Oaths and Deeds - New Unit Previews - Unit Roster Released
New Spice Master submod, this time for all you Dunlendings out there.
Oaths and Deeds will give the player, playing as either Isengard or Eriador/Arnor, the option to develop the Dunlendings as a client poeple. It will include both the AOR units recruitable by possesing the appropriate regions, plus unique units, generals, and ancillaries that will become available if you complete specific quests to win the Dunlendings over to the side of either the Free Peoples or the Shadow. This mod will not include Dunland as an independent faction, but as a subfaction/client of either Isengard or Eriador/Arnor.
Campaign start event:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Unit Previews:
Dunlending Slaeghedar Spearmen
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
A Dunlending clansman is always eager to prove himself as a mighty warrior and worthy in the eyes of his clan. In battle the average clansmen uses a basic spear and wears little to no armor. Instead these warriors rely on their savagery and guile to defeat their enemies for a chance to redeem their people and promote themselves through battle.
The Oath of the highland folk fulfilled, the true warrior elite of Dunland come to serve under the King's banner. Under the tutelage of the remaining Dunedain Rangers of Cardolan, these Dunlending warriors actually approach something like a regular fighting force of the realm. Clad in decent mail armour, armed with longswords and broad oval shields, they combine the martial traditions of Arnor with the ferocity of the hillmen of Dunland.
Dunlending Udmoraich Fanatics (Isengard only)
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Released from the ancient Oath of the highland folk, the true warrior elite of Dunland come to serve under the Saruman's banner. Savage fanatics who fight with wild abandon, these wild men prepare for battle by painting their bodies and imbibing arcane brews and intoxicating herbs supplied by the White Wizard to whip themselves into a killing frenzy and steel their bodies against all pain and fear. Some opponents have even mistaken these brutal men for half-orcs.
Unit Pack Release:
Includes full OAD unit roster for this mod for use in custom battles or for modders who would like to use them as an alternative Dunland roster in TATW submods. Feel free to integrate these into your mod, edit, alter, fold, spindle, or mutilate them however you like. No permission needed if you want republish anything here in your mod, but please give credit to me and to Absinthia for the base models I used.
Known issues:
- Isengard captain animation doesn't work right for chariots (floating swords)
- Still using RTW unit icons and placeholder unit info cards (if you want to help me out by fixing these up please share )
New Spice Master submod, this time for all you Dunlendings out there.
Oaths and Deeds will give the player, playing as either Isengard or Eriador/Arnor, the option to develop the Dunlendings as a client poeple. It will include both the AOR units recruitable by possesing the appropriate regions, plus unique units, generals, and ancillaries that will become available if you complete specific quests to win the Dunlendings over to the side of either the Free Peoples or the Shadow. This mod will not include Dunland as an independent faction, but as a subfaction/client of either Isengard or Eriador/Arnor.
Previews to follow as the work progresses.
Okay, this is definitely one you should include to MOS, since they do actually have that faction
Soon you can do the same as Withwnar did. "Spice Master's Submod Collection (SMSC)".
Yes, I've been keeping a running compilation of all these as I go. The next faction I'm thinking of doing is Harad, then after that maybe I'll release the combined mod including all the factions I work on. If there are other factions that folks would like to see get the Spice Master treatment, let me know.
Finished up the new unit roster last night. Previews later today, taking the dogs out hunting first.
The new units/generals have a distinctly Celtic look, as will the rest of the elements in this mod, as suggested in the lore and in the MERP modules that I'm refering to.
Re: Oaths and Deeds - New submod for Dunland - Unit Previews Added
I really don't like the look of Infantry and Chariots. They look too much like Medieval soldiers. And instead of Swordsmen, should't you have axemen, since the sword really isn't a Dunlending weapon. And the General's color's be brown, not blue, since brown seems more like the Dunland color.
Re: Oaths and Deeds - New submod for Dunland - Unit Previews Added
Originally Posted by Bowmaster
I really don't like the look of Infantry and Chariots. They look too much like Medieval soldiers. And instead of Swordsmen, should't you have axemen, since the sword really isn't a Dunlending weapon.
I'm a little dissatisfied with the detail quality on these images (and the units) and will definitively continue to work on them. If I can find (or if someone wants to help me make) better Celtic/Romanobriton looking units that would be great too.
That said, a big part of my motivation here, and the point of the mod, is to develop the Dunlendings more along the lines suggested in JRRT's writings (and some of the material from the MERP literature): Dunlendings as analogous to the Dark Age Celts of Britain as opposed to the glorified cavemen that we see fleetingly in the PJ films. I have admired the great work other modders have done with the Dunlendings (FROME etc), but I disagree with the flvour of the interpretations that I've seen, which usually depict the Dunlendings as near-Stone Age savages at the lower tiers and a heavily Germanic look to the upper tier units.
And the General's color's be brown, not blue, since brown seems more like the Dunland color.
I'm going to tone the blue, maybe even change it to black. Brown won't show up well unless it's pretty dark, and then it'll just look black anyway.
Re: Oaths and Deeds - New submod for Dunland - Unit Previews Added
The textual evidence is admittedly indirect. This article does a good job of laying out the argument for basing the Dunlendings on Dark Age Celts.
The Dunlendings were pushed off their ancestral lands and into the hills by the Rohirrim, whom we know Tolkien modeled closely after the Anglo-Saxons who similarly drove the Celts of Britain into the highlands of Wales and Scotland:
"In the foothills of the western side of the Misty Mountains lived the remnants of the people that the Rohirrim later called the Dunlendings: a sullen folk, akin to the ancient inhabitants of the White Mountain valleys … hardy and bold …"
(Unfinished Tales, Part 3, chapter V)
The Dunlendings retain their language and culture (and presumably martial traditions and technology) distinct from the Northmen and the Dunedain:
"Only in Dunland did Men of this race hold to their old speech and manners: a secret folk, unfriendly to the Dúnedain, hating the Rohirrim …"
(Lord of the Rings, Appendix F)
The Men of Bree are described as being closely related to the Dunlendings in "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" in The Fellowship of the Ring and Appendix F in The Return of the King, and several place-names ("Bree", "Archet", "Chetwood", "Combe") around that area are based on Celtic roots. The only Dunlending word JRRT gives is their racial ephiphet for the Rohirrim, "forgoil", which also may have Celtic roots ("gall" = foreigner, lowlander and "fir" = men).
It's hard to believe JRRT would have included these kinds of historic and linguistic parallels carelessly, given the great pains he took to construct the other major cultures and languages portrayed as analogs of extant human societies.
Re: Oaths and Deeds - New submod for Dunland - Unit Previews Added
Very good article, you made a very good case here I believe. PJ did a great disservice to both the Dunlendings making them look like brutal toothless savages and the same can be said for the men of Umbar (Corsairs) who were painted in the same light. When the men of Numenor carved out their kingdoms what happened to the original occupants? As in most historical cases of one group invading and conquering it is almost always the upper tier of society that has been changed, the conquered taking on the ways and language of the conquerors. Look at the history of Britain, Romans displaced the local celtic aristocracy, some celts fled, others assimilated. The same thing happened when the Anglo-Saxons came on the scene and then later when the Vikings and later when the Normans arrived same thing occured.
Very good work here Spice Master, although I don't know if I would totally "celtify" the Dunlendings in appearance though. They were exposed to Numenorian influences as well as that of the elves. I hope in the future that you would also look at doing something similar to the people of Umbar who should have IMO a more mixed appearance of Numenorian and eastern influences and not the totally eastern appearance that PJ gives them.
Last edited by MIKE GOLF; October 22, 2012 at 05:19 AM.
Oaths and Deeds - New Unit Previews - Unit Roster Released
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Originally Posted by Spice Master
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