Adventures in Far Imran's Journal

General world information
Ea is the cosmos. Erd the world. Tindomende the
lands where the game will take place.

Tindomende exists in Tolkien's universe. I have not
told anyone precisely when or where Tindomende is in
relation to The War of the Rings, etc.. Nor is it
geographically analogous to anything near Mordor, the
White Mountains, etc. It might not even be the same
continent. I'm simply not telling. Still, many
Tolkienisms hold up, while others do not. I will
address them in summary form as best I can.
___

The Land

The game will start out in the south of Tindomende, in
or around the metropolis called Strychna (or, in daily
usage, Scumville). Scumville is an old city, and has
a unique mix of races that would be unusual anywhere
else. It is dominated by Men and Orcs. There is also
a substantial Dwarven enclave. Many Kobolds. Some
Trolls. And there are even a small number of
Halflings in the city.

[Note to Jeff-- I know your Tolkien senses must be
tingling something awful by now. I have further notes
on the races below. Just bear with me.]

It is a great, bustling city in the south. The region
is quite arid. Short lived crops, rainy season in the
Summer and Winter with prolonged draught in between.
The city lies on the River Redriff, so there is a lush
belt of life along it. Somewhat like the Nile. A
great, neverending desert called the Sudden Waste lies
to the south.

Scumville is the principal city of Far Imran. Far
Imran is nominally a nation state, but governance is
loose. That in part results from the chaotic
influences of a large Orc population, as well as the
fact that Scumville is more preoccupied with itslef
than with the nation (think Rome) and also owing to
the city's having in recent history been successfully
laid seige by her neighbor to the north-- the Middle
Kingdom. The result is that much of Far Imran is wild
and dangerous, and other parts are in a state of
quasi-occupation. Scumville itself certainly has a
reputation as a rough town where anything goes.
___

Magic

The campaign I have in mind will be a low-magic
affair. You may encounter magic, but probably at the
butt end of it. I will not be too open to the notion
of any of you playing a magic-user, unless it is a
mundame type-- healer, seer, etc. (see below).

I myself am torn between what I understand to be
Tolkien's view and my desire to include some D&D types
of magic. Sober vs. Silly, as it were. The PCs in my
first game encountered both great magics and small
ones. I overdid the small ones, and edged into D&D
(spell-casting) territory more than I would have
liked. It was also frustrating to the players,
because the way magic existed in the game was very
ambiguous and not codified-- I had rules of my own to
follow, but couldn't make them truly clear to players,
so they had to do a lot of guesswork. I intend to
circumvent that frustration this time around.

Every culture, people, village, etc. has its stories
of great magics of old-- monsters, objects,
catastrophes, etc. Hardly anyone has credible
evidence or first hand experience with these things.

There are also mundane magics that many people do have
contact with. Minor healing, scrying, simple
witchcraft, dowsing, detections, simple mind control,
etc. These would be the types of things that were
equivalent to older real life conceptions of witches,
circus performers, medicine shows, the crazy old man
down the street, etc. Some are charlatans, some are
not.

The Tolkien version might be the difference between
Gandalf's tricks with pipe smoke, vs. the battle with
the Balrog. The first is impressive and neat. The
later huge, rare, barely believable and quite
incomprehensible to the common man.

But it’s all predicated on the existence of a society
that believes in magic. Or, more accurately, on a
society in which the very concept of science vs. magic
does not exist. What we call magic is to the
characters simply one of many phenomena that exist in
the world. Many normal things would be described in
terms that by modern standards we would call magic.
Galadriel and Sam have a brief discussion of this.
Sam conceives of magic sort of the way we do—as
something separate and laid over “real life”.
Galadriel sees magic as fully integrated into and as
part of the world. Galadriel, of course, is more
correct.

This is awfully hard to play out in a game though,
because it is so alien to moderns. Ordinary folk in
Tindomende are not especially superstitious or fearful
of magic. I do this at a meta-game level, because I
do not want players taking advantage of superstitious
outlooks from which they hold themselves exempt. So,
many small “magics” are taken for granted by most
folks.

Magic items that are of much use are not common.
Potions are not uncommon-- at least ones that do think
like heal, invigorate, etc. Weapon-making and many
other trades are ften imbued with a sense of magic.
That is, tradesmen are regarded not merely as
craftsmen but also dabblers and manipulators of
greater forces. Any fine steel blade might be thought
to be magical in some sense-- regardless of any
unusual properties it might possess.
___

Gods and Religion

This too is a bit subtle. Many folk are completely
ignorant of the Powers (not Gods really). I wouldn’t
call most cultures atheistic. Rather, the Powers are
largely irrelevant to most people. This is especially
true in Scumville and Far Imran.

The Powers are believed to exist, but they are not
perceived as competing in the Greek sense or as being
terribly immediate in the world. They are very much
based on (my understanding of) the Silmarillion model
in their composition, names and orientation. But they
are unlike the Silmarillion in that most folk of
Tindomende have no history or broad acceptance of the
Powers ever being directly involved with the lives of
men.

The Powers are there and important, but not overtly
worshipped, no strict doctrines, no wars fought on
their behalf, etc. Household shrines to the Powers
are common, but worship is in the back of the mind.
Very casual for most people, almost a habit. If you
combined Roman nonchalance with Elvish hands-off
reverence, you might have some idea of what it’s like
in my mind. Although, to be sure, some folk know more
of the Powers and hold them in considerable reverence.
___

Humanoid Races

Here I alternate between a strict adherence to my
understanding of Tolkien, coupled with some marked
variations. I will include only what someone from Far
Imran might know or have heard.

Races:
Elves exist and everyone knows it. But they are
hardly ever seen. They live somewhere in the
mountains to the far west. Very rarely a small troop
of Elves might make a diplomatic visit to the lands of
men.

Dwarves are most numerous in the western mountains,
but a large enclave exists in Scumville. They are
very much like Tolkein Dwarves in most regards. In
Scumville they tend to stick together, living and
conducting business in their own district.
Predictably, they are an important source of
high-quality manufactured and crafted goods. They get
on well with the powers that be, and have carved out a
solid niche for themselves. Think Jews in any
northern city.

Halflings (not Hobbits (that is a word based on a
language alien to the region)) are very uncommon.
Most people could go a lifetime never seeing one.
There are a handful of Halflings in Scumville.

Orcs are reasonbly common, especialy in the south
around Scumville. They are not always evil, chaotic,
rapacious, etc. They form complex social groups, much
like men. In some places, like Scumville, they are
integrated with Men. Some Orcs are rapacious bandits,
who do indeed eat man flesh when they can get it. But
not always, and certainly not in Far Imran. The Orcs
of the western mountains are said to be of a far more
dangerous type. Orcs do make up a disproportionately
high number of the criminal element wherever they are
found.

Kobolds are quite common in Scumville and especially
in the area of the great salt lake to the south west
of Scumville. They are small, clannish, congregate
densely together and are much like the traditional D&D
version. Again though, like Orcs, they are not
monsters in the D&D sense. They are quite alien to
Men and Orcs in their habits and lifestyle. But they
fill a niche in Scumville and are reasonably
successful and accepted at what they do.

Other humanoid and sentient races of which most
people are aware are Trolls and Gnolls.

Trolls are
big and brutish, but not always mindlessly
violent. They are even occasionally seen in cities
and towns, mostly as hired thugs, protection,
warriors, etc. Again, not to be trusted especially,
but not to be attacked on sight. Of all the cities of
settled people, Scumville is the only one whereh
Trolls are seen frequently (though not in great
numbers). Also, my take on Trolls is that they have a
reptilian appearance, not a humanoid one.

Gnolls are sort of the equivalent of Native
Americans. They are nomadic, forming smallish
hunting/gathering/raiding groups. Rarely seen near
densely populated areas. They look pretty much like
they do in your copies of Monster Manual.

Other humanoids exist, but not in the general
consciousness or general knowledge.

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