Wood-elves: How To Separate Lothlórien From The Woodland Realm In Edain Mod 4: blog - WoodlandGuard

The Woodland Realm In Edain Mod 4:

To recap: it is necessary [to me] to mention that the Edain team of the Edain mod have already implemented a version of the Woodland Realm by taking the interior of Thranduil’s Halls and rendering it as the exterior – initially I was not happy with this at all, beautifully done as it was, however I have come around to the idea (especially since I thought about it utilizing the aforementioned [in the previous blog] direction) and would like to see something similar being created for a full faction, if this is the direction one wants to go in (the direction of the Hobbit-film-designers' vision). Be aware that they have currently decided not to implement the Woodland Realm as a full faction - this rendition is part of the Woodland Realm sub-faction in support of Lothlórien. I will dedicate this blog to that issue. See below for a look at what I mentioned before - the Edain's rendition of a Woodland citadel in line with the films' design.

In order to separate Lothlórien from the Woodland Realm and create two factions, you need to replace Lothlórien's Outpost – it is currently occupied by the Woodland Realm, which I believe should be its own faction. I’m going to explain why I think it is more balanced, fair and reasonable to split the faction into two, and will utilize the factions of Gondor and Rivendell to make my points. To begin with I will offer up the following theory:

First off, for those of you who don’t know: Edain has decided to give Rivendell its own faction, a choice I agree with. However Rivendell is only one place, it is not a realm – therefore the folks at Edain have decided to make Rivendell (the place) the core of the faction and put the Rangers of the North (not big enough to be a faction) on their Outposts, with the Hobbits of the Shire functioning as their Settlements.

Rivendell Camp

Rivendell Castle

A Hobbit Farm

All of this is beautifully done, and is completely and utterly balanced, fair and reasonable. Rivendell had a strong alliance with the Kings of Arnor and after the fall of Arthedain it became a refuge for the Rangers of the North and the heirs of Isildur. The Rangers of the North roamed Eriador, within which Rivendell is set to the East and the Shire is set to the West. That's why the concept of the Dunedain for Rivendell’s Outposts is sound and completely understandable. This brings me to my main point – the difference between Rivendell, Lothlórien and the Woodland Realm. Rivendell, as I said, is not a realm. Lothlórien and the Woodland Realm (shocker) are. The same (balanced, fair, reasonable, sound, understandable) cannot be said for the "similar concept" of the Woodland Elves functioning as an Outpost for Lothlórien. "In the Second Age their king, Oropher [father of Thranduil], had withdrawn northward beyond the Gladden Fields. This he did to be free from the power and encroachments of the Dwarves of Moria, which had grown to be the greatest of the mansions of the Dwarves recorded in history; and also he resented the intrusions of Celeborn and Galadriel into Lórien. But as yet there was little to fear between the Greenwood and the Mountains and there was constant intercourse between his people and their kin across the River, until the War of the Last Alliance." As this game - and this mod - are set firmly in the Third Age it just doesn't make any sense to have them serve as a support faction for Lórien. It wouldn't even make any sense if it wasn't set in the Third Age but at least a/the link between the two would make more sense than this concept currently does. And it still wouldn’t be balanced etc. So here’s what I propose for the Elves of Lothlórien’s faction – the Outposts are the big deal: they need to be replaced if/when moving the Woodland Realm into its own faction – in order to do that you need a fitting concept. This is where Gondor comes in. Edain’s Gondor faction has two options for Outposts – Outposts (shocker) or a Fortress: a compressed, recycled version of the old Gondor Fortress now representing Gondor’s allied city / princedom of Dol Amroth, chief city of Gondor’s fiefdom of Belfalas. Using this template you could come up with a myriad of wonderful options for Lothlórien’s Outposts that are a much better fit than the Woodland Realm. Speaking of Dol Amroth: it’s another example of an Outpost done right – Dol Amroth was, as said, the chief city of one of Gondor’s fiefdoms. Similar to Rivendell’s Rangers of the North, it is completely reasonable to have them on their Outposts and similarly it is not comparable at all to the Woodland Realm.

Lothlórien Fortress

Edain offer up the following description of Lothlórien’s buildings in their mod: “In contrast to the other factions Lothlorien’s buildings serve several purposes at once: they produce resources, unlock units and research unit-/faction-upgrades…” – several of Gondor’s buildings, however, similarly serve several purposes. Another connection, another reason to look at implementing Gondor’s template for Lothlórien’s Outposts. Let’s get the Fortress-option out of the way first: Lothlórien’s Outpost-fortress should be some form of Edain’s Guard-Platform, but be more elaborate (like the large flet seen in Peter Jackson’s TLotR TFotR’s extended edition) with multiple Galadhrim archers on them. The Outpost itself – if a Fortress / Guard-Platform+ is not chosen – should be a Guard-Platform (the smaller version, seen in Edain’s Lothlórien Fortress) surrounded by three build plots. On these you should have the option to build solitary versions of Lothlórien’s Fortress-buildings (versions that differ slightly in their design, as they’re not attached to a/the Citadel), possibly attached to the Guard-Platform in the middle. This version would come to look like a smaller version of Edain's Lothlórien Camp, as seen below. This would also fit Lothlórien both lore-wise and film-wise, as that is how Lothlórien was - one or two big cities/settlements/towns, complemented by multiple Flets / Guarding Platforms spread around the forest realm. It's a no-brainer, as far as I can see.

That concludes my points concerning Lothlórien’s Outposts, though I do have one more thing to say where their Settlements are concerned – currently you would have the option to choose between an Ent-Moot and a Mallorn Tree. I don’t believe the Ents should ever be connected to any faction in any recruitment form, and that if they should be connected to any faction through a Spell book it should be Rohan only – as that is who they helped out indirectly when they attacked Isengard during the War of the Ring. Other than that they weren't involved in matters of Middle-earth - especially not through any alliance, or in the Third Age.