbeard, there wouldn't be clan differentiation and we'd need a sub-clan model. But if we have Broadbeams, Longbeards, and Firebeards all co-located here, then we have four other clans in proximity with evidence that they travel to and across this area to visit and have close enough relations that, 20 years from now, all seven clans unify to have a war with the orcs in Moria, then it seems pretty differentiated. Also of importance is that dwarves in Tolkien are always stating their lineage/clan as one of these seven groups (almost always "Durin's Folk" or "The Line of Durin" given the location and context.) Even in the Hobbit, though, not everyone is a Longbeard - Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur are not of Durin's line but descended from the dwarves of Moria, meaning they are likely of Broadbeam or Firebeard stock. That's 25% of Thorin's Company.

In the context of our game, I figured using these seven clans would be sufficient, especially as three are present here and we have already created initial ties for Fulci to the other two clans through his Penitents affiliation. Clan History, in particular, is useful at identifying finer-grain details of grudges within or between the clans. Clan-wise could have better detail on the character of the bloodlines and is the required trait for Husbands/Wives (with Family-wise being optional). The Firebeards originally were the weaponsmiths who created the greatest artifacts to survive the First Age - perhaps none of them can completely resist the beautify of fine craftsmanship (must be one of their three greed idioms). We have a bare framework here upon which to hang anything the players wish by use of their Wises in-game.

Thoughts? Does that work for everyone?

Fine with me. Seems like it overlaps significantly with Clan History (not necessarily problematic; Burning Wheel skills often overlap). My question is: how much does it overlap with Chronology of Kings? I have Clan-wise, Clan History and Chronology of Kings (which is required). I don't want to spread my points too thin on redundant skills.

Enoch wrote:Fine with me. Seems like it overlaps significantly with Clan History (not necessarily problematic; Burning Wheel skills often overlap). My question is: how much does it overlap with Chronology of Kings? I have Clan-wise, Clan History and Chronology of Kings (which is required). I don't want to spread my points too thin on redundant skills.

Good question. Reading the descriptions (and where they are offered), I'd differentiate as below. (In particular, I'm extrapolating on Clan-Wise being the required trait for Husbands/Wives, who are those responsible for passing on culture to a new generation.)

Chronology of Kings - The names, lineage, and deeds of noble dwarves. Records of important decisions of the state. Legacies left by leaders who have gone before. (Primary: Nobles)
Clan History - History and happenings from the middle-class view - holds and hoards, alliances and feuds, oaths and grudges. Knowledge of the things that are "life happening" at a societal level. (Primary: Guilders)
Clan-Wise - Any social or cultural things important to the identity of a clan, i.e. "what does it mean to be a Graybeard? A Broadbeam?" Cultural taboos and norms, beliefs, commonalities, stereotypes of others, ability to identify by appearance, etc. (Primary: Clansmen)

All of them can work like a -wise to allow player-created facts about the world where it matters to the story. We have fertile ground here, with a bare framework and plenty of room for players to use these skills to flesh out "what is true" about dwarves and history in our world. There is certainly overlap - the decisions of Kings influence what happens in their kingdoms, and what happens in the kingdoms impacts what is inculcated into cultural values and behaviors. Clan-wise might know what the norms are, but Clan History or Chronology might know how that clan came to have that norm.

Thanks, that's very helpful. If someone else has Clan History I may drop it, then.

Elves:

Marullus wrote:A woodland elf wouldn't have lost her home to Smaug, but would've lost several homes over the last 900 years as they retreated further from the Necromancer, her king letting Greenwood the Great fall into the darkness now known as Mirkwood and drawing further into seclusion.

Elves also have a different emotional attribute - rather than dwarven Greed, they struggle instead with Grief at living eternally and watching tragedy around them. In Tolkien, this is what drives the elves to sail into the West and leave Middle Earth for the Undying Lands, never to return. Even as a young elf, she has watched a risk-adverse King Thranduil retreat multiple times to avoid putting eternal Elvish lives at risk, trying to keep them in states of frivolity and happiness rather than facing tragedy which weighs on them. (In the later Hobbit story, the elves engage in pop-up banquet parties in their northern bit of forest each night and they take all the dwarves captive in the dungeon for the crime of party-crashing.) She would need to be Born Wilder Elf for this region, but can branch into other settings appropriately. You might want to consider the Exile trait. (Or worse, the Slayer trait.). King Thranduil, his son Legolas, and their immediate kin are Born Etharch. This race/class divide is emphasized by Peter Jackson as the reason Thranduil finds Tauriel (who would be Born Wilder Elf) unfit for Legolas to have a relationship with in the movies.

Marullus wrote:Let's talk about elves in Burning Wheel and Tolkien, then. In BW, they are highly regarded and highly attractive (with both the "Born Under the Silver Stars" and "Fair and Statuesque" traits). They are in tune with creation itself and possess magic in the form of songs. This is inline with Tolkien, where creation was sung into being by the Gods, and the elves (by personal association with them in the first age) learned much of this wisdom.

The magic in Tolkien and BW is typically subtle - dwarves have magic in tune with their nature as smiths born of iron and stone themselves, and create great works due to a semi-magical attunement in their natures. The elves have similar semi-magical skills where they exceed the works of men by their attuned natures, as well as songs that weave a subtle magic more similar to spells. There are human sorcerers in Burning Wheel, but these will not appear in our Tolkien game as PCs.

Burning Wheel is about your character's personal struggle, and the non-human races all have a particular struggle that influences them. Dwarves struggle against greed - they make great works but also covet them. Elves struggle against grief. Long lifespans which measure life in seasons rather than weeks have a unique perspective, and seeing the unavoidable death and ends that await most things is, well, depressing. The main elves named in Tolkien have lived 6,000+ years. Arwen, the main "impetuous youth" of the Lord of the Rings who falls in love with a mortal, is 2,700 years old when she meets him and still treated like a teenager by her dad. Burning Wheel will give you a young elf of 100-200 years old, but for our Tolkien game, we'll likely just script that with a x10 for flavor, making you just over 1,000 years old. When you were a child, the dwarves were still in Moria and your elven people lived in a fine city in the southern forest. As you've grown to your age (think that you're culturally like a 19-21 year old modern human), you've seen the dwarves lose their homes to tragedy four times. You lost your own home in the neighboring forest, moving no less than three times yourself, retreating northward before the encroaching evil of the Necromancer. Why retreating? When your race lives forever by not fighting, you need to think carefully about what you fight for.

Which is the core of a Burning Wheel character. What you believe strongly enough in to fight for is what the game is about, and to play an elf PC, I'll want to see strong development of that. (I want to see strong beliefs on every PC, really, but it is easier on the dwarves who just lost their homes and livelihoods.) The book gives you this:

Elves are often perceived as either aloof and cold or out of touch and bizarre. Neither perception is true. Elves are a passionate people, keenly involved in the affairs of the world. However, their long view of matters gives them a unique perspective. What might seem urgent to short-lived Men and Dwarves is a matter that can be considered at length for the Elves. But once their interest is piqued or ire aroused, Elves engage intensely.

Nor are Elves above the common struggle. They are as complex and internecine as any other people. In fact, it is the mix of their need to be involved, their temperamental nature and their immortal being that gives rise to their Grief. Often their aged wisdom allows them to predict that their affairs will come to a tragic end, but their fiery nature grants them little latitude to stop the calamity. Watching and living this endless cycle of strife nurtures within them a great anguish, ever growing across their endless lives.

I said you should be a Wood Elf by taking the "Born Wilding Elf" lifepath. At the beginning of the world, the Demigods invited the elves to live with and learn from them by travelling Westward to their land. The wood elves distrusted this, and remained in this part of the world. They are stereotypically more firey, more "rural" and less cultured than those that went to learn great knowledge. Your king, Thranduil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thranduil), and the elite class of your society are Gray Elves who went west, then came back and shared knowledge with you. Thranduil lived through part of the First Age (being driven from his home as it was destroyed by flood) and the Second Age here in Greenwood the Great before becoming King (making him about 5,000 years old at that time). At the end of the Second Age, he marched with a great elven army to oppose Sauron (a great evil guy) and returned with 2/3 of his elven warriors dead including his father. Talk about an elf with a reason for grief! As he stepped up to be king, he took an isolationist posture for your whole kingdom. The last 1700 years have been spent falling back as evil crept from south to north, turning Greenwood the Great into Mirkwood, and the elves both secluded and safe. Orcs, giant spiders, evil warg-wolves, and presumably some form of ghosts or undead (since the guy was called "The Necromancer"), are things you know live in the forests you once called home.

Groups in this region (via Tolkien) for Affiliations are:
-- The Woodland Realm (elves in Mirkwood)
-- Prince Dain's Folk (dwarves of Iron Hills)
-- Men of Dale (humans now dispossessed)
-- Men of Framsburg (human city at the foot of the Gray Mountains)
-- Northmen Smallfolk (humans of all the tiny hamlets across the region)

Making up other sub-groups of your own is also acceptable.

Facts added by wises:

• Giant spiders are drawn by sounds of violence and bloodshed.
• Dragons are irresistibly drawn to the untempered greed of humans, even moreso than the long, consistent greed of dwarves, like a rarer delicacy of a dish.