Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
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Post by Eonwë on Sept 23, 2018 17:45:47 GMT -5
Villain to hero. Hated then loved. A relic thrown into darkness, a jewel retrieved into light. Only a moment made the difference.
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Sept 23, 2018 17:45:07 GMT -5
Heya All! Since there was some interest expressed in reviving the riddle game we played several years ago, here we go! Since we're gearing this up, let's set up a few guidelines to help out in the formulation of riddles and in guiding the game, hopefully to help keep this all fresh and us having fun. ------------------------------------ 1.) Make sure your riddle has an answer :} Hobbit, LotR, and Sil only, at least for this version. This means clues need to come from these sources as well. 2.) Riddles are meant to make you think, but let's be sure that once the riddle answer is known, the connection between the clues and the answer are clear. We don't want to hamper creativity, but we also want to make sure the clues lead naturally to the answer. If there are 5 other connections that need to be made for the clue to make sense, it's probably not a good clue. ex: Good: Hama was a soldier, so a clue involving that is fine. Bad: Pippin wore green. Green is the color of plants. Plants use the sun to grow. The sun was made from a fruit of Laurelin. Therefore, I will use Pippin as a clue about Laurelin. 3.) The game ends when we reach a riddle no one can answer within a reasonable amount of time. No skipping, no do-overs. That way we can enjoy the game and not get burnt out. We can be a bit flexible on this for everyone's schedules, but let's say the average will be 2-3 weeks. Because of this, it is important the riddle-poser acknowledge correct/incorrect guesses in a timely manner. 4.) If someone guesses correctly, they get to pose the next riddle. You'll have 2 weeks to do so. After that, anyone can pose a new riddle. First person to get their riddle in is the official next riddle. That way we can keep the game going in the case of correct answers. If too much time goes by without a new riddle, I will close the game, then we'll give it a rest for a bit and come back fresh in a new thread. I'm going to be more lax with this one than with rule 3, so I'm not going to set a cut-off right now, but don't expect more than a few months tops. 5.) Whether books as resources are allowed is up to the riddle-poser for each riddle, and at what point it is permitted. It is encouraged that everyone try to go by their own knowledge at first. If the riddle-poser gives permission to use the books, at that time you may check the books and try to figure out the riddle with the extra help. If it is not explicitly stated by the riddle-poser that books are allowed for their riddle, the books are not allowed. ------------------------------------ I'm going to try and keep a list of links to each riddle and the person who asked it. We'll see how well that goes :} We'll tweak these guidelines for future riddle games if necessary, but let's stick to these for this round and see how it turns out. So, here we go! List of Riddles:1.) Given by Eonwë --- Answered 2.) Given by Arien --- Answered 3.) Given by Varda --- Answered 4.) Given by Arien --- Answered 5.) Given by Pharazon --- Answered 6.) Given by Varda --- Answered 7.) Given by Arien ---
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Sept 23, 2018 8:25:11 GMT -5
The GSMU is going! Please respond by September 30th.
Thanks!
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Oct 4, 2017 6:51:13 GMT -5
Auros:
It was a quiet morning for Imladris as the sun began to rise a few days after the Fellowship had left. That is, until the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil rang throughout the valley. The sound became stronger, more fervent, then paused for several minutes. It came back louder and more fervent yet, then again ceased. A louder ringing, as of a bell, now sounded, and again fell into silence for several minutes. One last, great crash was heard, like the falling of a bell from a tower where it was hung, and then it was silent. Not an hour later, a summons was sent to Calion and Fainan, and to the Dwarf Frali, to gather before Elrond.
Elrond sat now next to an Elf who was facing away from the door, looking at him. When the summoned parties arrived, he motioned for them to hold their peace, then rising to take his original seat at the head of the table, one surrounded by papers and books, motioned for them to likewise take a seat. The other Elf, Auros, was looking at the table, though it appeared that may not be what he was seeing. His face was still red from the heat of the forge, though he managed to appear the image of dignity. He gave no sign that he had noticed the others' arrival, but there was a hint of... something... in his eyes, if one could see them.
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Oct 4, 2017 6:26:58 GMT -5
Now that we're here, Happy 20th Anniversary to the Valar Guild! :}
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Oct 2, 2017 2:06:38 GMT -5
Heya all,
Here's a quick rundown of Anniversary Events going on.
- Weeklong chat marathon in AIM, running from the October 1st meeting until the Anniversary meeting on October 8th. - Fireworks celebration in LotRO: Varda plans to hold two gatherings, one at Noon EST, and one at 5pm EST on Wednesday, October 4th - Fireworks Celebration in WoW: Eonwë's plan is to hold one gathering at 8pm EST on Wednesday, October 4th.
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Sept 17, 2017 6:52:18 GMT -5
Games Site Mass Update is going :} Get your responses in by September 30th :}
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Sept 17, 2017 6:51:05 GMT -5
Heya Morwe :} Good to see you're still around :} Hope all is going well despite the rough patch.
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on May 21, 2017 5:17:10 GMT -5
Aye, this is how I do it as well :} Thanks for adding it in here.
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Apr 10, 2017 7:35:28 GMT -5
I had a nice, lovely post all typed up, and then a stray keystroke made it all disappear, and yet again, I am reminded why I should type my posts into Notepad rather than the browser, then copy-paste. I'll now have to give a shorter, perhaps less flowy version of that post:
The descendants of the Noldor who left Aman, pure-blooded or not, can be considered High Elves.
1.) HoME XI, section "Quendi and Eldar" gives us some back story on the Noldor and their uses of the words "Calaquendi" and "Moriquendi" as well as additional tidbits. One item of note is that, despite being Exiles, they still considered themselves "Amanyar." They adjusted their use of "Moriquendi" to exclude the Sindar, who found the use of that term on them offensive. So, even if up until that time they grouped all Calaquendi as "Eldar who sailed to Aman and lived in the Light of the Two Trees" before, when the reality that that was no longer possible occurred, the simplest of addenda would've been "and their descendants." Same for "Tar Eldar."
2.) "High Elf" is a name of a people, likely given by those people to themselves. Typically, the name of a people is passed down generationally until one generation or group decides to no longer be called by that name. In the aforementioned section, the Vanyar still called themselves by their original clan name of Minyar. Nandor, upon arriving into Beleriand, still called themselves by their original clan name (in their language at the time) of Lindar.
But that's in HoME. What about in LotR?
Let's look at The Two Towers, Book IV, Chapter 5: "The Window on the West"
Here we see that the people of Gondor (those familiar with the lore and care about such things, at least) still see themselves as "High Men" even though Numenor sunk below the waves more than three thousand years ago. And indeed, while Faramir laments that perhaps they no longer deserve that title, it is not because the people of Gondor weren't born on Numenor, it is not because Numenor was lost, and it is not because the blood of his people had "become mingled with that of lesser men." Rather, it is because their culture had changed.
Noldorin culture, while naturally adapting as it may during the passage of time, would not shift so quickly, as there would be more overlap in the living generations such that not much is lost to time. So, an Elda of Noldorin descent, pure-blooded or otherwise, embracing the Noldorin/High Elven culture, could be considered a High Elf.
However, the interviewer implicates Sindar as "High Elf" as well in the question, based on a reference to a comment they say was made by a third party, which by lore they are not. Appendix F in RotK makes the distinction clear, as well as The Silmarillion. That might be a little more controversial :} The response addresses only the correct range of potential High Elves though, so there's probably no need to worry about that much :}
So there you go. Hope you enjoyed the reading :}
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Mar 30, 2017 5:03:34 GMT -5
I said I'd post this topic for discussion during the week, but alas, I find myself once again too short on time to share my own thoughts. So, I'll post it and let you all have at it until I do find some time.
I was reading the LotRO interview linked on the News for March 17th, and found a certain part about how they're defining High Elves interesting. The way it read to me, it's like they expected it to be controversial that the term would encompass the descendants of these elves as well. So, what do we know of the High Elves, both in LotR where their license lies, and outside i.e. Silmarillion, the term's application, history, etc., and why should or shouldn't their definition be controversial?
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Mar 6, 2017 7:59:23 GMT -5
Heya all,
AIM sent a system message out this week stating that the current version of AIM we use, version 7.5.14.8, will no longer be available come March 28th. So, it looks like we will need to upgrade to the newest version. I'll be testing it out a bit tonight to get a feel for it, but for the next couple of weeks I recommend keeping the current version we use installed, and if you get the new version, install that in a separate folder if possible. In the event of any issues with AIM, I'm recommending logging into the Forum for now, where we can use the Shoutbox for real-time chat. Feel free to comment/discuss in this thread as we prepare for March 28th.
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Oct 4, 2016 2:09:19 GMT -5
Yes, it's been 19 years. Crazy, eh? :} Happy Anniversary!
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
|
Post by Eonwë on Sept 6, 2016 6:57:35 GMT -5
The GSMU has begun! E-mails are sent out, so please have your gaming info in by September 30th.
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Eonwë
Vala, Council
Vala and proud member of the Valar Guild. A quarter century of Tolkien fun.
Posts: 1,323
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Post by Eonwë on Aug 2, 2016 5:03:02 GMT -5
My thoughts:
My focus has primarily been my Paladin of course.
1.))Spells: The spells are flashier, a little more fun to watch, when I'm actually looking at them and not focusing on the fight, hehe.
I feel like I have fewer "uh oh" buttons. If I was in trouble before, I could throw on Seal or Insight, use Word of Glory, or use my instant Flash of Light before I had to choose between Divine Shield or Lay on Hands to bail me out. I've lost Seal of Insight and instant Flash of Light, and I have to choose between Word of Glory (with a 2 charge limit every minute) or a heal on damage finisher that requires 5 Holy Power. Granted, for soloing there's Greater Blessing of Wisdom and Greater Blessing of Kings that would theoretically help with longevity, but not much for saving your bacon when you need it.
I'm not crazy about the new Greater Blessings design. Only 3 blessings can exist per Ret Paladin? Bah. The way it sounds right now, in group settings Greater Blessing of Might is going to be all we use/ we're wanted to use.
I don't like losing Seals, but I didn't like losing auras either. It added something unique to the class, but whatever. Some of the new stuff seems interesting, like when an ally dies the Ret Pally gets a damage boost.
I don't like that I lost most of my ranged abilities, particularly Exorcism. If you're going for class fantasy, you don't take away from your Holy Warrior class a spell that's all about purging evil. All that's left is Judgement, and that makes it slow doing fights like the swarming dragons in the fourth fight of Dragon Soul.
All that said, I don't feel like I've lost any power. I seem to do about as well as I did prior to the patch.
2.) Talents: Some are interesting, some I'm undecided about. It's nice to be able to get consecration again, but I don't like much that it's a talent when other specs get it baseline. On one hand it feels like a cheat on Blizzard's part, on the other there can be a sort of fantasy justification for it.
3.) The Wardrobe: I like it. Get gear to get appearances. See all the appearances you have. Transmog those appearances. Saving wardrobe looks as an outfit is useful to be able to save them and quick-transmog it over new gear is nice.
I'll leave it there.
Take care :}
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