The only wizard characters in middle-earth (as far as we can assume from canon) is Radagast, and the two blue wizards. I believe the GM and another player has plans for the latter, so you'll need to contact them. I don't think a canon character will be needed though, an OC may be better.

@Sol Grim Yeah, pretty much a straight-up no on a Wizard character, but maybe a practitioner or student or something. You won't be throwing any fireballs. It's a weird territory, since we hardly ever see any canon non-istari sorcerers in LOTR.

@Wraithblade6 Seren is accepted. Sorry for the delay.

Also, everyone, I apologize for my tardiness and neglect, I've been super busy of late. Due to this, as of now, @MiddleEarthRoze and @BurningCold are officially Co-GMs for this.

We can look into the lore for a second when it comes to spellcasters.

LOTR is known for being a low fantasy setting. Any magic that is used, if at all, is usually subtle and not overly showy. Most magic users are High ranking Elves or Maiar like the Wizards. However, we do know that mortals can know sorcerous arts somewhat, because in the Hobbit, no one batted an eye or dispelled the notion that the "Necromancer" could be anything more than a man (and I am talking book lore, here). Gandalf also saying he was no "conjurer of cheap tricks" meant that there were conjurers, they were just at a lower tier than Gandalf and were probably only able to control enough magic to make simple illusions or fanciful lights. That and, of course, the Dwarves and Elves making magic gateways and weapons.

If there was to be a spellcaster, they'd be pretty low class and probably a hermit or a delver of ancient lore. Most likely an Elf, or a very strange human.

Ooh, yes Lord of the Rings stuff my jammm, this sounds like a whole lot of fun. I'd love to join if you'll have me.

Question though. Will the East and South be open for characters? If the RPG is taking place in the Fifth Age, then it'd be well after Aragorn and his son had made peace with Harad and Khand, so wouldn't they want to send representatives as well? I thought it might be really cool to play as the guard of a Near Harad emissary, and maybe play with all the similarities they share with the Numenoreans, another culture with the background of a powerful race of men that were taught my Sauron/Annatar before quickly collapsing into darkness.

Ooh, yes Lord of the Rings stuff my jammm, this sounds like a whole lot of fun. I'd love to join if you'll have me.

Question though. Will the East and South be open for characters? If the RPG is taking place in the Fifth Age, then it'd be well after Aragorn and his son had made peace with Harad and Khand, so wouldn't they want to send representatives as well? I thought it might be really cool to play as the guard of a Near Harad emissary, and maybe play with all the similarities they share with the Numenoreans, another culture with the background of a powerful race of men that were taught my Sauron/Annatar before quickly collapsing into darkness.

The peace that was made with the Easterlings and Southrons is actually broken now, due to things that are spoilery. That said, you can make such a character if their motivations work out. In fact, we already have one. I would need to fill you in on some things plot-wise, though.

<Snipped quote by Oddsbod>

The peace that was made with the Easterlings and Southrons is actually broken now, due to things that are spoilery. That said, you can make such a character if their motivations work out. In fact, we already have one. I would need to fill you in on some things plot-wise, though.

Since Near Harad is so large, and pretty factiony and divided, would it fit within your setting and story for at least some of the tribes to have stayed neutral after the old treaties broke? Or at least, to find the fall of Minas Ithil troubling enough to call a truce and send representatives to Minas Tirith?

<Snipped quote by Lucian>

Since Near Harad is so large, and pretty factiony and divided, would it fit within your setting and story for at least some of the tribes to have stayed neutral after the old treaties broke? Or at least, to find the fall of Minas Ithil troubling enough to call a truce and send representatives to Minas Tirith?

I sentcha' a DM in Discord. I don't wanna' discuss all this in the OOC, because there's a bit of spoilers for other players.

What about Tom bombdil yo? Just kidding. Well I'm incredibly busy now so I'll skip this for now, but im a huge lotr fan so ill be checking in for the story. Would it be possible to come in at some point down the line? If so, I'll try to jump in then.

"A disagreement with Ungoliant led to her attacking him, and Morgoth gave out a great cry that roused the Balrogs from their slumber. In a tempest of fire, the Balrogs drove Ungoliant away and prepared to pursue her. However, they were halted by Morgoth and returned to Angband, which shortly thereafter was constructed anew."

The most exciting and riddled filled bit of information in all the series.

@Lucian



Does Aquarious get to join the fray?

Can I be a descendant of Ungord. So one of her other descendants laid eggs on an elf but only one survived. A creature with the shape of an elf with high intelligence but the limbs and characteristics of a spider was born. A hunger for consuming knowledge with its favorite food being elves.

@Dealdric Your app is currently being reviewed by the GMs. (That's me, @MiddleEarthRoze, and @Lucian)

Okay

Can I be a descendant of Ungord. So one of her other descendants laid eggs on an elf but only one survived. A creature with the shape of an elf with high intelligence but the limbs and characteristics of a spider was born. A hunger for consuming knowledge with its favorite food being elves.

Hello there! I'm one of the Co-GMs, and while I can't literally talk for Lucien, I think I can say a definite, 100% no to this idea. First of all, I don't think some kind of Elf/Spider hybrid would fit in very well with outside society. In fact, they'd probably be killed very quickly, if the Elves of Mirkwood hadn't done so already. Secondly, an Elf/Spider hybrid would likely be impossible if we're going off Tolkien canon.

@Dealdric
While having Aquarious as a solitary elf would be fine - we have some already, if I'm not mistaken - the rest of the sheet I think could use some re-working. While I understand you're trying to go for a mysterious angle, you've written him to seem like some kind of magical anomaly, like Tom Bombadil. As I understand it, we're going for canon-ly named races only - barring the ones that are monsters or extinct, that is. If you are making him an elf, his description doesn't sound very much like one. Of an unknown age (Let's assume at least in the 2000's, if he's "older than most" in Mirkwood) but he does childish things like running away when asked about his past? He will only do certain things for gold, when the greed of elves doesn't usually lie with such material things?

As for other things, I think there needs an explanation. While the GM doesn't particularly want much from a CS, unusual or out-of-the-ordinary things garner some explanation; more for a gauge of your lore-knowledge and writing ability, I'd say. If he's friendly with "Wizards", I would assume only Radagast, as he dwells in the same forest. Radagast canonically enjoys the company of animals, and little else - perhaps a reason for why they would be considered friends? On that note, how can someone so mysterious and solitary have lots of friends in Middle-Earth? Furthermore, how old actually is he? Who taught him to fight and use magic? Why is he so important that the Silvan Elves would seek him out and spend time and money for him to go to Gondor with their representative?

Other things to keep in mind, simply for advice sake (As we are taking lore mainly from the books, not the movies):

"sells potions to Gondor"

Potions of what, exactly? From I can gather from the lore, potions aren't really a thing in Middle-Earth. Healers tend to use direct magic rather than dabble in alchemy, or at the most, some kind of salve (Usually made from Athelas). I don't think there's much demand for potion making... unless he's conning them, in which case, another very un-Elvish thing to do.

"unlike most elves, he will eat fish"

Not unusual? Plenty of Elves eat meat and fish, so I'm not sure where you've got that from.

"even among dwarves believe it or not"

Again, this isn't really shocking. The animosity between Elves and Dwarves was definitely played up in the movies - particularly The Hobbit trilogy - but it wasn't like that. The history of both species are bound together, and they're too close to really hate one another; during the second half of the Third Age (In which the books take place) they were mistrustful of each other, but that was a mutual feeling across all races in Middle-Earth at that time, as they were very dark days. After the War of the Ring however, that trust returned, as Sauron was beaten. Some Elves and Dwarves may harbour mistrust, or perhaps even irritation due to their very different natures towards one another, but it is hardly on the scale like Peter Jackson portrayed in the movies.

Finally... gold armour? Nope. Unless you're talking about the colour, gold armour would be as pointless as a sun-loving troll. And (This is just me talking, feel free to ignore it unless the GM agrees) the name "Aquarious" doesn't sound Elvish in the slightest.

Anyhoo, that's the opinion of the Co-GMs. We'll have to wait on @Lucian for any agreements or disagreements with our points, or if he has anything else to add. :) Thanks for applying!

@MiddleEarthRoze@Dealdric I'd like to voice my agreement. Also, while Lucian does have the final say, I suggest that you start to rework some of the aspects of your app sooner rather than later, perhaps starting with that name.

@MiddleEarthRoze ok ok wait, I got it. Please bare with me.

I'm a spawn of Ungoliant, a pure spider that was given birth after she retreated to Nan Dungortheb on her last years. Though it was smaller than it's brethren, it was fast and had the capability to jump up to 40 times it's own body length. After the War of Wrath ended, my character diverted from the other spawns of Ungoliant and explored middle earth while killing as many orcs and goblin and anyone who served under Morgoth as he could. At year 1000 TA, my spider returned to Mirkwood to rejoin it's companions, children of Shelob and whatnot second hand filth. There it learned of the dark shadow, "the necromancer" who had taken residence in Dol Guldur. Going to verify it itself, it was met by a creeping shadow moving just out of sight. Going right into attack, it was not able to even touch him. As the ghosts and wraiths started to emerge, it swiftly made it's escape by jumping out of the ruins. As it now considered itself the ruler of the spiders of the forest, it just couldn't allow another power to contest its territory. It enlisted the help of the other spiders to attack the ruins but eventually they failed and more than a dozen spiders perished. News reached him ,at that time, of the wizards who had arrived in Middle-Earth. The following years he spent his days trying to figure out a way to beating the looming shadow. Eventually he settled on putting sentry spiders on the forest surrounding the ruins, effectively isolating it. Hundreds of years later Radagast arrived in Mirkwood where the wizard tried to make contact with the animals of that place. Not soon after he was approached by the spawn of Ungoliant. There it warned him of the dark shadow that resigned over the ruins while also proclaiming his hate for Morgoth and it's forces, both things were the truth. Doing this he also expressed his wish to help the wizards in order to defeat all the remnant forces of Morgoth that still resigned in Middle-Earth like parasitic worms. After that he stayed in service of the wizard for a couple more hundred years until the shadow inside the ruins was revealed to be Sauron. Still harboring resentment on the betrayal of Morgoth towards his mother, he attempted to convince the other spiders, the children of Shelob, to attack the shadow that resided within the ruins knowing that it was Sauron but none would follow. Enraged he left the forest, not before killing a few of the other spiders. A year later, in TA 2851, Radagast told him of the plan to dispatch multiple creatures in order to search the Gladden Fields. For this the wizard gave him the power of transformation. Specifically, now it could transform itself into a large 4 eyed raven. 350 cm wingspan and 179 cm length and the ability to fly at speeds up to 400 km/h. The transformation couldn't suppress the poison that formed on his body and was channeled through its pincers so now it was channeled through its talons.

OK, now is this good? Please...

@Bishop This is quite an elaborate backstory to play a crow.

@Bishop

While it's true that Ungoliant and Morgoth had a... falling out, shall we say, and that the spiders are an independent evil to Morgoth... you're still taking a lot of liberty with the lore. The spiders are evil, caring nothing more than to kill, eat, spawn, repeat. One wouldn't approach an Istari for aid, and no Istari would even think of helping such a beast. Unless said Istari had turned from his true nature as Saruman did. As for the power of transformation, I have doubts whether a wizard could give another creature such a power.

Regardless of all this, how on earth would it fit into the roleplay? It can't speak to anyone, it shouldn't have any want to do anything good or kind in the world, and as soon as it's true nature is revealed, it would be killed instantly. It's an interesting idea, but maybe for a monster roleplay - not a Lord of the Rings one.

So how does Radagast use animals to send messages back and forth? Maybe my character has some kind of partial telepathy to convey his meaning and intentions? And in the hobbit the spiders could speak...

@Bishop

The spiders can speak to each other - which Bilbo could understand when he was wearing the ring. Evil ring, translates evil language, you get the idea. But I say again, even if you did somehow manage to create a way for it to speak to others, it doesn't fit the setting, or the lore. It has no reason for helping them, it'd be far more likely to just eat them. It's a spider. It's evil.