DCI: Last Alliance is a submod for Third Age: Total War, focused on the War of the Last Alliance in the Second Age of Middle-earth.
On request from Varg21, here's a sneak peak on two DCI:LA faction family trees: the Númenórean Kingdoms, and their enemies the Black Númenóreans of Harad.
In the upper tree we see faction leader ['High king'] Elendil and the bransches of his two sons: Isildur and Anárion. Both sons starts as faction heirs [called 'King' ingame].
Under Isildur are his sons Elendur, Aratan, Ciryon and the newborn Valandil.
Under Anárion are three daughters and his son Meneldil. The oldest daughter is here married to Aglahad, prince of Belfalas.
In the lower tree we see an invented, dead father of Herumor, to enable siblings.
Herumor (to the left) start as faction leader ['King'], but starting as faction leader do also Fuinur (to the right), who here is married to Herumor's sister.
Herumor's son start as faction heir.
For all factions with family trees, children inherit "bloodline"-traits, so you can follow the linage and difference between born and adopted heirs.
In these examples, in the former tree children get either "Line of Isildur" or "Line of Anárion".
In the latter tree, children get either "Line of Herumor" or "Line of Fuinur".
These traits give a small Authority bonus to the character if he becomes faction leader, as he is considered to have a natural claim to the rule.
(Note: Anárion portrait, and children image, are placeholders)
So, from what I understand, after Elendil's death, the Kingdoms separate, as was in lore, but you still keep control of both? If so, won't they get mixed later on in the game (for ex. Isildur having two sons as heirs and later kings, and Anarion just having son but not an heir)?
In lore, Isildur inherited Arnor, put Meneldil as king in Gondor but held the High kingship: "...[Isildur] proclaimed his sovereign lordship over all the Dúnedain in the North and in the South" (-Unfinished Tales).
When Isildur and his mature sons died at Gladden Fields however, Valandil was only ca 13 years old and did not even become king of Arnor until he was 21, resulting in the practical split between the realms. Gondor did not submit to Arnor's claim to High kingship again, especially as Arnor grew weaker and weaker over time, while Gondor grew in might and splendour.
But as Arvedui of Arnor [Arthedain] said in the 20th century of the Third Age:
"While Elendil still lived, the conjoint rule in the South was committed to his sons; but when Elendil fell, Isildur departed to take up the high kingship of his father, and committed the rule in the South in like manner to the son of his brother. He did not relinquish his royalty in Gondor, nor intend that the realm of Elendil should be divided for ever." (-Appendix A)
Naturally this is a What If-game. Elendil may survive both his sons, Anárion may become High king, Isildur's older sons may survive to inherit their father, Meneldil or a son of his may become High King, or a random adopted son or married in general may get the crown, etc etc. As goes for heirs.
So yes, that can come to happend, hehe
Okay then, thanks for the summary :) Can't wait to play Harad and send one of the Kings with some ships and an army to Angmar and colonize the hillmen.
One more question, will the kings have titles like "King of Gondor", "King of Arnor" and for Harad "King of Umbar" and "King of Harad"(are these even correct?)?
Doubt Sauron will be so glad at you for that, haha - furthermore, to be the boring one here, hehe, while games etc. made it a popular image, I can note that there never been a Black Númenóreans in Angmar ever in lore, so you would create a precedence for this game ^^
No, it will just be "High king" for the faction leader and "King" for the heir(s). While we could had made the heir title "King of Gondor" that would look odd for Arnor, since "High king" as leader title naturally would be used rather than "King of Arnor", and we do not want to create a false illusion of hierarchy between the realms, that never technically was there.
Herumor and Fuinur are called "King" merely, is suffice ingame. Thinking of it, the name field might not have enough space to display all the name otherwise, haha.
If we had, "of Harad" would been closest to a proper title:
"But because of the power of Gil-galad these renegades, lords both mighty and evil, for the most part took up their abodes in the southlands far away; yet two there were, Herumor and Fuinur, who rose to power among the Haradrim, a great and cruel people that dwelt in the wide lands south of Mordor beyond the mouths of Anduin." (-Silmarillion; Of the Rings of Power...)
Umbar is never refered to as a kingdom of its own (if it ever is to be considered independent is questionable). Closest would been when Castamir the Usurper fled from Osgiliath and settled in Umbar in the middle of the Third Age. But in all my studies I found no reference to anyone using the title king in Umbar, no.
Nice
So why are both Isildur and Anarion heirs? What does that mean for the game, what happens with succession.
As for why it's because they were equal kings, and both had the right to Elendil's inheritance.
"[In Middle-earth] they established in the North-west the Númenórean realms in exile, Arnor and Gondor. Elendil was the High King and dwelt in the North at Annúminas; and the rule in the South was committed to his sons, Isildur and Anárion."(- Appendix A; see also the first reply to Hoar' on this source)
"In Minas Ithil was the house of Isildur, and in Minas Anor the house of Anárion, but they shared the realm between them and their thrones were set side by side in the Great Hall of Osgiliath." (-Silmarillion; Of the Rings of Power...)
"[Palantiri] could be used lawfully by anyone authorized by either the "Heir of Anárion" or the "Heir of Isildur," that is, a lawful King of Gondor or Arnor." (-Unfinished Tales)
As for gameplay, Isildur begins with the Next Heir-ancillary, so if Elendil dies, he's most likely to become the new High king (faction leader), while Anárion remains King (heir) - unless the player given the heir-anc to someone else ofc, then both brothers might remain Kings.
For as long as there is at least one king/heir in play, no new one will elected, even if one of them are appointed High king/leader. It is quite fitting to be honest. I had a campaign where Elendil died and Isildur inherited. Then Isildur died and some other bloke with better stats (guess he had the ancillary, don't remember now) than Anárion became king (it was in an old build, when Anárion had not got proper stats yet hehe), but Anárion did not lost his 'royalty' for that but remained with the title King until he died.
So no issue with that :)
Oh ok thanks, i was just confused since they both have the heir icon on the family tree screen.
Can understand that, most don't know multiple heirs (or faction leaders, see Harad's tree) is even possible hehe, but it spice things up for us :)
I like it
I don't remember if I ever thanked you for answering my request. So thank you very much, Ngugi. Also is that Jared Leto in the portrait of Anárion's son-in-law?
You did, on the main page :)
No idea, that's Araval's work and don't know what source he migth used. Fairly alike yes, now when you mention it hehe
Hi everyone! I cannot wait to see this mod finished really 'cause it looks amazing! As I'm a fan of the LOTR world, I was wondering: what's the name of Herumor/Fuinur's father and what's the name of the heir?
Hello!
Tolkien never gave us any information about the two Black Númenórean lords beside telling us they existed (in 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age'):
"But because of the power of Gil-galad these renegades, lords both mighty and evil, for the most part took up their abodes in the southlands far away; yet two there were, Herumor and Fuinur, who rose to power among the Haradrim, a great and cruel people that dwelt in the wide lands south of Mordor beyond the mouths of Anduin."
A.k.a, nothing but their names and position, hehe. Even the names ought to be translations, since they are in Sindarin but the King's Men/Black Númenórean did not use Sindarin, they spoke Adûanic.
We kept them though, since they are used in lore, naturally.
Now, with the "informative" quote in mind hehe, in order to provide a decent game experience, we have had to go with some artistic license.
Herumor's father we named Pharaz, meaning 'gold' in Adûanic, and is a nod to the last king of Númenor, the renown Ar-Pharazon.
Herumor's son we named Phazan, meaning 'prince' or 'king's son' in Adûanic.
In this case, I think there's nothing better than names with an Adùnaic meaning.
Thanks Ngugi! This mod is worth playing and I hope to give it a try soon ^^
Indeed it gives a good flare.
While the Black Númenóreans look like their Dúnedain cousins in many regards and many differences often are found in the details, the fact that they have names in Adûanic marks a distinct difference between these two groups of heirs of Númenor, stuck in a merciless 'civil war'.
A bonus fact: Imrahil and Adrahil are Adûanic names as well (a rare matter, since most Dúnedain had Sindarin names); the two names therefore are used by both factions in DCI:LA.
Hope you'll enjoy it!
Will you be using the names Elanalóto, Amanyë and Númeniel for Anárion's daughters?
Those are the names listed on MERP. Non-canon but perhaps the best choices.
Merp.wikia.comárion_Elendilion
No, of old we named them Calaeriel, Galadhel and Imloswen.
Haven't knowledge about the MERP (as in, I know about it, just not read its set up), but while we won't recode it, they would had been fair options too.